Page 16 of Her Cyborg Commander
The next message was from Prince Tyran. The Vardarian repeated all the same warnings and requests but with more polish and less swearing than Denz.
Nothing in either message needed a reply. “Is Denz right? Can you get a message back to them without it being intercepted?”
“I can. Sevda made several improvements to my systems after Haven was founded. She believed a time would come when it would be needed. I did not understand at the time, but I now have more data and believe I comprehend her intention.”
Edge stretched and started to rise from his seat. “And now for that workout.”
“Another message arrived while you were viewing the other two. It’s audio only. Do you wish for me to play it before you leave?”
“Who is this one from?” he asked as he sank back into the copilot’s chair.
“Unknown. All identifiers have been scrubbed. I have scanned it for malware and other threats and found nothing of concern. I should also note that it is tagged with two words.”
“What’s the tag?”
“Hey, asshole.”
“Ah.” He smirked to himself. “That would be from Hezza. Play the message.”
It was audio only. “Hey, asshole. I take it you’re the reason I’ve got to hightail it out of this part of the galaxy for the foreseeable future? I know you wouldn’t give me up directly, but someone smarter than either of us must have put the pieces together after our last chat. Thanks for that.
“I’m sending this message to Haven in hopes that some benevolent soul will forward it to you. I’m betting you’ve already gone after her. If not, you’re an even bigger fool than I thought you were.”
A pause was followed by a wry snort. “I’ve got Nova Force sending me repeated requests that I come in to answer some questions. They’re more polite than I’m used to, but I’m still going to decline the invite. Don’t worry about me. Not that you would. You’re focused on one thing right now, and you better do right by her. She’s hurting, and I thinkyouare part of her problem. You and that Jens jerk. If you get a chance, punch him once for me. Then slap yourself upside the head for letting whatever the hell happened between you two get in the way of what needs to happen next. If you need me to explain what that is, you should turn around and go back to Haven. She doesn’t need your protection, you big idiot. She needsyou.”
Another pause. “And, yes, I’m drunk. I do that when I have the law chasing me. It’s a tradition. That’s all I had to say. Good luck. Kill the asshole. Kiss the girl. Don’t get those last two mixed up. Trust me when I say it leads to complications you don’t need.”
That was the end of the message. Considering how badly their last conversation had gone, he’d expected more insults and general cursing. Hell, he was surprised Hezza had reached out at all. He’d laid into her with unrestrained fury and frustration when they’d finally made contact. They’d both had a lot to say, and most of it hadn’t been relevant. Still, she had given him River’s location…eventually.
He grudgingly added Hezza to the short list of humans he trusted. He might have even put her on the much shorter list of humans heliked, but she was the one who had taken River away from him… so no.
“Now for that workout,” he said as he got to his feet. He was already on the treadmill before he noticed his mood had already improved. An unfamiliar sense of calm had taken hold. He ran anyway. It would help pass the time. Besides, he thought better while he was in motion. Something about the messagehad helped him to relax, and he pondered what that would be. It wasn’t the news they’d shared since nothing he’d learned had been good. It must be that two trusted friends had reached out to him at all, sharing what they knew and supporting him, even after he left them behind.
Friends? Edge let the word roll around in his mind. When thefraxxhad he made friends with non-cyborgs? For that matter, when had he dropped his guard enough to make friends at all?
Still working through that revelation, another train of thought slammed into him at full speed. If those messages were from friends, Denz and maybe even Hezza had offered him some pointed advice.
“She doesn’t need your protection, you big idiot. She needsyou.”
The treadmill’s motor could barely keep up as he accelerated into a flat-out sprint. He had alotof thinking to do.
10
The first fewdays on the planet she now thought of as DB-1—which sounded better than calling the place Dust Bowl—passed in a blur of hard work and temperatures that gave her unexpected insight into what it must be like to be a blade in a blacksmith’s forge. Her enhancements and medi-bots allowed her to function in the heat, but it wasn’t comfortable. She regretted not bringing along some of the light fabric dresses the Vardarian females favored. They’d suit her current situation better than the military fatigues she’d taken from the stores back on Haven. By the end of her second day, she’d taken a knife to several pairs of pants, turning them into shorts. Those and a tank top were her daily wardrobe, though she kept wearing her heavy boots. The rocks were surprisingly sharp, and there were far too many things here that bit and stung to even think about wandering around barefoot.
After some thought, River opted to place the solar panels on top of the rocks surrounding her camp. It took her longer to clean them that way, but it allowed her to keep the area around her shelter clear of obstacles. It also meant the panels got more sunlight each day. She didn’t have concerns about powerconsumption, but keeping the batteries full meant she wouldn’t have to worry if a dust storm or other weather phenomenon blocked out the sun for more than a day or two.
Most of her time and energy were spent making her new home as secure as she could. Motion-activated cameras covered the entrance to her camp and several other areas she considered might be used by someone trying to get the drop on her. She’d had Hezza acquire a few other surprises as well. She slept better now they were all in place.
The cameras did more than watch for intruders. They provided River with her first real look at the local fauna. While the planet had been surveyed extensively from orbit and even had a few probes land on the surface, the information on the wildlife here had been minimal.
There were small invertebrates of all kinds, some winged, some terrestrial. Reptiles were another common sight on the cameras, though she had only seen a handful in person. All the wildlife in the area seemed most active from dusk until dawn. The other thing she noticed was that none of the fauna would stay in one place for long. They moved constantly, keeping to the rocks when they could.
It wasn’t until the third night that she spotted the reason creatures here never stopped moving. They were being hunted.
The local predators looked a bit like armor-plated flounder, only their mouths were on the tops of their bodies instead of the underside. They moved through the sand as easily as a fish through water, ambushing their prey from below and dragging their meals beneath the sand. The ones she’d seen weren’t much bigger than a dinner plate, but she had to assume there were larger ones out there where the sand was deeper. Thankfully, these predators, which she dubbed sand sharks, never came too near her camp, probably because of the rocky terrain and shallow sand.
The reason why most of the creatures were nocturnal was obvious. The temperature soared every afternoon, driving most life to seek shelter from the blistering sun. River followed their example. She’d retreat to the comfort of her shelter during the hottest part of the day and pass the time reading on her tablet, watching entertainment vids, and doing maintenance on the gear she relied on to stay alive. The sand and grit got into everything, wearing on moving parts and clogging up the systems that provided her with cool air and safe water.
