Free Broken Protocols by Dale Mayer

naive and simple-minded over some things, but he was also incredibly focused on his stuff.
    “No,” Levi snapped. “That is not a good outcome.”
    Milo slid him a sidelong glance. “I wasn’t going to suggest we kill her for God’s sake, but if she should happen to die…”
    “Which I’m trying my hardest to avoid happening, if you hadn’t noticed.” Levi strode over to the liquor cabinet sunk into the wall. He couldn’t believe the bizarre turn of the conversation. He poured himself a hefty whiskey and threw it back. He shuddered as the fire water coated his throat and prepared to do battle in his stomach. He had been doing this a lot lately.
    “You really shouldn’t drink that stuff. It’s bad for you.”
    Levi choked. “You’re worried about my health while you talk hopefully about Dani’s death?”
    Throwing his hands in the air, Milo snapped, “I’m just saying that now that I know it works, she’s the proof. If she dies, I’ll still know that it works but we won’t have to deal with the evidence.” He shrugged. “No biggie.”
    Levi poured a second shot and took a sip while he stared at his brother. Forced to question his kid brother’s ethics…his morals. His conscience. And that was an alarming step. He swirled the golden liquid in his glass. While Levi had been bending over backwards to keep Dani safe and make her as comfortable as possible, his brother was contemplating the advantage of his experiment dying.
    How did that work? In his world, not very well.
    “Milo,” he said, in a deep hard voice, “I don’t ever want this discussion to come up again.”
    His brother pouted. That was the only description Levi could come up with. His brother was actually pouting. Again reminding him that for all his genius, Milo essentially had the mind of a sixteen-year-old male trapped in a twenty-two-year-old body. Maybe one day the two would match up, but he hadn’t seen any sign of the gap closing in years. Milo had hit sixteen with such enthusiasm, it was as if he’d found a way to not age again.
    That concept startled him. If Milo had found a way to haul in some poor woman from a couple centuries ago, had he also found a way to slow or stop the aging process?
    If so, if anyone found out, neither of them would ever be safe again.

Chapter 9

    W hispered conversation slipped under the edge of the pod’s hum, disturbing her rest. Something about her dying? Really? Worriedly, her hand automatically searched for Charmin, reassured to find the warm body snuggled up against her. He was still alive. She waited for his chest to rise with his next breath then relaxed. Was she close to death? Or was that a hypothetical statement if the pod didn’t do its job?
    Dry-eyed, she studied the running green light shifting along the edge of the pod. Was she so badly damaged by Milo’s experiment that she wouldn’t survive? Assessing her own situation, she realized that outside of a deep permeating fatigue, she didn’t feel bad. Walking was a problem though. As if every step required too much effort, like she weighed hundreds of pounds more than she had before her time travel trip.
    That had to be due to the change in atmosphere – as if she were living on the moon.
    Only she wasn’t. But time had obviously changed the atmosphere in the future. Or her body felt it had. And maybe the why didn’t matter. If she couldn’t go back, she had no choice but to go forward. If she could ever get up.
    She shifted her legs tentatively. They didn’t ache the same as they had. So maybe the pod was doing its job. Her arms worked fine, her mind was clearer. She didn’t know if she was supposed to live in here until she was fully healed – if such a thing was possible – or if there was a day to day booster thing going on.
    She wasn’t opposed to coming in here daily. She did feel better in the pod. Maybe it was a weaning off thing. As she strengthened, she’d need it less. She was truly grateful they had such