Lyra Nexus's Arc

Chapter 8 of 27

Lyra stepped out of the server and onto her board. The river of streaming data caught the board's fins and carried her fast. Scan pulses swept the water behind her. Every one of them hunted the signal her fight had thrown. She crouched low and let her render bleed on purpose. Her signature scrambled, and the pulses slid past without a lock. The credits sat heavy in her file. For the first time she had enough to hire real help. She rode the current until the pulses thinned. A round portal door waited at the far bank, its ring glowing faint blue. She steered the board into the black center and passed through. Outside, she set the board down and rode it home along a quieter channel. Her rented room sat dark and sealed behind its own small door. She keyed it open, stepped inside, and let the door lock behind her. Only then did her render settle and her thoughts hold steady. She leaned the spear against the wall. Its blue blade caught the room's dim light, streams of code swirling along the shaft. She looked at it and understood the truth. She had no partners yet.