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  “And you are too, Lee. Never forget that. I raised a girl who can handle anything. Go and don’t prove it to me, prove it to yourself.”

  She blinked rapidly. “Well, on another note, how goes the trial?”

  He made a face. “Cory is nuts. He is one of the Terran Keepers now. Morons. Keeping humans in place serves no purpose if they want to leave, if they need to leave. He is being held but there is rioting. Applicants are now able to do some of the pre-screening at home followed by a phone interview, culminating in the physical interview under greater security.”

  “Oh goody, they have a cute name now. They sound like a sports team.” Lee grimaced. “The Terran Keepers.”

  “That’s my girl. I want to you go out and be the best cyborg you can be.”

  He gave her the pre-sports grunt and she laughed.

  She gave him a sharp salute with her silvery hand and winked. “Yes, sir. Love you, Dad.”

  “Love you, Lee. Talk soon.” He put his hand over his heart, and she swallowed as she turned off the connection.

  Sitting back, she exhaled as she tried to stop the tears. She missed him, but every time she saw her hands, she remembered that he had wanted this for her. She was going to live the life that he had saved for her to use and enjoy.

  She had the contact codes downloaded, so she got to her feet. The com screen folded and retracted until it was inside her suit once again. Dr. Icky had filled her suit with every possible bit of tech he could think of. Lee grinned at the mental image of being a cartoon character back on Earth. She wouldn’t believe it if she wasn’t living it, but there was no doubt as to her current state. Lee was officially a walking and talking armoury.

  She stretched and looked around the private area of the lab that had been set aside for her use. The charging station in her tiny quarters took up the majority of the space.

  Lee left her tiny situation and walked the halls of the station, heading for the observation deck. It had been her first target when she had gotten mobile. Despite the damage to her body and the silver appendages that they had modeled from donations stemming from three different species, she hadn’t really believed she was in space until she had sat in the observation deck and watched the stars, minerals, gasses and asteroid belts all floating out there, waiting for her.

  The draw of the stars had been what sent her to the Volunteer Centre that day. She wanted to go to some of those far-off worlds and walk on ground never touched by Terran feet. In all her imaginings, she had never guessed that a hard metal skin filled with conductive gel that supported her remaining tissue while it powered her suit for regular activities would have replaced her feet. She was a battery, a robot, cyborg, weapons assembly and a little bit of mutation thrown into the mix. It was a heady thing to get her mind around. She was wearing the alien worlds that she had lusted after.

  “He said you would be here.”

  She turned and watched Lukar approach. “He should know; he has had to track me here at least once a day.”

  “Are you truly ready to leave? You have not been here long.”

  “I am ready. If there is an issue, I will hitchhike back here with the fairies. Dr. Icky and I have already worked out an emergency contingency.”

  Lukar sat next to her. “Could you not call him that?”

  “Why not?”

  “Because that was his nickname as a child, and it doesn’t suit the work he is doing. Also, it is my family name and I answer to it as well.”

  She chuckled. “You could have just said that last part. He told me to call him Dr. Icky the moment that we met. I wasn’t in very good shape at the time.”

  “I see. We are going to be going into some very tense situations. Are you capable of acting under stress?”

  Lee grinned. “Yes, yes, I am. I know you won’t believe me, but I will be good at this. My father raised me to be independent and aware of the needs of others. This should be right up my alley.”

  “I don’t understand how you can be so cheerful after being attacked by your own people.” He ran a hand through his hair and leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees.

  Lee turned toward him and met his amber and emerald gaze. “I wasn’t attacked by all my people, just a handful. Others died that day as well. I was lucky.”

  “How so?”

  “From what the records show, I was blown out into the street, which made me one of the first to receive first aide. I was the first lifted from the centre and first taken away to the hospital. Two minutes would have made the difference between life and death. I was lucky that my identification was in my purse, still slung across my body and that my phone was cracked but functioned so they could call my father. He arrived an hour after the blast, and once he saw me, he went to the centre, slipping into the chaos and grabbing the paperwork from my severed arm. He took that to the Recruiter and signed me over to the Volunteer Project. Recruiter Norz brought a healer team to stabilize me, and they froze me and mailed me here by express courier ship.”

  She chuckled at his uncomfortable expression.

  “So you see? I am lucky. My dad could have arrived after my heart shut down, I could have been killed outright. Norz could have refused. The Imperium could have refused. Everybody got together and here I am—the tech of three worlds on my body and enough power to help others. I want to use it and see how far this luck will take me.”

  He sat back. “In that case, I am honoured to have you aboard.”

  To her surprise, he stuck out his hand. She clasped his hand with hers, and she could feel the ridges and scars on his palm. The sensitivity of the silver structure let her feel as if it was real skin, but she wasn’t as sensitive to heat now.

  “Kilon has provided the ship with a line of replacement limbs in case you need them. It has to be the oddest cargo I have ever seen.” He grinned and released her hand.

  “Let’s hope that I don’t need them.”

  Chapter Three

  “Lee! You can’t leave yet. You need this.” Icky came running toward her, waving a container above his head.

  “What is it? I have everything that I need as far as I know.”

  He pressed the box into her hands. “We discussed this.”

  “We discussed a lot of things.” She balanced the case on her left arm while popping the locks with the right.

  Lukar was watching curiously. “What is it?

  Lee opened the case and blushed furiously, slamming it shut.

  Lukar asked, “What?”

  Lee looked at Icky with a narrow-eyed look, daring him to tell his brother that he had just handed her enough sex toys to chafe her into the next world.

  “Lee doesn’t have any means of stress relief while in that suit, so I designed a few things based on her specifications.” Icky grinned at her and dared her to contradict his statement.

  She made a face and locked the latches again. “Thank you for your consideration. I will keep this option in mind.”

  Lukar looked curious, but he didn’t press it when she quickly went up on her toes and kissed Icky on the cheek. “Keep busy and stay safe. No more lab explosions.”

  A wave of metallic purple crept up his neck. “That was your fault.”

  She winked and headed to the Stinger with Lukar watching her with amusement. “See you in five months, Dr. Icky!”

  * * * *

  Kilon looked at his brother and sighed. “Take care of her or you will have to answer to me, Lukar.”

  “You have grown attached to her?”

  “She reminds me so much of Preha. A similar spirit fighting to be heard from a small, delicate body.” Kilon straightened. “That aside, you are to treat her with the utmost respect. She is a lady and must be treated like one. She deserves respect.”

  Lukar inclined his head. “What was in the case that you gave her?”

  Kilon waved that away. “Just some pleasure equipment for stress relief. We don’t know if her sex drive will return, but if it does, we want her to be ready to de
al with it.”

  “She has no sex drive?”

  “Her body was only cleared for duty three days ago. She is still adapting to the damage, no matter what she said.”

  Kilon walked close to his brother. “I want regular reports about her health, but she won’t like it, so try and do it quietly.”

  “I will take care of the little friend you built in the lab, brother. You keep yourself occupied until we bring her in for her tune up.”

  “You had better or I will take you apart from the knees up, brother. Lee is more than a subject; she is a friend. You know how I protect my friends.”

  Lukar winced. “Yes, Kilon. I will take care of her.”

  “Then, go and enjoy her company. She is a charming conversationalist and an excellent card and game player.”

  “It sounds like you are interested in her.” Lukar raised his brow.

  “I am not and you know I am not. She is a good friend who has remained upbeat through a very difficult situation. She deserves respect for her fight to survive.”

  Lee had arrested three times during the implant phase. Each time, she had fought to bring herself back from the brink successfully. While Kilon preferred the company of males, he suspected that his brother would be tempted by the new Terran. It was the only thing he could think of to keep her in his life in one way or another. It was self-serving, but if it worked, his brother would have a mate, his friend would have a match and he would have a new sister.

  It was a detailed plot, but he had been authorized to bring the two together. The rest was up to them.

  * * * *

  The ship was wide bodied and resembled the fairies in design. From what Lee could determine, there was no highly intelligent mind behind the walls and displays of the Stinger, or not one that was immediately apparent.

  Inside the ship, she waited for Lukar to finish parting with his brother. She was going to miss the base, but with luck, she would be back in a few months with a ton of stories to tell.

  When Lukar entered, she turned to smile at him. “So, where do you want me?”

  He blinked slowly and then sealed the hatch. “Your quarters are this way.”

  She followed him and noted that in the weaving of his shirt there was a line of spikes that ran down his spine. The peculiar setup finally made sense. It was either go shirtless or punch holes in everything he owned. This looked like it would flex with him.

  He walked through the cargo hold and up a level into the living space of the ship. She followed him at a safe distance.

  Once up the steps, he turned left and walked down a passageway twice the width of his shoulders. He paused outside a door.

  “Press your hand to the plate and look into the scanner. Stinger will recognize you and open when you approach.”

  She quirked a smile, pressing the metal of her hand to the plate and looking into the scanner with her artificial eyes. “Stinger is intelligent?”

  A deep bell rang and a shimmer of light danced against her vision.

  She focussed and saw the outline of a man in the glow. “That answers that. Pleased to meet you, Stinger.”

  The door opened, and she smiled at the familiar sight of her charging station. It was definitely her room.

  The bell rang again.

  “Thank you for your welcome.” She smiled and carried her two small bundles into the room with Lukar behind her.

  “Would you like me to help you unpack?” Lukar was smiling.

  “No, thank you. I will just put this down, and then, would you be willing to show me the rest of the ship?”

  “Of course. Place them in the chest at the foot of your bed. It is fastened to the floor.”

  She quickly put her small toiletry bag away along with the going-away present from Icky.

  He looked like he was stifling laughter. “Are you sure that you don’t want help unpacking that?”

  “I am sure.” She looked at him. “It appears that you and Icky share a sense of humour.”

  He shrugged. “It happens in families, or so I am told. Come on, I will show you the kitchen.”

  She followed him as he left her room. “Isn’t it called a galley?”

  “And you are called a cyborg, but I will address you as Lee. Are all your people called by your central names?”

  She wrinkled her nose. “No, my grandmother’s name was Adora, and when my mother died, she cut us out of her life. She saw too much of my mother in me, apparently. My father began calling me Adora Lee, and then, he changed it to Lee after a year. Now I am Lee Kellner.”

  He paused in the small dining area. “This is the galley, Lee.”

  Lukar gave her the rundown of the kitchen and how everything worked. The next stop was the command deck where he settled into the central chair. “Stinger, fold out a jump seat for the lady.”

  A seat folded out of the wall, complete with a restraint harness. Lee took the hint.

  Settled and strapped in, Lukar looked at her and nodded. “Here we go.”

  To her surprise, the station itself opened to let them out. They dropped away from the pull of the station’s gravity and floated free before Stinger turned and made for deep space.

  Lee stared at the front screen, loving the look of the stars as they got larger and seemed to blur a little. She was in space after a lifetime of staring up and hoping to see another world before she woke up in the hospital with tubes keeping her alive. The dream was the easiest way of dealing with what had happened. If she thought of everything as a dream, it was easier to roll with the punches and get undressed in mixed company.

  Her organs had survived unscathed, but her abdomen and breasts had suffered a lot of damage. Her waist and hips had been behind the metal banding the counter, but the wood at the base had been no contest for the blast set underneath. Her hands had been resting on the high countertop and their fate was on record.

  The grafts she wore covered her down to her knees and both arms completely. Her breasts were reformed out of the Seth-Ari tissue grafts and the metalwork went down to her ribs. Her pelvis was completely unscathed.

  As she watched the stars, she held out her hand, looking at the stars through the metal of her hand. The Genaran exoskeleton was surprisingly pretty. It contained and confined her weaponry, but it also acted as secondary clothing and physical support. If it weren’t for the Genarans, she would be in a heap on the floor.

  She clenched her hand, watching the stars streak across it in the reflection.

  “You seem unnaturally quiet.”

  She looked at him and met his strange eyes. “This is my first time seeing space as we pass through it. The last time, I was frozen.” Lee swallowed. “It is what I dreamed of seeing.”

  He went quiet and nodded.

  They sat in silence, and she unclasped the harness to stare out at the stars as they rushed in their eternal dance.

  The bell rang and got Lukar’s attention. His appearance went from calm to an excited tension. “I think they have just gotten the inkling that we are open for business.”

  Chapter Four

  If her palms could sweat, she would have been wiping them on her thighs. As it was, Lee clenched her hands tight as the ship lowered itself into the alien environment.

  “Remember. We are going in as representatives of the Nyal Imperium. We will only fight if it becomes necessary.”

  She swallowed and nodded. “Got it. I am still getting used to this.”

  “Be strong, be calm. By the way, the eye makeup and lipstick are striking.”

  She quirked her lips. “The eyes were my father’s idea.”

  “They definitely give you a serious air. I would hesitate to flirt with you at a dinner party.” He smiled.

  She caught the vein of his banter as he tried to calm her down. “I am not going to jump out of Stinger.”

  He grinned. “Good. We just landed.”

  “I didn’t feel anything.”

  He laughed. “Stinger won’t take that personally. I would.” />
  She blushed. “Right. You are going to do the talking?”

  “I am. Keep your eyes out for any moves. The Yinshin are always unpredictable.”

  Lee nodded and checked her energy levels. “Shoot to stun or to kill?”

  He gave her a strange look. “Start with stun and work from there.”

  She sucked in a breath and waited for his direction.

  “We are as close as we can get. Shall we?”

  Lee unbuckled her harness and got back to her feet. She followed him back down to the hold, and she stood behind him while the door opened.

  She whispered to Stinger, “Wish me luck.”

  He chimed deeply and ended with the shimmer of a cymbal.

  It seemed she had just achieved her luck.

  With her shoulders back, her hair as perfect as she could get it, they stepped onto the unnamed world and approached a large hunting party with some grey-green creatures standing up in response to their arrival.

  It seemed odd to Lee, seeing as how the arrival of the Stinger could not have been mistaken.

  Those who approached them moved in a peculiar manner. It took only seconds for Lee to realise that they were drunk.

  She went on guard and measured the speed of their movements through her enhanced gaze. Of all of the enhancement she had received, the vision had been the best change to her body.

  One of the party challenged Sting. “You have no call to be here.”

  Sting moved forward. “This is a protected world. You have no call to be here and even less call to hunt.”

  The Yinshin looked at each other with an expression Lee was familiar with. They thought they were entitled.

  “By what authority do you even speak to us?”

  Sting smiled. “By the authority vested in me by the Nyal Imperium, I order you off this world and to release all captured species.”

  Lee tensed as the Yinshin went into motion. She began firing stun shots in precise order, and she continued until they were all on the ground.