Quantum Cultivation by Jace Kang (simple e reader TXT) 📕

to cut all four connections, then jam the sockets before Level Six Repairers re-established the link. Enlisting Ai would make it almost possible, except that would slow the file copying down.

Aya would just have to do it fast.

With a flick of her wrist, the link termination code appeared as a blade in her hand. With a sweep of her other hand, a plug formed in her palm. She went to the first cable and slashed it.

Alarms blared.

Shit.

She’d missed the idle Level Seven Sentinel hiding inside the cable.

It lumbered to life, the computing needs of its complex code necessitating the shutting down of non-critical systems onboard. It would decompile her Plug in a fraction of a blink of an eye, and emerge from the port any moment now. If she didn’t get out of here fast, it would rip her Avatar’s code apart, and possibly use her digital fingerprints to track her back to her EtherSpace.  MoD coders might even be able to break through the firewall.

She turned and ran back toward the library.

“Ai, status.”

Files seventy-three percent copied, Ai’s chirpy voice sounded in her head.

That would have to do. Even now, the Sentinel’s footsteps started to thud on the wooden floors in the virtual halls of the carrier’s EtherSpace, coming closer.

She reached the library. Red lights blinked on and off, and an alarm bell went off. Up ahead, near another datalink port, a second Level Seven Sentinel emerged. The ambient light and several of the books representing data went dark as the Sentinel’s code drew more power from the craft.

Her interface didn’t distinguish it from a Peacekeeper Level Seven Sentinel, so it looked like a ferocious dragon. Razor-sharp claws could decompile her Avatar code down to Level Five, or even Level Four; its jaws could destroy the code altogether, and leave her a slobbering invalid in the real world. If she’d had a heart in the EtherCloud, it would be racing now.

The Sentinel would be able to see past her Shell, so she shut it down and activated her stealth program. That app would help her code mingle with the EtherSpace’s background. However, with her stealth rated only Level Six, she’d be at a disadvantage against its sensors.

She crept behind into a new row of books and slunk along the shelves toward the datalink to the shocktroopers. Once actual humans realized what was going on, they’d shut those links down, trapping her in here indefinitely, but they were still limited by their perception of real time.

The roar near the library entrance announced the arrival of the first Sentinel.  At the far end of the structure, a third Sentinel came to life. Once their search subroutines took effect, they’d systematically root her out.

“Ai, go ahead of me and transfer the files, I’ll create a diversion.”

Understood. The little fox spirit zipped toward the shocktroopers’ datalink.

This might be a painful mistake. Perhaps a fatal one. Right now, though, it sounded as if the Sentinels had begun their coordinated search. If they weren’t so high level, she’d use her Clone app to distract them; but they’d see right through it.  Disengaging her Stealth programs, she moved away from the datalink and back toward the entrance to the library.

To the left, a dragon roared and locked its gaze on her. Other roars answered to the right and behind, and the two other dragons flapped up above the bookshelves and into her line of sight.

Which meant she was now in their line of sight, as well.

They surged toward her, unbelievably fast.

She turned and darted down one row, then turned into a side passage, then continued two rows down. Still, they had the advantage of being able to fly above them all.

Once line of sight was broken, she re-activated Stealth and deployed a Clone. If it fooled them at all, it wouldn’t be for very long, so she dashed toward the datalink.

They roared, back where she’d left her Clone. That bought her a precious split second, and she sped toward the datalink.

She was almost there, and would be home free, no damage.

A claw clamped around her virtual ankle. Pain flared there, real as if she’d slashed her leg. She dared not look back, but reached for the portal. Her fingers wrapped around the threshold, just as the Sentinel’s jaws ripped through her.

A defensive layer of her code decompiled first, followed by some of her tools for penetrating security, then two of her Clones. The Sixth Level Sentinel Shell disintegrated.

One Level of code, destroyed, and every nerve in the real world fired. Her Avatar’s remnant code wriggled through the opening, then zipped through the line to the tear she’d made in the link.

She opened her eyes to find herself screaming. Head foggy from the shift to real time, she was lying down, and Siena loomed over her, brushing back her hair.

“Are you all right?” the Elestrae asked.

Aya’s chest heaved as she tried to draw in breaths. All her nerves were seared from the damage inflicted on her Avatar in the EtherCloud. When she could think clearly, she would have to see if they’d captured enough of her code to analyze and track down her identity.

Siena sang several unintelligible but beautiful sounds, then placed her hands over Aya’s heart.

A calm cool settled over her, and the pain subsided.

“Does that feel better?” the Elestrae asked.

Did it? Aya focused on her arms and legs, and neither hurt. She nodded.

Siena straightened, revealing Kentaro behind her.

Worry was scrawled over his features. “What happened?”

Too much. Internally, she ordered her AI, Ai, run a diagnostic on my Avatar. Here, in the real world, her heart squeezed tightly at having lost even some of her code. Maybe the backup files would help restore some of it, but oftentimes a scuffle with Sentinels led to permanent damage, in which case