Taking a running leap, she jumped to the second row of suspended consoles and to the third, which brought her to the captain’s console. She quickly turned off the console and then rebooted it.
She hoped the AI would stay asleep long enough for her enter the commands to bypass the computer’s ability to observe her actions. She paused just before she touched the last button to put through the command, wishing there was another way. But she didn’t know how to convince the AI to help them.
She pressed the green button and was gratified to see that control of the entire ship had reverted to her.
She was just celebrating her success when Roihan entered the control center. “I just shut down the computer and have taken control of the ship!” she shouted down to him, a wide, victorious smile on her lips.
He paused midstride, his eyes completely focused on her.
“What is it?”
He shook his head as if to clear it. “Nothing. It’s great news that you’ve taken control of the ship. Are we going back now?”
Aria jumped to the main floor and pushed her braid back over her shoulder. “I thought about that, but we shouldn’t. This crystal has enough power to finish this mission due to the AI’s careful conservation, but it doesn’t have enough to do the mission twice. If we go back and the elves refuse to help, we would have lost our only chance.”
“That would be bad,” Roihan agreed. “How long do we have until we get Baihu?”
“At least another eleven and a half hours.”
“All right. Maybe when you have time, you can take a look at Simban.”
She frowned. “What happened to him?”
“I don’t know. He hooked into the other connector just after Tanis and then started to convulse. Since we’ve disconnected him, he hasn’t woken. He’s in the med bay now.”
Aria looked at the console for a long moment, not knowing why connecting to the system would have any ill effects. “Is it just that his chip isn’t connected properly? Or is there something wrong with the system?”
“I have no idea.” Roihan’s voice was close. He had come to stand before her.
She glanced up at him, seeing the intent look in his eyes. “I wasn’t really asking you. I was just voicing the question for myself.”
“Ah,” he responded. “Let me know if you figure out the answer.”
She glanced up again, unsure whether he was teasing her. But the grave expression on his face told her nothing.
After a moment, he spoke. “Do you think we could let the guys have some rest? We have all been going since well before the battle with the Ardaks. Most of us have been awake for at least seventy-two hours without a break.”
“That is far too long for a cyborg not to have a rest cycle,” she exclaimed, frowning. “I can show the others to the sleeping quarters where they can rest for a few hours. While they sleep, I can figure out what to do when we arrive in Ardak airspace. I have been awake for only sixteen hours.”
Aria mentally called to the other cyborgs on the open frequency, and within five minutes, Mordjan and Tanis had joined them in the control center. Valdjan had responded that he would stay with his brother in the med bay.
Aria took a good look at the three of them, fatigue clear on their faces and in their postures. “Let me show you to the sleeping quarters. You all need a rest cycle before you see another battle.”
She led them through the living quarters and down another long passageway before stopping in front of the heavy doors that opened to the sleeping quarters. “These were the officers’ dens. They are the closest to the control center of the ship and the largest.”
She caught the shared glances of dismay between the others as they examined the room. “I know these aren’t the most comfortable quarters you’ve seen,” she explained, “but it’s all we have. And it’s only for a few hours.”
“This is so disturbing.” Tanis shuddered. “And the whole place stinks of Ardak. Can we even fit in those holes?”
She eyed the dens. “Ardak warriors sleep in there with no problem,” she replied. “I don’t see why you wouldn’t be able to.”
“The space does seem tight,” Mordjan admitted. “But, fuck it, I need a rest. I’m just going to ask my chip to quiet my olfactory sense.” He peered into the space closest to him and then slid in.
Tanis climbed into the sleeping den next to his.
But Roihan turned back to her, another food square in his outstretched hand. She reached to accept it, but he didn’t pull away, and their fingers lingered for a moment. “Are you sure you don’t need any help?”
She shook her head, slowly taking the food and pulling her hand away. The space was small enough that the touch felt personal.
His eyes searched hers, and she avoided his gaze.
“Get some rest. I’ll be fine.”
In that moment, she wanted nothing more than to ask him if he knew her before the invasion. If he could tell her about herself and the person she used to be. Only she didn’t want to ask in front of the others.
Cyborg hearing was too acute. And speaking inside his head was even more personal. But it was becoming more important in her mind.
“I’ll be fine,” she said softly. Then she raised her voice. “All of you please be back in the control center in six hours. We need to create a stealth strategy to get the white powder . . . and a battle strategy in case our stealth strategy doesn’t work.”
Roihan nodded and silently slid into his bedding den. She could feel his eyes on her back as she made her way back down the corridor, and again, she was overcome by a sense of loss as she left him.
Why can’t I stop thinking about him?
It was as if he were part of her, as if they had a bond already. It cemented her resolve to find out if he had known her, if they had been friends. If maybe, just maybe, they had been lovers.
Chapter Nine
Roihan
Roihan tossed and turned in the cramped sleeping den, but sleep wouldn’t come. The space was too small, the blankets too scratchy, and the smell too potent. When he did manage to drift off, his dreams were filled with Aria. Laughing. Crying. Shrieking in agony. His own emotions were starting to get the better of him. Every time he looked at her, he wanted to touch her. To hold her.
Finally, cursing, he crawled out of the den and stretched his sore muscles. He started for the control center, but turned at the last minute, heading for the med bay instead.
He found Valdjan sitting in there, holding Simban’s hand. The man coughed and wiped at his face. Then he cleared his throat and looked up, his eyes red.
The last time Roihan had seen Valdjan sitting like this was when the man’s wife had passed away.
“I never got to tell you how sorry I was about Jessa.”
“Yeah. Well, it’s life,” Valdjan said, his words clipped though his voice was thick.
“I shed my fair share of tears when Aria and I lost our kids. And then when I lost Aria,” Roihan said gruffly. “I’m sorry I was a dick to you when you were teasing her.”
Valdjan’s face softened slightly. “Forget it. I know how it is. I was just . . . overly excited to have another family member back. Even if it’s only a cousin.”
Roihan couldn’t have felt worse than he did at that moment. He’d rather cut off a hand than watch a man whose wife had died suffer. He knew the pain all too well. And now Valdjan’s brother was . . . broken. And maybe even worse.
“Anyway, I still have Simban.” His gaze went to Simban’s face. “I hope.”
Roihan ran his fingers through his hair. He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know what was wrong with Simban or if he would be okay. “I hope Simban is going to be okay, too. And you still have Aria. I mean, as much as any of us have. She doesn’t remember me either.”
“Yeah.” A slow grin spread across Valdjan’s face. “Bet you never thought that would happen, huh? I remember you used to hide from her when we were young and she was on a rampage.”
A
lthough Roihan would have thought it impossible, his lips formed themselves into a grin. He hadn’t used the muscles in so long that the expression was awkward on his face. “Don’t give me that. We all ran from her, including you.”
“Yeah,” Valdjan replied, smiling at the memory. “And now becoming cyborgs hasn’t even given us an advantage over her.” Valdjan eyed him. “But then again, it wouldn’t matter how strong you were. She always had you wrapped around her little finger.”
“That’s because I’ve always known she was smarter,” Roihan murmured, laying a hand on Simban’s shoulder, willing him to wake.
The big man was pale and deathly still. The only sign that he was alive was in his slow, deep breathing.
“I’m going to check on Aria,” he informed Valdjan.
The other man nodded. “Good luck.”
“Thanks, I have a feeling I’ll need it,” Roihan replied. He made his way to the control center, shaking his head at how he’d treated Valdjan. He had to remember that the man had also lost his wife. And there was no way she could return as Aria had.
“Still awake?” Aria didn’t sound surprised.
He nodded. “I don’t sleep much. I was programmed not to.”
“How much is not much?”
“About four hours a night.”
She gave him a sharp glance. “That really is not much, even for a cyborg.”
“It gives me an advantage on missions and in battle,” he replied. “But after a few weeks of sleep deprivation, I usually rest for a day or two to catch up.”
“Really.”
As he studied her, Roihan noted the dark circles beneath her eyes, her too pale, too thin face. She looked tired, with her brow furrowed with worry. He wanted to hold her, to take away her confusion and fear. They had been married for so long that it was still second nature to him.
But he knew she wasn’t ready for that yet. Maybe she wouldn’t ever be.
He shoved the thought away and put his hands into his pockets to control them. “Can I help you plan the strategy?”
“My processors finished it within the first forty-five standard minutes,” she replied.
“Oh.” He forced himself to look out the transparent window so he didn’t stare at her. “Do you have any machines here? I was built to fix things, and since we’ve gained our freedom, I’ve been . . . lost.”
Her face brightened for a moment. “We have an engineering wing. And laboratories with new devices. What can you fix?”
“I doubt there’s anything I can’t fix,” he stated. “The Ardaks made sure I knew how to fix anything that broke.”
“Why don’t you go back to my laboratory and finish downloading the ship and science information programs? That will bring your knowledge up-to-date on the ship.” She stood and started toward him. “Be careful to only use my computer. It isn’t connected to the main computer as the other one is, and until I can figure out what happened to Simban, it will be safer. I can walk you there, and we can check on Valdjan and Simban on the way.”
When she got to him, he moved out of the way too slowly, forcing her to brush against him. The moment he’d done it, he knew it was a mistake.
She rounded on him. “How did you know me before the invasion?”
He eyed her cautiously. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that there is something different about you. You watch me too closely. Invade my space.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I don’t want an apology. Tell me who I was to you.”
He paused, wanting nothing more than to tell her, then pushed out a deep breath and said, “I can’t.”
“Why not?”
Because your next question will be if we had any children. Or what happened to your family. And we can’t go through that now, baby.
“Because that information comes with a whole lot of questions I don’t want to answer now,” he shot back. “And they will distract both of us from the mission. Let’s just get this damn antidote powder and get back to Aurora. Then you can get your memories back and this whole conversation will be moot.”
She shook her head. “Why do I feel like we’ve played this game before?”
He met her gaze, and his words were just a whisper. “It was never a game.”
A noise at the entrance to the command center caused both of them to start. Turning swiftly toward it, his hand went to his weapon. The smell that reached his nose made every hair stand on end, even as his jaw went slack with shock.
Ardaks.
Two of them.
One of the seven-foot-tall jungle cats was bad enough. But these two were fully armed, fully armored, and strolled in the door as if they owned the place.
“Valdjan. Mordjan. Wake up! Two Ardaks in the command center.”
“StealthClaw,” Aria addressed the first. “Where did you come from?” She edged back from the door, but the Ardak’s longer strides easily closed the distance.
“I could ask you the same,” StealthClaw responded.
“But we don’t have to ask, do we, StealthClaw? Because we know where you came from.” The other Ardak bared his fangs in what Roihan realized was a smirk.
“That’s NightCrawler,” Aria said in his mind. “He is an irritating Ardak, one who constantly degraded me and the other cyborgs.”
Unfortunately, he was also edging around behind her to block the door she would have used to exit. “You came from the laboratory. One of the Grand Innovator’s experimental pets.”
Roihan’s attention didn’t stray from the first Ardak, who was trying to circle around behind him. He shifted to keep his body facing the Ardak, but his eyes on Aria.
“Actually, I did just come from the laboratory,” she affirmed. “I was double-checking my coordinates.”
NightCrawler prowled closer to her. “And where are you taking us?”
“Back to Baihu.” She answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Let me try to bluff our way out of a fight,” she told Roihan silently.
Roihan didn’t think it would work, but he let her continue. If nothing else, it was buying them some time.
“But we don’t want to go back to Baihu, do we, StealthClaw?”
Aria gasped. “You two were in holding, weren’t you?”
“They must have been in the prison holding area,” she explained to Roihan silently. “It must have opened when I took back control of the ship.”
“Were there more in the prison?” The last thing they needed was more Ardaks.
She frowned. “I don’t think so. But I’ll check the log after we deal with these two.”
“Guys, where are you?”
“Almost there,” Mordjan answered.
“What’s the situation?” Valdjan asked.
“When you two come in the door, I need you to jump the Ardak to your left.”
“Jump him?” Mordjan’s laugh echoed in his brain. “We have ray guns. What do you think took us so long?”
“Those won’t work. Tordan took out the crystal, remember?”
“Right. But these are special. They’re designed to function using the ship’s power, so they can work in space.”
Roihan’s heart lightened. “Then we might actually live through this. Just don’t shoot those damn things at the outside walls of the ship.”
He turned his attention back to Aria, and by this time, she was explaining why they were in space. “But after that, there was no contact. When I left the ship, I found that everyone was dead. I didn’t know what to do. So I thought I’d take the ship there.” She turned to Roihan. “Roihan agreed.”
The two Ardaks stared at each other in confusion. “Why would you do that?”
“Why wouldn’t we? You’re our creators, right? All of our technological advancements are due to you. And Chief Innovator DeathWatch left all of his information on this computer. It is my mission to get it back to Baihu.”
StealthClaw relaxed his stance slightly. “That’s right. An
d you can actually fly the ship by yourself, right?”
“Yes.” Aria glanced at Roihan. “We will be glad to have company on the journey.”
His heart was pounding in his ears, his blood racing. He wanted to kill them, but knew he’d need to plan it right or they would both be killed. Or worse, he would be killed but Aria would be kept alive to get them home.
Aria’s outward appearance was calm and steady, her voice unwavering.
Then her voice frantically broke into his mind. “I really hope you have a plan.”
“I do. Just another minute or two.”
“I will try to distract them.”
Aria gestured to the transparent metal at the front of the ship. “We’ve already gone through the wormhole. We’re actually very close to home.”
Both Ardaks stepped forward, gazing in awe out the front of the ship.
“I don’t think they were allowed in the control center before,” Aria noted.
StealthClaw grinned at NightCrawler, showing his deadly fangs.
“It’s about time,” NightCrawler growled.
“If you want, you can take command for a while,” she offered. “I’ve been working for hours without a break.”
“He probably doesn’t think I have enough of a brain to do anything but take the ship home.”
Roihan would have barked a laugh if the situation hadn’t been so deadly.
NightCrawler simply nodded.
But StealthClaw was smarter. He slowly shook his head. “You two are not leaving my sight unless I know where you’re going. Limptail over there might believe you, but I don’t trust you.” He narrowed his eyes at Roihan. “Either of you.”
She widened her eyes, trying to look innocent. “What are you talking about?”
“You know what I’m talking about.” StealthClaw sniffed the air. “There’s someone else on this ship.” He turned to the door just as it opened.
Valdjan stepped in, gun in hand, and shot him with a blast of red light. Surprise shone on his face as he was momentarily lifted off his feet. Then there was a horrible sucking noise from behind him, and he flew backward into the wall of the ship.
Roihan Page 7