Page 4 of Her Alien Cyborgs
“We’re alive,” he reminded his clone. While they were almost identical in appearance, their personalities differed. He was the quieter of the two while Kalan seemed to thrive on conflict. Since they’d been together from the moment they’d left their maturation vats, it had to be something in their behavior programming. Not that either of them understood exactly what had been done to them. All they knew was what they’d been told or managed to glean from overheard conversations.
Kalan grunted as he pushed off from the wall and righted himself. “Alive, yes. Also bored, hungry, and bored. Yes, I said it twice.” He raised his voice to a shout. “Because I’m bored!”
Fyr’enth got to his feet too. There wasn’t much point in continuing to exercise. Their nanotech would keep them in peak shape even if they did nothing but eat and sleep all day. He knew that because it had been one of the few experiments he’d endured that hadn’t involved some form of torture.
“Remember the time they made us do nothing but eat and lie around for two…”
The rest of his sentence was cut off by the blare of alarms.
“What thefraxx?” Kalan sent through their implants.
“No idea,” he sent back. “But it’s not a fire drill.” They’d heard that alarm every month. This was something different, and different usually meant trouble.
He dealt with the noise by decreasing the sensitivity of his hearing. The sonic bombardment continued for ninety seconds before finally ending. The lights continued to strobe, so whatever the problem, it wasn’t resolved.
Kalan paced like a caged animal, his agitation obvious. Fyr’enth felt the same way, but he remained still and waited.
A few minutes later, they both heard the buzz of the security hatch activating. Kalan pivoted to face the sound, his entire body tensed with anticipation.
Fyr’enth stayed where he was. Why waste energy? The door was locked, the bars still as solid as they’d been a moment ago. Whoever it was, they were still in control.
For now.
The footfalls were soft and hesitant, giving away their visitor’s identity before they took more than a few steps.
“Hello, Ansari. Why are you here?” he asked.
“Hello.” The female’s voice was as soft as her footsteps. “I can’t stay long. Things are happening out there, but I needed to do this.”
“Do what?” Kalan stood at the bars, his gaze locked on the Pheran female. She was the only one of her species on the research station, and her duties were unknown. She wasn’t a technician or one of the medical staff. She came around only occasionally, usually with food or some kind of entertainment for them.
Her wide silver eyes were bright with fear. “Someone’s coming here. To Orio Station. We’ve been ordered to leave. They’re destroying the files right now.” She raised one blue-furred hand, palm up, to show them a data stick. “But I have this. It’s all I could get, but it should help.”
“Help with what? Who’s coming?” As far as he could tell, she spoke the truth. Nothing in her body language or even micro-expressions indicated otherwise. The lack of details was annoying but no reason not to believe her.
“Interstellar Armed Forces. That’s what I heard anyway. No one knows for sure. We’re abandoning the station. There’s no time for the other contingency plans. The ships are almost here already.”
She glanced back toward the door. “I have to go. Please understand that I never wanted to be part of this. They bought my contract…”
Fyr’enth sensed she was about to bolt. “You have always been kind to us. Thank you for that.”
Kalan reached through the bars, his hand open. “Give that to me and go. You don’t want to be left behind.”
Tears glittered in her eyes as she moved closer. “I do, though, but if I tried...” She shook her head. “I don’t want to die, either.”
She tossed the data stick to Kalan. “Live well. I wish I had done more.”
She turned and fled, but not before he saw her tears. Were they for herself? For them? He didn’t know. He didn’t understand what she’d meant, either. Live well. What did that mean?
He was still mulling everything over when Kalan broke the silence. “I got to say, that was not what I expected.” He held up the data stick. “Tears, kind words, and a goodbye gift from the only being on this station I don’t want to kill.”
“What do you think is on that?” he asked.
“Evidence,” Kalan said, his voice flat. “Hopefully, it includes an explanation of what thefraxxthey did to us. Maybe some of it can be undone.”
“Like the behavior mods?”
Kalan nodded. “Yeah. It would be nice to know that I’m making my own choices instead of some decision-making matrix they hard-coded into my head.”
