Page 19 of Max
“That would be far too dangerous when you were nearly kidnapped ten miles from here in the middle of nowhere.”
“But I feel pretty safe. It’s been over a year since anyone showed up here,” she said.
“I want you to call me immediately if anyone comes, even if they seem harmless… And carry your pistol when you are outside.”
“Is that an order?” she quipped.
Max gave her a quizzical look. “It would be if you were under my command, but it’s a request for you. Please be prepared to protect yourself. Will you do that for me?”
“And you be careful out there.” She reached for his hand across the table and gave it a gentle squeeze.”
All too soon, breakfast was over, and Max kissed her goodbye. It was a deep heartfelt kiss that was no casual leave-taking. It said things neither could yet put into words. Finally, he pulled away from her, running his hand down her arm to grip her hand briefly before he turned and strode out the kitchen door without looking back.
Falyn stood there staring at the kitchen door until she heard the soft whine of his cycle carrying him away. With a deep sigh of acceptance, she went to the row of clothing hooks by the kitchen door and donned her wide-brimmed hat. The food garden needed to be weeded. The auto combine could till the weeds between the rows but not between the plants. She wouldn’t be sitting around waiting for Max to come back. There was always work to do on the homestead, and she had best get to it.
Walking out of Falyn’s kitchen door to attend to his mission was the hardest thing Max had done in a long time. He almost preferred to be tortured by the Mesaarkans again. Somehow, they’d discovered ways to inflict pain on cyborgs without seriously damaging them. Three days of that had Max wishing to die, but his squad came back for him before it came to that.
Pining for her would not get the job done, which was important. Taking back the second megalopolis from the gangs and their bosses would make it a safer place for Falyn and other women like her who might be mates to his brethren.
With that in mind, Max had studied satellite maps on his internal computer, looking at places with standing structures he could use for his base of operations. He’d found an old prison several miles from the boundary of the megalopolis.
The location showed that most of the buildings seemed to be intact. The Enclave database indicated that the facility had released and abandoned the inmates after the bombings. Otherwise, Max might have foundit filled with decayed human remains in the cell blocks.[HR1]
The prison had a nuclear reactor to power it, a useful perk if he could convince the AI to take it off standby and power it up. There were also auxiliary solar collectors and a windmill to pump water from its artesian well.
Satellite records had shown no indication that the facility was occupied. The remote location and the closed gates seemed to support that assumption.
Max arrived there about thirty minutes after leaving Falyn. He stopped his hovercycle inside the fence and lowered his sky cycle in hover mode. He used his internal scanner to check for squatters as he tooled over the roads among the buildings. He found none.
The different buildings represented various levels of security. The first one Max looked inside was filled with cells with bars at the front. Those would be suitable for the gangers, who refused to cooperate. Another building was divided into cubicles with steel doors with small barred windows. They could be used for refugees from the city ruins.
Max was prepared with various means to unlock the doors, but they hadn’t been locked when the place was abandoned. After a century of neglect, he was pleased to see the inside was not in bad shape.
The air was stagnant inside, but otherwise, things looked fairly clean. Before the war, they’d been closing prisons in the area. Max processed that this might have been one of them. He found little there that would draw scavengers, and it was fairly remote from the cities, which was why it was still standing.
Now he just needed to find the power plant that pulled the energy resources together to run everything. He sent a message through the cyborg network to the protector units with the coordinates of their new base. Next, he extended his internal sensors seeking the tiniest energy signature which would lead him to the power source.
He found it on the far side of the complex, consisting of thirty buildings. This building was locked, probably because it contained a nuclear reactor. It took Max only seconds to pick the lock with Enclave's handy tools.
Max was surprised that the reactor was not completely shut down but on standby. The AI that ran the system was merely ‘sleeping’ as he discovered by pinging it. He learned he could get the AI to bring the reactor online, but it told him the batteries for the solar collectors needed to be replaced or rejuvenated.
With the AI set to power up the reactor, Max walked around the compound, exploring the buildings. He was surprised at how much inventory was simply left. He found extra batteries for the solar collectors and determined that the windmill fed electricity through a power converter relay that ran the artesian well pump.
It was getting dark when Max finished his tour of the various buildings. He decided to change out the batteries for the solar collectors to get the lights working and whatever else they supported.
Afterward, he called Falyn to chat for a few minutes and wish her good night. It was bittersweet. While he was happy to see her face and hear her voice, he longed to breed with her again.
Max knew if he went back to her tonight, he would keep her up late, and then he wouldn’t be there to do chores while letting her sleep. His own hand would have to do as he replayed their joining from his processors.
Chapter Twelve
“You’re still looking for her after all this time?” askedThorne Driscoll. “Are you sure she’s not dead?”
“I don’t know anymore. What happened to Tessa started with Devlin White,” said Colton. “She promised she would be at the starport when I arrived, and I was on time. She didn’t answer my calls or return them. I took a tram to our flat. She hadn’t been there for a month, but no one knew where she went.”
“By now, she could be offworld, trafficked by one of the other gangs.”
“They better hope I never find them! That will be their last day,” Colton growled.
