Crack in the Kill Code (AmpCore #2)

40 - Collision Vector

The notes of the violin keened through the hallways. The metal walls created an almost ethereal echo to the melody that Kirk couldn't decide if he liked or not. He moved his arm gently, fingertips walking across the neck of the instrument as he played. The tune was an old Pictish anthem – he didn't even remember the name. Just one of many antique little slivers of knowledge that went a long with all the rest.

Admittedly, this was a lot more pleasant than knowing about ancient kill bots and hideous human machine hybrids. As he played, he peered at Treysi out of the corner of her eye. So far she'd accepted the lie, and hadn't made any more escape attempts. The coils of thick cabling lay in the corner of the room, just in case that changed any time soon.

She looked mostly peaceful right now, save for the occasional involuntary twitch that told you all was not well beneath the skin. His fingers almost slipped when she gave a particularly violent jerk, her metal arm coming within a couple of centimetres of him before it clunked back down onto table. Readouts splurged across the screens Beela had hooked up. He didn't need to be a doctor to know they weren't saying anything good.

From what they could understand, they'd pulled Treysi out of that place before the butcher-surgeons had completed the finishing touches. Her biological components weren't accepting their new mechanical counterparts properly – angry lines of red burned across the skin of the joins. Her heart was unsteady, misfiring like a bad engine.

He finished his tune with the bleak thought that, by taking her from that place, he might have killed her.

Kirk swallowed that bitter taste down and stood up as quietly as he could. Treysi didn't stir beyond a faint moan, sedatives keeping her from experiencing the worst of the pain being generated inside her body right now. He clipped his violin back into its case and slipped out of the room, into the hall where Nevay was waiting.

"How's she doing?" she asked once the door had closed behind him.

"She's calm enough for now," Kirk said, slinging the violin case over his shoulder by its strap, "but it's not going to last. She needs help."

"Well, I'd love to figure that out, but AmpCore aren't exactly our best friends," Nevay replied peevishly, "unless you forgot what happened last time we danced with those freaks."

"I remember."
"Well?"

"Well, what?"

"Well, then how the fuck do you expect us to be able to drag one of those wand-swinging cyborgs out here to fix your friends?"

"I don't know yet." Kirk sighed drumming his fingers on his thigh. "I... Piper, she's still there. She might help us."

"Piper Russell?" Nevay exploded, grabbing him by the collar and shoving him back against the wall. "My hearing must be worse than I thought."

"Nev-,"

"Don't even..." She bared her teeth. "Your pycho ex murdered my uncle, in case you forgot."

"I didn't forget," he growled, shoving her hand away and squaring up to her, "but if you've got a better idea, I am all ears."

"I am not crawling on my hands and needs to Piper fucking Russell to beg for help. Besides, she's probably shut up in an AmpCore vault by now. Haven't seen sight or sound of her since she picked the corps over you."

Kirk stiffened. "I know what she did."

"Do you? Cos you're not acting like it."

"So you're going to condemn that girl in there to death because you can't put your bloody grudge aside for just a little while?"