Skyfall

Read Skyfall for Free Online

Book: Read Skyfall for Free Online
Authors: Anthony Eaton
relentlessly. This is the first time we’ve used this in years, Mann thought. In fact, he recalled, the last time they worked through this particular protocol was with the mother of the girl now lying tranqued on the podium.
    â€˜Cortex activity?’
    â€˜Acceptable.’
    Dernan Mann shook his head. He didn’t like to remind himself about that last one. Not after everything that happened afterwards. Bringing her in had marked the beginning of the bad times – Eyna’s obsession, Larinan’s birth, the increase in subject decline – all that and everything that flowed from it was put into motion the night they pulled that last girl out of her stinking hovel in Woormra.
    â€˜Muscle response?’
    â€˜Acceptable.’
    Mann watched his eldest son work, wondering if the boy had any idea how much this was going to change things. For all of them. The entire Mann family. Now that the excitement of discovery was wearing off, the enormity, the gut-wrenching significance of that skinny little sack of bones lying on the table was just starting to set in and Dernan Mann had to work to ignore a slight queasiness.
    Janil reached out and made a small adjustment to the IR-gain and the scanner chattered new data straight back at him. He’s so good at this, Dernan Mann thought to himself. Better than I ever was.
    â€˜Bone density?’
    â€˜Acceptable, for a subject.’
    â€˜Ocular sensitivity?’
    â€˜Acceptable.’
    Watching Janil reminded Dernan Mann so much of himself at that age – young, brilliant, self-assured. But with Janil, of course, there’d always been something underneath. There’d always been the rage, the anger.
    â€˜Muscle density?’
    â€˜Acceptable.’
    â€˜Good, then.’ Dernan signed off and pushed his interface aside. ‘Everything pretty much in the green. A textbook recovery.’
    For a couple of minutes the two men stood looking at the girl stretched out on the padded sleep mat.
    â€˜It’s incredible, don’t you think, son?’
    â€˜What is?’
    â€˜Her. Finding her after all this time.’
    â€˜It was always a possibility.’
    â€˜But never a probability. You knew that as well as I did.’
    â€˜We’d better get the inscan out of the chamber.’ Janil said.
    â€˜And ourselves, too.’
    â€˜We’ll be fine. It’s barely first shift. The sun’ll only just be above the low horizon. Besides, the suits should …’
    â€˜These daysuits haven’t been used in years, Janil.’
    For a moment he thought his son was going to argue, but Janil clearly decided it wasn’t worth the bother. He was like his mother that way.
    â€˜Fine, then.’ Janil picked up the inscan and headed for the lock. ‘Let’s go.’
    They’d left the inner door open. With nobody to monitor them from obs, it was the only safe way. With the two of them and the inscan, it was a tight squeeze. Once the gas exchangers had run down, Janil opened the outer hatch and they stepped into the locker room beyond.
    â€˜Phew.’ Janil wasted no time pulling his helmet off. ‘Haven’t worn anything this heavy in a while.’
    â€˜It’s better than the alternative.’
    â€˜True.’
    They started removing their heavy, shielded daysuits, occasionally having to assist one another with the more bulky sections.
    â€˜So what are we going to do with her?’
    Dernan threw Janil a sharp look.
    â€˜You have to ask?’
    â€˜I’m curious. Do you really think that’s the last great hope lying in there on the table? Are you prepared to throw your whole reputation away in a gamble on that … girl?’
    â€˜It’s not a gamble if there’s no other option, Janil. It’s scientific logic. When you have no other course of action open to you, all you can do is take whatever path is presented. You of all people should know that.’
    â€˜Our

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