Total pages in book: 210
Estimated words: 200837 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1004(@200wpm)___ 803(@250wpm)___ 669(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 200837 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1004(@200wpm)___ 803(@250wpm)___ 669(@300wpm)
“Well, yeah! I do see them!” She’s turned back to me now and her voice is higher in pitch and a little bit frantic. “But that’s it. That’s all I see.”
She’s lying.
I think about this for a moment, then decide this is as far as I can push her. She’s said too much and she’s backtracking now so any more discussion is pointless. It’s all gonna be lies. If I want more information—that’s true, anyway—I need to give her space. “OK.” I look down at Anneeta. “Thanks. For the info. Come on, let’s go meet Clara.”
Anneeta might not trust me enough with the truth, but she might trust Clara. And the three of us need to have a very serious conversation about what is happening here.
Anneeta follows me into the tower and up the stairs, hanging back a bit, like she’s nervous or something. Which is out of character for her, so I’m thinking about these possible reservations when I walk up to my door and reach for the handle.
This is when I hear voices. I flip the handle and kick the door open, Versi already at high ready, then just stand there, unable to react because I’m so stunned at what I’m seeing.
A hologram floats in the middle of the room. A hologram of me. But not just me. Jast, Myra, Stepan, and Kirt are all dead on the ground at my feet, holes in their heads the size of my fist, because this is my discharge proceedings and it’s playing the worst moment of my life right out in the open.
“How?” The word comes out before I realize that Clara is on the other side of the hologram and I can just barely make out the spectra she’s holding between her fingertips.
Still, even though the hologram is playing and she’s holding the spectra up, I am still unable to figure out what the hell is actually going on. Because… there’s no spectra player. I don’t even own one. I keep the spectra because… well, it’s mine. My time in the Sweep was two-thirds of my life, if you count recruitment and augmentation prep. I couldn’t just toss it aside like it meant nothing.
Clara’s eyes find mine and she startles, dropping the spectra, and the hologram disappears
I glare at the woman on the other side of the room. “What the fuck are you doing? Where did you get that?”
Immediately, she’s apologizing. “I’m sorry! It was an accident. I kicked the stool over and the top opened up and—”
“You found a box. My box. Which you then opened! Ya had no right!”
“I didn’t know what it was. And I tried to put it back, but it shocked me! And then it rolled away and when I picked it up the next time, that… that… picture appeared in the air! Like magic! I didn’t do anything! It just appeared!”
I force myself to take a breath and calm down. Of course she has no idea what a spectra is. She can’t even find a word to describe the hologram she was watching. But nothing about what she just said makes any sense, either. How did she make it play? It’s not supposed to play just by touching it.
“Here.” She bends down, reaching for the spectra.
“No!” But this command comes out too late. She’s already pinching it between her fingertips. The hologram springs open again, and my team—my dead team—once again fills the room. I want to rip it out of her hand, but I still can’t make sense of why it’s playing. All she’s doing is holding it. Like she’s… “Oh, fuck.”
“Take it.” Clara thrusts the spectra at me. “Just take it!”
I step forward and reach for it, desperate to make my past disappear, but instead of disappearing, something else happens when our fingertips touch. A massive jump of spark bursts through me and suddenly the entire room is covered in veil!
It shimmers for a moment. But when I withdraw my hand from Clara’s, it all disappears. “Make it come back!” I say this while looking Clara directly in her eyes.
“Make what come back?”
“Ya didn’t see that? Ya didn’t see the veil that appeared when our fingers touched? It was all over the room!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about! Just take it!” She thrusts the spectra at me again, but this time when I reach for it I use both hands, clutching at her so she can’t drop it or withdraw. And again, when we touch, the veil appears.
Only this time, it’s not just a shimmer. It’s an overlay. A complete fucking overlay of the room. With stats, and labels, and everything. Like I’m back in the Omega Outlands clearing a ruin.
“What are you doing? Let go of me!” Clara struggles to get out of my grip, but I hold tight, just looking around, amazed, and afraid, and… relieved all at the same time.