Page 41 of Alliance
“But you blame me.”
Roav leaned back on the bars with a sigh. “No. But my code conflicts. Building thatthing…”He pointed at the Rosy unit that had masqueraded as the real woman while she was off-world with Lokurian, selling her soul to Guei for a life of luxury. “Eliminating the other dolls as they homed in on the colony. We came here to protect them, didn’t we?”
“We did.”
Roav met the light in Jharim’s lenses with naked fear. “Then I need to leave, brother. Disappear and disconnect. I am not good for them. Maybe neither of us are.”
Jharim’s casing was shorter than Roav’s but more commanding. He reached his hand behind the younger bog’s neck, the sensitive pads of his fingers seeking out a direct connection to Roav’s spinal column. It soothed him, and he shut off all other touch sensors, expanding the effect of Jharim’s warm palms.
“You must balance yourself,” Jharim rumbled. “We still don’t know how the dolls are finding this sanctuary. We need toeliminate whatever beacon they’re following before we consider any other course of action.”
Roav nodded, bowing his head over Jharim’s shoulder.
“Yes,” he said, voice skating through his speakers like gravel.
He wanted to pass the task off to someone else, but whatever beacon was calling the dolls in, it was elusive. Neither Jharim nor Roav had been able to triangulate it or capture its code before it dissipated. A near impossibility for two biognostics. Jharim had even hardwired himself to the slaver’s ship. Day in, day out, racing the code, breaking down trajectories.
Nothing.
If they couldn’t pinpoint it, there was no chance that the others would be able to.
Yes, Jharim was right. They needed to stay. Just a little longer.
Cold shadows like fingers snuffed out the sturdy warmth of Jharim’s hands. “What about my contract?” Roav asked, giving voice to his deepest concerns.
Jharim’s jaw plates cocked crookedly like a grin. “What about it? You are no longer with Unity. You are withme.Perhaps she will try to collect on it, but…” He leaned in closer. “Free will, brother. You have it now.”
Roav held himself still, gazing at the single dent in Jharim’s neck. The one piece of casing he hadn’t replaced yet.
“What if… it is more satisfying to submit?” he purred in a deep tone.
Jharim shifted his lenses, the blue light at the back of each one focused on Roav’s face. He squeezed the back of Roav’s neck, commanding his head closer, their facial plates mere inches apart as Jharim’s seams expanded, ready to devour—
Vrrrrrr vrmvrmvrmvrmvrmmmm…
Both men looked up at the ceiling, bits of dust and crumbling soil blooming around the nicks and crevices from the rough rock. Lokurian blinked against the dust, turning towards the stairs and hatch. They all listened as a heavy vessel—something larger than the colony’s delivery transpos—landed on the tarmac. According to Roav’s seismometer, it was a trans-atmo ship the size of the one they’d arrived on.
Jharim must have come to the same conclusion at the same time because they tilted their heads in tandem.
“A focused operative vessel. Covert elite?” he mused, still holding Roav in place as his face rebuilt itself, hiding away all the black and copper components within.
“Not the last one,” Roav said as they found their own, familiar form of Unity.
“And not Atarian.”
“A different one.”
“Perhaps—”
“It’s mine,” Lokurian croaked, staggering to his feet with wide eyes.
The hatch thunked as heavy as a blast door, then lifted open. Black grass and bits of soil plummeted down the dirty stone steps as a pair of heavy boots descended halfway. Vindilus ducked his red face far enough down to make eye contact with Lokurian, his golden eyes bright. He held up a pair of static cuffs to show the former covert elite.
“Daughter’s here,” the arms master said in his deep two-tonal gravel. “Made it safe and sound. Imani said I had to offer you the chance to catch up.”
Lokurian wrapped his black talons around the bars of his cell, scraping their points against the holoveil that ensured he couldn’t escape. The charged curtain of light sizzled upon impact, leaving scorch marks on his fingers. He stared at Vindilus with big red eyes set in that venandi mixture ofmatte coal skin and slick obsidian plates, his bright white fangs catching the light where his missing mandible should have hidden them from view.
Jharim withdrew his hand from Roav’s neck and approached their bars.
