Rising Tomorrow (Roc de Chere Book 1) by Mariana Morgan (essential reading txt) 📕

‘Sarge.’ Gonzalez turned to look at Atkins. ‘It will be up to you to monitor the situation. I want you ready to unplug both of us at my order.’

‘Yessir…’ the younger man replied automatically, but it was clear his mind was on something else. ‘What if things happen too fast and you can’t give an order?’

‘That’s a risk we’ll have to take. You will not try to play the mind reader and decide for yourself when the shit is hitting the fan. You will not disconnect us when it looks like things are going wrong. You will wait until I order you to do so. Understood, Sarge? You won’t be able to see what’s happening, and spikes of adrenaline and other chemicals you can monitor via our BCCs often look much scarier when you don’t know what is causing them.’

The younger man nodded his agreement.

‘I’m going to leave instructions for you should the worst happen. People at the MIS to contact. Things to do. But the worst will not happen. If anyone can manipulate a VR enviro in real time, it’s Ms Moretti. I’m not going to waste this opportunity. Especially since we’re out of options.’

And Aisha might still be alive, Gonzalez didn’t add out loud. They would want her alive. The temptation to interrogate her would have been irresistible. And if I’m right about this, they would have had to give her some nano-meds to stabilise her condition. The drugs have had a few hours to act now. If we can release her from wherever they’ve locked her up, she could play merry hell with those bastards while Eloise holds the security system in check.

***

Back in her sleeping compartment, Eloise peeled the armour off her body, her fingers automatically slapping the right buttons to begin maintenance mode. It wasn’t as good as doing it manually, and she was sure Gonzalez’s precious military had better standards than that, but for the time being it had to be enough. She had other, important things on her mind.

She walked to the shower, noticing the stiffness in her knees now that the armour wasn’t supporting her joints. Both her knees were swollen and one was badly bruised, showing an impressive array of colours given that the fall had happened barely a few hours earlier.

There were more signs of wear on her body and she paused in front of a mirror, giving herself a judicious look. The armour protected her skin from dirt and bloody scrapes, but it couldn’t take away the sunken look on her face or the dark circles around her eyes. She was always lean, but now her body looked almost haggard, hollow even, as if the stress were waging a war against her and winning at an astounding speed.

‘Which it most certainly is,’ she said. She touched her face and was surprised at how alien the sensation felt. She let her hands explore her body, giving the bruise on her shoulder, probably from when she had fallen in the cockpit of the Hippogryph, a probing squeeze.

How odd. It looked no different than the bruises she used to get from her martial arts VRPs, but it felt alien. What used to be a simple, unavoidable consequence of her hobby that kept her fit and trim had become a sign of suffering and panic. Instead of feeling proud of her achievements, she felt drained by how sore she was. It wasn’t a well-aimed VR kick that had tenderised her muscle; now the bones were bruised as well, and it just felt wrong.

Her hands explored more, sliding across her pale skin, working all the gentle curves her small breasts and narrow hips offered, finding every little bruise and mark. It all hurt, and yet she felt so dead at the same time.

‘Enough!’ she told herself sternly, pulling her attention away from the mirror and stepping into the cramped shower cubicle. ‘If it bothers you, take some painkillers. If it doesn’t bother you, ignore it. Some things do not change.’

Other things changed a lot. Eloise didn’t even notice the water wasn’t her usual preferred scalding hot. All that mattered was that it was wet and rinsed the sweat away.

CHAPTER 52

Roc de Chere

Lac d’Annecy

Afro-European Alliance

Thursday 30 April 2725

DAY 11

Half an hour later Eloise felt substantially more human. She was in clean clothes, with a full stomach and a bloodstream filled up with stims. She needed focus and clarity of mind, and not even Tilly had objected to her abuse of nano-stims this time. Or maybe she had tried, but Gonzalez had warned her to shut the hell up. Either way, she seemed to be mollycoddling Eloise less, which suited the Elite woman just fine.

‘Can I help?’ Gonzalez asked, settling down next to Eloise. Sergeant Atkins was in the next lab, already busy performing some task Eloise had entrusted him with.

‘Not at this stage. Tilly has a simulation to run, and we shouldn’t tax her program while she’s at it, so there isn’t much to do for the next few minutes. Then we will need to know how much power this place has available. Your Sergeant Atkins is already on it.’

‘And then?’

‘And then I perform my magic.’

Gonzalez nodded. He wasn’t used to having someone else do the computer work, to being a mere passenger, but he had no choice but to recognise his limits. Even if it meant that the best he could do right now was refill the coffee cups.

‘Who’s Andy?’ Eloise asked, turning her chair to face him. ‘Ingram said, “Take care of my Andy.”’

Gonzalez inhaled sharply. His eyes travelled to the hunched shape of Atkins and the transparent, soundproof layer of nano-crystal that divided them. The door was closed.

‘Her son,’ Gonzalez replied. ‘Andreas Ortega. Andy. He will be thirty-two years old now. Married and with a family of his own.’

Eloise blinked. ‘I had no idea Ingram had a child… She was, what, seventeen when she had him?’

‘Sixteen. She was sixteen. The charity nurse that delivered him offered to