Mated with the Cyborg (13 page)

“
My
ship?” he asked.

“Unknown,” Vison replied.

Her father trained a chilling gaze on Mariska. “Where is my shuttle, the one that was supposed to take you to Katnia?”

On Deceptio. Had soldiers searched the hangar before the explosion to discover it wasn’t on Darius 4? “You blew it up.”

His punch snapped her head back, and knocked her into the wall. Her ears buzzed as the room grayed. Her knees buckled, and she fought to stay upright, to remain conscious.
He’s going to kill me. My father is going to kill me.

“Where. Is. My. Ship?”

“I don’t know.” Her voice sounded funny; her tongue felt thick. She swallowed, tasting rust, and realized she’d bitten herself. “He sold it to a pirate. He blindfolded me when he moved me to a new ship.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Janai slip out a back entrance. One less thing on her conscience.
Please stay away
.

“Extraordinary behavior for an android,” her father commented.

Mariska said nothing. Robots could react to their environment, but what she’d described indicated thought, planning, strategy. Like he was sentient. Mindful. Organic.

Her father turned to Vison. “Where is the android’s body?”

“I’ll check, General,” he replied. His face went blank for a moment, and then he blinked. “I’ve located it in the Artificial Intelligence lab. It was scheduled for analysis at 13:00 tomorrow. There were two bots ahead of it, but I flagged it urgent and moved it up in the queue. Dismantling will begin at 09:00 this morning.

Kai’s body was on the station! He hadn’t been left on Darius 4.
Oh, Kai, I’m so sorry.
He’d died trying to protect her. Her throat clogged with grief and remorse, but her heart lifted with a tiny surge of purpose.
Perhaps
I can fulfill Dale’s request. Lamis-Odg will not gain from this!

And then her head reeled with a realization: Vision hadn’t left the room, talked to the computer, or accessed a commline. How had he located Kai and changed the schedule?

“Find out who planted the bot,” her father said.

“Yes, sir,” Vison replied. “I’ll oversee the investigation personally. The information may be useful to improve our androids and cyborgs.”

“Maybe even yourself?” Obido looked at him.

“You’re an android?” She’d never suspected!

Vison stiffened. “I am no robot. I am a cybernetic Lamis-Odg.”

A cyborg. Dale had explained…

Her father’s gaze turned cold and hard when he looked at Mariska. “You will remain in your quarters until you board the shuttle for Katnia.”

A fate worse than being executed. “Father…”

“You are not my daughter. Do not address me in that manner again.”

He had never held her in high esteem. In any esteem. But to disown her? The last of her ties had been severed.
The last of her doubts.
She bowed to shield her expression.

“You are not the fruit of my loins,” he said.

Her head snapped up.

“I did not sire you. May the Great One forgive me. In my dissolute youth, I took an infidel, a Terran, as a mate, unknowing she’d already been impregnated. I would have destroyed you at birth if the Great One in His mysterious way had not marked you for salvation.”

“
I’m
Terran?” Beneath the veil, she dropped her jaw.

Obido strode to his chair and sank into it. He gestured at Vison. “Remove the Terran. Ensure she remains in her quarters until you can ship her to Katnia.”

Kai’s knees threatened to cave, but he was standing and that’s what counted.

No, what counted was getting out of the lab. He had a hunch he was slated for the bot recycling program. Progressive practice in theory. Not so good when you weren’t actually a robot and the secrets in your head could lead to the fall of the free galaxy.

He stumbled to the door, his legs wobbling like they were held together by loose rubber bands, and slapped his palm against the exit scanner.

Nothing.

For a deactivated droid to open the door might have raised an alarm. Better to take care of business before he blew this joint.

He ransacked the lab, tearing open drawers and cabinets in search of a usable implement. Large machines were used to unscrew, cut, and solder parts back together, but Kai needed a hand tool.

Just his luck. Lots of gadgets, but nary a laser scalpel. Not that he’d expected one, but the lab should have
something
sharp. He’d begun to wonder if he should try sliding under one of the cutting machines, when he opened the last drawer and found a small helical bolt remover with a thin, flat head.

This would work. He also grabbed a pair of extractors and a tube of adhesive. He kicked the drawer shut and nearly toppled over. His legs still weren’t right. Neither was his cyberbrain, which emitted an irritating whine. He didn’t think he’d lost any data, but he hadn’t regained full function yet. He’d tried sending out a distress signal again, but communications systems were still down.

He clenched and released his hand and wiggled his fingers. Fortunately, his upper extremities seemed to have regained near-f dexterity. He’d hate to cut into an artery by mistake.

Leaning against the cabinet for support, he stripped naked. If he could wait for full microprocessor function, nanocytes could be directed to deaden the pain. Human intuition told him time was a luxury out of his pay grade. With the helical bolt remover, he sliced into his chest over his right pectoral muscle. Blood spurted, and he gritted his teeth as he widened the incision. With a pair of grippers, he rooted around until he found the chip and yanked it out. Holding the wound closed with his fingers, he squirted sealant over the jagged cut.

“Motherfucker!” Son-of-a-bitch that stung. He waited until he was sure the seal would hold then wiped his bloody hands on a cloth smelling of oil. He hoisted the largest of the deactivated androids onto the metal table. After opening its chest, he shoved the chip inside, closed the panel, dressed the android in his clothing, and flipped it face-down.

The ruse wouldn’t fool anybody for long, but it might buy a few minutes and, when every second counted, that was a lot. Kai donned the android’s discarded uniform. The incision tingled, a signal his nanocytes had sped to the site to heal the wound.

His legs were growing stronger, another positive sign. He eyed the bodies and parts. Depending on how and why they had been deactivated, some of them might retain access privileges. He grabbed several robot arms and swept the palms over the scanner. Nothing. So much for that theory. He tossed them back into the tub where he’d found them.

He ran his hands over the door. Solid metal, titanium fortified with a composite substrate. Impenetrable—even to a cyborg with super strength. That was the bad news.

The good news? His microprocessor had provided the bad news. His cyberbrain had been able to conduct an analysis. His electronics were coming back online. Maybe he could speed up the repair process, perhaps enhance his programming a bit…or fashion a weapon? Kai cracked his knuckles. There were enough electronics in the lab to build almost anything.

But he’d better hurry.

Someone would come soon. A hunch told him it wouldn’t be an android. He would be ready. The first Lamis-Odg to come through the door was going to end up dead.

* * * *

Two armed droids escorted Mariska back to her quarters. All the furniture, dressings, and adornments had been removed during her interrogation. Nothing of comfort, sentiment, or aesthetic value remained.

She darted her gaze to the sleeping chamber. Had they taken the bed?

“You will remain here,” one of the bots said. “Meals will be delivered.”

At least her father wasn’t planning on starving her to death.

Not my father
.
I am not even Lamis-Odg.
The news, while a shock, came as a huge relief
. I am not the spawn of an iwani.

It also meant he would show her no mercy. But when had he ever?

Oh, Kai.
Though their time together had been short, her feelings were deep and could not be erased by his death. If only she’d known when they were together that they shared more than circumstances. They were of the same species. They shared a kinship with a people, a history, and a homeland. Her heart ached for her loss and for what she still had to do.

The droids left, and, after a quick, futile hand swipe to the pad confirmed she was a prisoner, she dashed for the sleep chamber. Her bed, stripped of its coverings, remained. She flipped over the denuded cushion. If they’d found the weapons she’d appropriated from the Panthera…

She thrust her hand into a slit in the padding and expelled a sigh of relief. Still there. If her cache had been found, the general would already have executed her. She righted the bedding then lifted her skirts, removed the blaster, and stuck it in her pocket where it would be more accessible. She could have shot the droids and escaped, but haste would not serve her larger purpose. Wait for the right moment to attack—that’s what Kai or Dale would recommend.

Nerves tingled with purpose. She could fulfill Dale’s request and destroy Kai’s body so its technology couldn’t be directed against the galaxy.

It had taken every micron of restraint to not whip out the blaster and shoot Obido in his office. Only the certainty Vison would have killed her prevented it. It might have been worth it, but she had a goal to accomplish, so she’d kept her cool. As insurance, a potential diversion, she’d planted a microexplosive device.

Dale’s tutoring had been invaluable.

With the android soldier waiting for her on Darius 4, her time aboard the Panthera had been limited, but she’d used the computer to open a frequency to Deceptio, like Dale had taught her.

“Mariska, what’s happening?” he’d asked.

“My father k-k-killed Kai.”

“Fuck. Are you hurt? Where are you? Are you safe?”

“I’m not hurt. We-I’m on Darius 4. My father’s forces stormed the planet, broke the domes. An android soldier shot Kai. I’m being taken to the space station.”

“Are you certain he’s dead?”

His eyes had been so still, so vacant. “Yes.”

“This is painful for you, but I have to ask. What happened to his body?”

“It’s still in the cabana.”

“Listen, this is critical. Kai is not just Terran. He’s an operative with Cyber-Operations. He’s a cyborg. Even though he’s dead, his electronic systems must not fall into enemy hands. Is there a chance you could destroy the body?”

“No. I can’t go back to the hut.”

Dale sighed. “All right. Remember the hidden panel I showed you? Take as many weapons as you can so you can protect yourself until I find a way to get you out. Do you think you could create a diversion to distract Obido’s forces?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.” She had had no idea how, but she was determined to do whatever she could to help.

She’d wanted to keep him talking because his calm, level voice created an illusion of safety, but, with every passing second, very real danger increased. The android soldier wouldn’t wait indefinitely. At some point, the delay would trigger his programming, and he would come for her. “I need to go.”

“One more thing. You have to blow up the Panthera,” he’d said, and instructed her how to set the self-destruct program.

She’d grabbed some MEDs and all the small blasters and Tasers and rolled them up in the sand dune tapestry that had once been so precious to her.

After donning a scarf, she waltzed out of the Panthera and met up with the soldier bot.

Upon return to the space station, she had slashed her bed open and hidden the weapons inside but had strapped Kai’s blaster to her thigh under her skirt, then made a beeline for Janai’s quarters. Fortunately, the other woman wasn’t there. Using her cosmetics and facial enhancement aids, Mariska had transformed herself into a Lamis-Odg. Then she’d covered her face with the veil again and tiptoed out, only to be caught by Vision and taken to the general. If the veil had loosened…

Mariska left her bedchamber and entered the lavatory. Bracing for what she would see, she lowered her veil. Both cheeks were red and swollen from the beating, but, fortunately, the prosthetic remained intact. With her forehead bulging, her eyes appeared smaller and mean, her nose prominently unattractive, her mouth a thin gash.
Kai wouldn’t recognize me
. She didn’t recognize herself.
This is ugliness.
How could I have found it beautiful?

The bruising and swelling from the blows further altered her appearance but wouldn’t draw undue attention. Battered women were not unusual. Mates often bore the brunt of a male’s frustration. Obido—she could not call him Father, nor did she want to—was an evil, cruel man. An iwani. To not originate from his loins came as a relief.

I am not disfigured.
“I am Terran,” she whispered in awe. Perhaps her resentment of her ostracism had been rooted in her race, coded in her DNA.

What horror her poor mother had endured. And not a single individual had ever found cause to inform her that her mother was not Lamis-Odg. A mate?
Hostage
. Her mother, a Terran citizen, had been kidnapped. From what she knew of Obido and had learned of Terran culture from Kai, she was certain of it. If Obido hadn’t abducted her himself, he’d abetted whoever had.

I shall avenge you, too, Mother.

Obido had struck her, and she’d fallen against his desk, giving her a prime opportunity to plant a microexplosive device as a future diversion in case Dale succeeded in rescuing her. The odds of that ranked between unlikely and nil. But the MED was in place just in case a miracle happened.

The detonator was in her pocket. One push of the button, and the bomb would blow.
Please, Janai, stay out of his chamber
. Mariska had no wish to kill an innocent bystander.

A buzzer sounded signaling someone had entered her quarters. She reattached the veil and hurried from the lavatory. A service bot carried a tray of congealed porridge. Prisoner fare.

“Set it on the floor,” she directed.