Page 17 of Her Alien Cyborgs
Hezza glanced over the instruments and then exhaled deeply. “No one followed us in. That’s good. We’ll have to drop back into normal space, change course, and then jump again a few times over the next twenty hours or so. That should make it difficult for them to follow our trail. They’ll probably find us eventually, but I won’t make it easy for them.”
Now that they were safe, she relaxed. Not by much but enough for her mask to slip. He saw the signs of stress and fatigue. Her voice was softer now, and the lines around her eyes seemed more defined. The adrenaline must be wearing off. His nanotech kept his body’s chemicals carefully balanced to avoid the kind of crash Hezza was experiencing.
“Do you need to rest?” he asked.
She shot him a look that made him wince. Apparently, he’d said the wrong thing.
“I do not need a nap. I’m notthatold.”
“Why is your age relevant? We have all been under stress. Now that the threat level has lowered, your body is purging itself of the chemicals that kept your senses elevated. We have nanotech to manage that sort of thing. You do not.”
“Ah.” Her expression softened. “Sorry. I thought you were implying…” She trailed off and shook her head. “Never mind. I was wrong, and I apologize. Ithasbeen a longfraxxingday.”
Her words stunned him into silence. No one had ever apologized to him before. He stared at her. She stared back, not with judgment but with understanding. It made him feel seen in a way he’d never experienced. Like he was more than an object to be used. Like hemattered.
Eventually, Hezza undid the fastenings on her chair and got to her feet. “I think it’s time I showed you two to your new quarters. Ship, run continuous sensor sweeps and inform me if anything, including a fleck of space dust, appears somewhere it should not be.”
“Affirmative,” the AI responded.
“And now I’ll give you the grand tour. It won’t take long. Most of theGambit’sinterior is dedicated to cargo space.” She eyed them for a moment before nodding to herself. “Since I don’t have much cargo at the moment, it should give you both somewhere to stretch your wings and fly. I bet that’s not something they let you do very often.”
“It was not,” Kalan said. “Thank you. That would be…” He paused before finishing his sentence. “Nice.”
Hezza laughed and raised both hands, palms out. “Don’t start saying things like that. I have a reputation to protect. I’m a veteran of the void with a cold heart and a bad attitude.”
Then she winked at them. “If you think otherwise, kindly keep it to yourselves.”
CHAPTER 7
Hezza tookthem around the ship, showing them the various levels and areas. She even gave them a brief tour of the engineering deck. She didn’t want them to feel like she was keeping anything from them. Eventually, they’d make their way back to Haven colony and get all the education and support they needed. For now, she was all they had.
They deserved better.
They asked her questions while they walked the decks of theGambit. They wanted to know about Haven and the beings who lived there. She’d told them about the colonists, both the Vardarians and the cyborgs, and how the two groups were blending into one. That led her to tell them the story of how her daughter had met her Vardarian mates.
“So this has happened before?” Kalan had asked as they made their way back to the main level. “Between our species and yours?”
“Thesharhal? Yes. When Archer mentioned the event that resulted in chaos and Dynamex losing a planet? That happened the first time our species made contact. The human involved is named Phaedra, and she lives on Liberty with hermahoyenandtheir daughter. One of her mates is the leader of the colony and a member of the royal family. His sister is the empress.”
“Empress Neha’s brother rules this colony?” Fyr’enth asked.
She noted that they knew about the Vardarian empress but nothing about the colony. Someone had carefully controlled what they knew, and that was never a good thing.
“One of the leaders, yes. There’s a ruling council with representatives from every species. They just had their first elections to select more members. A few stepped down, and other spaces were created to make sure everyone has an equal voice.”
“That sounds fair and reasonable.” Kalan scowled. “Which is not something I expected from members of the royal family.”
And there it was. Hezza stopped and turned to face the two males. “I hate to say this, but I think you need to question a lot of what you’ve been told. The Vardarian empire is far from perfect, but I know the prince personally, and he’s a good, decent male who cares deeply about the colony and everyone in it. From what I’ve heard, his sister is less open-minded, but she’s not some evil tyrant. Since we’re on the topic of trustworthiness, what were you told about the corporations?”
They answered in perfect sync, their delivery so perfect it gave her chills. “The corporations are the caretakers of human-occupied space. They improve the lives of the citizens while ensuring prosperity for all.”
Then Kalan snickered. “Or that’s what we’re supposed to think. We’ve viewed enough vids and books to know the truth. They’re greedy, soulless,bakaffaswith no interest in improving anything but their bottom line.”
Relief washed over her. They needed more information, but they weren’t brainwashed. “You scared me for a moment there. Yeah, you’ve got it right. Though not all of them are complete assholes. A lot of them are run by beings like our friend Barrios.They focus on following the rules and keeping things nice and tidy. They’re happy to slap a coat of paint on top of all the suffering and shit and call it a day.”
They reached their final destination in comfortable silence. They were probably processing everything that had happened today. She wasn’t talking because it took too much effort. All she wanted was a hot shower and a cup of cocoa with marshmallows. Instead, she planned to take a cold shower and down a dangerously large mug ofja’kreesh.
That should be enough to snap her out of her lust-fueled fugue. She wouldn’t sleep for a day or so, but that was fine. She had to stay up for the next nineteen or so hours, anyway. She’d rest once she was sure they were safe.
