Free Dark Star by Lara Morgan Page A

went back and forth from him to Alpha and to an unidentifiable network in Newperth. Helios contacts there perhaps? She was proved right when she found a request for lists of supplies.
    Then she found something odd. It was small and she almost missed it. It was a message to Alpha.
    Re: MalX protection requests
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    Alpha. I fail to see why you have repeatedly denied me the equipment I’ve been asking for over the past month. I cannot be expected to work effectively if I am hampered like this. Despite our remote location, staff here are still at risk of contracting the disease and our stocks of protectant serums are running low. Since the closure of all but one other Enclave, there must be plenty of stock available. I have heard our stores were cleared before the Senate and UEC forces obtained entrance to those facilities, so I must assume the goods I require are stored somewhere, and see no logic to your reasons for ignoring my requests. There must be a stock pile of goods. Please either have them shipped to me or allow me access to them. Failure to do this only leaves these remaining operatives and zeroes in peril
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    Dr Bree
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    It was dated two weeks ago. Rosie re-read it, then searched for Alpha’s reply. As yet there didn’t appear to be one. But the closure of other Enclaves? Did that mean there were only two Helios Enclaves left, this one and another? Was Helios that vulnerable now? This was news. People needed to know.
    She navigated out of the doctor’s files and searched for a com line to the outside. She was taking a huge risk.
    She found the com point, tapped in her aunt’s private address, and swiftly composed a message Essie could decipher.
    In the copilot seat. All controls are green except for navigation – position undetermined but terrestrial, no borders crossed. Target vulnerable, only two left in play due to elitist forces. Continuing to advance
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    She hesitated. She really wanted to say something about her dad, to tell her aunt to make sure he was all right, to send him a message and let him know she was okay and that she missed him. But if the message was detected, it would only draw attention to him. He was already so vulnerable and the thought of something happening to him … She sent the message, crossing her fingers it would get there.
    Now to the machine that might allow her to extract the information from her implant. She turned it on. Was there enough time to investigate it? She checked the holo index for instructions. The dull ache behind her eyes worsened. There was a lot of technical information she didn’t understand and she began to panic. There had to be a way.
    Helios had made the implant, surely their machine could access it. She gritted her teeth against the ache in her skull and ran through the basic operations of the machine and powered it up. The orb glowed blue and the myriad points of light inside it began to rotate. She approached it, her palms sweaty, mouth dry.
    Had Riley done anything to it that might block Helios tech from accessing it once it was in her? The failure of Alpha’s manacle seemed to point to that, but still she had to try. Rosie wished she knew how to contact Cassie in Gondwana.
    She picked up the fine temple patch of wires that connected to the arm of the machine holding the orb and pressed the patches carefully to her temples. They adhered immediately and a flood of energy swept over her. She staggered, falling against the bed beneath the orb. Her vision dimmed and it felt like someone was running cold electrified fingers over her scalp and down her spine. She stifled a scream. The implant. She could feel it reacting, tightening. This wasn’t right. Terrified, she ripped the patches off and leaned, gasping, against the bed.
    Tears of frustration filled her eyes. She didn’t know how to do this. Her head was throbbing and a scary tingling pain ran alongside her lower spine. Had she done more damage, degraded the implant further? There was no way to tell, and