Chapter 20 · The Sync Glitch

"Take your hand off the control stick, Kane." Selena's voice came through the cockpit speakers, cold and sharp. "Now."

Kane kept both hands locked around the stick.

The black combat frame bucked beneath him. Warning lights flashed across the cracked display. Red. Red. Red. The machine's neural link had climbed past eighty percent, then ninety, then slammed into a number that should not have existed.

SYNC: 147%.

"That number is impossible," Selena said.

"So is the fact that we're still alive."

"You have three seconds to disconnect."

"And if I don't?"

A pistol pressed against the side of his helmet through the open emergency hatch behind his seat. He couldn't see Selena, but he felt the heat of her body close to his shoulder. Her breath touched the back of his neck when she leaned in.

"I pull the cable myself," she said. "Your brain cooks."

Kane glanced at the display. The combat frame had stopped shaking. Its six armored limbs had spread across the test chamber floor, claws digging into the reinforced plates. Every weapon system was online.

The machine was listening to him.

No.