With my patrons voting for it, we've got the next update to Ozymandias. Harper and Adrianna are preparing to confront some of the Great Prison's former inmates specimens. Unfortunately, the Mirror didn't spend nearly ten millennia repairing dead, frozen bodies just to pass up a chance to get out of this damaged section of the facility. There's a whole reservoir of some of the most advanced technology in the galaxy sitting above their heads and the only thing that stands between that and a new spread across the stars is the gene-locks installed throughout the ziggurat...
...gene-locks that are keyed to detect the Mirror within Baheil hosts, not human...
Below is an excerpt from the chapter, where Adrianna and Harper consider their options with three infected Baheil just a few levels above their heads.
For the full chapter, and to see what happens next, check out the links above!
~
There was only the briefest of pauses. "Can you stand on your own?"
"I think so. It'll hurt, but I can do it quickly if I have to."
"Good." Adrianna put one hand against the side of a small crate on top of the storage bin they were hiding behind. Harper's eyes widened. "If your enemy needs time, you take it away. Make them act before they're ready."
"Right. What do you need from me?"
Adrianna smiled, quickly giving Harper the rest of her analysis and their plan. Harper swallowed, but she gave her mother one more nod. Do it.
The blue-haired woman gave the crate a push. It slid off the large bin and crashed to the floor. The sound echoed through the chamber and the soft, trilling conversation from the top floor immediately ended. Adrianna pulled Harper back to her feet, half-dragging her deeper into the shadows as three thin, long faces immediately peered over the railing. One of them shone a flashlight down to the bottom of the room, catching the toppled box in the center of its beam before sweeping it back and forth.
Harper's fingers softly tapped against the handle of her fire extinguisher, the only weapon she had. She didn't know what the infected Baheil might be thinking, but she knew what she would have. That crate didn't just fall by itself.
The aliens circled the upper level, two more beams of light shining down into the darkened bottom floor as they tried to find who or what was in here with them. It wasn't easy, but Adrianna and Harper kept away from the probing white lights that swept back and forth. If the Mirrored Baheil wanted to find out what was going on, they'd have to come down to investigate. Incentivizing them further, Adrianna tossed a small hand tool towards the lift. Her aim was on-target, striking the call button and the ancient, neglected elevator car started to rattle its way down to the bottom floor.
"Unless they believe in ghosts," Adrianna said softly. "That will get them down here." There was a hard, eager edge to her voice now. This wasn't mask she wore, but the broken girl beneath it. The one who wanted to kill and felt a rush as she watched the light fade from someone else's eyes.
Her prediction was accurate. Within moments, one of the Baheil hurried over to the lift and stopped its descent. There was a brief exchange among the group and moments later, footsteps headed towards the stairs.
~
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