EDGE OF DAY

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

The droid medic had logged Day into sick bay two and left her without a guard. Either they trusted her returned memories would wipe out any feelings she had for Will, or they didn't believe she would cause any trouble.

Their mistake.

What they didn't know was Dayna had worked over-time. She had studied everything about everything she might ever need for her mission. 'Obsessed' was what Day called it. But useful.

Day short-circuited the door so the central computer wouldn't log her departure. She ran through a corridor leading to the vents. The enormous air vent system was split into ten self-powered independent shafts that interlinked at various points around the mammoth structure. Each shaft was designed to self-isolate in case of a problem.

Day unfastened the safety hatch over the wall vent and checked the number in the back of the panel. #6. Vent 6 cross-sectioned with vent 5, and 5 went to the Mind-Hub, the central control for all the computers on the network.

Once she broke into the Mind-Hub she could redirect the download from Will's brain. Then she would have the inter-dimensional doorway code, and Ferdinando would have to help her save Will or say goodbye to the code.

She climbed into the vent and crouched down to screw back on the access panel. With the panel in place, she stood up. The air vent was two meters high and over a meter wide.

"Computer," she said, into her wrist monitor, "tell me when I've gone nine hundred and thirty-two meters."

She began running. Cold oxygen pumped through the shaft, making her mind laser-sharp and her body energetic. When her watch bleeped and hologram flashed up 932 meters, she stopped. Studying the panels on her left-hand side, she found a plate with fins that could open and close to let air in or shut it off. A strip of metal the size of a suitcase handle protruded from the plate. The sunken handle was too short to grip onto. She tried to wrap her fingers around it and pull, but it didn't budge.

A buzzing sounded beneath her hand. A number pad winked to life on the metal strip. It wanted her to enter a four-digit passcode.

6, 2, 8, 1

The numbers flashed through her mind as though she'd always known them. She tapped them into the illuminated pad, and it transformed back into its original metallic appearance. Then there came a simple click. The handle extended. Day gripped the handle, turned it 180° and the plate popped open. She was in!

She crawled through to vent five. "Computer," she said, getting back to her feet. "Tell me when I've gone seven hundred and eight meters upwards."

Light flashed from her wrist monitor.

Incoming Call.

Day hesitated. "Show caller."

A miniature hologram of Ed projected upwards. Usually, the hard chiseled lines of his bone structure, his icy blue eyes made him seem invincible. But all Day could see was the anxiety beneath the surface. He was by the doors to sick bay two.

Day began ascending through the vent. "Block camera and accept call."

"Where are you?" He sounded stern, like he was biting back the rage.

"Can't tell you that."

"You've got a tracer in your watch. It won't be difficult to find out."

"Why ask then?"

"Amber said the machine's reintegrated your memories."

Nervousness pinched Day's insides. "Yes."

"So now you can tell me why you avoided me for days and then broke up the night before you left."

If she kept him talking, then she kept him distracted, and ensured he wasn't running off to track down her coordinates or tell Amber she was missing.

"Why would I tell you that?"

"Because you owe me at least that, Dayna."

"I'm not Dayna. They still haven't removed the implant, remember?"

"It's partially disintegrated. And I've seen you in action enough to know Dayna's there to answer the question."

Ed's holo-figure vanished for a moment, replaced by numbers showing Day had gone seven hundred and eight meters. With the reduction of gravity in the shaft, she'd barely noticed the vertical climb.

She stopped, and ran a hand along the panels beneath her. One two-feet by two-feet panel had tiny pimple bumps on the surface.

How did this thing lift up? "I'll tell you what, Ed. You explain why you got a six-month procreation license and I'll tell you why Dayna dumped you."

She pressed both palms into the panel. Nothing happened. She ran the pad of the finger all away around the panel edge. Nothing.

Distracted, she barely noticed Ed's lengthy pause. But when his voice cut across the silence, cracked and wounded, she halted what she was doing and paid attention.

"I didn't want to lose you. I thought if you got pregnant, when Ferdinando launched the trigger that reactivated you and set everything in motion, you might not want to go through with the mission."

She studied Ed's holographic image. "What was the trigger?"

"The shopping center bombing. The day you came to meet me for lunch."

"What about Janus?"

He shook his head. "It wasn't part of the plan. That was Day... You. The personality implant."

Something unraveled in her lower back. Will hadn't bombed the shopping center. Free from hurt, he'd said. Not free to hurt. The world was only a dream to him, but that didn't mean he was willing for others to suffer by his hand.

Day sat down and thrust both feet against either side of the panel. It dropped out beneath her. There came a split-second of silence, then a resounding clang as it smashed to the floor.

"What was that?"

"Just a droid malfunctioning."

A sly, distrusting look returned to Ed's eyes. She needed to redirect his attention, fast.

"I broke up with you Ed," she said, lowering herself through the gap in the vent, "because the mission came first. Part of me was afraid once I'd had my memories wiped I'd just want to hide away in that little apartment with you and forget about it."

Her feet dangled six-feet above the metal floor. The octagonal Mind-Hub had ground to ceiling bullet-proof glass walls. She lowered herself so she was holding onto the edge of each side of the ceiling by her palms. With a deep breath, she closed her eyes and let go.

She landed legs bent with the perfect amount of spring. She laughed. Ferdinando thought the Hub was impenetrable. For a self-proclaimed genius, he'd overlooked quite a lot.

"Nice try, Day," Ed said. He thought she was laughing at him. "You're not going to mind-screw me with that crap."

She remembered all the times he'd guilt-tripped her into having sex while trying to get her pregnant. She refused to feel sorry for him. "The truth is, I saw Will on one of his videos and it was over for you and me. Will made me realize what I felt for you was just a shadow of what I could feel for someone. Goodbye Ed."

She cut the call. Harsh? Yes. Deserved? Totally. And perhaps he'd be too preoccupied licking his wounds to find out where she was for the next few minutes.

Hello Lovelies. Thank you for being here. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! So excited to see how you guys will react to the next few chapters!!! Please vote if you can -- helps the book get noticed and as always, all comments, thoughts and corrections are most appreciated. xox C.