Eric chuckled genuinely for the first time as he looked Peyton’s way. It was sort of fun to see a woman ruffling Nero’s feathers so thoroughly. “That’s a pretty mild insult compared to the ones she’s thrown at him. My Hindi program already covered swearing and other localizations. Aja was pretty brutal. But from the captive stories they’ve both told me, there are good reasons for both of them to be as defensive as they are.”
He saw Peyton nod, but his former captain kept his gaze steady on the travel zone out the windshield. Eric turned to look at Lucy again.
“They told me some stories about Lucy as well. What scientists and the military did to her cybernetically during the war was something similar to what they did to King. But turning her into a walking bomb was nothing compared to what she has endured since. When the coding kept failing with the women, they just kept right on tweaking anyway. Aja, Meara, and Lucy are the only three that survived the continuous torture—if you call Lucy’s catatonic state survival.”
“All three of the females have forced neural pathways installed in their brains,” Kyra said tiredly, turning to glance back at their latest subject. “The technology is a bit like old fashioned fiber optics. While the pathways can only carry a small amount of data, the big plus is that they aren’t affected by many weapons. Those pathways are the ones carrying the New World Companion code from their secondary processors. Since they can’t be removed without causing major brain damage, Nero sealed off Corporal MacDonald’s and Corporal Kapur’s. Unfortunately, Captain Pennington’s are damaged and unable to be sealed. In all likelihood, those damaged pathways were what caused the mental meltdowns she had in her cell.”
Eric nodded. “Do you think that damage is a result of her head injuries?” His question prompted a strange look to pass between Peyton and Kyra. “What? What was that look for?”
Kyra sighed and looked out the window again. “All indications are that her head injuries were self-inflicted. My guess is the real Captain Pennington was taking drastic measures to stop Bradley Smith and Jackson Channing from doing their experiments. She could never quite constrain her outbursts long enough for us to logically discuss her violent tendencies.”
Eric’s jaw tightened. “Aja and Meara said she saved them. Lucy apparently broke through her programming, despite all that was done to her, and attempted to escape all the time. That’s the real Lucy. That’s the one that needs saving.”
Complete silence followed his speech and it made him nervous. Kyra finally turned around in her seat to look at him.
“We’ve been able to run some diagnostic neural tests while she’s running the New World Companion code. Because of her extensive head damage, not only is the companion code corrupted, most of Captain Pennington’s regular cyborg programming fails initialization. Half of what initializes doesn’t function correctly or consistently. Whole chips are inaccessible to her processor. A complete replacement of all cybernetics will be necessary for any level of genuine restoration. If we do attempt to do it, Captain Pennington may come out of it a vegetable at worst or a blank stranger at best. She will never be herself again.”
Eric crossed his arms. “I don’t accept that prognosis. King came out of a complete cybernetic overhaul and he was mostly himself. Maybe he didn’t keep his memories of Seetha from before that time, but he was able to rebuild experiences from collected data combined with new memories. And he eventually remembered his unit and all the men who served with us. The real Lucille Pennington is still in her body somewhere, Kyra. The woman is a survivor. I believe she’s going to survive this too.”
Kyra nodded, but didn’t respond to his optimism. She just turned back around and resumed staring.
Eric reached out and put his hand over Lucy’s. He did believe she was in there and that on some level she knew he was waiting for her to wake up.
***
Nero’s gaze shifted to Aja Kapur’s legs encased in the black leggings he’d found in the closet. Every time she moved in the seat beside him, he nearly panted like a dog. She disturbed his equilibrium and distracted him from spending their travel time contemplating the fate of her former captain.
There was no future in his interest in Aja though, no matter how compelling his attraction. For one, she detested him. For another, she lacked a civil tongue. He would not make the same mistake as Kyra and get too interested in one of his projects. He needed to maintain his objectivity to be useful. Look at the fight Kyra and Peyton had just had about attempting Captain Pennington’s restoration. Her reasoning was far different than a cyborg’s could ever be.
Nero pulled his gaze away and put it on the windshield of his airjet. His other troublesome passenger had squeezed herself into the small storage area behind the seats. Meara couldn’t possibly be comfortable in what was barely big enough to be called storage space, but she was at least sitting still and not causing him grief.
He had noticed Meara’s attention seemed solely focused on the portable com he’d given her. On some level, he would have liked to know what she was reading so closely and regretted not programming the device to send him a record of her searches. On another level, it was probably best he not try to understand. The more he talked with Meara, the more he realized he might have underestimated her mental capacity. Certainly the woman wasn’t wired like other cyborgs, which made her an anomaly. Yet she was far more intelligent than she sounded talking about inane things.
Neither of the female cyborgs were comfortable company, regardless of what training the New World Companion code had given them. These two seem to have thwarted the worst of that burden long before he permanently disconnected them from its control.
“You’re squirming in your seat, Dr. Bastion. Does our silence make you nervous… or afraid?”
Aja turned from the window to look into brown eyes so dark they were nearly black. She had used his real name just to see how upset it would make him.
“Nervous? Yes,” Nero admitted. “But afraid of you? No. It’s just that I prefer the quiet and have been appreciative of it for the majority of our trip.”
“I could make you afraid of me very easily—if I wanted to,” Aja warned softly.
“Oh, stop taunting the man, Aja. You promised Eric you would behave,” Meara chastised.
“I know what I promised the captain’s guard dog. Mind your own business and read, Irish.”
Aja issued the order, not about to let Meara break up her staring contest. Nero’s defiant gaze meeting hers had her crossing her legs at the ankles and putting her knees together before she could stop herself. Masculine amusement flickered in his eyes when he noticed her reaction, but just as quickly left them.
Men lusting for her typically drew instant loathing as a response. Her unwelcome awareness of the arrogant cyber scientist did nothing but irritate her. The feeling only grew when she remembered what his kind had subjected her to over the years.
“I can’t remember the last time I hated someone so instantly on sight,” Aja said sharply.
“I can’t remember the last time I regretted restoring a cyber soldier… because I never have before you,” Nero answered just as harshly.
Then he sighed at the fight brewing between him and his closest passenger. An angry debate was exactly what she wanted from him. Why could he not resist giving it to her?
“Look… we are only twenty minutes from our destination. Please resume your silence for that small span of time. My mind is distracted enough as it is. I should be thinking of Captain Pennington’s situation instead of looking at you.”
Nero heard laughter behind him at the same time Aja’s accusing gaze swept back to his. Meara’s amusement over his admission was irritating, but Aja’s anger ignited a more passionate response.
“That is not to say I find your legs distracting, Corporal Kapur. This is a small space. My gaze has to go somewhere. I couldn’t help noticing you were wearing the clothes I picked out and well… I am glad they fit you so well. That’s all. Nothing more than that.”
Aja snorted and turned away to the window, swearing softly in Hindi. Nero winced at how silly he had sounded explaining himself.
Rolling his eyes at his pathetically male reactions to both women, he forced his attention back to the fly zone out the windshield. Why had he been uncomfortable with their silence in the first place? He should have counted his blessings. Yes, he should have, and yet he had not.
He had been glad to hear Aja finally speak to him even when it was nothing more than an angry taunt. His contrariness gave him one more large reason to be agitated with the whole situation.
Nero increased the airjet’s speed wanting to get all of them on the ground as quickly as possible. Instinct had him wanting to put as much distance as possible between him and the smart-mouthed women he’d restored.
If Kyra knew what he’d been thinking about Aja Kapur, she would have accused him of having sexist thoughts. But seriously… how could he not think gender played some sort of role? None of the male soldiers he’d dealt with had been half this much trouble.
***
As it turned out, Aja and Meara must have felt even more strongly about getting away from him than he did from them. Once out of the airjet, the women walked several feet away, scanning their surroundings and ignoring him completely in the process.
Feeling miffed by their actions for no logical reason he could explain to himself, Nero marched over to the guard.
“Greetings, Dr. Bastion.”
Nero nodded, glancing at the man’s shirt for his name. He could never remember them. He didn’t visit the facility often enough. Peyton and Kyra always came. “Greetings, Corporal Higgins.”
“Marcus 582 is inside the facility, sir. He said to make you aware of him when you arrived.”
“Thank you for relaying the information,” Nero said, nodding again. “Is the facility prepared for our incoming patient?”
He watched Higgins nod without hesitation. It eased a tension in him that he hadn’t been aware of feeling.
“Yes, sir. We were able to clear out a nearby room to make space for the operating chair Dr. Winters ordered to be placed there. Manual locks have been installed where applicable as per your instruction. Marcus 582 has the keys. They had to be fabricated from a new metal alloy that not even a cyborg can bend. Both the lock and the keys just arrived this morning by courier.”
Nero glanced over his shoulder and saw the women trading arm slaps and punches like a couple of pre-pubescent school boys. Fearing their squabbling would escalate into a real fight, he stalked over to them.
“Stop quarreling. What is the matter now?” he demanded, sounding very much like his father. Recognizing it made him snort as Meara turned a hot gaze to him.
“The bane of Shiva here doesn’t believe me, but I swear I’m picking up a bloody reboot signal for our primary processors. I got a shiver in my gut when it passed by a few moments ago. Thankfully, I didn’t feel the urge to do anything about it. I guess I’m beholden to yar work again.”
Nero frowned and pulled out a signal finder. He set it for a full sweep and spun in a circle. “I find nothing,” he reported, and saw Aja shove Meara hard.
“See? Even Dr. Cyberstein agrees with me. You’re over-reacting,” Aja declared.
Meara glared back and shoved Aja back even harder in return. “I’m telling ya—there’s a fecking signal being broadcast. If it reaches Captain Pennington, ya bloody well know what’s going to happen. It’s gonna flip her switch and may the gods save whoever is nearby.”
He decided promptly that Meara’s sincere insistence overrode his lack of data. There was no reason to keep taking chances.
Nero walked in a circle around the women while he contacted Peyton on his wrist com.
“Peyton here. What’s up Nero?”
“Corporal MacDonald seems to think there is a signal being broadcast that could potentially cause Captain Pennington to switch processors. I am unable to confirm it, but you should be on alert. Even a finger twitch could mean it is happening. The female cyborgs seem to have uncommon strength. I suggest you take additional precautions to secure Captain Pennington to the gurney.”
Nero stopped walking and looked directly at Aja, who was staring at him with narrowed eyes. He refused to let her disapproval prevent him from speaking his truth. “The females’ capabilities are not like those of the male soldiers. Their military protocols seem to have been designed primarily for stealth. This makes them unpredictable.”
“Acknowledged. We’ll take additional precautions. Eric is checking her tie-downs now.”
Nero said goodbye and signed off, starting to make his circle again. There was a tiny blip on the screen, nearly invisible to his gaze. In fact, it would have been very easy to have thought he imagined it if Meara hadn’t put him on alert.
He walked to Aja and grabbed her hand to put the device in it. “Here. I think I just picked up something, but it passed quickly. Walk around with this. Your enhanced eyesight will catch anomalies that mine might miss.”
He turned to Meara. “Tell us if you feel the signal again. Both of you should be immune now, but the urging to follow protocol can never be erased. From what I’ve seen, it either has to wear off over time or some strategy has to be developed by the human side of your mind. You will want to comply with it at first, but please remember you have the ability not to respond.”