Chapter 25 · They Bind on the Loudspeaker

"Congratulations, gentlemen." The voice crackled out of a speaker bolted somewhere behind the scrubber vents, wet with static, way too pleased with itself.

"You just triggered lockdown protocol seven." Cade's hand didn't leave the dead panel.

"Who is this."

"Somebody who's been watching this bio-lock a lot longer than you have, Captain Rourke." Milo's shoulder was still jammed against Cade's from the scrubber crawl, both of them wedged in the grate mouth, and Cade could feel every word land through Milo's ribs before it hit his own ears.

"Cute trick," Milo said up at the vent.

"Somebody swapped our manual override for a remote box and now you want a slow clap."

"I want a name off the dump list," the voice said.

"Either of you. Whichever one breaks first." The amber light on the box ticked to red. Cade's stomach dropped a full floor. Red on a bio-lock panel meant gravity assist, not air. It meant the compartment was about to decide who was heavier than who.

"Milo—" "Yeah. I feel it too." The floor plates hummed, then pulled, like the whole container leaned two degrees and kept leaning.