2026-07-21 08:07:23
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A Hint of a Smile
The blue light from the datapad screen cast a dim glow on the cargo walls where we leaned. I sat beside Cora, our shoulders nearly touching as we focused our attention on the rows of code scrolling across her holographic screen. The freezing air, carrying the scent of rust and lower-district dampness, felt far more tolerable now. The tension that had been choking my neck like barbed wire slowly began to loosen."Shift the frequency in the northwest quadrant," I said, pointing to the corner of the datapad screen displaying rapidly moving binary code. "That paramilitary force is using standard military communications. Their ciphers usually rotate every four hours. If you intercept the cycle exactly at the fifteenth minute, we can listen in on their channels without triggering an alarm on their servers."Cora glanced at me briefly out of the corner of her organic eye, her fingers dancing with incredible speed across the virtual keyboard. "You know far too much about military communicatio
Cora's Eye
The communicator light on my wrist finally dimmed. The Level 1316 cargo transit station was once again swallowed by silence. The static sound of Vex's transmission still rang in my ears, mingling with the raindrops of acid hitting the roof in the distance. The news from Vex and Grox had provided the temporary certainty we desperately needed.I leaned my head against the container wall. The tension that had been holding my sanity together slowly loosened. The freezing air in this room pierced through the gaps in my scorched red jacket, cooling my skin that had felt like it was burning earlier.Across from me, the blue light from the datapad screen suddenly went out.Cora placed the device on the floor slowly. The tapping sound of the device hitting the floor broke the silence between us. I opened my eyes, looking toward the administrator. She was sitting cross-legged, folding her arms on her lap. Her eyes stared at me. Her ocular implant spun slowly.We sat facing each other. The awkwa
Almost
After the radio connection with Grox was cut, I let my head rest against the container wall. The darkness of this room seemed to swallow every sound, leaving only the soft hum of the city's air processing machines in the distance. Across from me, Cora was still immersed in the blue glow of her datapad. She was hacking the traffic system. Her pale face and the dried blood stain on her temple looked incredibly stark under the screen's glow.I took a slow breath, trying to ease the pain in my ribs, then raised my left wrist again. My index finger pressed the frequency button."Vex. This is L. Come in," I called in a flat tone.There was only the sound of static hiss for the first few seconds. I counted every blink of the green indicator light in my head. Six seconds. Eight seconds. Ten seconds. Tension crept back up, gripping my throat.Ten seconds passed without an answer. My mind began stringing together worst-case scenarios. Bounty hunters, paramilitary troops, even the threat of the
The Clinic Door
The Level 1316 cargo transit station felt like a tomb made of rusted steel. The air inside here was freezing, dry, and smelled of industrial dust that had settled for years. I sat leaning against a container wall, staring at the small screen of the communicator device on my wrist. Its indicator light blinked green in a slow rhythm, signaling that our encrypted frequency channel was still open, yet not a single sound came from the other side.Forty minutes had passed since the explosion that destroyed The Garage. Forty minutes since I saw Grox enter the drainage sewer carrying Jax on his back.Across from me, Cora sat in silence. The administrator was tinkering with a datapad she had managed to save in her jacket pocket. The blue light from the device's screen illuminated the sharp lines of her face and the dried blood stain on her right temple.I pressed the transmission button. A static hiss immediately filled the silence of the room."Grox. This is L. Come in," I called, keeping my
Antiseptic Gel Spray
Noctis Reach's acid rain seeped through the cracks of the overpass, dripping sporadically and soaking my red jacket, which was torn and scorched in several places. We kept moving in awkward silence. The wail of security authority warning sirens blared in the distance, bouncing between the towering buildings on Level 1313. Cora and I navigated the damp, narrow alleys, deliberately avoiding the main streets and the glare of lights still on at the block intersections.I forced my brain to focus on my footsteps, on the reflection of light on the wet asphalt surface, and on every suspicious shadow that might move in the dark corners. However, when the night wind blew, carrying the smell of ozone, ammonia, and burnt wiring from behind us, my mental state instantly wavered.A flash of memory forced its way into my head uninvited.Suddenly, I no longer saw the narrow alley in front of me. I saw the first stack of steel plates I bought from an old scavenger years ago. Back then, I spent three
An Awkward Silence
A wave of heat roasted my back, burning my chest cavity every time I took a breath. This maintenance shaft felt like an oven ready to bake us alive. The two of us crawled through thick piles of concrete dust, leaking pipes, and optical cables scattered everywhere. Our movement was guided by the glow of the massive fire raging behind us. The vibrations from the workshop's explosion still rippled through the walls.I used my shoulder to push the remaining thick steel plate blocking the end of the tunnel. The metal shifted with a harsh screech, allowing Noctis Reach's cold air—smelling of burning waste from the factories—to sweep across my dust-covered face. I crawled out of the shaft, my knees hitting the floor on a narrow balcony facing the street of Level 1313. The falling acid rain hissed as it touched the hot metal around us.Cora followed behind me. I reached out my right hand, grabbed her still-trembling arm tightly, and pulled her until she stood beside me. We both turned simulta
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