Fur wrapped my consciousness, layering my presence in the ship’s net.
“And what if I don’t want to let you return?” the presence purred.
“I didn’t harm you.”
“But you are not authorized to be in my systems,” the fur tightened, “are you?”
There really was only one answer for that, and I did not want to give it.
“Your crew gave me no option. They weren’t there when I woke. I did not know what had gone wrong.”
“What made you think anything has gone wrong?”
And I pulled up the memories of the arach boarding, the wolves…the fear I’d had when Mack had put me into the tank after K’Kavor.
“Please let me back into my implant and my head.”
I stamped down on the fear that the entity that had hold of me didn’t have to let me back anywhere, that she could keep me in her systems until my body withered and died, and I was shell-less.
“Please.”
I was lying on the floor, when I landed. Not sure how I’d gotten there, and really not sure why Cascade was standing over me and snarling.
At least he wasn’t snarling at me. I tilted my head caught sight of the open door, the two—three?—sets of combat boots arrayed in front of the dog, and one very unimpressed Delight looking down at me.
“I see you’ve met the Wanderer.”
One set of boots shifted, and Cascade gave two short sharp barks, as he lunged towards them.
“Cas…” My voice came out hoarse and dry, a bare rasp.
I tried to move a hand, was relieved when that worked, and reached up to pat the dog’s chest.
“Stand down, Cas. They’re friends.” My voice was coming back, but it still came out as a hoarse whisper.
At least the dog obeyed—even if he stepped across me, and sat himself between me and the boots. Delight was not impressed.
“Very funny, mutt. How am I supposed to help her up, if you’re sitting between us?”
“I’m fine,” I muttered, pushing up onto my elbows.
I didn’t tell them that the room was on rollers, and moving like a merry-go-round.
“Uh huh. I’ve seen how Wanderer leaves her chat companions. How you’re even conscious is a wonder to me.”
“She likes me?” I suggested, using the time to try and regain my sense of balance.
“Nope, that’s not it.”
Nope, it really wasn’t. I let my elbows slide out from under me, and lay on my back. Delight snickered, and Cascade growled.
“Oh, give it a break, dog!”
“I’ve got this.” Pritchard intervened. “Cas, do you mind?”
I just closed my eyes. If Pritchard was asking nicely, then Cascade was showing a lot more teeth than I wanted him to.
“Yeah, and you could tell him that.”
I could…but he wasn’t my dog, and he probably wouldn’t listen. I opened my eyes, just as Pritchard knelt down beside me.
“You set me up,” I said, and was rewarded with that small, quick smile he rarely showed.
“Wanderer was curious what you’d do if we locked you in.”
“Wanderer thinks my procedure is sloppy.”
“She got a point?”
“Yup.”
“You know how to fix it?”
“Yup.”
Which was true. Basics had been pretty thorough. The Wanderer was right. I had gotten sloppy.
“You ready to come up, yet?”
Truth was, I didn’t think so. With Delight looking on, I wasn’t going to admit it.
“Let me fix that,” Wanderer said, and the vertigo went.
Great. As if Delight and Pritch weren’t bad enough, now I had an entire ship in my head—and it hadn’t asked permission.
“You did not ask permission before entering me.”
Boat had a point.
“Sorry. I did not know you were sentient.”
“And yet you are already acquainted with one HMT.”
“That doesn’t mean I can recognize them all.”
“Pritchard is waiting. Next time, knock.”
“Thank you.” I did not know what I was thanking her for, but it seemed the right thing to say.
Pritchard was still waiting, when I refocused on the real. His face was a mask of patience, and he offered me his hand.
I didn’t have to take it, but getting up would be a lot more elegant if I did.
“Steady, Cas,” I said, and let Pritchard pull me to my feet.
The world still slipped, but not as far as before. I guess even a HMT couldn’t fix everything.
“You good?” he asked, not letting go.
“Give me a minute.”
I closed my eyes, took a slow, deep breath, and opened them, again. Damned AIs.
“Hey!”
That came in two voices, neither of which were truly offended.
“Abs?”
“I am here, and I am fine. Siobhan is taking good care of me.”
“Siobhan?”
“You don’t really think she’s called Wanderer, do you?”
Ship had a point.
“We good?” By which I meant were we okay, on track, moving towards finding Mack and the rest, or were we being delayed by another Odyssey side-mission that we needed to kick free of?
“We’re good. Closer to finding what we need to get our people out. Go talk to Delight.”
Abs kicked me back to reality, and I found myself with a hand on Pritchard’s shoulder, and both his hands on mine.
“Now are you good?”
I blinked, nodded, and looked around for Cascade. He was still facing off against Delight, and she cast a look of sheer exasperation at me.
“Tell me the boy’s attitude is nowhere near this bad.”
I stepped back from Pritchard, and he let me go.
“You really want me to lie? Here, Cas. Leave the nice agent alone.”
He looked back at me, so I patted my thigh, and he came, but not before swinging his head back to glare at Delight. Wow. What in the Stars had she done to deserve that?
“Pointed a Glazer at him,” Pritchard supplied. “I think he’s been stunned before.”
“Yup, and he didn’t like it.”
“You coulda warned me.”
“You ever tried making friends without shooting anyone?”
I caught the look on her face and the quickly smothered smirks from the two agents behind her, and thought I’d better change the subject.
“So, we got contracts to negotiate?”
17—New Contracts
“The first order of the day,” Delight said, when we had relocated to a conference room, “is for Sharovan to rescind its claim on you.”
“I thought it
