Cyberella: Preyfinders Universe (15 page)

Their plans for nonstop kinky sex came unstuck the next morning when Torgeir found a message from Dresdek saying he was returning with crew. The message had been sent the day before, while they were up on Horuk’s peak, screwing their brains out, it was merely an hour before he arrived at the door.

From the sounds, Dresdek had brought quite a number of people with him.

Ella sat on their bed, naked, sad at the interruption, and looking at her breasts in the mirror. Her nipples were distinctly red, as were her labia and her lips. She held up her breasts and stared downward. This was somehow both alarming and satisfying. She smiled to herself.

Flopping onto her back, she swore a few choice words. Torgeir had been kissing her and making those sexy threats he liked to make.

The door opened and he sneaked in sideways. “Best to get dressed. Dresdek is here, along with five others.” He sat beside her, making the mattress cave in and her fall into him – not that she minded. He took her hand. “I’ll introduce you. Already there’re ideas. We’ll be starting the repairs on
Finatar
today too. The longer we sit in port, the more money we lose. I’m sorry, Ella.”

“It’s fine.” She reached up to bring him down for a kiss. “I understand.”

“You won’t be coming when we leave, you know. I’m going to where there will be fighting.”

“Oh.”

“I’ll leave someone to look after you.”

Someone? Some stranger?

“Turn around.” Then pressed on her shoulders and she shifted so she sat on the bed facing away from him. “I want to do this.”

She felt him divide her hair into three at the back. Having his fingers running through her hair and over her scalp was divine and she sighed. “You know how to do this?”

“Long ago, when my sister was alive, I used to do her hair.”

“Okay,” she whispered. She sat while he pulled her hair across and formed the braid. Each tug on her hair relaxed her more. A last pull and the sound of elastic said he’d finished by slipping a tie over the very end of the braid.

“Done.”

His hands were on her shoulders again and she leaned back. “I think you melted my bones.

He laughed and kissed her hair. “Thank you for letting me. Come out when you’re ready.”

As she dressed in tights and a dark shirt, she wondered if she should tell Torgeir she’d come with him. But no, it wouldn’t work, and besides, she’d hate being near fighting...even if she was going to be scared to death he wouldn’t return.

The downside of being in love. Fear of losing them.

When she walked out they were gathered around Torgeir, listening. There was a woman in red leather-look tights and a white shirt, with a fancified rig of straps around her waist and back. She carried two pistols, a knife, and other small pieces of equipment she couldn’t recognize. Nephelle was her name. Her short, spiked, purple hair would challenge the sun for brightness and Dresdek had his hand on her ass. She kinked a brow at that. The others were all men. The names blurred. They translated into real words. Thorn. Riveter...were these nicknames? Ivan. Wow an Earth name. Grick?

Grick was huge and hairy, like a dark-haired Viking in space...with a cybernetic arm. No artificial skin, like she possessed. Another man, Thorn, had pure white, cinched-back hair and was skinny enough to make even her want to fatten him up.

Though they had a midday meal together and discussed plans in front of her, she was the odd one out. More like a pet parrot than a true equal. She guessed they knew she was Torgeir’s mate and that was that for her – relegated to mistress or wife status. She grew bored and, besides, they were going over to the ship to assess the structure and equipment. Ivan was a certified something or other to do with ship engineering and there were three more crew joining them on the ship, with up to fifty more to be recruited when the ship was ready to go.

“I’m renaming the
Finatar
,” Torgeir announced, as they all pushed back their seats and arose from the small dining table. “Her luck went sour when they kidnapped Ella. I want a new, luckier name.”

“
Warseeker
?” suggested Nephelle.

“Too aggressive. We may not always seek battle. I have ideas for trade also.” Torgeir looked around. “Other suggestions?”

“
Zeus
?”

They looked at her and she shrugged. “He’s a god from Earth mythology. King of the other gods and of the sky.

“A king of the sky? Not bad. I like that. We can vote on this before we take off.”

“There’s a job in the Raster system,” Grick said, scratching his beard. “Dresdek thought it sounded okay.”

“I’ll look into it.” Torgeir turned to her. “I may not be back tonight, Ella. Best if you stay indoors.”

“Oh?” She cocked her head. “If you’re off to the ship, I may as well investigate that matter I want clarified.” She figured he’d understand. “I’ve fended for myself up until now.”

Though he seemed disconcerted, a loud thump from near the door and Mimi sidling up gave Ella a new idea. Was this critter a mind reader?

“If I take Mimi, if she will come, will that make you happier? I promise I’ll stick to merchant booths near Horuk.”

His answer was hesitant. “I’m not sure anywhere here is safe as I’d like.”

If he insisted, would they have their first argument? “Could we, ummm, discuss this elsewhere?”

His jaw worked and his forehead wrinkled for a second before he shook his head. “No. You’re right. Take Mimi. She seems protective of you. Just remember she’s lethal little thing when she takes it into her mind to dislike someone.”

“
Uhhh
. What can I do if she dislikes someone I don’t want disliked?”

Dresdek chuckled and leaned back, thumping into his chair. He rubbed his bald head. “Pretend you don’t own her. She’ll do her vanishing act. Nobody here will figure out what the frack she is anyway.”

“What is she?” Nephelle ventured.

“A MeMoMi from Sicar. Memo-morphic metal,” Torgeir said. “If she jumps into your arms don’t try to catch her. She can weigh enough to punch a hole in steel if she chooses to. I also advise you don’t kick her for the same reason, unless you like broken toes. Now that’s settled. Grab your bags and let’s go.” He waited for them all to get to the door then came over and took her hands in his. “This is...” He inhaled heavily.

“Scary? Yes. I’m afraid for you too. If you’re going away without me at times, best if we get used to this.” Then she laid her head on his chest. “I’ll keep in touch with messaging.”

They wouldn’t get to him for ages once he left the system but it would make her feel less alone.

“Sure.” He hugged her, kissed her on the lips, and whispered, “Bye.”

When he left the room was more than empty. It was bereft. Torgeir had become her everything.

They’d had breakfast earlier. After wandering about in an aimless fashion for a half hour, Ella decided she should do what she’d promised to do – seek out someone to help her find out about herself and also try to figure out some sort of employment path. She didn’t want to rely on Torgeir for her upkeep, didn’t want to just be a hanger-on, siphoning off his money.

Mimi was waiting by the door, when she emerged from the bedroom with her back pack on her shoulder. Torgeir would expect her to go armed and she wasn’t silly enough not to do that anyway. A pistol he’d left her and a knife were holstered and strapped to her waist belt. She had money, her universal comm, and a sandwich and water bottle.

Whereas before, Mimi had found her own way, this time she followed Ella every step of the way, including down the drop of the hoverflow shaft. That she hadn’t overcome the mechanism and plummeted like the stone she was, that she instead turned into some floaty wide Frisbee shape and fell at the same speed as Ella...it left her open mouthed for a few seconds.

At least it took her mind off the drop.

She hitched the pack higher and beckoned with her chin. “Come on you freaky thing.” As she walked down the broad stairs they next encountered, she added, “If I knew what you ate, like a bunch of stalagmites or something, I’d get you a treat, Mimi.”

A man beside her in the stream of people gave her an odd look. She shrugged and pointed at the boisterous critter. “Pet rock.”

Mimi kept on sliding, hopping, and galumphing down steps. Every so often someone would squeak and jump aside as they found out she wasn’t at all soft and fluffy. The easiest place to walk, Ella decided, was in her wake. It made for a fast trip to the ground floor foyer.

The same woman with the long prehensile metal finger nodded to them as they went past. Memory like an elephant? Or had Torgeir paid her to watch for Ella?

The crowd was as dense as ever, the pavement as cracked, the piles of poop from someone’s small pet or a stray, were as infrequent but icky. She ended up circling the base of Horuk looking for the boy. There were other booths with hackers but most were priced beyond what she thought sensible or the men or women made her feel as if she were merely a mark, a source of money.

She bought a stick of some fried, unknown meat and continued onward.

On her second visit to the main entry she’d used, she found a red-headed man standing in Plito’s place with a similar sign to the boy’s. While she studied him, the man turned and saw her.

“Need help, love? I can solve most of your AI problems in an hour’s work.” His smile was gap-toothed, his eyes beady.

“Do you know Plito?”

“Sorry. Never heard of him.”

Yet the pile of hoverboards at his feet had the same stickers.

“Okay, Thank you.”

With no other idea as to his whereabouts, Ella wandered into the crowd. Her feet were aching already. An elderly fruit seller hailed her, his purple eyes mesmerizing her until she blinked, He promised the juiciest fruit in the ’verse and gestured flamboyantly at his small cartload of something resembling red apples. The prices were astronomical but people were buying one here, one there, then cuddling them like precious stones.

“Wherever did he grow those? If there are no orchards, no trees?” she wondered to herself.

A young girl beside her piped up. “Some of ’em have growing lots on the tops of scrapers. Or at the top of Horuk even. Then there’s the big hydroponics growers.” She sneaked a look at Ella from under her swaying brown hair.

Scrapers would be skyscrapers. “Ohh. Clever.”

“You looking for Plito?” She wiped her hands on her faded dress and her tights. The girl couldn’t be more than eleven. “I can show you where he is.”

“Sure!”

“For a price. Two units.”

Ella smiled. Sensible. “Of course. Half first.”

“’Kay. You don’t want that other dreg. He stole Plito’s spot and hasn’t half a clue. I’m Ange. This way.”

She followed the girl deep into the crowd then realized they were veering away from Horuk. Her promise to Torgeir stretched thin then thinner, the further they went, until she was so far away she counted it broken.

“Damn.” But she kept following through the street that was a cross between a pedestrian and a vehicle thoroughfare. The vehicles were a mix of gleaming and dirty but none of them moved fast. Something made her want to meet this boy. “Is he good at hacking?”

“Plito?” Ange waggled her head as she walked. “Good enough, they say. But if he doesn’t work he’ll fall away. You got to keep up or you’re dead as shit.”

Well, that saying she got.

The street underfoot became crunchy. Tiny metal parts were strewn everywhere – circuits, screws, micro-piston sheaths, and shreds of curled metal. Ahead was a metal fence, twice head height, that ran from left to right as far as she could see.

“Through there. He’s in there.” Ange pointed then held out her hand for payment.

Ella edged over until she could see though the gate. A sign above, in blue on white, read
DUMP
. In the distance, Plito sat in his cart half-way up a small mountain of discarded metal. “Thank you.” She paid the girl then went through the gate. A battered robot gatekeeper waved her through.

Luckily she’d worn boots today. The enormous rubbish heap was made up of old cybernetic parts, everything from the tiniest gleaming fingers and thumbs to corroded eyeballs. There were even whole limbs with bio cables and neurocyber links dangling loose and no doubt being damaged by the weather each and every day. Far to her left, roars of engines and crunches marked where huge machines were scooping up the parts and driving away with them.

Ella trudged slowly up the slope to Plito. He was reaching down and examining pieces close-up, next to his eye. She guessed he had a built-in magnifier. Most parts he threw away but some he kept and placed in his cart. With his spindly metal legs he was about at her level. Up close, the legs resembled long snake skeletons.

“Hello! Are you still for hire? For hacking?”

“I know you. The girl at the entrance to Horuk?”

“Yes. I’m Ella.”

He regarded her a moment. Half his head of yellow, as in
bright
yellow hair was shaved short, the other half provided enough long strands that he could look out through them, if he bent forward as he was doing. “I still hack. Even though the dickflopper took my spot, I hack. I share a shop with two others.

“Dickflopper?” Ella couldn’t help snorting. “I saw him.”

“And you didn’t use him? Good. You got smarts. What is it you want done?” Plito resumed picking over the heap.

Asking him about her past seemed jumping in too fast. Why not test him? “I have a sort of a body code.” She shrugged. What had Torgeir called it? “It’s uncrackable.” She made air commas. “Encrypted. On my cells and stuff.”

He focused on her, his eyes widening. “You have a slave code on you?
Kak.
You’re kakked. If your master knows you’re doing this...”

Oh shit.
“No! I have no master. The man who put it there.” How did she put this? “We’re bondmated. I swear I’m free. Swear it on...on my heart, on all the expensive cyber shit we’re standing on. Hell, this place must be a goldmine. They let you just take stuff?”

At that Plito broke out laughing, doubling over. “Oh no. No!” He snorted. “Tell me you didn’t say that. This stuff is mostly rubbish to be melted down.”