usually would have because the pain of the incisions might be locked away, but that didn’t mean that I was exactly feeling my best.
I stumbled along the corridors, keeping one hand on the wall for support while trying to listen out for any guards who might be moving toward us.
I heard them, but not the way I’d thought I would. I’d been listening out for booted footfalls, but instead, what I heard was radio chatter. A dozen different streams of it echoing through my head at the same time, yet somehow, I could pick apart every bit of it. I focused on the closest one.
“Echo Two, Subject H may be on her way into your sector. Stay alert.”
“Understood.”
I looked around at Em, who was smiling that faint smile of hers. “Is it like this for you all the time?”
Em nodded. “It’s what I’m for. Oh, and we should probably go that way. They’re coming up the other corridor.”
“How—” I got my answer in the form of a hundred camera feeds, all running through me at once. It felt like I was some kind of giant insect, looking down at the Institute’s corridors through multi-segmented eyes.
I went the way Em had suggested, and through my new camera eyes, I saw a pair of heavyset guards go through the space I’d been standing in. I was already moving away again.
“How far away is the ship?”
“Maybe three miles, on the east wing of the facility.”
“Three miles! My back, Em.” I slowed my pace, uncertain if I could make it that far.
Em stopped and stood in front of me. Her green eyes were assessing me. The metal on my back was moving like a steady flow of water.
Em reached her hands up to my head. I didn’t refuse her entry, after all I had already accepted her. This was a natural process and allowed her to flow through my body to assess the damage.
She spoke almost robotic as she filtered through my body. “Two incisions. One of them is three inches long and half an inch below the surface.”
I heard the chatter from the radios and the news feed of the security cameras continued to give me a good visual as to where the guards were. “Hurry, Em,” I heard myself say, but I didn’t believe my lips moved.
A searing pain struck my back and I felt the metal move beneath the surface of my skin. The pain felt crippling and my hands grew numb.
When Em released her hands from the sides of my head, she inhaled deeply. “Jade, you just fed me with information. I felt a greater connection to the implant.”
The pain in my back was gone, but I wasn’t sure what had just happened. “My back?”
“It’s better. On the mend. You can move about faster now, but the wounds are not completely closed or healed.”
“What did you do?”
“Moved the process of healing into stage three. Just a little cellular fast-forwarding.”
I narrowed my eyes at her, but we didn’t have time to discuss the medical process of what the implant had just done. I was just grateful that the pain was gone.
Em showed me a blueprint that the camera images overlaid, and I could see what she intended for me to see. Aric was using a section of vent to get around. That’s how they found the ship, but there were guards at either end now, slowly working their way in toward the middle, weapons in their hands.
Time was running out and the Institute, or Professor Ahern, I assumed had tripped the alarm, causing an annoying loud beeping noise that alerted everyone to lock their office doors and flush us out into the hallway. We slipped through several more doors, ran through numerous hallways and navigated to the entrance that would lead us to Aric.
Em pushed me up against the wall to hide me from two guards that passed fifty feet to our right. “We’re not going to make it in that way. There are four guards coming down the hallway in the other direction.”
“We have to get him out of there.” My heart was thudding hard against my chest.
Em pointed upward. Vent slits were staring down at us.
“How are we going to get
I stumbled along the corridors, keeping one hand on the wall for support while trying to listen out for any guards who might be moving toward us.
I heard them, but not the way I’d thought I would. I’d been listening out for booted footfalls, but instead, what I heard was radio chatter. A dozen different streams of it echoing through my head at the same time, yet somehow, I could pick apart every bit of it. I focused on the closest one.
“Echo Two, Subject H may be on her way into your sector. Stay alert.”
“Understood.”
I looked around at Em, who was smiling that faint smile of hers. “Is it like this for you all the time?”
Em nodded. “It’s what I’m for. Oh, and we should probably go that way. They’re coming up the other corridor.”
“How—” I got my answer in the form of a hundred camera feeds, all running through me at once. It felt like I was some kind of giant insect, looking down at the Institute’s corridors through multi-segmented eyes.
I went the way Em had suggested, and through my new camera eyes, I saw a pair of heavyset guards go through the space I’d been standing in. I was already moving away again.
“How far away is the ship?”
“Maybe three miles, on the east wing of the facility.”
“Three miles! My back, Em.” I slowed my pace, uncertain if I could make it that far.
Em stopped and stood in front of me. Her green eyes were assessing me. The metal on my back was moving like a steady flow of water.
Em reached her hands up to my head. I didn’t refuse her entry, after all I had already accepted her. This was a natural process and allowed her to flow through my body to assess the damage.
She spoke almost robotic as she filtered through my body. “Two incisions. One of them is three inches long and half an inch below the surface.”
I heard the chatter from the radios and the news feed of the security cameras continued to give me a good visual as to where the guards were. “Hurry, Em,” I heard myself say, but I didn’t believe my lips moved.
A searing pain struck my back and I felt the metal move beneath the surface of my skin. The pain felt crippling and my hands grew numb.
When Em released her hands from the sides of my head, she inhaled deeply. “Jade, you just fed me with information. I felt a greater connection to the implant.”
The pain in my back was gone, but I wasn’t sure what had just happened. “My back?”
“It’s better. On the mend. You can move about faster now, but the wounds are not completely closed or healed.”
“What did you do?”
“Moved the process of healing into stage three. Just a little cellular fast-forwarding.”
I narrowed my eyes at her, but we didn’t have time to discuss the medical process of what the implant had just done. I was just grateful that the pain was gone.
Em showed me a blueprint that the camera images overlaid, and I could see what she intended for me to see. Aric was using a section of vent to get around. That’s how they found the ship, but there were guards at either end now, slowly working their way in toward the middle, weapons in their hands.
Time was running out and the Institute, or Professor Ahern, I assumed had tripped the alarm, causing an annoying loud beeping noise that alerted everyone to lock their office doors and flush us out into the hallway. We slipped through several more doors, ran through numerous hallways and navigated to the entrance that would lead us to Aric.
Em pushed me up against the wall to hide me from two guards that passed fifty feet to our right. “We’re not going to make it in that way. There are four guards coming down the hallway in the other direction.”
“We have to get him out of there.” My heart was thudding hard against my chest.
Em pointed upward. Vent slits were staring down at us.
“How are we going to get
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