When you visit our website, if you give your consent, we will use cookies to allow us to collect data for aggregated statistics to improve our service and remember your choice for future visits. Cookie Policy & Privacy Policy
Dear Reader, we use the permissions associated with cookies to keep our website running smoothly and to provide you with personalized content that better meets your needs and ensure the best reading experience. At any time, you can change your permissions for the cookie settings below.
If you would like to learn more about our Cookie, you can click on Privacy Policy.
IT CHILLED CARIAD TO the bone to see the forty or so deactivated Guardians. They were standing still and silent, lined up in ranks in an empty room on the lowest deck of the Mistral. Part of the creepy effect was because they’d deactivated while upright, not lying down like humans in cryo. Yet they looked as human as ever, aside from the fact that none of them breathed or moved even a micrometer. Some hadn’t even bothered to close their eyes before shutting themselves down. They stared blankly ahead, their gazes unfocused. The lighting in the room was dim, yet it was bright enough to glint on the Guardians’ eyes as if they were moist. Cariad mused that the Guardians’ eye tissue probably wasn’t damp. She imagined that if she reached out to touch an eye it would feel smooth and dry, or perh