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16
"Danec,"I said breathlessly. Thank whatever forces or deities might exist, he was still alive.
I was slightly less delighted about the blaster he held in his hand.
"Walk down the stairs," he ordered.
Nothing in his expression suggested he had any clue who I was, or cared. I was an intruder, along with J'avet, Zarex and Tarvun. We would be dealt with.
"Do as he says," J'avet ordered.
I turned back around. Something in the Parvoran's eyes suggested he had a reason why we shouldn't fight back. I thought of one, off the top of my head. If we deactivated the nanobots from the Iri, four former hosts would fall down the stairs and take us with them.
Hard pass. Or hard fall. Either way, no thanks.
There was something more to it, though. As usual, J'avet gave away nothing more.
Pretending to be sulky, which wasn't difficult under the circumstances, I trudged along behind J'avet.
Every so often I glanced over my shoulder. I needed to reassure myself I wasn't seeing things. Danec was really alive. Not that I doubted it. No way. Okay, a bit. So much time had passed, it felt like another lifetime since I'd seen him last. I hoped with everything I had that he was still in there.
If he wasn't… A tear slid down my cheek, but only one. I didn't have time to break down right now. I would save that fun for later.
We reached the bottom of the stairs and stopped.
"Turn to the right," Danec ordered.
I watched J'avet for a sign we should do something.
His expression remained unchanged, he turned right.
What the fuck? He must have a plan. If he did, I hoped he'd let us in on it soon. I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep from using my anti-bot device on Danec.
We walked down a long corridor lit with a small bulb every few metres. It smelled of moisture and dank. I guess the Iri weren't too fussy about their underground bunkers.
"Well, isn't this fun?" Zarex said conversationally. "It's always nice to be around J'avet. Nothing ever goes wrong."
"It's a non-stop party," I said. I gave Zarex a look. J'avet was doing the best he could. Whatever he had in mind, would surely give us the best chance of getting out of this alive.
Right?
Zarex tilted his antennas at me as if he wasn't surprised I was defending J'avet now. I guess he saw something might happen between us, given half a chance.
"I wouldn't be anywhere else," Zarex said.
"Nor would I," J'avet said.
I frowned at the back of his head. There was a double meaning to his words. It wasn't too hard to figure it out. Let Danec show us the way. The way to where though? Hopefully not to a place they'd lock us in and throw away the key. Or simply kill us outright.
"This is definitely prime real estate," I said ironically. "It's like every baddie's underground bunker."
"How many baddie's bunkers have you been in?" Zarex asked.
"This is the first," I admitted. Hopefully the last. "You know I watch a lot of movies. Danec does too, right Danec?" I glanced back at him, but his eyes were still glazed. He gave no sign of having heard a word.
I was tempted to slap him, to see if he'd react, but I suspected he'd respond by shooting me. If he survived and was de-botted, he would have to live with that. I objected to not being around to help him through it.
"Through that doorway," Danec said. His words were redundant, because there was only one way to go.
