Tell Me No Spies by Diane Henders Page B

from my throat. The rocks squeezed
more tightly.
    Trapped. Buried alive.
My throat closed, my screams smothering into shrill rapid wheezing.
My heart hammered, uselessly trying to batter its way out of my
chest.
    Kane’s voice boomed
around me. “Aydan, stop! You control this !”
    Light bloomed as his
arms closed around me. Suddenly he was carrying me, and I fought to
control my shallow panting.
    “Stay with me,” he
urged. “You’re going to be all right.”
    My breath stopped
momentarily at the sight of the blood soaking his T-shirt and
smearing his arms. “Stay with me,” he repeated. “Just breathe with
me. Nice and slow.”
    “I’m okay! Put me
down. Where are you hurt?” I struggled, and his arms tightened
around me while he kept up his rapid pace.
    “Just lie still.”
    “No, I’m fine. Where
are you hurt?” I ran shaking hands over his blood-soaked shirt,
searching for injuries.
    “I’m not hurt. It’s
not my blood.”
    “Oh.” I glanced down.
Blood leaked steadily from my gaping wounds, leaving a crimson
trail behind us. The jagged yellowish ends of a broken bone
protruded from the torn bloody denim over my right thigh. “…oh,” I
repeated.
    I took a few calming
breaths, my panic subsiding when I realized he was unhurt and it
was only a sim. “Well, let’s just fix that.” I waved a hand down my
virtual body, repairing bone and muscle and skin and clothing.
    Kane stopped and blew
out a breath, dropping my feet to the ground and holding me close.
“Thank God.”
    “No, thank you .
For saving my ass yet again.”
    He turned me gently
toward the exit portal. “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”
    “No, I’m okay now. I
just lost it for a second there, but I’m fine. Let’s get this
done.”
    “Absolutely not. This
ends now.”
    “We’re here. We’re
already in. I’m fine now. Let’s just do it,” I argued.
    Spider’s tremulous
voice floated down from the virtual sky. “Aydan, are you really
okay?”
    “I’m fine.”
    My knees wobbled
uncontrollably, and I pulled away from Kane and dropped to the
ground. “I’ll just start from here.”
    Kane stared down at
me, and for an instant I thought he might carry me bodily out of
the sim. Then the moment passed and he sank down beside me, looking
resigned. “Fine. Give me your hand.”
    “Why?” Sam’s voice
startled me.
    “Because when Aydan
goes searching along network paths, she… stretches. I’m her
anchor,” Kane replied.
    “Ooooh…” Sam sounded
utterly enthralled. “Aydan, tell me exactly what you’re going to
do.”
    “First I’m going to go
invisible. Then I’m going to stretch into the network and start
tasting data packets…”
    “Tasting?”
    “Well, yeah, sort of.
I don’t really know what the correct word would be. I kind of… I
don’t know, taste? Smell? Listen? Absorb? It’s like a sponge
floating in a stream.”
    “This is so exciting…”
Sam’s voice was trembling. “Can you talk to me while you do
it?”
    “No. Invisibility
itself doesn’t prevent me from talking, but once I start sniffing
around down network connections, I can’t speak. And the further
away I go, the less I can hear from this end. That’s why John holds
onto me. In case he needs to pull me back.”
    I willed myself
invisible, feeling Kane’s grip tighten on my hand.
    “Wait!” Sam’s voice
was urgent, and I popped back into visibility.
    “What?”
    “Oh, good, you’re
still here. Can you just stay invisible for a few minutes while I
monitor the readings? Then move into the network and just stay
around here. Then go through some of our internal firewalls, maybe
manipulate a couple of files. And last thing, go and breach some
external firewalls.”
    “Sure.” I faded away
again, but remained seated where I was. After a few minutes, Sam
spoke again. “Okay, go and travel the network now.”
    “On my way.” I
stretched my consciousness into the swirls and eddies of the Sirius
Dynamics network,