Whispers in the Code by Stephanie and Isaac Flint & Isaac Flint

Author:Stephanie and Isaac Flint & Isaac Flint
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Infinitas Publishing
Published: 2018-02-08T05:00:00+00:00

Thick jungle leaves slap my arms and legs. The hot air broods in a silence that’s insane, even for the vague reality of a dream. Here, I’m a scout for the OA. No birds chirp, no predatory creatures murmur their growls. I should sense them with my beast mastery power, but they’re hiding.

I dig my boots into the ground, sliding against mud and fallen debris, and pull the radio from my belt. I need help from Command. I’m supposed to maintain radio silence, but something’s wrong. One by one, the leaves spin and flare into open sky. A hideous monster floats above the jungle like a pinkish-brown, mutated jellyfish. My heart pounds as I thumb the radio button. Whatever that thing is, the Oriental Alliance must be told. “Command?”

Static. The radio dies. I frantically thumb the button, my palms sweaty. I glance at the sky as one of those long, twisted tentacles reaches through the swirling trees. My feet root in place. I can’t run—I gasp and drop the radio. The tentacle wraps around me, burning through the camouflage uniform and into my skin. I scream as the kaiju lifts me into the air—

I start in my chair and take a gasping breath. My blood thrums. A pink ray of light casts the Legion Spore’s bone-covered command center in a soft, early morning glow. I must’ve fallen asleep while working on the glitch.

Still shaking, I fumble my way downstairs and make a selection from a dozen different teas and hot drinks. Chamomile. Earl Grey. Black. Vanilla. Ginger and honey. The list goes on, but I finally choose a hazelnut coffee with milk. There’s not many coffee choices—just black, hazelnut, and vanilla, which surprises me given Lady Winters’ fondness for the drink. The liquid sloshes from the cup and scalds my hand. No matter. I’ll have the Legion Spore heal it if the burn is too bad.

I sit on the bed. Last night’s “story time” glitch was rooted so deep in the Legion Spore’s code that it took forever to find the inefficient thing, and when I finally did, there was no logical reason for its presence. Nothing. I wiped that line of code and made a separate notation elsewhere of what that line contained.

Once I finish my coffee, I take a quick shower. The steam relaxes my muscles, despite the eerie carvings of beasts in the ivory wall, haunting me through the stream of hot water. Afterward, I don the fiber optic uniform Val gave me and then return to my post.

There’s no message from the commander, but Val left a smiley face note on my tablet. I grin and trace the edge of the heart-shaped locket she gave me. Tomorrow I’ll be back.

Pleasantries complete, I use the Legion Spore’s radiation power to project a shimmering list of people who were part of its making. For now, I ignore the ones who were turned into beasts. They don’t have memories from before their transformation, and it’s the ones with memories who are most likely to form “ghosts.

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