“Hey! My mom resembles that remark!” the human threw back as Zero left the bridge.
He was still uplinked to the ship’s computer, enough to monitor most of what was going on, so it didn’t matter exactly where he was onboard. He couldn’t control everything, though… the reason he needed to track Eris down himself… and again that feeling of something wrong with his onboard assaulted him.
No, not wrong…
He frowned as a new fragment of information emerged from the shattered mess of his long-term memories… the place that the nightmare came from. His onboard was functioning correctly, but it just wasn’t the right type for controlling a whole ship all by himself. He wasn’t built for that, his specialty was…
And the knowledge slipped away again. He hissed in frustration. He’d almost had it then—so close he could practically taste it.
The frustration disappeared in a heartbeat as he turned the corner and spotted Eris. His immediate reaction was to smile, pleasure to see her rolling through him. But then his expression fell flat as he saw the way she was clinging to the wall. She had a look of pain on her face, and something seemed to be wrong with her leg.
“Shit. Sweetheart, what happened?”
He was across the space that separated them in a heartbeat to sweep her up in his arms. If she’d been injured because of him—because she hadn’t been strapped in when they took off—he’d never forgive himself.
She didn’t complain, though tears pooled in her eyes as she curled up trustingly against his chest. His heart, both organic and cybernetic, stopped at those tears. Eris Archer was a strong woman… to see her so broken was a shock to the system.
“Please,” she whispered against his neck. “Get me to medbay.”
7
“What happened? Did you fall… shit, was it during acceleration? Oh fuck, sweetheart, I am so sorry. I should have waited until I knew you were secure.”
The self-recrimination in Zero’s voice almost broke her heart as the big cyborg gathered her into his arms and practically ran toward the medbay. She clung to him, hiding her face against the strong column of his throat, and prayed for the strength to get it together before they reached their destination.
“We’re here. Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be okay,” he promised her, laying her down on the examination bed in the middle and then looking around at the equipment. For the first time since she’d known him, he looked lost… bewildered.
“Fuck! I need Talent.”
She shook her head, pointing to the medication cabinet. “Nope. You don’t need special skills or to be a doctor. Just get me some painkillers and a neuro-stim; they should be in there.”
Her voice tightened as a wave of agony washed up over her, her abused nervous system letting her know there was a problem. Like a baby, it didn’t have words, so screaming was its only option. If she could just get the pain to dull down a little, she could think and then try and figure out what to do.
“No. I mean… Talent’s the Warborne’s doc,” he explained, shoving a hand through his close-cropped hair.
“Meds!” she hissed to remind him.
“Oh shit, yeah. On it.” His voice was clipped as he practically tore the door off the medication cabinet and located what she needed.
“Terran is a fucking awful language,” he told her as he returned. “But thankfully simple. Interfacing with the medical systems now.”
“You do that, handsome,” she nodded, grabbing the medication from his outstretched hand. Ripping the lids off, she jammed the injectors against her neck and sighed in relief as the high-strength drugs hit her system. The stim worked through her body, her abused nervous system flaring to life. She hissed and gritted her teeth to ride the wave out.
Zero stood next to her, his large hand enveloping hers and his expression concerned. But his eyes were slightly unfocused for a few seconds before they snapped back, and he looked at her.
“I need to do a full scan,” he told her, letting go of her hand. “We need to see what kind of damage we’re looking at and then treat you.”
As he stepped away, she reached out and grabbed his hand.
“There’s no need,” she told him desperately.
The last thing she wanted was to appear weak in front of him. And yeah… Well, what guy would want to stick around for a crippled woman? Once he knew, she wouldn’t see him for dust… or worse, she’d see the same kind of pity in his eyes she saw in every medic and doctor when they figured out what had happened to her.
“It’s fine. I read the manual.” He patted her hand in reassurance. “The scans are perfectly safe. I promise.”
As much as she tried to keep him with her, he easily disengaged his hand and stepped away. Sighing, she dropped her head back and closed her eyes. The familiar hum of the scanner filled the air.
“You…” Surprise colored Zero’s deep voice. “You have implants?”
She opened her eyes to stare at the ceiling squares above. “Yup. All tank operators do. Sixteen implants with a full neural net to interface with our suits.”
“Uh-huh. I can see them. The technology is crude.” His voice rang with disgust. “Fucking assholes shouldn’t have messed with things they didn’t understand.”
Anger rose. “Fuck off, my implants are…” were “cutting edge. And what would you know about it anyway?” she demanded.
A metal hand appeared in her field of vision, and the fingers wiggled.
“Wanna rephrase that?”
She hissed. Asshole. “Okay, they were cutting edge for humanity. I’m assuming your fancy-dancy alien technology is far better.”
He grumbled in the back of his throat. “It wouldn’t damage the host like this for sure. Shit, your right leg is toast. I’m surprised it didn’t cook the limb. Your left leg isn’t much better.”
“Yeah… I know. They said my next mission would be my last.” She closed her eyes, refusing to allow the tears to stream down her cheeks. He knew now. Knew the damage
