The Astral Hacker (Cryptopunk Revolution Book 1) Brian Terenna (best novels to read to improve english txt) 📖

Hell, that was tense. I feel burned out just watching it.

Gabriel stalks away to a few of his fellow Knights. Americus wanders off, shaking his head. I walk over to Sunny, who’s across from Weird Tom again, finishing his chess game.

“Hello, Fae,” says Sunny. “Did you know that Thomas was a class A chess tournament player and a professional poker player?”

His statement is so out of sync with what I just went through that I nearly laugh. It’s times like this that I remember Sunny isn’t like humans. “I didn’t. Sorry to interrupt, but can I talk to you, Sunny?”

Sunny stands. “Do you mind if we finish this game later, Thomas?”

Tom scratches his bushy beard and fixes his hard eyes on me. “That’s fine. Anytime Sunny.”

A shiver runs through me, and we leave for our room. “Why are you hanging out with him?”

“Just for someone to talk to and play games with.”

“He’s so strange, though,” I say. “He looks like a big-time creep.”

“He’s been pleasant to me.”

I guess I shouldn’t stand in the way if Sunny is happy, but I wish he decided to connect with someone else. “It’s fine. Just don’t tell him anything about me.”

“You know that I am always thinking about protecting you. You don’t have to worry.”

We reach the room and sit together on the mattress.

“I can’t believe that Astrid was beaten up so bad,” I say. “She would have died if not for me.”

Sunny frowns. “It’s strange to think about death. Ever since Barbra died, I can’t get the idea of mortality off my neural net.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Fae, you have to take me every time you go somewhere from now on.”

I wring my hands. “It’s too dangerous.”

“That’s why you need to take me. You’d already be dead if I wasn’t around two other times.”

Nav enters the room and sits next to me on the bed, her hair tied back in a bright pink headband. The sweet smell of her jasmine perfume floats around me, contrasting with the pistol that rests in a holster at her hip.

A dark memory of screams and gunshots flashes before me. My heart is thumping, my mind whirling. Fists crash into Astrid’s head, spraying blood on stray trash.

We should have left a scout outside or at least someone watching the door from inside. The rest of us should have stayed in close formation behind cover as much as possible. I sigh. Who could have expected this, though? “Sunny, do you mind if I talk to Nav alone?”

“It doesn’t bother me.” He walks to the corner and enters sleep mode.

“I’m glad you’re back,” I say.

“Are you okay? Americus just filled me in,” says Nav.

I shake my head and sigh, remembering the thug’s hand on me. “It was…not easy.”

She hugs me, her arms wrapping me in a feeling of warmth and security. “Seriously, though…are you all right?”

I tell her what happened.

Her jaw drops. “You can hack the Evo? That’s amazing.”

I shrug, unable to reveal that I had my pre-coded Evo hacking program and only needed to make a few changes. “I was almost too slow. I need to be the best. It’s the only way I can be safe and keep everyone else alive.”

“If you can hack the Evo, you’re one of the greatest hackers of all time. This isn’t your fault.” She wraps her human arm around me.

For some reason, her compassion brings all of my painful emotions to the surface. It would be so easy to break down now. But no. I won’t break. The fires of hell scorched me raw for years. I can take anything. “I can’t imagine walking into the training room and never seeing Astrid lifting weights or kissing Yumi again. It was so close.”

“I know what you mean. Wait, kissing Yumi?”

“You didn’t know?” I ask.

“No. Oh my God. I feel so bad for both of them. I’ll have to see what I can do to help.”

I stare off for a minute. “I can’t believe I killed people.”

Nav pulls back and looks me in the eyes. “Listen to me. I care about people more than most, but if you had to kill to survive, then you had to kill. If I have to kill to save you or Sunny, I will too.”

She’s right. I did what I had to. “We need to be more prepared when we leave the base. We should act like we’re in Silent City. This is war.”

“I’m with you on that. Remember to speak up if you have something to say.”

“I will.” As long as Nav is at my side, there’s hope. “I got you something.” I reach behind the mattress and hand her the coconut oil.

“Oh my God, this is so nice. I didn’t know what I was going to do for moisturizer.”

“Now you can be as smooth as ever,” I say.

“You’re the best. Oh, and I meant to tell you, your muscles are filling out. I noticed when we hugged.”

Still not strong enough, though.

“Let’s talk about better things. Fun things,” says Nav.

I could use a break from my tortured mind.

“Speaking of fun things, are you sure you’re not into Alexander? I noticed you checking him out again before you left to get food.”

My face heats, and I look down. “He’s so skinny.” An image of his muscular abs pops into my mind. Maybe not that skinny. “He’s also so full of himself. And too reckless.”

“Sure,” she says with a long drawl. “What do you think about Brandon?”

I know she’s at least a little interested in him, so I don’t want to be too harsh. “I don’t know. Alexander said he was a player, and I see him flirting with some of the girls.”

“I’m not sure about that either, or