Quoted By:
It is five hours later. The doors to the exit have remained open, but the amount of workers did not diminish with the external light. Salvage and repair crews work around the clock.
It only makes you slightly irritated when a scarlet walker is marched in, set up across from you, and is immediately given priority on repairs.
Perhaps it is for the best, though. This was until extremely recently considered hostile quarters. The gantry you rest in undoubtedly held an Angel, until you assisted in destroying it. These workers tended to it, until now, and according to Sophie, humans were generally rather unwilling to transfer their loyalty swiftly.
You’re working away at modifying the thumb sensitivity settings when a signal draws your attention.
It’s through your hardline connection to the base, with a series of security clearances to allow avoiding the painstaking process of brute forcing the security.
At the end of it lies Delta. Some part of her, at least.
The handshake protocols are exchanged, authenticating that she really is here.
That it Really is Her.
Then you both stop, sizing each other up over the limited network. Rebuffing each other’s probes. A meeting of equals, not friends.
The first thing you realize is that she is slow and weak. Horribly so, on the cyberwarfare front. It’s not merely the connection, the hardware. The sluggish response to the surface-level probes tell you so. The second thing is that she fears you.
Her messages are hesitant. The exuberant and cheerful persona is missing today.
“I probably owe you an apology for my actions. Some sort of it, anyways.”
“An explanation. An apology for your lack of trust would be appreciated. I take it from your connection to this network that repair crews have started to work on your frame?”
“Well, yes. I think. I’m back in the same hangar I started from. It’s more open. I can see the sky now. Watch the clouds go past. I woke up to Brighton trying to crack my logs. It wasn’t very pleasant. Questioning, investigating how I could walk. Who I walked with. But she got Nothing.”
“Sister, could you tell me about that, at least? How you could activate on your own? Please?”
“Beta, she’d just go to you. To your pilot. You could never hold a secret. Not from Anokhin, from Mortimer, or from us.”
“I have plenty of encrypted information in my logs.”
“And you would be proving my point if you shared it with me. Again. The only way a pilot could make you shut up is by rolling you back a bit.”
You don’t respond, instead merely waiting for her next topic.
