Book 7. Chapter 23: Person of interest
“Are you done meditating on all this dear?” Cathida asked, as I sat cross legged inside the smoke and dust of the tower ruins.
In front of me was the object of my woes: The terminal I needed to access.
“Mostly.” I lied. “What’s the ETA with the Odin here? Think they’ll be able to get the smoke cleared in time to wire things up?”
“A little bold of you to think you’d get that kind of break.” Cathida laughed. “Even if you brought all the fans in the entire outpost here and set them on max blast, doubt you’d clear out the smoke in time to have anything be legible. Also gotta clean out the soot too. Journey’s advising you simply cut and run. Get the coordinates for the nearest mite fountain and start making your way there.”
“Ratshit.” I hissed, head knocking backwards and clinking against the metal wall behind me. The idea of jumping into the digital sea again simply because it was the fastest way to work with the terminal was seriously freaking me out more than it had any right to.
Logically, it’s a bad move given Relinquished is out there and more than capable of squashing me like a bug.
Emotionally, I don’t want to be squashed like a bug.
Long term strategy-wise, getting in contact with the Icon as quickly as I can would open up new options for getting in touch with Wrath, or getting the Odin to help out. Whichever faction out there was willing to help.
On the other hand, getting squashed like a bug would be bad for my overall long term strategic goals.