Free Final Protocol by J. C. Daniels

hated—many of the races are suspicious. Humans are thought to be as diseased as the planet we left behind and cursed for what we’d allowed to happen to it.
    There is one planet in particular where, if a human breaches the atmosphere, she or he runs the risk of being burned alive. There’s also a planet in Kor where men are considered lesser creations. Reshel had come from that planet. From Diec. Her kind were ruthless, brutal and efficient killers. Her mother had made the mistake of having…kind feelings toward the males in her house, and she’d been put to the death, along with the males. Because Reshel had been an infant—and female—she was spared, but she’d been sold into slavery. That was how she ended up in Gold’s not-so-loving care. He’d had her since she was a baby.
    And now she was gone.
    One of the few I could have considered a friend. It hurt too much to think of it, so I didn’t let myself. I focused on the schematics instead and plodded along through the sands.
    There was one that particularly caught my eye.
    I tapped the schematic and watched as it enlarged, an overlay that spread across the sand. “What’s this?”
    “Aqueducts. Used prior to the modernization of the water system. The building is centuries old and has been modernized and updated twenty-nine times in the past five hundred years.”
    “Twenty-nine?” I wrinkled my nose. “Why don’t they just tear it down and start fresh?”
    “Hsainiens place much significance on the history of their planet and their people. They use their own builders and historians during the reconstruction and restoration, keeping the building intact where possible.”
    “Huh. So this aqueduct. Is it stable?”
    “Please provide information on the use needed.”
    “Well…”
    I was reluctant to go into that much detail. If I was caught, my tech would be taken. My security measures were good, damn good, but nothing was infallible. “Why don’t you just give me the rundown on how stable it is?”
    There was a pause, followed by: “It is cleaned by drones. Air quality is inadequate. Passing through would require use of a puri-mask or you risk breathing in toxins. On occasion, repairs are made by hand, but the size of the aqueduct is inadequate for large beings.”
    Mentally, I smiled, but I let the unit continue as I forged on through the sand.
    I filed away the information, committing it all to memory as my eyes scanned the horizon. The sand was unending and I was all but inured to it by now. I had to look at the horizon for a full five heartbeats before I realized something was out there, beyond the sand, a darkening stain that spread out.
    “Jiral,” I murmured.
    “The city of Jiral is within sight . ”
    Curling my lip, I said, “Thanks.”
    It had been hidden, I realized, by the swells of the sand. Now, as I started to descend, I felt my heart thud up into my throat.
    This was it.
    If I made it into that city, I was that much closer to fulfilling my obligation to Gold.
    And if I didn’t?
    Then I was that much closer to being free.
    I would be free too. Sliding my hand along the cool, slick bracer, I gripped it, like I was dying and it was the one thing that would bring me life.
    But in this case, it was the opposite.
    If I was captured, or in danger of being captured, this was the one thing that would bring me death.
    “Go through the final protocol,” I murmured, cutting into the chatter in my head.
    “Is it likely to be needed?”
    There was a subtle change in the tron system’s voice. My system had been allowed as much artificial intelligence as I felt safe in giving it. Not so much that it might feel the need to reach out to somebody if it saw the desperation in my plans and not so much that it might question why I felt the need for the final protocol. But enough that it would enact it and follow through without question when the time came.
    “It could be needed. I’m on a hostile planet. Women here are not treated kindly. If I