Page 55 of Bred

I cannot believe she is truly here with me. She is everything I remembered, but even more so. It is as if the brakes have been taken off her personality, and everything that ever made her herself is emphasized. I thought the creature had taken her away, but now I am beginning to think that it has returned her full force in an even purer form.

I am lucky. There are forces at work in the universe I will never understand, and many of them must have conspired to bring Lyra to me. This is no mere coincidence. This is the power of what some cultures call fate. Whatever it is, I will not tempt it. She has somehow been brought to me twice, I won’t ever be so reckless as to test these forces a third time. I’m keeping her.

“I like you too,” I say gruffly as she emerges from the shower and is dried by the air convection system. “Let’s get you something to wear.”

“Skin tight,” she notes as she pulls up the suit that fits her so well.

“Mhm.”

“Almost perverted,” she grins, as if that’s a good thing.

“Almost,” I agree, ushering her from the bedroom. I’ve kept her to myself for a day, but I know Shank is eager to see her, even if he’d never lower himself to admit it. Luca does not even know she is back. He put himself into suspension after she was sent back to Earth and we have not brought him out of it.

I take her into my quarters and get something for her to eat. Her preferences are still programmed into the system. We never deleted anything to do with her. I’ve seen plenty of crew eating the meals she inputted; it’s been a way of keeping her memory alive, even if it turns out she doesn’t have one.

“This is human food!”

“Your favorite, right?”

“Right,” she agrees, grabbing one of her fried potato sticks. “You know, this is proof I really was here.”

It must be difficult for her to adjust to this new world of relationships she cannot remember, but she is approaching it with a trusting ease that tells me the memories can’t have been erased completely.

“Are you ready to meet someone else for the second time?”

“Sure,” she nods, sipping at her milkshake.

I tap my communicator. “Shank, report to my quarter...”

I barely get the last part of the word out before he steps through the outer doors. He’s trying his very best not to look eager, but the stoic expression on his face is belied by the glow in his eyes as he sees Lyra sitting there.

“Hi,” she waves, moments before her eyes widen.

* * *

Lyra

This man radiates control and power, along with a bright silver from his eyes that distracts me from the much more pressing matter of odd anatomy.

“Whoa! You have four fucking arms!”

“An astute observation,” the silver-eyed man says dryly. He looks over my head at the sharp-faced captain. “Am I to take it that there has been memory loss?”

“Yes. But no attitude loss, in fact, I think the attitude might be even worse to compensate for it.”

“You have four arms,” I repeat. “Four!”

“Some kind of cognitive decline too?” He directs the question to Talon again.

“I don’t think so, but I do think the filter isn’t what it was.”

They’re talking about me like I’m a car, or a widget, something non-sentient that doesn’t mind if you discuss it right in front of its own face.

“Hey! I’m here!”

“I’m acutely aware of that.”

I turn to Talon, confused. “I thought this guy liked me?”

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