Shadows of Mars (Broken Stars Book 1) I.O. Adler (read people like a book TXT) 📖

do much about it. But here we have a chance, working with the Framework. With the harvester under our control, we have a say.”

Carmen clenched her jaw. “You mean leverage. You stole the Cordice ship. It doesn’t belong to you. Let the Cordice deal with it before you get the Melded and anyone else mad at us and our entire planet.”

“I know it’s a lot to process. You’re tired. After my first low orbit launch I slept for twelve hours. What I need is for you and Jenna to return ship authorization to me—”

The white light winked out.

Carmen waved her hand over the hologram console. “Mom, are you there?”

When it flashed back to life, Jenna spoke. “Car, it’s me. I was listening. But the Cordice just cut the channel. I can’t raise them.”

She Who Waits only had one of her red lights displayed. “According to the communication signature, it wasn’t the designate engineer but one of the other Cordice council leaders, designate not yet known, who severed your communication. I…please wait…I have new requests for service.”

The guard at the door hurried over. Said something in his metal voice and punctuated the order with his weapon. He was pointing it at She Who Waits.

“I am summoned,” she said, “and I cannot delay any longer.”

Carmen wanted to intervene but the Melded soldier didn’t look like he’d hesitate to fire.

Barrett stepped forward. He had been listening the whole time and hadn’t said a word. But now he addressed the soldier. “Hold on. Let me help you Melded. Take me to the Primary Executive and I can give him what he wants. He’s misread the situation.”

Carmen glared at him. “What are you doing?”

“Fixing this. You’re out of your depth.”

She Who Waits spoke with the guard.

Metal Voice replied to Barrett, the translation loud and clear: “What are you talking about, human? Repeat what you said.”

Carmen touched She Who Waits. “Don’t translate for him.”

Barrett shoved her and she stumbled to the floor. “Listen to me. If your boss wants the harvester, he doesn’t need Sylvia Vincent. Who he needs is his daughter Jenna and I can take you to her.”

As Carmen began to rise, Metal Voice wrapped a scintillating tentacle around her wrist. A jolt shot through her arm that made every part of her body tense up. She collapsed and the world faded to black.

Chapter Thirty-One

The pins and needles ran from head to toe, but the worst of it was an intense itch inside her nose and mouth. Carmen couldn’t move to rub her face of the irritant. She also couldn’t spit and felt as if she might choke if she swallowed. She had a mouthful of saliva that dribbled from her lips.

Voices around her, but none of them human. They all became a blur of sound. At least she could see well enough.

Barrett and She Who Waits were no longer in the audience chamber. Green Eye and Four Arms were back. Green Eye made a soft throat sound as he inspected her. He rolled her onto her back and kept her head propped up. Pressed something to her skin which beeped after a moment. He began fussing with a device while consulting a floating display.

What are you doing, she wanted to ask. Wanted to shove him away. Wanted to scream. But her throat and mouth remained paralyzed. What had Metal Voice done to her?

And where had Barrett gone?

At least she knew the answer to that one. He was handing them all over to the Melded Primary Executive, who would now know that it wasn’t Sylvia Vincent who controlled the Cordice harvester but her daughter Jenna.

She felt a sharp prick on her neck.

“Ow!”

Green Eye was putting away something the size of a thumb drive. He made an entry on the virtual screen, where a ghost outline of a humanoid hovered with body parts both colored and labeled.

The sensation on her skin was replaced by a steady itch. The tension in her throat eased and she managed to cough and spit. She surprised herself when she was able to scratch her nose and she took a moment to massage her mouth to rid it of the awful numbness.

“What did you do to me?”

Green Eye whipped up a pictograph and played it in a few different iterations, but the images told the story. A stick figure got a shock from a round figure, fell down, and was now sitting back up. Did Metal Voice hit her with a weapon or was it contact with his skin that had taken her out?

Whatever had happened, Green Eye had just reversed it.

She struggled to rise, but her legs wouldn’t cooperate. She leaned on the hologram console and managed to sit on it. Green Eye leaned in with a new gadget in hand but she slapped him away. He croaked amiably and put the device into his bag. Crusted blood gummed up the fur beneath his nose and mouth.

“Your boss…he’s not a nice one, is he?”

Four Arms clicked and Green Eye obediently collected his gear. Additional clicks followed, with more than a few of them directed at her.

She couldn’t manage a smile. “Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere.”

The guards took their post at the door. Carmen didn’t think any bluff was going to get her out. She scooched to the end of the console and stared at where the light would appear.

“Jenna? Can you hear me?”

But her sister didn’t reply. Carmen noticed a loose panel the size of an electrical outlet on the floor. Beneath it she found melted wires. The console was no longer warm.

The audience chamber was cut off. She had no way of talking to Jenna unless she could escape. But her every movement felt unsteady. The Melded had her mom’s body while her mind remained locked up in