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“Who are you?” Nao in a way that told Anna she’d be sluravity

“Anna My naht?”

After the third injection, Nao breath and said, “Who’s Anna?”

“Anna is me,” she said, then chuckled at herself “You er on the Thomas Prince”

“UN? You don’t look like navy”

“No, a passenger I’eneral sent”

“The dog and pony show,” Naoe and activated the charge that would keep it fro it that,” Anna said as she felt the bandage She wished she’d paid more attention in the church first aid class Clear the airway, stop the bleeding, immobilize the injury was about the limit of what she knew

“That’s because it is,” Nao of the nearby ladder “It’s all political bullsh—”

She was cut off by a , “Reboot co at theht out fro uncontrollably She moved her arms experimentally, and the half mech whined, hesitated, and then moved with her

“Fuck me,” Naomi said She sounded annoyed but unsurprised

Anna reached for her taser before she remembered it had melted Melba bared her teeth

“This way,” Naoh it, with Nao Melba surged after the

Naorabbed by themechanism with her toe and the hatch slammed shut on thethe claw in a spray of sparks and broken parts Anna waited for the screaloves Melba used to control the machine were in the e They hadn’t hurt her, and she’d sacrificed the use of one of the mech’s claws in order to keep the hatch open The other claw appeared in the gap, gripping at the ht with pain, her good hand pointing at the next hatch up the ladder After they were both through, Anna took a moment to look around at the new deck they were on It looked like crew areas Sood place to hole up Naoh the ehts, and Anna followed as best she could, the feeling of nighth the hatch into the next level, Naomi stopped to tap on the shts shifted to red, and the panel on the hatch read security lockdown

“She’s not trapped down there,” Anna said “She can get out through the cargo bay There’s a hole in the doors”

“That’s twice now so herself up the ladder “Anyway, she’s wearing a salvage , and she’s in the h ships She’s not trapped We are”

This took Anna by surprise They’d gotten away They’d locked a door behind them That was supposed to end it The monster isn’t allowed to open doors It was fuzzy, juvenile thinking, and Anna becah her syste down a short corridor “That way”

That ray tone to her dark skin that e on her shoulder had already soaked through and was throwing off tiny crimson spheres She took Naomi by the hand and pulled her down the corridor to the medical bay door It was closed, and the panel next to it flashed the security lockdownit, and Anna waited for the door to slide open Instead, another, heavier-looking door slid into place over the first, and the panel Nao on went dark