Breaking Colossus by Matt Wright

Author:Matt Wright
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781955948203
Publisher: Matt Wright Author

Chapter 19

You Are Nothing Like Grey

One moment they were falling in the balcony's wreckage. The next, Trin took complete control. She defied gravity as she propelled herself and Roth upward from the destruction. Multiple Gs pushed back on them as she raced away from their pursuer, but it couldn’t best her. The other Aegis fired at them, and Trin drew the fire away from the First Minister’s estate. She could feel Roth’s pulse racing as the speed tore at him from different angles while she dodged each fiery attack.

At the same time, she tried to hack into the system of the other Aegis, but it was closed tight, and she couldn’t devote that much power while she escaped.

She pulled up and rocketed upward to escape the gravity of the planet. Roth passed out then, but she carried his limp body and protected him. They shot past the thin atmosphere and into space until Trin could no longer sense the Aegis pursuing them. She would have folded away from that system, but needed to conserve energy.

Roth was awake but suffering now. He coughed and gasped in his helmet. Trin felt terrible that she couldn’t help him right then.

“Roth? Are you okay?”

“I think so.” He sounded out of breath.

“I'm sorry,” Trin said. “I needed to draw its fire away from the First Minister. It would have destroyed the entire estate if I hadn't left in a hurry.”

“Did we—?” Roth managed.

“I think so,” she said. “For now, at least.”

Roth took a few more moments to compose himself. “All right,” he muttered. “Where are we?”

“Space. Cloaked. I don’t see the other Aegis nearby. I think we can fold into the Aeneas system without being followed...”

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Me?” she said, scanning her systems. “I’m exhausted. I’ll need to restore the moment we get to Aeneas.”

Roth would know the implications: he’d be alone on a planet he’d never visited before until she finished a restoration cycle or two. They would both be vulnerable for a long time.

Roth nodded and set his jaw. “Okay, okay…” he said. “Do you know who it is? The other Aegis, I mean.”

“I had a theory,” Trin said. “But now I'm not sure. I tried to scan the systems and couldn't find anything about its pilot. I don't know of any other spacefaring vessel in the universe that could block me out like that.”

“If it's following us,” Roth said, “it must be military. Who else but the military knows I deserted? They must have had another Aegis sequestered away.”

Trin had already guessed as much, but she also had another realization. “If they have an Aegis, it's possible other Arrows exist somewhere out there who escaped the Tyranny Conflict. Like me…”

“You can’t remember any others escaping?”

“No,” Trin said, and the pang of loss struck her nanochains like a chord. “If they're out there, they hide themselves too well. Roth…” She paused, considering how he would react to what she was about to say. “Many believe that Arrows can't feel. But we do.

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