B785 (11 page)

Bonnie didn’t have a clue what to expect once she convinced Aphelion they needed to charge in to the rescue. She’d never actually flown a spacecraft before or engaged in a real battle. All her knowledge came from lessons programmed into her BCI and from the movies she recalled. However, she didn’t let a pesky thing like inexperience stop her.

Einstein and the others needed their help, and damn it all, she was going to deliver. Thankfully, Aphelion seemed to have some knowledge of what needed to happen. The ship hummed as it went into motion, and a peek at the screens showed them heading toward the asteroid and not away like she initially feared. With half the crew invading the fake installation, and the other half still on board, they’d have to work in concert to pull this off. Good thing cyborgs excelled at teamwork. The few cyborgs left aboard didn’t show up to ask them what the hell was going on, although she could tell by the line between Aphelion’s eyes that they did contact him on a neural level. She didn’t hear those conversations, but when she saw his shoulders relax, she assumed everyone agreed with her half-assed plan.

And what was that plan? Oh yeah, somehow get close enough to the asteroid to draw the military’s attention away from Einstein and the group of cyborgs about to walk into a trap. What she furiously tried to figure out what how to do that without blasting the damned place to bits, which would kind of defeat the purpose.

“So, um, Aphelion?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t suppose you have any ideas on what we should do once we reach the asteroid?”

Fingers never pausing their furious tapping on his control panel, he nevertheless rotated his head and gazed at her, the first hints of mirth curling the corners of his lips. “Who, me? This is your mutiny. I thought the plan was to go in guns blazing and sort out body parts later.”

“Yeah, about the guns and body parts bit, I guess maybe my movie experience isn’t quite the boon I imagined it. I don’t suppose you have an alternative?”

“Who, me?”

“Yes you.”

“You want my help?”

She bit back a growl of annoyance as he teased her. Of all the bloody times to find his sense of humor, he had to choose now. “As a matter of fact, I do.”

“Okay.”

“And?”

“Oh, you want details?”

“Yes!”

He laughed. “Are you sure? You might be disappointed in it as it doesn’t involve crashing into the asteroid or exploding it. Although, I do plan on making the environment unpleasant for any oxygen breathers.”

“You mean the humans?”

“I mean the enemy.” He said it so grimly that she decided not to point out he was technically human too, or at least began as one at birth. Despite his exterior, the ratio of man versus machine swung the pendulum, not necessarily in the right direction. Aphelion didn’t look at her as he spoke, his eyes intent on his screen as his hands flew over his control panel. “I believe, if we punch a precise hole with our laser guns here and here.” He pointed to an image, which he posted on the main viewing screen. “It will depressurize the whole installation and suck the oxygen out. It won’t take care of all the soldiers, but those caught without masks or environmental suits will die, reducing the number of hostiles facing our troops. Not to mention, the remaining humans tend to panic when they start seeing corpses with bulging eyes and exploded brains floating about.”

Her face scrunched up. “That is really gross.”

“Just trying to live up to your cinematic expectation.”

Snide little bugger. “You should know, Aphelion, I will get even.”

“I look forward to it. Now, if you don’t mind, we are entering firing range and I should probably concentrate on this next part. Please monitor the communications channels for any military activity, but before that, I’d like you to please send out a quick pulse followed by two long ones.”

“Why?”

“Think of it as cyborg code for hold your breath and anchor your feet.”

“Cool.”

“Glad it meets your approval. Engaging laser systems.”

As Aphelion steadied himself, she did as he asked, using the communications channel to broadcast the pulses. She just hoped Einstein and the others got it.

A voice crackled on the intercom. “Incoming vessels detected.”

“From where?” she asked foolishly, peeking around.

“I don’t see anything on the radar.”

“Well then it must be broken,” snapped the voice over the intercom, “because they are coming up fast on our tail.”

“Who is that? And how come he can see ships when we can’t?”

Aphelion frowned as his fingers flew lightning fast on his console. “That’s Bolt down in engineering. He must be seeing the approaching spacecraft from our aft portholes. But why the hell aren’t they showing up on our radar?”

“Don’t worry about that now. Shoot the damn holes. Help the boys on the asteroid, then we can flip around and take care of the bogeys.”

“Bogeys? I swear, if you begin to hum the theme from
T
op
G
un
like Seth did on our last mission, keep in mind I will shoot you myself,” Aphelion muttered as his eyes narrowed.

Oddly enough, with all the technology at hand, he relied on an old style joystick to maneuver the exterior laser and fire. If the situation weren’t so dire, she would have asked for a turn firing. She’d always enjoyed video games.

Watching the screen, she had time to note the quick light bursts, then a cloud of dust and gas as he scored dual hits on the asteroid surface. Two craters appeared, dust billowing outwards from them in rings. While she couldn’t see the results, she could hear it. The installation depressurized and the communication channel came alive finally with the panicked yells of humans.

However, she didn’t have time to listen because the first impact of a missile rocked their ship.

The bogeys had arrived and apparently, they weren’t in the mood to take prisoners.

The pulses broke through their radio silence. “Brace yourself,” Einstein yelled, holding his fire and using his free hand to grip a rigid metal beam by the entrance to the loading bay. It seemed their ship caught wind of the ambush and came to the rescue.

“What the fuck? I told Aphelion to hang back,” Aramus yelled, still aiming his weapon as he looped his arm around the post across from him.

“Who cares why he’s here?” Seth shouted, his blades deflecting the shots whizzing their way from the soldiers who had them pinned at the corridor’s entrance. “We could use a hand. There’s too many of them for us to fight, and it’s only a matter of time before one of them manages a lucky shot.”

Einstein suspected Bonnie had a hand in the disobedience of Aramus’ orders. While he hated she put herself in danger, he’d chide her for her disobedience later, once they escaped the military ambush. And ambush it was.

They soon discovered as they charged up the hall that the entire place was a fake. The doors they checked opened onto stone walls, except when they disgorged screaming soldiers. The first such wave took them by surprise and Aramus took a bullet to the leg before they adapted to the situation and fell into formation. In tight quarters, it proved difficult to use the guns with accuracy, making the need for knives and brute strength crucial, especially when they realized some of the soldiers were equipped with the latest Taser based weaponry. But Einstein had been slowly adapting the hardware in their bodies. He’d programmed the nanos, which coursed through their systems, to funnel electrical charges so that large bursts no longer incapacitated them. Of course, this was the first time they’d gotten a chance to test this new feature. To his scientific pleasure, his adaptations worked; the thousands of volts of energy aimed their way were unpleasant, but not debilitating.

Aramus grinned widely when a soldier aiming one of the enhanced Tasers muttered a disgusted, “Shit. It ain’t workin’ against the fucking bots.”

Nope. It didn’t. Not that the soldiers attacking cared for long. They dispatched that group. Then the one after, working their way along the trapped corridor toward the landing bay he’d detected on his scans.

They heard the signs of battle before reaching the open bay. It seemed their flanking brethren arrived before they did. Joining the firefight, they bunkered down by the opening and took turns firing on the horde of military grunts sitting behind reflective shields. The military came prepared for once, which meant it wasn’t the easy assault Aramus expected.

Hence, the arrival of their ship and its subsequent warning to brace themselves, while unexpected, wasn’t entirely unwelcome. It didn’t clear out as many soldiers as Einstein would have liked, the troops hunkered behind their shields suited in protective space gear, but it took many of the humans by surprise. Environmental suits did little to help against the depressurization and suction of space, not to mention there were many who’d opted to remove their helmets. Dozens died. Unfortunately, dozens more remained to take their place. However, the humans were hampered by the new conditions, unlike the cyborgs. Their guns were of little use and their hand-to-hand combat and knife skills no match for the speed and strength of cyborgs. They sliced and diced their way through the remaining troops, not needing to worry about kill shots when even a simple slit in a space suit was enough.

Screams filled the air. Panic. Blood. Chaos reigned and at the heart of it all, the cyborgs fought, the two units meeting in the middle of the melee and placing themselves back to back, an impenetrable wall that fought back against the odds…and won.

Wiping the blood from his face—not his, but the enemies’—Einstein viewed the carnage and shook his head. “Why do they keep bothering? Why can’t they just leave us alone?”

“And admit defeat?” Seth, not a hair out of place, sheathed his knives. “The military will never give up because they can’t afford to have the world know what they did. How they lied. How they stole lives and experimented. The people would revolt if they suspected. Governments have after all toppled for less.”

“But how can they explain this?” Einstein gestured around him. “What excuse can they give to the families of these soldiers?”

“Any damned one they please,” Aramus replied. “They’ll tell them the poor soldiers got attacked by hundreds of murdering robots. Robots intent on wiping out humanity. Not a bad idea actually, if you ask me.”

“More killing isn’t the answer.”

“Then what is?” The question hung in air, heavily laden with the scent of death.

A shockwave rocked the asteroid, disturbing them from their intense discussion, one they’d had many a time over the years since they reached sentience.

“What the fuck?”

“I think our ship is in trouble,” Seth announced.

Bonnie! Now that the need for subtlety was gone, Einstein reached out with his mind to their ship, but met with interference. “Dammit. I can’t contact Aphelion or our vessel.”

“We need to get back up there and see what’s going on.” But how? Their own craft lay at least an hour away even if they ran at full speed across the surface.

Why run though when they could ride? It was Seth who found the stashed buggies, each big enough to carry a pair of them. According to Astro, who met up with them on the battleground, Ralph and another comrade fell to the soldiers, both irreparably damaged after well-aimed shots to their cortexes. A grave loss to a cyborg nation who already numbered so few. However, regret would have to wait. Survival came first.

They sped across the asteroid surface to their hidden craft, Einstein straining to see overhead when he couldn’t contact the ship despite his repeated attempts, but whatever happened in space remained out of sight and his worry mounted.

Please be safe.

Stupid movies, they make it look so easy and fun.

Bonnie kind of regretted taunting Aphelion to action. What she, in her inexperience and brashness, thought would be an easy task—rescue her lover and save the day—turned into a duel for their lives as not one or two, but three military cruisers popped out of nowhere and attacked. It was only the fact their hull survived the first hit and the skill of the skeleton crew in evading that kept them from splattering the asteroids they used as shields. It kind of reminded her of a large-sized game of keep away and chicken enacted in space where one wrong move would mean the end. Gulp.

Scary as it was, though, it wasn’t the only problem.

When Luke Skywalker fought his cosmic battle with Darth Vader, swooping and spiraling through space, it made Bonnie whoop with excitement. In real life, all that motion just made her want to throw up. She’d never enjoyed roller coaster rides and becoming part machine hadn’t changed that. Apparently, her programming and hardware didn’t come with a cure for vertigo or motion sickness. Good thing she didn’t eat and thus had nothing to spew; she doubted Aphelion would have appreciated wearing it. Not to mention, she didn’t want to disturb him, not with him doing his best to keep them alive.

Given his fast reflexes and his skill at maneuvering were all that kept them from a fiery death, she took back all her unkind thoughts on the serious cyborg. If he managed to keep them from getting blown into tiny bits, he deserved her heartfelt thanks and gratitude.

After a particularly stomach-churning flip, the vessel righted itself, thank God.

“That was close.” His muttered words didn’t inspire confidence, not that she could speak as he spun them again, a spiral loop that had her swallowing as she closed her eyes against the vertigo.

Aphelion, the surely insane cyborg, whooped. “Whee!”

“Ooooh,” she moaned.

“What’s wrong? I thought you liked action flicks. It doesn’t get more action packed than this,” he answered with all too much glee. And to think she’d accused him of being too serious.

“I like my action to remain upright, not upside down and spinning,” she groaned.

He laughed. “And here I thought you had a more adventuresome spirit.”

“And I can’t believe I thought you had none.”

“As Seth would say, suck it up, buttercup, it’s not over yet.”

A retort failed her so she resorted to something she hated—feminine whining. “Can’t you just blow them up so we can stop hanging upside down like bats? My body was built for a lot of things, but screwing with gravity wasn’t one of them.”

“Wimp.” He said it with mirth, but to her relief, the vessel straightened out and she slumped in her seat, glad he’d warned her to strap in. Although, she suspected his safety tip had less to do with her getting injured than his concern she’d smack into some important console by accident.

“Aha!”

She pried open one eye. “Is that a good aha?”

“We finally scored a hit on one of the ship’s starboard engines. That makes another one out of commission. One to go.”

Minutes later, the last military ship smacked into an asteroid as it miscalculated, probably because instead of firing on the enemy vessel, Aphelion shot up the big rock in front of them sending chunks of it spiraling off.

As soon as the military ship went up in a fiery explosion, the communication channel, which would only spew static since the ambush, began spewing messages from the cyborgs left behind on the asteroid.

“Aphelion!” Aramus bellowed, his irritable yell a welcome relief because it meant some of the cyborgs stuck amidst the ambush survived. “What the fuck is going on? And where the hell are you?”

But Bonnie only had ears for one voice and she fought not to choke up as she heard it. “Bonnie, are you there? Answer me. Are you alright?”

She spoke aloud since Aphelion seemed to have engaged Aramus in the silent mode they could fall into. Lucky bastards with their wireless capabilities. She wouldn’t have minded a little private time right about now with a certain geek she’d come to care entirely too much for.

Audience or not, she didn’t bother to hide her happiness in hearing his voice. “I’m fine, charming. A little bit queasy from all the spinning, but unhurt. But what about you? Are you hurt? Did everyone make it? Did we arrive in time?”

“We’re down two men. Ralph and Fred didn’t survive the ambush. But the rest of us made it out with only a few holes and scratches. Nothing the nanos or I can’t fix.”

“Thank God.”

“God had nothing to do with it. Skill and luck did. That and the disobedience of orders by a certain crew.”

“Yeah, um, about that. Don’t blame them. It was all my fault.”

“I am sure it was. And don’t worry, we’ll be discussing that as soon as I get back onboard,” Einstein said ominously.

Uh-oh. Sounded as if she was in trouble. Fine. Whatever. She wouldn’t apologize for her actions. Much. Not when she’d probably repeat them. Einstein and the others had come to mean too much to her in the last few days since she’d woken for her to sit by idly while they were in danger. Hopefully, that would count for something. Besides, what was the worst they could do to her?
Spank me if I’m lucky.
Not that her geeky prince would think of that. Maybe she should suggest it.

However, seeing him face to face wouldn’t happen as quickly as she liked. Looping back around, they rendezvoused with the scout ship. Unbuckling, she meant to scurry out to meet the returning cyborgs, but Aphelion shook his head. “Aramus says to sit your ass down and not move a muscle.”

“Why, so he can punish me?”

“No, because he doesn’t want Einstein distracted. As our only intelligence and medical officer, he needs to concentrate on fixing up our injured boys and getting this ship back in commission. We took some nasty hits and while most of us can do repair, we need his brain to reprogram some of our onboard controls to bypass the sections that were too badly damaged. Aramus doesn’t want you diverting him from what needs to be done.”

Well, that sucked. She’d wanted to see for herself that he was safe and sound. Give him a hug. A kiss. A… Hmmm. Maybe Aramus had a point. “Fine. I’ll stay here out of sight and trouble.”

“I wouldn’t say out of trouble. The big boss is coming and he’s pissed.”

“At what? Us saving his ornery ass? He should be thanking us for coming to his rescue. Without us and those holes you blasted, they were toast.”

“If you mean at a disadvantage, then probably, but at the same time, we broke the rules.”

“You mean I did. Blame me if you like. I’ll take any punishment he wants to dole out.” Bonnie played the part of martyr well. Besides, what was the worst Aramus could do? Lock her up until they reached the cyborg home planet?

“You’re not the only one at fault. I was also a part of it. I’ll shoulder my share of the responsibility.”

“Damned straight you will,” Aramus roared as he stomped in. “What the fuck were you thinking of, letting a bloody female convince you to disobey orders?”

Aphelion stood and faced Aramus, covering her presence. As if the commander of the vessel didn’t know she sat there. She did appreciate the gesture, though.

“She didn’t force me to do anything. Once we realized the situation had radically changed, I analyzed the possible scenarios and came to the conclusion that without our aid, the landing party’s chances of success were slim. Given our depleted numbers, as acting commander of the vessel, I did what I thought was best for the mission.”

“And not only put the ship in danger, but one of the females too.”

“This female has a name,” she interjected.

“You, be quiet! I’ll deal with you in a minute.” Stormy eyes swung her way and she swallowed in reflex. Talk about scary-looking. Maybe she should worry for her safety.

“At the time, I didn’t think our actions would put B785
—
”

She didn’t think it was the time to point out her name was Bonnie.

“
—
in danger.”

“No, you didn’t think. Yet you should have. Your programming should have warned you of the possibility of enemy vessels lying in wait. As a result of your miscalculation, we almost lost the entire fucking ship and crew, not to mention one of the female cyborgs. What ended up a major cluster fuck almost turned into a disaster.”

“You’re right, sir. I was negligent in my duties and clearly unfit to serve. I will withdraw myself from active duty until I can submit myself for full diagnostic and repair.”

“Denied. We need all the hands we can get.” A heavy sigh left Aramus as with a heavy tread, he walked around a repentant—ass-kissing—Aphelion and headed for his seat, a seat she hastily vacated. Somehow, four hundred pounds of muscle and machine landing on her didn’t seem healthy. “It’s not entirely your fault, I guess. The way I hear it, the military ships didn’t show up on any scans or our radars.”

“No, sir, they didn’t. None of our electronics detected them. It was pure chance they were spotted. We could only view them via the screening windows and exterior cameras, but that doesn’t excuse my lapse. I should have obeyed orders and remained hidden. I accept any punishment you deem fit.”

Bonnie jumped to his defense. “It’s not his fault. I was the one who bugged him to do something.”

Dark eyes swung her way. Aramus drummed his fingers on the armrest. “He knew better though than to disobey direct orders.”

“Even if it saved your life?” she snapped.

“My life is meaningless if I don’t bring you back intact. Do you have any idea of how important you’ve been deemed?” Aramus said it sourly. Apparently, he didn’t agree. Oddly enough, Bonnie could understand him in that respect.

“Me, important? But why?”

“Joe is the leader of our movement. Chloe is his mate. Once they discovered we had recovered you alive, my one and only directive became to get you back safe.”

“That’s crazy. I’m not that important. Or special.”

“On that we agree. But, it’s not up to me. It’s up to our society, and the cyborgs back home, your people and my brothers, have decided that rescuing you females takes top priority.”

“But why?” Bonnie couldn’t follow his logic. How could he and Einstein and the others be considered less important than her?
Don’t they realize how flawed I am? How useless?
Other than her skill in the bedroom, what did she have to offer a planet full of men? Or was that why they valued her? Would her role on the cyborg planet end up similar to the one she served with the human military? She discarded the thought as soon as it hit. No. The cyborgs were different, and she believed Einstein when he said she’d have a choice in her future. Not to mention she couldn’t believe the tender man who’d so reluctantly succumbed to her seduction thought of her as nothing more than a sexual object.

Someone else entered the command area, and she turned eagerly, hoping for a glimpse of Einstein, but instead, a disheveled Seth appeared. He flashed a grin. “Hey, princess. I hear you caused a mutiny then got in to a dogfight with the military? Way to go. Usually, I’m the only one capable of causing that much trouble. I thought Aramus would blow a gasket when he heard. You should have seen the smoke pouring from his ears.”

“They disobeyed orders,” Aramus growled.

“And saved our butts. Not to mention took out three bogeys. Bogeys that we couldn’t detect and if left intact might have followed us back to the homeworld. If you ask me, their disobedience is the best thing that could have happened. Or would you have preferred being the reason why the military showed up on our doorstep?”

Poor Aramus. His face changed so many colors, she wondered for a moment if he’d have the first ever cyborg heart attack. “I’m leaving before I throttle you both. I’ll be assessing the damage if anyone needs me.” Off he stomped, easing the tension levels in the bridge.

Aphelion relaxed his rigid stance. “Well, that went better than expected.”

“I’ll say. Considering you have all your body parts intact and he didn’t eject you into space, I’d say you lucked out, dude.”

“For now. I doubt I’ve heard the last of it, though.”

“Don’t let him bully you,” Bonnie advocated. “Aramus might talk tough, but at heart, I think he’s more of a softy than he realizes.” Two pairs of incredulous gazes swung her way. “What? Was it something I said?”

Shaking his head, Aphelion addressed Seth. “Sir, if I may. Einstein has requested an extra pair of hands for aid in repairing our cloaking device. I’d like leave to go help him.”

He had? Damned silent talk. She really hated she wasn’t a part of those conversations. The fun she could have silently conversing with her prince charming. Then again, the kind of talk she’d enjoy was best done in person where she could see her prince’s blushing reaction.

“Go, soldier. But you’ll need to submit a full report of the events as soon as you’re done. Even if Aramus skipped punishment, we still need to let Joe and the others know what happened here as soon as possible.”

“Yes, sir. Oh and just so you know, only two of the three attacking ships were destroyed. The third vessel crash landed on an asteroid.”

“Intact?”

“To a certain extent.”

“You can see them now?”

“Yes. Whatever technology made them invisible didn’t survive the impact so I’ve had our computers monitoring it. According to what we could see and detect, the damage was extensive. Life support systems appear to have failed, making survivors unlikely.”

“But possible if they got into a pod or a space suit.” Seth rubbed his chin. “What about their communications?”

“Inactive as far as we can tell. Unless they sent out a signal beforehand or are using some new method of transmission, they haven’t contacted anyone.”

“However, there’s no way of knowing for sure, just like we can’t be sure there’s no other enemy vessels lurking in the area.” Seth paced.

“No, sir.”

“Fuck.” Seth bore the most serious expression she’d ever seen. It frightened Bonnie because it seemed so out of place on his usually jovial face. “Go help Einstein and tell Aramus what you told me. We need to make a quick decision on what to do.”