Read Online Ghost of Mind Episode One by Odette C. Bell - Free Book Online
Authors: Odette C. Bell
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her head.
Nothing but her own hands could do that.
‘ By the moons of Orion,’ she
snapped.
This was not good.
But if she was lucky, and she timed it right,
she could still get out of here. The transport above would not have
a human pilot; the conditions of the planet were so inhospitable to
life that there was little point in risking a biological when you
could just send a hunk of metal controlled by the ICN to do your
dirty work for you.
Which meant there would be no one up there
to stop Alice from taking control. Though she was perilously low on
energy, she was desperate. She'd use what little juice she had to
hack right into the ICN and give her control of the transport,
disabling the security bots as she did. Then
she'd . . . figure out a way to somehow get off the
ship and back to safety.
She was going to have to come up with a plan
on the fly. But first things first.
Alice closed her eyes, ignoring the growing,
deafening hum of the engines above her.
She tried to concentrate long enough to
access the ICN, forcing whatever circuits that ran through the
barren snow and salt-covered ground below her to redirect, latch
hold of her message, and propagate it through the system.
But Alice did not get the chance to finish
the job.
The transport still had not landed and would
take another 30 seconds before it could touch down close enough for
the security bots to jump out.
But something did land, right beside her.
She snapped her eyes open in time to see a
transport beam slice out of the sky.
She just had time to crumple her arms over
her head, fearing the beam would latch onto her again and suck the
rest of her life form her bones.
It didn't happen.
What happened instead was a man - covered in
particularly sophisticated-looking black and grey armor -
rematerialized a meter form her side.
With one hand planted on the ground, his head
momentarily dropped between his shoulders, he snapped it up in an
instant.
John Doe, it just had to be.
Alice whirled on her foot, getting ready to
run.
He jumped from behind her - she could hear
the wind buffet into his armor.
He landed in front of her. ‘We're here to
help,’ his voice sounded out loud and clear, the roar of the wind
nothing against the boosted audio his armor gave him.
No, he really wasn't.
Alice lashed out at him.
She usually never fought. Not unless she
absolutely had to. Defend herself, yes; she did that all the time.
But fighting made her sick to her stomach.
She did not have any other option.
She flung her arm towards him, redirecting
her energy until it made her skin and muscle as strong as smart
concrete.
For a second he did nothing. Maybe he wasn't
expecting it. Maybe he had expected, upon his offer to help, that
Alice would collapse in his arms again and let the hero save her
for the second time that day.
She couldn't be caught. Not by him.
Her arm connected. As it did, she put as much
of her energy as she could afford into the move.
And John went flying. There was a cracking,
resounding thud as she collected her arm across his torso, and the
force of the blow sent John up into the air a good two meters. He
crashed into the snow to her left.
Alice didn't wait to see him stumble to his
feet. Which he no doubt would do. Though her blow had been strong,
it would be nowhere near enough to fell someone in armor that
sophisticated. In fact, now the armor had withstood such a blow, it
would adapt, recalibrating the plating across its surface so that
further blows like that would glance off.
In other words, she wouldn't get another
chance like that. She also didn't have the energy; the move almost
sent her reeling back to her knees.
She didn't have the luxury of falling
unconscious here though.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw the
transport beside her finally land. The hanger door lay open and ten
or so security bots, their silver bodies glinting in whatever sun
managed to push its way through the constantly swirling clouds of
the
Nothing but her own hands could do that.
‘ By the moons of Orion,’ she
snapped.
This was not good.
But if she was lucky, and she timed it right,
she could still get out of here. The transport above would not have
a human pilot; the conditions of the planet were so inhospitable to
life that there was little point in risking a biological when you
could just send a hunk of metal controlled by the ICN to do your
dirty work for you.
Which meant there would be no one up there
to stop Alice from taking control. Though she was perilously low on
energy, she was desperate. She'd use what little juice she had to
hack right into the ICN and give her control of the transport,
disabling the security bots as she did. Then
she'd . . . figure out a way to somehow get off the
ship and back to safety.
She was going to have to come up with a plan
on the fly. But first things first.
Alice closed her eyes, ignoring the growing,
deafening hum of the engines above her.
She tried to concentrate long enough to
access the ICN, forcing whatever circuits that ran through the
barren snow and salt-covered ground below her to redirect, latch
hold of her message, and propagate it through the system.
But Alice did not get the chance to finish
the job.
The transport still had not landed and would
take another 30 seconds before it could touch down close enough for
the security bots to jump out.
But something did land, right beside her.
She snapped her eyes open in time to see a
transport beam slice out of the sky.
She just had time to crumple her arms over
her head, fearing the beam would latch onto her again and suck the
rest of her life form her bones.
It didn't happen.
What happened instead was a man - covered in
particularly sophisticated-looking black and grey armor -
rematerialized a meter form her side.
With one hand planted on the ground, his head
momentarily dropped between his shoulders, he snapped it up in an
instant.
John Doe, it just had to be.
Alice whirled on her foot, getting ready to
run.
He jumped from behind her - she could hear
the wind buffet into his armor.
He landed in front of her. ‘We're here to
help,’ his voice sounded out loud and clear, the roar of the wind
nothing against the boosted audio his armor gave him.
No, he really wasn't.
Alice lashed out at him.
She usually never fought. Not unless she
absolutely had to. Defend herself, yes; she did that all the time.
But fighting made her sick to her stomach.
She did not have any other option.
She flung her arm towards him, redirecting
her energy until it made her skin and muscle as strong as smart
concrete.
For a second he did nothing. Maybe he wasn't
expecting it. Maybe he had expected, upon his offer to help, that
Alice would collapse in his arms again and let the hero save her
for the second time that day.
She couldn't be caught. Not by him.
Her arm connected. As it did, she put as much
of her energy as she could afford into the move.
And John went flying. There was a cracking,
resounding thud as she collected her arm across his torso, and the
force of the blow sent John up into the air a good two meters. He
crashed into the snow to her left.
Alice didn't wait to see him stumble to his
feet. Which he no doubt would do. Though her blow had been strong,
it would be nowhere near enough to fell someone in armor that
sophisticated. In fact, now the armor had withstood such a blow, it
would adapt, recalibrating the plating across its surface so that
further blows like that would glance off.
In other words, she wouldn't get another
chance like that. She also didn't have the energy; the move almost
sent her reeling back to her knees.
She didn't have the luxury of falling
unconscious here though.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw the
transport beside her finally land. The hanger door lay open and ten
or so security bots, their silver bodies glinting in whatever sun
managed to push its way through the constantly swirling clouds of
the
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