"Fashion victim couture," Sascha replied faintly, most, if not all, of her would-be bravado lost behind the quaking in her muscles. Her lot this week--crappy clothes scrounged from the depths of other people's collections, when all she wanted was something slim enough to not get caught in maintenance tunnels--or wherever else she had to hide in--while holding the recording gear she normally needed. Cargo pants were closer but perfect datathief-wear didn't, in her opinion, feel like slinging a burlap bag around her waist and topping it off with whatever-the-frag was around. "I promise your eyeballs are the only offended parties here."
Terrifying eyeballs.
Terrifying...everything.
She sighed. "It couldn't be that easy." Because her emotions and adrenaline had been shredded repeatedly over the past week, because that beautiful, glowing bottle of even more beautiful, taste-indulging rum was in danger of being nudged by slithering appendages, because life just wasn't fraggin' fair. Tugging self-consciously on her fingerless gloves, she tried again for nonchalance. "Did you happen to eat the big one, by any chance? Mostly metal, went by the name Supay--probably tasted a bit like battery acid. At least, I imagine--"
When Fate's absconded robotics did something overhead, the room's attention split, and she did what she did best: headed for the exit. If her hunters were gone, it meant her path was clear. She could bolt, hunker down until the bounty cleared up, then skip station. Though she tried to keep the cat suit from dragging behind her, she hadn't gotten more than three steps when a claw loomed in her direction. No, that wouldn't do. It was obvious she wouldn't be able to sneak away clean. The alien's attention might have seemed to be solely on Fate's massive screwup, but it was total, and Sascha had no idea whether poison and eating people whole were jokes or not. She retreated to the useless shield of greenery. Best to play it back to lowkey and unassuming. As unassuming as one could be with a catsuit hanging off one's upper body like a deranged scarf.
She stared at the symbols coalescing in the air and hoped almost feverishly that whatever the being was doing wouldn't hurt her friend. Could just as well have been reading back through Kreska's messages as attempting to reach through the screen and pull Fate through it. The latter on the heels of his relocation...
Sascha had made a valiant effort not to scream. But a strangled sound escaped her all the same as Kreska's...whatever xe was to her helpless companion...dove toward her face with claws outstretched. For at least a minute, the only sound that emerged was a series of squeaks. "Scratching. Pass. I. Uh. Sascha Bennett. At your service."
Which was a standard introduction when she was in a bit over her head, but as soon as it left her mouth it occurred to her that xe had mentioned favors and seemed to take things more literally than Sascha was inclined. Not the standard stash for the price on her head and have Fate get her loose situation, not this time.
---
>>Do not run, chiquita.
>>Krotazi can catch you.
Not that she'd see it, with her wristcomp shielded.
Fate swore a blue streak as one of the mining bots clanked the piece of wall into place and its torch sputtered loudly in his ears. If he could hear it, how much worse was it from the ground? "Not good. Not good. Not good."
And even more not good, as it wouldn't be enough to distract the Krotazi. More and more not good as his eyes on the ceiling got a close up of the horror both ladies faced. "You're a shiny one, aren't you?" he asked before slamming his hand on the comm switch and hoping xe hadn't brought the earpiece xe had stolen from Kreska close enough to catch the words.
His tech screeched. All of it at once and none of it in a tone that said it'd be a-okay when the sound stopped. Fate chased data packets and corralled them into places he could work to address the flaws, but the strange interrogation of his firewall setup would take full restores in spots he hadn't wanted to take the time to beef up. At least now he had an excuse to install his heavier servers--and a chance to comprehend what had assailed his system. The second time xe tried it, things would not begin to buckle so easily.
The warning volley was not missed and Krotazi memory--and grudges--were long. Fate half-wished he were somewhere far, far, far away instead of sticking close enough to retrieve Sascha. Except that would mean abandoning her to...this. "Fine, then. If xe wants to run around knocking on doors, I will too."
The jaunty little bot upstairs strolled out of its unit and made its way down to the corridor where the hunters had been stalking. Fate swore once again as the eyes on the machine caught what his other shoddy underground cameras had missed: no more waiting guns and no bodies in evidence.
Dreams come in a size too big so we can grow into them.
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