B Cubed #3 Borg (10 page)

            “To
mimic your intended, of course. He is the next step in evolution, the step we
need to take. Are you sure he didn’t mate with you? Even a sample of his seed
would advance my research by leaps and bounds.”

            “I’ve
never met Dayen.” She said again, not because she thought it would get through
to this madman, but because she had nothing else to say.

            But
he was shaking his head. “I found his body. No one else could have killed
Sylvan that way. No other being is strong enough, fast enough.”

            Her
gaze fell to Mina and she recalled the images of Berrick’s transformation, his
battle with the creature. He power his big body fought to control.

            Could
Berrick actually be Dayen? Though Sage didn’t trust anything Yates told her,
his claim about the transformation made a sick sort of sense. Her mind whirled
as she recalled all the things Berrick had said to her, like how Dayen would
understand.

            “You
know a lot about Dayen then. How else is he…. different?”

            Yates
stared at her and she forced herself not to cringe reflexively. “He’s advanced
in almost every way. The transformation is just one physical ability, he has
others, like extrasensory perception, as well as highly developed senses. His
mind has been unlocked. What wouldn’t I give to study it?” He whirled around,
clearly overcome at the thought.

            “Extrasensory
perception,”

            He
stopped mid-whirl. “ESP or as some call it, mental telepathy. He’s a mind
reader.”

            Her
eyes slid shut. Dayen. She’d been with Dayen all along. Why hadn’t he told her?

            The
sound of shuffling feet brought her awareness back to Yates. Her blood flash
froze as he studied her anew. “I don’t know what brought you here, Sage of the
Born, but since your uncle failed to deliver me more test subjects, I must make
do.”

            He
pulled her up in a rough jerk. She stumbled and went down on hands and knees.
Lily bolted out the top of her thermals and sprinted back don the darkened
corridor.

            “Mina,
get her!”

            The
creature raced after Lily. Up ahead there was a thunderous roar. And sounds of a
vicious battle.

            Yates
face lit. “He’s here.”

            Sage
wasn’t nearly so sanguine. She yanked with all her strength, trying to free her
arm. He held it in a firm grip and picked up a wicked looking hypodermic filled
with a grayish liquid and jabbed it into her arm. Sage screamed as liquid fire
ripped through her veins.

            Yates
released her and she dropped to the floor, writhing in agony. Distantly, she
watched him as though from a land vehicle speeding away, the madman growing
farther and farther from her. The last thing she heard him mutter was, “You’ll
be his equal now. If you survive.”

Chapter Nine

            Sage’s
scream echoed across the underground tunnel. Dayen bellowed as he took another
swipe at the thing that blocked his path. It snarled and snapped, fighting with
a single-minded intensity, but in the end it stood between him and his mate.

            It
never stood a chance.

            Dayen
ripped its head from its shoulders and leapt over the still twitching corpse.  Sage’s
scream cut off abruptly and he charged down the hallway to where the male he’d
scented earlier stood over her unconscious form.

            “My
lord,” the man said. He stank of madness.

            “What
did you do to her?” he grated. Dayen wanted nothing more than to put the
bastard out of his misery, had actually drawn is hand back to disembowel him,
but he needed to know how to help Sage.

            Killing
could wait.

            “She’s
transcending,” the madman said. “Soon she’ll be like you. Open.”

            Horror
filled him. “Make it stop,”

            But
the bastard shook his head. “Evolution cannot be stopped.”

            Enough.
Dayen sliced the man from nuts to nose and had Sage secured in his arms all in
one motion. He was down the hall before the body hit the floor.

            He
paused only long enough to retrieve Lily from her hiding place and then ran as
fast as he could back up to the surface, away from the volcano, back toward the
tunneler his mind awhirl.

             Transcending,
becoming like him. He wouldn’t wish that fate on his worst enemy, never mind
the woman he loved. She was deathly pale and so still in his arms. He pushed
himself to the limit to reach the tunneler.

            He
laid her still form down on the seat and started the massive engines. There was
only one person he knew who might be able to save her, to reverse what had been
done to her. 

            He
pushed the tunneler as hard as it would go, half afraid the engine would
overheat. Sage didn’t so much as twitch and he couldn’t pick up any of her
thoughts. Either she was trapped in a dreamless sleep or…

            But
no, he could hear her heart beat.

            The
tunneler dug through Rothguard’s entry hall and stopped. A swarm of thoughts
tried to bombard him, but ignored them as he scooped Sage up once more and
carried her into the cyborg’s lab.

            “Told
you he’d be here.” Cassandra chirped.

            “You
never tire of saying that, do you?” That from Allora.

            “What
have you done to your mate?” Cormack asked as he stared down at Sage.

            Rothguard
said nothing, simply indicated the place he wanted Dayen to set Sage down. It
took all his efforts to back away from her, but he did it. “Mel, scan her for
toxins.”

            Mel’s
small hands closed over a portable scanning device. “There’s something there
but I don’t know what.”

            Rothguard
took the scanner and scowled at it. “Let me take a blood sample.” He inserted a
needle into the vein at the crook of Sage’s elbow, then plugged the slide into
his armband. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

            “He
said it would transcend her, that she would be like me.” Dayen relayed the
information in a hollow voice.

            Rothguard’s
eyes—one human, one biomechanical—remained on his patient. “We don’t even know
what you are, never mind how to make anyone else like you.”

            “The
Born have been trying to.” Cassandra said. “Ask her uncle.”

            “Can
you reverse it?” Dayen’s gaze was glued to Sage, wiling her to awaken.

            Rothguard
hooked up an IV to her arm. She didn’t so much as twitch as he inserted the
needle. “Not unless I know more. Right now we’ll have to fight for her life.
Now stand aside and let me do what I can.”

            Dayen
moved to a corner where he could keep his eyes on his unconscious mate but not
obstruct her medical care. Cassandra moved to stand beside him.

            “So,
now you know what it’s like to feel helpless.”

            Her
words startled him from his vigil. “How can you say that? I’ve always known.”

            She
shook her head. “No, Dayen. You didn’t have anything at risk, anything to lose.
Look to your mate there and then look me in the eye and tell me you understood
true fear before you met her.”

            Dayen
looked back to Sage, to where she fought for her life. She’d been so afraid and
so brave in spite of it but until this moment, he hadn’t fully understood how
much she’d had to overcome just to survive.

            Through
his parched throat he pushed out the word. “No.”

            “Does
she remind you of anyone?” Cassandra put a hand on his arm.

            “Isaac,”
he breathed in immediate response. The bred had fought and struggled, suffered
and bled and ultimately died, leaving behind his cherished Only One.

            “Do
you understand why he struggled and fought to survive?”

            Dayen’s
gaze shifted to Mel.

            But
Cass shook her head. “Not just for her or even for what they shared. He
survived because it was instinctive to him, just as it is to your beast. Love
is not necessary to life, but it is what makes it worth living. You’ve been
surviving on instinct, but that’s not who you need to be. Not who we all need
you to become.”

            Dayen’s
jaw clenched.  “Now is not the time for this—”

            Cassandra
stood before him, blocking his way.  “Now is the
only
time, damn you!
This world will end if you don’t find a way to fix it. Your mate might die
today, but our planet is dying, too.  Our entire species will be eradicated if
we don’t act. Evolution can’t keep up with the current rate of destruction.”

            “Cass,
don’t push him.” Allora began, his hot tempered mother playing peacemaker.

            Cassandra
didn’t relent. “He needs to be pushed, not coddled. Is he a boy to keep wrapped
in illusions or a man worthy of the mate that lies there?” She pointed to the
table.

            Dayen
looked, really looked and for the first time saw beyond the labels he’d marked
her with. Sage was more than just his mate, she was a brave and frightened
woman, a caretaker who loved her dog and tended her plants and overcame
sacrificed herself to save her faction.  The same people who had hurt and
mocked her. Who had abused and terrorized her.

            He
wasn’t worthy of her.

            “You
can be, though.” Cass said. “You have it in you to become the mate she
deserves.”

            His
throat was tight with emotion. “How can I leave her? Can you at least assure me
that she’ll recover?” though he’d never asked Cassandra to see into the future
on his behalf, he assumed she could.

            Cassandra’s
eyes glazed over. “That is up to her.”

****

            Their
voices were the first thing that penetrated the fog. Sage had lost all track of
time and awareness of self as she floated in the mist, unfeeling, uncaring,
simply existing. Names and faces would assert themselves every so often in the
front of her mind, but they melted away without making a dent.

            The
voices though, they stuck with her. A male, gruff and tinged with frustration
and a woman, soft-spoken and soothing. At first it was their tone that she
focused on but soon their words stuck.

            “It’s
been weeks, Mel. Weeks of no change. All the tests say she should have woken
up. I don’t know what else I can do for her.”

            “Sssh,
my love, have patience.”

            A
pause, and then the gruff voice, the male voice, said “You know patience isn’t
my strong suit.”

            “I
have every faith in you.” A soft sound, and then there were no more words, just
a hastening of breathing. “Come to bed,” the female urged.

            “Just
one more scan—” The male cut off in a groan.

            Embarrassment
crept over Sage. Though she didn’t want to invade their private moment, she
couldn’t move, couldn’t speak to warn them that she was awake. Luckily
footsteps echoed from a distance and the lovers sprang apart.

            “Dayen,”
the gruff voice said. “Did you deal with her uncle?”

            “He’s
in custody for crimes against humanity. I wanted to execute him, but my father
convinced me it’d be better to make an example of him, to let him rot.”

            Anger,
hurt and frustration welled but she could do no more than listen as Dayen, the
man she’d known as Berrick, asked, “how is she?”

            “Stable,”
the other male answered.

            “Will
she wake?”

           
I
am
awake.
Sage thought sourly.
I just can’t show or tell anybody.

           
A sharp indrawn breath
and a set of footsteps moved closer. She could feel his heat first, not burning
with the intensity she remembered, but suppressed, almost restrained.

            “Dayen?”
The female voice.

            “I
heard her.” Dayen said from a few inches away. “I heard her thoughts. Sage?”

           
I’m
here. I’m awake.
She thought at him furiously.

            Something
clattered as Dayen stumbled back. “She’s in there, I can hear her thoughts.”

            “Stimulant.”
The gruff male voice barked an instant before something stuck into the side of
her neck.

            “Ow,”
she said, her voice hoarse from disuse.

            Warm
hands cupped her face. “Can you open your eyes?”

            It
took some effort on her part but she eventually managed to crack her lids. The
room was brightly lit and almost painful after the dull sameness of the fog.
“Where am I?” She croaked.

            “Rothguard’s
medic center.” Dayen’s thumbs roved along her cheekbones. He anticipated her
next question when he said, “You’ve been here about two months.”

            Months?
I’ve been unconscious for
months
?

            “How
do you feel?” The other male—Rothguard apparently, grabbed her arm.

            She
tensed. Without thinking about it, she grabbed his hand and shoved it away.
There was a loud clatter and Sage braved the light to open her eyes and see
what made that sound. Rothguard lay flat on his back several meters away, an
overturned table of instruments strewn about him.

            The
woman rushed to his side. “Are you all right?”

            “Fine.”
His gaze didn’t waver from Sage as he reclaimed his feet.

            Dayen
too, was looking at her oddly. She squirmed, discomfited by their attention.
“What?”

            “You
threw him,” Dayen said.

            Not
possible. “I barely touched him.”

            Rothguard
approached again. “I’d like to do a brain scan, if that’s all right with you.
Strictly hands off.”

            Sage
sat patiently, letting her eyes adjust to the light. They’d done so faster than
she expected.

            Rothguard
frowned at his readings. “This can’t be right?”

            “What’s
wrong with her?” Dayen growled. The burr in his voice slid along her skin like
a caress. He looked at her sharply, but then returned his attention to the
physician.

            The
cyborg scanned her head again, then scanned Mel, himself and finally Dayen. 

            “Well,
do you want the good news or the bad news?” He said at last.

            Dayen
took her hand and she didn’t shove him away. “No games, just tell us what we’re
dealing with.”

            The
cyborg took one last look at his device then met her eyes. “The stuff Yates
injected into your bloodstream has affected your brain’s functions.”

            “Oh
God.” Horror washed over her at the reminder of that wild eyed madman sticking
a syringe into her neck. Like he’d done to his wife, to his own son. She looked
to her hands but they were exactly as she remember them, not fuzzy or pawlike
in any way. “But I still look like me. Right?”

            Dayen
nodded in confirmation. “Is there danger to her?”

             “No
more than there is to you.” Rothguard rubbed at his backside. “Or the rest of
us for that matter. She’s like you, Dayen.”

            Startled
green eyes met hers. “What do you mean, like me?”

            Rothguard
pulled up a 3-D image of a brain. Small bits of blue were high lit throughout
the rotating picture. “In an average human, less than ten percent of the brain
is used. Add a few cybernetic advances and we might get as high as twelve. In
the two of you,” here the image changed, much more blue than white, “We’re
looking at least seventy percent utilization.”