“Mother?”
“I will tell you.” Fiana faced her, put her back to the machine. The bugs resting on her hair, as if annoyed, took off as one and flew up to the ceiling.
She’d allowed herself to be distracted by their flight. Though she asked, the fear was inside her, at the back of her mind, muttering that maybe she didn’t want to hear this.
The disquiet on her mother’s face...
Walk away? No.
“Facts are needed, so I can plan what to do.”
“I realize this.” Fiana shut her eyes a moment. “Your levels are building. I’ve never seen them so high in a siren, though I did study what few cases we have recorded of similar...people. You appear normal right now, but you’re not.
“Your body struggles to adjust but it will never be able to balance this. Thorn...”
“Go on.”
“You’ll hit what we term an extinction-level event within a week or two, a month at most by my best approximations. When that happens not only will you die, so will all those near you, if they are male.”
Extinction level. That term skewered her with a new horror.
“It is inevitable but there is one other possible path for you. A way out.”
Led’s hand arrived on her shoulder and he squeezed. For a moment Fiana appeared startled. Had she forgotten he was here?
Running on logic and instinct she asked the obvious, “What is this way out?”
“It’s not simple or cheap, or guaranteed. You need to seek out the best genetic surgeon in the galaxy and have one half of your genes ablated and reconstructed. You will have to choose which of us is to be you. S’kar or siren.”
“Which is me? I’d choose s’kar.” Her answer had been automatic because she was panicking. She’d die if she didn’t get this done. “Is this beyond what I can pay?”
Of course she was better funded since Jocelyn’s bit of digital juggling, but still not immensely rich. Not when she’d been paying for Led’s loaner body.
Regrets for that? No. It was done.
Her question was dumb. Fiana didn’t know the state of her finances.
Her mother’s mouth was open but she snapped it closed then said, firmly, and the words grated out at times, “I will pay for this, Thorn. I will pay. Damn my species for their impossible laws. You’re my daughter.”
“Oh.” She blinked, wanting to whimper hugs like she had with Jocelyn but unwilling to risk the rejection. “Thank you.”
She lowered her gaze. Hope existed then. Everywhere she turned she found charity. It was humbling and horrible, both.
“I have a drug you can take with you. This may help but there are only two doses. It’s derived from a plant now extinct, and we have been saving this in case a male siren is born. It’s an emergency drug to help a teenage siren establish control if the wildfire of puberty hits them early, before they have any sense in their heads.”
She smiled at the notion of teenagers not having sense. Thorn was having problems thinking too. She might die...and finding a genetic surgeon, no, the best one, in only two weeks? And reaching him or her in time? What were the odds of success? Of dying?
“Are you listening, girl? Two doses and I am not supposed to give you these.”
“How...how do I find this geneticist?”
“I really don’t know but Doctor S on COG 101, the mech planet, is your best resource. They say he knows everything worth knowing.” Her mouth stretched into a reluctant smile. “May the gods go with you, darling.”
Darling. All these suddenly cozy and friendly terms, and she was numb. “Thank you,” Thorn mumbled.
“I need to speak to your Ledderik. I think it best if you wait outside, but...here. I need to embrace you.”
Fiana opened her arms and wrapped them about Thorn. Her mother’s perfume enveloped her too – quiet and feminine. Her arms were soft and somehow everything she needed. Thorn choked back a small sob by biting her lip and hugged her mother.
“Oh my poor daughter. Whatever you do I will understand. I hope you will one day forgive me and Nomad. Sirens can be young and silly and thoughtless too, like most species, and I was that day.”
In that moment, Thorn breathed, only breathed, wishing she did not have to go, to step away and lose this last piece of family.
She opened her arms and removed herself from her mother’s hold.
Words, what words would say what she needed to say? Instead she only blinked and steeled herself. “Goodbye, Mother. Thank you for this.”
“Outside, if you look in the room to the left, you will find a bedroom with many garments. We sirens know what materials will resist our powers. Please, take what you wish. Your present clothes are beginning to look somewhat dilapidated.” She nodded in Thorn’s direction. “There are many holes.”
“Oh. There are?”
There were. Damnation.
She couldn’t quite forgive her mother, she realized, as the door shut behind her with a click.
The murmur of Led’s and her mother’s voices were a fresh duplicity. What could it be she was telling Ledderik that couldn’t be said before her?
In a trunk of carved wood, she found clothes. Practical as ever, she chose things that might be less easily degraded, or might be easily removed if she was in a hurry. Sex, Thorn wrinkled her mouth and nose. Not in her plans but again...practicality won.
First was a mid-calf-length, swishy dress, with the tassels on the hem the one nod toward fanciness. So feminine. If she wore this, would she be casting aside her starship captain hopes? Perhaps? Metaphorically.
Keep it, reserve it for when she absolutely had to wear it.
She donned a black bandeau top then a paler short top that slipped over it and clipped at the front with one button. Midriff-baring but if they grew holes, one would cover for the other. Her new pants were faded mauve, close to flesh colored, and skin-hugging enough to be useful in a fight, because who knew what she’d face on the way to this genetic surgeon? Last of all she pulled on her old boots and trusty red coat.
Thorn ran her hand down the coat.
She hadn’t bothered reloading it with a pattern for days. Feathers, birds, whatever. It seemed so useless an activity considering her plight.
Chapter 15
Fiana waited until the door had fully closed. Ledderik crossed his arms and also waited. The drag of attraction he’d felt since entering this room increased, but it was a blip compared to what Thorn could generate and he could resist that.
Thorn’s mother...
With no experience of mothers or even closely knowing someone who had one, for at least a century, he was adrift. Theoretically mothers were a good thing.
The sudden tension around her eyes told him she was about to speak. “What are you, Ledderik?” Fiana leaned her palms onto the desk behind her.
“I am...” He had to actually process this. “Previously a cyborg, now residing in a loaner body, which is a...dalk.”
Her smile was straight.
“You don’t believe me?”
“I know you are something extraordinary. I’ve been pulling you to me and you don’t seem to notice? What is different?”
Ahah. He was correct about the pull he’d felt. Her statement intrigued him, and what had he to lose by being frank?
“From the average humanoid? I’m three hundred years old. I was not gifted with a cock when created, so this.” He indicated his crotch. “Is new. However, I have always desired women, watched my lord fuck them. I’ve wanted to perhaps torture a few.”
“Perhaps?” She shook her head as if puzzled. “You’re a battle-designated cyborg?”
“Assassin also. My trade has changed over the centuries.”
“Nothing in that is unusual.”
He rummaged in his past. “My brain is no longer organic. Degeneration was setting in after two centuries and my persona was migrated, slowly, to a synthbrain. It took years and I was in stasis for that time. My previous master, Lord Zarblu, is a stoneshift
er and patient.”
“That.” She pointed at him. “Is possibly the cause. You are the first with a synthbrain I’ve encountered. Thank you. I will add that to our database. However this is not why I asked you to stay and listen to me.
“The newscast from BART implied you defended Thorn from harm at least twice.”
They were news? “Yes, I did.”
Fiana went to a different table and unlocked a thin drawer. From it she extracted a flat, steel-colored box. “Inside are the two doses of the drug I spoke of – agruth. It’s unique in that it is a living organism. Taken from a flower, yes, but it is an entity of itself. If Thorn begins to go into a deep siren state, a ruthless one where she is endangered, give her a dose.
“I pray she reaches the geneticist in time.”
“Over the centuries, I’ve found that praying is nowhere near as helpful as a gun in your hand and a knowledge as to the nearest exits.” He took the box and pocketed it. “What if I use a partial dose?”
“I have no information on that. It would kill the entity in the capsule if you break it. Soon, that remaining dose would be useless.”
So splitting it up was a bad idea.
“Okay.” Led nodded.
“You’re going to hit another peak, soon, very soon. I am giving you this in the expectation that you will protect her.”
He swung his gaze upon her, found himself locked rigidly eye to eye . “I shall.”
“Shall...that’s a very formal response, mister ex-cyborg.”
It was, and he wasn’t certain why – why this request for protection echoed within. He enjoyed the prospect of protecting little Thorn, but was that the entirety of this?
Protection conflicted with his desire to fuck her until she barely had the strength to crawl.
“You have my word that I will protect her. She is my current purpose.”
“Good. Then we are friends, Mister Ledderik.”
“You said she’ll hit another peak soon. How will I know when to use the drug? Will it work on this extinction event? Can I delay it?”
“That, I cannot tell you because I don’t know. You’re going to have to make that decision.”
“Okay.” Nothing more to be added there.
“May you and my daughter fare well. You’ll find tickets to COG 101 purchased when you reach Quill.”
“Thank you.” He bowed, it seemed the correct response. “Could you also buy one for a cargo bot called Jocelyn. It’s a personal companion of Thorn’s.”
“Consider it done.”
“One other problem. I’m on borrowed time, living on loaners. If you want me to be around much longer you’ll need to contribute there too.”
“Well.” She regarded him with one brow elevated. “Consider that paid for also, for as long as you help me. Am I clear?”
It was blackmail, but he’d done the same to get her to pay.
“Fiana, I believe in ancient times you’d be termed a ball-buster. I have it clear.”
“Good. The information on what Thorn is becoming, the extinction event? That’s not available to the public. I am risking a great deal by keeping this secret. We sirens are. For this reason, if there is nothing left to be done, if you cannot prevent Thorn from killing others, you must kill her first.” Then she added quietly, “She would die anyway.”
What? How did he answer this? He imagined sinking a knife into the girl, the blood spilling over her suit in white mode. He wasn’t sure he could do this, for once. Could he kill Thorn? Yet he nodded.
“And Ledderik, when you arrive on COG 101, remember it is a cesspit of mechanity. Nothing there is sacred. The AIs there will do anything.”
“Anything?”
“Anything.”
He simply could not figure out what she was referring to. Did they screw each other? Exchange lube jobs? He was a cyborg at heart but had no idea what a lewd and amoral mech might get up to.
He exited from the room feeling strangely buoyant. So, he was resistant to sirens? Interesting. Getting early cyborg brain degeneration had advantages.
On the return journey in the coach, Thorn sat opposite until they entered the city boundary of Quill, then she moved to sit beside him and leaned into his body. He found himself sneaking his arm around her. That she lay with her head against him, merely being there, it became so true a contact, so unique and beautiful that he didn’t have any notion of speaking to her. He patted her and absorbed what he decided was her sadness.
Sadness. Regret? Perhaps it was more but he hadn’t the ability to understand.
He edged the metal box from his jacket to sneak a look at the contents, used his thumb to partially open the lid. Two button-sized globules glowed slightly and wobbled from vibrant purple to red, depending on when and how you looked at them. Living entities? He was supposed to feed her something that lived?
He tucked the box away. He’d done worse.
“We have to go to LoL first,” he said quietly. There was still a fair distance to travel but the coach could deliver them across the street from the business. “This dalk body is due back. I have to swap. Fiana offered to pay for future loaners so I could be here for you. I made sure there will be tickets for the bot too.”
Once this was done...what would he do? Loaners forever was impossible. LoL was a ridiculous waste. A pity he’d been so stupid.
“Thanks.” She snuggled down until she lay with her head in his lap.
Sweet gesture. Uncharacteristic of Thorn, but he supposed she was tired.
Her coat had been left on the opposite seat. Like this, far too much of her was revealed – the hint of black wraparound top where cleavage showed above, the skin of her belly where it met the waistband of her pants. She tantalized. When she inhaled and exhaled he’d swear he saw the fine hairs move on her skin.
Borne with the perfume of this female, the first swirl of siren magnetism ascended. He had the grace to feel regret that their moment would be disturbed.
Protect. A big word that covered a lot.
Fiana had said this cycle was coming, but was it to be significant and powerful enough that he should administer a dose of the agruth?
Likely it was not.
This siren extinction level thing was going to have trouble defeating him. He never failed a task. Above her head, Led cracked his substantial knuckles and contemplated the slow but unmistakable erection of his cocks. Should he pray for them? Fiana had liked prayers.
Thorn pried herself off his lap. “I shouldn’t be here, this close.” Strain showed in the tightness of her voice.
Already her hair and uniform were rippling.
“You’re coming undone.”
“I know.” She eased herself over to the other seat and wrapped her arms about her. She looked at him only for a moment before turning to frown out the window.
“I can tell it’s coming.”
“So can I.” Her teeth were gritted even as she spoke. “This is wrong, unnatural. I can resist, and so can you.”
But should he? If he let her go on, this would build.
“You’ll get worse. There’s only one solution that’s worked.”
Her scowl was seriously close to lethal.
“Don’t do that. I am your only hope, Thorn Ironhand.”
“Fuck. Off. And you know that name is not mine. She gave you that drug?”
“Yes, but it’s for emergencies – you heard that said.”
“Maybe this is one.”
“It’s not. This travelling is going to take weeks.”
“Mostly in sleep stasis while between planets.”
“And look how often this is coming back. I’m not using the drug.”
Genetic surgery sounded drastic, but what had been done to him at his creation was worse. “At least now you have a goal.”
And right now it was probably far from her mind.
Threads were unwinding on her new clothes – his dalk sight was more than adequate to see the tiny frond-like structures peeling off. They st
retched upward, seeking the air like some tracking beast sniffing for blood. Siren-resistant cloth – not. Or not Thorn resistant anyway.
Protect her. He liked this role, guessed it was a part of who he was and always had been. Some of him was killer. The remaining chunk of him was more passive, less dramatic, and so he’d not really contemplated why he always searched for and found a master.
Nevertheless, deciding on the correct action was going to be trial and error as she grew more powerful. This time though, he was certain.
He stood. “If you won’t come to me...” He took a step and the floor squeaked underfoot. “There’s some time before we reach LoL and the coach windows can be made to go opaque.”
He waved his hand and gave the instruction as he said it and it became so. The windows darkened. The interior lighting switched to a higher level of brightness.
“I’m not fucking you again.” She shivered. “Let me try the drug. Maybe we can get it synthesized?”
Led stripped off the shirt over his head, tossed it aside. He looked down and caught a glimpse of this body. His arm and chest rippled as the muscles knotted, released. If nothing else the dalks had impressive physiques. He could maybe stand in this vehicle’s path and not worry over being dented.
“Come to me, Thorn. Why fear this? It is only biology, and it is your salvation.” He held out his hand to her.
Her distaste of sex rivalled the arrogances of religious cults he’d encountered, and most of those were now ashes and dust – exterminated in long-forgotten planetary crusades.
“It’s just wrong. You’re not s’kar. I’m not normal.”
He was an ex-cyborg who’d never had a dick before, but even he knew how silly was that statement. He threw up his hands, gesturing at the ceiling in exasperation.
“Sex among humanoids is rarely normal. Though I am new to doing this I know this! We invent fetishes the gods above would blush at, if they were real. We fuck ourselves, our own gender and the opposite gender, as well as things with no sex at all, or three hundred of them. We dress up as things we are not then have sex. We love violence and kindness, pain and pleasure, tentacle, fur, and claw. Knife and whip. Big fucking...dildo-y things! Nothing about sex is ever normal!”
Blade (Dark Monster Fantasy Book 3) Page 10
