Lifespan of Starlight #3: Edge of Time by Kalkipsakis Thalia

Author:Kalkipsakis, Thalia
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: Hardie Grant Egmont
Published: 2018-03-04T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

WE CATCH AN empty freight loop to the edge of the central district, then climb up a manhole that leads into

King Street, right at the perimeter. Boc presses his hands on the edge of the hole and pulls himself up. I stay low on the ladder while he crouches at the edge of the opening. Some sort of bug lands on my neck with a sharp sting before I slap it away.

Skyscrapers stretch above us on both sides, with pods shimmering along their widths and lengths. Other than debris and broken branches, most of the street around us at ground level is empty. The KY pod shaft is less than a hundred metres away. Just a stone’s throw, as Boc pointed out.

Just a stone’s throw past motion sensors and security lasers.

Once we make it to the pod shaft we’ll be protected from detection by the movement of the pods, so we’ve spent the last day training for just this hundred metres. Most of the spacers were so busy watching Amon and Echo on the grid, they barely noticed Boc and I were there. Their two best coders spent the whole time checking Echo’s grid map, but still found no evidence of any kind of masking code or overlay. According to Julien, that proved they were right; that we should keep watching Echo from a distance.

All it did for me and Boc was make us more determined to find our own way in.

Arguments were flaring up about the diminishing water store, so our send-off came with clear relief from the spacers. We left with plans to replenish supplies from the underground spring, our last water bottle traded for a two-way audio comm for me and Boc to use. It wasn’t a lie, exactly, more like the truth with key details left out.

Now that we’ve made it out of the manhole in King Street, the game begins. Here and now is where we face the full force of the city’s security.

Boc manoeuvres sideways away from the manhole, a crab in slow-motion, until he reaches the nearest building and straightens with his back pressed against the wall. I pull out my old compad, still holding strong. Switching to safe mode seems to have worked a treat.

Red dots sprinkle the screen, showing that most of the drones and bio-mimics are focussed on the west of the city where the low-levels are still trying to break past security and reach water supplies in the central district. The closest bio-mimic is three blocks away, heading away from us.

A sudden gust of wind catches a bunch of dry leaves on the other side of the street and a laser flashes. Mid-way, it angles to one side and lands a dead hit. Smoke lifts in a thin ribbon, all that’s left of a leaf that made the mistake of moving too fast.

My focus shifts back to Boc, still pressed back against the wall, and he drops his chin. All going to plan.

So far. From studying the security

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