Kyra’s body bent greatly, but it was enough to get her torso out and after that she was able to let gravity do the rest. Her bloody back shone in spots from where the protective metal sheathing beneath had been exposed, along with the stump just above her left elbow where her forearm had been blown off in the single good shot the sentry had made prior to her leaping upon it and physically bashing through its ample energy shields…something her small frame did not rate. At least not with the amount of organs she still had taking up torso space.

  Kyra ran over to the doors that would not open for her, but they didn’t have to. Nevantha had long prepared for this, and using a hack that he wasn’t supposed to be capable of, he shut down power to this section of the docking ring…meaning the door was no longer magnetically locked. The QuipNari slid her dull blade in between the seam and pried it open a sliver, then used her remaining fingers to wedge inside enough for her to pull.

  They were heavy. Really heavy. But it was simply a matter of physics and even with only one arm she retained enough strength to open them up wide enough to get one of her bare feet inside. Once that happened, her leverage increased to the point where she was able to smoothly pull the doors apart wide enough for her to slip through, which she did quickly as the sounds of movement in the hallway suggested something was approaching rapidly through the air, making for a very faint whistling sound that her enhanced ears were still capable of picking up…at least the left one. The right had been bashed enough that its sensitivity was gone, probably along with the microscopic implants that wouldn’t heal themselves.

  She was inside forbidden territory now. Not even the Architects had any power in here, for the umbilical she stood in was part of Nevantha and not the node…but he couldn’t access it. Nor could he access many other parts of his massive body, for the links between his Craniem and select components had been physically blocked, including his ability to command the thousands of drones on station to repair damage…or rather would be once he made them. His internal factories were offline, for even one of those drones could have cut through the blocks for him, and the Architects had made sure not to allow for that contingency.

  But Kyra was inside him now, and running down the long length of the umbilical as fast as she could, because with the gap in the doors behind her she could still get shot and there wasn’t much dodging capable inside the narrow corridor that was only 48 meters wide. At close range she could dance in that space, but at a distance she was sniper bait and she knew it.

  Weaving would do little to help and only increase her travel distance, so she ran at a straight shot towards the distant doors, getting only halfway there before she heard weaponsfire…but none got to her. She didn’t turn to look around, but her crude sensors detected an energy field popping up at a bulkhead she’d just passed, and it was intercepting the long range fire that would have burnt her down within seconds. The shield made it impossible for her to see what shooting at her, but it had to be another sentry.

  That meant she should be in the clear, as long as that shield held, and it did all the way up to the main access doors that slid open silently before her as her cyborg frame ran inside the dark confines of the living ship. Lights snapped on for her as she progressed, leading to a lift that likewise opened for her. Kyra decelerated as she entered, then bounced off the far wall as her foot tripped on something that was not there.

  The stump of her left arm caught on the wall and kept her from falling as the doors closed and the lift began to move. Kyra looked down and saw nothing wrong with her foot other than the missing skin on the bottom, nor was there anything on the floor. It must have been a navigational glitch.

  She ran a quick diagnostic of the implants in her head, finding that they were functioning properly, but when she ran some simulations the glitch returned once out of every 1044 times. Something had been damaged, something small enough not to be detectible, and it was making her trip herself over objects that weren’t really there.

  When the lift opened she ran out, tripping again and falling on her face only to roll out of it and get back up. She made an alteration to her run path to accommodate for inefficiencies, so when it happened again 12 seconds later she was able to stumble and catch herself without hitting the floor, allowing her to continue to move as she realized this was not damage related. Somehow they’d gotten a virus into her. Perhaps from the physical contact with the last sentry. Nevantha’s download didn’t mention anything about that, and it was unlikely that he wouldn’t have known, but it was there none the less, with some of her physical components registering the conflict between her computational systems and her biological balance.

  They were beginning to disagree with each other, hence the tripping. Kyra used a command she thought she’d never need and deactivated her navigational program, expecting it to only get worse as the virus scaled. Her legs switched from fully ‘feeling’ to basic accommodation, making her running movement very tight and restrictive. She also couldn’t feel her feet hitting the ground, making it seem like she was walking on stilts as her hip joints did all the work. He single arm swing was also biological only, as it now hung limp beside her.

  It was the only way to keep moving, but without the assistance her body was having to make all the muscle adjustments for balance whereas her mechanical parts had been doing likewise previously to reduce stress on her organics. Kyra couldn't run any longer and slowed to a walk, but she continued to move on through the interior of the Elloquim until she came to a large chamber that was in truth a kill zone. Weapons imbedded into the walls were ready to pop out and destroy her if needed, but none of them moved…nor could they, for such internal security systems were also blocked from Nevantha’s use, which was insulting. He couldn’t even protect himself from harm within the node, though he and the others had found many workarounds going through the Dominion, but none that worked inside his own body.

  Nevantha couldn’t even talk to her, for his transmitters were down. She’d known that from the beginning, but being inside him was supposed to mean she was safe…yet she wasn’t. Her auditory sensors that were still working began picking up weaponsfire somewhere far away, and that was when she realized someone was inside and fighting what control he did have to get to her. His shielding, however he had managed it, was not offensive, so perhaps he was able to work around the primary block there…or maybe they’d left it up on purpose. But without any offensive internal defenses someone could fight their way through if they had the time…and it sounded like they were closing in on her far too rapidly.

  Kyra did the best she could to keep a steady pace, but she’d never relied on her biological components this much before and felt not only clunky, but like she was near to passing out even though her legs were supporting themselves mechanically. Her muscles simply had to direct their movement for the most part, with her butt being the primary problem at the moment. Those muscles were not fully replaced by mechanism, particularly the lateral movement, and it felt far warmer than it should, which was due to the blood flow increasing to refuel the biological components that could not maintain this level of strain.

  But the lift had done the hard part and got her across the interior of Nevantha. She only had another few hundred meters to walk, and when she got to the center of the kill zone one of the doors opened before her, allowing her access to a sort of air lock. The door sealed behind her, cutting out the sounds of weaponsfire, and the door in front of her opened…but not before a loud thud hit the door behind her, quickly followed by several more that began turning the dark blue material into a cherry red glow.

  Kyra didn’t look back with her eyes, she needed them to keep her balance as she walked forward two steps, then pivoted and headed to the right along an obstructed circular path with many conduits branching out. They would have been easy to get by in the past, but she was forced to get down on her belly and crawl to avoid tripping or hitting them waist high.

  To her left was Nevantha’s Craniem. A place no person would ever have been allowed after his integration. He was the most vulnerable here, and while his Essence had extended out into the rest of the ship, this was his brain. There were no organic components, for he’d transcended them, but a brain it still was, the size of her scout ship, and that wasn’t counting all the auxiliary computers he also was linked into. But this was the center of his being, and him letting her in here was a testament to how desperate he was to get free.

  Kyra kept moving, pulling herself inch by inch and having to learn the movements as she went. She had two legs, an intact arm, and the stump of the other to wiggle her way over the leg-thick cable lines crossing the floor as she made her way around the curve as another energy shield flicked into place behind her. They must have burned through the outer door by now, or be getting close. One more door and they’d be in here. She just hoped this energy shield was more robust given the location, and assumed it would be, but then again she didn’t know how a sentry could get by the other one, or even a group of them. An Elloquim should be far more resilient than that.

  Kyra couldn’t think about that much, for her focus was on making her body move in ways it wasn’t used to, but a few seconds later she found her final waypoint glowing overlaid in her vision. The block itself was no larger than half a meter wide, and made of a material that would easily melt. She saw the heat laser situated just above it that could be activated if and when the Architects decided to release the Elloquim to do their duty and fight the Hadarak. Until such time their aggression must be contained, else they might go too soon, and all had to wait until Eldorat informed them that victory was finally possible.

  Standing up was easier than she thought with the help of so many conduits for handholds, bringing her face up next to the laser. Its components were not complicated, almost insulting in tech level to everything else around her. Kyra used her remaining hand and set her commands to visual, because she couldn’t trust to use her guidance programs if they were compromised. She would have to manually order her finger movements by sight, and doing so in precise fashion was going to be difficult.

  A burning sound so loud it hurt her ears elicited behind her, and she knew they were burning through the second door. Kyra pulled the cover off the laser, having to bend some of the paneling to do so, then she slid her hand inside and looked for the control crystal. Her sense of touch was almost nonexistent without her navigational program, but fortunately it wasn’t hiding very well. She grabbed it and crushed it between her fingers, glad she didn’t have to be precise about that movement.

  That took out the override from the Architects. Now she just had to turn it on.

  She felt around for the primary activation circuits, and when she found them she peeled back the tip of her fingers, underneath which were very sensitive fibers that moved on their own. She was glad for that, for all Kyra had to do was command them to ‘connect’ and they did so, linking the laser into her own command structure. Inside her mind a new button formed with only one command.

  On/Off.

  She turned it on and the laser activated, with the plug beginning to melt instantly, but there was so much mass to it that the little rivulets of material running down and landing on the floor where they quickly solidified were going to take longer to melt through this thing than she guessed the door would hold.

  Kyra pulled her hand out and let the laser continue to fire, then she extracted the blade from her wrist and jabbed it into the material nearby the laser impact point, finding it wouldn’t even scratch it. She tried again closer and closer until she found material soft enough for it to slide into, then she began cutting out a trench alongside the melting line, from which she kicked out chunks that allowed the laser to dive deeper.

  She dug and dug and dug, then the door finally cracked and a loud explosion hit the internal energy shield protecting Nevantha’s Craniem. Kyra couldn’t see it around the curve, but it wouldn’t matter if they shot her or not. All they had to do was shoot his Craniem and he’d be done for.

  Kyra kept cutting, sawing back and forth without getting her blade too close to the beam, for it would weaken it if she did, and if she held it under the beam it would eventually melt right through it as well, but they didn’t have the time for any of that. She had to get this plug removed now.

  The laser and her blade kept trading leads as they got through most of it, with the pile of molten material now rising up to almost the base of it when the two halves sagged together slightly, eclipsing the cut and making the laser start cutting material at the top all over again.

  “No,” Kyra said, pulling her blade out and forcing her body underneath the plug. She pushed upward, forcing the two halves apart so the laser could reach the bottom segment again. When it did the half she was not supporting slid in and blocked the laser a second time…but that also meant it was free.

  Kyra arched her back as best she could, pushing her half of the plug to the side as the other one fell to the ground, leaving both primary conduit end points loose. They began to push inward automatically, but got stuck on the other chunk as the laser once again began to melt away at it.

  The QuipNari spun around on the ground and kicked at it twice, then scooted up and pushed with both feet as she dug her hand into the ground to try and get enough friction for traction, but the deck plates were so solid she couldn’t even dent them.

  She didn’t have to, for she had just enough leverage to kick the remaining segment free, with the two tapered components sliding together to meet in the center, then the solid material bulged and reformed with the ripple of nanocomponents, eventually forming another conduit like all the others sticking across from Craniem to outer wall.

  The weaponsfire outside increased exponentially, but the shield was still holding. Kyra couldn’t see what was happening, nor could she help, so she stayed on the ground and waited as the horrifying sounds continued outside for several minutes, then there was silence that last for the better part of an hour as she simply waited not knowing what was going on outside. Eventually she heard the shield finally go down in the silence that was not interrupted by the tiny ticking of metallic feet coming closer.

  Kyra kept her blade between her and the sound, eventually seeing a tiny little drone that looked like a spider coming towards her…then it stopped and flashed a holographic symbol above it. The symbol that represented Nevantha. When Kyra lowered her blade the spider continued towards her, walking up her leg and across her torso, finally ending on her face where it attached a small device to her forehead.

  As soon as it did she could hear Nevantha’s voice…or rather a message. She was inside a comm null zone, for his Craniem was shielded against all signals this far inside. His instructions were for her to power down, along with the information that she had completed her mission and the intruders had been neutralized.

  Kyra gladly did as ordered, with her muscles desperately needing a rest. She laid down on the floor as the little spider skittered away, then she put herself into passive mode, which for a cyborg was akin to being asleep.

  Once she was, an army of newly manufactured spider bots moved in and attended to her, first putting on a restraint that would not allow her to wake up, for Nevantha did not like having her inside his Craniem, despite the fact that she had just freed him. He had no defenses in here, for any shooting would damage him. His entire security protocol was predicated on keeping people out, and he wanted to get her as far away from him as possible. Even the spider bots were not supposed to be in here, but he had no choice at the moment.

  A few minutes later they had her and the blockage material completely removed from his Craniem shell…after which it was sealed up again behind a powerful energy field as new repair bots were being constructed elsewhere to fix the doors that had been destroyed.

  It would take many hours to repair the damage, and until it was Nevantha was still vulnerable…but with his outer defenses now fully responding to his commands no one was getting inside his Craniem again.

  Not now, not ever.

  6

  July 27, 128803

  Minnaka Sevata System (Mixchan Kingdom)

  23rd planet

  Kyra woke, but not on her own command. Her mind had been suppressed against her will, and as she now came back fully online she realized her internal architecture had been altered.

  Cybernetic mass had increased 2.8%, and not because of her rebuilt left arm. She was detecting additional implants in her brain and throughout key points across her biological body. All her organs were intact, but they appeared to have been enhanced with nanites. Her legs and right arm were not the same ones she had possessed before, rather they were new models unlike anything she had ever seen on any QuipNari.

  She sat up from the platform on which she laid, seeing the interior of the Elloquim Nevantha’s medical bay. Why he had one she did not know, unless he had built it just for her. The time stamp in her mind indicated nearly two months had passed since she had gone offline and her body was lightly stiff from the inactivity, but not nearly as much as it would have been without the vibrational protocols developed to gently activate muscles and other organic tissue during long inactive stays when plugged into the Dominion.

  Kyra looked around the room, seeing a large array of mechanical arms with surgical equipment either attached or waiting in racks nearby. The area was pristine, even the air did not carry the scent of her body, which had to be effervescing with her lack of clothing and waste/feeding lines.

  “Hello?” she asked when she couldn’t find any wireless interlink.

  “Hello Kyra Junari Bensha Sovati,” a deep but soothing voice said as a hologram appeared beside her. It was the image of the ship she was currently within, with the main bulk on top and the tentacles draping below and wiggling distractedly. “I have preserved your QuipNari autonomy and not installed a proper wireless link, nor a control override into your body as a measure of gratitude for your efforts. You are free to roam my body wherever you can access, but critical areas will not open for you.”

 

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