The Deadly Analogues: Book Two of The Slagmaster Cycles by C. H. Duryea
Author:C. H. Duryea [Duryea, C. H.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-10-22T16:00:00+00:00
Zeke lay on the MediMech bed, stripped to the shorts; slender, articulated arms with all manner of needles, sensors, and projectors moved up and down the length of his body. The doctoring he needed after the last few days, while extensive, was mostly routine, and the machine was capable of handling the work itself. But Narissa stood by the unit, studying the console display regardless. Not because she lacked confidence in the MediMech, but when bringing something unknown to the robot, a set of human eyes on the data was generally warranted.
âSo what were those fire-things,â he asked from inside the sealed compartment, âand what the blazes did they do to me?â
âIâll put your lackluster pun down to fatigue,â she replied, manipulating the sensor controls. âFrom the scans the shipâs automated systems ran during the fight, they seemed to be some kind of self-directed, high-energy plasma field. Autonomous, but not very intelligentâalong the lines of a sophisticated virus or rudimentary AI. What the local spell-hurlers might call a âfire elemental.ââ
âElemental? Whatâs next? Wood sprites? How deep did they get into me?â
âTo the drain at the bottom of the deep end. That power-sucking sword of yours didnât help. They saturated your neural tissues, hemoglobin, endocrine system, your cells, into the nuclei in places. After that, they disintegrated. I donât see any trace of the intact fields anymore.â
âSo what did they do?â
âNothing the god of biomechanics wouldnât let you into heaven for. Thereâs no obvious damage, though you may run a little hotter than usual for a while.â
âA little hotter?â
âYou could self-immolate just by thinking about it. We need to find out more. In the interim, drink plenty of fluids and think cool thoughts. And donât get too close to the fusion generator.â
âGreat. If weâre lucky, you guysâll be able to roast marshmallows over me.â
Narissa punched the release on the compartment door. It pulled open with a quiet hiss, and Zeke sat up on the edge of the pod.
âIâm glad youâre treating your situation with the alarm it warrants,â she said as she downloaded Zekeâs scans to a data cube. She secured the block in a cabinet, with a row of others Zeke assumed represented the rest of the crew. She then produced a small injector and gave him a perfunctory shot in the neck.
âWhatâs that for?â he asked.
âUpgrades to our blood-borne nanobots. Youâre the last one. Our Alliance friends used their hybrid mojo and our biometallium stores to make our hyperoxygenated smart blood even smarter. It can keep you alive in total vacuum for a couple of hours. And the biometal will fortify your cell membranes to prevent you from busting for the duration. Nowâyou wanna tell me what this mopingâs all about?â
âWhere do I start?â
âHow about the perplexed mug I saw on you when I came to the flight deck?â
âOh, that.â He stood and paced the width of the med bay. âI think I might be losing my girlfriend to the navigation interface is all.â
âIt wouldnât be the most absurd reason youâve lost a woman,â she said.
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