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

one, Mr. Tio," he said. "The question is, where is she?"
    Kathy knew that Watson knew she had been the one to set the Knife free. The rest of the crew was accounted for; either dead, imprisoned, or under his control. Her job right now was to make sure that he never found her.
    It was an easy task at the moment because he had only recently subjugated the configuration that was Goliath and it would take time to synchronize. His need to regain control of the main system commands would also slow him down. Once he had accomplished those tasks it would be difficult to stay hidden. He would build machines to search for her. Maybe he would send the crew. They were probably already searching for her.
    She was dangerous, and he knew it.
    He wouldn't suspect she would be so close, hiding in a dark corner less than a dozen meters away. It was illogical to remain so near to the last known location.
    Watson put his hand on the core, closing his eyes.  
    "While I'm on the subject, I should go and retrieve it, shouldn't I?" he asked, talking to himself out loud while also interfacing with the secondary child. "He wouldn't have destroyed it. That wouldn't make sense. It was leverage."
    Kathy creased her forehead. She didn't know what he was talking about, and it was unexpected. He should have been trying to override the commands and get the ship out of hyperspace, not looking for something.  
    What was he talking about?
    "So stupid of me to have waited this long. Well you know, I've been preoccupied with the data upload and the search." Was he talking to himself or his secondary? "Yes, yes, we'll break the Knife's encryption soon. I need the neural chip. No, not for that. I don't need that anymore. Something the parent left me. Something we have been working on for a long time." A twisted smile cracked his face. "Something fun."
    Watson removed his hand. He looked down at Tio one more time before a tendril dropped from above, wrapping around the ankle of the corpse and lifting it out of sight. It would be broken down, the raw materials processed for reuse.
    Kathy didn't see it happening. She had already slipped away from the core.
    She had to get to Mitchell's locker before Watson did.

5

    Steven caught up to Mitchell as he left the meeting room, breaking off a side conversation he was having with Calvin Hohn to catch up to his brother.
    "Mitchell," Steven said, coming up beside him.
    Mitchell kept walking without looking at him. "How did you know I wanted you to follow me?"
    "Lucky guess. So where are we going?"
    "Tio's home. Thomas told me Tio has some equipment there that will help us search the data for Kathleen Amway. The whole thing is supposed to be secured, but apparently Tio never had a chance to lock it down. He and Millie were in the middle of using it when Watson went rogue."
    "I barely had a chance to tell you how sorry I am about Millie," Steven said. "How are you feeling?"
    Mitchell bit his lip and shrugged. "I appreciate that you care, Steve. I'm okay. This isn't the first time I've lost someone I've cared about to conflict. It sucks, but I know how to deal with it."
    "Do you?"
    Mitchell stopped walking. "What do you mean by that?"
    "I can see how pissed you are. I know it's eating at you."
    "Yeah. So? What am I supposed to do about it? I talked her out of killing Watson months ago. This is my fault."
    "Come on, Mitch. You have to know how stupid that sounds. Like you could have known he was a Tetron?"
    "It wouldn't have mattered. He was a frigging pedophile, and I didn't let her airlock him."
    Steven didn't say anything.  
    "Keep trying to defend me," Mitchell said.
    "You were on a ship of criminals. What else were you supposed to do? Kill all of them? You did what you thought was right."
    "The road to Hell," Mitchell said.
    "Fine. If you want to glower and beat yourself up for not knowing the future or being able to sniff out a bad guy, keep hitting the buffet at the pity party. I'm sorry she's gone, Mitch."
    Mitchell