Code Breakers: Beta Read Online Free

before. It...” Gerry trailed off, not wanting to give too much away.
    “Go on,” Jachz prompted. “I’m worried about this. I think you ought to come back to the station so we can examine you again.”
    “No way in hell, Jachz, old buddy. No offense. I enjoy your company to a degree, but space and me don’t get on. I want gravity and an atmosphere, and I’d appreciate it if you could help me get back there.”
    He seemed to wait for a while. Gerry wondered if he was clearing it with Amma or Nolan—his parents, or perhaps the sneering, jealous Tyronius. Jachz came back to him. “Okay, Gerry, I’m uploading new flight instructions to the shuttle’s navigation computer. Just relax and let me know if anything odd happens. I’ll guide you through as you get closer.”
    “Thanks, Jachz.”
    Gerry sat back and stretched his legs to ease the tension in his muscles. A welcome sight in front of him filled the holoscreen of the shuttle and he felt himself finally relax and banish the image of that great digital beast feasting on his mind.
    A blue pearl spinning on a blanket of black velvet grew larger as the background stars receded from view. The Earth filled Gerry’s shuttle screen. Faint forces vibrated through the hull. The shuttle’s thrusters adjusted his trajectory.
    From 380 km, he started his descent. He’d spent the last two weeks up there in The Family’s gigantic low-earth-orbit space station, now more than 100 km behind him, looking down at the blue marble wondering about her, about Petal. Was she still alive, was she suffering?
    The numbers ticked down on his augmented visual overlay. It had taken Gerry only a few days to appreciate his new visual upgrade: an optical prosthesis to replace the eye Seca had gouged out.
    “Adjusting speed of descent,” Jachz said.
    “Roger that,” Gerry replied.
    He prepared himself for entering the atmosphere. He dropped like a stone falling from outer space. His guts churned. Sweat dripped from his body into his space suit. His heart rate spiked, nearing his maximum. A red warning light flashed on his AO, his Augmented Overlay. Mags spoke to him directly in his mind.
    — Take slow deep breaths, Gerry, we’re nearly there. All is fine.
    — Easy for you to say, Mags. You don’t have a fleshy body to burn up during re-entry.
    — Well, we are one and the same thing, Mags said, reminded Gerry of their integration.
    The shuttle spun over, re-aligned to the correct path, and dropped into a thirty-degree angle.
    Gerry closed his eyes hoping to avoid the nauseating feeling of seeing Earth and space and all that is in it spin around him.
    “Entering the atmosphere, Gerry,” Jachz said. “You’ll rendezvous with the City’s docking unit in T-20 minutes.”
    “Thanks, Jachz.”
    The AI’s laugh resembled a small child’s: innocent and high-pitched. It made Gerry wonder if it wouldn’t be better for AI constructs like Jachz to stay away from Earth, stay within the safe confines of the space station. Away from fighting, pain, disappointment. They had a deeply serene nature to them. The tech integrated in them: the AIAs, the augmentations, hormonal balance controllers, and perceptive feedback enhancers, seemed to not only improved them as people, but evolved their outlook, too, despite their lack of real world knowledge and understanding. Perhaps that lack of knowledge gave them a new insight, one that wasn’t poisoned by humanity’s view of the universe.
    “If you ever come down from your nest, I hope you find this easier than I do,” Gerry said.
    “Maybe one day I’ll get to see your world, Gerry.”
    “On second thoughts, you’re probably better off staying where you are.”
    “Oh, why do you say that?”
    “It’s bad news down here, Jachz, real bad news.”
    “I see.”
    Gerry detected a hint of disappointment Jachz’s voice. Normally Gerry wouldn’t have noticed, but since his own upgrades, he’d become more perceptive than before. Mags, his AIA, had