Page 27 of A Cyborg for the Alien Mercenary

“Don’t scan her with it!” the big cyborg said urgently. “Tal and I tried that on theSprite. Ended up blowing up half the medbay.”

Covak chuckled. “I appreciate the warning, but it’s a bit late. I started to, but Jane’s onboard shut it down faster than a zorlack in heat.” He couldn’t resist adding, “Though I’m sorry about your ship. Losing the medbay probably cut your floor space in half, eh?”

Zero’s eyes narrowed, but the slightest hint of amusement lurked in the backs of his eyes.

“Oh har-dee-har,” he retorted. “Okay… my onboard’s drawing a blank on J10-10M3E. But there’s a lot of corrupted long-term memory data. Probably from the accident before T’Raal found me.”

Covak turned back to Jane, studying her peaceful features. She looked for all the world like she was sleeping, but he knew better. An idea formed in his mind.

“J10-10M3E?” he said softly.

Her eyes snapped open, and his breath caught in his throat. The warmth in her grey eyes that he’d seen earlier was gone, replaced by a cold, calculating gaze, and he knew instinctively that this wasn’t Jane. He was speaking to the onboard computer again.

“What does J10-10M3E mean?” he asked, his voice steady despite the chill running down his spine. He didn’t like AIs, not one little bit, not after the cascade incidents. And this AI… was far more advanced than anything ever produced in this universe. “Can you break it down for me?”

The thing wearing Jane’s face didn’t move, its gaze fixed unnervingly on Covak.

“Jesh, batch ten, section ten, mark three, enhanced,” it stated flatly. “Designation: battlefield medic.”

The words hung in the air, and the two mercenaries exchanged glances, the tension in the room ratcheting up several notches.

“Did it say Jesh?” Zero whispered in shock. “She’sJesh?”

“You do know her, then?” he asked, gently turning Jane’s—no, Jesh’s—arm. The onboard watched impassively as he examined the neat line of stitches across her skin.

“Battlefield medic,” he murmured softly. “That explains a lot.”

He looked back at the emotionless eyes staring up at him. “So you were both soldiers? You and Zero—or Dael, I suppose?”

The onboard gave a slight nod, the motion so small he almost missed it.

“Do you recognize him?” he asked, gesturing toward the screen where Zero watched with rapt attention. “Identify him.”

The onboard’s gaze flicked to the monitor. “Yes, I recognize him. He is D5-10M4 .”

Zero’s sharp intake of breath was audible even through the comm link.

“Shit,” he said. “She scanned me. How the hell did she do that?”

“Piggybacking a query ping on this signal was not technologically difficult,” the onboard replied, watching them both.

Covak frowned as he pieced together the information. “So… he would be Dael, batch 5, section 10… mark 4. Is that right?”

The onboard gave another slight nod.

“So you were in the same section?” he pressed. They were definitely on the edge of a breakthrough here.

The nod came again, but as Covak opened his mouth to ask another question, it spoke again and cut him off.

“Access to onboard memory is inaccessible. Data corruption detected. Further queries cannot be processed.”

Frustration bubbled up in his chest. They’d been so close to answers as well.

Zero’s voice cut through the tension.

“Maybe we should let her rest,” he suggested in a low voice. “When she wakes up, she might have more control over her onboard. We might get more answers then.”

Covak nodded reluctantly, his gaze never leaving her face. As if on cue, her eyes drifted closed, the onboard retreating to wherever it lived in her mind. He studied her features, noting the small scar above her left eyebrow as well as the slight furrow between her brows, even in sleep. Who was she, really? A soldier? A medic? Both? And how did she fit into Zero’s past?

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