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“Begin tracking,” Oberon announced.
Athena returned to Gage’s side without further ado. Though the AI wasn’t using the formal training announcements, she clearly understood that the next portion was coming.
“Go, find it,” he told her.
She took off, her body a cloudy blur streaking toward the trees.
Gage followed, knowing his own ability to keep up was part of what he would be assessed on.
It felt good to push his muscles and his endurance. He had been running in the mornings, but it wasn’t the same. Nothing was the same as running after bad guys, or running to protect a client.
Even standing guard and just knowing he might have to take action kept a steady stream of adrenaline pumping through him.
Ahead of him, Athena let out a deliriously happy yip to let him know she was onto something.
He pushed harder and found her nosing around an open drain.
“Light,” he said, lifting his wrist.
His bracelet projected a circle of light that just penetrated the end of the pipe. It was large in circumference, but not large enough for Gage to crawl into.
Athena yipped again, asking permission. Then twice more.
He glanced up at her.
She was quivering all over, grinning at him with her tongue hanging from the side of her mouth, so eager for a job to do.
“In,” he relented. “Slowly.”
He was pretty sure there was nothing in Oberon’s training session that would actually harm her.
On the other hand, if a bio staff member had set the tracking specimen and then accidentally dropped their keys down a random working drainpipe, it was highly possible that Athena would be off the intended tracking target and chasing down the bio staff member’s scent instead.
It was too late to change his mind.
Athena was already crawling into the pipe, her broad tail tracing happy swirls in the air until it disappeared into the darkness.
He expected her to back out again fairly quickly, with another clue.
Looking around the forest, it was hard to imagine that parts of it were fabricated. Everything seemed so real, down to the loamy scent of damp earth and the texture of the tree trunks.
He crouched and pulled a baby starglove shoot.
It gave a little resistance, then popped out of the ground. It had roots, with soil clinging to them.
So, this part of the scenery was real, or so unnecessarily detailed that it hurt his mind to think about.
He straightened as he realized that too much time had passed.
“Athena,” he called into the pipe.
A hollow sound that was very much like her excited bark came back to him, faintly.
A cold finger of panic slid down his spine.
“Athena,” he screamed.
The sound came back to him again and he chased it deeper into the trees.
