Page 6 of Her Cyborg Commander
Everyone needed to evacuate.
Take nothing with you. No room.
The part of her still free of Jens’ control tried to make sense of things. The cryo-pods. They must be trying to take at least some of their creations with them. But Edge, Striker, and the others were resisting. Did that mean they’d be left behind? What would happen to them?
Angry voices sounded ahead of her. Dr. Jens shouted at someone, “She comes with me!”
“No, sir. My orders are clear. No unrestrained cyborgs may to be brought on board. If she’s not in a cryo-pod, she’s not coming.”
“Sheisrestrained! She obeys me without question! Petal is the result of years of experimentation, and my work cannot continue without her.”
She’d watched as Jens had argued, his pitch and volume rising as his gestures grew wilder with each of the guard’s refusals.
He’d shrieked in protest when two more guards dragged him aboard one of the ships. As he vanished, she’d felt a tiny kernel of hope kindle in her breast. She had no idea what would happen in the next few hours, but nothing could be as bad as what she had already endured. At the worst, she’d die. But at least she’d die free.
“I will never go back,” River whispered as she wiped the tears from her cheeks with angry swipes of her fingers. “I’m not your Petal anymore. My name is River.”
The declaration clarified things for her, and she felt an unexpected sense of calm. “My name is River,” she said again, louder this time.
Then she smiled. It was brittle and raw, but it was still a smile. “And I’m not going to be here when you come for me. I won’t endanger my home or my friends. Not this time.”
With that said, she turned toward the closet and the stash of supplies she’d placed there in the days after she’d learned about the code that could have turned her against everyone she cared about. She’d hoped this day would never come, but she’d prepared for it anyway.
Whatever future she’d hoped to find in Haven, it wasn’t going to happen.
It was time to go.
4
There werethings she had to do before she left. The first was to double-check the contents of the bug-out bag she’d packed. It wasn’t as if anyone could have come in and messed with it, but her time as a soldier had taught her that it was better to be sure you had everything before heading out. Where she was going, every item mattered.
The inventory list in her onboard files matched the one neatly printed and tucked into the top of the bag. One by one, she removed the items, compared them to the list, and set them down on the bed. Once everything was accounted for, she repacked the bag and set it by her bedroom door with a comm unit set neatly on top. She’d need that soon.
The scent of raspberries wafted by her, reminding her of the bath she’d been about to take. She had no time for that now, but she still needed to wash the remains of her milkshake off her legs and feet.
She stripped off her soiled clothes and tossed them into the laundry chute out of habit. She wouldn’t be here when they were returned—clean, dry, and folded—in a few hours.
Then she hurried to the bathroom and took a hasty bath, rinsing herself off with handfuls of water. It wasn’t the long soak she’d wanted, but it would have to do.
Once she was back in her room, she dressed in dark, loose-fitting clothing and then dragged a large container out from the back of her closet. She set it down on the floor, searching for a moment until she found the scanning pad located off to one side. She pressed her thumb to the pad and waited. A soft beep was followed by asnickas it unlocked.
Once opened, the lid of the case revealed a small army’s worth of weaponry and ammunition. The lower part of the case contained a full set of combat armor. She’d had it custom made when she was still on Astek Station, what felt like a lifetime ago.
No one in Haven knew about her private stash except for Phaedra. After the negotiations were done and the cyborgs were assured of their place in the new colony, Phaedra had taken River shopping. It took several days to visit the various shops and dealers recommended to them by the cyborgs who ran the Nova Club. They’d helped her with some of the purchases, and Phaedra had paid for the rest. Being a princess had advantages, including access to the royal treasury of the Vardarian empire.
Thoughts of her time on Astek Station gave her an unexpected pang. The station where she’d taken her first steps toward a life of real freedom had been destroyed some time ago. The Gray Men had murdered so many innocents in their attempts to maintain control over the sector, but in the end, most of them had lost everything anyway.
Too bad it wasn’tallof them. If that were the case, she’d be able to stay in Haven. Too many had escaped, though. Including the man who featured in the worst of her nightmares.
Astek’s replacement, Defiance Station, would be finished soon, but she wouldn’t be around to hear about it or find outwhat came next for everyone involved. She had to leave. It was the only way to keep Haven safe.
She couldn’t wander around Haven outfitted for war, so once she confirmed everything was accounted for, River closed the case and set it beside her bug-out bag. Then she turned and looked around her room one last time.
“Damn you for doing this to me. And double damn you for violating the only place I truly felt safe,” she muttered.
The last thing she did was to retrieve a data stick from a desk drawer. She moved to place it on her bed but then paused. She needed to do something else. Without giving herself time to overthink things, she tapped a button on the side of the device and recorded a brief message. It would be automatically added to the end of the message already stored on the data stick. Once she was done, she set it down in the center of the bed where whoever came looking for her would find it.
River turned her back on the bed, her room, and everything she’d created here. She gathered up both the bag and case and carried them downstairs. Then she set the last part of her plan in motion.
