“Dating?” two voices asked, exchanging looks before grinning.
“Yes… dating. And I don’t want to hear any shit about it. Eric’s programmed to wake up from the cannon blasts. He’s already adjusted his hearing against the whistle. Make sure Nero gets that device intact so he can reverse engineer it. You two can explain where Eric and I are. We’re going back to the dungeon so people don’t get accidentally blown up.”
“Wouldn’t you rather have a pet dragon to guard you than a prince who can’t take a cannon blast?” Aja teased, hoping to bring the light back to Lucy’s eyes.
Snorting, Meara turned a gaze to her friend. “Another fecking joke. I swear, life just keeps getting better and better. And I love you too, Aja Kapur. Every bloodthirsty, Indian inch of ya.”
Sighing at how lucky they all were to be alive, Lucy stopped listening to their banter, laid Eric back down, then knelt beside him. She shushed them as she lifted his wrist com to her mouth.
Chapter 27
The lab at Kyra’s house was packed with people who’d come to watch the interview. For the cyborgs and their spouses slash girlfriends, it was a sort of celebration to see the story go public.
Lucy looked at the cage in the room and felt a curl of dread in her gut. She rubbed a hand over her abdomen. At least she wasn’t feeling the square box in there anymore and that was a good thing. She never figured she would be thanking one of the original creators for her liberation… and Jackson Channing’s ex-wife no less.
Like Aja, she had her reservations about the reformed cyber scientist and those who helped her. But the woman hadn’t blinked an eyelash in rebuke when Lucy had confessed to not remembering having killed her abusive ex-husband.
Not that she accepted that she had killed him yet, but research had shown her what everyone else believed.
“Look at my fecking red hair. It’s ghastly under those bright lights they used. I’m thinking I might get some color and try raven tresses like yars, Aja. Ya look like Shakti’s daughter with yar sleek hair, gold sari, and serene face. No one would ever guess ya felt like carving out that interviewer’s tongue every time he seemed to be doubting one of Lucy’s statements.”
“Hush, Irish,” Aja ordered. “No one can hear anything but your yapping.”
Meara laughed, her smile spreading at Aja’s rapt attention to the interview. It was like the woman hadn’t even made her find the bloody unauthorized copy and download it. Aja had already watched the fecking thing a dozen times at least. What more could she learn from it?
“Did Dr. Cyberstein help ya pick out that outfit, Aja? Maybe I should consult with him. Nero might not let me steal the dress he chooses, but it’d be worth wasting my money if I ended up looking like ya do on the big screen.”
“Quiet—both of you,” Lucy ordered, listening to Eric laugh beside her. “Why are you laughing? The interview is not funny, is it?”
Eric shook his head. “No the interview is not funny, but your friends are. I’m so used to them bickering that I didn’t notice they were even talking until you fussed at them. I’ve learned to tune them out.”
Lucy snickered and turned back to the com again. She squeezed Eric’s fingers which were looped through hers. Their dating had turned into living together because he wouldn’t hear of her living alone in one of Norton’s temporary placements.
Last night they’d finally acted on the sexual tension that seemed a constant between them. He’d been so careful the first time it had nearly driven her insane. She had purposely and joyfully erased that line of carefulness the next two times they sought each other’s bodies for pleasure.
They’d woke up wrapped together in the wonderful sunlight pouring through his bedroom window. While Eric was still sleeping, she had taken an unauthorized snapshot of their naked bodies for her private files. She looked at it now, endlessly amazed at how evidence of their sexual relationship did nothing but please her. After all she’d endured, it was the greatest of gifts to be able to find pleasure in the arms of a good man—and a good-looking man.
Lucy sighed in longing and leaned close. “Can we leave as soon as this is over? I want to go home. I’ll even eat an MRE if it means we can get to bed faster tonight.”
“It’s called a frozen dinner now—not an MRE. One of us is going to have to learn to really cook if we’re going to cohabitate. And we can’t leave early tonight for two reasons. First, you’re the guest of honor. Second, Peyton wants to talk to us. That’s why we’re here where it’s private.”
Lucy sighed again. “Okay. We can stay to hear his speech. I just wish this wasn’t happening in a cyber lab. Don’t you people ever use a sitting room to watch the com? This place gives me the creeps.”
“We’re here because no one can hear us in here. It’s checked all the time. The UCN has ears and spies everywhere. We never forget that, nor do we take our privacy for granted.”
“Fine.” Lucy squeezed his fingers again and quieted down.
“I like how you’re thinking though,” he whispered, sneaking a kiss on her cheek. “I promise we’ll leave as soon as we can.”
Lucy reluctantly put her attention back on the com. The UCN’s attempt to blame Kyra Winters for Brad’s “rogue” behaviors had drawn an important line for her in this fight. Before her very public interview, the UCN had been in complete bullshit denial of there even being a Creator Omega. They had also totally absolved Norton from any responsibility for what happened. Hearing they were pursuing an injunction against Kyra Winters to stop her work had been the last straw and the reason they were now watching the com broadcast.
It hadn’t surprised her when Rachel Logan had insisted on standing with her and the others during the interview. The girl had survived Bradley Smith’s private hacking and seemed to be rebounding—not that everyone would consider the tattooed man hovering over her as an indication of mental health. Bradley Smith’s death had made her happier than the girl probably wanted anyone to know, but it made perfect sense if you’d ever been helpless at the end of his hacking.
One thing Lucy had figured out quickly after going public with her story was that even restored, none of their futures held any certainty. They were human and machine, and the world didn’t intend to let them forget it.
No one could undo the atrocity of what they had each become because of the cybernetic changes. They would all need occasional fixing by engineers like Seetha Harrington. They would all need modified code by those like Nero Bastion who aided Kyra Winter’s restoration crusade.
She had lost herself to one war. She might one day lose herself to the quiet one happening around them. But now that she didn’t have to hide herself to save people, Lucy planned to do the rest of her fighting out in the open.
So even though she hated exposing any of them to more ridicule, she had not balked at showing Kathryn and Lynette’s fates to the world in their currently limited conditions. Their nearly non-sentient reality could have been hers… or Aja’s and Meara’s. Kyra had shared she was almost ready to try her new prototype processor on them. Lucy was going to be by their sides when it was time for that experiment. Aja and Meara would be with them as well. For once, she would guard what remained of her military team and make it count.
In the meantime, the three of them would quietly start searching for the other women—the ones Bradley 360 had said were programmed to be ‘better’ programmed companions. She’d leave it to Peyton and his people to review records and vid recordings and com links in their searches. She and Aja and Meara had other ways of flushing out Creator Omega’s creations.
But in the end, some of the cyborgs he’d tortured would find him. Like she told Bradley, she would never stop looking. And when she found him, Creator Omega would suffer worse than Bradley Smith or the allegedly dead Jackson Channing ever had.
***
The interview had taken most of an hour to record. It was running non-stop on World Com networks, but this was a private showing. The lab door had been propped open duri
ng that time to allow for the amount of people attending to come and go as needed. Lucy felt a shiver down her spine when a familiar man walked inside and looked around.
Letting go of Eric’s hand, she rose and walked to him to stare up into his face. She knew him. How did she know him?
“Lucy. Is that really you?”
She saw him blink several times. For a few seconds she thought she had seen moisture in his eyes, but if true, it had cleared quickly.
“Yes. I am Lucy… Captain Lucille Evelyn Pennington. Do I know you? Things are still not always clear to me. You look familiar, but I can’t find my file on you.”
“It’s… I’m…” he looked away, saw the rest of the room staring at them. He looked back at the ghost from his past. “It’s… Will… William Talon. My name is Captain William Talon.”
“William Talon,” Lucy repeated.
She let her eyes roam his face and then down his body. Some time during her perusal, she noticed Eric standing next to her. She looked at him and then back at William Talon. She put both hands to her temples as several older files pushed forward, prompted by his name.
“Willam Talon… we dated in college, but you married… my college roommate. I… married David. Cassandra came to see me when you went missing. She asked for my help in finding you. She had me looking for you before my conversion. We thought you were dead. She was still looking when the war ended.”
William nodded. “I was dead… still am. My damage is extensive. And I’d rather you not tell Cassandra that you found me. She’s moved on. That’s best for her… and the kids. I plan to leave it that way. I’m staying clear of people I used to know. It’s safer.”
Lucy raised her human hand and used it to rub the tight muscles she felt through his sleeve.
“Okay. Someday soon though, we need to swap war stories. You are no more dead to me than I was dead to myself not long ago. Do not hide from me, William Talon. I will find you this time. If I have to live, you do too.”
“Okay,” Will choked out, rigid under her stroking hand. He would hate nothing worse than telling her what happened and would see their conversation never came to pass. She didn’t want to know what he’d done. No one did. Especially him.
“Hello Lucy,” Meara said, crowding through the taller bodies blocking her view. It was hard to believe the man she’d been looking for had walked right into this meeting. That had to be a sign. “Will ya introduce me to yar tall, dark, and miserable friend? I saw him in the hall with Peyton and the others, but he got away from me. I’d like a formal introduction if ya don’t mind, please.”
Lucy turned automatically, knowing her thoughts wouldn’t be her own again until she complied. “Of course. Meara, this is William Talon… Captain William Talon.” She looked back. “Will, this is…”
“… Meara McDonald and it’s a great pleasure to meet ya,” Meara declared. She stuck out a hand, frowning when it went ignored. “If yar hands are busted, Engineer Harrington is right smart about fixing such problems.”
Will looked at the woman’s hand outstretched and lifted his. Her smaller one disappeared in his larger one. She was a talker... but had a nice smile. “I’m sorry. I didn’t catch your name.”
“Meara,” Meara said firmly and very slowly, like she thought he had a problem with taking it in. Maybe he did, but she was hoping to get him to laugh. “Looks like yar hearing needs adjusting as well, William.”
“I’m sorry… I don’t think I understand what you just said,” Will said, pulling his hand away from the chattering magpie of a woman. “Are you cyborg?”
“Cyborg? Well, aren’t ya a charmer now? Why don’t ya just call me fat and ugly and we’ll throw down in front of everyone? Ya might be the man of my dreams, but that doesn’t mean you can get by with insulting me at our first meeting.”
“Meara stop… turn it off,” Lucy ordered. “Will is married.”
“Married?” Meara looked back at him, absolutely stunned. How was that possible? “Well feck me. I didn’t see that coming at all.”
She rubbed her chest where it hurt. Grief over him belonging to someone else? Surely not. She’d only seen him at a distance. He could be the worst man ever born.
“Guess the gods are still pissed over the appropriating thing I tend to do. A married man… and I’m not even flaming with drink. Don’t worry, William. I’ve changed my mind about rattling ya.”
Meara turned on her heel and walked back through the staring crowd. It parted for her like the biblical Moses parting the Red Sea in the Holy Scriptures. As she neared her seat, Aja rolled her eyes and patted the cushion of her chair. She sat and then turned to face her friend.
“I’m beginning to think that whole Irish luck thing is a bunch of blarney. My man radar is usually much better than that. A fecking married man, Aja. What’s happening to me? His wife must be terrible in the sack. Look at the frown marring his face. I could have erased that for him with a single blow.”
Aja snickered and reached over to rub her friend’s arm. “It’s okay Meara. If you want another cyborg, there’s plenty that aren’t married. We’ll find you one. We’ll… troll. Yes. Isn’t that what you’re always asking me to do when you get horny?”
“I suppose,” Meara said, sighing in frustration. “I wanted that one… even more than I thought I did. What the feck is wrong with me?”
She looked across the room and waved sadly at Will who was still staring at her. Lucy was looking her way and rubbing her face. Eric was shaking his head and laughing, as was nearly everyone else in the room.
Sighing greatly, Meara stood and looked around.
“Why are ya all still gawking? Show’s over. Haven’t ever seen a woman make a fecking mistake before? I don’t go after what belongs to someone other than me, so untwist your knickers. We should let Peyton get down to the business that brought us here. I promise I’m done being ya entertainment for the day.”
Will looked back at Lucy. “Am I supposed to understand what that was about? Because I don’t.”
Lucy shrugged as she met Will’s forlorn look. “Meara likes you… or she did. I didn’t mean to mention Cassandra, but it was the only way she was going to leave you alone. Meara can be quite determined when she wants something badly.”
Will looked at the redhead who was now studiously ignoring him. “Is she always that bold?”
Lucy shrugged as she grinned. “I can’t say for certain. You’ll have to ask Aja. Last time I saw them was over seven years ago. They’ve both evolved in our time apart. We’re getting to know each other again… like you and I will be doing. But she won’t bother you now that she knows you’re off limits.”
Will nodded absently, his gaze straying back to the redhead. Curiosity probably. He hadn’t felt a physical need for a woman in a decade. They’d done something to make sure he hadn’t. Kyra had said normal desire would return eventually, but wouldn’t it have done so by now if it was going to happen?
Even if he had been interested in the redhead—which he would never be with a talker like her—he still would have put her off. Too many dark shadows in his life. His past would surface at some point, no matter how much he tried to shove it in a box. It would extinguish the light she beamed from her face and dim that full wattage smile… and that wasn’t even the worst that could happen.
He forced his mind away from the redhead to Peyton who was finally ready to talk.
Looking away from William Talon’s sad face, Lucy felt Eric entwine his fingers with hers.
“Come on,” he whispered. “Let’s get our seats before someone else takes them.”
Lucy gave William a final glance before heading back. She was going to read the rest of her files on him later. And when Meara got over her disappointment, she was going to have the woman steal the files on him from Norton’s database… or wherever else she could find them.
College was hazy, but her files backed up the memories that were flowing back about her military days. Cassandra Talon had looked for
her husband for years. She’d banked money to buy him from the Cyber Husband program, but Will had never shown up on the contract list. That was too much effort to have gone to for a man you’d forgotten.
Chapter 28
Lucy had wanted that night was sex and lots of mind-numbing, toe-curling orgasms. Instead, she and Eric lay on his bed staring at the ceiling. The news Peyton had shared had changed everything again.
What he and Kyra wanted was as bad as the military asking for Cyber Soldier volunteers. What cyborg would want to become more of a freak?
Lucy sighed and blinked her stinging eyes. Tearing up was starting to happen more. Emotional breakthroughs would continue to happen, Kyra had explained. Hormonal surges were perfectly normal, Nero had declared. Outside of great sex, being a cyborg female was the pits, Lucy decided.
“Why are we chewing so hard on what Peyton talked about? You and I are not on the list, Eric. Shouldn’t we just be grateful?”
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