“Wow!” Eldin gasped. “So you’ve been here all your life?”
Max nodded as if almost proud. “I have, although I’ve been free for most of it. You see, I escaped before I touched too much blue shit. My brother wasn’t as lucky. When I found him, it had already poisoned his mind. He was like a zombie, eyes staring blankly into nothing in particular. I brought him back here, but he died a week later.”
Nebula had a programmed response for such a story. “My deepest apologies, Max.” She surprised herself when the words came out heartfelt and not flat. The pitch frequency in her voice seemed to have found a mind of its own. It mirrored her own pain, expressing what she failed to come to terms with herself.
Max scratched his head. “It’s okay, that was a long time ago. Ever since his death, I’ve been planning an escape. I’ve even found a getaway—an underground route leading to one of their Warbirds. I plan to take over the thing. We’ve enough stolen weapons and supplies, so it just might work.”
“Why haven’t you tried it yet?” Eldin asked.
Max shrugged. “No one to fly it. We’re all civilians here. A while back we did get a doctor, which has proved helpful, but the Gryphonites are choosy when they steal workers for their mines. Seems they know anyone important would stir up trouble, so they always pick those of us who don’t matter, those of us the others wouldn’t necessarily miss.”
Eldin shook his head. “Well, they screwed up big this time.”
Max turned around, a questioning glance furrowing his hairy brows. “What do you mean, son?”
Eldin gestured back at Nebula and shrugged. “You should explain.”
Nebula looked away as if she were about to divulge a dark secret. She wished she could pass for a human more often.
In her silence, Radian stepped forward to explain. “Nebula is a UPA-licensed cyborg, a senior officer on a flight ship, programmed with all manners of engineering and navigating expertise.”
Max stopped with one foot on a rock outcropping, his mouth open. “I’ll be damned.”
In the corner of her eye, Nebula could see Radian smiling. She nodded. “If you can locate a specific prisoner and aid in her rescue, I will be glad to fly your ship straight out of here.”
Max glanced up as if the gods had finally answered his prayers. He held out his hand. “Why, ma’am, you got yourself a deal.”
Chapter 10
Neb
They descended into the streets of the underground city, kicking up stones and dust in their wake. Although the Vither gave a dim glow from the walls, everything was cast in shadow and Nebula changed to night vision. Max led them through an alley of linens hanging on clotheslines, leech mice running underfoot and peddlers setting up street stalls. The shantytown was illuminated in ethereal glow. People carried the mineral over their shoulders on sticks and inside each dwelling sat a chunk of the stone on a table or a chair. The substance was both alluring and haunting, casting its dangerous luminescence everywhere they went.
“It’s only poisonous if you touch it,” Max explained as Eldin ducked his head underneath a makeshift streetlamp filled with thousands of glittering particles. “And only if you touch it all the time. It’s pretty safe here, if you can stand living like a rat in a hole.”
They followed Max to a central building in town, a construct of clay with open windows. “I’ll get you each a room inside. And I’ll send out a few scouts to look for your friend. What’s the name?”
“Mora. She looks like me, although a bit taller and a few years older.”
“Family, eh?”
Nebula studied the irregular rock formations on the cavern floor. She wished the relation were so but it could never really be true. Radian smoothed it over. “You could say that, yes.”
“And the name’s Mora? That’s it?”
Nebula glanced back at Radian.
He saved her once again by providing Max with information he needed. “Mora Fletcher, a citizen of Earth. She’d be twenty-nine years old now.”
“Okay.” Max repeated the name under his breath as if committing it to memory. He looked at Nebula with red-rimmed eyes. “I can’t promise you anything. The mines run for hundreds of miles, and there are thousands of slaves. Chances are, if she’s been missing for some time, she may already be dead. That is, if we can find her at all.”
Nebula nodded. “I understand.”
Max nodded. “I’ll do the very best I can. I’ve been freeing people from those blasted birdmen for years. This will be no different.”
“Let me know when someone finds her.” Nebula’s hand hovered over the laser gun at her side. “I will accompany them on the rescue attempt.”
Radian took a step closer to her, speaking near her ear, “Count me in as well.”
“Very well.” Max nodded. “Remember, this could take a few days. You can all stay here at the inn.”
Nebula studied the crumbling facade. It looked more like an old hornet’s nest than a hotel for guests.
Max continued, “I’ll talk to the owner and get you each a room.”
Radian and Nebula spoke in unison. “Agreed.”
While Max went in the hotel to discuss their arrangements, Radian whispered in her ear, “You think we can trust this man?”
Nebula pursed her lips. “He is our best way into the mines and the most likely way off this planet.”
“What if he can’t find her?”
“Then we will go into the worker mines ourselves.” Nebula stopped, her circuits calculating. “We should wait a few days and rest. If no one finds her, then we will take our own path.”
“What about their supposed stolen ship plan?”
“It is likely.” She had only been on Gryphod for a few hours, and her probability system did not have enough information to calculate. She was astonished to realize she was going on gut instinct, a human trait.
Before she could second-guess herself, Radian cut in. “Whatever you want to do, Neb, I’ll back you up.”
Nebula turned away to hide her smile. The only other person who called her Neb was Angstrom, and she liked the way it sounded from Radian’s lips.
Max emerged a few minutes later. “All set. There’re three rooms open, so I figure the boy can stay with his mom. Dinner’s in an hour. Broiled leech mice, like always. I’ll be in the town hall down the street, finalizing the plans for the seizure of the ship. Holler if you need me.” He smiled a crooked side grin and saluted Nebula.
“Thank you, Max. You have been most helpful.”
He took her hand and leaned in close. “I really hope we find her.”
Nebula frowned, stifling a current of emotion. The odds weren’t in her favor. “I hope so too.”
* * * *
After dinner, Nebula settled into her room. It was a small, cave-like space at the far back of the structure with a sleeping cot, a place for a fire and a wash basin. She untied the scrap of fabric around her arm and examined the wound, which was healing rapidly. She washed the majority of the blood from her UPA uniform, but could not get out the stain.
Wearing the white tank top and spandex leggings layered underneath her uniform, Nebula decided to check on Illena and Eldin before shutting herself in for the night. Their room was directly across the hall. She knocked on the side of the wall before entering.
Illena’s voice wafted out. “Come in.”
Nebula moved back the hanging curtain of fabric and saw Eldin was fast asleep. Illena sat on the side of the bed, stroking his hair. Nebula spoke in a hushed tone. “My apologies, I did not know he was—”
“It’s all right. He sleeps very well. Nothing short of an earthquake could wake him now.” Illena looked tired, but the color had come back into her cheeks and her lips were no longer flaky with dehydration.
“How are you doing through all this?”
“As well as to be expected, I would think.”
“And Eldin?”
“He’s takin
g it exceptionally well. I guess he had a boring life back at home. All the excitement has gotten him more involved, and that is a blessing amongst all this despair.”
“Once they find Mora, I will get you both out of here as fast as possible.”
“My thanks.” Illena covered her heart with her hand. “You’ve done so much for us.”
“It is in my programming to protect human life.”
“Not in your programming.” The woman’s voice was insistent for the first time. “It’s in your nature, your heart.”
Nebula had no automated response. She stood before the hanging fabric in an awkward silence.
Illena broke the fragile stillness between them. “I haven’t told you what I used to do for a living before I had my son.” She motioned for Nebula to sit on a stool by the side of the bed. “I was a chief engineer for Intercom.”
Nebula started as if a jolt of electricity shot through her system. Intercom was the company that made her. She had their signature on the heel of her foot. Taking a seat, she eagerly awaited what Illena had to say.
“Do you know why they use living tissue? Why they need a human body from the start?”
Nebula shook her head. She’d always wondered, but the information was unavailable. The company went through great lengths to keep it a secret, and here she sat with the one person who could shed light.
“The engineers experimented with manmade machines for years, always with less than satisfactory results. The cyborgs could do exactly as they were programmed, but nothing above and beyond the formulated responses. The poor constructs could not think for themselves. The engineers found the cyborgs marching into walls and making mistakes with information processing. The machines had all matter of complications with processes going beyond logic and reason.”
Nebula’s mind reeled, like she’d been turned around so many times she couldn’t tell left from right. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because you are not a machine. You are an enhanced human body with breathing, living organs and emotions just like any one of us. That’s not what they want you to think, but that’s what you are.”
Nebula paused, calculating the new information. Angstrom’s words came back to her and she felt compelled to discover the truth. “A friend of mine once told me I was the most human cyborg he had ever seen.”
Illena shifted on her seat in order to speak softer and still be heard. “Just about the time I left, new innovations sky-rocketed the company into uncharted territory. They weren’t replacing the vital organs any longer, they were improving them. Of course, more of the body had to be intact for it to be utilized in its full capacity, so test subjects were few and infrequent.”
Nebula remembered how Mirilee died and everything became clear, like a tapestry weaving together before her eyes. Drowning would have preserved every body part, especially if they found her right after she died. In fact, they could have used everything, even parts of her heart and her brain, which would explain Nebula’s human emotions and her memories.
Illena gave her serious news, the repercussions of which validated her overwhelming feelings of love and revenge. She rose. “Thank you for the information, Illena. I need time to process it, and I will let you get some rest.”
“It is I who should thank you, Nebula. I only hope this new information will give you what you’ve given me. I hope it will set you free.”
Nebula bowed, and as she stepped out, Illena threw out one more comment. “You should go visit Radian.”
The words came at her like bullets, stopping Nebula in mid-stride. She turned her head around as if she’d been caught stealing.
“The man loves you.” Illena’s voice was heavy with wisdom.
“He loves the woman I once was.”
“Love is a strange and wonderful thing. It can heal, it can adapt.” Illena’s eyes flared. “It can change.”
Nebula stifled a rising thread of hope.
“My dear.” Illena looked deep into her eyes, like she would hand her the world in her next sentence. “He loves you.”
Nebula stumbled back into the hall. The curtain ruffled behind her, but Illena did not come out to see where she would go. Radian’s room was down the hall to the right, a slim sheet of white linen separating her from him.
She took one hesitant step toward his room. Was she truly ready to confront the feelings raging inside her? She could turn and go back to her room, go back to the one-dimensional programmed responses and strategically planned actions and reactions, every word preplanned and every movement from the book. Or she could take fate into her own hands and spin her destiny around the circle of chance. Hadn’t she done that already?
Nebula tiptoed to the fabric and knocked on the wall beside the door. The fabric swished in front of her and Radian’s face emerged from the shadows. “Neb, are you okay? You look anxious.”
“I am fine, Radian. Illena said I should check on you.”
“She did, huh?” Radian’s face was hard to interpret. Could he really suspect how her and Illena’s conversation could have gone? “Please, come in.”
Nebula followed him into his room, which looked identical to her own, but his presence made it special. “Radian, when you asked me what satiated the black void inside of me, I did not respond fully.”
Radian took her hands in his. “What’s the matter? What do you mean?”
“I said the remedy was unattainable by any means, but only you can truly answer that question.”
He wiped her blond curls back from her face. “I still don’t understand, Neb.”
Nebula took a breath and summoned her courage. “It is you. When I am with you, the black void goes away. You fill it.”
Radian released her hands and turned away. For a moment, Nebula thought she’d gone too far and her heart sunk to her stomach. But when he turned around again, she saw tears brimming in his eyes. “You fill the hole inside me as well.”
Nebula drew back, unable to accept these emotions. “So what do we do?”
Radian walked toward her and held her tightly as if refusing to let her go. He leaned in and his forehead touched her, his gaze pleading. “Stay together.”
Her words came out as a whisper. “But what do our feelings mean?”
His breath touched her lips. “It means love is eternal. When you came into this world, you brought it with you.”
Nebula wanted to close the distance between their lips, to kiss his mouth the way she saw Venus kiss the captain that day, years ago. But a single doubt held her back “I am not Mirilee.”
Radian’s voice was tender. “I know, Neb, and I want you.”
“But how can you love me after you have loved her? How can I ever compare?”
He shook his head as if he could take so many things back. “Neb, there is something you must know about me and Mirilee. As fiercely as I loved her, she didn’t love me the same. It’s not she didn’t love me at all, she just loved me as much as she could. We had different ideals, different obligations in life. She was a stubborn-willed woman and hated my father. I saw the good he tried to accomplish, not his shortcomings, but Mirilee only saw faults in him and nothing else.”
Radian closed the distance between them, tightened his arms around her. “Nebula, you are a different person than Mirilee. You are so perfectly made, and yet you see no flaws, only good. You love me as I am and need me more than anyone else ever has. And I need you too.”
He kissed her before she could protest. At first, she let the feeling of it ride through her like a wave. She forgot about the struggle with the Gryphonites, the desolate mines, and most importantly, for the first time, she forgot she was a cyborg at all. His hand cradled her neck and his fingers wove through her curls.
As if she already knew what to do, Nebula kissed him back. Every caress was more insistent, hungry for more. Her hands roamed his back, feeling his muscles and enjoying the sensation.
The logical part of her t
urned off, allowing for a primal, intuitive self to take over. She released the urges of her body and soul, drinking him in her senses like an intoxicating elixir. She felt a great desire to be close, to be one with this other being, like two notes resounding in harmony with one another. From then on, she knew her music would never be the same.
Chapter 11
Fallen Angels
Nebula watched as Eldin scraped his uneaten dinner of leech mice meat around his plate. She raised her eyebrows at Illena, but the mother only sighed and remained silent.
Eldin’s voice was wrought with despair. “I would do a thousand chores if I never have to eat leech mice again.”
“Eldin.” There was no mercy in Illena’s tone. “You are lucky to be eating anything at all right now, considering the circumstances.”
Nebula saw Radian grin out of the corner of her eye. Turning her head to him, she matched his smile with one just as bright. Together they held a secret in their glances only two lovers could understand.
“Three days of leech mice can make anyone go mad.” Radian winked at Eldin.
“It tastes like rubber.” Eldin sat back in his seat. “At least they could have put a little salt on it.”
“It’s a wonder they have spoons and dishes, never mind salt.” Illena gave Eldin a compassionate look.
Nebula tried her hand at child psychology. “Eldin, you need to keep your strength up to be a good solider, and in order for that, you need to eat.”
Eldin pondered her rationalization and, after a moment’s decision, stabbed a ruddy brown morsel with his fork. “Very well.”
Illena sighed and Nebula gave her a sympathetic smile. She whispered in her ear, “Boys always listen to robots over mothers.”
Illena seemed to enjoy the reference. “Too true. Now if Radian didn’t encourage him…”
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