The Nightmare Awakens by Michael Anderle

Author:Michael Anderle [Anderle, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
Published: 2022-08-02T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTY

Kat locked eyes with the defiant Cyrus. He stood near the wall of his lab, arms folded. She’d expected pushback about her idea. That didn’t mean he annoyed her any less with his antics.

“I don’t see why not,” she observed. “I’m not asking for anything ridiculous.”

He scoffed. “I want more time to go over my data. I’m still learning things from that burst.”

“One more exercise isn’t going to kill you.” Kat rolled her eyes. “If you’re hot to go to another site, being ready to fight in new ways might benefit you.”

“We did an exercise halfway back to Earth.” Cyrus cut through the air with his hand. “I’m close to something now; I can feel it. If I rush off to do an exercise, I might lose access to the intuition that’s pushing me along.”

“This mission isn’t over just because we took out that site, you know,” Kat replied. She inclined her head toward the card. “That’s why they’re not telling us to land the Argo on Earth and seizing that card. It’s also why they’ve had us sitting up here doing nothing.”

Cyrus shook his head. “I’ve been doing research, not nothing. That’s what I was brought on to do.”

Kat frowned. “This is the problem. Whenever you make any progress, you fall into your hole again and don’t want to come up for air until I yank you out, kicking and screaming. I get it, Cyrus, I do, but you know how much of this mission involves shooting and getting shot at.”

“Don’t I know it.”

“We need more training with the Infinity’s assault infantry squads and their tankers, too. The better our unit is, the less trouble we’ll have when we next have to fight hijacked drones or mutated hordes. We might be able to land at a site and get samples.”

Cyrus grinned at that thought. “That would be nice. I see your point.”

Their PNIUs chimed in unison.

Kat tapped hers when she spotted the call notice in her smart lenses.

INCOMING: Channel 3gA2, Secondary: UTSI 44d: FANG, HAOYU.

Their break was over. She looked at Cyrus. He nodded.

“This is Lesone,” Kat answered.

They were routing the signal through the secured communications networks of the Infinity. That simplified things, though Senior Agent Fang might want them to come to Earth for a personal meeting, depending on the nature of the briefing.

“I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to welcome you back to Earth in person,” Agent Fang replied. “I went over your reports and passed them up the chain, along with those from the rest of your team, including the crew of the Infinity and the ambassador. There’s been a rousing discussion about what our next steps should be.” He cleared his throat. “Also, Ambassador Castellan isn’t your biggest fan. I hope neither of you harbored any future desire to work as a diplomat.”

“I’m fine with my current job,” Cyrus replied.

“I’d make a shit diplomat,” Kat added, “but this is stupid. She’s mad because she realized she was superfluous. I kind of pointed that out.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.