Page 19 of Furi

“You don’t have to if she chooses to leave with us. The Empire will welcome them both.”

“I’m not sure Betty will agree to that.”

“That will always be her choice to make. You and your men have your own to make.”

“We cannot leave her alone. She can not do this alone.”

He walked out the room. He had nothing else to say. They would have to make their own choices.

Staring at her door, he didn’t want to go. His optic told him that. But he wasn’t her hero. He wasn’t anyone’s hero. He didn’t know how to be that for anyone. Not that she was asking that of him.

In fact she’d made it clear she didn’t want him around at all.

Hardly surprising as he’d insulted her.

Giving himself a mental nod he turned to the Cyborg he knew was standing there waiting. “She’s right, I’ve done my job. There’s nothing more for me here. My ship is in space. We’ll be here a while until you decide. Once you do, if you choose to stay you know that will be complicated for all of you but again that is your choice to make. If you change your mind after we have left, on the new upload is where to find us and a link to us.”

“And where will you be while we decide?”

“Not here, checking out a few things.” Turning away from her door he made his way passed the male to the top of the stairs and turned back to him when he realised he wasn’t following. “You are not coming?”

“No. I’m watching over both of them and will give Emily her next feed, then one of the others will take over.”

“They are never alone?”

“Never.”

“Does she know that?”

“She does and chooses to see it as us caring for Emily. But she sleeps better knowing we are here. Before that and her father gone, she hardly slept at all. Stress and worry, then her mother died in childbirth and she was in shock, not sleeping at all, until we came into the house and took over. Then she crashed for 3 days, woke, thanked us and we moved in, made changes to downstairs to accommodate two shifts. We have bedrooms here and in the barn but we rarely use them. Rotate the men back to the ship to continue to try to repair the computer damage but your upload will help with that. We’ll soon start trials.”

“That will worry her then.”

“Most likely. She wants us to be free, says it often enough but it will be at a detriment to herself.”

He was honest with the male. “I misjudged her. A worthy female. My emotions are not on and are bleeding through the blocks, I’m acting irrationally. My apologies.”

“You have a connection to Betty?” He gave a nod. “Is it possible that she has a connection to you? Your arrival triggered her dreams. She dreamed of you last night.”

He gave a nod. Not unexpected in a potential Mate.

“The bonding need, it drives us. More sensitive females can feel it. If she is rejecting me, I need to leave. The bonding will continue to drive us both.”

“Betty has been alone all this time. At a time when she should have been exploring her life, she was stuck here working with her parents unable to leave as they needed her help to keep us a secret. No one else could be let in. It was too big a risk. Not that she ever complained. She didn’t. Just accepted it. Until her parents were both gone and then the reality of her situation hit her. She needs to go to towns nearby twice a year to sell goods. She used to do it with her father but now, she’s been doing it alone. It's her income and explains how she and her family can do all this. It is a double-edged sword. She needs to produce enough to keep investing in the business but also enough to feed us all and the animals and make it look like only the family are doing it all. There are no other workers registered here. And now, there is only her registered and Emily.

“She knew that and pushed it going to town nine weeks ago. Took too much and raised suspicions. A man called Beale who knew the family came looking. He was scared off but saw us. Making trouble in town for us all. I went with her to another town yesterday, keeping a low profile I was still spotted. An offer was made by two women. Betty sent them packing but, they will talk. It won't take much for someone to put two and two together and people to come looking.”

“How do we stop that?”

“She registers a marriage, more workers. Makes it look right.”

“Can we do that without distressing her more?”

4 gave a nod. “We’ve been talking about it for some time. I infiltrated the community hub for information. We can make it look like a man and his crew came to her aid via marriage. It can be registered via the community hub. That if anyone checks, it looks right. There are some obscure villages on the dark side we found when we first arrived. I can use them as fake originating locations. Lay enough intel to make it look real. It will take time for any checks to be made and give her some time to decide.”

“Do it.”

“You here will make her think of us leaving.”

---