19...20...21... I pushed harder and the suit picked up on my strength. I had the impulse to drop out of the game. I was feeling dizzy."43 m/h. You're halfway there." Zed said. "You won't leave this place until I see a tweak in your ratings." That pushed me to keep going, I was beaten by a Klozandroid, overpowered by a mimic, merely annoyed by a condor, and saved by a girl. There was no way I was falling out of the race. I reached the line and my vision doubled. I stumbled before the line and fell sideways. I cringed clutching the floor. I was angry with myself. "Stay away from electrolytes. It's bad for you." "Sorry, Private, You have a lot of training on your hands." She outstretched her gloved hand and I clutched it, she struggled. "Turn off the suit." "Deactivate. Whoa!" I was whisked forward and we fell. I had to try this again. It took me 159 tries and I only broke out with 24 miles."Class dismissed." Zed flicked the lighter off. He turned to the tyres drifting into his bri

"He came face to face with Lord Gondomier. We didn't know what happened next. But the state of the field indicated that there was an epic battle. Teyen forced him to yield. In fact the only reason that he let go of the heart, the nanites and the Box was left to him alone. I know not about his motivations." I swallowed hard. I did hear about the slaves of Gagarin that were rescued. Why would they betray Zed like that? The extra AI from Zoldor indicated that he rescued them from the dying planet. Did it contain false records? Were the other slaves abandoned, embittered and lost? I wanted to ask her about them but she looked back at the creature creeping out of the ghost town. Dust and smoke rose and I set my hand over my eyes. I heard screaming behind us. Oogie pulled out a luminescent staff. I took out a blaster. We stood back to back."I figure it's too late for escorts." My breathing turned shallow when I heard soft growling noises. "What is that?" I turned around and set out my

I gasped heavily at the smoke, a pile of stones was raining. The alarm system in my suit beeped. "Shit, my thrusters are jammed." The dust and fumes filled my lungs. I stayed down crawling and breathing in the oxygen on the floor. The nanotech crawled on my face and it was painful to breathe. I recalled my mother and how it must have felt, was it painful? Or was the explosion so terrible that she didn't even see it coming? Was she afraid of being alone? Depression weighed on me like a wet blanket as I crawled. I groaned as something jumped on me. The earth shook like there were tectonic plates underground. I pulled away from Gilgax, and blood dripped down his face. I kicked back and jammed a rock into his face. Again and again. I crawled away as it rained dust and climbed out, I couldn't stay here. I needed to survive. I gasped getting up to run from the explosions. I pushed running for what could have been 45 miles away from the hot spot to safety. I met Mort and Oogie. She gripped m

"I'm just hyperventilating."Chima chuckled. "Ah don't mind me, we don't have air conditioning systems yet. I was only able to rent the equipment for baking." He rubbed his gloved palms together. "You're sure you're okay, brother?" Amir said and I nodded. "Yeah, nothing to it." I worked my jaw and Chima picked up interest in his cooking and began to mix the flour and the likes for the pastry. He asked me to dice the Irish potatoes and the vegetables. He didn't get the minced meat so we had to grind them ourselves. Amir stir fried the minced meat and sliced onions, then sprinkled seasoning into the pan frying for like ten minutes. He blinked. "It stings." He held a tablespoon to Chima who had a taste of the pie. Grace paint-brushed the oil on top of the tray. I cringed at the phonecalls but I was caught between painting the edges of the small sized dough on the tray with eggs while Amir speedily used a ladle to pour sizeable portions of golden meat sauce into small sized circles of d

I cautioned Lois to stop running. Especially with cars moving out of their parking space. "You left her with the scissors?" He said to me. "You're a real dumbass." My face turned hot. Lois laughed. We walked to a bus and I let them go in. Never in my life have I been so nervous about going out with my siblings. I patted my fingers on my thighs and I looked out the window at the streets for anything malicious around here. Dad worked in close association with damage control and architects. My mom worked for an oil company. I hoped they wouldn't press charges. Beck was reading a news report about me on a murderous spree, stealing jewels and wreaking havoc everywhere I went. That I needed to be put to a stop."I can't believe this guy. Maybe it's a different robot...Maybe not but he rescued me.""It's a different guy." I brushed my arm. I couldn't let anyone know. I gaped at Zed setting down popcorn and a squirrel grabbed his hand to fill up its mouth. He peered up at the two of us