by Gun Brooke
“Lean on me,” Madisyn said, and slowed down.
“No need.” Curt and standoffish, Weiss dragged herself behind Madisyn.
“If you’re going to be able to climb over these guys over here,” Madisyn gestured toward the still forms on the path, “you’ll have to.”
An impatient growl erupted from the speaker in Madisyn’s helmet, but Weiss allowed her to wrap one arm around her waist. “Here we go.” Madisyn guided Weiss across the unconscious guards, but as they were clearing the second one, he jerked and grabbed Madisyn’s left leg.
“Damn! Go on, Weiss.” Madisyn gasped at his strong hold on her ankle. Somehow he had a good grip on her foot, perhaps because of the pocket that held her double-bladed laser knife. The thought of the weapon barely registered with Madisyn before it was in the guard’s hand. The blade hummed to life, then slashed through her suit. The inner mesh kept it from doing any real damage to her system, but her suit was depressurizing.
Suddenly a boot-clad foot entered Madisyn’s field of vision and kicked the laser knife out of the guard’s hand. He curled up around his clearly injured hand, but as his communication device wasn’t set to their frequency, Madisyn couldn’t hear him cry out. Weiss was leaning against Madisyn again.
“Let’s get out of here. Struyen is over there.” Weiss tugged at the straps holding Madisyn’s gear in place on her back. “Snap out of it. Let’s go!”
Madisyn’s vision blurred and her system was already running diagnostics to mitigate damages. She tried to move and, to her surprise, she was able to even though her movements were jerky and unbalanced. She and Weiss clung to each other like drunks after an extended shore leave among the illegal bars on Carossa Prime, staggering toward the hovering shuttle.
“Struyen to Pimm. Dropping the wire. You have to use the same one. We broke the other three unloading the goods aboard the Salaceos.”
“Affirmative.” Madisyn squinted toward the shuttle’s belly, blinking repeatedly. Her entire system was trying to keep her alive, focusing on the loss of pressure. Everything else was on hold, including such simple configurations as her vision.
“Here it comes,” Weiss said, reaching for the wire with her good arm. “You have to secure it around us.”
“All right.”
“And fast,” Weiss added, glancing over Madisyn’s shoulder. “Two of the guards are closing in.”
Madisyn didn’t waste any time. She pulled the wire taut around them, virtually strapping them together chest to chest. “Pimm to Struyen. Wire is secured. Get us out of here.”
“Let’s leave this godforsaken rock,” Struyen growled over the com system. “Afraid that you have to dangle for a while, ma’am.”
“Negative,” Weiss interjected. “Pimm’s suit has been compromised. Reel us in.”
“We can’t.” Struyen didn’t sound very apologetic. “We were lucky to extend it at all. If we try to reel you in, the wire might sever it.”
“Just go.” Madisyn wrapped her arms around Weiss and held on tight. Just as she did, plasma-pulse fire lit up the space around them. Turning bright blue for a fraction of a second before the plasma charges dissipated into the nothingness of space, it stung her eyes in a way she’d never experienced. Madisyn had never been severely injured after becoming a sentient BNSL. The fact that her humanoid brain and her spinal cord were intact meant that the pain was as real as if the injured body part had been humanoid as well. Her parents had done their job almost too well, connecting her brain with the bio-neural system that made her superior to most humanoids in strength and endurance. In their effort to create a new, fully functional body for her, they had given her artificially grown human skin and a synthetic peripheral nervous system, and connected every single part of her anatomy, which sometimes made Madisyn curse them.
*
Weiss felt Madisyn’s wiry arms around her and was grateful that she had tucked her fractured arm in between them where it couldn’t get tangled in the wire. To her surprise, Madisyn trembled as they were hurled through space underneath Podmer’s shuttle. Why would a BNSL tremble? That didn’t make sense. Why would any tech designer create an android vulnerable enough to flinch when plasma charges erupted around them? It was a wholly humanoid reaction. Why go for that type of authenticity?
“Madisyn? You all right?”
“I’m fine. How’s your arm?”
“Okay. I mean, it will be.”
“I have a bone knitter in our quarters. Podmer makes sure we can take care of minor injuries ourselves.” Madisyn spoke fast, but her tremors seemed to become less noticeable.
“Go figure. Saves time, I suppose.”
“I wonder how we’re going to board the Salaceos hanging like berries on a vine from this wire.” Weiss tried to picture the shuttle landing in the hangar inside the belly of the Salaceos. Perhaps the crew could hook them with something and pull them in if they modified the ship’s force field.
Plasma singed the space around them again, and Madisyn pressed her forehead against Weiss’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. This seems to really screw up my sensors right now. Must be the damage to the suit.”
Weiss wasn’t comfortable with the close proximity, not only because of her injured arm. The way Madisyn felt against her was entirely too intimate. Weiss had existed without the touch of another person for a very long time, unless she counted SC law-enforcement agents and medical personnel. Out of necessity she had deliberately changed from a pleasure-seeking player to a virtual hermit in a matter of days, two years ago, something that had greatly bothered her crew. Unable to explain it to herself, Weiss had made sure everybody knew the matter was off-topic. The only time she had engaged in physical activities was in hand-to-hand combat training or actual fighting.
She had no use for any of the fortune hunters that had willingly kept her company and been willing to meet her every whim during the previous years. Weiss had gone for voluptuous women back then, and she had kept them well-fed and dressed, with plenty of credits to use in the ports. After several years, Weiss began to realize she couldn’t tell their faces apart. One willing body was so like the next, and their conversation, if you could call it that, was of little interest. Weiss didn’t miss the hollow physical pleasure; in fact, it was a relief to just be left in peace, to have her quarters to herself and not have to share with the latest sultry pirate groupie.
Weiss looked up and saw the shuttle approach Podmer’s ship. Slowing down, they still closed in on the shuttle bay area very fast, and Weiss held her breath as they were tossed against the hull. She fully expected to be crushed, but then she spotted four crewmembers with what looked like large magnetic hooks.
“Pimm. Weiss. We’ll get you.” A female voice crackled in Weiss’s headset. “Hold on. This still might be a painful ride.”
“Great.” Weiss braced herself, clenching her teeth to block out the pain in her arm.
The sudden stop sent Weiss and Madisyn into a crazy spin. Their bodies meshed together, which sent continual, white-edged pain through Weiss’s arm. She thought she heard herself scream, but hoped she was wrong. Madisyn shifted her grip, wrapping her arms and legs tighter around her.
“I’m…sorry…”
Weiss couldn’t hear what else Madisyn yelled before they slammed into the deck, tumbling so fast she was sure they would be crushed against the bulkhead. Eventually they lay gasping on the shuttle bay deck. Weiss was close to passing out from the pain but drew a few deep breaths to regain some form of equilibrium.
“Weiss…” Madisyn’s low hiss was barely audible. “Talk to me.”
“I’ll live.”
Madisyn snorted and began laughing, only to stop just as suddenly. “Ow.”
Pain? An android that experiences pain? That’s a first. Weiss rolled away from Madisyn, and helpful hands yanked her to her feet. She could see Struyen exiting the shuttle and walking toward them.
“For stars and skies, I thought you two were toast.” Struyen raised an eyebrow at the panting
Madisyn. “I see even androids get winded when they can’t breathe.”
“I’m as reliant on oxygen as you are, and you know it.” Madisyn spoke with a steel-enforced voice that made Struyen take half a step back. “I will hand in my report tomorrow. I can tell that we are in mass-distortion drive. Good.”
“Yes, Podmer is pleased with the heist even if we ran into a bit of a hassle.”
“A bit? Yes.” Weiss made sure nothing or nobody touched her arm. “Guess you could say that.”
“And Podmer wants me to take the bridge this evening.” Struyen looked like he’d been awarded a medal.
“Fantastic. Don’t pick up any hitchhikers.” Madisyn pulled off her helmet and limped toward the double door leading out into the corridor. “Weiss. Let me help you with the helmet.” She pulled it off gently. “This way.”
Weiss followed Madisyn to their quarters, suddenly so fatigued she felt like sitting down right there on the deck and falling asleep. By willpower alone, she made her way through the ship.
Once back in their quarters, Madisyn looked wearily at Weiss’s arm. “Your arm has been mangled more than once. We really should get you to sickbay. It’s just—” She rubbed the back of her neck.
“What?”
“The ship’s so-called doctor is such a brute, and not a very good doctor. I mean, if he were a top-notch physician, what the hell would he be doing with this crew?”
“You have a point.” Weiss was fading fast and had to sit down. “Either way, I need to get out of this damn suit and so do you. Your leg looks, um, weird.”
Madisyn glanced at her deformed leg where the laser knife had made an indentation. “That’s going to take some engineering.”
“Does it, you know, hurt?”
“In a way, yes. I have nerve endings just like you, even if they’re artificial.”
“I see.” Weiss sat still as Madisyn began to peel off her space suit. She moaned under her breath when Madisyn resolutely used an electric scalpel to cut off the sleeve. She pulled it aside, her hands incredibly gentle, and reached for the bone knitter.
“The skin isn’t broken, and the fracture isn’t misaligned. You were lucky after all, especially after that tumble we took just now.” Madisyn ran the bone knitter several times across Weiss’s lower arm. “We need to repeat this procedure tomorrow, but this should stabilize the fracture and help with the pain. If you still need them, I have some pain-relief imbulizers.”
“No pain meds.”
“You sure?” Madisyn tucked the bone knitter into a drawer. “They would help you sleep.”
“I’ve had enough of such things the last few months.” Weiss knew she sounded short and ungrateful. “Now, what about you?”
“I’ll tend to my injury now that we’re done with yours. I’ll be fine.”
“Doesn’t look like that to me.” Weiss studied Madisyn’s injury with critical eyes. “If you hadn’t worn the mesh-enforced layer in the suit, that guard would’ve severed your leg.”
“But he didn’t.” Madisyn pushed off the space suit and had turned to walk into the bathroom when Weiss put a hand on her shoulder.
“Let me. Consider it a perfect way to get to know one another.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Aw, come on.” Weiss motioned for Madisyn to sit and elevate her leg. “This is just the type of thing that will build team spirit.”
“You’re crazy. Team spirit?”
Weiss pulled the insulating sock off Madisyn’s foot. She wasn’t sure what to expect, but the perfect toes with toenails like mother-of-pearl weren’t it. The foot was pale and cold. Acting automatically, she cupped her hands around Madisyn’s foot and rubbed it. “Does this help at all?”
“Uh. Yes.” Madisyn drew a trembling breath. “I have my own version of the humanoid blood vessels. They can use a boost, I suppose. Thank you.”
“You saved my life back there. Least I can do.” Weiss tried to view her actions as a way to soften Madisyn up, to make her lower her guard, but a deep sense of truth insisted that she had other motives.
“If you put it that way.”
“Now let’s see. Oh, damn, that looks…bad.” Weiss stared at the indentation in Madisyn’s leg. The skin was stretched thin and pale-pink muscle tissue was bulging on the edges of the crater. “What the hell are you going to do?”
“I have a few tools. You think you could help out?” Madisyn was trembling again.
“Sure. Just give me instructions.” Looking up, Weiss could have sworn Madisyn was paler, but that was impossible.
Madisyn directed Weiss to a cabinet where she found a tool kit with the University of Guild Nation’s emblem on it. “This?”
“Yes.”
Weiss pulled out a set of sinister-looking long, narrow spanners and a small plasma burner that would put the fear of the deities in most humanoids. “All right. Showtime.” Weiss tried to smile reassuringly, which only made Madisyn appear more nervous.
“Use the ten-millimeter spanner and a knife. Press down just below my meniscus with the spanner, and make sure to have the magnetic side toward me. Push a syringe in a ninety-degree angle just below. Halfway in, it will start to deflate the swelling in my calf.”
Weiss felt utterly clumsy, and the numbness in her fractured arm didn’t help her focus. She pushed the syringe in and the coarse needle pierced the pale skin.
“Oh.” Madisyn swayed.
“You all right?” Weiss stopped what she was doing.
“Proceed.”
“Very well.” She kept it up for a while, furtively checking Madisyn’s perfect features for any signs of discomfort. After what seemed like a very long time, Madisyn’s leg looked normal again.
“There you go. Good as new, sort of.” Weiss retracted the syringe. “You can breathe now.”
“Thanks.” Madisyn gazed up at Weiss with an enigmatic smile that barely curved the corners of her mouth. “As you heard me tell Struyen, I do breathe, and I breathe for the same reason as everybody else. Exhale to rid the system of waste products, inhale to keep a steady oxygen level.” She stretched her leg slowly. “Hey, that’s fantastic. You’re not half-bad around the tools.”
“That will have to be our secret.”
“Oh, another one. No worries. I’m chock full of secrets these days. One more or less.” Madisyn smiled, a thoroughly charming, toothy grin.
And so am I. Weiss studied Madisyn as she walked to the tiny ensuite bathroom, moving stiffly, much like Weiss herself. When the door closed behind her, Weiss sighed deeply, completely unable to figure out why she couldn’t take her eyes off Madisyn. The android. Sentient, Weiss reminded herself.
Soon Madisyn returned, clean and fresh-smelling. Weiss murmured something she couldn’t even decipher and fled to the bathroom, which was so small she barely had room to maneuver. After she engaged the shower chamber and pulled off her undergarments, dirt and grime evaporated from her skin and fell into the recycling drain on the floor. Utilizing sound waves, this method of cleansing was more thorough than an aqua shower, but not half as pleasurable, Weiss thought, suddenly ready to trade just about everything she owned for hot, wet water.
A glance in the mirror showed her as pale but composed, and after pulling on newly replicated underwear, she used the smaller sonic nozzle to clean her teeth. She moved quickly, and unable to justify staying in the bathroom any longer, she returned to their quarters.
Madisyn was sitting on her bed, her eyes half-closed and her arms loosely holding her knees. “Scrambler’s on. We have to send our report tomorrow.”
“Yes.” Weiss crawled into bed and pulled the thin thermo blanket up around her. “Not much to tell. Blew up a moon, practically. Wish you were here.”
Madisyn snorted. “Yes, something like that.” She closed her eyes briefly. “Switching off scrambler.”
Weiss studied Madisyn in the dim light from the stars and their bed lights. She was startled to feel something hot and smoldering warm the lower pa
rt of her stomach. Desperate to focus on a single detail in Madisyn’s demeanor or appearance that showed she wasn’t humanoid, wasn’t real, all Weiss saw was soft, pale skin, even softer, unruly blond hair, and she remembered the way she’d felt, how she’d trembled during their full-body contact. What was that about? The memory of Madisyn’s body so close, after years of abstinence, was enough to send a quiet moan over her lips.
“You in pain, Weiss?” Madisyn asked, actually sounding sleepy.
“No. I’m fine. Just tired.” Aware that she sounded curt, she turned her back toward Madisyn, which did little good. No matter how hard she closed her eyes, she could still see the pain in Madisyn’s eyes as she’d mended her artificial leg. Real pain. What the hell’s going on?
Chapter Eight
Amereena stood on the bridge of the Circinus, scrutinizing the image of the blue-green planet that grew larger as they approached Gantharat. She knew more of this world’s political system than most within the Supreme Constellations. Amereena loved the law and believed in it unconditionally, especially the intricacies of trying to understand an alien world and how its population operated. She still had much to learn but was confident she had enough knowledge to help this diplomatic mission succeed, together with Dahlia Jacelon and the Protector of the Realm.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Kellen stood next to her, transfixed by the sight of her home planet, so like Earth in many ways. “I can’t believe we’re about to impact history this way.”
“You sound more uncertain than I’ve ever heard you.” Amereena glanced at Kellen, noticing her clasped hands and how she had jutted her chin out.
“So much has changed so fast. I’m trying to figure out how long it has been since Armeo and I fled and ended up in Rae’s…eh, the SC’s care.”
“And what a blessed day it was.” Amereena remembered how she’d been called in to determine custody of the young prince, the sole heir to the Gantharian throne. It hadn’t been that hard to realize that Kellen, formidable Protector of the Realm, was not about to let anyone else have any influence over her protégé. What was more, the devotion and sense of family between Kellen and Armeo, matched only by the overshadowing love between Kellen and her wife, Rae, was clear.
