The Cyborg Anarchist (Cryptopunk Revolution Book 2) by Brian Terenna

Author:Brian Terenna [Terenna, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sunset Over Peconic Books
Published: 2023-02-21T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9

The Devil Speaks

Sunny and I stand outside the barracks to the sounds of the last jets landing. Other soldiers and my guildmates put away weapons, depart to the barracks, or head to the medical center for treatment.

Absently, I trace a hand over Sunny’s head. While navigating the altered terrain, thanks to his new dent, my memory dredges up the heroism that caused the first one. My third foster demon had a habit of beating his foul moods out on my tiny body. Sunny, my self-proclaimed bodyguard, forced his way between us, sparing me another knockout punch.

“I’m sorry about the damage you took,” I say now that the jets aren’t as loud. “We’re lucky it only clipped you.”

“I’d take a million dents to save you. Alexander is going to be envious. He has one reminder of how he protected people, and I have two.”

I chuckle, letting go of some of the tension from our recent battle. “Way to electrocute the group of soldiers gunning for us at the end. Even though they were blind, we might not have gotten away.”

“I don’t like that I had to kill those people, even though they were attacking us.”

He smiled at the time, though. At least, I thought he did. Maybe I was mistaken. It’s not like Sunny. “You’re a top-of-the-line bodyguard,” I say to reassure him.

“Except for how I slow you down. I’m working on rocket boosters to add to my feet. Then I can carry you if it’s ever needed.”

The idea of Sunny zipping through the air is comical, especially if I were riding on top of him. “You really are something. We recovered a drone with new cloaking tech.” I point to the courtyard. “I need you to reverse engineer it so we can install it in all of our military vehicles and attack craft. Based on our intelligence, they can’t see through it. I cleared it with Harper, so we shouldn’t have a problem there.”

“Of course. While I’m at it, I’ll investigate for vulnerabilities to allow us to detect it,” he says, eying the drone and the engineering crew examining it. “I need to talk to Moon first, though. I’ll be in our room.”

I wave to him as I spot Nav walking nearby, her shoulders slumped and a bandage on her human arm.

I hustle over to her, my body and bruises aching. “You okay?” I point to her arm.

She shrugs. “A lot of good people faired much worse.”

Every death is another gut punch. “We’ll have services for our people tomorrow. I don’t know what Harper will do, but his losses are likely much more severe.”

“I’ll be there.”

“I didn’t get a chance to thank you for saving me. Having you at my six on the field and while I’m hacking is always a gift I’m not sure I deserve. There’s no way I’d have been able to worm into their systems without you defending me.”

Nav’s nod is almost imperceptible. Not the reaction I used to get when we were full-on friends. I cross my arms, partly from the cold but also because I’m feeling awkward.

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