Frost Station Alpha 1-6: The Complete Series Read Online Free PDF Page A

that we’ve located. Want us to try blowing the doors open?”
    “Absolutely.”
    “Makkon,” Brax said from inside the room. “Got it.”
    Makkon stepped inside and found his comrade holding a string of grenades in his hand. “Disarmed?”
    “I certainly hope so.”
    Makkon snorted and scanned the rest of the room, watching, listening, and smelling for further signs of traps. He caught the lingering scent of some floral perfume or perhaps shampoo. The woman’s? This was probably her station. He growled at himself, wishing he had gone after her right away. She could be anywhere now.
    “Problem?” Brax asked.
    “Yeah, that woman I let get away. Bet she’s the one who can operate the computer in here.”
    “I’m sure I can operate a computer.” Brax sniffed and strode over to the one console that had lights and displays. The others were dark and silent. “Things don’t look that different.”
    “I was more thinking that there would be a passcode or even another trap rather than that you couldn’t handle pushing some buttons.”
    “Hm.” Brax waved his hand over a sensor and jabbed a couple of buttons. A holo display formed in the air, the front of an eyeball coalescing.
    “Retina scan required for access,” the computer said.
    Makkon pushed a few more buttons.
    “Access denied.”
    “Who’s allowed to access the computer?” Brax asked.
    “Access denied,” was all it said.
    Makkon sighed and tapped his bracer. “Dornic, come up to communications as soon as you can.”
    “Before or after I’m certain the station won’t implode due to these smoking circuits?” came the prompt reply.
    “Stop being melodramatic.”
    “Is that an order?”
    “Yes. Is Krakinnok with you? Tell him to grab some men and scour this place level by level. I want to make sure there aren’t any soldiers hiding in the ductwork. Oh, and Dornic? Find a way to turn that damned alarm off, too, will you?”
    “Shall I also make you glacier tea and cookies in the copious free time you’re giving me?” Dornic asked.
    “Just get up here.”
    “You should punish him for that lip.” Brax growled and thumped a fist down onto the console hard enough to dent it.
    “I’m going to find the woman,” Makkon said, ignoring his co-commander’s leadership advice. Dornic was the smartest man on the team, and Makkon didn’t know him that well, didn’t know what kind of revenge he might take if truly pissed off. All their leaders cared about was that this mission was accomplished, not whether anyone came back. “Don’t destroy the computer while I’m gone.”
    “No promises.” Brax made a rude gesture at the floating eyeball.
    Makkon jogged toward the intersection where the grenade had exploded. He didn’t have any tech or tools that would make tracking the woman easy, but he recalled that she had been hit by shrapnel. At the least, some injury had made her gasp. If there was blood, tracking her would be a simple matter.
    He checked all of the corridors before stepping into the intersection. They lay empty, no sign of the soldier or anyone else.
    Tiny shrapnel that had come from the grenade crunched under his boots. He eyed the floor and the walls, looking for—there.
    Makkon crouched and swiped a finger through a drop of fresh blood. He rubbed it on his fingers and sniffed. His senses weren’t quite as keen as those of a hound, but they were more enhanced than typical for a human, even generations after his ancestors had been created in laboratories. The blood did not smell much different from other human blood, but he also caught a hint of the woman’s shampoo again, lingering in the air along with the smoky scent of the grenade. He spotted a torn piece of fabric on the floor. Ah, that would be even better for tracking than blood. He held it up and sniffed again, this time catching more of the scent of her under the shampoo, a mix of warm skin and sweat and the hormones produced by the human body that made a person