The Aviator Awakening by M. C. Elaine

Author:M. C. Elaine
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: M. C. Elaine

CHAPTER 22

I lifted my head when the pod’s motion stopped. My tired body uncurled and I adjusted my expression to prepare to be grateful for my promotion.

My body ached, and my cybernetic migraine hadn’t diffused. It would be more proper to stand, to greet the General with vigor. But I was too weak to do that while also maintaining my ‘appreciation.’

I wished my false gratitude wouldn’t be necessary. I’d be overjoyed if the pod opened to my empty training quarters, if I was given time to grab a boost and spend just one round in the simulator to calm my tired mind. Given the day's progress, however, it was an unlikely scenario.

Sure enough, the scene the pod opened to was not my training quarters.

HQ’s dark walls and white-lit veins greeted me. Fully staffed. The windowed wall at the edge of the room portrayed a cloudless red desert landscape, flooding the bustling hub with afternoon light.

I stayed in the pod, wishing it would close back up and shield me from the curious eyes of people I did not recognize. The bots in the hub outnumbered the agents, whizzing about their tasks undisturbed by my entrance. The agents I did recognize accounted for nearly all of the people I’d interacted with in my conscious memory—aside from Nerzogk and the crimson doctor.

General Larkkon turned away from the central console to focus on my arrival, his emerald gemmed scales glinting in Vor’s light. His attention prompted the few operatives who weren’t already fixated on me to pause their tasks and see what was happening. I was careful not to show discomfort under the sudden pressure of so many eyes—a mix of human gazes and reptilian slit irises.

“Aviator.” The General’s rockslide voice boomed through the room and my pod. A proud smile accompanied the greeting. “Your security clearance has been issued. You are now an official member of the Vor-Vardos Operative Team. Come on over.” He signaled for me to enter, his jagged smile becoming a more familiar sight lately.

Fatigue fogged my mind and slowed my reaction while I calculated how best to follow his command without slipping up and showing how exhausted my body was. I mustered up some strength and pulled my aching body to stand. It took too long. General Larkkon picked up on my sluggishness.

“Somebody get the man a boost. Then we can get started,” he ordered.

Agent Amara squeezed past the nearest operatives and bots to slip into my transport pod. She got close, not saying anything while she issued me a pair of boots matching hers and the other operatives. I accepted the gift, and realized the embedded utility as soon as I pulled them on. Localized dampeners muted the room’s overwhelming currents waiting outside my pod.

“Thank you,” I mumbled.

Amara half-smiled, and her eyes flashed with quiet concern. “They cut your hair,” she commented. I shrugged. “That’s too bad. It was an interesting look.”

Agent Xular, the blue-skinned baetian operative, tossed her an adrenaline injection. Amara caught it and injected me with the boost with one quick, seamless motion.

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