Sunscapes Trilogy Book 1: Last Chance

by Michelle O'Leary

  "Bosses, this is kind of a public place to—” Cassie tried again, with the same result.

  "We're not going."

  "You might not be, but I'll go alone if I have to. It needs to be done now!"

  "You are absolutely not going alone!” Manny shouted, and Cassie stared at his flushed face with something like shock and a pervading sense of doom. “I forbid it!"

  Cassie flinched, knowing what Sin's reaction was going to be to that.

  "You—” Sin started to say, her eyes flaring with fury, but Del interrupted.

  "I'll go with her.” Del moved to stand at Sin's elbow, the calm of his deep voice a remarkable contrast to the shouting match. They both stared at him, but he faced Manny, meeting his boss's eyes with cool directness, as if he hadn't just thrown more fuel on the fire.

  Cassie held her breath.

  "What a fine idea,” Manny responded, his hot anger suddenly transforming into a controlled and chilling animosity. “My sister alone with a man who's had one day's worth experience off-lane, which resulted in a crippled ship, and who can't seem to keep his hands to himself."

  Cassie winced and looked at Del with trepidation, but Manny wasn't done.

  "What do you expect to do out there—besides the obvious?” he added while shooting his sister a searing look. “Ask them politely to open up?"

  A muscle jumped in Del's jaw, but he answered with remarkable restraint. “You didn't take me on just because I can pilot. You know what I did for the Core."

  Manny's eyes narrowed, and his voice took on a silky menace that sent a shiver down Cassie's spine. “I know very well, Givliani. That's why you're not going either. Do I make myself clear?"

  Del's expression hardened, and the two of them stared at one another, tension building between them like electricity. Frantically, Cassie tried to think of some way to diffuse the situation, but Sin found one for her.

  "Fine, we'll wait,” she said in a clipped voice.

  Del shot her a look that made Cassie's chest hurt. He didn't understand that Sin was protecting him from her brother—his expression said clearly that he was taking this as another rejection.

  But Sin didn't seem to see, her eyes fastened on her brother. “We won't move until you feel like you're up to it. Satisfied?"

  Her brother studied her for a long moment, his expression smoothing out despite the acid in her tone. When he nodded, Sin spun on her heel and stalked away. Manny watched her go with a thoughtful frown. “I don't like being at odds with my sister,” he murmured.

  Cassie was about to breathe a sigh of relief when Del responded, “Then maybe you shouldn't pick fights with her."

  Suns, Cassie thought with an inner weary sigh. Right back where we started. The two men stood with eyes locked, and Cassie had a weak moment, wondering if it would be so bad to just let them go at it. But Del wasn't likely to come out of that in one piece. And the rest of the crew still stood a short distance away, most with pale faces and round eyes.

  With a grimace, she stepped between them, her mind racing to come up with a distraction. “So...” she stalled, putting her back to Manny's chest and looking up at Del. “How, um...” Sudden inspiration hit. “How are you doing with Samantha?"

  A frown flickered over his face and his eyes darted down to her for a moment. “What?"

  "Samantha. You know, the AI who lives in and maintains your quarters. How are the two of you getting along?"

  "Fine, I guess."

  "You guess? Haven't you been spending time with her?” she asked, not having to fake the exasperation in her voice.

  Above her head, she heard Manny say under his breath, “Less smooth, but still effective,” as he gently yanked on her braid.

  Ignoring her boss—she was in no mood for his needling—she glared up at Del. He was eyeing her as if she'd suddenly broken out into a foreign language.

  "What the hell are you talking about, Cass? I haven't been here."

  "I mean before that! Didn't you talk with her?"

  He shrugged, looking uncomfortable. “A little, sure."

  With a surge of irritation that was half directed at herself, she shook her head and pointed towards the exit. “Let's go."

  "What?” he asked again, his tone both annoyed and baffled.

  "I assumed that you'd be curious about her. I assumed that you'd ask her questions, that you'd talk to her like a normal person. My fault for thinking you'd do anything so normal. So let's go. I've got to assess how much damage you've caused."

  She became aware of a vibration in the hard chest against her back and glanced up to see Manny chuckling. With a frown, she elbowed him in the stomach. “What are you laughing at?"

  "Just thinking better him than me,” he said with a merciless grin at Del before moving away.

  Del watched him go with a scowl on his rugged face. “What's wrong with him?"

  "Don't ask. It would take days to explain, and we don't have that kind of time.” Grabbing his arm, she proceeded to tug him towards the exit. “Come on, Del. Let's go survey the wreckage."

  Chapter 20

  Del didn't know which was worse—dealing with Kai's quicksilver moods from menacing fury to mocking humor or putting up with Cassie's disgusted and faintly patronizing tyranny. His mind shied away from thoughts of Sin's blunt dismissal of his offer as if that memory was an open wound. He didn't want to consider how easily she had just brushed him away, how little respect and trust she had shown for him, how she had confirmed her brother's contempt—broken.

  He glowered down at Cassie the whole way to his quarters as if she was responsible for the ache in his chest and the throbbing in his head that made his skull feel as fragile as glass.

  Without meeting his eyes, she grumbled, “Stop looking at me like that. It's not my fault you don't have sense enough not to get between the Shays.” Then, as they reached his quarters, she continued without pause, “AIs aren't just programs you can use and throw away—they're people just like us, Del."

  With that one-two punch, she waited with pursed lips for him to open the door. Several brutal replies came to mind, but he bit them back with an effort. She had stepped between him and Kai, after all—though he'd have been happy to oblige the violence in the other man's eyes at the time. And she was his friend, though she had a damned odd way of showing it sometimes. Grinding his teeth together as if he could chew out some patience, he opened the door and waved her in with an abrupt gesture.

  Giving him a quick look out of the corner of her eye, she stepped inside.

  "Greetings, Cassiopeia Draegen. Welcome home, Del.” Samantha's disembodied voice sounded just as smooth and calm as ever, no trace of wreckage as far as Del could tell.

  "Hey, Sam,” he responded as he gave Cass a pointed look.

  She ignored him. “Samantha, it's good to speak with you again. Do you know me?” she asked as she moved to sit on the couch, without an invitation from him, he noticed.

  With a grimace, he joined her.

  "Yes, Cassiopeia. You are my creator."

  Del's jaw dropped, and he stared at the small woman next to him.

  She met his eyes for a fraction of a second with a faint, pained smile before looking away again. “Well, one of them. Please call me Cassie."

  "I will do so. My living mate Del appears to enjoy calling me Sam."

  "Do you enjoy being called Sam?"

  There was a pause during which Cassie sent him a dark look as though accusing him of something. He returned it with a baffled, questioning shake of his head, but she only pulled her braid over her shoulder and plucked at the ends with restless fingers.

  "I am not certain. I do not have parameters for this contingency. Should I enjoy this?"

  "There are no parameters for what you can and can't enjoy. That is for you to decide. Were you satisfied with your naming?"

  The answer was immediate. “Yes."

  "So you enjoy the name Samantha?"

  "Yes,” the AI replied in a less confident tone. “But
I do not understand it."

  "How so?"

  "If my living mate has chosen this name, why does he use another?"

  Cassie shot him another black look. Del opened his mouth to defend himself, but she beat him to it, her voice taking on the brisk, dry tone that he recognized from their training sessions. “Often humans will shorten each other's names as a sign of affection or friendship or familiarity. It's a verbal way to forge an intimate connection. In this case, by shortening your name, Del is trying to show his trust in you and his appreciation for your companionship."

  I am? He thought, staring at Cassie as if she'd just grown a third eye. She didn't seem to notice.

  "I see. So, in asking me to call him Del, he is asking for my trust and appreciation?"

  "In a way, yes. He is asking you to participate in that forging of a connection, to form an intimacy with you without coming right out and discussing it."

  This was getting weirder and weirder. Del cleared his throat in preparation to speak, but Cassie sent him a narrow-eyed glare of warning and he subsided in confusion.

  "Is this your motivation also, when you ask me to call you Cassie?"

  "Yes, Samantha. I wish to be your friend. Is this acceptable to you?"

  "Yes, it is. I would—enjoy that very much. Would you please call me Sam?"

  Cassie smiled and relaxed back against the couch as though she'd won a victory. “Thank you, Sam. I'd be honored."

  "May I ask you a question, Cassie?"

  "Please do."

  "This shortening of names seems an inefficient method for creating intimacy. You have asked for my friendship directly—why does my livingmate not do so?"

  Del felt a moment of embarrassed panic that he would be forced to ask the AI to be his friend, but Cassie answered without hesitation, sweeping past his discomfort.

  "Humans are uncomfortable dealing directly with their emotions, because of the possibility of rejection. If you had told me no when I asked for your friendship, I would have been hurt by that. Rejection is painful. Plus, reiterating one's emotional intimacy over and over again can get monotonous. Therefore, we often find other means to connect with one another, such as body language, endearments, physical contact, and social rituals or customs like the shortening of names."

  Uh-oh, Del thought as he heard the words “physical contact.” He lunged out of his seat and headed into the kitchen for a drink before the two of them got to the subject of sex. On his way, he heard Sam ask, “Why would someone reject an offer of intimacy?” and he winced, wiping at his forehead. He had no idea why Cassie had thought that he would have been able to have conversations like this with the AI, but he was damned glad she wasn't asking him to participate.

  Making himself a stiff drink, he nursed it in the kitchen for a while and tried not to think. His head swam with weariness, but he felt uncomfortable going to bed with Cassie around. It wasn't as though he thought she'd get the wrong idea, or that he didn't trust her in his quarters, but he felt a confused responsibility for Sam's predicament. Whatever that might be.

  When he heard Cassie call his name, he winced again, thinking his escape had been too good to be true. He moved with slow dread back into the living room, but was relieved to find out that she only wanted him to be an example of sorts, as she and the AI worked through a series of cryptic “Why?” questions. When Cassie totally lost him by moving into a discussion of algorithms and neural paradigms, he let their voices fade into a droning background as he dropped his head to the back of the couch and dozed.

  "Del, you have a visitor,” Sam's voice broke in on a vague dream he was having of being lost in a maze of shattered glass.

  "Wha—” he mumbled as he sat up, rubbing the heels of his hands into his bleary eyes.

  "Somebody's at the door,” Cassie said in a distracted way before she continued her discussion with the AI.

  Del blinked at her, eyeing the focused intensity of her delicate features with exasperation. “No, don't get up. I'll get it,” he muttered irritably under his breath as he rose to his feet, but Cassie didn't pause. Probably hadn't even heard him.

  Sighing and rubbing the back of his neck, he made his way to the door and hit the release, wondering who the hell would be there at this late hour.

  Sin was the last person he expected to see on the other side.

  She had her shoulder against the door jam with her arms folded in a casual stance, but there was a rueful tilt to her lips as she looked up and met his eyes. “Del...” she started, but her voice trailed away, and he raised a hand to brace himself on the wall as his heart started to pound. There was a conflict darkening her eyes that sent spears of hope and need through him, causing his breath to stutter in his chest. She had come to him, late at night, with a vulnerable curve to her mouth and a suggestion of passion in her voice.

  "Sin?” he whispered, reaching out to her slowly as if she were a mirage that would break apart if he moved too fast.

  But before he could touch her, there was a feminine laugh from behind him, and Sin's eyes widened as they flicked towards the interior of the room. The transformation that slipped over her was acute and painful. Dropping her eyes, she straightened, her features smoothing into a cool mask of indifference.

  "I didn't realize you had company. I'll speak with you in the morning,” she said in a precise, toneless voice, before she spun and headed down the corridor at a brisk pace.

  "No, Sin—wait,” he called, heedless of the desperation in his tone. Starting after her retreating form, he hastened to say, “Cassie's not company. She's just here to talk—"

  "What you do with your privacy is none of my concern, Del. I'm sorry to have disturbed you,” she said over her shoulder, each word frosted with implications of ice.

  "Sin, that's not—damn it, wait!” He caught her elbow and dragged her to a stop, keeping his hold on her even when she raised her eyebrows and looked up at him with devastating, chilly politeness. Trying to find his way past the glacial barrier in her eyes, he asked, “Why did you come here?"

  She didn't hesitate. “To talk about our mission to the factory. But I was inconsiderate to disturb your—” she paused then, eyes flickering a bit, “—your rest. Please, don't let me keep you.” She brushed his hand away from her arm with a gentleness that stung and continued down the corridor.

  Is that the only reason? He wanted to ask, but she'd managed to blindside him again. With a long stride, he caught up with her and matched her pace. “What mission? I thought you told your brother—"

  "I lied. He's being intractable. We'll have to go without him.” She slanted him a measuring look and added, “If you're still willing to go."

  "Of course I am,” he growled, wanting to shake her. Couldn't she see that he had no choice?

  "Good,” she responded as they reached the lift and she stepped within. “We'll go over the details in the morning."

  She touched the door release, but Del braced an arm in the opening and kept the door from closing. When she looked at him with cool enquiry, he clenched his jaw and fists, and braved the ice again. “Was that the only reason you came to see me, Sin?"

  Again, no hesitation. “Yes, Del. Why else would I?” Her distant gaze never faltered from his, and her ruthless beauty did not relent from its arctic stillness. She radiated cold as if the heat he'd found in her flesh had been an illusion.

  With the slow caution of a man who fears that his limbs have become untrustworthy, Del lowered his arm and stepped back. As the door closed between them, she dropped her eyes from his as if he'd ceased to exist.

  For a long moment, he stared at the blank metal and fought the pressure building inside him, but it was a losing battle. Eyes as blank as the metal, he finally drove both fists into the barrier between them, feeling the flash of pain from his knuckles with grim satisfaction. Any pain was better than the one lodged in his chest.

  * * * *

  Sin covered her face with trembling hands and let the tremor overtake the rest of her body
in one long quiver of emotion. Her brother had been right. She was in no condition to go to the factory. She'd lost her focus and strength of purpose in Del's kiss ... along with her integrity, apparently. She was his employer. She had no business showing up at his door in the middle of the night with an excuse as tissue thin as her willpower. But the silence and emptiness of her quarters had worked on her as the constant pressure of the crew's curiosity aboard the hauler had not.

  It served her right to find Cassie there, though the thought of them together was an acid burn that had her gasping into her palms. She had no right to him, and Cassie did. She'd made that clear to Cass, so she had no business feeling hurt or angry. Another long quiver passed through her, but the lift had stopped and she forced her hands to her sides. With a bitter sickness in her stomach, she crossed the Gold Room with punishing strides and entered her suite, barely pausing for the door to open.

  "Sin? Are you all—"

  "Privacy, Mina,” she rasped, flinching inwardly at the raw edge to her voice.

  "Of course,” the AI answered as Sin reached her bedroom, and the faint hurt in Mina's tone twisted her guts even further.

  She couldn't do anything about it, though. Her control had frayed beyond retrieval in the darkness of her room, and she wouldn't subject her friend to the tears burning down her face. Crawling into bed, she curled around the illness in her stomach and wept as quietly as she could into her pillow. After a while, the effort and exhaustion overtook her, and she fell into a void of sleep as black as oblivion.

  The morning brought her little relief, but a welcome return of her control. She was able to deflect Mina's anxious concern with gentle reassurance and face her brother's scrutiny in their offices with cool discipline. Kai studied the shadows under her eyes, but didn't ask, greeting her with the careful politeness that he always used after one of their rare fights. Ordinarily she would brush off the tension and reestablish their closeness as soon as possible, but even though she needed the comfort of his steady support, she continued to be cool. She had to keep the distance between them or he'd figure out in minutes what she meant to do.