Taken by the Cyborg (Galactic Pirate Brides Book 4)

by Tamsin Ley

  He put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her gently away. “You won’t see me again. Farewell, Attie.”

  Turning, he strode from her quarters.

  The door whooshed closed, leaving Attie clutching the coverlet around her, feeling more alone than she had in a very long time. With a heavy sigh, she turned to her closet. Now what was one was supposed to pack when planning to join a rebel cause?

  Chapter 16

  Doug strode down the corridor from Attie’s quarters with his cybernetic hand in his pocket and his head down. He hated leaving her in such a rush, but he’d received an alert that a tech had entered the lab. The tech had retrieved a polycom and left again without checking on the cyborgs, but it had reminded Doug that it was only a matter of time before someone else did.

  At the end of the corridor ahead of him, a small group of people waited for the lift car to arrive. Doug had again turned off his cybernetic eye so the light didn’t draw undue attention, but he still felt nervous about blending in, so he hung back for the next car. Directing the lift to ignore any more pickups, he brought the empty car back, but a woman rushed forward and joined him before the doors could close.

  She looked at him from the corner of her eye and quickly away again, releasing a shaky sigh.

  Even without his enhanced vision, he could sense her racing heartbeat. Fuck, does she recognize me somehow?

  Then she turned to him full on, a slight flush to her cheeks as she smiled and batted her lids. “I haven’t bumped into you before. Are you new?”

  She was flirting. He blinked, at a loss for a response, then stiffly attempted to smile back.

  Her smile grew wider.

  Dammit, don’t encourage her. The adrenaline flooding his system was making him nauseous.

  The doors opened, and the woman raised her eyebrows hopefully. “I have lunch in the forward mess hall every day. Maybe I’ll see you around?”

  He nodded as she stepped out, still looking over her shoulder at him. She nearly crashed into two men waiting to board, and the men stepped back to avoid her. Seizing the opportunity, Doug commanded the doors closed before anyone else could step through.

  Relieved to finally be alone, he directed the car downward and retraced his and Attie’s earlier path. After an hour waiting in the cramped service tunnel for the guards to change shifts, he hurried across the hall into the Consort Chamber.

  Claudia looked up at his entrance from where she lounged in an alcove. The book she’d been reading fell slack in her lap as she gaped at him. “Where did you come from?”

  Doug froze mid-step. He’d forgotten her entirely. I promised to get her out. Perhaps he could put her and Attie on the shuttle together, then Attie wouldn’t feel so alone. Plus, Claudia would give the mate-seeking Denaidans someone besides Attie to seduce. The mere thought of another man touching Attie made Doug want to tear through a bulkhead.

  “Are the others coming, too?” Claudia cringed back against her lounge chair.

  He realized he not only hadn’t replied to her first question, but was glowering her direction. He wasn’t used to having illogical thoughts, much less feelings, and everything he felt about Attie Swan was illogical. Focus on the things you can do. Like free Claudia. He directed his nanites to control his rising blood pressure and opened his hands in a gesture of goodwill.

  “Do you wish to leave here?” he asked.

  “Is Attie…” Claudia’s gaze fluttered to the door he’d come through. “Did you help her escape?”

  “Yes.” He stepped closer. “If you want to leave, I can help you, too.”

  She licked her lips and glanced at the book in her lap. “Would I still get paid? I don’t have anywhere else to go.”

  His chest felt tight. He knew that sense of helplessness. Of being trapped into doing something just to survive. He quickly checked her file, noting she’d come from a brothel on one of Alleigh’s moons and been recommended to the program by Admiral Olly himself. Beyond that, she had no information he could find, but that wasn’t surprising—plenty of slum rats were born without records. “I’ll ensure you have money. But you must tell no one of your time here.”

  She closed the book and set it aside. “If I’m still getting paid, then hell yeah, get me out of here.”

  It was a mercenary response, but he understood where it came from. He’d grown up among people like Claudia. As long as the money kept coming in, she’d be reliable. “Good. I’ll contact you during the next shift change with instructions.” He turned toward the door to the lab. “Be ready to move immediately.”

  She nodded as she watched him pass by.

  Once in the lab, he hurried toward his cell, running a critical eye over everything as he moved between the stainless steel exam tables. The broken test tubes had been cleaned up along with Brix’s blood. The computers had been shut down. All the cell doors were covered by glittering security shields, and he could see the forms of the other cyborgs inside.

  Stepping into his own cell, he reengaged the security shield barring his door and released a calming breath. He’d been out of the lab and returned with no one the wiser, something he’d considered impossible. The familiar gray walls of his room made him feel as if he’d returned to a nightmare between sweet dreams. The varied sights and sensations he’d experienced outside the lab had reminded him that not everything existed as bytes of information. As much virtual freedom as his nanites allowed him, they couldn’t replace actual experience.

  But his reality was here, as a slave to Syndicorp. He’d always been a tool for someone else, from the moment he and Lisa had joined that street gang on Whylon. His enslavement was part of why he was determined to help his sister live free. At least he could live vicariously through her. And now through Attie.

  He tapped into the feed to her room. She’d be happy to learn Claudia was going with her. Attie lay curled beneath the blankets on her bed, sleeping. A half-packed bag rested on the floor near her closet.

  Not wanting to wake her, he didn’t engage the comm. She looked so heart-achingly lovely. He sat on his cot and stroked the rough blanket, remembering the softer feel of the coverlet on her bed, the rose-like scent of her hair, the way her smile made his heart feel lighter. Blood rushed to his groin at the memory of her moans of pleasure and the heated softness of her body. He couldn’t recall a time he’d felt more alive than the last few hours with her.

  He should purge his memories so there would be no chance of her connection to him being discovered. But he wasn’t ready to give them up, not yet. Instead, he buried all references to Attie deep within his processors next to the information about his sister and the rebels.

  Twobit’s voice entered his head. How’d it go? You destroy the AI?

  You were gone a long time, added Brix.

  He could feel the other cyborgs listening in the background. He couldn’t risk telling the other cyborgs about the sentient AI, not when Dollard could pluck a memory from any one of them. Another secret he needed to bury or purge. The AI is dealt with, he answered.

  I located Tia, Esben said. She’s in the cloning lab.

  With a groan, Doug lowered his face to his hands. He knew Esben wanted to get Tia and the baby away from Dollard, but if she was one of Dollard’s projects, there was no way they could smuggle her out from under the doctor’s nose.

  Before you tell me freeing her is impossible, hear me out, Esben said. We fake her death. When she’s sent to the morgue, we get her out.

  Dollard won’t send her to the morgue without an autopsy, Benjy said.

  Doug was about to agree when he spotted movement in the lab. Dollard’s back, he said, every muscle tensing. Two guards followed close behind the doctor. Act normal.

  “Raymond!” Dollard’s voice echoed through the lab as he looked around.

  That’s the tech’s name, Brix whispered through the connection, as if afraid of being heard.

  Duh, Rust shot back.

  Dollard stalked to the nearest computer, scowling.
Within moments, his scowl shifted to shock and his face turned ashen. “I can’t…” He spun toward the security officers and gestured toward the cells. “Verify every subject is accounted for.”

  Shit, does he already suspect we’re in on it? Esben asked.

  I bet all hell’s going to break loose, Rust said with what Doug was certain had to be glee.

  Stay calm, Doug warned as a guard appeared at his cell door and looked inside. Checking on us is protocol, that’s all.

  As long as no one looks in the cryopod, we should be fine, right? asked Emilryde.

  Yes, Doug answered, although he was anything but certain.

  Dollard had returned to reviewing the tech’s data as the guards moved from doorway to doorway. When they reached the last cell, one turned back to the doctor. “All accounted for, sir.”

  Pausing his computer work, Dollard opened a comm channel. “Jinson, we’re on lockdown until further notice. No one in or out. And I want a sweeper in here ASAP.”

  “How bad, sir?”

  “We’ve had a breach. Stand ready to initiate protocol eight.”

  Doug’s blood turned to ice.

  What’s protocol eight? asked Brix.

  Only one word was needed for an answer. Termination.

  Chapter 17

  Attie looked around her room one last time to be certain she hadn’t forgotten anything. Everything was regulation tidy, from the blanket on her bed to the neatly spaced uniforms hanging in the closet. She’d packed the few civilian clothes she owned, her toiletries, and a holo-cube with pictures of her family. The rest of her memorabilia were back on Alleigh, and the cube was all she had. Probably better to travel light, anyway, she thought. At least the thought of seeing Marlis again held back her tears.

  Picking up Twerp’s disk, she refitted it onto the wristband. “Ready to go, Twerp?”

  “Yes, Attie. Would you like me to adjust my sensors to your biometric signature?”

  “I think it’s better if we keep you out of sight for now. I’m hiding you in my bag. Stay quiet, okay?” She tucked the device into the inside pocket of her rucksack and hoisted the strap over her shoulder.

  Looking in the mirror a final time, she adjusted the burgundy blouse and charcoal leggings she’d chosen. She’d considered wearing her usual uniform, but an admin temp boarding the shuttle might look suspicious; at least in civvies she could claim to be headed to shore leave.

  “Nebulas, I’m really doing this.” She was leaving everything behind. Including Doug.

  The pirates had failed to free him at least once, and now she was abandoning him, too. Not that he didn’t have a good reason for staying, but it made her sick that the corporate government her family had served for generations—and still served—had become this corrupt. Slavery had been banned in Syndicorp space centuries ago, yet what were Doug and the other cyborgs, if not slaves?

  Worse than slaves. Lab rats.

  “I can’t just leave him here to die,” she muttered.

  Muffled inside her rucksack, Twerp said, “I assume you are speaking about Doug. Why are we leaving him behind?”

  “He has some sort of nanites that Syndicorp can use to kill him if he tries to escape.”

  “Oh, dear. I have nanites, too. Do you think I am in danger?”

  Attie’s fingers and toes went cold. “You what?”

  “I have the same nanites Doug does.”

  Attie dropped the bag and dug Twerp out. “I thought the nanites were part of the top secret test program. How do you have them?”

  “When Marlis had them, a few burrowed into my circuits before her immune system destroyed them all. They are designed for biological integration, but I was able to adjust the base code to effectively pair with my programming.” With a note of pride, Twerp said, “My processors can perform over 30 operations per millisecond.”

  Attie recalled Doug mentioning that Marlis had the nanites at one point. “Why didn’t Doug notice you have the nanites?”

  “He did. That is why he wished to destroy me. But I was able to block him because of my adjustments to their programming.” Twerp made a whirring noise. “Comparative analysis complete. I believe my iteration of the nanites will be resistant to an external termination program. We may proceed with evacuation.”

  But Attie was no longer focused on leaving, at least not without Doug. “Twerp, if you shared your program with Doug, could he reprogram himself to resist being killed, too?”

  “It is possible. However, I have no way to contact him. My wireless system is still malfunctioning.”

  Attie paced her small room. If only she’d known this before Doug left, maybe he could’ve come with her. There had to be a way to get the information to him. If she went back to level three, would they lock her inside the Consort Chamber again? She still had her uniform. It might give her a chance to see Doug.

  Then she remembered the chip from Doug’s heart. She’d worked it into the hem of her skirt for safekeeping. “Twerp, I want to try something.”

  “What do you have in mind?”

  Pulling the orange Consort uniform out of her hamper, Attie located the chip, then popped Twerp’s disk off the wristband once more so she could open the back. “Doug said this chip could give him remote access to your programming.” She placed the chip flat against Twerp’s exposed circuits as Doug had instructed. “Can you reverse it to reach him?”

  “I will try. Do you think if we save him, he will agree to help me acquire a bipedal unit?”

  Attie clutched the device tightly in her hand, almost like a handshake. “Twerp, if this works, I’ll find a way to get you one myself.”

  Doug’s head ached. For the last few minutes, the cyborgs had been arguing about what to do next. Four guards with pulse weapons and full body armor stood watch as two specialists from the security office disassembled the missing tech’s computer, and Dollard was almost finished hooking a portable drive to one of the cyborg diagnostic stations.

  Fuck this, Rust said. If I’m going down, I’m taking the whole lab with me.

  Hold on, Doug insisted. We’re too valuable to terminate without downloading our data. Wait until one of us is brought out for a hardline so we can be sure to hit Dollard first.

  I need to get Tia and the baby out, Esben said.

  I wish I could send a message to my daughter, said Benjy.

  Perhaps giving the cyborgs something else to do would keep Rust in line a bit longer. Doug transmitted the algorithm he used to bypass the dampening fields. This will let you access the galactic web. Get your affairs in order if you can.

  Holy shit, said Twobit. Have you been able to do this all along?

  Rust’s laughter crackled across the connection. Fucking awesome.

  Suddenly, the security shield in the doorway of Doug’s cell disappeared.

  “Come out. We’re doing diagnostics,” Dollard commanded.

  Oh fuck, Twobit said.

  Doug wasn’t surprised. He was the most advanced module. It made sense he’d be the first download. He moved robotically toward the exam table. Four guards held weapons at the ready. The last time pulse weapons had been used in the lab, a lot of data had been destroyed and Dollard had been livid. Doug knew these guards had been instructed to hold off firing unless someone was in direct danger.

  That meant Doug had to make his first attack count.

  Wait until I take down Dollard to move, he instructed the other cyborgs as he approached the exam table with forced calmness. He needed to be close enough to take out Dollard before the guards fired.

  But Dollard backed up, gesturing to the hardline. “Jack yourself in.”

  Doug regarded the wire and thought about saying no. Forcing Dollard to come do it himself. But if he showed any resistance, Dollard could have him shot, then plug in and retrieve most of the data before Doug’s nanites became inert. He had to bide his time.

  Reclining on the exam table, he blocked as many of his circuits as possible with firewalls. It wouldn’t stop
the download, but it would slow it down and force Dollard to investigate. Doug picked up the end of the hardline and plugged it into his skull port.

  Surface data began flowing almost painfully fast from his processors into the storage device.

  Dollard entered a few keystrokes, scowling at his monitor. “You’re throttling the flow. Drop your firewalls.”

  Needing him to move closer, Doug rolled his head back and forth as if uncomfortable. “I believe there is an issue with my port. Raymond made some adjustments yesterday before he left.”

  “I should’ve known.” Dollard made a disgusted noise. “Just continue the upload while I get a replacement part.”

  Doug refused to give Dollard anything important, so opened a section with data he knew the lab already had on file while he waited for the doctor to get the replacement part from a nearby cabinet.

  Then a familiar voice entered his head. Greetings.

  Doug stiffened, recognizing the source of the connection from the heart chip he’d given Attie. Twerp?

  Attie asked me to contact you.

  Dollard had turned back with the replacement part. He did a double take as his gaze fell on the computer. Stepping toward the monitor, he let the replacement part tumble from his grasp and tapped a command on the keyboard. “Where is that transmission coming from?”

  In a panic, Doug yanked the hardline from his skull and sat up. But it was too late; Dollard had seen the communication and was already attempting to trace it—which would lead him directly to Attie.

  Oblivious to what was happening, Twerp continued, I have made alterations to the nanites that should allow you to block the termination code. Installation will require a full reboot.

  Doug barely had time to consider what that meant as the guards aimed pulse rifles at him. It was now or never. He lunged for Dollard just as Twerp’s new program flooded his processors. Instead of rising from the exam table, Doug collapsed onto the floor, suddenly unable to control his legs. What the…

  Face turning ashen, Dollard snatched up the portable drive as the other cyborgs burst from their cells. He dashed past the guards toward the exit.