Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 128413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 514(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 514(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Kaleb responded with fireworks, a symbol the NetMind understood as joy.
The fireworks were returned to him multiplied.
After the joy came the sorrow, image after image of crumbling edifices, cliff faces sheering away, land falling into sinkholes.
Yes, Kaleb said. The PsyNet is dying. I came to ask you if there’s anything I’ve forgotten, anything that can be done that isn’t already being done? Because though the neosentience was young, it was vast beyond any comprehension. It knew every corner of the PsyNet.
No answer…but then, it showed him a secretive spark of intermingled white and black traveling through the PsyNet at such speed that the world was a blur. It stopped at a mind within which nestled another, much, much smaller mind. The spark whispered inside the two minds, heading for the small one, but leaving a trail behind in the bigger.
When the spark reemerged, it was devoid of energy, and had no light to it. It limped back to Sophia’s mind at such a slow and pained pace that Kaleb wanted to gather it up in his hands and take it to safety. What did you do?
The NetMind showed him a cascade of images:
A spider bloated sitting in a web.
A spider screaming as it fell from the web that burned with silver fire.
A spider curling up and hiding in a dark room.
A spider weaving a new web of razored, bloody sharpness.
Kaleb’s gut clenched on a violent wave of understanding. Before he could vocalize any of it to Sahara, however, the series of images altered without warning.
A mirror flipping from the rusted and black underside to the smooth unbroken reflective side.
A glass vase with a severe crack through it.
Glue being applied to the vase…glue of intermingled and glittering black and white.
Flowers in the vase. Such small flowers.
Of a shimmering blue…with a heart of luminous steel.
Hope had once been a foreign emotion to Kaleb, but now he felt it stretch his skin. But the NetMind wasn’t yet done.
Clawed hands around the vase and the flowers. Holding. Protecting.
Blood, so much blood.
The clawed hands cut and shredded by the spider’s razored threads.
Chapter 38
Councilor Scott was very clear in her instructions: we must run the listed battery of scans, and have her answer the questions the Councilor left behind.
However, I’m not certain we can do that without first incapacitating Auden—and the two feral guards she’s brought into the residence. It’s the latter that makes me question the success of the procedure.
—Charisma Wai to Dr. Verhoeven (now)
AUDEN SHOWED THE two of them the entirety of the house, including all entry and exit routes. They also stepped outside to take in the external area.
Cloudy gray light bathed Remi’s face.
He shrugged his shoulders, settling his skin back into place. Being trapped inside that house hadn’t been his favorite thing in the world. There was a reason he lived in the forest, in an aerie. But he knew this reprieve was temporary. “Does this place have an attic or a basement?”
“A small basement,” Auden said. “It’s used for storage.”
“We should look at it regardless.” If her family was hiding a secret, it was possible some component of it was physical.
Nodding, Auden led them to a door that came off the kitchen—which wasn’t like any kitchen he’d ever seen. “No one cooks here?” he asked, motioning at the gleaming counters and lack of anything resembling a device to actually cook food.
“Until recently, we stuck to the regime of nutrient drinks prescribed during Silence,” Auden told him. “We’re branching out now, but only in limited ways.” Nothing in her face or voice gave away the memory that throbbed between them of her devouring the pastries he’d brought her.
Next time, he promised himself, he’d feed her the damn pastries—while she sat naked in his lap.
The idea was so enticing that his cock threatened to react, but private fantasies aside, this place was dangerous for her, and both parts of Remi knew it wasn’t playtime. When Auden went to open the door to the basement, he shook his head, then took over. There was no lock or code, and the handle turned easily in his hand.
Beyond was a set of simple plascrete steps bathed in a clean white light that had come on automatically when the door opened.
“Stay up here,” he told Rina. “Watch our backs.”
She gave a curt nod and took a neutral stance with her back to the door.
Walking down, very conscious of Auden behind him, Remi found himself in a space used for storage. Everything was stacked neatly on metal shelving, each bin or storage box labeled with a black marker. Boxes of nutrient packets, flat packs of furniture, items used for household maintenance; there was nothing unusual about the goods.
And yet…
The hairs on his nape prickled, his leopard at the surface of his mind as he used all of the animal’s senses to try and understand his reaction. Slowly walking the perimeter of the room, he checked the walls, but sensed no hollows, and the basement area was the right size for the footprint of the house.