Page 190 of Red Scale Daddy
He adjusts the transmitter, matching it against the internal schematic he stole from the wall panel. “Engineering deck.Moving between central drive control and a restricted command buffer. She embedded more than one layer.”
“Of course she did.”
“She is setting something up.”
“Also of course.”
Pally’s face tightens with worry. “If Throgg has given her access to live systems, he is depending on her.”
“That means she has leverage.”
“It means he will kill her the moment he thinks her usefulness has turned against him.”
The grin dies.
“Then we get there before he figures it out.”
Pally points toward a side passage. “Service route. It avoids main patrol arteries, but it crosses a perimeter defense node.”
“Define defense.”
“Automated turret grid, biometric sweep, and pressure seal.”
“Any good news?”
“The turret grid may be old.”
“Comforting.”
“It may be very old.”
“Less comforting.”
We move.
The service route drops us down two levels through a maintenance shaft that smells of coolant and hot circuitry. My shoulders scrape both sides, and the pressure rig catches twice on bracket mounts that were clearly designed by people with no appreciation for healthy body size. Pally moves ahead with maddening ease, pausing only to cut sensor wires or place bypass pins with the calm irritation of a man repairing a sink while infiltrating a warship.
At the bottom, he holds up a hand.
I stop behind him, listening.
Beyond the grate ahead, something rotates with a faint mechanical whir.
Turrets.
Pally opens a tiny optical probe and threads it through the grate. The display on his wrist shows a corridor junction with four ceiling-mounted defense units, each one folded inward, dormant but ready. A biometric scanner washes the corridor in faint blue pulses.
Pally whispers, “We cannot trip that grid.”
“Then turn it off.”
“I am working on it.”
“How long?”
“Long enough for you to become impatient.”
“That’s already happened.”
