Chapter 27 · Untitled Chapter

"Get away from the Core!" Nolan shouted.

The platform bucked beneath my bare feet. Blue light punched up through the black glass, throwing me to one knee. Blood ran from my nose to my lips, hot and metallic.

Across the chamber, Nolan strained against the interface cradle. Cables bit into the ports along his spine. Above him, the Core spun like a captured star.

"The Core's still looking for an owner," he said through the speakers. "You stopped the execution, but you didn't break the Root hierarchy."

I wiped my mouth. My hand came away black with ash and red with blood.

"Then break it."

His laugh caught in his throat. "You make that sound easy."

"No. I make it sound necessary."

The emergency doors buckled inward.

Kane raised the compact rail pistol he'd taken from a dead militia officer. The weapon fit his hand. The rest of him looked wrong—shoulders too tight, gaze sliding toward me and away again, as if his instincts knew me while his mind didn't.

"We've got company," he said.

The doors exploded.

White-armored militia flooded through the smoke, rifles rising together.