Free Star Force: Divergent (SF74) by Aer-ki Jyr

untied it and put it
back on, then walked up to the pillar and hesitated before touching it, half
expecting to get a stun shock from contact. Jyra thought through everything for
the hundredth time, but if there was something for her to figure out here she
was either missing it or was being duped into wasting time prior to climbing
the pillar. She could wait here as long as she wanted chewing on this, for
rushing wasn’t worth screwing this up…but at the same time she would be waiting
here indefinitely if there was nothing to find.
    Once again there was no right course to follow, at
least not an obvious one, so she gave herself a few more minutes to think
before she started climbing. When nothing came of it she reached out gently and
touched the pillar with her left index finger…again drawing no reaction.
    Jyra bit her lip and committed herself to this,
spotting finger and toe holds a moment before she reached out and got her weight
off the floor, hanging a few inches up as she very slowly began to climb. The
indentations weren’t deep, but they were much easier to manage than some of the
climbing walls she’d been training on. Fortunately she didn’t have to search
minutes for the next hold and could make her way up fairly fast if she wanted,
but the Commando instead decided to take a ponderously long time climbing as
she was looking for any deviation in the pillar or room, for something coming
up behind her when she wasn’t watching would fit just right into this
situation.
    Every meter she climbed she grew more nervous, feeling
the moment coming as the distance shrank. When she was hanging directly under
the top she stopped, taking another long look around before finally sliding her
fingertips up on top of the flat cap while holding on firmly with her other
three grip points, expecting to be stunned or attacked in some way that would
toss her off and onto the hard ground below.
    When her fingers brushed the top…nothing happened. She
pulled herself up a bit more and got her eye line over the edge, seeing a small
blue orb sitting suspended in a field, either energy or magnetic, but it was
hovering an inch over a slight depression. Now guessing that it was either
protected or would trigger the fireworks when removed, Jyra moved up more and
got her elbow on top before reaching out and waving a hand around the object in
multiple directions, feeling for something invisible. Nothing triggered, so she
bit her lip again, making sure her grip points were solid, then reached out and
grasped the orb.
    When her hand hit it she felt a bobble, but otherwise
nothing happened. She held it in place for a moment, then pulled it away while
glancing around. Wanting her hand free she tucked it awkwardly inside her bra,
giving her a third breast, then got her hand back onto the grooves and began to
slowly climb down, expecting something to jump or shoot her and monitoring what
she could see of the walls and floor intently. Stopping just before she reached
the bottom, Jyra extended her left foot out and tapped the floor, half
expecting it to fall out beneath her.
    Again, nothing happened and she got the feeling that
she was about to run into an idiot trap just shy of completing the mission. San
had said she had to get it back to him, and he wasn’t walking out to
congratulate her. Nor had he moved from the short walkway, suggesting that the
floor outside, or maybe the airspace, wasn’t safe. She wished there was a way
to smoke out whatever was waiting for her other than using her own body, but
that was a luxury she didn’t have in this situation.
    She stepped down onto the floor, hanging onto a pair
of grooves with her hands just in case, but when the floor didn’t disappear
beneath her she began walking around the pillar until she was on a straight
line to San.
    That might not be a good idea. Maybe she had to
approach from a flanking angle to avoid triggering the trap. Damn it, she
wished she had something to work with here, but the