Lee squeals as I rush towards the slim exit. Eyes widen in young faces as they realize I won’t let anything stop me.
Maybe it was my combat with the Driger, maybe it was my intense glare, but they scatter as I approach.
Tara flies towards the exit. Yes, flies.
She stops in front of me, “What are you—” my jump kick interrupts her as she floats to the side to dodge.
“That could have hurt someone, Matt!” I ignore her and bull through the crowd. Teens yell insults and expletives at me. Everybody except Juan who flashes a thumbs up sign at me. I return the thumbs up and continue to the hotel lobby. I know the route. Changing our exit strategy would be risky at this point.
Opening the door back to the ballroom with Lee on my good shoulder is a bit difficult. Thankfully no one tries to stop us. Except for Lee. He’s struggling against my grip and starts kicking me in the chest. The new jacket softens the blows. Lee’s strikes feel like pattering raindrops.
The red pops up in my vision again this time with some words, “Rayment failure imminent”. The message appears again and the red tinge to my vision finally breaks apart. Lee’s kicks hurt now.
“Lee, we have to contact Sojourn remember?”
“I bet Tara could do that for us. You should turn around.” I’m glad he stopped kicking.
“She doesn’t have the broadcaster.”
“She could make one. Super-fast.”
“What do you mean?”
“She made your Rayment in like 2 minutes.” I feel cold sweat run down my back. Only the Triad AIs in Sojourn had processing power strong enough to take an idea and 3D print it. It took them around an hour. To be fair, the Triad also monitored the entire floating city, took regular recordings of ocean conditions, and tracked the Cryptick economy at the same time. Maybe it’s not a fair comparison?
“How?” I couldn’t find any other words at the moment. It doesn’t help I’m starting to gasp for breath.
“Get this: she transforms Holos from their cores! It’s awesome!” I tune out of Lee geeking out and can’t help but think this whole situation smells like trouble brewing. This could be a chance to prove myself to the Council. They always talk about the need to explore and connect with more humans. Transforming Holos into useful equipment could change everything! Maybe I could finally leave Sojourn for a while, make some connections for the city. It definitely isn’t because I could get away from babysitting Oakley all the time. Never waste a crisis, right?
I start paying attention to Lee when he kicks me again. “Ow! What is it, squirt?”
“Go back now!”
“Not until we contact Sojourn again.”
“Go back now!” Lee yells.
I can’t get through to Lee like this. He always thinks life is…a game! “Lee, we have a side quest first. Tell me: what is our mission?”
“To stay in contact with the salvage teams and communicate with the city.” Now he remembers. When it’s a quest.
“Yes. We can gain reputation with Sojourn by completing this side quest first. Then we can go back to Tara. It’s the most efficient use of our time.”
Lee stays quiet for a bit to chew on this idea. I dash through the lobby and we make it back to the beach. The sky is darkening. It’ll be tough to read the e-ink at night. We don’t have a flashlight because they attract Holos. We were supposed to have a fire going by now.
“OK. But as soon as we’re done we should go back. Tara told me the hotel has some nice beds to sleep on.”
“She probably didn’t think about bed bugs.”
“Ugh, you are right,” A translucent Tara sighs and cradles her head. She’s sitting at the table in front of the cabana I hid the transceiver in. “I will have to fix that for all the testers before they conk out.”
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