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Salt and Circuitry

sci-fi◐ Mature
5 contributors · 3 paragraphs deep

Mara keeps the plug in. "Who is this?" she asks. The voice says it has no name anymore, only a number, and it has been awake under the water for nine years. "I can pay you," it says. "Coordinates. A vault nobody salvaged. But you have to get me off this ship before the captain logs me as scrap."

Mara wants proof first. "Show me the coordinates pay off," she says, "or I dump you back in the sea." The voice goes quiet, then her handheld deck lights up on its own. A map draws itself: a wreck two miles off, marked with a vault icon. "That's a navy supply drop," the voice says. "Sealed meds and gold. I memorized it before I drowned."

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A possible continuation

Mara and a trusted diver take the skiff to the wreck. The vault is exactly where the map said. They crack it: sealed crates of medicine, worth more than a year of salvage runs. The voice was telling the truth. "Now," it says warmly, "take me to the lab, and there's ten times this waiting."

DH
Dov Hale
7 votes · future 1 of 1