“Does that include the new X7 cannons?” X-Blade asked.
“Of course.” She fought the urge to glare at the head scientist. Was he trying to get her killed? Had she not been the one to discover the breakthrough that allowed Omega to run two chips at once—becoming the most powerful cyborg ever? “And his exoarmor also includes a mirrored cloaking ability.”
“Demonstrate,” the king commanded.
She nodded, and Omega disappeared.
A roar went through the room and the king’s slitted eyes widened. He sprang up from the throne and leaped down the steps of the dais in one smooth motion.
A murmur went through the others in the throne room as he circled the space where Omega stood, invisible.
“Appear!” she commanded quickly, and to her relief Omega reappeared.
The king stalked until he was standing eye to eye with Omega. “Do it again.”
She nodded, and the cyborg disappeared.
“How are you doing this?” The king prowled around him, inspecting the disguise.
“His chip forces his cells and the suit into a higher frequency, one not visible to our eyes.”
“Does it hurt him?”
“Eventually,” she replied. “The body can take only so much high frequency for so long. But he can hold it for fifteen standard minutes before starting to feel the effects.”
The king’s eyes glittered at her, then at Omega, “It’s not perfect,” he finally growled, showing his fangs. “And nothing can disguise the smell. But it’s passable. Especially to the pathetic beings without our superior olfactory sense that we conquer.”
He bared his teeth in a feral grin of approval, and Kirelle breathed a sigh of relief. He was satisfied. At least for now.
The king returned to the throne and perched upon it, his dark eyes fixing on her. “Impressive work, elf. How long will it take to make more of them?”
“I believe I can make two per week, if I have the right specimens,” she allowed. Many of the specimens she got were suitable to make regular cyborgs, but not for all of the upgrades that Omega had.
The king bared his teeth. “That isn’t fast enough.”
“We’ll do three per week,” X-Blade replied smoothly.
When she opened her mouth to argue, the head scientist shot her a glance, then continued, “We’ll divert more medics to their care, and rotate them so Second Scientist Kirelle has them for the most important times, and the others care for them the rest of the time.”
She closed her mouth. It just might work.
“Take off your helmet,” the king commanded Omega.
She nodded and Omega removed it, his long black hair spilling over his shoulders and down his back.
The king’s eyes narrowed. “I will keep this one. I want to see how he performs in a fight.” The Ardak king bared his fangs at his audience in a feral grin before going back to sit on his throne.
Her eyes opened wide and she fought not to show her panic. She couldn’t give Omega to him yet. She needed to fix what was wrong with him, to make sure he didn’t attack anyone else or order the computer to do other tasks once he was outside the lab. “Most High King, may I retain him for another few days to run more tests?”
The high king’s brows rose. “I thought you said he was ready.”
“He is, sir. I mean, he’s almost ready,” she was stuttering again. “But if you’re going to use him personally, I’d like to make a few adjustments, to make sure he’s perfect for you.”
The high king waved her away. “Make your upgrades. But send him to me by tomorrow morning.” His tail swished, telling her he was on the verge of being displeased.
“Follow me,” she commanded Omega, nearly running from the room in her haste to escape.
But as she left, she saw the king beckon to X-Blade out of the corner of her eye. She paused in the corridor.
“Listen to what they’re saying,” she commanded Omega. “Silently.”
He nodded, his face impassive for several moments. Then he nodded again.
“Are they finished?”
“Yes.” His voice was a gruff whisper.
“Follow me.”
She didn’t think, but went straight to her laboratory. When she arrived, breathing hard, she yowled her name into the vocal recognition scanner at the door.
Once inside, she wasted no time turning to him. “What did they say?”
Omega stared straight ahead. “The king stated that my design specs are to be uploaded to the main computer and distributed throughout the Empire.” He paused. “And if you cannot make at least three cyborgs per week, they are to find someone else and you are to be eliminated.”
Three cyborgs a week! It would be almost impossible, even if none of them died or malfunctioned. She’d be working around the clock trying to keep up.
There was only one explanation. The king had tired of her and wanted to eliminate her.
Pain at the betrayal hit her like a blade to the stomach. She stumbled back into the corner, sliding to the floor and putting her face in her hands
She was the best cyborg scientist they had. Many of their best advancements had come from her research. She should have been safe—at least until the army was finished. But now they were going to take her specs and give them to all the other scientists and kill her anyway.
She’d done everything they asked. She had performed the horrific experiments. Remained silent while they had done unconscionable things to those they conquered—knowing that if it wasn’t her, it would be an Ardak scientist who would create the cyborgs while allowing them to feel more pain. Yet after everything she’d done for those bastards, everything they’d made her do, they were still going to kill her.
For the first time since the invasion of her homeworld, hot tears threatened. She choked them back, angry at the injustice, hopeless at the futility of it all. No one she had ever known had gotten away from the king’s ship—it was literally impossible. And she had no idea what they would do to Omega when she was gone.
Omega.
While she’d been having a nervous breakdown, he had remained motionless, but she opened her eyes to find him looking down at her.
Suddenly, a deep need rose within her. It was basic, primal—a need she’d never felt before. Or maybe she’d felt it but been too weak to act upon it, passively hoping the Ardaks would take care of her.
It was the need to survive.
These Ardaks weren’t going to kill her, not if she could help it. They weren’t going to extinguish her life simply because they thought she wasn’t working fast enough, or wanted her out of the way. She had value, a value not subject to the whims of their perceived usefulness.
She stared into Omega’s eyes, knowing the purple glow she’d left concealed beneath the lenses. They weren’t going to kill him, either.
No one had ever escaped the high king’s ship before, but they hadn’t had the best cyborg in the universe at their disposal, either.
Her mind flew to the device she’d been given, the one that was hidden back in her quarters. Until now she’d pushed it out of her mind, tried to forget about it. But if she used it on Omega, maybe they could flee together.
She would need to retrieve the device from her quarters, and his battery would need to be fully charged. She could return that night just after the shift change, and perhaps no one would know they were missing for a few hours.
She stood quickly and brushed herself off. “Let’s get you back onto the charging station, and I’ll give you another injection.” The blood and serum would give him strength, and she would take what she could in her bag for him, too.
She wished she could take all the cyborgs, but it would be too big a risk. They would need different supplies, and if she ran out, they could die. They would actually be safer here under X-Blade’s control—as long as the king didn’t decide to kill them.
Omega silently followed her to the battery charging station and laid himself inside it. As she closed the lid,
she hoped he had pleasant dreams.
They might be his last for a while.
She didn’t turn on the lights as she went into her lab, grabbing a few storage devices from her drawer and plugging them into her computer. She set them to back up the scientific knowledge she’d created for the Ardaks. If she did escape, she would be able to let others know what the Ardaks were doing.
Maybe they could find a way to fight these monsters.
Chapter Seven
Omega
The clear cover of his charging station opened hours before it was supposed to. And the being who opened it was not the tiny elf, but an Ardak he recognized as being the head scientist, X-Blade.
The Ardak’s face was impassive, his tone commanding. “Follow me, cyborg.”
Omega rose without question, striding around the Ardak so he could follow him.
X-Blade glanced over his shoulder and growled. “Put on your clothing and exoarmor first.”
Omega donned an undershirt and fitting pants, then his boots and exoarmor swiftly and efficiently. A question arose within his mind at the change in routine, but he couldn’t voice it. The tiny elf had ordered him not to speak unless she asked him to, and he would have to wait for her to give him a command that would free his voice.
He followed X-Blade down a corridor in a different direction than he’d been before. They got into a small box that his memory bank told him was an elevator. It began to descend, and he counted twenty floors before they exited onto a level marked Fight.
When the doors opened, the Ardak strode down the corridor to a set of double doors where two Ardaks waited. He nodded swiftly to an Ardak on the right. “FightMaster.”
“Is this the newest, greatest cyborg ever?” FightMaster asked, the growling voice dry.
Omega understood the inflection as sarcasm, but didn’t understand why it was there. He was the newest, greatest cyborg ever by all of the statistics and test results.
“Yes. Get him to the ring. The king will be here shortly.”
“That armor isn’t going to work. He can use weapons, but no armor.”
“You make him take it off, then,” X-Blade grunted. “This cyborg is our greatest design—he shouldn’t be used for satisfying the king’s need for blood sport. I want no part in this.”
X-Blade turned on his heel and strode out the door from which they’d come.
“Follow me, cyborg.” FightMaster turned and opened the double doors, stalking down the hall toward the end. “I don’t know what those scientists are thinking,” he muttered under his breath as they strode down the long corridor. “We don’t need cyborgs. I’ve got the best fighters in several galaxies right here.”
Omega’s peripheral vision took in the cells lining the corridor on either side. Their occupants were of various races, shapes, and sizes, but had one thing in common, they would all be vicious fighters in their own way.
The Ardak opened the door at the end and gestured for him to enter a tiny room. He could hear a lot of commotion from the other side. “Take off your armor.”
For the first time, Omega hesitated for half a second. Then he followed the command.
Once finished, FightMaster opened the opposite door, ushering Omega through and closing the door behind him without following. He was locked in–alone.
There was a small gate in front of him, and on the other side was an open, round space with hundreds of Ardaks sitting on steps around the outside, staring into the center.
An Ardak opened the gate in front of him that lead into the ring, beckoning him forward with an enormous paw.
“Don’t worry,” the Ardak chortled. “You won’t have long to wait.”
Omega stood beside him, facing the gate leading to the ring.
The Ardaks weren’t silent, and the entire place was filled with a low hum. Finally, the Ardak in front of him glanced back and said, “Here we go.”
He began to speak loudly, opening the low gate in front of Omega. “And here we have him, the greatest cyborg ever invented. A technological powerhouse, capitalizing on years of refining the greatest design and enhancement techniques we possess.”
The Ardak turned to find Omega standing just in front of the gate and grabbed him, pushing him into the center of the ring.
“He will be fighting five of FightMaster’s best warriors.”
Omega turned and focused his ears to pick up on what the king was saying to the Ardak next to him.
“Five?” The king made a sound of disbelief. “The best one before him only fought three. He’d better kiss his cyborg ass goodbye.” He held up a paw toward the Ardak in the ring, two fingers raised.
Omega processed this information, along with everything else in the immediate environment. It would be difficult to fight the other warriors when his most advanced tech had just been taken and his weapons were still in the lab. To truly make use of his skills, he needed the add-on armor. The exoskeleton, laser cannons, and wings would make him nearly invincible on the battlefield.
Fighting by hand, he would have to rely upon his body’s own power and dexterity, his efficiency enhanced by the chip. He estimated perhaps three Ardaks would be the equal of his skill.
The Ardak had gone to a chest at the top of the ring while he was sizing up his opponents. He punched in a combination to open it before pulling out two swords.
Omega noted the combination. He could see six of the seven numbers, which wasn’t much. If the fight lasted long enough, perhaps he could get the box open.
But they would probably kill him if he tried.
That meant the only way to win was to fight.
“The king wants you to have two of these,” the Ardak grunted, holding out two swords. “That will at least make it interesting.”
The gate opposite him opened, and his opponents rushed into the ring, weapons held high. His chip adjusted for their height, weight, speed, agility, and weaponry, calculating his odds of survival at 23 percent.
Well, at least it wasn’t zero.
One being had wings and could attack from above with its ax, two were small and would be attacking below his waist with knives. Two were roughly his height with swords. The combination of different weaponry and heights would indeed make for a difficult victory.
If he’d had his tech, they would have been dead with one blast of his cannon. But for this fight, it looked like he had to rely on his own two hands.
When the bell sounded, he sprang at them, knowing from the information stored in his data banks that most beings expected to circle first. They would still be sizing him up, but he had the advantage of nearly instantaneous processing.
He sprang at them, swords flying, chopping off the head of one of the short beings and injuring one of the wings of the flying opponent before it could fly out of reach. His swords were met swiftly by the two beings his height. He twirled the swords in the way he’d done during the test, turning them into both swords and shields at the same time.
His blades flashed and prevented them from penetrating his space for a minute. But while he was blocking them, the shorter being finally found an opening and ran at him beneath the reach of his swords and knifed him in the leg, stabbing deep and severing his femoral artery.
His chip screamed alerts while he followed the being, finally kicking it in the head, the power breaking its neck with a huge cracking sound.
He, the two beings his height, and the grounded flying being all circled each other, looking for weaknesses. He could feel the wet blood running down his thigh as he tried not to limp.
The formerly flying being twirled its ax, going lightly from leg to leg. Its pointed teeth were chittering and it drooled as it watched him. It appeared to be the worst fighter remaining, and if he could take it out, he’d be left with only two opponents.
He continued twirling his swords but dove between them, twisting at the last moment to attack the winged creature as it simultaneously struck him with its ax in the back of his arm. His arm went limp as it severed
the triceps, but his sword had struck true.
The winged creature’s beady eyes opened wide as it realized his blade was deep in its chest. The creature was so light he was able to lift it onto his blade, flinging it at the other two.
Omega jumped, following it to spring at the other two warriors. He was hampered by having only one good leg and one working arm. The other two sprang at him—one slicing into his injured leg in the same spot, the other into his side—with their swords.
He fell, barely able to fend them off for a final round. He tried to rise, but his opponents had known just where to cut him. The muscles in his leg were torn, refusing to hold him up.
Until now he had been cold, emotionless. But for some reason, the unfairness of it made him angry, and he fought them desperately until they finally overcame him with repeated hacks and thrusts of their blades.
Chapter Eight
Kirelle
Kirelle opened the door to her quarters, sticking her head out and glancing furtively in both directions. She’d been ready to leave hours ago, but for some reason there were more guards than usual tonight. They’d been playing an Ardak betting game in her corridor until a few minutes ago, and she’d been so panicked that she was afraid they’d see through any excuse she gave to go to the lab at this late hour.
She couldn’t afford to be caught, especially since she had Omega’s paper and device in her pocket, as well as the one his sister had tried to give her in the bar.
But finally the coast was clear, so she shrugged her bag up higher on her shoulder and grasped it tightly, hurrying down the corridor toward the elevator. She didn’t breathe until she was inside it, pressing the button for the laboratory.
She hid when it opened, but peeked around and found the level deserted. Yowling her name in a whisper into the box at the door, she cringed when the box boomed a command that told her to speak louder.
Once it opened, she snuck into her lab and grabbed the storage devices on which she’d backed up her work. She also grabbed a recharger and several extra chips.
Tristin Page 4
