Read Online King Ruin: A Thriller (Ruins Sonata Book 2) by Michael John Grist - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Michael John Grist
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bigger, a hundred, a thousand, fat with all the data it's eaten through. It would be as big as us, then it'll be bigger. There may already be some that size, like whales moving in the muck underneath, hunting us out. They're like magnets for fresh information, so I'm sure they'll be drawn to us. We won't be able to outrun them, if the speed of these little ones is anything to go by, and our suits won't be any deterrent to us being swallowed whole."
A long beat passes. Underfoot So feels the squirm of the maggots and it revolts her.
"What about the White Tower?" Doe asks. "Can they eat that too?"
"It'll surely hold the longest. But it'll fall too."
Doe looks at Ray, and Ray looks pale.
So speaks up. "If it isn't the maggots that bring it down, it'll break with the collapse. Any tremors and lashbacks we feel are only going to get stronger, and become more focused around the tower."
"Understood," says Doe. She nods briskly. "Thank you. Everything you're telling me suggests the tower is soon going to be at the center of a storm. But everywhere else will be dead before then. So we make for the tower, and hope we find some answers there."
So wants to say something about Me, that perhaps he'll be waiting for them in the tower, but she doesn't. It doesn't seem right, almost childish, to worry about Me like that. But he is part of them.
"Enough talk then. We need to move. So, give me a route. Ray, take the rear on the lookout. I'm not going to lose anyone to one of these things," she points to the maggot. "And everyone, HUDs on and turn your suit to anti-collision lock, in case the ground quakes hard enough to break bones. We're going to stay solid, and we're going to stay whole. Understood?"
We're going to run for our lives, So almost adds, but she doesn't. It wouldn't help. They all see it there on her chest, paint that won't peel off. Instead she prepares and sends a preliminary route to the White Tower, skirting the black road of the dead and one of the heaped pyramids.
Doe nods, pulls her QC, then starts down the mud-hill. So drops into formation behind her, La and Ti go next, and Ray brings up the rear.
The mud is slippery-black, and alive with churning maggots beneath So's feet. They seem to come out of the muck like froth on the boil, gathering in frenzies in each of her footfalls, biting at the skin of her suit.
SQUISH
They say underfoot.
SQUISH SQUISH
Doe leads them down off the mud-hill and into a shallow furrowed valley, which spreads out into a long flat expanse, skirting the road of the dead. Everywhere is black, gray, and deserted. Underfoot there are the frail skeletal frames of buildings, So reads via gamma-scan, but with every moment passing they thin a little more. There was a city here, lined with roads and buildings where some kind of metaphoric people lived and worked, and now it is all turning to mud.
Information as DNA.
There are tunnels far below, once bored for underground trains to move within, now filling in with maggots and filth. So notices the mire creeping up her legs with every footstep forward, wants to blast the QC at her legs to clean them off, but that would be a waste.
Instead she focuses on her surroundings. La and Ti are chattering behind her on a private blood-mic. She can just make out their voices through the HUD skin, like the warbling of doves. That is alright, nothing new. She is mostly alone in the chord most of the time, and that suits her. She likes to figure out puzzles, she isn't a leader, and she isn't attracted to any of the others.
Except perhaps Doe. But she doesn't say anything about it, because it isn't that important. Doe is with Ray. That is fine.
She trudges on over the Sunken World, following Doe following the course she'd laid. Maggots squish underfoot like white beans. She tries to think of the last time she ate anything, but it is far off. They didn't ever eat, on the Bathyscaphe. Even all that time she'd spent in the Napoleonic ring, guiding
A long beat passes. Underfoot So feels the squirm of the maggots and it revolts her.
"What about the White Tower?" Doe asks. "Can they eat that too?"
"It'll surely hold the longest. But it'll fall too."
Doe looks at Ray, and Ray looks pale.
So speaks up. "If it isn't the maggots that bring it down, it'll break with the collapse. Any tremors and lashbacks we feel are only going to get stronger, and become more focused around the tower."
"Understood," says Doe. She nods briskly. "Thank you. Everything you're telling me suggests the tower is soon going to be at the center of a storm. But everywhere else will be dead before then. So we make for the tower, and hope we find some answers there."
So wants to say something about Me, that perhaps he'll be waiting for them in the tower, but she doesn't. It doesn't seem right, almost childish, to worry about Me like that. But he is part of them.
"Enough talk then. We need to move. So, give me a route. Ray, take the rear on the lookout. I'm not going to lose anyone to one of these things," she points to the maggot. "And everyone, HUDs on and turn your suit to anti-collision lock, in case the ground quakes hard enough to break bones. We're going to stay solid, and we're going to stay whole. Understood?"
We're going to run for our lives, So almost adds, but she doesn't. It wouldn't help. They all see it there on her chest, paint that won't peel off. Instead she prepares and sends a preliminary route to the White Tower, skirting the black road of the dead and one of the heaped pyramids.
Doe nods, pulls her QC, then starts down the mud-hill. So drops into formation behind her, La and Ti go next, and Ray brings up the rear.
The mud is slippery-black, and alive with churning maggots beneath So's feet. They seem to come out of the muck like froth on the boil, gathering in frenzies in each of her footfalls, biting at the skin of her suit.
SQUISH
They say underfoot.
SQUISH SQUISH
Doe leads them down off the mud-hill and into a shallow furrowed valley, which spreads out into a long flat expanse, skirting the road of the dead. Everywhere is black, gray, and deserted. Underfoot there are the frail skeletal frames of buildings, So reads via gamma-scan, but with every moment passing they thin a little more. There was a city here, lined with roads and buildings where some kind of metaphoric people lived and worked, and now it is all turning to mud.
Information as DNA.
There are tunnels far below, once bored for underground trains to move within, now filling in with maggots and filth. So notices the mire creeping up her legs with every footstep forward, wants to blast the QC at her legs to clean them off, but that would be a waste.
Instead she focuses on her surroundings. La and Ti are chattering behind her on a private blood-mic. She can just make out their voices through the HUD skin, like the warbling of doves. That is alright, nothing new. She is mostly alone in the chord most of the time, and that suits her. She likes to figure out puzzles, she isn't a leader, and she isn't attracted to any of the others.
Except perhaps Doe. But she doesn't say anything about it, because it isn't that important. Doe is with Ray. That is fine.
She trudges on over the Sunken World, following Doe following the course she'd laid. Maggots squish underfoot like white beans. She tries to think of the last time she ate anything, but it is far off. They didn't ever eat, on the Bathyscaphe. Even all that time she'd spent in the Napoleonic ring, guiding
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