by Aurelia Skye
Michael just shook his head. “You don’t get it. There were too many flaws in the system already, and too many people Patrick classified as dead weight. He wanted a fresh start, so we were using the equipment to try to find a new, safe place to establish our own enclave.”
“Did you find that?”
He shook his head at Leith’s question. “Not yet. I guess with the cyborgs destroying this enclave through their mining, you’ll have to make it a top priority now, won’t you?” Michael laughed nastily, as though his future wasn’t entwined with the enclave’s.
“I’m placing you under arrest, Michael. I don’t know what to do with you yet, but I won’t have you running around endangering others.”
Michael shrugged, finally setting aside the wrench and making it clear he had no intention of using it as a weapon. “I’m done killing, but I’ll go to the brig quietly. It doesn’t much matter whether I’m here, there, or in my quarters. I’m still imprisoned in this place, just like the rest of us.”
Raven stepped closer, kneeling slightly so that she could maintain eye contact with Michael. “Are you sure it was just the three of you plotting? No one else was involved? Because if any more of my brethren or the humans are killed because you held back, I’ll rip you apart slowly, and there’ll be no one to put you back together.”
Michael lost his calm expression for a moment, his eyes filling with fear. He swallowed audibly, his Adam’s apple bobbing in the process. Finally, in a dry voice, he said, “It was just the three of us. We had our wish list of people we wanted to recruit to take with us, but we hadn’t approached any yet. There was no point until we had a new enclave established and managed to put in an oxygen scrubbing system and an aquaponics room from the parts we’ve been scavenging.”
Leith stiffened. “Are you the reason we’ve been without fresh food for the last growing season?”
Michael shrugged. “Patrick was in charge of cannibalizing the parts from the aquaponics system, but he might’ve taken too much or damaged something in the process. We never really discussed it.”
“You’re obviously in charge of getting the parts to build a new oxygen scrubbing system,” said Raven. “What was Elle’s job?”
“Medical supplies. She must’ve stashed them somewhere, so enjoy your scavenger hunt.” Michael chuckled, clearly enjoying the prospect. “Now take me to the brig. I’m tired of this conversation.”
Raven stood up, getting behind Michael when he did the same. She put her hand firmly at the back of his neck and propelled him forward lightly in case he changed his mind. He walked without protest, and they were soon full-circle, back to the brig where they had begun the morning.
She pushed him inside the cell and closed the door before going to the security station to press the button to seal the cell. There was currently no one on duty, and she would leave it up to Leith if he decided he wanted to post a guard to observe Michael continuously. So far, he’d been surprisingly cooperative, but that didn’t mean she trusted him not to be planning something else. Leith was likely to share the same fear.
They left Michael in the cell without another word, exiting the brig and once more retracing their steps, this time back to Leith’s quarters. He hadn’t spoken much, but he was almost vibrating with his anger, and she assumed he wanted to go somewhere private to deal with it before telling the others about what they had discovered.
When they reached his quarters, she hesitated for a moment before following him inside, giving him the opportunity to push her away if he chose. When he showed no signs of doing so, she crossed the threshold and let out a small sigh of relief when the door closed behind her. She waited, sensing he needed to talk, but not certain how to begin the conversation.
“I can’t believe they would betray us like this.”
Raven just nodded as she reached out to take his hand, offering silent support as he continued to vent.
For at least five minutes, Leith talked through his obvious sense of betrayal and intense anger. Finally, his expression lost some of the edge of umbrage, and his shoulders slumped. “They were right though.”
Her eyes widened. “You think they were right to start a new enclave?”
He shook his head. “They were right about me being a burden. In this chair, I can’t fight or scout. I can’t even satisfy you as a lover.”
She let out a shaky breath, saddened that they were back to that. He was bound to have insecurities about it, but she hated that he found himself lacking in any form. She squeezed his hand harder. “You could do anything you want to, Leith.”
He shook his head. “No, I lost that ability when I fell climbing rocks as a child. My father told me time and time again not to play outside the enclave or climb in the caves, but I didn’t listen. If Gwen hadn’t found me, I would’ve died, and then I was stuck like this. Everything I was died that day.”
She let out a shaky breath, uncertain how to proceed for a moment. It was obvious that Michael’s words had touched a raw wound in Leith’s psyche, bringing to the surface emotions he probably hadn’t dealt with, or had no way to do so in a practical fashion before.
She licked her lips, hesitating with the suggestion on the edge of her tongue. “You’ve found all kinds of ways to contribute to your society here. You’re an inventor, and now you’re a leader. Gwen said you kept this place going almost single-handedly with maintenance solutions and innovations.”
He made a scoffing sound. “Big deal. I couldn’t physically defend or protect anyone I cared about if the synthetics found the enclave.”
“You have a pulser. That would give you all the opening you need to be able to destroy them. You created the pulser, and it’s a critical weapon against the synthetics.”
He just shook his head, clearly too lost in his own bitterness at the moment to appreciate what he could and did bring to the table.
“If you’re genuinely unhappy with things, there might be a way to fix it.”
He looked up at her, anger still visible in his eyes. “How can I fix this?” He slammed his hand down on the side of the chair to emphasize his point.
“You can’t, but our healer might be able to. OWN should be able to replace the injured areas that don’t work, allowing you to walk again. If that’s what you want.”
His mouth dropped open. “Of course it’s what I want. Why didn’t you say something sooner?”
Raven frowned at him. “It never occurred to me until I saw how unhappy you were. I think you’re perfect just the way you are, Leith. The thought of doing anything to change you didn’t cross my mind until just now, when I saw your frustration. If you want to stay just like you are, that’s fine with me. To my way of thinking, there’s nothing to fix, but it wouldn’t be fair to not give you the option if that’s what you want.”
He went silent for a long moment, appearing to withdraw into himself. Raven held her breath, afraid she’d somehow ruined everything with her suggestion. It had never occurred to her to offer him a repair or an upgrade, because she had accepted him as he was. Did he believe that, or did he think she was lying to cover the fact that she had thought about it all along? Was he feeling betrayed, or was he simply trying to sort through his own emotions at the prospect of being healed?
Finally, he broke the silence, and his hand turned on his lap, clasping hers instead of her just resting her fingers over the back of his. “I’d like to talk to your healer, to see what he could do for me. I appreciate that you find me fine just the way I am, but I’d love to be able to walk again and feel fully functional.”
She blinked back tears that scalded her eyes, uncertain why she wanted to cry. “I’ll get in touch with him and arrange it then. I just want you to be happy.”
His expression softened. “You made me happier than I’ve been ever, or thought I could be. I can barely dare to contemplate the idea of being able to walk again, because it leaves me feeling giddy. Having you was more than I ever expected, and now this possibility is before me as well.
I…” He broke off, swallowing several times as he blinked his eyes. “I’m somewhat overwhelmed by the whole thing. I can’t verbalize…”
She squeezed his hand in a reassuring fashion. “I think I get it. Let me call OWN, and we’ll see what he can do for you.”
7
Raven clutched the tracking system in her hand as she waited for Leith to issue the final instructions to Warren, who he had recruited to lead the enclave while he was at the cyborg base receiving treatment. She was nervous about the trip back to base, worrying about relying strictly on the technology that Patrick had modified.
If it wasn’t completely functional, they could stumble across a group of synthetics, and she wasn’t entirely confident in their odds. It was just the two of them, since it was more discreet to travel in small groups, but she wished she had accepted Davis’s suggestion of a few cyborgs to accompany them. She hadn’t wanted to put her brethren at risk to make the journey to the human enclave, but now she was second-guessing her decision to decline their presence.
Her free hand went to her waist, where she had snugly secured the pulser Leith had given her before they set out that morning. He had another just like it, along with a sophisticated gun she had shown him how to use that was a product of the cyborgs. With their combined technology, they should be able to make the trip to the base safely, but she was still nervous and on edge as they finally left the enclave and headed to the surface.
The wind whipped with extra ferocity as they stepped out of the safety of the caves housing the enclave and into the barrenness of aboveground. Particles of dust stung her eyes, and she blinked repeatedly, wishing she had brought goggles with her when she had made the trek back to the human enclave as the liaison.
They started moving, with her pausing to consult the tracking system every few minutes. From what she could determine, it should beep to alert them if they were about to encounter a synthetic, but she wasn’t willing to trust the system to be designed as Patrick intended until she had verified for herself that it actually worked.
They heard their first beep less than a half-hour after they had started out. She looked down at the tracking system and saw three glowing green dots. Her presence registered as a blue dot, and had been there continuously, and it helped quickly orient her to where the synthetics were located. They were due to cross paths in less than a hundred klicks, and she gestured to Leith to come with her.
They slipped behind a rocky alcove seconds before the synthetics crossed their path. Only the sythns’ legs were visible from their hiding spot. She held her breath, hand on her pulser, as she waited to see if the three synthetics would notice their presence somehow. They appeared to remain oblivious, maintaining the same pace and course that the tracker had indicated to start with.
In less than a minute, they had moved away from the area where Leith and Raven hid, but she couldn’t get her legs to work for another moment to stand up as relief flooded through her. It was nerve-racking taking the tracking device for a field test, but she was starting to become optimistic that it actually worked the way it was supposed to.
Finally, she got to her feet and eased out first before gesturing for Leith to follow her. There were no signs of the synthetics, and they were soon underway again.
Three times, they had to pause when the tracking system beeped, finding hiding places. It was definitely working, but it couldn’t completely save them from a confrontation.
When the device beeped for the fifth time, she winced when she saw four dots on the device. They were in the middle of an open area, with no shelter around, and nowhere to hide. At least they had advance warning, and she paused to put a hand on Leith’s shoulder. The wind was blowing so hard that it was difficult to hear, so she placed her mouth next to his ear. “We’re about to run into four of them. We have nowhere to hide, so have your pulser ready, and then the gun.”
He looked frightened, but resolved, as he held up his pulser. Just before the four synths stepped into view, she started pressing the button on the pulser in their direction. Leith was also holding his out, and she was glad it wasn’t directed at her, or it might’ve scrambled her circuits for a moment too. Cyborgs weren’t impervious to the pulser, though they weren’t as deeply affected, because their brains were a combination of organic and cybernetic components.
The synths stumbled into view, looking disoriented and confused. One was walking into another, taking a step back, and then repeating the same motion. Raven took advantage of the moment to slip her pulser in her belt and lift her rifle.
She eliminated two synthetics in under ten seconds. It was too loud to hear Leith’s weapon discharging, but she could feel the vibrations from it as she stood close. He destroyed a synthetic, and then there was just one left. Together, they turned their weapons on it, destroying the synthetic as a team. It made her vibrate in her own way as sexual arousal swept through her. It was strange, but she couldn’t deny that fighting with Leith to destroy the synth had turned her on.
She turned to tell him that and let out an agonized cry instead as agony consumed her leg. She looked down, recognizing the color of the laser as belonging to a synthetic. It was their new model. It had to be, because it destroyed her flesh and cybernetic components flawlessly. She stumbled, barely maintaining her balance on one leg as she leaned heavily against Leith on his chair.
When she turned around to face the fifth synth, she caught sight of the tracking device on the ground where she had laid it. It showed the presence of the fifth one now, and the synthetic must have come up behind them while they were engaged with the other four. The wind had kept her from hearing the beeping, and she’d been too distracted fighting the others to keep hold of the tracking device throughout. She was paying for it now.
Leith was moving faster than her, unhampered by an injury, and he lifted his pulser to point at the synth. In less than five seconds, it dropped its weapon and started blinking before shuffling around. Raven brought up her gun, but once again, Leith was faster than she was. He destroyed the fifth synth before gathering her into his arms on his lap.
Raven reached down to retrieve the tracking device before resting against his chest, holding it on her lap. She could feel unconsciousness swelling, so she pointed to the device to show him the path to take, unable to manage the energy to shout loudly enough for him to hear her over the whipping wind. With the last of her strength, she lifted her gun so that Leith could use it if needed and then allowed unconsciousness to slip over her, certain that Leith would keep her safe.
Leith was thankful he had an affinity with technology, because he was able to quickly adapt to consulting the tracking device that he had strapped to his chair while steering with the other hand, all while keeping his arm around Raven. It made travel awkward, but he could take his hand off the steering mechanism to reach his and her weapons, along with his pulser, should they encounter more synthetics from which they couldn’t hide.
Already, he’d had to take shelter twice with her, and he’d been lucky to find a place to hide the last time. According to the tracking device, they were only a few kilometers from the cyborg base now, and his adrenaline levels had to be at maximum.
Doubt picked away at him, making him question whether he could get her the rest of the way safely or not. What would happen if they ran into another group of synthetics from which they couldn’t hide? Before, with her and the pulser, it had been fairly easy to subdue the four. The fifth one had taken them both by surprise, and he wasn’t confident he would be able to fight a group of synthetics with her on his lap, and only one free hand.
But what choice was there except to press forward? She was badly injured, and her leg had simply disintegrated under the force of the synthetic’s weapon. She needed to reach the base, and he was her only hope of doing so. He was resolved to keep her safe and get her where she needed to be, so when he saw another two synths approaching, according to the device, he looked around frantically for somewhere to hide.
Th
ere was nowhere, so he lifted the pulser and waited until they were within range. He started firing before he could see them, and they stumbled out in that state of confusion that had started to become familiar. With more finesse than he would’ve ever guessed he was capable of, he switched from the pulser to the rifle she had given him, firing to remove both threats to the woman in his arms.
Afterward, he pushed his chair past them, spurring the mechanism to give him all the speed of which the machine was capable. His mind was reeling with what had just happened, and though it had seemed almost instinctive to act the way he had, now he was marveling at his quick action and almost disbelieving that he had handled two synthetics on his own.
A few minutes later, the location for the cyborg base was finally before them, and he headed toward it. It was an unobtrusive design, not easily visible from a distance, and not clearly a building that housed hundreds or thousands of beings. He had no knowledge about the true population at the cyborg installation. Even as he was almost right on top of it, he wouldn’t have confidently identified it as a base if it hadn’t been for the tracking device containing the coordinates Raven had programmed into it before they left.
He wasn’t certain how to get their attention, so he used the rifle to pound on the outside of the structure. It looked like stone, but it felt like metal when his weapon connected with it, sending reverberations up his arm.
It only took three pounds before a group of cyborgs appeared. They had their weapons drawn, but he was surprisingly unafraid, though he only recognized one of the faces in the group. JSN hurried forward, taking Raven from his lap. Leith’s first instinct was to hold on to her, to insist on delivering her himself, but he quickly vanquished that urge, realizing JSN could get her to the healer faster than he could.
The other cyborgs surrounded him, guarding his back as they all moved into the base through a door that had opened in the rock face that wasn’t really rock.