Cronus

by K. A. Finn

  Evie and Felix stop their muttering and look over at him. 'You want to leave?'

  'Not leave. I said regroup. The Hunters are still on for taking down the Foundation, but we can't do it with Perses alone. If we're going to attack, it needs to be a coordinated fight from both sides of the Port.'

  Desyl leans back in his chair and plays with the ring on his finger. 'He's right. We need to go back. Find out how many ships we've got. Then make an informed, focused attack. If we go in with a few ships, the Foundation will swat us away, taking out the flagship of each of the major groups. It could destroy us before we get the chance to show them exactly how dangerous we are.'

  Sayber slaps his hand against the table and laughs. 'You know what Gryffin? I like this one. He's got a fire in his belly.'

  Gryffin ignores him. 'We trust Trey?'

  Evie puts herself between Gryffin and the blank view screen he still staring at. 'You go back with Desyl to the Outer Sector. Gather your Nomad and come back here with your teeth bared and claws out. We'll wait until it's safe then send Heath back to Earth to get Terra.'

  'I can't leave her.' The damn words pop out again without any thought from him.

  'Everyone out!' Evie commands. After a brief pause, Gryffin and Evie are left alone in the room. 'Now you listen to me young man. You are not leaving her, do you hear me? What you are doing is making sure everything is in place to finish this. She's doing the same. I saw that wink he threw at you. Ignore Balfe Junior. Focus on the fact we have a Council member willing to help our cause. Focus on the fact he saved Terra. I promise you we will bring her back to the station ASAP. You know you can trust me, Gryffin.'

  'I don't trust him.'

  'I'm with you there. Hell, Felix and I would have been dead years ago if we threw trust around. He's yet to earn it, but he might.' She sits down beside him and adjusts her floppy hat. 'Listen to me very carefully. You went through these mods to destroy the Foundation and Project Conscript. You sacrificed so much over the years, Gryffin. Too much. You're so close to getting your revenge. Don't let Mr. Perfect Hair throw you off your game.'

  'Hair? What?'

  'Never mind.' She takes his metal hand in hers. 'End this. Go and meet with Creed and the others then come back to kick some ass. I, for one, cannot wait to see the mighty Nomad in action.'

  DIXON SPACE STATION

  Gryffin stands beside Desyl on the command deck as Ares leaves the safety of the Dixon's Space Station. A deep pit opens in his stomach the further they move away from it and from Earth. The implant is keeping him calm enough, but inside he's as far from calm as he can be. Boone, Trace, and Dante are standing behind him and he can feel their unease.

  It's not the only unease he can feel. His crew— Desyl's crew are uneasy about his new and improved self. More than once, he's felt someone looking at him and the others. He's gone from being their captain to an untested cyborg weapon.

  He pushes that thought from his head, but not before Boone, Trace, and Dante pick up on it. They're picking up on the same tension on the command deck.

  Desyl sighs as he pushes off the railing and looks over his shoulder at the command chair.

  'You're going to have to sit in it,' Gryffin says.

  Desyl crosses his arms and glares at the chair like it's an armed enemy ready to launch an attack. 'Every time I've sat in that damn thing something goes wrong.'

  'You're the captain. You can't stand forever. Sit in the fucking chair, Desyl.'

  Desyl sighs again and walks over to the command chair, staring at it for another few seconds before he turns and slowly lowers onto the worn leather. 'Now what?'

  'Your call, Captain.'

  'Don't do that to me, Gryffin. I need you to help me. I get why you stepped back and I get why I'm sitting here. Sort of. But I can't do this alone. I need your help.'

  Gryffin walks over to Desyl and crouches down in front of him. At least his leg and the rest of his body have come to a bit of a truce. 'No you don't. I picked you for a reason. I know you have what it takes to be captain. Your crew is the best group of Nomad in the fleet. Have you decided on a second yet?'

  'No. Not yet.'

  'Wait until we meet with rest of the fleet. You can always take from another ship if you want. I'm sure the new High Commander won't mind.'

  'Yeah. Okay.' Desyl's face drops a little and he looks away from Gryffin. 'I hate saying this, but we'll be heading through the Port in a bit. I suppose we should get you four secured just in case.'

  Gryffin gets to his feet. 'You got this Desyl.'

  Ares' new captain nods unconvincingly as Gryffin leaves the command deck with the other cyborgs. They go to four spare crew quarters and the Nomad security teams waiting for them. Gryffin faces the small cot in his new quarters and stares at the wall opposite as his wrists are secured in front of him.

  The Dixon's had run countless checks on each of them, but they're not taking any chances. They could have missed something in his programming that'll be triggered when he goes through the Port. He'd prefer to be restrained than risk any Nomad lives.

  His restraints are fixed to a thick chain embedded in the wall and he's left alone. Gryffin sits on the cot as the door closes and is locked. Gryffin spends the next few minutes just breathing, trying to keep control of himself and the building need to break the restraints and ram the door out of the wall.

  He goes through different scenarios in his head. Different ways he's going to tear the Foundation apart. Different ways he's going to fight the female cyborgs, but it doesn't work. His mind wants him to focus on Terra and the fact he's leaving her alone on Earth with Balfe's son.

  'She's safe. He saved her life.'

  Saying the words aloud does nothing to calm him. If anything, knowing someone else had to step in to save her is like a kick to the gut. It should have been him. Fuck that. She shouldn't have needed to be saved in the first place. Getting the mods may be the way to protect the Nomad and take down the Foundation, but all it's done is put up a wall between himself and Terra.

  Even though he wants nothing more than to kick the shit out of the door, he forces himself to lie down on the cot. Boone and the others are silent. They're leaving him to wallow in self-pity and he's grateful for the peace.

  He looks down at his new mechanical arm, locked in the heavy restraint. It was a mistake. Getting his mods upgraded was a mistake. But it's too late to do anything about it.

  He thought he could live with the mods and fight the control implant. Thought he'd be able to keep hold of himself in all the noise. But it's too difficult. Knowing what he threw away is slowly eating away at him.

  Terra is the only person he's ever loved and he turned his back on her to do this to himself. Now she's on Earth with that man and he's back in restraints. Alone again.

  He rolls over and buries his head in the thin pillow. As soon as he's met with Creed and Aleena he'll stop fighting. It's better for everyone if he just lets the implant take him over.

  He did this to fight the Foundation. He can't do that if he's fighting himself.

  50

  OUTER SECTOR

  Creed, Milla, and Chayse follow Desyl from the cargo hold to one of the small crew quarters at the back of Ares. Chayse can't help but smile as he walks through the ship that was his home for so long. Nemesis is better than he could have ever wished for, but Ares will always feel like home to him.

  As much as he's grateful to get a chance to board the flagship again, something is wrong. Gryffin should have met them not Desyl. The Commander had refused to answer any of their questions, stating Gryffin would do that himself, but that didn't explain his absence or why they were going in the opposite direction to the command deck and Gryffin's quarters. He glances over his shoulder at Creed and Milla, seeing the same worried look on their faces.

  Desyl unlocks the door to the room and Chayse instantly realises what the problem is. Gryffin is inside, sitting on the bed with a nice new set of shiny implants attached to him.

&nbs
p; The second Chayse sees Gryffin, he spins around and tackles Desyl to the ground. He pins him down with one hand and fixes his other around the Commander's neck. 'What the hell have you done!' Milla tries to pull Chayse off, but his anger is firmly in control.

  He only calms down when a heavy metal hand grips his shoulder. Gryffin pulls him off Desyl and holds him against the wall. Desyl climbs to his feet and rubs his neck.

  'What the hell did you do, Desyl?'

  Chayse glowers at Desyl then looks up at Gryffin. The new eyepiece is far more hi-tech than his old one. The purple iris spins dizzily as Gryffin stares at him. When Chayse finally pulls his attention away from the eyepiece he realises something about Gryffin's other eye. It's blue not purple. It would only be blue if Gryffin was keeping control of himself.

  'He's still in there.'

  Desyl nods. 'Yeah. He's still in there.'

  'Can he talk?'

  'Of course I can talk.' Gryffin grabs his former aide by the neck, holding his feet off the ground as he looks at him. 'This was my choice. You want to beat someone, beat me.' He lets Chayse go, dropping him to the ground.

  'Who's controlling him?' Milla asks.

  'I am,' Desyl says. 'Well, technically he is right now. But if he can't for whatever reason, I can step in. I'm the only one able to give him orders. He can then relay orders to Boone, Trace, and Dante.'

  'You know it could be a one-way deal for him,' Chayse says.

  Desyl nods. 'He knows it too.'

  'He is still here. Talk to me,' Gryffin growls from the corner.

  'Sorry, sir.'

  'Just Gryffin. Desyl is captain now.' He looks over at Creed and smiles, but it's barely visible. 'You accepted the role, High Commander?'

  Creed grins widely. 'Of course. Wasn't going to step away from being High Commander. Helps that Rayde would have been well and truly fucked off about it. Big bonus. So, how much of you is still you?'

  'I'm fighting the programming for now.'

  'I guess that's a good thing then. The last time I saw you use that implant in your head, you put half the crew in the med bay,' Creed says. 'No offence, but how exactly is that going to help us?'

  'It'll help because without it I'm dead. Four fully operational cyborgs isn't much against the numbers the Foundation have, but it's better than none.'

  Milla sits beside him on the bed and leans closer to examine his ocular implant. 'Are you okay, Gryffin?'

  'Yes.'

  'I'll take that as a no then, cause no offence, you don't look okay. If you clench your fist any harder you'll break your fingers. So, where's Terra? I can't imagine she's over the moon about all this.'

  Gryffin breaks eye contact, focusing on the floor instead of her.

  'Gryffin? What is it?'

  'She's on Earth. She's safe. The Dixon's will get her in a few days when it's clear for them to return. We need to get everyone together, but I want to talk to Aleena first.'

  'She's on Nemesis,' Chayse says. 'Do you want to go to her, or should I ask her to come here?'

  'I have to stay here in case I lose control. Can you bring her across?'

  Chayse nods. 'I'll make the call.'

  'Thanks.'

  Desyl leans against the door frame still massaging his neck. 'After that we should all get together in the meeting room. We've got a lot to tell you.'

  OUTER SECTOR

  Aleena pauses at the door to the training room but cannot bring herself to step inside. Milla had told her about Gryffin. His decision to upgrade his modifications is still difficult to accept.

  If she knows nothing else about Gryffin, she knows he has a great hatred for each and every one of his implants. For him to make the decision to get more, their situation must be so much worse than she originally believed.

  Before she can talk herself out of seeing him, she opens the door and walks to the railing. Gryffin is training with another cyborg, but she cannot remember the blond man's name. Desyl and a team of ten armed Nomad security are watching them train.

  Desyl notices her and leaves the others to stand guard so he can join her on the upper level. He hesitates for a moment then hugs her, holding her close.

  'You okay?'

  She smiles and nods when he lets her go. 'As well as I can be considering. How is he?'

  'As well as he can be considering.'

  'He is fighting well.'

  Desyl nods as he watches the men train. 'He's back on form, that's for sure. Boone is holding his own though. Needs a bit more work to get to Gryffin's level.'

  'And the additional security?'

  Desyl looks over at her and smiles, but it is forced. 'He's like a ticking time bomb, Aleena. The control implant and the programming are fighting him. He's holding them back, but it's taking its toll on him. He keeps zoning out. Almost like he's lost in his head somewhere. Each time he zones out, it takes longer to get him back.' Desyl stops talking but there is something on his mind.

  'He is considering allowing it to take control.'

  Desyl's head whips around. 'How the hell did you know that?'

  'I know him. If he continues to zone out as you put it, he will be a liability when you eventually fight. He would not want that.'

  Desyl snorts. 'Damn. You do know him. Yeah. He's considering letting it take over. Got to admit I see what he means. He only did all this so he'll be of use to us.' He kicks at the railing and scrubs a hand through his hair. 'I haven't got a fucking clue what to do, Aleena.'

  She takes his hand and squeezes it. 'Your priority is Ares and her crew, not Gryffin. I love that man dearly, but this is bigger than him. Is it safe to speak to him alone? I would prefer not to have an audience.'

  'He'll be fine. You know what he's like when he's training. It calms him.'

  She follows him down the stairs and waits while Desyl stops the training session and instructs everyone to leave them alone.

  Gryffin turns to face her and she cannot hold back the tears. She rushes over to him and throws her arms around his chest. Gryffin hesitates briefly before he hugs her back. Aleena cries against him, finally releasing the anguish she had been fighting to restrain since she heard of Roman's death. Holding his son brings it all to the surface and she does not try to hold it back.

  Gryffin holds her until the tears stop falling. Aleena pushes back from him and takes a moment to compose herself before she looks up at his face. There is nothing in his expression. No sadness. No anger. Nothing at all. It is Gryffin, but without his soul.

  She places her hand against the side of his face and examines his new ocular implant. That is the most noticeable difference. The eyepiece completely covers his own eye. Although judging by the size of the piece, she imagines it has replaced it entirely.

  His other eye may be blue, but it lacks any of the warmth she is used to seeing. Gryffin may not have been a light-hearted man, but she could tell a lot about his mood by looking at his eyes. Now, they offer no insight at all.

  'You okay?'

  At least his voice is unchanged. She gestures to the bench beside the wall and watches as he sits and stretches his legs out in front of him. 'I am well. Is your new leg troubling you?'

  'A little. It's getting better though.'

  Aleena looks down at his prosthetic arm. The new limb has additional components attached to the side, making it appear larger than its predecessor. 'I am scared, Gryffin.'

  'Of what?'

  'Of everything that is transpiring. This latest revelation is not helping to soothe me at all. You should not have had to resort to such drastic measures. My heart is breaking for you, Gryffin.'

  'I'm fine, Aleena. Really.'

  'Stop lying to me, Gryffin. I have known you, the real you for many years. You are hurting and you are scared.'

  'No I'm not.'

  'Gryffin—'

  'I'm terrified, Aleena.'

  She covers her mouth with her hands and nods slowly. She was not expecting him to be so honest with her, but every now and again, he drops his wa
ll with her when she least expects it. 'I wish I could help you.'

  'You can.'

  'How?'

  'Look out for Terra for me. I don't think she'll stick with the Nomad after this is done. I need to know she'll be safe.'

  'Of course. You do not have to ask. But I am sure you will be able to do that yourself.'

  'Maybe. I don't want you anywhere near this fight either.'

  'You cannot keep me from it, Gryffin.'

  'We're going to Earth and there's a good chance not all of us are coming back. You need to live to keep the order when whatever's left of the groups return.'

  Aleena understands what he is saying, and it does nothing but fill her with dread. 'So this battle with the Foundation is only the beginning. Is that what you are saying?'

  'The Nomad and Hunters will go head-to-head. I'm guessing some of the Rogues will align with both sides. You need to be the voice of reason. It's going to get ugly and violent and there will be deaths. There's no way of avoiding it. Please get on the ship with the rest of the colonists and keep away from this. You're too important to me. I don't want you to die too. '

  She cups the side of his face again and nods. 'Very well. I do have one condition though.'

  'What?'

  'I want you to promise you will join me for a cup of tea when this is done.'

  He smiles and, for a moment, her friend is back again. 'Understood.'

  She leans against his arm and stares at the wall opposite her. It was nice to hear him make the promise, but she knows there is a strong possibility she will never see her friend again once he leaves.

  EPILOGUE

  OUTER SECTOR

  Gryffin is pulled out of his nightmare by someone calling his name. He looks up at Creed and instantly knows something is wrong. 'What is it?'

  Creed crouches down beside his bed and glances at Gryffin's prosthetic leg and arm lying on the floor in front of him. 'We just got a transmission. Don't worry. It's not about Terra. It's... Well, it's from someone called Jada. She's a Foundation cyborg.'