Page 48 of Linked to the Rogue Cyborg

“Come on, Virelle—we’re going back to the station,” he snarled. “And then I’ll decide what to do with you.”

30

CORINNE

The ride back to the station and the next two weeks were miserable. Corinne was locked in her room, unable to see K-lx or to find out if he was all right. Her interface had been taken away so there was no way to call for help or to plead her case to the Company. She was just stuck there in her room with the door locked. If it hadn’t been for her replicator, which was able to make very simple food and drinks, she would have starved to death.

Not that she felt like eating—she was too distraught. She paced back and forth endlessly, feeling like someone she loved had died suddenly. The horrible sensation of grief never left her and in fact, as the days went on, it grew.

I did love him, she admitted to herself, at last. And he loved me. I let myself be blinded by the fact that he’s part metal—I thought we could never really be together. But I was wrong. If only I could have another chance I’d tell him how I feel.

Her mind went in circles, dissecting what had happened. If only they could have gotten away! Maybe if they had left the lab an hour earlier they could have gotten into the hopper and made a run for it…

But it was too late for regrets now. The worst had happened and she was stuck waiting to hear if there was any news at all. No one came to her locked door to tell her anything. Even Jose seemed to have forgotten her.

Silas had taken the drive with the lab information and had presumably presented it to the Company as his own, but she barely cared about that. She was too upset…grieving the loss of the male she hadn’t known she loved until it was too late.

Then at last, one night after she’d been pacing restlessly for hours, the door to her room slid open and Silas stepped inside…followed by K-lx.

“K-lx! Are you all right?” She rushed up to him eagerly, bypassing Silas.

“You can save your breath—he’s useless.” Silas sounded disgruntled. “His memories have been wiped and he doesn’t do anything but stand there, no matter what you tell him.”

“You’re lying—he’s still in there somewhere. He must be!” Corinne snapped.

But one look at the big Cyborg’s emotionless face revealed that Silas was telling the truth and all her worst fears were true. The big K-Unit looked at her with no recognition at all, just a blank look in his pale blue eyes. She wished she was still Linked with him so she could tell what he was feeling. But from the blank stare he was giving her, that was absolutely nothing.

“He’s useless!” Silas complained again. “Not good for anything but spare parts.”

“No, don’t decommission him!” Corinne exclaimed. Even if the big Cyborg didn’t know her anymore, she couldn’t bear to see him junked.

“Oh, I’m not. Not right away, anyway.” A wicked smile curved the corners of his thin lips. “I still have a use for him—one more use before I junk him.” He patted K-lx on one massive metal shoulder. “You see, even though he’s not much use as a Cyborg, he’s still a perfectly good garbage disposal unit.”

“What? What are you talking about?” Corinne shook her head in confusion. Nothing he was saying was making sense.

“I’m saying, Virelle, that you’ve been a pain in my ass from the minute you stepped aboard the station!” Silas hissed. “Then the Company made you Director of the Cybernetics Division—they gave my rightful place to a stupid female!”

Corinne took a step back.

“What do you care? You got the position you wanted, didn’t you? You’re Director now. You got me out of the way.”

“Yes, but you continue to be a thorn in my side,” he snapped. “First you Link with a massive priceless Cyborg and then you report me to the Company for not handling his return from Stasis properly.”

“Well, you didn’t!” Corinne put a hand on her hip. “You should have brought him out gradually!”

“Yes, yes—whatever you say,” he snarled. “So then you insert yourself into my department again as a Handler. Then you go running off to Earth to find priceless secrets of Cybernetics that the Kindred left behind. I of course, reported you for stealing a hopper, so the Company knows you went to Earth and you’re the one who found the Kindred’s lab.”

Corinne’s heart sank even lower.

“So I guess now they want to put me on trial?”

“No! They intend to give you a commendation, a finder’s bonus, and a promotion. They want you to take my job!” Silas snapped. “The Chairman himself sent a hologram congratulating you on your ‘amazing find.’”

Corinne glared at him.

“In that case, you’d better let me out of here! Or the Company’s going to wonder why the Director of the Cybernetics Division has been locked away for the last two weeks like an animal in a cage.”

Silas’s weasely eyes narrowed.

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