by Tamsin Ley
She was pregnant with my baby.
Doug narrowed his eyes. Esben was lying, and not very well. Humans and saluqans couldn’t naturally interbreed. This had to be a trap to get Doug to reveal his other secrets. Do you think I’m an idiot, Esben?
I know what you’re thinking, but it’s mine. I came from an illegal gene-splicing lab and have some human DNA. That’s why Dollard brought me into the program. He’s trying to isolate the saluqan sensitivity gene because it might help integrate the nanites into biological systems.
That gave Doug pause. He’d never looked into the other cyborg’s backstories because he didn’t want to form any attachments. It was hard enough knowing Benjy had a daughter, and he’d been covering for the man since they’d met; if Dollard knew how terrible Benjy was at hacking, he’d have cut the guy a long time ago.
Esben wasn’t a great hacker, either, but now his retention in the program made sense. Saluqans had a second sense about a person’s health, similar to the way cyber-sensitivity worked with computers. Which meant Esben could be telling the truth about the baby. Shit.
I think the bastard wants my kid, Esben continued. I need to get Tia to safety before she gives birth. I’m not trying to take over the ship or anything, I just need to pull some strings.
Doug rubbed the skin on his forehead where it merged against the metal plate. Keeping the baby out of Dollard’s hands was important, and not just because it was Esben’s kid. Since Dollard had tried to murder his sister and blame the pirates, Doug had sworn to do everything he could to throttle the doctor’s project.
Okay. But the baby’s not due for a while. We have time.
No, we don’t. Rust’s going to fuck everything up now that he knows how to get out. I need to move immediately.
Esben could be right. Rust might try to break out the moment he had the chance, and he wouldn’t stop at the lab’s computers. He’d try to bull his way to the bridge and take out as many Syndicorp personnel as he could along the way.
But cyborgs could be controlled. All Doug had to do was hack into Rust’s implants and lock him down. He’d never done it before, but he’d run through simulations enough times to be certain he could. I can stop him.
How?
He’s a cyborg. Doug didn’t need to say more. Esben would understand.
Silence permeated the connection before Esben asked, You can do more than just open doors, can’t you?
There was no more hiding the truth. I worked too hard on these algorithms to let Rust or anyone else blow it on something stupid. I’ll lock down every cyborg in the lab if I have to. Which wasn’t entirely true. He could, but it would take time to hack that many systems, and he certainly couldn’t do it all at once. Do not tell the others, or we may not be able to save Tia.
Just so you know, we can hear you, Twobit’s voice interjected.
Doug stiffened, kicking himself for being so careless. He should’ve verified this was a closed channel before speaking so freely. Fuck. All of you?
Just me and Brix, said Benjy. Emilryde and Rust don’t know about the communication hack.
I didn’t want to share it with you, either, Twobit added. But Esben insisted it was only fair.
Unable to fault them for keeping secrets after he’d kept so many of his own, Doug inspected the communication coding. Repurposing the energy from the security screen didn’t require complicated algorithms like his own hacks did. Ingenious use of the door shielding.
Not as elegant as your code, but it’s kept us from going insane. Humans aren’t meant to be isolated.
Saluqans, either, Esben said. Dammit, I wish that tech would go home. I want to get on those computers and look for Tia. Unlike Doug, Esben needed physical contact with a computer to use his cyber-sensitivity.
Doug glanced through the glowing security screen into the lab again. The tech had moved to another monitor and now studied the algorithm Doug had handed over. He’s not going anywhere tonight. Dollard wants a quick turnaround on an algorithm I gave them.
What the fuck? You wouldn’t share the door code with us, but you gave those assholes a new algorithm? Twobit accused.
Esben asked, What’d you give them?
This. Doug relayed the code. Dollard already had it, so sharing wouldn’t hurt. It’ll improve your hacking speed.
Does any of this have something to do with that new Consort? Brix asked.
The memory of Rust trying to force himself on Attie made Doug’s nanite-infused blood boil. Leave her out of this.
You asked me to protect her, Benjy insisted. Tell us why so we can help.
Doug clenched his hands, resisting the urge to punch through a wall panel. Doing that would only draw attention. He had to confide in the other cyborgs, or who knew what they’d do next time they saw her. Let’s just say I can’t let Dollard get his hands on her.
I wouldn’t want Dollard’s hands on that bit of sweetness, either. Brix snickered, quickly joined by the others.
Dammit, is sex all you care about? Doug didn’t think Dollard had an ounce of sexuality in him, but that didn’t mean the doctor wouldn’t run experiments on her, especially given what Esben had told him about Tia. He’d never considered that the Consorts might be test subjects of another sort. A surge of adrenaline swept through him. He needed to get Attie out before anything happened to her.
The cyborgs’ laughter stopped, and Twobit said, Assuming you had something to do with her arrival, you’ve basically delivered her into Dollard’s hands.
Fuck, I know. Doug paced his cell. He’d promised to protect her, yet he’d not put her in more danger instead. He hadn’t had a plan go this sideways since the one that had landed him and Lisa in the Nanite Integration Unit in the first place. She has an AI I need to destroy.
What’s so important about this AI? asked Esben.
It has information about my sister’s location.
Wait, said Brix. I thought your sister was dead.
Yeah, Twobit chimed in. You tore up the lab when you found out. Almost got us all decommissioned.
Doug bit the inside of his lip, remembering that day. He’d complied with Dollard’s demands in order to keep his sister safe, but her death meant he had no reason to go on. The guards had emptied their tranq guns and resorted to their pulse pistols to stop him. He’d hoped they would kill him. Instead, Doug woke from surgery with an artificial heart—and a body that was officially no longer human.
He hadn’t told the other cyborgs about the doctor’s duplicity, let alone Lisa’s connection to the rebels. It seemed today was the day all his secrets came to light. Dollard tried to arrange for Lisa to have an accident on her way here. He hired a ship to pretend to be pirates and attack her transport. Except real pirates found her first. Now she’s with the rebels.
Benjy gasped. Why didn’t you tell me she’s alive? I deserved to know!
Guilt heated Doug’s face. Benjy had been like a father to her. Of course he’d have wanted to know she was alive.
There are rebels? Brix asked.
There are always rebels, Twobit scoffed. Doug, I haven’t given you enough credit. You’ve been helping them, you sneaky bastard.
Doug retreated to his cot and sat down. He’d been more open in the last few minutes than he had in years, and it was surprisingly taxing, despite the endurance of his cybernetics. I’m going to ask her to retrieve the AI for me.
But what about getting her through security? asked Brix.
He can open the doors to the lab, Brix, Twobit said. Who knows what else he’s not sharing with us? I bet he could walk all over this ship if he wanted to.
Benjy said, His real problem will be convincing her to do what he wants. If she knows he wants to destroy the AI, she might refuse. People get pretty attached to those things.
Doug hadn’t really thought about it, but Benjy was right. Fucking hell.
Plus, he isn’t exactly the most charming fellow, Twobit added.
I dunno, she was kissing him pretty good back there,
Brix said.
Doug grimaced. He’d forgotten how much he hated working with others. Yet their points were valid. I won’t tell her what I plan to do.
Esben asked, Why would she risk getting caught by security for you?
Her sister is also with the rebels. She’ll want to help.
Well, I guess we’d better let you call her then so you can move on to helping me with Tia.
Doug frowned. What are you talking about?
Didn’t you notice? Dollard installed a security shield on the Consort Chamber door.
It took Doug a microsecond to realize Twobit’s security shield hack would allow him to call the Consort Chamber—all he needed to do was modulate the energy field to create sound.
The hard part was going to be convincing a woman he’d kidnapped to help him.
Chapter 9
Attie came alert with a start, taking a moment to remember where she was. Had someone called her name? The alcove she slept in was masked in shadows, the only illumination coming from the faint glow of a security shield barring the now-open hallway door.
She frowned. There hadn’t been a shield there before. Squinting, she realized the door panel had slid aside. Alarm spiked through her. The cyborgs are back!
Her adrenaline kicked in, and she jumped to her feet, grabbing the spoon she’d kept from dinner. It wasn’t a blade, but she might be able to hurt someone with the narrow end if she jabbed hard enough. She hurried to the wall beside the door and pressed herself flat against it to wait in ambush.
A soft hum came from the field, and multicolored sparks and flashes flowed across the surface. She’d never touched a security shield herself, but had seen one drive a man to his knees while she was in the brig. Would it stop a cyborg?
“Attie,” a static whisper said.
She nearly jumped out of her skin. The voice didn’t sound human. Tilting her head, she peered through the shield into the dark, empty hallway. “Hello?”
Words once more whispered like static, sparks jumping over the door shield in time with the syllables. “Where is the other Consort?”
Nebulas, the security shield is talking to me. She glanced into the darkness over her shoulder. Soft snoring could be heard from the alcove where Claudia slept. The woman had gleefully downed Attie’s dose of sleeping pills before burrowing under a mound of blankets. “She’s sleeping. Who is this? Are you the one who brought me here?”
“Yes. My name is Doug. I apologize for the inconvenience—”
“Inconvenience?” Attie scowled. “I was nearly raped!” Her voice was too loud, but she couldn’t control it.
“It will not happen again,” the voice replied, just as monotone as before.
Of course there wouldn’t be any emotion—she was dealing with cyborgs. “You tricked me into coming here. What the hell is this place, anyway? I demand you release me immediately.”
“I need you to bring me your sister’s AI.”
Attie frowned, remembering he’d asked about Twerp in the hallway. But she still didn’t believe she could trust him. Taking a deep breath, she lowered her voice. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
The voice didn’t answer for a beat, then said, “I have been monitoring you at your sister’s request. I know you left the AI in your room.”
Crossing her arms, she thought about all the times she’d felt as if she was being watched. So she’d been right, but hadn’t been Syndicorp security—it had been Doug. Was he part of a hidden rebel faction on board the ship? That would explain why Marlis had tried to sneak on board. “Are you the person my sister was trying to rescue?”
“I do not need to be rescued.”
Attie recognized when someone was dodging a question and wished she could see his face. She’d always been good at reading people’s expressions. Right now, it felt like she was groping in the dark to get answers from him. “Are you a prisoner here?”
Another beat of silence. “I cannot leave.”
Another non-answer. He has to be a rebel spy. “Marlis left Twerp behind on purpose, didn’t she? I should turn you both in.”
“If you do that, I cannot protect you or your sister,” the monotone voice replied.
Attie pointed the spoon at the doorway angrily. “You’re the reason she’s in trouble in the first place!”
“I am not the reason she joined the rebels.”
Attie’s stomach soured with guilt. If she hadn’t pushed her sister to become more self-sufficient, Marlis wouldn’t be in this mess. Did he somehow know she was the reason Marlis had ended up on the wrong side of the law? “Why do you care what happens to us, anyway?”
Static hissed a moment like a sigh, then the voice said, “I have a sister with the rebels, too.”
It seemed highly unlikely they both had sisters with the rebels. But why would he lie about something like that? Again, she wished she could see his face. “Why do you need me to bring the AI here? Can’t you go get it yourself?”
The glowing screen dimmed, the sparks flowing across its surface barely visible as he replied, “I am part of a top-secret Syndicorp experiment. I am not free to roam this ship.”
Marlis had said something about a secret lab, but had she used the word ‘rescue’ when she mentioned Doug? Attie couldn’t remember. Then she gasped. Was it possible the pirates hadn’t been trying to rescue him, but to kidnap him?
She puzzled through what she knew so far. He’d just admitted he was part of a top-secret experiment, which meant he had to be working for Syndicorp. Yet he’d been keeping an eye on her for Marlis and had a sister with the rebels, himself. Whose side was he on? Did he even have the ability to choose sides? He was a cyborg, after all—the rebels could be controlling him or vice versa. This entire conversation was leaving her with more questions than she had before.
She let out an exasperated breath. “I want to talk about this face-to-face.”
The edges of the screen flashed green. “No.”
“You’re nothing but a computerized voice right now. How do I even know you are who you say you are? I’m not agreeing to do anything until we meet in person.”
Instead of an answer, ripples of light swam across the door shield. Attie stepped back, suddenly worried a cyborg might materialize out of thin air in front of her. Enough weird things had already happened. She waited a breathless moment. Two.
Then the door panel slid closed, leaving Attie in darkness.
Chapter 10
Doug was yanked back to his physical surroundings as a voice echoed outside his door. “Hey, who let you—”
The tech’s words cut off, replaced by Rust’s snarl. “How’s this for science, asshole?”
Holy fuck, Rust’s loose. Doug launched for his doorway, hacking into the lab’s cameras while he moved. Hopefully the security officer out front hadn’t been watching his screen at that particular moment. How had Rust overridden Doug’s lock-down? There wasn’t time to hack the other cyborg’s programming and find out. If security reported the cyborgs had escaped their cells, Dollard would shut them all down. Permanently.
The shield barring his doorway barely stopped glowing before Doug rushed through it. The other cyborgs had emerged from their cells as well, confused looks on their faces. Across the dimly lit lab, Rust pinned the tech to the floor with one booted foot against his throat.
Doug charged forward, but Brix reached them first. He slammed against Rust with a crack of metal against metal.
Rust rocked back a step but didn’t fall. The tech clambered under a nearby desk, clutching his throat and gasping. Rust clamped Brix into a headlock and started pummeling the other cyborg’s skull like a jackhammer.
Doug grabbed Rust’s arm to stop his relentless attack against Brix’s head. “Fucking idiot!”
Twobit grabbed Rust’s other arm, prying it loose from Brix’s neck as Esben vaulted over one of the stainless steel tables to reach them. A rack of test tubes crashed to the floor. Thankfully, the lab’s walls were soundproof, or t
he guards outside would’ve been alerted by now.
Free of Rust’s death-grip, Brix sagged to his knees, wiping blood from one eye.
Rust bared his teeth at the technician. “That’s the fucker who turned my voice module into a joke.”
A couple of Dollard’s lackeys had thought it was funny to give Rust a young girl’s voice after they’d replaced his larynx. It was fixed now, but Rust had obviously been holding a grudge.
“Of all the reasons to get us terminated—” Doug jerked Rust around so they were nose-to-nose. He hadn’t wanted to physically hurt someone this much since his days in the cartel—now he’d felt this way twice in a matter of hours, both times because of this cyborg. “I ought to rip your cybernetic spine right out of your body.”
Rust lifted his chin, features reflecting back the green glow from Doug’s eye, and pointed one meaty finger toward the tech. “He tried to lock me down, probably to do more experiments.”
A chill filled Doug’s chest. Rust thinks the tech locked him down. Which made sense; there was no reason for Rust to suspect anyone else, let alone a fellow cyborg.
Doug’s anger didn’t cool, exactly, but it eased a fraction. He released Rust with a shove. How Rust had broken free of the lockdown was a question for later. Right now, Doug needed damage control.
The tech was crawling across the floor and toward a panic button attached to one of the lab tables. Emilryde moved out of the shadows to step on the man’s back, once more pinning him down. “What do we do now?”
“How the fuck should I know?” Doug sidestepped the other cyborg, moving toward the Consort chamber. He had to finish this business with Attie and the AI before Dollard was forced to end the program and the cyborgs with it. “This was exactly why I didn’t share my algorithms in the first place.”
Emilryde thrust out a hand to intercept him, dust tattoos shimmering across his features in the glow from a nearby monitor. “We should try to escape. You can hack the feeds. Bypass the doors.” He looked at the others. “One of you can pilot a shuttle, right?”