Read Point of Origin (War Eternal Book 4) for Free Online Page B

either. Had this present never happened in prior timelines?
    "Thank you, Admiral," Mitchell said. "I'll consider your opinion along with my own and Steven's. I'll also check back in with Aiko with your estimate. Can you let me know once you've finalized your assessment of the Black Hole approach?"
    "Of course, Colonel."
    "Thank you."
    Mitchell bowed and left the room. He could feel Calvin's eyes on him the entire time. There was something about the Federation Admiral that didn't sit well with him, but he couldn't quite place it. He had been fighting the Federation for so long; he wondered if he was simply struggling to separate the man from the nation.
    He headed back to the lift, taking it down three more levels to the infirmary. He winced when the hatch to the lift slid open, revealing the results of a pitched battle.
    The bodies were gone, but the pieces of debris from Watson's machines still littered the floor, and even the emergency lighting struggled to stay active, flickering and flashing and lighting the entire corridor in a grim way. According to Thomas, Millie had been a major reason they had won the standoff down here.
    "Digger?" Mitchell shouted, stepping through the mess. He had assigned the mechanic to see what he could salvage hours ago, but Aiko had told him she thought he was still down here. "Digger?"
    There was no answer. Mitchell crossed the corridor to the threshold of the infirmary. He gasped at the sight of the damage. Blood splattered the walls, and the medi-bot had been overturned and smashed. One of Watson's robots lay dead on its side, a limb twisted in on itself and stabbing into the battery pack. Mitchell smiled at the sight. Only Millie could have done that.
    "Digger?"
    The cabinets were all hanging open, the medicines already looted and packed. He heard the hum of a machine in an adjacent room.
    He crossed over to it and peeked in. Digger was on his back beneath a large box, tools laying close to his right hand.
    "Digger," Mitchell said.
    The mechanic twitched before he pulled himself out from underneath the equipment.  
    "Shit, Colonel. You scared the frig out of me."
    "Sorry. What is that?" He pointed at the box.
    "Medical mainframe. When the medi-bot isn't a pile of broken shit, it powers it. It contains a database of everything the bot needs to know, including human genome sequences."
    He got to his feet. Mitchell noticed blood stains on his overalls.
    "Not mine," Digger said. "Such a frigging shame about Tio's people, and your Admiral. Did you know Tess bought it? The real Tess."
    "No. I didn't know. I'm sorry."
    Digger shrugged. "It's okay. Sometimes I think she's better off than we are."
    "Digger-"
    "Yeah, I know. You don't need to say it. Anyways, I figure if we can take the mainframe, and this other piece of tech over here, it's a high-powered microscope, and a DNA sequencer, we can maybe find a clue."
    "Where's the sequencer?"
    "Out there. The mainframe is the hardest to remove, so I started in on it first. I was going to check up on my crew once that was done. I put what was left of them in charge of the communicators."
    "How many do we have?"
    "We can make about twenty, give or take."
    "Encrypted?"
    "Yup. Hey, home come you came down here? You didn't need to climb into the bowels with me to ask me this shit."
    Mitchell wasn't sure what to say. Why had he come down? He wanted to see the carnage. He wanted to remember it. He wanted to use it as fuel.
    "I wanted to see if you needed any help," he said instead. "I can lend a hand for a couple of hours."
    Digger's face lit up. "Really? You would do that for me?"
    "Sure. Why not?"
    "You're the frigging Hero of the frigging Battle for Liberty. That's why not."
    "I'm-"
    Digger didn't let him counter his statement. "I'm honored, Colonel."
    Mitchell nodded. "Show me what you need me to do."

9

    Admiral Steven Williams blinked his eyes a few times, forcing them to tear. Then he clenched them tight, holding the moisture in and feeling it burn