Exchange by Rachel Rossano

Author:Rachel Rossano
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: science fiction, romance, sweet romance, adventure, robots, short story, prison, memory loss
Publisher: Rachel Rossano
Published: 2018-04-07T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Myah. The word floated above me. A familiar name. Did I know anybody by that name? Oh, me! With a jolt, my eyes opened. Heart racing, I gasped for air.

Relax.

Black. All I could see was blackness.

Breathe slowly, love. I will get you out of this contraption. Respond if you are awake.

Why am I still in this hole? I demanded.

Needed to make sure you weren’t going to scream when I woke you. Now wait a moment.

Servos whined, complaining at the change in schedule, and the change in air pressure as the compartment decompressed popped my ears. I swallowed repeatedly until the muffled sensation dissipated. Ruhan’s head shone in the half-bright night lights.

Nausea?

No.

His fingers unlatched the bands restraining my wrists. I spotted the silent P-73 behind him.

The droid?

Deactivated. Follow me. He moved away across the room as silently as the shadow I likened him to so often before. I rolled clumsily off the pseudo-bed and landed hard on my toes and one hand. I had forgotten to use the ladder. Thankful that mine was the lowest unit, I crept after him on stinging feet.

Here. A ball of fabric struck me in the chest. I identified a jumpsuit by touch and scrambled into it. Now get behind me and keep with me. Ready?

He grabbed my hand and my world exploded with new sensitivity to our surroundings. I detected nuances in the shadows, heard the squeal of metal wheels on the floor outside the door, and tasted the stale recycled air with each breath. These heightened senses came with the thrum of Ruhan’s heartbeat, the steady rhythm of his breathing, and the warm presence of his mind in parallel with mine.

Sorry. We need to move as one and this will accomplish that. The protesting wheels made their way toward the lifts, and with another screech of gears, it moved out of range.

Moving out.

It was as though he was moving both of us in tandem. Step for step, I matched him sliding out the door, down the hall, and through another doorway. A spiral stairwell stretched up and down in ever shrinking circles.

We’re going up.

Without the slightest hitch in his breathing, he led me up the four flights to an armored steel door. No handle in sight, only a data panel blinking orange in the dim lighting.

I gazed at the smooth metal in despair. The muscles of my legs quivered and my lungs labored against my chest wall in an effort to provide the oxygen my body craved. Blood roared in my ears, drowning out any possible sounds of pursuit. His breathing had only sped up slightly and his heart still thrummed steadily while mine galloped violently.

He released my hand and the world shrank to normal. My being protested as isolation closed around me again. It took all my self-control not to reach out to grasp his fingers once again. Why had I not missed the closeness before?

He glanced at me, assessing my condition.

How much farther?

A sprint to safety.

What about the door?

He smiled. In a minute, when the door springs open, alarms will sound all over the complex.

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