She didn’t expect Nathan to take her comment as a joke so she was highly offended when he burst out laughing. His flip attitude about cyborgs bothered her too much to enjoy his attractiveness any longer. Nathan’s oversimplification of the conversion work that had made men like Marcus what he was…well, it wasn’t fair. It was obvious Nathan knew nothing about real cyborgs.
“I hope not too…you’re way too cute,” Nathan said, favoring her with a wink.
Rachel felt a frown taking over her mouth. It was the only thing that kept her from blurting out the truth to her shallow-minded date. She might not be completely cyborg, but she wasn’t completely human either. No one had a definition for what she was—not even her. She was Bradley Smith’s hacked up science experiment gone wrong and broken in ways Nathan would never guess.
Having a full blown cybernetic compartment—which had required the removal of some human brain matter—meant her conversion could not be reversed. The UCN had her listed as a cyborg in their database alongside plenty of others who had been trained to be killing machines. Nathan’s lack of compassion for what he obviously hadn’t given serious thought to suddenly irked her too much to even finish her coffee before leaving.
“Must…go,” Rachel said firmly, giving in to her need to get away. She stood and swung her small carryall over her shoulder.
“You’re leaving? Now? Oh…okay. I’ve enjoyed our coffee date,” Nathan said, standing too.
“Date…right,” Rachel repeated without any inflection. But the one word description of their time together was now a joke to her. She’d wasted an hour of her life with a man who would never accept her. Hardly her idea of a good relationship beginning.
“Can I walk you home?” Nathan asked.
Rachel shook her head. For the first time, she missed the nearly silent man who always appeared to walk with her. Not that Marcus with all his problems was great company either, but at least she didn’t have to hide what had happened to her from him. She’d never be able to tell someone like Nathan the truth.
“No…thanks,” Rachel said carefully. “I…am…good. See…you…a…round, Na…than.”
“You mean like at work. Sure. I’ll look for you in the hallways. Can we do dinner sometime? Take in a vid? I’m free all next week.”
Rachel shrugged. “May…be,” she said vaguely, because saying no would have told him more than she wanted him to know about her unsettled feelings. Vague was better. Vague wouldn’t be questioned as much if she needed to sidestep him later.
She tucked her head down as she moved through the crowd and out the door.
So much for her first foray back into the real world. Chalk up one experiment as an abject failure.
She kept her gaze down and focused mostly on the walkway as she passed others who were out and about that evening.
Relieved after her feet had burned up the four blocks she and Nathan had travelled from work to the coffee shop, she breathed a sigh of relief as she headed into her building. With her mind still on her disturbing conversation, she walked blindly past the desk and the bot manning it. The scanner violation alarm sounded before she realized what she’d done.
“Oh…no.”
“Stop…Rachel 235…you are in…violation…of resident entry…procedures. Please exit the…scanner and step…to the side…to be processed. Do not…proceed…to your…destination.”
She might have outrun him, but the AI guard would eventually scan his protocols for a counter response. Even as slow as he processed data, he would no doubt lock down her actual residence before the airlift could deliver her to her floor.
Rachel’s guilty gaze swung completely to the bot who was now rising to come apprehend her. Hearing him struggling to speak after the day she’d had struggling to do the same was definitely a reality check. This must be how she sounded to the world. The AI unit’s same stupid voice box break down was happening to her, even though she was mostly human. Like it or not, she was now officially no better off than a broken AI unit who couldn’t talk properly.
“Bunch…of…shit,” she stammered in denial.
Tomorrow morning she was going to let Seetha try again to fix her. And she would do it seventeen thousand other times if that’s what it took to speak semi-normally. Keeping up a resistant attitude wasn’t going to help her deal with this situation. Look what feeling sorry for herself had already caused?
Because of her current emotional meltdown, she had created more problems. Bypassing the building’s security scanner meant an automatic body search—one she couldn’t talk her way out of. She sniffled and fought not to feel more sorry for herself. The last thing she needed this evening was a metal pat down from an unfeeling android.
“It…was…an…ac…ci…dent.”
Rachel closed her eyes to shut out what was going to happen. A single self-pitying tear trickled from one of them and ran down her cheek. With her voice like it was, she couldn’t yell, scream, or express the level of frustration she felt. All her emotions were bottled up inside her with no adequate way to get out of her mouth or throat.
She felt powerless to prevent the shittiest day she’d had since her rescue from Bradley Smith from ending even shittier than it began. She kept her eyes closed as she waited for the worst to happen, but the bot never reached her side. There was a clang of metal, some crashing, and then the scanner alarm stopped.
“It’s okay, Rachel. You can open your eyes now.”
Rachel did as suggested and opened her eyes to find Marcus holding the bot’s head in one hand and the rest of his now inert body in another. Her eyebrows shot up into her hair.
“Shh…it,” she stammered.
“Now Norton’s finally going to have to upgrade this piece of crap. I enjoyed the hell out of disassembling the hesitating bastard.”
“Oh…my…god…dess.” Rachel put a hand over her mouth. If she could have laughed, she would have. What had Marcus done?
“I swear it was over quickly for him. He never felt a thing,” Marcus promised, a self-satisfied grin taking over his mouth. He would have said just about anything to keep Rachel from full out crying. That one tear escaping was about all he could handle. Even it had driven him to violence.
Rachel bit her lip. Then she took a deep breath. “O…K. Thank…you. I…think.”
Marcus looked at the dangling bot pieces in his hands and laughed at what she was implying. “Yeah, I’m having some of those same reservations. Do you think we can get Seetha to fix him tomorrow? It might keep me off the visitor shit list.”
Rachel shook her head and tucked her trembling hands into her jacket pockets. Marcus literally yanked the unit’s head off. “Think…he…is…too…broke.”
“You’re probably right.” Sighing, Marcus turned and stacked the bot’s body into the seat the metal head guard had normally occupied. He careful perched the severed head on top of the pile in a way he hoped it wouldn’t fall off.
Looking over the scanner panel, he quickly found the security camera controls. Using the building’s access code Eric had given him months ago, he restarted the last hour’s worth of vid recordings. Deletion never completely removed data, but the camera would eventually record right over the track featuring the bot’s destruction at his hands.
Before stepping away, he set the scanner to be in a constant green mode that would allow anyone to come and go in the building. The temporary lapse in security couldn’t be helped. He’d text Eric later and see what could be done to contain the situation. Eric was learning a lot from all the time he was spending with Nero. Maybe they could expedite a solution.
When Marcus looked back at Rachel, she was staring at what was left of the bot. “Don’t worry. His cyber reincarnation is assured. What they can do to a cyborg is nothing compared to upgrading one of him. All his parts are recyclable.”
Rachel looked at the pile of metal in the chair. They would probably disassemble him and melt down his parts. Since Marcus seemed to be waiting for a reply, she nodded a few ti
mes to show she’d heard what he said.
“Come on. I’ll walk you to your apartment.”
She nodded again at Marcus’s offer, too stunned to argue. A man who could rip an AI unit’s head off wasn’t someone you could just leave standing in the lobby—no matter how shocked you were.
Inside the airlift, she finally turned to fully look at him up close. Marcus always looked a little scary to her with his tats and his facial hair. Sometimes she had trouble thinking of him as a father, but she knew his previous family was a fact of his life, just as much as Bradley Smith was a fact of hers. Yet even though his masculinity exceeded every other male she’d ever known, Marcus was so far out of her man league, she couldn’t imagine ever taking him up on what was in his gaze now every time he looked at her. She couldn’t even if something fluttering and feminine kept blooming every time he was near.
Marcus was a cyborg. Smarter and more capable. Bigger than men like Nathan. Stronger than an AI unit. She couldn’t even imagine tearing a bot’s head off with her bare hands like he’d just done.
“No…one…has…ev…er…killed…for…me,” Rachel said slowly.
The statement came out more clearly than she hoped. Maybe she was finally calming down from her crazy day.
Marcus snorted as he looked into Rachel’s wild-eyed gaze. He wished she hadn’t seen the aftermath of him losing his temper, but he hadn’t been about to let the badly programmed prick of a bot touch her while he watched.
“Disassembling an AI unit is not the same as really killing someone. He’s not really dead. He’s just not a functional machine at this time. Stopping him didn’t even make me break a sweat. It might be hard for you to believe after what you just saw me do, but protecting you really is the easiest job I’ve ever had.”
Rachel snorted. Protecting her. From what? Her failure to pay attention to her actions? The bot died tonight because she was being emotional and stupid about a guy she’d just met today.
“Who…has…your…back…Mis…ter…Tough…Guy?”
Marcus grinned at her taunting question as they walked out of the airlift. “I suppose the position is open. Why? You interested or something?”
Rachel keyed her door open before she answered. “Or…some…thing,” she said at last.
She watched Marcus dip his head and grin. He seemed nervous…but excited by what she’d said. It was without a doubt the most intimate personal exchange they had ever had. Would he think she was flirting with him? Was she? She could practically see Seetha rolling her eyes.
“Would that something come with dinner tonight?” Marcus asked.
Rachel looked up into his eyes as she nodded. When he smiled and showed all his straight, even white teeth in the movement, her throat got tight and started throbbing like a heartbeat. She swallowed her nervousness, which had officially formed a lump in her stomach. There was no getting around how sexy it made her feel to know Marcus had done what he’d done just to save her.
“Thank…you…I…mean…that,” she said quietly.
“You’re welcome…and I mean that,” Marcus replied, keeping his voice and his tone as soft as hers.
Needing to test their new understanding of each other, he lifted a hand and trailed his fingertips lightly down Rachel’s throat. Some of his racing thoughts surprised him, especially the one where he was wishing she was his contract wife. He wouldn’t mind if his full-time job was to live with Rachel and take care of her every need. Not that she would let him. He supposed it was just a masculine fantasy. Rachel didn’t seem to want to feel the desire making her adrenaline spike and her pulse race. Or at least she didn’t want him to be the one causing her to have those feelings. Ironically, he couldn’t imagine anyone else doing it but him.
He sighed and brushed her hair back from her face, wishing he had enough nerve to share his thoughts. But then she’d feel like she had to respond. All he wanted was to spare her.
“Does it hurt to talk?” he asked.
Rachel nodded in answer to the same question Nathan had asked. She was nervous about Marcus touching her and acutely aware of everything about him. His fingertips were gentle against her skin, which amazed her after all she’d seen him do that evening.
One thing was for certain…there was no hesitant boy in the man in front of her. Perhaps that was the scariest thing of all to her. A man willing to rip a bot apart for you would not be cajoling like Nathan when asking for a date…or for anything else he wanted from a woman. She imagined a determined Marcus would not be put off if he ever made up his mind to have her. But he had killed the bot for her, and he’d done so knowing he would most likely pay a price for it. His actions—while they might produce unpleasant consequences tomorrow—had tonight saved her from a humiliating body search. That heroic deed was at least worth a pizza, a few beers, and a decent thank you.
She relaxed under his stroking hand and met his blue gray gaze. It was kind and friendly and caring.
“Yes…or…some…thing…comes…with…din…ner.”
Rachel felt a thousand butterflies take flight inside her stomach when Marcus smiled and followed her inside.
Chapter 4
Seetha grinned as she watched another fine ass strutting its way out her lab door. She appreciated each cyborg patient’s fine form and considered her visual enjoyment to be one of the perks of her job.
Their second cyborg patient that morning had come in on crutches, but left walking on his two legs like normal. Grateful to be repaired, he’d hugged her and winked at a distracted Rachel. Her assistant hadn’t even noticed the man’s admiring glances.
The moment the lab door sealed out the people in the hallway, Rachel turned to her, eyes full of desperation.
“Fix…me. Don’t…care…about…pain.”
Seetha sighed, but nodded. “Okay. I can try to tweak it again, but we need to find out why the adjustments aren’t holding and fix that. You know this by now, right?”
She picked up the scanner and laid the tip against Rachel’s resonance implant to get a reading. As the information started being captured, she snorted and gave her assistant a stern look.
“See? These readings are exactly what I’m talking about—the resonance settings are staying the same. It’s your organics that keep changing. If I didn’t know it was impossible, I would swear your vocal chords are rebelling against the resonance implant.”
After the scan finished, Seetha read through the data. Sighing heavier, she calibrated new settings into the device.
“I’m going to adjust for the flux of change you’ve been experiencing. Your vocal tone might be pitched a little higher than your norm, but the calibration should last a bit longer. Of course, I’m basing the adjustment on your history of decline, which is more guesswork than scientific.”
“Just…do…it,” Rachel ordered.
Seetha held the Forensic Calibrator up in the air. She ought to let Kyra be the messenger of doom, but damn it—she was the one working with Rachel every day. She couldn’t stand keeping the real solution a secret. To her way of thinking, nothing was gained from sparing people’s feelings.
“Rachel…there’s a permanent way to fix this. It sucks, but it’s the only thing that’s really going to help.” Seetha sighed heavily when Rachel stepped away. “No…now come back here…and stop shaking your head. I’m not the one who found it, but I happen to agree with the solution. I’ve been studying your file since I came to work here. The reason your resonance implant tweaks aren’t holding is because your processor is a prototype that keeps failing to hold the settings. You need a better processor installed. Kyra’s been too chicken-shit to tell you it’s the only way to fix your problems.”
Seetha held her breath as Rachel stepped within range again and closed her eyes.
“Not…that…can’t…please…just…fix…me.”
Swearing, Seetha reluctantly touched the calibration tool to the port on the device. Tears gathered in Rachel’s eyes, but never fell. “Almost there, honey. Hold
still just a little longer. There it is. All over.”
She grabbed Rachel’s arm when it finished. The girl was weaving from the excruciating pain of the chords being re-stretched.
“Now speak to me,” Seetha ordered.
Rachel opened her mouth. Nothing came out.
“Oh shit,” Seetha exclaimed, assuming the worst.
Rachel put her hand on Seetha’s chest as she shook her head. “No. Wait. It worked. It just…hurts bad. Damn…tingles.”
Seetha let out the breath she’d been holding. “Okay. That’s a relief. You can let go of my boob now.”
Rachel looked at where her hand had slid down to and laughed as she pulled it away. “Sorry. Did not mean…to grope you.”
“I figured you were just showing gratitude like my other patients do, but unfortunately, I’m not in the mood for any girl-on-girl action this morning. Well actually I’ll never be ready for it. They don’t make women any straighter than me.”
Marcus 582: Book Three of Cyborgs: Mankind Redefined Page 4
