Read Online Star Force: Divergent (SF74) by Aer-ki Jyr - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Aer-ki Jyr
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motioned her to go inside.
She stepped through into darkness, walking into a room
that only had the angular slab of light coming in through the door to guide
her, then it disappeared plunging everything into darkness. A moment later the
lights came on and a solitary pillar stood at the center of the room some 30
meters in front of her in the circular chamber.
“Your final mission,” San said, staying in the small
tunnel between door and wall perimeter, “is to reach the top and retrieve the
object there. You pass when you bring it back and place it in my hand. Clear?”
“Clear as mud,” Jyra answered as she looked around for
potential hazards hidden in the open architecture. “Time limit?”
“Preferably sometime before lunch.”
Jyra rolled her eyes, but San was standing behind her
and couldn’t see. “Anything else you’d like to add?”
“Nope.”
“Wonderful,” she said, standing still and glad she
hadn’t already set off some sort of trap. The floor was solid and flat, or at
least appeared to be. Same went for the walls and ceiling, but the pillar had
grooves in it. Irregular pattern and easy to conceal crap in, but it was the
smoothness that truly concerned her, for she suspected there was something
beneath hidden doors or maybe even camouflaged via holograms out there…yeah,
with so much empty space holograms were probably in use.
Not liking this one bit and knowing that failure would
see her out of the program entirely, she took a small step forward and waited,
getting no response. She took another, again without any reaction and San being
totally silent only made the situation worse. Jyra had no idea where the attack
would come from, but multiple options were flowing through her head as she
thought about what might be here.
There was no proof either way, so all she had to work with was experimentation.
To that end she stood still and pulled her shirt off,
revealing the jog bra she had underneath as she wadded the garment up into a
ball, tying the sleeves together so it wouldn’t unravel in the air turbulence,
then threw it towards the pillar. It sailed in a clean arc and hit the side,
bouncing off lightly to hit the ground nearby where it rolled to a halt without
drawing any reaction whatsoever.
Jyra’s lip curled to the
right in a curious frown. That left her with no option other than walking up to
the pillar and taking her chances, so she took another baby step and proceeded
with that tactic over the next few minutes, taking her precious time and trying
to play this safe…but at the same time knowing from all her training that there
usually wasn’t a ‘safe’ play to make and that she’d just have to wing this
given the lack of data for her to use in order to minimize what were as of now
unseen hazards.
Closer and closer she crept, with every step and lack
of response making her more nervous all the way up to the pillar. She refrained
from touching it and made a slow circle around it, inspecting the grooves
carefully and looking for clues. Nothing appeared to be there, aside from
useful finger and toe holds, but the lines and indents almost looked like a
form of writing. If it said ‘don’t do that’ and she went ahead and did Jyra
would be kicking herself for the rest of her life, so she took her time again
and tried to decipher what she was seeing.
But it was no use, which left her with two options:
keep trying and not rush into a bad situation…or rush into it and avoid
spending forever here looking at something that wasn’t actually text. Either
way it made sense as a way for her to display her stupidity and punish herself,
which was definitely this program’s mojo. One thing she could do was pick up
her shirt, so she walked around to it and retrieved her projectile, but before
putting it back on she stepped back and hurled it up to the top of the 8 meter
high pillar.
She tossed it several times, hitting different
sections, but there was still no response. Eventually she
She stepped through into darkness, walking into a room
that only had the angular slab of light coming in through the door to guide
her, then it disappeared plunging everything into darkness. A moment later the
lights came on and a solitary pillar stood at the center of the room some 30
meters in front of her in the circular chamber.
“Your final mission,” San said, staying in the small
tunnel between door and wall perimeter, “is to reach the top and retrieve the
object there. You pass when you bring it back and place it in my hand. Clear?”
“Clear as mud,” Jyra answered as she looked around for
potential hazards hidden in the open architecture. “Time limit?”
“Preferably sometime before lunch.”
Jyra rolled her eyes, but San was standing behind her
and couldn’t see. “Anything else you’d like to add?”
“Nope.”
“Wonderful,” she said, standing still and glad she
hadn’t already set off some sort of trap. The floor was solid and flat, or at
least appeared to be. Same went for the walls and ceiling, but the pillar had
grooves in it. Irregular pattern and easy to conceal crap in, but it was the
smoothness that truly concerned her, for she suspected there was something
beneath hidden doors or maybe even camouflaged via holograms out there…yeah,
with so much empty space holograms were probably in use.
Not liking this one bit and knowing that failure would
see her out of the program entirely, she took a small step forward and waited,
getting no response. She took another, again without any reaction and San being
totally silent only made the situation worse. Jyra had no idea where the attack
would come from, but multiple options were flowing through her head as she
thought about what might be here.
There was no proof either way, so all she had to work with was experimentation.
To that end she stood still and pulled her shirt off,
revealing the jog bra she had underneath as she wadded the garment up into a
ball, tying the sleeves together so it wouldn’t unravel in the air turbulence,
then threw it towards the pillar. It sailed in a clean arc and hit the side,
bouncing off lightly to hit the ground nearby where it rolled to a halt without
drawing any reaction whatsoever.
Jyra’s lip curled to the
right in a curious frown. That left her with no option other than walking up to
the pillar and taking her chances, so she took another baby step and proceeded
with that tactic over the next few minutes, taking her precious time and trying
to play this safe…but at the same time knowing from all her training that there
usually wasn’t a ‘safe’ play to make and that she’d just have to wing this
given the lack of data for her to use in order to minimize what were as of now
unseen hazards.
Closer and closer she crept, with every step and lack
of response making her more nervous all the way up to the pillar. She refrained
from touching it and made a slow circle around it, inspecting the grooves
carefully and looking for clues. Nothing appeared to be there, aside from
useful finger and toe holds, but the lines and indents almost looked like a
form of writing. If it said ‘don’t do that’ and she went ahead and did Jyra
would be kicking herself for the rest of her life, so she took her time again
and tried to decipher what she was seeing.
But it was no use, which left her with two options:
keep trying and not rush into a bad situation…or rush into it and avoid
spending forever here looking at something that wasn’t actually text. Either
way it made sense as a way for her to display her stupidity and punish herself,
which was definitely this program’s mojo. One thing she could do was pick up
her shirt, so she walked around to it and retrieved her projectile, but before
putting it back on she stepped back and hurled it up to the top of the 8 meter
high pillar.
She tossed it several times, hitting different
sections, but there was still no response. Eventually she
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