Rhea heard the thud of hard soles on the laminate floor.
Mayor Grandas appeared. He was accompanied by two robots.
“Disable recording,” he told the robots.
The machines nodded.
The mayor was dressed in his usual expensive-looking, perfectly fitted suit. His well-groomed black beard seemed shaved a little shorter, while his hair was longer, though still combed backward and impeccably coiffed. His too smooth, flawless features reminded her of a cyborg’s—or a man who had undergone rejuvenatics a little too often.
“You’re free to go,” Grandas announced as the bars slid aside. “I had them release you on a technicality.”
Rhea raised an eyebrow. “Oh really. Well, I’ll take it.” She stood.
“Yes, because technically, you didn’t harbor a concealed weapon,” Grandas continued. “It was hidden inside your body. So in essence, your body was the weapon. And that’s hardly concealable.”
“That’s the same as open carry, isn’t it?” Rhea asked.
“Not really,” he replied. “But that’s where the technicality comes into play. Body parts and AR goggles are the only electronics devices allowed. Since your body was the actual weapon, and the robot sentries authorized your entry, they essentially granted their seal of approval for the ingress of a deadly weapon.”
“I have a feeling the laws are going to be changed shortly…” Rhea said.
“There’s actually a law already in place regarding the concealment of weapons inside one’s body,” the mayor admitted. “But again, the onus is on the security guards to detect it. Besides, you didn’t harm anyone, except the cyborg sent to kill you; indeed, you wouldn’t have used your weapons at all if the attack hadn’t occurred. Since intent plays a big factor, it wasn’t difficult for me to convince the judge to let you off.”
“So, we just had a trial we weren’t a part of…” Will interjected.
Grandas shrugged. “It happens more often than you realize. We’re working on judicial reform, but it’s a slow process. Though I admit, the current system was useful for jailing the councilors who helped plan the bioweapon attack against Rust Town. We’ve begun paying reparations to the settlers for that attack, by the way.”
Rhea nodded. “Renaldo filled me in. Every bit of money helps.”
The mayor bowed his head, interpreting her words as a thank you.
“He also mentioned that you were doing it mostly to win votes in the coming election,” Rhea finished.
The mayor shot Renaldo a dark look and the Wardenite shifted uncomfortably beneath that gaze.
Finally, Grandas sighed. “I’d be lying if I claimed my intentions in the matter were completely humanitarian.” He paused. “You know, you could have asked me to help you with whatever it is you needed to do in that parliament building.”
“You did help us,” Rhea said. “By granting us the tour in the first place.”
“It was something illegal, wasn’t it?” Grandas said.
Rhea didn’t answer.
Grandas smiled nonchalantly. “Well. I just hope you don’t get yourself into trouble deeper than you can handle.”
“Who me?” Rhea asked innocently.
The mayor turned to go.
“What about my Ban’Shar?” Rhea pressed.
The mayor paused. “Oh. You mean these?”
He reached into his pocket and retrieved the pair of knuckles. He dropped them into her extended hand.
“Thank you,” she said.
“How did you conceal these inside your body, by the way?” he asked, his gaze drifting to her torso as if searching for hidden panels. Or perhaps using it as an excuse to admire her lithe figure.
She shrugged. “I didn’t conceal them. I simply used my womanly charms.”
He smiled, returning his eyes to hers. “I’m sure you did. Well, cyborgs have all sorts of hidden chambers in their bodies, so I suppose it’s not surprising. This is why robot and cyborg visitors are usually denied entry to the parliament, even among diplomats. Either way, I suggest you hide them the same way on your return trip. Otherwise, they’re likely to be confiscated, either here, or on the city streets: they’ve been entered into the database of disallowed weapons.”
“Noted.” She glanced at Will and Horatio.
The pair stood in front of her to shield her from the mayor and his robot companions. At the same time, Renaldo stood up to block the security camera in the cell. Rhea had the nano machines prepare the compartments in her thighs, and when the slits appeared, she stuffed them inside, and the armor sealed.
“Well then, my merry men, let’s be off,” she said.
“I’m not a man,” Horatio said, sounding miffed.
The mayor smiled knowingly. “Good luck to you, whatever you plan. I have a feeling you’ll need it.”
Rhea sat in the conference room of her headquarters in Rust Town. Renaldo, Miles, Brinks, Jairlin, Horatio, and Will were present. DragonHunter was also present, joining the conference in person, rather than via his usual remote hologram.
Now that she was away from prying eyes, and in the company of her most loyal, faithful men, she reached behind her with the stump of her hand and rested it on the wall of the cargo container. She willed the nano machines to emerge, and tiny vents opened in the skin-like alloy of her forearm. The machines crawled out, skittering across her stump like ants until they reached the wall. At that point they dispersed, burrowing into the metal surface, cutting out the shape of a handprint in the process. A soft sound, halfway between a chitter and a tinkle, emitted from the wall as the nano machines worked: they were smelting and reforming the metal, creating internal circuitry and servomotors while at the same time continuing to extrude the base handprint, shaping it in three dimensions. Her stump gently moved away from the wall as a wrist formed underneath, along with a section of her forearm that was missing.
It took a minute or so until she had a fully formed hand, which appeared to be embedded in the wall. She could wiggle the fingers and thumb and feel the cold metal surface of the cargo container underneath, but when she tried to pull the hand free, she could not: it was still attached somewhere at the palm. So she waited.
She heard
