Stolen by Presley Hall

Author:Presley Hall [Hall, Presley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-06-19T05:00:00+00:00

14

Harper

Malav’s exhausted, drained, satisfied face is the last thing I see before the lights go off, and we begin to float in mid-air again. Only this time my reaction isn’t fear, but hope. This is just the same as what happened right after the ship took off from Wauru. If Malav’s guess about the AI is right, that means it’s glitching, or resetting, again. And that means we have a chance.

It’s a small one, but I’ll take any sliver of hope I can get. Especially now.

“Malav?” I whisper, blinking into the darkness.

“I’m here.” His voice is low and quiet, and I feel his hand brush against mine. This time I take it, linking my fingers with his as we wait for the lights to come back on.

When they do, it’s a relief to fall back onto the soft bed instead of the hard floor of the ship. We both sit up quickly, and I look toward the ceiling.

“Excuse me,” I call out hesitantly. It feels weird to speak to the air and hope that it will answer back. “Where is our destination?”

There’s a pause, complete silence, and then I hear a new voice. This one is male, just like the last one—and it’s angry.

“Intruder detected!” The strident voice blares through the ship. “Intruder detected!”

Malav looks at me, our eyes going wide at the same time.

“Initiating trespasser protocol!”

“Oh, krax,” Malav spits out. “Get dressed, Harper! Hurry!”

I hear the click of the door unlocking as I leap off of the bed and grab my clothes, cursing the convoluted top I picked as I wind it around myself and tie the knot with shaking fingers. Malav has less to do—he ties on his loincloth in record time, and I can’t help but glare at him as he snatches up a pack of supplies he gathered during our standoff and throws it over his shoulder.

“Let’s go!” He jerks his chin sharply, and we both make a break for the door, my heart pounding every step of the way. I’m afraid that it will lock again before we can make it out, but we both manage to slip through, tumbling into the corridor—

Only to narrowly miss a laser beam that shoots past us.

“Intruders detected,” the AI drones out again, the voice louder now. “Initiating attack sequence.”

Malav curses loudly, and the AI doesn’t scold him for it the way the last one did. This one doesn’t seem concerned with regulating foul language.

It’s only interested in killing us.

A loud whirring noise to my left draws my attention, and I turn my head sharply to see a small robot with spinning wheels dart toward us, lasers erupting from its chest.

Malav leaps in front of me, deflecting the beams with his short sword. He glances over at me, his green eyes darkening until they’re nearly black. “Run!” he shouts. “I’ll be right behind you!”

“I’m not leaving you!” I tell him sharply, although it doesn’t seem to matter much, considering how little help I am. I back down the hallway, glancing around nervously for more laser fire, and see a locker toward the end of the hall.

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