Page 40 of Agrippa's Acceptance

“Why did you gift me a soul now?” He bent down and lifted his uniform pant to expose his calf. And the ryhov swirling there. Ryhov like hers. Brighter than that of any clone born in centuries.

She dropped down to her knees and traced the lines swirling between the folds of his skin. “It’s beautiful.” Agrippa sucked in a breath. “Amelagar look.”

He looked at his calf. “I have seen my ryhov.”

“No, you don’t understand, we are synchronising. Look at the pattern of my blue ryhov and then at yours.”

He stared down at the colourful lines interspersed with blue that moved over his skin in ever widening circles.

Amelagar helped her to sit down and joined her. “Why did you gift me a soul now?”

“I—”

“Did you suddenly realize you feel love for me. Is that why you gifted me a soul.”

Tenderness so deep caused her heart to ache. Agrippa straddled him. She took his face in her hands and stared in the eyes she wanted to see looking at her with this adoration for the rest of her life. “I did not give you a soul. Shhh.” She placed a finger over his lips to close them. “The Goddess saw my love for you and deemed it so wonderful that she gifted you a soul.”

His eyes narrowed and he stared back at her for a long time. Would he believe her when she wasn’t even sure if she was right. But what other explanation could there be?

“The goddess also saw my love for you. Maybe she rewarded me for loving the best female a cyborg could hope to love.”

She opened her mouth and he placed a finger over her lips. “The goddess saw that I love you.”

They stayed like that intertwined, sometimes whispering endearments and sometimes quiet and mostly wondering if they would make it back to earth.

“If the bombing of the temples did not make a difference, we will not live through this war,” Amelagar said quietly.

“I think it might work. But we need to get back to earth.”

“We might be too late Agrippa. We have to face that.”

“I think I can get us back to earth before the clone Armada reaches earth.” She drew in a deep breath. “But it’s risky.”

“We will have a meeting and you will explain this to all of us.

Again, they all assembled on the bridge. She explained the modifications she wanted to make to the engine.

Silence. Then one of the humans said. “Let’s do it.”

“Agreed,” the others said.

“We will proceed with your plan,” Amelagar said.

“You understand I will have to use the fuel we would’ve used for the cyro chambers. You’ll have to stay awake for the thirteen earth months.” She fiddled with the tool in her hand. “The modifications may not work. We may be stuck on the way to earth for a very long time. By the time we reached earth we could be dying of old age.”

“I am cyborg, I will reach earth still young and I will see my human again,” Anatu said.

Agrippa didn’t have the heart to explain to her that her human would be old or dead. The cyborg knew that, but Agrippa could understand why she wouldn’t want to face that reality.

“So it’s agreed, we will use every bit of power we can squeeze out of this ship to get to earth faster.” Amelagar nodded at the marines. “All of us will assist Agrippa and also keep the clone ship running.”

Everyone agreed and Amelagar dragged her back to the observation desk. “I know you have to work on the engines, I will help you, but we can take a few minutes for ourselves.”

They looked down at the vast blackness beneath the ship. She sat down next to him. “Why do you suppose the clones put in these observation decks?”

“They want to look down at the planet they are about to conquer and feel superior,” Amelagar said. But the sneer he normally sported when he talked about the clones was absent. It was as if their mission had wiped away most of his anger.

“It just doesn’t make sense. Who did they fight when their ships disappeared. And why build war ships at a time when they thought there were no other habited planets.” She’d thought about it a lot these last few days. Being cooped up in this ship with nothing to do but wait until one of the marines killed Anatu, left a lot of time for thinking.

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