Kyra shook her head and looked away from her husband’s stubborn gaze. “This is not as easy as just saying Captain Pennington’s life isn’t worth as much as mine. How many men do you think would pay to have a woman in their life who was programmed to do everything they wanted? Most men I know harbor that fantasy. Not you—but most men.”
Peyton snorted. “That’s a big damn generalization to base on a mentally deranged ex-husband. Not your best scientific reasoning, Dr. Winters. This conversation is not moving us forward and I need some air. I’m going for walk.”
Eric flinched at Kyra’s hurt expression, then drew in a sharp breath when Peyton actually left the room. The coolest, calmest man he knew had just lost his cool with his wife. He’d never seen that happen, not once in all their missions, or in all the horrible situations they had survived during the war. The idea of losing his smarter than was wise wife was obviously more than Peyton Elliot could handle.
Hearing Lucy might die before she ever got her life back, Eric empathized with Peyton’s frustration. From what Kyra described, attempting to restore Lucy was practically suicide for the cyber scientist working on her. Kyra still seemed willing to take the risk, but was it worth it? Or was Peyton right?
Hell—would the real Lucille Pennington even want them to try and restore her to some kind of normal if she couldn’t be her real self ever again?
What if Lucy ended up being nothing but his programmed companion for the rest of her days? William Talon wasn’t exactly grateful for his second chance to live freely. The man couldn’t remember most of what he’d endured as a double-wired cyborg, but what William did recall had warped his view of the world. The former Army captain was still sullen and withdrawn with everyone. William stayed away from people and undoubtedly kept the worst of his mental pain to himself.
Eric brought his full attention back to Kyra. “I admit I want Lucy to have a chance to be restored, and not for reasons nearly as noble as the ones you mentioned. But everything you said was true, Kyra.”
Kyra nodded. “Yes. But the truth doesn’t mean sacrifices won’t have to be made.”
Eric nodded back. “Peyton knows it’s truth as well—he’s just afraid. No one is going to hold any decision you make against you.”
“I thought you knew my husband better than that,” Kyra said, trying to tease. But her comment fell far short of being amusing.
“The protector side of Lucy that I’ve known for the past two days guarded me at the risk of her own safety. I have to believe that protective side is who Lucy really is. She’s the kind of person who would take a laser stream personally before letting someone take a laser stream meant for her. So you need to factor that into your calculations. If she’s been trying to commit suicide, maybe she just wants the madness to end.”
Feeling emotion churning him up, Eric stopped talking for a moment and cleared his throat. He glanced at Nero who was pretending not to listen, but Eric knew better. The wheels in Nero’s brain were spinning faster than his airjet could fly.
The younger scientist would carry on Kyra’s work if anything happened to her. Peyton would be damaged by Kyra’s loss, but he’d also survive. But who would miss Lucille Pennington if they just let her die? Other than him? Maybe the two women who tried to rescue her might grieve for a moment in time. But people eventually moved on from their grief. The war had taught him that.
Eric hung his head, considered, and then made the only choice he could make. “I’ll honor whatever decision you make and try my hardest not to resent it if you decide the risk is too high. But if you do decide to try Lucy’s restoration, I’ll help you. I’ll stand guard, hand you tools, or just hold Lucy’s hand so she’s not alone. I’ve gotten way more involved than I planned. So count me in on it, Doc. I don’t think I could live with myself if I just gave up on her.”
Kyra nodded tiredly, sipping her cold, bitter tea. “It won’t do any good to try unless I can greatly increase the odds of her survival… and ours. For now, I want to leave Captain Pennington in hibernation while Nero wakes the other two to see what happens after they’re restored. Who knows what we might learn from the two of them? Their cybernetics are not nearly as damaged as Captain Pennington’s. Only true survivors could have managed not to get caught for as long as they have. Their very appearance here makes me hopeful that we can find an answer.”
Eric nodded and stood. He was going after Peyton. Following the examples of Lucy’s comrades, he was going to risk hell to rescue his own captain. Kyra wouldn’t be at her best thinking Peyton was staying angry with her over her decisions.
He shook his head about how complicated relationships all were and headed to the door. Kyra’s questioning voice stopped him.
“Eric?”
Pivoting, he glanced back.
“Is her name really Lucy?”
Eric laughed dryly and shook his head. “I actually have no idea. As a companion, she had no name, so I named her Lucy, which is what I’d been calling her in my head. Sometimes when her violent side surfaced, I called her Hellcat. She seemed to like both names. Frankly, she just never seemed like a Lucille to me… or an Evelyn. Both are possible though.”
Kyra chuckled. “I kind of like Hellcat. Seeing her destructive, violent side is the only kind of experience I’ve had with her. I had to watch the tape of her companion program kicking in seven times before I could believe it was really the same woman speaking in that soft, modulated voice. But then there’s a little Hellcat hiding inside every woman… as well as a soft spoken sexual companion. Men are supposed to woo that softer side out of a woman, not develop code to manifest it.”
Eric nodded. “I agree. I’ve always enjoyed the wooing part myself. I know your husband thinks like that too.”
“Yes—he does.”
While Kyra smiled sadly and nodded, Eric headed off to provoke the yelling fit he’d expected from Peyton, but hadn’t gotten earlier. Sometimes you just needed to get your feelings out in the open before an unplanned emotional explosion occurred.
Chapter 10
His second restoration had gone as well as the first. Nero raised one of her eyelids and then the other. There was a distinct lack of consciousness, signs the hibernation code was still in effect. He had performed both restorations while the women were under the control of it.
The steady stasis state was quite amazing, as was their almost instant recovery from it when the code loop got disrupted. Like the pre-booting of software to make it readily accessible on a wrist com, the companion code kept the female cyborg’s systems in a state of waiting to be woken at a moment’s notice. The subject’s only recollection was about the last thing that happened before she was put into that state.
“Hey, Nero. Ya better tighten those fecking straps another notch or two, if ya know what’s good for ya. That one channels the goddess of destruction every time someone brings her back around. But if it’s a more exciting day ya’re looking for, then by all means, pay my words no mind.”
Nero turned to the red-haired woman now casually reclining on the cot in her cage. She seemed to enjoy verbal jesting as if it were a sport and had talked non-stop since her restoration. He’d never known anyone like her. The woman strung words together endlessly and never seemed to run out of breath.
“Your concern is appreciated, but unnecessary. I have the situation here well under control. You seem to be doing quite well after my adjustments, are you not?”
“Yeah. But I’m not Aja though, am I? Ya’re a fecking cyber brainac… pardon my swearing… but I can’t hold it back any longer. Ya’re all so much alike. Brains are just interchangeable to ya, no matter the vessel carrying them.”
Nero ignored her, hoping Corporal Meara MacDonald would wind down. Not that it had happened yet, but he wanted to believe it could. “I assure you—I know what I am doing.”
“And here I was feeling grateful to ya because I still had my clothes on when ya woke me up. I suppose that’s what I get for being a damn optimist. Fine. Go on with yar eejit actions. Let’s all see what kind of fire shoots from the eyes of Shiva’s handmaiden when she comes to and sees ya looming over her like ya are.”
Nero snorted, shook his head, and bent back over his second ever female cyborg restoration. Kyra had performed Rachel’s upgrades. He was glad to have had some practice on these two. The processor swap had been fairly seamless. Afterward, he’d only had to replace their logic chip and adjust their military one. The code on everything else was a bit of a hack job, but innocuous. He’d left the companion code in place, but had disabled all but one command.
“You are currently witnessing my work on Corporal Kapur only because I made you immune to responding to companion code commands. In time, you will see this is a truth, Corporal MacDonald. After we ascertain your mental stability is holding, I’ll gladly let you out of the cage. Then you can leave my boring company and find someone else’s ears to torture. And for your information, it is standard routine to check vital signs before waking up a cyborg. That’s all I’m doing here.”
He heard Corporal MacDonald’s tinkling laugh at his explanation and went back to ignoring her. It was the only way he was going to get his work done.
“Oh, I’m comfy enough in yar fine cage here for this particular show. The bars will protect me from Aja’s wrath while I get to watch the drama play out. In fact, I’m sorry now that I interrupted yar work for such a trivial thing as saving yar fine Indian arse. But just in case ya need clarification of my meaning, that ain’t no sleeping beauty ya are checking out over there, Boy-O.”
“My concern is only for Corporal Kapur’s cybernetic wellbeing. I am sure she will come to recognize that shortly after she wakes.”
Nero heard Corporal MacDonald snort and say something under her breath, but he couldn’t hear what it was. When she spoke again, she pitched her voice loud.
“Well—since ya are so busy checking out all things Aja, ya might take note that the woman has some very nice ta-tas. And I’ll tell ya a solemn truth—she is mightily proud of them. If ya ever want to score points with Aja Kapur, give her perky girls a compliment or two. There now… I did ya a bigger fecking favor than just warning ya about her wrath. After that tidbit, we might be made square about what ya have done to liberate me.”
“Corporal MacDonald, I am checking Corporal Kapur’s primary physical functions, not checking out her female assets. I’m a doctor and a scientist. I maintain professionalism at all times with my restoration subjects, regardless of gender. My mind simply does work that way.”
Meara snickered. “Oh, is that right? Well, ya are still a man under yar clothes, aren’t ya? Or are ya one of those who prefers laddies to ladies? If so, I wouldn’t hold that against ya or anything. Goddess knows, I served plenty of those as a companion. A quick BJ is all those kind want from a gal… which was a relief really. No, I have no urges to kill those types like I do the ones that tied me up. Now if any of the beastie boys ever cross my fecking path again, they’ll be singing soprano moments before they’re pushing up daises.”
Nero turned and glared. “Look—I am sympathetic to the trauma of your past situations, but please cease talking now so that I may speak the hibernation exit code. I have already delayed her awakening longer than I intended.”
He glared when Corporal MacDonald laughed at his statement and tilted his head when she drew two fingers across her lips in a promise. Not that he trusted the woman to keep her mouth closed for one second, no matter what signs she offered. The woman hadn’t shut up in the last four hours. How had she ever been a soldier? The enemy would have found such a chatterbox in a nanosecond. None of the males he’d met acted like her.
Though he hadn’t done cognitive tests yet, Nero wondered if Corporal MacDonald’s mind maybe wasn’t all that bright, despite her cybernetics. She had watched the entire restoration of her fellow service person and not asked a single significant question about the process of switching out the processor and chips.
During the entire procedure, Corporal MacDonald had talked endlessly about the adventures she and Corporal Kapur had lived over the years. The worst was a terrifying encounter that sent them running from a whole battalion of Chinese guard bots. The tale had caused him to forget where he was in his restoration process. The stories were highly distracting, especially when he was trying to work.
She
was highly distracting. Both women were, even though each affected him very differently.
Nero never would have spoken his personal opinions aloud to anyone, but the chatterbox was not nearly as beautiful as the quiet sleeping beauty he was about to release from companion limbo. He wished the redhead would hush so he could get on with it and enjoy bringing this lovely woman back to life. His personal curiosity about her was why he had chosen to restore her last. She was going to be the highlight of his accomplishments today.
“Damn. What’s taking ya so long, Nero? Did I scare ya that bad? Grab yar balls, Man.”
Nero sighed quietly, trying not to let his tormentor hear. Perhaps he should have had Eric sedate Corporal MacDonald before going off with Captain Pennington cradled in his arms. The fairer one had looked so innocent with all those sprinkles of freckles. He thought she’d be easier to deal with. He could definitely see how men could be duped into thinking such a woman was harmless.