by K. A. Finn
'And truly horrible, of course,' Evie adds as she throws an exasperated look at her husband.
'Yes, yes of course. But you can't deny the complexity of the design. Each of these little ports gives you direct access to every inch of his body. Every component, every connection, it's all linked to this implant.'
Gryffin lifts his head and glares at Felix.
Evie pats him on the chest. 'Lie down and mind your own business.'
Gryffin opens his mouth to reply, but reconsiders and lies back on the bed.
Terra quietly watches from beside his bed as Bray and the Dixon's pepper his implants with cables and monitors. Twenty minutes later his implants are barely visible under all the machinery.
Evie stands at the foot of the bed and places her hands on her hips. 'Right, well I think that's all the monitors we have here. We're ready to go. You okay, Gryffin?'
'Yes.'
Bray picks up a monitor and stands next to Gryffin's bed. 'Okay, just take it slow. If you feel anything is off let me know immediately.'
'I know what I'm doing. Can we just get this over with?'
Bray shakes his head and turns away from the bed. 'You're good to go whenever you're ready.'
Terra leans over the bed and runs her hand over the side of his face. 'You be careful, okay. Please.'
'See you in a bit.' Gryffin closes his eye and a few seconds later, his body jolts on the table. Evie holds Terra's arm, stopping her from going near him.
'He's okay. Readings are fluctuating, but still well within normal levels.'
'Why is his body trembling like that?'
'He's just linking to the system. He's doing fine.' Terra paces beside the bed until Evie glares at her. 'Would you kindly refrain from making a dent in the floor. Sit down.'
'Sorry. How is he?'
'Do you see me flapping around the room shouting at people?'
'No.'
'Then he's fine. Sit down and stop distracting the people who are doing their best to keep him alive.'
Terra collapses back in the chair and wrings her hands together. She hates watching him like this. She knows it's a great talent, but would rather he wasn't hooking his brain up to a large battleship.
Felix crouches down in front of her. 'You can't do anything here. Probably best you go. Someone will get you when he's done.'
Terra stares up at him. 'I'm not going anywhere until—'
'Yeah, yeah, yeah,' Felix adds. 'We get the message. Not until he's all right. Listen, he could be in there for half an hour or five hours. No offence but you'll drive all of us a little crazy if you stay here staring at him. He can't twitch without us knowing about it.' He ushers Terra to her feet and turns her to face the door. 'Go before I call Heath in here to remove you. I promise your cyborg is in good hands.'
With one long lingering look, Terra slowly shuffles from the room. She wanders through the station back to the familiar dim corridors of Ares. Once alone in the room she shares with Gryffin, she lowers onto the bed and lies back to stare at the ceiling. She can't shake the sinking feeling of dread that's been growing over the last few days.
She loves Gryffin. She's never been more sure of anything, but she's struggling with the ever increasing bag of issues his implants bring to the relationship. She'd never admit it to him, but a part of her was hoping this trip to Earth would help deal with some of those issues. Being able to reverse some of the work would be an amazing thing. She'd like to believe she feels that way because it would help Gryffin, but in truth the guilt is eating her up. Her father's involvement in the project has soured their relationship and Terra fears she'll never be able to fix it.
Every time she looks at his face, she can see her father fitting the implant around his eye. Knowing her father hurt him so horribly for years and took pleasure from it, sickens her. She's tried hard to force the images from her head, but Gryffin only has his implants because of her father. He was cruelly torn from a loving family and thrown in a living hell because of her father. There's no escaping that fact no matter how much she wishes otherwise.
She rolls onto her side, burying her face in the pillow. What if she can't get beyond this? What if she can't be with Gryffin without thinking about what happened to him? She wants his implants removed, but is that for his benefit or hers? She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She hopes she can figure this out before she ruins things and loses him forever.
DIXON SPACE STATION
'He's done it!' Felix exclaims. 'We're in.'
Bray opens his eyes and drops his feet from the chair in front of him. He didn't realise he'd dozed off. 'What?'
Felix taps on the screen in his hand and passes it to Bray. 'He's somehow managed to crack the passcodes. We have access to everything.' Felix laughs and slaps Gryffin on the shoulder. 'Good lad.'
Bray scrolls through the data on the screen. The master files from Cronus are listed, giving them Foundation level access to everything. This is better than they could have hoped for. 'I thought he'd try to access some of the systems - not everything. How long as he been under for?'
'Four hours. It appears the Foundation had one set of master codes for the ship. Once he cracked them, the rest of the systems were a doddle.'
'Time to wake him up then.'
Felix shakes his head. 'That's not down to us. If we unhook him from the system we risk shrivelling his brain, or short-circuiting it, or—'
'Okay,' Bray replies a little louder than necessary. 'I get it. So we just wait?'
Felix nods. 'All we can do. He's done this kind of thing before, right?'
'Yes, but—'
'Then we leave him to it. I'm getting myself some of that jam before my darling wife has it all. Would you like anything?'
Bray shakes his head as he settles back in the chair. A few minutes later he hears footsteps approaching. 'That was quick.'
'What was?'
He turns to face Rua. 'Sorry. Thought you were Felix. This isn't the best time.'
Rua ignores him and sits in a chair opposite the bed. 'Feeling sorry for yourself again?'
Bray looks back at her. 'Seriously? The last time we were alone you threatened to slice my neck open. I don't know what your problem is, but I'm not in the mood for games. My bother just connected with a fucking battleship. Can you wait until I know whether he's going to wake up before you have another go at me?'
'You really have a low opinion of me if you think any of this is a game to me.' She leans forward, resting her arms on her legs. Her green eyes bore into him as she glares at him. 'I heard your brother was in a potentially life threatening situation so I came to see how he is doing.'
'Yeah I get it. Don't worry. Everyone's concerned about the Nomad leader.'
He sees Rua rise to her feet but doesn't have time to brace for her fist. The blow sends him to the ground as he lands unceremoniously on his side with the chair on top of him. Rua crouches over him, pressing her knee to his chest to hold him down.
'What the hell are you doing?'
'Shut up and listen. The Foundation could be building a shiny new cyborg army and, at the moment, we have no way to stop any of it. Feeling sorry for yourself isn't going to do anyone any good. I thought better of you, Bray. Self-pity doesn't suit you. I suggest you quit wallowing and get your head back on the big picture.'
He tries to push her off him but the Rogue is surprisingly strong. 'What do you suggest? What would the Rogue's do? Please enlighten me.'
She leans forward, putting more pressure on his chest. 'For starters talk to Gryffin when he wakes up. Put your anger aside. You need to work with him. You have the leader of the Hunters and the leader of the Nomad on this base. Sit down together, plan how to get Garvan out, and what to do with the cyborg information now that you have it.'
'So you're saying we should break into the Foundation HQ and get Garvan?'
'Yes.'
'Yeah, sure, it's that easy.'
She pushes off him and sits down again. 'This is the time to t
ake the Foundation out. You're not alone, Bray. Ares is here. You've got Perses. And you've got Lir too.'
He looks back at her. 'You? Why would the Rogue's get involved in this mess?'
She shrugs and looks away from him. 'This mess could seriously endanger all of us. There will never be a better time to try. Erin and Avoca know the building. Use that knowledge to our advantage.'
'There's no way I'm involving Erin again.'
'Have you asked her what she wants? From what I've heard, she likes Garvan. She probably wants to get him out as much as you do.'
'As much as I want to get him out, I'm not going to sacrifice my cousin for Garvan.'
'It's not your choice. Believe me, if she feels anything for him she will go to Earth to get him out. What you want won't come into consideration.'
'What the hell do you know about my cousin? You've barely met her.'
She smiles sadly. 'True, but I know family is important, Bray. You and Gryffin are so angry you're missing the point.'
'Which it what exactly?'
'Neither of you have realised you're not angry with each other. He's angry about what happened to him. And who can blame him? All that anger is eating him up and leaps out at anyone who looks at him sideways. As for you — you're angry that the Foundation took your family from you.
'It also doesn't help that you think Gryffin took Terra from you. She was in love with him. He died. He came back. She wanted to be with him. Can you honestly say you wouldn't have done the same? Be angry at her and not him about that. He didn't do anything wrong.' A few minutes go by before she speaks again. 'I had a family once. A pretty amazing family actually.'
Bray looks at her, but her eyes are somewhere else, somewhere in the past. He wants to ask what happened but stays quiet.
She tightens her hands in fists then releases them again, wiping her palms on her trousers. 'Raiders came to our village. I was seventeen and my brother was twenty. My parents tried to stop him from fighting with the other men in the village.'
She smiles and looks down at her hands. 'He was a stubborn fool. Thought he could protect us. They barely looked in his direction as they shot him. One bullet was all it took for my life to change.' She clicks her fingers. 'Just like that. My father raced out to him, but joined him in the dirt. My mother died protecting me. In the space of two minutes, I'd lost everyone I'd ever given a damn about.'
Bray opens his mouth to say something, anything, but can't find the right words.
'They took me and any women left alive back to their ship. After spending a few hours celebrating a successful raid with stolen ale and food, the Captain decided to check out his new pets.' She laughs harshly and shakes her head. 'He was so drunk, one of his men had to help him stagger to my cell. I was dragged out and brought to his room.'
She stops and gets lost in her memories for a moment. 'I'll never forgot the stench as he loomed over me. I reacted and kneed him where it hurt. It was a foolish move. The door was locked and I had nowhere to go, but it felt damn good. Unfortunately, the drink helped dull the pain. He grabbed my hair and threw me on to the floor. He pulled his knife out and...' she glances over at Bray, pointing to the large scar that runs down her face. 'Once he was finished he held the knife to my throat as he...'
She takes a shuddering breath and wraps her arms around herself. Bray feels sick as the realisation of what she endured hits him. He feels the anger boiling inside him.
'Anyway, afterwards, he was so happy with himself, he forgot that he hadn't disarmed. I grabbed the gun from his belt and shot him between the eyes. After I shot him in the dick of course.'
Bray winces and squirms in his chair at the thought. No less than the bastard deserved though. 'How did you get off the ship?'
'I made my way back to the cells and let the others out. It didn't take much to overpower the rest of the crew. By the time their drunken brains realised what was happening they were either dead or restrained. Three of the prisoners were crew from a transport the raiders had attacked the day before. With their help, we brought the ship back home.'
She smiles sadly at Bray. 'It was too late. The raiders had done a good job making sure there were no survivors. So, with nowhere else to go, we decided to stay on the ship. See if we could find somewhere else to live. I'm not sure how it happened but I became the leader of our mismatched group.
‘We spent every free minute learning about the ship from the transport crew. The men taught us how to effectively run the vessel ourselves, and after we dropped them back at their world, I was made Captain and the rest is history.'
She meets his eyes again and Bray notices the sadness in the dark green depths. He now understands why she needed to be the one in control and why she was so hostile with him after their night together.
'I didn't tell you that so you'd look at me with pity. I told you that for two reasons. Firstly, to explain why I acted the way I did with you. I...' She sighs and looks at the wall. 'It's been a long time since someone has drawn my interest as much as you do.' She looks over at him again. 'I don't want what happened to be a one off. But I can't promise I won't—'
'Try to kill me after?' Bray finishes.
A small smile plays on her lips. 'Trust will take time. I know you're different, Bray, but past experiences are hard to forget.'
'Hey, I've got a few trust issues myself, believe me. But I'd like to try getting over them. I guess, if you want, we could maybe help each other. Small steps together?'
'Small steps.'
'And the second reason you told me?'
'Yes, the second reason. That's pretty simple.' She nods up at the prone body of Gryffin, lying on the bed above them. 'I'd give anything for my brother to come back from the dead. To have the chance to talk to him again, even for a few minutes. You have what I would give anything to have. Don't waste it.'
DIXON SPACE STATION
Gryffin slowly and painfully breaks the link to the Foundation ship. He has no idea how long he was hooked up, but judging by the gut-wrenching pain that's working through his stomach, it was a few hours. He jumps as a hand brushes his chest.
'Sorry,' Bray says. 'Just unhooking a monitor. You okay?'
Gryffin's only response is to lunge to the side and vomit on the floor.
'I'd say that's a no,' Evie mutters from the head of the bed. 'Is there more of the same coming our way?'
Gryffin nods once, instantly regretting the action. His brain feels like it's too large for his skull. He clutches his head in his hand to keep the top of his skull in place.
He hears someone running towards the room, then a few seconds later soft hands run through his hair. Terra kisses him gently on the forehead. 'Hey, how do you feel?'
'His stomach is a little volatile,' Evie says. 'Probably best to stay away from that end.'
'Has the hook-up caused any issues?'
'So far so good,' Bray says from somewhere behind him. 'But it was a big strain on his system. I'm going to take these readings to Felix to see what he says.' Bray pauses for a moment and squeezes Gryffin on the arm. 'Good job.'
Gryffin nods once. He doesn't trust his stomach right now. He's hooked to computers many times, but never to anything as big or complex as Cronus. The bizarre out of body feeling mixed with a severe case of food poisoning topped off with the sensation of being in a free dive on a plummeting ship is making him damn glad he didn't eat much today.
His facial implant is pulsing like it's got its own heartbeat and who knows when his vision will come back online. He concentrates on Terra's hand resting on top of his. Her touch is keeping him from getting sucked to the painful blackness.
He can handle his stomach not behaving. He can handle the blades piercing his skull. It's the blindness that gets him every time. The Scientist had taken days, weeks... sometimes even months to fix his eyes after he messed them up. That time, alone in the dark, was the most terrifying of his years on the station.
He pulls his hand out from under Terra's then grips her hand
tightly in his. She squeezes back and he feels her lean over him.
'What can I do?'
'Stay,' is all he manages to say before he leans over the bed again. He retches a few times, but doesn't have the energy to lie back down. Terra helps him back on to the pillow and places something cool on his head.
'Thank you for your help,’ Terra says. ‘But I can take it from here.' Gryffin hears footsteps fading and the side of the bed tilts as she climbs up beside him. 'Everyone's gone. Roll over.'
'My stomach.'
'I'm all prepared. Just do as you're told and roll over.'
It takes him a few attempts but with her help he manages to roll over and rest his head on her chest.
'Thanks.'
'For what?'
'Getting rid of everyone.'
She runs her hands up and down his arm. 'Don't be silly. Seriously though, are you all right? You're grey.'
'I feel like shit. My head and stomach are spinning in opposite directions. I hate not being able to see.' He swallows and pauses as his stomach flips before he gets a hold on it again. 'Terra. About what I said. About your father.'
She wraps her arm around him and holds him close. 'It doesn't matter.'
He groans and curls against her as a wave of pain hits.
'I've got you. Just close your eyes and try to relax. I have one of your father's books here. He let me borrow it a few weeks ago. With everything that was going on I didn't get a chance to start it. Can I read it to you?'
'It's not one of those romance ones is it?'
She laughs, jostling his head and his unhappy brain. 'No it's not. It's called Treasure Island. It's about pirates and hidden treasure. Think you can handle that?'
'Yes.' He'd listen to anything she read if it distracts him from whatever his body is doing. If he didn't know better, he'd swear the artificial gravity on the ship had failed. The out of body feeling is throwing him. He's not sure which way is up.
He buries his fingers in the mattress so he doesn't fall off the bed. The nausea isn't new. He always got it after he hooked up to a system, but this is taking it to a whole new level.