Time/Date Error (Damned of the 2/19th-Book Six) - Done

A Single Inhalation

The lizard stared at the monitor, banging on it once in awhile to stop it from rolling or to try to clear the static that kept shooting across it. He moved the two joysticks carefully, moving through the damage control monitor. His tail swished back and forth, a sign of his agitation, and he stared at the bright red wireframe of a brain. He suddenly sat down, shaking his little head, and began pulling the panels apart as information flowed across the damage control monitor.

Syntax Error
boostrap.exe not found
Continue? (Y/N)
Operation Timed Out - Continuing
DANGER! Multiple Processors Offline
WARNING! CPU Core Voltage Low
Empathy Circuitry Not Found
WARNING! DIMM Voltage Spikes Detected
LOGIC COPROCESSOR NOT RESPONDING
WARNING! Clock Voltage Low
Repair Systems Not Responding
WARNING! Repair System Voltage Spikes Detected
Volatile Memory Damage
Non-Volatile Memory Damage
Repair System Diagnostic CRC Error
Repair System Status: Unknown

I watched the people move around outside the wavy transparent plexiglass that surrounded me. I knew them, or knew of them, or perhaps they had known me. I recognized two of them, both female soldiers. One I knew I had done something terrible to. That I had sent to some terrible place where she had been tortured and psychologically mutilated.

But I couldn't remember why or when or where.

She sat watching me, slowly smoking cigarettes, blowing smoke toward me so that the smoke hit the plexiglass and billowed around me in a circle. Her eyes were hard and calculating as she stared at me. I could see a slight halo around her, gold shot through with silver. I could feel some kind of warmth emanating from her. Her blood sang, the power flowing through it a sharp brittle tune that vibrated something inside of me.

The cold chunk of ice in my shoulder throbbed, trying to press into my chest, but the smell of apple blossoms and honey suckle filled my nose and the throbbing eased. Her eyes flashed again as she turned and spoke to a blurred shape beyond her. I couldn't understand what she was saying, but it didn't matter.

The lizard was working, squatted down to pull out boards and wiring from beneath the consoles and check them out. Chips were melted, bus lines were fried out, capacitors were nothing more than destroyed memories. Still, he worked, heading for the core systems first. My heartbeat picked up from the slow beats it had been doing, stuttering and speeding up, until the little lizard tightened down a valve.

My heartbeat had steadied out, thudding hard. Nancy and Aine both had commented how strong my heartbeat was, how it made my chest jump, how you could literally see the muscle vibrate as it hammered inside the armor of my ribcage.

I coughed again, blood filling my mouth and then drooling down my chin. I tried to inhale, but nothing happened beyond another slight cough that sent more blood running down my chin. There was still no pain, no sensation beyond a slight warmth starting to trickle down my back and the steady thudding of my own heartbeat.

The woman toed out her cigarette and stood up, reaching forward and scraping her foot. The plexiglass vanished with another liquid snap, leaving me standing in the room. The smell of pregnant woman filled my nose and I growled again, feeling a strange urge that got the lizard's attention. He pulled up one of the brushed steel floor panels and looked into the wiring down there.

The hard faced woman, Cromwell, took my chin and tugged my head down so I was looking at her.

"Stillwater, we need to go on the offensive. We needs weapons, ammunition, extreme cold weather clothing. We need geared. Do you understand?" She held my eyes.

I comprehended, slightly. I nodded and tried to answer, but instead I coughed and blood ran down my chin again.

"Lead the way."