...the crimson warning lights of her ocular rig bleeding into a cold, predatory blue.

She tried to scream, but the vocal synthesizer in her throat clicked and died, choked out by the overriding

Through the digital static of her failing visor, the target loomed. This wasn't a simple mechanical failure; the telemetry feed was being rewritten in real-time, the crimson warning lights of her

mouth, a chemical warning sign that her brain’s meatware was beginning to cook.

The HUD inside her helmet flickered violently, cycling through error codes in a frantic, blinding strobe.

The mechanism was frozen, welded solid by the high-voltage surge currently cooking her central nervous system.

A sharp, metallic taste—like copper pennies dissolved in battery acid—flooded her

that pulsed behind her eyelids.

Her gloved thumb finally found the knurled metal lever of the emergency eject. She clamped down and pulled.

Nothing happened.

The mechanism