Page 55 of Bound (Gladiators of the Gryn #3)
CHRISSIE
“The tech.” I stumble over the words as we land amongst the falling debris. “It’s…gone?”
Rych checks me over, cupping my chin with his huge hand. “Gone?”
“I can’t…feel it, like I feel you.”
The song of the lab, of the Drahon base, has been replaced by something more general, larger, more like a city. But what was down there in the lab is no more.
“There was a self destruct?”
I think for an instant, trying to recall all the music I heard from all the tech. Was there a song about ending everything?
“Maybe. I can’t be sure, not now it’s all been destroyed.”
Klynn lands beside us, holding up Maxym.
“We need to get him to the dome medics,” he says without emotion. “He’s taken some damage to his head.”
Blood drips from Maxym’s downturned face onto the ground.
“Vrex,” Rych growls, carefully lifting his head up.
Maxym’s eyes are closed and his face pale.
There’s a hum from overhead, and the transport Rych and I used earlier swoops past and lands. Both Klynn and Rych flare their wings as the door opens. But no one gets out.
“Come on.” I hurry into the transport.
Between them, Rych and Klynn get Maxym inside and we rise up over the destroyed base, the plume of smoke billowing out.
“How did this get to us?” Rych says as we turn in the direction of the dome.
“I, er, wished it were closer. I guess as it has my DNA signature from earlier, I can control it,” I respond hesitantly.
Rych studies me, and as much as I want to know what he’s thinking, as much as I could know, I don’t want to find out. I don’t want to discover he thinks I’m a freak. It was bad enough being the sick human, without now being some sort of robo-human.
“You amaze me every nova-second of every nova-day, my little spark,” he says, dipping his head and pressing a kiss to my lips.
My body relaxes and for the first time in a long time, there is no pain, no aches, nothing except Rych and me and this kiss.
“But I think this new talent of yours is something which might make you desirable to others,” he says, “and that’s not something I will allow.”
“Because I can control tech?”
“Because potentially you can control all tech. Like the virus would have been able to do. Perhaps it might have been better if you had not survived the base explosion.” He raises his eyebrows.
“Oh? Oh!” I get his meaning as Klynn gives me a brief, terrifying smile. “So what do we do?”
“Other than Fenek and Gytha, no one else needs to know you live. The dome doesn’t know what or who you are. We can stay there until I can arrange passage off Trefa,” Rych says quickly.
I feel his hesitance, his concern down the thoughtbond, and I push back.
Just as long as I’m with you.
A smile fills his face, and it’s as if his heart starts beating again. I guess the thoughtbond is going to take some getting used to on both sides.
As is my understanding of what I can do with tech.
The transport swings around the dome, and Rych takes the controls to pilot the thing down in front of a pair of huge doors. They open inwards, and we are in a large steel courtyard.
Klynn is already out, bellowing for medics, Maxym draped over his shoulder.
“Wait here and activate the privacy screen,” Rych says. “I have to speak with the procurator.”
He’s out of the transport in a flash, the door closing behind him as I watch the Zarvu guards milling around, uninterested in what the Gryn are up to or the small transport in their midst. A few play a game of chance on a makeshift table. Some sit around sniffing from small vials of a mild narcotic which is sanctioned for general use. One kicks a rock and the sight of the huge horned creature dribbling the stone like a soccer ball nearly makes me laugh out loud.
Then, as one, they all suddenly straighten, and I see Rych, along with a huge Xnosson bull, heading to the transport.
I sit back in a corner out of sight, activating the door as he approaches.
“The procurator has released your credits, along with Blayn’s,” the big bull says. “Something he should have done some time ago, but I suspect the visit from the resistance may have had something to do with it.”
Rych looks down at the credit chip in his hand, but I already know it is loaded with a considerable fortune as its stream of ones and zeros sings to me.
“I need to know about Maxym. We…I mean…I will be staying at the Pompas for a few nova-days, until I know how he is.”
The Xnosson claps Rych on the shoulder. “I’ll keep you informed. He’s a tough one. Destined to die in the dome rather than out of it. He’ll survive.”
“Thank you, captain,” Rych says, ducking inside the transport and looking around for me.
Not subtle .
I push the words down the bond, and he does a terrible impression of being nonchalant.
“I’ll be going now,” he adds, louder than necessary.
Yep, the thoughtbond is going to take some getting used to.
The Xnosson steps away from the transport as Rych takes the controls. The huge doors open and in no time we’re up in the air, flying towards the spaceport.
“How is Maxym?” I ask.
“He took a blow to the head. Given how thick his is, I’m surprised it did any damage,” Rych says, but his emotions whirl despite the words. “He’s with the medics. They’ll fix him up. They always do.”
“And the Pompas?” I ask, sitting beside him.
“You’ve never heard of the Pompas?” Rych grins at me. I shake my head. “There is no dome for you, I can finally treat my mate to what she deserves.”