Page 40

“Somware else?”

“Yes.”

“Ware?”

Without answering, he took the box of healing items in one blue hand then picked her up like the times before, watching her face grow red and her body tense up. She didn’t feel comfortable being in his grasp, but she didn’t protest which was a start. He carried her through the hidden passage and turned for the first door on the right. Kicking it open, he took a stairway going straight up before breaking out into a single circular room. It wasn’t nearly as impressive as the room below full of his things, which could be seen through a dark window to one side. It was more open here with less clutter. There were machines attached to screens along two walls with a half-circle console at the back.

Dani made some kind of sound like the one she made in the plant room. A cry of delight. He set her down and sherushed over to one of the machines with its screen. “Sekuritee monitoors,” she said. “Du they werk?” She pressed a few buttons and the machine sprang to life, one screen turning on.

She wanted to see outside. He moved beside her and pressed a few keys on the console to bring up more images. He’d figured out the system some time ago, realizing it used mechanical eyes to watch over various parts of the city. He used it sparingly. One, because he knew the city by heart and two, because it was a much more thrilling challenge not to know what was lurking nearby. He preferred to use his other senses to track things than watch them on the screens.

“Reesurch sekter!” Dani cried when he showed the various districts. He tapped on the keys and brought up the labs.

Right away he saw one passage infested with insects. In another a looming shadow walked past, and he could only guess whether it was one of the rogue bots that was keeping the area secure or something else that liked to call that place home.

To him, it would be a delightful game to destroy the bots or hunt whatever creature lurked down there and make it wish it had never set eyes on him. But he had to think of her. His feisty little companion. She would be vulnerable there.

Dani made another sound of surprise and pointed at the screen.

Two of her crewmen were inside a room not unlike the one he and Dani were in now, only it had a central monitor and several other odd machines. A room he didn’t recognize. One was checking their weapon while sitting near a barricaded door, the other was drinking from a canteen. They appeared to be in good condition and didn’t look frantic. If anything, they seemed to be waiting. He was willing to bet they knew about the storm and what they may encounter outside.

Dani whispered something and he caught her wiping her eyes. Did all of her kind have watery eyes when they were stressed? Poor thing.

“Thay arr o-kay,” she said. “But shood go soon. Yes?”

He went over to the room’s center. Crouching down, he flipped a switch on the ground, and the floor opened, revealing a shallow pit below. The pit was empty save for a blanket piled up in one corner.

Kryxis set the healing kit down and jumped inside to rearrange the blanket so that it lay covering most of the ground. “Come, Dani.”

Dani looked over as he gestured to the pit. She made a funny face. Then she made that giggling sound that he understood to be laughter.

“No,” she said in her sweet little voice. “No wey.”

He sighed. Why must she refuse him? One moment she seemed to trust and then the next…

“Safe in here,” he hissed.

She didn’t look too convinced. “With yu?”

He tapped his tail impatiently. “Yessss, with me,” he said in her tongue.

She crossed her arms and looked worried again. Then mumbled something he almost didn’t catch but knew he heard the word “eat” and “me” in there followed by a question.

Now he was annoyed. “I swore I wouldn’t.”

Her brows rose. He wasn’t sure what to make of it. She tapped at her head then said something followed by “Yu change miined?”

She thought he would go back on his word. So suspicious of him.

“I will not. I will be nice.”

Her eyes flicked down to the pit. She shuffled closer and peered down. “Thiss ware yu sleep?” She laid her face on her hand. “Yu rest here?”

“Yes,” he answered. “It is nice. See?”

Her mouth perked up to one side. “Wood be weerd.”

He stared at her. “Weeerd?”