Chapter 35 - The Core of Defiance
The heat radiating off the bypass pipe blistered the skin on my face. Steam whistled through microscopic pinholes, screaming like a dying banshee.
"Julian! Kill the secondary pumps!" I screamed, clamping both hands—one flesh and bone, one cold chrome and hydraulic fluid—around the rusted override wheel.
"If you break that seal while the loop is hot, the backpressure will tear you in half!" Julian yelled from the sub-level console, frantically typing bypass commands into the terminal.
"I survived twenty tons of salt water on the *Gallant*!" I shouted, veins bulging in my neck. "I’m not dying to Derek Halston’s junk!"
I engaged my prosthetic limb’s safety lock, disengaging the artificial pain inhibitors. The neural feedback hit my brain like lightning—a white-hot spike of electric fire that made me scream into the deafening roar of the engine room. The carbon-titanium arm screeched, internal gears grinding against titanium gears, the servomotors whining at 140% capacity.
*Turn.*
*One millimeter.*
*Two millimeters.*
The steel wheel groaned. The blood on my right human hand sizzled against the boiling pipe. On the catwalk above, Liam had neutralized the remaining guards, while Vance held Croft pinned against the deckplate by his throat.
"You can't stop the override, girl!" Croft wheezed through bloody lips. "The master signal is broadcas—"
With a deafening crack that echoed like artillery inside the steel chamber, I sheared the secondary safety bolt with my artificial hand. The wheel spun violently backward, catching my carbon knuckles, sparks showering over my shoulders.
The hydraulic pressure plunged. The blood-red digital display flashed:
*SYSTEM PURGE ABORTED.*
*COOLANT CIRCULATION RESTORED.*
*REACTOR STABLE.*
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The deafening alarm cut off instantly. The only sound left in the cavernous auxiliary bay was the heavy, ragged breathing of the four of us, and the hiss of cooling steam dissipating into the dark vents.
***
