Fracture tapes Menace’s larger openings shut so he can move his arms. Then, Fracture pops something back to place inside Menace’s shoulder, which makes his face screw up, him cry out, and his body arch.
Fracture’s eyes light up with communications code. Menace waves a hand dismissively like he’s not upset, so I return my focus to the tunnel system.
Sythius climbs over the platform and steps into the lift’s pilot’s box. “I had no idea they felt so much pain.”
I give him a knowing glance. “The media never portrayed them as anything but machines. But the Rogue that flew the last of the resistance off of Earth Minor definitely did.
“They didn’t want us to think our guardians were weak. Most of the Creators wanted them to understand human vulnerability, which is one of the reasons they were given the ability to feel. The corrupt, like CSP and our enemy, have just used it to their advantage.”
Sythius swears and braces himself on the guard rails.
“Don’t tell me you’ve tortured Titans to get free,” I say.
“No, but I didn’t help them either.” He shakes his head. “I might stab people in the back to save my own hide, but I don’t havethatmuch Solcrue blood in my veins.”
I guide us up a long ascent path toward the final network of tunnels near the outpost. “Good because if you ever hurt one, you and the bullets in whatever gun I can get my hands on are going to have a very intimate conversation.”
Behind me, I sense Fracture shifting his weight.
“Everything okay?” I ask.
“Faster would be better. Menace is fading.”
I push the throttle into the red and race over the bumpy path toward the fading light of dusk at the end of the tunnel network. Several short minutes later, I’ve got us as close as I can to the outpost without risking their soldiers taking notice. I abruptly slide the lift to a stop and set us down in an alcove. Night has fallen over Ellipsis, and only a handful of stars are visible through the opening.
“An exit to the tunnel system up a rocky slope will take us topside near the outpost.” I get down and walk to where Fracture holds Menace. Turning to Sythius as I draw a flashlight, I probe him. “I don’t suppose you can see in the dark.”
He jumps, staggers into me, then grabs my shoulders. “Don’t scare me like that. Shit, Sef! No. I can’t see in the dark.”
“I can see you,” I jeer at him. “Your heart isracing.”
Sythius makes a hesitant noise. “You’re shitting me.”
“Nope. I can see Solcrue, humans, and Titans.” I click on my flashlight and help Fracture get down with Menace.
“For real?” Syth asks.
“Yes.” I sling my bag back on my shoulders. In the light, Fracture is smooth and seamless, more so than any Relic model if not for the cragged lines all over his body.
Together, the three of us get Menace up the slope and climb out of the brush into the night.
“Sef…”
“For the love of stars, Sythius. What?”
I notice a strange emptiness on his face in the flashlight’s beam like I just wrecked his entire world. I can’t say I’m sorry about it after what he put me through.
“No games,” I snap.
He nods. “If I had known all of your skills, I wouldn’t have done what I did.”
“No. Probably worse.” I draw a gun from my thigh holster and lift it while I scan the woods for lifeforms.
“Why do you know about the range extender?” Fracture asks him.
Sythius lifts a shoulder and averts his eyes. “Would catch a good price to Solcrue officers. Heard about it while I was working at the outpost we’re heading toward.”
“He was a bounty hunter like my captains. We used to run into one another a lot,” I say as we weave between bushes and trees in the night’s cooler air.
