Darkest Designs Read Online Free PDF Page B

needed a little help. He loaded a pack with emergency food rations, water, clothes and first aid supplies.
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    This was one of those times. He pulled the codin clip from his belt and connected it to his pack, then sucked the pack into its envelope form. Storey loved this technology. It let him shrink wrap almost any household item down to a packet the size of a small envelope without damaging the contents. Just thinking about Storey made him remember something else. He tucked the pack away in his back pocket, then pulled out an empty one. Storey might need extra paper. Not something he had here. He returned to Paxton’s lab to find his mentor at the workbench. “Any news before I leave?”
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    Paxton’s back stiffened. “Leave?”
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    â€œPaxton, I have to try and rescue her. She would do the same for me. She has done just that. I can’t sit by now when she’s trapped In-between.”
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    The older man’s face grayed and although already sitting, he seemed to shrink into himself. “I know,” he whispered. “I’d hoped I could make you see reason but…”
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    â€œI may not need to if we can help her rescue herself.” Eric motioned to his table full of stuff. “But I’m preparing to go just in case.”
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    He eyed the stack of codexes. Navigation was an inherent skill for him. Except in the In-between nothing might work – tools or instinct. The last thing he wanted was to get over there and wish he had brought more equipment. He added several to his pocket. He precoded them to save time.
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    â€œEric, look here…” Paxton stood up and pointed to the big monitor in front. He had some kind of blank screen set up with only lights flashing to show anything existed on it. “The top marker is the location Storey entered In-between, according to the coordinates given by her stylus. It has kept a running guide of her travels. As you can see, she’s all over the place.” The screen rotated to show Storey’s progress from various points of view, eventually morphing into a three dimensional picture.
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    Eric walked closer. “I don’t understand. Why are some of these higher? Is this a map?
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    Paxton’s head bobbed. “That’s the issue. She’s not moving north or south only , she’s also moving up and down. The system is tracking the changes in her altitude.”
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    â€œAre there mountains there?” Eric didn’t understand. Yet even as he watched, the signal moved again. This time slightly higher. He tapped the screen. “So you are saying that this little jag up in her pathway is actually an altitude change and not a few steps to the north?”
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    â€œExactly. On the whole she is moving toward the north. But you could walk for hours following her tracks and never see her because she could be above you or below, out of your line of sight. And the fog is likely all encompassing. You wouldn’t see her until you hit her.”
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    That just reminded Eric of finding Storey in the Louers’ dimension. His codex had locked onto hers and he’d tracked her all the way through the Louers’ housing. In fact, she’d jumped him out of the darkness as her stylus had told her he was there already. He pointed that out to Paxton.
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    â€œYes, but there’s no guarantee that the codex will function there.” Paxton replied. “If north isn’t north and gravity is nonexistent, all the machinery will be off too.”
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    Yeah, he got that. He stared down at his codex. The arm band covered the bulk of his forearm. An essential tool of his work and lifestyle. And he’d been forced to use the codex in so many ways lately. For travelling, communication, even tracking. He hated knowing that it might not be there for him In-between. “Can we do anything to make my codex more adaptable? Boost it in some way. Give it an