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.

“So what were those fire-things,” he asked from inside the sealed compartment, “and what the blazes did they do to me?”

“I’ll put your lackluster pun down to fatigue,” she replied, manipulating the sensor controls. “From the scans the ship’s automated systems ran during the fight, they seemed to be some kind of self-directed, high-energy plasma field. Autonomous, but not very intelligent—along the lines of a sophisticated virus or rudimentary AI. What the local spell-hurlers might call a ‘fire elemental.’”

“Elemental? What’s next? Wood sprites? How deep did they get into me?”

“To the drain at the bottom of the deep end. That power-sucking sword of yours didn’t help. They saturated your neural tissues, hemoglobin, endocrine system, your cells, into the nuclei in places. After that, they disintegrated. I don’t see any trace of the intact fields anymore.”

“So what did they do?”

“Nothing the god of biomechanics wouldn’t let you into heaven for. There’s no obvious damage, though you may run a little hotter than usual for a while.”

“A little hotter?”

“You 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 don’t get too close to the fusion generator.”

“Great. If we’re lucky, you guys’ll be able to roast marshmallows over me.”

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.

“I’m glad you’re treating your situation with the alarm it warrants,” she said as she downloaded Zeke’s 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.

“What’s that for?” he asked.

“Upgrades to our blood-borne nanobots. You’re 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. Now—you wanna tell me what this moping’s all about?”

“Where do I start?”

“How about the perplexed mug I saw on you when I came to the flight deck?”

“Oh, that.” He stood and paced the width of the med bay. “I think I might be losing my girlfriend to the navigation interface is all.”

“It wouldn’t be the most absurd reason you’ve lost a woman,” she said.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.