13 – Protocols in PlaceHector had only made it about twenty steps into the acid forest before a private comm channel between him and Kristy appeared on his AUI. He acknowledged it with a thought, and her voice came through: “Are you seriously going in there?”“Need to concentrate,” he replied, scanning the strangely colorful world, made so by the multi-spectrum cams on his helmet. The helmet’s limited AI blended a dozen spectrums into a shifting palette, painting the midnight world in blues and greens, with acid burning bright yellow. He hoped it would be able to pick out any creeping reapers, too, because they were damn hard to spot. Their physiology let them match the ambient temperature almost perfectly. Their slow, deliberate movements—and their ability to break up their outline among the trees—only made it worse.“You should have told Mathews to eat slag, Hector. We can find plenty to harvest out here; no need to go chasing fairy tales!”Hector snorted, amused by her vehemence. Honestly, her sentiment was a little endearing; had he earned her loyalty so quickly? Back in the day, if a member of the team wanted to take a risk for a big potentia payoff, Hector couldn’t imagine he would have stopped them. What about now? The thought carried an image—Sass. Would he let her run into those woods, even if there was a good chance of her bringing back a potentia haul?Bad example; Sass isn’t on this team. She isn’t ready.As he was arguing with himself, Kristy kept talking, “Well, don’t be a hero, at least. We’ll be watching your signal.”When he didn’t respond right away—not to be rude, but because he was staring at a dark spot on one of the trees, wondering if it was a reaper—Kristy cut the comm connection.Hector held out his fist, slowing to a stop. Frederick saw the signal and stopped beside him, his armor sizzling with faint static as acid slid off the active shielding. “What?” (...)