I Choose the Skills Everyone Else Rejects

Nate bought nothing during the drive back.

The Anchor Resin page stayed open on his terminal until the transport reached the capital.

By then Ellis had fallen asleep again. Cade checked his breathing twice without waking him. Varek sat beside the damaged rear door, staring at the empty bracket where his cutter should have been.

Kellan barely spoke.

Nobody did.

The depot gates opened after dark.

Medics were waiting beside the medical building before the transport stopped.

"Ellis first."

Nate reached for the stretcher, but one of the medics took his place.

"We have him."

Ellis woke as they lifted him.

His eyes moved around the compartment before settling on Cade.

"There are four still inside the quarry."

"We have their route."

"They could be alive."

Cade stepped down beside the stretcher.

"They could. We also know what followed your patrol out."

Ellis tried to sit up.

A medic pushed him back.

"Save your strength."

Ellis ignored her and looked at Nate instead.

"You came back for me."

Nate remembered the cable pulling tight, the root refusing to break and the soil moving beneath his boots.

"We had time."

Ellis stared at him for another second before the medics carried him inside.

Varek climbed out behind them.

"We had time?"

Nate turned.

Varek wiped dried blood from his cheek.

"That’s what you’re going with?"

"It worked."

"Nima’s dead."

"She didn’t die pulling Ellis out."

"No. She died because we were still on that road when the thing reached us."

Dax climbed down from the driver’s seat.

"We would have been there anyway."

Varek looked at him.

"You know that?"

"I spent the whole time trying to start the recovery vehicle."

Varek’s jaw tightened.

"That doesn’t make this a good mission."

Cade came around the transport.

"Nobody said it was."

Varek pointed toward the ruined rear door.

"I lost my cutter. Hobb’s gone. Nima’s gone. We brought back one man who might lose his leg."

"And the recorder," Cade said.

Varek gave him a hard look.

Cade continued.

"It gives command the patrol route, the nest location and enough data to close the eastern road before the burrowers reach it. We also know there’s something in Greyhook that our current team cannot kill."

Varek looked away.

"That worth two people?"

Cade did not answer immediately.

"It’s worth knowing before the next team goes in."

That ended the argument, if not the anger.

Cade turned to the others.

"Equipment check. Medical. Debrief in forty minutes."

Nate started toward the barracks.

"Calder."

He stopped.

Cade pointed toward the medical building.

"Medical."

"My shoulder works."

"You can explain that to the scanner."

Nate changed direction.

Kellan followed him.

"You’re getting better at this."

"At what?"

"Knowing when he isn’t asking."

The medic found the damage quickly.

She ran the scanner across Nate’s shoulder, then followed the energetic pathway toward his chest.

"How many times?"

"Twice."

"Full circulation?"

"Yes."

"With an active restriction."

"Cade authorized both."

The medic looked past him.

Cade stood near the entrance.

"He did."

She returned to the scanner.

"Then I get to blame both of you."

Cade crossed his arms.

"I’ll survive."

Nate rotated his shoulder carefully.

"How bad?"

"The muscle is repairing unusually fast."

"My Class."

"I read the file."

She moved the scanner deeper.

"The pathway isn’t recovering at the same rate."

Nate had expected that.

Body Memory could return damaged tissue to states his body had already achieved, but the energetic pathway beneath it had never properly healed.

"How long?"

"Three days without heavy circulation."

Nate looked toward Cade.

"Three days," Cade repeated.

The medic handed Nate a dense nutrient pack.

"Eat all of that."

He opened it before leaving.

Kellan was waiting in the corridor.

"How much merit?"

Nate took a bite.

"You’re asking already?"

"I asked Dax first. He told me to go away."

"So you came to me."

"You’re easier to annoy."

They reached the briefing room.

Dax was already seated. Varek arrived a minute later wearing a clean jacket. Without the cutter strapped across his back, Nate almost failed to recognize his silhouette.

Cade closed the door.

The mission report appeared over the table.

"Recorder recovered. Ellis stable for now. Greyhook quarry is restricted until a heavy unit reaches it."

An image from the recovery vehicle appeared.

The black creature filled most of the road.

"Threat classification is pending."

Dax leaned forward.

"Nothing in the regional catalogue?"

"Nothing confirmed."

Kellan studied the image.

"That’s reassuring."

Cade dismissed it.

Then the casualty report opened.

Hobb Marr.

Nima Vel.

Nate looked at Nima’s name longer than he meant to.

The report listed time of death, mission status and equipment recovery.

Most of it was administrative.

That made it worse.

Cade moved on.

Contribution values filled the screen.

Nate’s adult burrower kill had counted heavily.

Ellis counted more.

Threat data added another portion.

Once the casualty redistribution finished, Nate’s balance settled at 103 merit.

A second notice appeared.

FIELD RANK ONE

He opened the exchange.

Varek noticed.

"Already shopping?"

"Looking."

"You got a good cut."

"So did everyone who came back."

Varek leaned forward.

"Hobb had nineteen missions."

Nate stopped scrolling.

"Nima had twelve."

The room quieted.

Varek pointed toward Nate’s terminal.

"You arrived yesterday."

Nate understood now.

This was not about sixty-one percent of a burrower.

Not really.

"I didn’t choose the contribution score."

"No."

Varek glanced at the casualty report still open beside Cade.

"Doesn’t mean I have to like seeing yours."

Cade closed the report.

"Sol."

Varek stood.

"I’m done."

He left.

Nate watched the door close behind him.

Kellan remained near the wall.

"He’ll probably cool down."

"Probably?"

"I don’t make promises about Varek."

Nate returned to the exchange.

Field Rank One had added a short list of resources.

Pathway treatments.

Conductive components.

Field-grade medicine.

Then he found Anchor Resin.

Forty-seven merit per vial.

He selected two.

PURCHASE TOTAL: 94 MERIT

BALANCE AFTER PURCHASE: 9

Nate hesitated.

Ninety-four merit was almost everything he had earned.

The casualty report had disappeared from the room display, but he could still remember the two names.

Hobb had survived nineteen missions.

Nima had survived twelve.

Nate confirmed the purchase.

Two vials would be waiting in secure storage the next morning.

Kellan moved closer.

"What did you spend ninety-four merit on?"

"Anchor Resin."

"Two vials?"

"Yes."

"That’s almost your entire payout."

"I can earn more."

Kellan gave him a brief look.

"For another Node?"

Nate nodded.

"Soon?"

"Not while my Circuit feels like this."

That answer seemed acceptable.

Kellan headed for the door.

Nate stayed seated.

His route already held Posthumous Disciple and Body Memory. Farther along it waited the structure he had been preparing for another Node.

Empty, if he built it correctly.

For most Awakened, an empty Node had little value.

For Nate, it meant he would be able to claim again.

Every awakening offered three Skills.

Almost everyone chose one and abandoned the other two without thinking about what happened to them afterward.

Nate only needed to witness the right rejection.

His terminal vibrated.

PURCHASE READY FOR COLLECTION: 07:00

A second notice remained beneath it.

HEAVY CIRCULATION RESTRICTED: 71 HOURS

Nate looked at both timers for a few seconds.

Then he closed the terminal and left the room.

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