It’s Esben. The saluqan’s accent carried over the transmission.
I know. But how are you talking to me?
Twobit figured out how to reconfigure the field modulation on the security barriers to act as a transmitter a while back.
Doug snarled into the empty room, more frustrated with himself than with the other cyborgs. He should’ve noticed someone messing with the shield frequency. Exactly how long have you been able to do this?
That’s not important now. I thought it was only fair to warn you that I’ll be stepping out of this cage as soon as the lab is empty.
Alarm filled Doug. Absolutely not. He peered through the security screen blocking his door and looked in on the lab. The lights were still on, but a lone tech was putting things away for the night. Dollard is already suspicious.
I know, but I need to access the galactic web. This is a matter of life or death.
Quickly hacking into the lab schedule, Doug verified that other than his upcoming system-by-system diagnostic, only routine testing was outlined for the cyborgs over the next few weeks. None of us are currently in danger. Wait a few days until security’s not so tight.
I’m not worried about us. It’s Tia.
Doug took a moment to connect the name to a Consort who’d been retired a few weeks ago. He’d never paid attention to what happened to the women when they left, only assumed they were released the same way prior test subjects had been—permanently. You’ve never cared about what happened to these women before, Doug said. Why are you looking into this one?
She was pregnant with my baby.
Doug narrowed his eyes. Esben was lying, and not very well. Humans and saluqans couldn’t naturally interbreed. This had to be a trap to get Doug to reveal his other secrets. Do you think I’m an idiot, Esben?
I know what you’re thinking, but it’s mine. I came from an illegal gene-splicing lab and have some human DNA. That’s why Dollard brought me into the program. He’s trying to isolate the saluqan sensitivity gene because it might help integrate the nanites into biological systems.
That gave Doug pause. He’d never looked into the other cyborg’s backstories because he didn’t want to form any attachments. It was hard enough knowing Benjy had a daughter, and he’d been covering for the man since they’d met; if Dollard knew how terrible Benjy was at hacking, he’d have cut the guy a long time ago.
Esben wasn’t a great hacker, either, but now his retention in the program made sense. Saluqans had a second sense about a person’s health, similar to the way cyber-sensitivity worked with computers. Which meant Esben could be telling the truth about the baby. Shit.
I think the bastard wants my kid, Esben continued. I need to get Tia to safety before she gives birth. I’m not trying to take over the ship or anything, I just need to pull some strings.
Doug rubbed the skin on his forehead where it merged against the metal plate. Keeping the baby out of Dollard’s hands was important, and not just because it was Esben’s kid. Since Dollard had tried to murder his sister and blame the pirates, Doug had sworn to do everything he could to throttle the doctor’s project.
Okay. But the baby’s not due for a while. We have time.
No, we don’t. Rust’s going to fuck everything up now that he knows how to get out. I need to move immediately.
Esben could be right. Rust might try to break out the moment he had the chance, and he wouldn’t stop at the lab’s computers. He’d try to bull his way to the bridge and take out as many Syndicorp personnel as he could along the way.
But cyborgs could be controlled. All Doug had to do was hack into Rust’s implants and lock him down. He’d never done it before, but he’d run through simulations enough times to be certain he could. I can stop him.
How?
He’s a cyborg. Doug didn’t need to say more. Esben would understand.
Silence permeated the connection before Esben asked, You can do more than just open doors, can’t you?
There was no more hiding the truth. I worked too hard on these algorithms to let Rust or anyone else blow it on something stupid. I’ll lock down every cyborg in the lab if I have to. Which wasn’t entirely true. He could, but it would take time to hack that many systems, and he certainly couldn’t do it all at once. Do not tell the others, or we may not be able to save Tia.
Just so you know, we can hear you, Twobit’s voice interjected.
Doug stiffened, kicking himself for being so careless. He should’ve verified this was a closed channel before speaking so freely. Fuck. All of you?
Just me and Brix, said Benjy. Emilryde and Rust don’t know about the communication hack.
I didn’t want to share it with you, either, Twobit added. But Esben insisted it was only fair.
Unable to fault them for keeping secrets after he’d kept so many of his own, Doug inspected the communication coding. Repurposing the energy from the security screen didn’t require complicated algorithms like his own hacks did. Ingenious use of the door shielding.
Not as elegant as your code, but it’s kept us from going insane. Humans aren’t meant to be isolated.
Saluqans, either, Esben said. Dammit, I wish that tech would go home. I want to get on those computers and look for Tia. Unlike Doug, Esben needed physical contact with a computer to use his cyber-sensitivity.
Doug glanced through the glowing security screen into the lab again. The tech had moved to another monitor and now studied the algorithm Doug had handed over. He’s not going anywhere tonight. Dollard wants a quick turnaround on an algorithm I gave them.
What the fuck? You wouldn’t share the door code with us, but you gave those assholes a new algorithm? Twobit accused.
Esben asked, What’d you give them?
This. Doug relayed the code. Dollard already had it, so sharing wouldn’t hurt. It’ll improve your hacking
