“Gusin, prep the room next to mine.”His familiar face… No, his voice might put her at ease.
“Why?”
Nenn scowled, unable to explain the need to have her near.“Just do it.”
Drafe angled his head, no doubt catching Nenn’s instruction but said nothing to gainsay him.Down ladders Vic took them until she stopped in front of a door.She pushed the lever, bending it in half.
Nenn froze in disbelief.How had she… He tested the solid metal bar.With those scars, she had to have implants.Studying their placement would reveal what had been stripped from the dead female.
Vic’s scowl had Drafe laughing.“I am not trying,” he said, throwing up his hands.
Nenn squeezed her arm.“Foq, Vic, I need to take a look at you when we return toAroagni.”
She shook off his touch and raised her chin to the ceiling.“Computer, unlock this door.”
It thunked, leaving a gap.Drafe and Caah teamed up to peel it open.
Despite the stale air, the heat pouring over Nenn made him smile.
Along the passage, Drafe sprinted from door to door until he stopped at the fourth one.He spun the wheel and yanked on the door.His expression darkened.
Nenn peered around him at the gray pods stamped with a red symbol—just like the one they’d investigated on Ceres.
At the evidence, Vic rasped, “Find the prisoners.”
Nenn hurried along the passage, Caah with him.They took turns peering through portholes to the contents in the rooms.Caah stiffened then gestured to Nenn to look.Many human faces filled his line of vision.
“Found them,” Caah said, touching his implant.
Drafe and Vic nudged them aside to peek through the circular window.
“Farg,” Vic moaned, stepping back.
Caah gripped the wheel and spun it, the whir deafening in the silence.
As soon as he swung it wide enough, someone called out, “Who are you?”
“Victorious?”a woman gasped, staggering forward to grab Vic’s hand.Her bedraggled garments hung on her, many sizes too big.“Did Carne send you to save us?”
The stench of piss and sweat burned Nenn’s nostrils, but as a medic, he’d been trained to shut off any distracting sense.He did so now.Though, his fingers twitched with the urge to remove his med-dev to heal those with obvious injuries.
“Carne?”Vic stroked the red symbol on the woman’s sleeve then sank to the floor.“No, I’m not their favorite person; neither are you.They’re using you to test augmentations on, then when they’re done with your body, they’ll jettison you into space in an explosive pod.”
“No,” a few muttered.
“I knew it,” others said.
“Pods?Explosions?”A man limped toward them.
Drafe sidled along the wall, keeping himself between the stranger and Vic, who jumped up to squeeze the older man’s arm.
“Yes,” she said.“We located the medical facility they’re taking you to.Computer, patch me through to Tiny.”
“Patched through,” the monotone feminine voice said.
Vic glanced at the ceiling.“Tiny, we found them.”
“Tiny can’t help you, bitch,” a female said, hatred in her tone.
