“
Frizzy
—that’s the exact word I used,” Eric said, snapping his fingers. “I didn’t mean it the way it sounded though. I did put conditioner in her hair when we showered… sorry, too much information. You’ll have to excuse me. I’m tired and my tongue is not working properly today.”
To his complete astonishment, both women laughed hard, looked at each other and laughed some more. He couldn’t help staring at Aja. Laughter transformed her face into some kind of exotic princess. No wonder Nero was so drawn to her. He wanted to comment on the change, but feared for his life.
Great sex—of a kind he’d never had before—had obviously erased all his politeness filters. He couldn’t think about forming polite sentences when he couldn’t stop thinking about the next time he was going to get to be with Lucy. It had been a whole two hours since he’d seen her and he was already going insane.
He laughed at his dilemma and ran a hand through his blond hair that Lucy professed to like so much. Even that reminded him of her. Man, one night was all it had taken for him to be completely obsessed.
“I’m fucked like all men are when they screw up, aren’t I? Lucy is going to spin on this no matter what I say. I swear I don’t give a rat’s ass about her hair… not really. She doesn’t even remember that I said she had cute toes too. She had such a human reaction to what I said… and I know because I’ve dated a lot of one hundred percent human women. Lucy is my first ever cyborg.”
Eric stood when the women stopped laughing to stare open-mouthed at him. He laughed nervously and felt his face get hot. He had given them too much information—again. He never blushed. Never. And rarely got embarrassed.
What the hell was happening to him? It was Lucy—just Lucy. “I think maybe I need to…”
“Go topside and let us talk to your woman for you,” Aja interjected, narrowing her gaze as she smirked. “Maybe some time away from Lucy will rest that tired tongue of yours. Perhaps the words will come out better then.”
Meara’s giggle made his face flush red again.
Eric nodded. What else could he do? “Okay. I guess even Private Higgins can’t hate me as much as Lucy probably does right now. She’s been in there for a couple hours. Just please tell her I really didn’t mean to insult her hair. It’s that damn New World Companion programming. She thinks she has to be perfect for me… well, she doesn’t.”
“Stop. For the love of the goddess—just go, Boy-O. We got this. Lucy needs a little girl time,” Meara said, pointing at the stairs.
Eric nodded and started up them at a trot, sort of wishing he’d done the pulse healing as his aching muscles made themselves loudly known on the climb. He had to laugh though when his pain just made him miss Lucy even more.
***
They stared at each other and listened until Eric’s footsteps faded.
“His tired tongue?” Aja said finally.
Meara nodded solemnly. “That’s what I heard. Are ya thinking Lucy should be happier if it was true?”
Then they burst out laughing again, their mirth going on so long they doubled over with it. When they calmed, they turned their attention to the bathroom door.
“Ya know she hears us out here. The captain is pinging like all hell’s on fire,” Meara stated.
Aja nodded and walked to the door. She knocked on it briskly. “Lucy, we know you’re just hiding in there. Stop sulking and open the door. We sent your boy toy away to rest his tired tongue.”
Meara dissolved into giggles. “Ya should have seen his red face, Lucy. Did ya hear him say ya were his first cyborg?”
The door opened and out stepped a completely naked, red faced, but dry-eyed woman.
“I didn’t come out at first because I don’t know who either of you are,” Lucy said flatly. “I don’t remember. All I have are story files from a woman who no longer exists. Why would you want to come see me?”
“We’ve all been tinkered with, captain. Ya not knowing crap doesn’t matter a whit to us,” Meara said, shrugging. “Ah feck this stranger stuff. I can’t keep it up.” She stepped into Lucy and hugged her stiff body. “I forgive ya for hibernating me against my will. I know ya was following some stupid protocol. I’m very glad Nero fixed it so ya can’t anymore.”
Aja lifted her chin and stared as Meara backed away. “I can see you can’t even communicate with us because you’re chewing on something stupid. Go ahead. Tell us what it is,” she ordered.
Lucy lifted her chin. She had to fight not to let it wobble. For some reason, she didn’t want to share it with these strangers, but what other choice did she have? She did not want to bother Peyton with something trivial. She was afraid Dr. Winters would think she needed to be rendered unconscious. If she ever wanted to face Eric proudly again, she was stuck with accepting their help.
“If you must know, I am not conducting myself as a proper companion. I don’t know why Eric’s opinion of my hair even mattered to me. I am programmed to filter such insults. I experienced an over-reaction that I cannot seem to get under control. I couldn’t come out of the bathroom to discuss it with him because I did not want Eric to think I was more defective than he already thinks I am. And I have no idea what to do about my hair. I’m not allowed to leave this place. How can I possibly fix it without a professional?”
She held up an arm and showed them her wrist com. “This keeps me a prisoner… of sorts. I understand it is for the safety of those who interact with me.”
Meara inspected it. “Nice style at least. What’s it do? Sound an alarm if ya exceed yar boundaries?”
Lucy nodded. “Yes. The current in it would restrain me long enough for them to tranquilize me again. I thought it best not to test the limits until I needed to do so… no, that’s not true… I…”
“Didn’t want to leave Eric at all?” Aja finished. She saw the truth flash through Lucy’s gaze.
Lucy nodded and dropped her head. “No. I did not want to leave. He is my contract, but I don’t hate him like I did the others. Instead, I want only to stay with him. It is against everything I have in my files. Last night he gave me many pleasant memories.”
Meara snickered as her gaze met Aja’s wicked one. She turned her grin Lucy’s way. “I’m guessing Boy-O’s tongue wasn’t so tired when ya two started out.”
Lucy snorted. “You have a strange way of speaking, even when stating a truthful conclusion.”
Meara heard Aja laughing genuinely again. She wanted to fist pump in the air, but that would have given up all she’d worked so hard for. And it wasn’t what either of her tough friends needed to hear.
Meara sneered at Aja for good measure before swearing. “Ya can go to fecking hell and roast. I would never stop ya.” She turned her glare to Lucy. “And I can’t believe I’m getting insults on my speech from a woman with frizzier hair than mine ever dreamed of being,”
When she got a glare for her statement, Meara reached out and punched Lucy gently in the arm. “Ya need a fecking sense of humor, woman. Blessed be, ya and Aja are still two of a fecking kind.”
“We are twins?” Lucy asked, searching Aja’s face. “If that is a truth, then why do I not have hair like black silk as well?”
Meara cracked up. “Oh Aja, I wish I had taken a picture of yar face when she said that. I’ve got to get away from ya both. I can’t take this literal shit anymore. No good will come from me rolling around laughing on the floor. I’m going to the kitchen and see if I can find something to make a deep conditioning treatment. All I need are some oil and eggs. Everyone keeps those in their cupboards.”
Lucy watched her walk away. She turned to her alleged silken-haired twin. “I am learning sarcasm from Eric. Was she jesting about us?”
Aja grinned and held out a brown arm and put it next to Lucy’s pale skinned one. “No. Of course we’re twins. Look at us. Don’t let that crazy Irish woman fool you with her slang and her constant running dialogue full of nothing that makes sense. When we fix your hair, you’ll look just like me.”
Aja grinned when Meara’s tinkling laughter filled up the kitchen. She turned back to see Lucy glaring at her. “What’s the matter, Lucy?
“You have a faint Indian accent,” Lucy said, studying Aja’s secretive smile. “I think you are lying to me. We’re not twins. Your accent places you in the New Delhi district. It is not wise to anger me, Aja Kapur. I can be quite unpleasant when my temper is roused.”
Aja laughed, unconcerned. “Well, Shiva be praised. I’ve pissed you off finally. Glad to see you’re still alive in there, Lucy. I knew those bastards hadn’t killed the real you off completely.”
Lucy figured it out then. She figured out that they really were part of her history. But what was she supposed to do with two women she no longer remembered?
She searched Aja’s gaze and saw only concern. Meara walked out of the kitchen humming. The Irish woman carried a bowl with some raw concoction in it that she hoped she wasn’t expected to eat.
“Are you truly my friends?” Lucy asked.
Two instant yeses released something long held captive within her. A tear escaped one eye and slid down one cheek. The code forbidding her to cry was no longer active, but it was so uncomfortable she still avoided it. She’d come close with Eric a couple of times last night, but so far had managed to avoid releasing the floodgates.
Meara sighed. “Before we upset ya further, let me put this on yar wild ass hair. It needs about an hour to do any good. I don’t see yar boy toy waiting any longer than that to come back.”
“Take as long as you need. I’ll keep the man from seeing you until you are ready,” Aja said firmly.
Lucy grunted. “Okay. Thank you both for helping me. I still don’t understand why you’re doing so, but I am very grateful. I hate being this worried.”
When Meara swore an oath in Gaelic, Aja reached out and put a warning hand on her friend’s shoulder. “I know. I don’t like her this way either, Irish. But it’s what she’s become. Fix her hair. That’s how we can best help her right now. I’ll keep Eric from busting in until it’s properly tamed.”
Meara frowned and shook her head as she watched Lucy walk head down back into the bathroom. “What do ya think I’m running here, Aja? A fecking hair salon? Once Lucy would have eaten someone like Eric for breakfast.”
Aja snickered. “How do you know she didn’t do just that before we got here? The man could barely walk up the stairs even on cybernetic legs. I would wager Lucy caused that condition.”
Meara giggled at the observation and then sighed. “Sweet mother of all. Hell itself must be freezing over today. Captain Pennington is saying thank you to me and Shiva’s handmaiden is making dirty jokes.”
Aja grinned as she walked back to the couch. She listened to the women talking in the bathroom and felt the first tiny glimmer of genuine hope for their futures. Maybe they really had survived the war and all the horrors that followed it. Maybe the worst was over at last and their running days were indeed ending.
She leaned her head back, resting it against the fabric of the comfortable couch. If their fortunes really were changing, she might have to find something else to do for a living besides kicking ass.
Chapter 20
Kyra looked around the table and glared at the two bickering women until they stopped and fell silent. The female cyborgs were as contrary as any two people she’d ever met, especially with each other. She had tried to keep them out of this discussion because she had enough distractions to contend with.
Luckily Nero would be doing most of the work. If there was a bright spot in the current chaos, it was that Nero was absolutely positive about what they were planning to do. Usually she was the one insisting a questionable procedure could work. Instead, she was the hesitant questioner while Nero was hell bent on trying to modify the woman’s existing code.
It wasn’t that she thought it couldn’t be done. She’d just never done a partial restoration before that was successful. So much can go wrong by allowing a hacked secondary processor to continue running the show.
And though Nero didn’t agree, Kyra didn’t think Aja and Meara were really proof of the possibility since he’d replaced their primary processors. There was also the fact Captain Pennington had been altered significantly more than they had. At the moment, her secondary processor was the only thing keeping the woman both functional and alive. What if something went wrong? The woman would die… and in less than four minutes everyone within a significant distance would die along with her.
Kyra wished for the millionth time she could send them all away so she could think more clearly about what they were about to do. She was glaring when she brought her full attention back to the only woman who really mattered.
“Captain Pennington, are you sure you want Aja and Meara to be a part of this discussion?”
Lucy turned to look down the table at the women who had helped her fix her hair. Reaching up, she ran fingers through her now very smooth tresses while they smiled. It was not a lot of evidence to prove the two female cyborgs could be trusted, but it seemed enough for her to lean in that direction.
She turned back and offered the irritated and worried cyber scientist a small smile. “Yes. I wish them to remain for this discussion. Though I do not have perfect recall of them from before, I am convinced Aja and Meara are my friends.”