Read Online The Machine Awakes by Adam Christopher - Free Book Online
Authors: Adam Christopher
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safe position. She pressed the back of her head into the soft bark of the trunk, her eyes squeezed tight, her heart punching against her ribcage so hard, so fast it hurt.
Whatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuck?
She opened her eyes. She felt dizzy. She felt the buzzing in her mind like a physical thing, pressing on the world around her.
Then, almost as an afterthought, she thumbed the readout on the top of her rifle. The blue display flicked on, showing the weapon status and ammo count.
She hadnât fired a single shot.
Her earlier anger, hot and sharp, had been replaced with something else, something cold, something that made the world swim around her.
Fear. Panic.
What the fuck just happened? What. The. Fuck?
Someone had assassinated the Fleet Admiral. Someone else.
Fuck fuck fuck.
She stood, the muscles in her arms and legs suddenly weak. She fell onto her knees and stared at the grass under her. It looked weird, pressed down in a circle around her like she was kneeling on a circular plate of glass.
Because there was an invisible force, and it was coming from her. Her skin prickled with heat, the noise in her head nearly deafening.
And she was floating an inch from the ground. As soon as she realized, it stopped, and she jolted to the ground.
She had to leave. Now.
She began regulating her breathing, like she did when things started happening around her, trying to calm her unconscious mind. Letting her hands work on automatic, the result of ingrained routines learned by rote, she disassembled her weapon and slid the parts into her backpack.
And then she ran.
Â
5
>> ⦠please wait â¦
>> SECURE_COMMAND_CHANNEL_IPSILON
>>PRIORITY_ONE
>>~avalon_L_199900
>>password: *************************************
>>WELCOME BACK, COMMANDER
FROM:
Commander Laurel Avalon, Bureau Chief of Staff
TO:
Special Agent Michael Braben, Field Operations
SUBJECT:
Extraction of primary asset
LEVEL:
Priority 1 Secret
AUTHORIZATION ORDER GAMMA TWELVE. PRIORITY 1 OVERRIDE. EXTRACT PRIMARY ASSET USING PREPARED COVER. RESOURCES ASSIGNED AS BRIEFED.
AUTHORIZATION GRANTED, AVALON L 199900
P.S. Discretion is the better part of valor, Mike. Donât take any risks, and make sure you bring him back in one piece
Â
6
The Sentallion contest at the Grand Casino on Helprinâs Gambit had been running for four hours, and Kodiakâs hack was paying off, and paying off well.
âFifty-thirty on thirty-thirty,â he said into his glass as he took a swig of whatever-the-hell the vicious red liquid was and slid a pile of chips across the table. Heâd been practicing for several cycles tooâthe casual laugh, the easy smile. Heâd even prepared a backstoryâthe spoiled son of a starminer, left to his own devices while daddy-O suffocated on some chunk of herculanium spinning out there in deep space. It was a bit of a stretch, given he was pushing forty, but he thought that actually might help with the story. A charming, if greasy, little rich kid who refused to grow up, dressed in a tailored suit of crimson silk, shirt and tie to match, the height of Fleetspace fashion among those rich enough not to worry what other people thought of their taste in clothes. Out of the technician uniform, hair artfully styled, stubble trimmed just so, he wouldnât be recognized by anybody who worked on the service levels. Not that any of the stationâs crew would have been able to afford entry to the casino anyway. Lucky for Kodiak, the credit stick in his pocket still had plenty of money left over after buying his way into his tech job and collecting the gear for this little disguiseâalthough, damn, did people really pay this much for bright red suits?âand Kodiak was adding to his fortune at a steady rate.
The game heâd selected was also helping with the image. Sentallion was an obscure favorite of starminers, big in the ports of Arb-Niner and a dozen other industrial colonies,
Whatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuck?
She opened her eyes. She felt dizzy. She felt the buzzing in her mind like a physical thing, pressing on the world around her.
Then, almost as an afterthought, she thumbed the readout on the top of her rifle. The blue display flicked on, showing the weapon status and ammo count.
She hadnât fired a single shot.
Her earlier anger, hot and sharp, had been replaced with something else, something cold, something that made the world swim around her.
Fear. Panic.
What the fuck just happened? What. The. Fuck?
Someone had assassinated the Fleet Admiral. Someone else.
Fuck fuck fuck.
She stood, the muscles in her arms and legs suddenly weak. She fell onto her knees and stared at the grass under her. It looked weird, pressed down in a circle around her like she was kneeling on a circular plate of glass.
Because there was an invisible force, and it was coming from her. Her skin prickled with heat, the noise in her head nearly deafening.
And she was floating an inch from the ground. As soon as she realized, it stopped, and she jolted to the ground.
She had to leave. Now.
She began regulating her breathing, like she did when things started happening around her, trying to calm her unconscious mind. Letting her hands work on automatic, the result of ingrained routines learned by rote, she disassembled her weapon and slid the parts into her backpack.
And then she ran.
Â
5
>> ⦠please wait â¦
>> SECURE_COMMAND_CHANNEL_IPSILON
>>PRIORITY_ONE
>>~avalon_L_199900
>>password: *************************************
>>WELCOME BACK, COMMANDER
FROM:
Commander Laurel Avalon, Bureau Chief of Staff
TO:
Special Agent Michael Braben, Field Operations
SUBJECT:
Extraction of primary asset
LEVEL:
Priority 1 Secret
AUTHORIZATION ORDER GAMMA TWELVE. PRIORITY 1 OVERRIDE. EXTRACT PRIMARY ASSET USING PREPARED COVER. RESOURCES ASSIGNED AS BRIEFED.
AUTHORIZATION GRANTED, AVALON L 199900
P.S. Discretion is the better part of valor, Mike. Donât take any risks, and make sure you bring him back in one piece
Â
6
The Sentallion contest at the Grand Casino on Helprinâs Gambit had been running for four hours, and Kodiakâs hack was paying off, and paying off well.
âFifty-thirty on thirty-thirty,â he said into his glass as he took a swig of whatever-the-hell the vicious red liquid was and slid a pile of chips across the table. Heâd been practicing for several cycles tooâthe casual laugh, the easy smile. Heâd even prepared a backstoryâthe spoiled son of a starminer, left to his own devices while daddy-O suffocated on some chunk of herculanium spinning out there in deep space. It was a bit of a stretch, given he was pushing forty, but he thought that actually might help with the story. A charming, if greasy, little rich kid who refused to grow up, dressed in a tailored suit of crimson silk, shirt and tie to match, the height of Fleetspace fashion among those rich enough not to worry what other people thought of their taste in clothes. Out of the technician uniform, hair artfully styled, stubble trimmed just so, he wouldnât be recognized by anybody who worked on the service levels. Not that any of the stationâs crew would have been able to afford entry to the casino anyway. Lucky for Kodiak, the credit stick in his pocket still had plenty of money left over after buying his way into his tech job and collecting the gear for this little disguiseâalthough, damn, did people really pay this much for bright red suits?âand Kodiak was adding to his fortune at a steady rate.
The game heâd selected was also helping with the image. Sentallion was an obscure favorite of starminers, big in the ports of Arb-Niner and a dozen other industrial colonies,
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