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Back The Abyss Surrounds Us Save as PDF
Chapters (37)
  1. Dedication
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7
  9. 8
  10. 9
  11. 10
  12. 11
  13. 12
  14. 13
  15. 14
  16. 15
  17. 16
  18. 17
  19. 18
  20. 19
  21. 20
  22. 21
  23. 22
  24. 23
  25. 24
  26. 25
  27. 26
  28. 27
  29. 28
  30. 29
  31. 30
  32. 31
  33. 32
  34. 33
  35. 34
  36. Acknowledgments
  37. About the Author

My best option at this point is probably just to follow Bao. Let myself sink. Let the ocean take me, let the water fill my lungs like it’s been trying to do. It would be painful, but then it wouldn’t, and I would never hurt anyone again.

No, that’s not true. That can’t ever be true. If I let myself sink, it would kill Swift, and I can’t abide that. I wrecked these quadcopters without hesitation, and it saved her life, but now even that doesn’t seem like it’s enough. Was her life worth the lives I just took? Is she worth that to me?

I’m still stuck on those questions when Varma’s Splinter comes to collect me. Chuck leans out of the copilot’s seat and scoops me out of the NeoPacific. There’s no fight left in me; I let her drop me on the floor like a rag doll. They could easily kill me now, but I don’t think they’re in the mood for favors.

“Holy shit, girl,” she says.

“I’ve never seen anything like that,” Varma agrees. “Is that what your job is always like, huh? Damn, that’s some beautiful carnage.” He leans back in the pilot’s seat, smirking as he gazes out over the sea. Something quick and low escapes his lips. It sounds like a Hindi prayer.

Chuck checks him with her shoulder. “Quit dawdling, lelemu. We’re running again.”

“Right,” he says, and guns the engines.

28

28

The Splinter sidles up to the Minnow, and the ship’s claws snap around our hull, winching us up to the cradles on the second deck. Our breakneck pace hasn’t slowed. This was only the first attack—the SRC will try again, and next time it won’t be just quadcopters. But I don’t feel ready to think about that. As it is, I’m not even sure if I can walk on my own when the Splinter finally settles into its mounts.

Varma and Chuck clamber out before we’re properly docked, and I try my best to crawl after them, but my arms shake as I haul myself over the ship’s side. My breath comes in unsteady gasps, and darkness seeps into the corners of my vision. The ocean has a funny way of sapping your strength without you noticing. Once you’re out of the water, you’re shattered.

But then a pair of hands finds me, and Swift is there, slinging my Otachi-clad arm over her shoulder. “She’s dead on her feet, boss,” she says, and I wince, knowing Santa Elena is seeing me at the weakest I’ve ever felt.

“Let her rest,” the captain declares, and I could kiss her if I had the strength for it. “She’s done well.”