Chapter 246: Karated Gold
The ship’s hum ran deep—low and steady, like a current buried under steel.
It rattled up through the floor, through the bolts, through the soles of his feet and into his spine. The vibration reached into Elias’s chest before his mind caught up.
He stirred.
Not fully—just enough to register motion.
A haze still clung to him, thick and slow. The sedative hadn’t worn off completely. It dulled the edges of his thoughts, left a sharp ache pulsing behind his eyes like someone had pressed metal rods into his skull and left them there.
His eyelids lifted.
Everything blurred.
Light leaked in through dim overhead strips, thin and cold. The walls around him curved—narrow steel lined with seams and black cables. A transport hull, Federation standard.
He looked down.
Shackles crossed his wrists—triple-bound with interlocked rings and locking rods. The metal was tight against the skin, not meant for comfort. Cold radiated up through the cuffs like the steel wanted to outlast him.
His arms twitched. Reflex. Pain followed.