Blade of the Reaper: A Military Scifi Epic (The Last Reaper Book 3) by J.N. Chaney & Scott Moon

Author:J.N. Chaney & Scott Moon [Chaney, J.N.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Variant Publications
Published: 2019-05-18T00:00:00+00:00

16

"All I'm saying is we should get more information from Henshaw," Elise said. "We can still go, but the more we know, the safer we’ll be."

"You're not wrong," I said.

"I know I'm not wrong," Elise responded.

She was getting on my nerves again, so I did the only thing I could do. I pulled out the Starbrand cigar.

"I dare you to light that," she challenged.

Even the feel of it was amazing. Just holding one of the most expensive cigars in the galaxy gave me chills. I realized after smoking the first one that I'd stolen from Henshaw's mansion, that all previous Starbrands had been fakes. I’d never had a real one in my life.

There had been something almost spiritual about the aroma and even the way it smoldered. Without thinking about what I was doing, I put it back in the case Tom had made for me and slipped it into my jacket pocket.

Elise snickered. "I knew you couldn't do it. You might as well name that thing. You treat it like it's your child, not just a way to introduce poison into your system and annoy the hell out of everyone.”

We arrived in the equipment room and started unpacking the gear necessary. All of this could be put on rapidly, but since we were performing a recon mission and not in escape or vehicle evacuation, we took our time.

"Jelly, while we're doing this, contact the Lady Faith and see if we can get Henshaw on the line. I really need to talk to him, even if he doesn't want to show his face," I said.

"Making contact now," Jelly said.

"What do you want?" Henshaw asked, his voice even more pretentious than I remembered.

"Are you drunk?" I asked.

"I'm tired, okay. I haven't slept well since we left Roxo III,” Henshaw said. "What do you want from me?"

"I need to know what to expect when we get there," I said.

"Well, I imagine you will find part of a destroyed space station," Henshaw drawled slowly. I couldn't see him, but I thought he was reclining in a virtual reality beach environment sipping an alcoholic beverage.

"I need to know if there's something I can salvage, something to update my Reaper AI or tell me what the ghost images in my mask mean," I said.

It still felt odd that X-37 hadn't commented on our conversations about his possible demise, even though I knew the reason.

Henshaw had described what the mask could do for me but had omitted any clarification about the ghost images. He'd already made it clear that he didn’t believe I could see them. Supposedly, that took special instruments.

I still had mixed feelings about the mask. It basically amplified what X-37 already did. If it was so great, why had I emerged victorious over two consecutive mask-wearing adversaries?

All I wanted from it were answers. And to not have it dissolve my face or cause me to jump out of an airlock without an EVA suit.

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