But this time, Khar was not here to solve her problems.
The restraints released her minutes later.
It appeared automatic. Horos did not return, and the suite door was thick enough to block all external signals except those connected directly to Vitro’s network. The small spherical device he had activated was not part of that system.
Lily leapt up and examined it.
The palm-sized device seemed fused seamlessly into the wall, as if it had always been part of the ship. She recognized the class of technology, but not the mechanism. There were no protrusions, no markings, just like the restraints.
Which meant Horos carried something else to activate it.
That would be her first target next time he came close.
The restraints themselves were impossible to remove. They did not even damage each other when she tried to force them together, and they were too tight to pry apart even at the cost of dislocating a joint.
A perfect space-age trap, dressed in a form medieval humans would have recognized.
Magnetic cuffs.
Without her VoidBrace she could not interface with Vitro, and Horos had disabled voice commands. She knew where the visible and hidden service panels were, but without tools she could not execute even the simplest command.
Weapons existed in the suite. She was certain Horos had accounted for that.
She would need something small.
Small, but lethal.
She was effectively in a beautiful prison. She could drink, eat, wash, even sleep if her pounding heart allowed it. A luxury cell.
Rage threatened to tear her apart, but she forced herself to breathe.
Think.
Horos was larger, but weaker. In close combat, she would win if she could reach him. The restraints were the problem. And the sound. That horrifying weapon she did not yet know how to counter.
Stuffing her ears might not be enough. But she would try.
His hoarse voice suggested he could not repeat the sound endlessly. She would not escape the next attack, but maybe afterward, when the effect faded, she would have a chance.
Information would help even more.
What did Horos want?
Why this sudden shift?
She knew only that they had taken Vitro somewhere without Vegrun’s knowledge. Khar would alert him the moment he returned to the dock and found the ship gone. But by then, it would likely be too late.
Vitro was fast. Advanced technology, with undetectable cloaking system.
Space was vast.
Like searching for a needle in a haystack.
A million haystacks stacked atop each other.
Lily fought back tears.
She had to stay strong.
