The Astral Hacker (Cryptopunk Revolution Book 1) by Brian Terenna (best ebook reader .txt) 📗

see Americus lying dead, a hole between his eyes. Is that going to be Alexander next? Despair ripples through me, and I start to panic.

The other suit grabs Alexander’s and tosses him. Alexander’s suit flies twenty feet and slams into the pole, cracking it. My eyes widen.

He doesn’t get up. The impact probably knocked him out…or maybe even killed him. I lose even more control. I know that I need to keep hacking, but I can’t.

“Fae, Fae, what are you doing?” shouts Nav. “Why did you stop hacking?”

The other suit fires a rocket at Alexander. I gasp, frozen in place. Nav flips around our bullet shield and pulls me behind it. Sunny dives down. The explosion envelops our shield, but the flames don’t touch us.

“Fae, send me what you have so far,” says Nav. “I’ll finish the hack.”

I manage to send it as I stare at the explosion cloud surrounding Alexander. The smoke clears to reveal his cockpit blown off. Alexander lies there burned and motionless.

The monstrous Obliterator suit charges toward us with long strides, my laser turrets still firing on it unsuccessfully. The suit tosses the bullet shield away and raises its arm to crush Nav.

She doesn’t react in time as the suit slams down on her.

My eyes widen in horror, but somehow, the crushing blow passes right through her.

“Cube.” Nav’s voice comes from thin air a few feet away from her holographic lookalike. “Shut down its guns, release its grip, and open the cockpit.”

Nice, a vanishing, one of our favorite tactics in Silent City.

The suit opens, revealing a stunned guard inside, who fumbles for a weapon.

Nav appears, grabs him with her enhanced arm, and tosses him upward. The screaming man spins like an Olympic diver, and a turret laser burns him in two. The pieces of his body thump on the ground.

I run to Alexander. His clothes are scorched, his hair is partially burned, and half his face is red and blistered. His right eye is ruined. The sight of his injuries hits me like a boulder.

“Sunny, check him for life-signs.”

“He’s alive. Pulse fifty-five, blood pressure—”

“I don’t need his vitals. Nav, do you have a med-kit?”

Nav rummages through her backpack and takes one out. Alexander’s eyes flutter, and he groans in pain. Nav finds the tranquilizer and sedates him. She then takes out scissors and cuts away his shirt while I peel it back. The smell of burned flesh floats by me, and angry red blisters cover most of his chest, right arm, and stomach.

“Oh my God,” Nav says. “This must hurt like crazy.”

Hell. “What do we do with burns?” I ask. “Wash them?”

Nav shrugs.

“No, that’s not necessary,” says Sunny. “There should be burn patches in the kit. They’ll cool his skin, kill his pain, and accelerate his healing. They also have antibiotic cream to prevent infection. Cover every burn.”

“What about his eyes?” asks Nav.

“His right eye looks severely burned. Cover it,” says Sunny.

“Sunny, keep watch on the buildings while we treat him,” I say. Luckily, we have time since my turrets control the courtyard.

Just in case, Nav and I grab the bullet shield to protect us, then quickly apply burn patches. My stomach is twisted with anxiety, and my nerves cause my hands to shake.

When we’re done, Alexander is closer to a mummy than a man. I wring my hands.

“Let’s get out of here,” says Nav. “It’s time to run.”

I don’t move. “We won’t get far unless we take them all out.”

Nav frowns and adjusts her headband. “They killed my father and should die, but the suit won’t fit inside the building. There are probably thirty more guards in there. We have a car waiting. I think we can elude them.”

“I agree with Nav,” says Sunny. “It’s better to run now that we have you.”

“No. If we leave them, they’ll contact others immediately to hunt us down. We have to finish this.”

Nav shakes her head. “But—”

I hold up a hand. “I have my q-link. I can do this with low risk.”

Nav looks uncertain but nods.

“Help me put Alexander in this other Obliterator suit for now. I’ll mark it as a friendly to the turrets.”

We heft him inside.

“Come on, Nav. I’ll need your help with this next part.” I stride toward the building the guards ran into.

“I’m coming too,” says Sunny.

I wave for him to follow. After today’s rescue, I’ll never deny him again. We enter into an empty hallway, which runs for twenty feet and then turns.

Doubt creeps into my stomach.

I clench my jaw and force it away, but my bruised face aches with the motion. My program to control the Evo worked perfectly when I tested it back at the base. They will not be able to resist me.... I’m pretty sure.

After I hack one, could the others update before I can corrupt them all? Maybe. I had better modify my drone networking program to work with Evos. Then I can do it all at once.

“Nav, Sunny. Guard this corner. I need time.”

I begin to alter the program.

“Do you need help, Fae?” asks Sunny. “I’ve been improving my coding skills.”

I didn’t know that. It’s funny that my Foster Buddy wants to help me create a program to hack Evos. Americus wouldn’t have liked that. “I can do it. Just watch for guards.”

He nods, and his stun baton pops from his wrist, only it’s different now with some type of barrel. Looks like he upgraded himself again.

The programming flows quickly and naturally. My mind is sharper, expanded by my urgency and purpose.

A guard runs around the corner, his gun lowered. Nav shoots, her cannon roaring. The bullet punches the man back against the wall, ripping a gaping hole through his chest.

Hell, that gun is crazy. I