I realized that I had to kill a major character. Obviously not this one.
Did we panic? Well, as much as we could panic. Humanity has spent a lot of time making sure that people who lose their shit easily don’t go to the Tomb Worlds. Situations like this one was a prime reason why. Our training makes us stay busy, control what we can control, and not infinite-loop obsess over whatever disaster was going on around us. As a technique, it works, but sometimes I’d rather have the panic.
Greg, Nur, and I made a beeline to Maki’s office, but she wasn’t there. When I found out why, I almost lost my shit. She was too busy treating Syah for second-degree burns. “The damned fool shoved his arm into a server box while The Process was having its communications circuits fried,” she told us over the link. By mutual agreement, we were using strictly Earthtech for it. “He’s lucky he didn’t just completely ignite.”
“What the Hell was he thinking?” I stopped, breathed a couple of times, and tried again. “Did Syah say why he did that?”
“Something about how the corrupted circuits needed to be yanked out before they infected the automatic systems of the bases.” Maki managed to chuckle. “Which means nothing to me, but how would that even work? Electronics aren’t like that, are they?”