He nodded as she stepped out, still looking over her shoulder at him. She nearly crashed into two men waiting to board, and the men stepped back to avoid her. Seizing the opportunity, Doug commanded the doors closed before anyone else could step through.
Relieved to finally be alone, he directed the car downward and retraced his and Attie’s earlier path. After an hour waiting in the cramped service tunnel for the guards to change shifts, he hurried across the hall into the Consort Chamber.
Claudia looked up at his entrance from where she lounged in an alcove. The book she’d been reading fell slack in her lap as she gaped at him. “Where did you come from?”
Doug froze mid-step. He’d forgotten her entirely. I promised to get her out. Perhaps he could put her and Attie on the shuttle together, then Attie wouldn’t feel so alone. Plus, Claudia would give the mate-seeking Denaidans someone besides Attie to seduce. The mere thought of another man touching Attie made Doug want to tear through a bulkhead.
“Are the others coming, too?” Claudia cringed back against her lounge chair.
He realized he not only hadn’t replied to her first question, but was glowering her direction. He wasn’t used to having illogical thoughts, much less feelings, and everything he felt about Attie Swan was illogical. Focus on the things you can do. Like free Claudia. He directed his nanites to control his rising blood pressure and opened his hands in a gesture of goodwill.
“Do you wish to leave here?” he asked.
“Is Attie…” Claudia’s gaze fluttered to the door he’d come through. “Did you help her escape?”
“Yes.” He stepped closer. “If you want to leave, I can help you, too.”
She licked her lips and glanced at the book in her lap. “Would I still get paid? I don’t have anywhere else to go.”
His chest felt tight. He knew that sense of helplessness. Of being trapped into doing something just to survive. He quickly checked her file, noting she’d come from a brothel on one of Alleigh’s moons and been recommended to the program by Admiral Olly himself. Beyond that, she had no information he could find, but that wasn’t surprising—plenty of slum rats were born without records. “I’ll ensure you have money. But you must tell no one of your time here.”
She closed the book and set it aside. “If I’m still getting paid, then hell yeah, get me out of here.”
It was a mercenary response, but he understood where it came from. He’d grown up among people like Claudia. As long as the money kept coming in, she’d be reliable. “Good. I’ll contact you during the next shift change with instructions.” He turned toward the door to the lab. “Be ready to move immediately.”
She nodded as she watched him pass by.
Once in the lab, he hurried toward his cell, running a critical eye over everything as he moved between the stainless steel exam tables. The broken test tubes had been cleaned up along with Brix’s blood. The computers had been shut down. All the cell doors were covered by glittering security shields, and he could see the forms of the other cyborgs inside.
Stepping into his own cell, he reengaged the security shield barring his door and released a calming breath. He’d been out of the lab and returned with no one the wiser, something he’d considered impossible. The familiar gray walls of his room made him feel as if he’d returned to a nightmare between sweet dreams. The varied sights and sensations he’d experienced outside the lab had reminded him that not everything existed as bytes of information. As much virtual freedom as his nanites allowed him, they couldn’t replace actual experience.
But his reality was here, as a slave to Syndicorp. He’d always been a tool for someone else, from the moment he and Lisa had joined that street gang on Whylon. His enslavement was part of why he was determined to help his sister live free. At least he could live vicariously through her. And now through Attie.
He tapped into the feed to her room. She’d be happy to learn Claudia was going with her. Attie lay curled beneath the blankets on her bed, sleeping. A half-packed bag rested on the floor near her closet.
Not wanting to wake her, he didn’t engage the comm. She looked so heart-achingly lovely. He sat on his cot and stroked the rough blanket, remembering the softer feel of the coverlet on her bed, the rose-like scent of her hair, the way her smile made his heart feel lighter. Blood rushed to his groin at the memory of her moans of pleasure and the heated softness of her body. He couldn’t recall a time he’d felt more alive than the last few hours with her.
He should purge his memories so there would be no chance of her connection to him being discovered. But he wasn’t ready to give them up, not yet. Instead, he buried all references to Attie deep within his processors next to the information about his sister and the rebels.
Twobit’s voice entered his head. How’d it go? You destroy the AI?
You were gone a long time, added Brix.
He could feel the other cyborgs listening in the background. He couldn’t risk telling the other cyborgs about the sentient AI, not when Dollard could pluck a memory from any one of them. Another secret he needed to bury or purge. The AI is dealt with, he answered.
I located Tia, Esben said. She’s in the cloning lab.
With a groan, Doug lowered his face to his hands. He knew Esben wanted to get Tia and the baby away from Dollard, but if she was one of Dollard’s projects, there was no way they could smuggle her out from under the doctor’s nose.
Before you tell me freeing her is impossible, hear me out, Esben said. We fake her death. When she’s sent to the morgue, we get her out.
Dollard won’t send her to the morgue without an autopsy, Benjy said.
Doug was
