Altered Design (Mechanical Advantage Book 2) Read online

  Hands shook her, and she fought the grip. She was held tighter, and as her senses came back online, her sobs were harsh to her own ears. Lexo held her to his chest while she cried as her body woke one sense at a time.

  When her activation cycle had run its course, she sniffled and slid a hand between them to wipe her face. “Sorry to wake you.”

  “I am a light sleeper, so not much can get past me. What was that all about?”

  She shivered and inhaled the warm scent of him. “It happens every six months or so. I forgot I was up for a reset with the excitement of your arrival.”

  “Reset?”

  “My system gets a bulk update from the archive, but in order to do that, it has to take my body offline.”

  “What archive?”

  She paused and sniffled again. He hugged her tighter.

  “What archive, Alphy?”

  The three minds in hers were surprisingly quiet.

  “Uh, the Earth Archive. That is what this place is. It is everything that every human has known, thought, and recorded since we have been keeping printed words and online archives.” She chuckled against his chest. “We have every video ever made somewhere in this station.”

  “Why doesn’t anyone know about this place?”

  She turned her face toward his, “Because this is the last bit of humanity to hold against the Splice. Even if they get us all, they can’t wipe us out completely. This station has tendrils all over space. Each satellite holds a link that goes dead if the Splice board it. Lights have been winking out in the stars. They are looking for us.”

  He leaned back, and his lips were nearly touching hers. “Who is us?”

  She held her breath, but the voices spoke.

  Bring him.

  Bring him.

  Bring him.

  “I think they are up to meeting you.” She smiled tightly and tried to get loose. Lexo was still holding her.

  “I believe you might want to get dressed first. It has been a while, and my self-control isn’t what it should be.”

  She became aware of the press of skin on skin and the slight slide of sweat between them. Her reboot always left her drenched in sweat, but now, she wasn’t the only witness.

  “Um, I will get dressed as soon as you let me go.”

  Lexo slowly released her, as if reluctant to do so.

  A quick glance told her that she wasn’t the only one who slept naked. Also, she wasn’t the only one who had been enjoying the embrace.

  She scooted around him and grabbed for one of the men’s t-shirts that she had commandeered. It fell to her knees, and she was covered enough for most human societies in a matter of seconds. The robe she threw on was due to Lexo and the cooler air around the tank.

  Lexo left while she dressed, and when she entered her doorway, he was wearing some exercise pants and flexible boots. Nothing else.

  Alphy exhaled, nodded, and led the way. “They are just past the cradle you found me in.”

  “What is that thing?”

  “All in good time.” She chuckled and stiffened her shoulders. She was about to break a bazillion protocols, but if the guys wanted to meet him, she was happy to make the introductions.

  Lexo wasn’t the type to fill in the gaps with idle chitchat, and Alphy was used to being alone. She hiked through the station until they were next to her information station.

  She turned sharply and headed down the optically hidden staircase. If you didn’t know it was there, you would never see it.

  “They are this way.”

  “This... how did I miss this?”

  She chuckled and moved through the familiar path. “You weren’t looking for it.”

  Alphy brought him to the edge of the tank, and she leaned against the railing. “Here they are. The three smartest and most obnoxious brain donors in human history.”

  “Brain?”

  She waited, and the silvery liquid stirred. Onic’s body rose from the silver, his brain visible through the constructed shape.

  “Welcome to our humble home, pilot. I am Onic, first of the Triad of Advisory and the living human archive.”

  Trell and Duss formed out of the nanites and stood on the rippling surface.

  The choice of Grecian style robes made Alphy snicker.

  “I am Trell, second of the Triad.”

  “I am Duss, third, and best looking of the Triad.”

  Lexo stared and cocked his head. “You are three brains without bodies.”

  The Triad nodded.

  Lexo cleared his throat. “Why don’t you just have the nanites generate bodies?”

  Alphy grinned. She had asked that question a few times herself.

  Duss scowled. “The physical bodies cannot contain our knowledge. Only the mix of the liquid nanites and our minds can maintain the vast knowledge of human kind.”

  Alphy chuckled. “That is what they say. I am pretty sure it is just so that they can switch outfits on a whim. They just stay swimming brains for me. You are lucky.”

  Lexo looked at her with sudden understanding. “This is us.”

  “Correct. They are my only companions. Well, they were until you showed up.”

  “Glad to be of service. Now, why does Alphy need to be here?”

  Alphy waited for the response. She could hear the murmurs in the part of her brain that they occupied. She was their link to the outside world, such as it was.

  Onic smiled slightly. “She is our link to the outside world. She is also our caretaker and our reminder of what it is to be human. We were in danger of being lost in the histories and information until she arrived. Now that we are linked to her, it is a much more purposeful universe ahead of us.”

  Alphy looked at his representation with surprise. “That’s flattering.”

  He shrugged. “It is the truth. Our link to you has caused us to view the world—the human race—in a light we had nearly forgotten.”

  Lexo asked, “How long have you been like this?”

  Trell shrugged his shoulders. “We have been in space for over seventy years. We were out here long before the Splice came to Earth.”

  Onic nodded. “Our knowledge is to be kept safe for the reference of future generations.”

  Duss’s nearly transparent features smiled. “We sensed that an alien incursion would not be too far away, and after we notified the ruling bodies, we set about creating this ship.”

  Lexo looked around. “This was all built before the Splice?”

  Onic chuckled. “Of course. There would have been no way to move us after the attack. We had to move while it was safe and no one would notice. As we had all been in different facilities around the world, we merely had ourselves shipped up here and placed into the tank. The nanites were programmed to take care of our particular needs.”

  Duss nodded, “It was easy to create this station, this ship. What was difficult was finding someone who could communicate with us without using a display system. When Aria was injured, it was the perfect time to adjust her adaptations and have her sent here.”

  Alphy blinked. “I didn’t know that you tinkered with me.”

  Trell waved his manifested hand as if it didn’t matter. “There were alterations to your design that were necessary for the situation we had in mind for you. Using you as a data filter to add emotional weight to the information has been most useful.”

  Onic chimed in. “With your view point, we were able to get the troops to safe stations before Earth could seal itself. Everyone has a place to call home, in one way or another.”

  She blushed. “I didn’t...”

  Lexo looked from her to the three floating brains in silvery masculine forms. “You pull the data through her, you reboot her to purge her systems, and you have had her here alone. You are some sick bastards.”

  Alphy blinked. “It’s fine. My body was broken in a bunch of places. I was going to be given adaptations, regardless.”

&nbs
p; Lexo shook his head. “That wasn’t what I meant. They are using you, torturing you, and then not giving you any relief or compassion. That is not humanity, that is the work of a parasite.”

  Duss glided to the edge of the tank and looked at Lexo. “I am of your bloodline, so watch your tone. You may have chosen the path of the warrior against the wishes of your family, but I chose science and research. That was what I gave my mind and body to when your grandmother was just a child. She understood, so you had better adjust your attitude.”

  Lexo blinked. “That... isn’t likely.”

  Duss waved his hand through the air. “We brought you here for two purposes. The first is to pilot this vessel, the second is as a companion to our conduit. You are right, and we did what was right at the time. Now it is time to do something else.”

  Alphy checked the records she had access to. Duss Merker had been a researcher who devoted his life to the nanite sciences. His family was still around today, and Stephanie and Lexo were listed among his descendants. It was annoying to have to hunt for information, but while she had access to all the data generated by humankind, she had to know what she was looking for before she could find it.

  She leaned her elbows on the railing and looked them in the eyes, one at a time. “What do you mean conduit?”

  Trell looked to the others, and their minds went silent inside hers.

  She looked to Lexo. “They aren’t answering.”

  He was staring at Duss’s projection and didn’t answer her.

  She snorted and slapped her hand against the railing. “Guys! Answer. Conduit to what?”

  Onic focused on her, “Conduit to the ship. We had this ship built with a number of capabilities, but we were incompatible with the equipment. We can reach to the stars via our satellites, but we can’t steer the damned ship.”

  Alphy laughed. “Neither could I. The controls were all dead ends.”

  “And yet you got us moving.” Duss had a smile on his features.

  Alphy didn’t have a response to that except to say, “You didn’t want me to get the ship in motion.”

  Trell chuckled. “Of course, we did. We just didn’t want to make it easy.”

  Onic waved his hand. “It wasn’t like that. It was your hands that would have to do the work. Our voices would have simply distracted you from your purpose.”

  Lexo cleared his throat. “You can hear them?”

  Alphy snorted. “All the time. The data runs through me, but they pull it in.”

  “So, this evening...”

  She wrinkled her nose. “I reset to keep from burning out. I went through the first eight months fine, but then, I shorted out. They did the only thing they could think of. They reset my systems... all of them. After that, it became regular maintenance of my systems.”

  Lexo stared before he let out a snort. “They turned you off and on again?”

  “Yup.” She gripped the railing again. “I just wish they would give me a heads-up before they do it. Those few moments trapped in my body before my motor control comes back online are agony. It is just like the moment after the explosion when I couldn’t move and everything burned with pain.”

  The boys went silent.

  “You remember it?”

  “Yeah. I do. I think Lucky is the only one who might have memory loss. She got the blast full frontal.” She looked over at Lexo. “If they are willing to talk to you in this form, I can leave you to it. I have to get back to my attempts to sleep, or I will short out when I need to focus.”

  She patted her physical companion on the arm and left him to the weird mercies of the Triad.

  * * * *

  When the last flutter of the robe disappeared, Lexo turned back to the brains encased in nanites.

  “What was done to her?”

  Trell straightened. “That is classified.”

  Duss huffed and looked toward his descendant. “The Splice were attempting to alter a human to use them for communications. The other human was successful and was used to feed the Splice misinformation about troop movements, as well as gain superior technology. Aria had the channels opened, but there was no fine tuning. She can snag input from any source, analyze and store it without thinking.”

  “The Splice did that to her?”

  Duss nodded. “They opened the pathways, but it was the Splice changes that allowed us to make use of that alteration.”

  Lexo scowled. “What were you doing for communication before that?”

  “We would summon support vehicles, and we had the system programmed for maintenance. It was a quiet but safe existence.”

  “What changed?”

  The Triad looked to each other before Trell said, “Humanity began to consume itself from within. With the bulk of the threat of the Splice eliminated, folk chafed at the martial law that had been set in place. They demanded their rights, and a movement to communicate with the Splice began. The shield was nearly complete, so Earth reduced the armed forces that they were sending to the war effort. They faded the lives of those who died into the regretful past.”

  “I read about the shield. Do you think it will hold?”

  Onic snorted. “Like hell. One Splice warship in a direct assault and it would short out in seconds. They may as well be hiding behind a curtain.”

  Lexo scowled. “Why do they think it will hold?”

  “Because the information they got from the Splice communicator tells them it will. It’s a bait that the Splice have used through dozens of worlds. They give them the hope of protection and then wait until the defending forces are withdrawn. At that point, they strike.”

  Lexo tightened his hands on the railing. “What can we do?”

  “You can fly, we can plan. Gathering our forces is our primary concern. Once they are on this vessel, we will prepare for our counteroffensive.”

  “What is the purpose of the offensive?”

  “Genocide of the Splice.” The Triad’s voices blended together on their announcement of purpose.

  “Right. What is Alphy’s purpose?”

  Duss smiled. “She is our conduit. She is the master of this vessel. She will make it all it can be when the time is right. Aria is essential.”

  Lexo raised his brows, “Did anyone tell Alphy that she is in charge?”

  The Triad looked at each other, and they swiftly disappeared back below the swirling liquid nanites.

  Apparently, the conversation was over. Lexo looked around one more time, and then, he returned to his quarters with only a short detour to check on Alphy.

  Her even breathing and look of innocence identified her as in a deep sleep. Lexo watched her for a few minutes and then he headed to his room.

  He had no idea what Alphy would feel like in the morning, but if her body had been reset, she would probably be hung over. He would be.

  Chapter Seven

  Alphy moved around the dining hall, humming softly as she got her breakfast just the way she liked it.

  She had just settled in to eat when Lexo appeared, looking as if he had been riding outside the ship instead of inside. “Morning, Lexo.”

  “Um, morning, Alphy. You look... great.”

  She chuckled. “I always do after a reset. All my nanites got jump started into action. Sorry, you had to come to my rescue.”

  “It was my pleasure. I learned a lot about this vessel that makes the unusual wiring make sense.”

  Alphy blinked. “The Triad talked to you?”

  “No, I rested for an hour, explored the systems for three, and then, got another hour of rest.”

  “Right. Well, did you learn anything useful?”

  “I believe so.” As he spoke, he got his meal and grabbed a mug of the fresh coffee.

  He settled in across from her, and she kept eating while he got started.

  “Well, what did you learn?” She paused to nibble at a strip of bacon.

  “I learned that this vessel isn’t an as
teroid or a space station. It is something else, but the configuration doesn’t make sense.”

  Alphy chuckled. “Welcome to my world. Everything is just slightly off.”

  Lexo devoured his meal and took care of his tray, returning with another cup of coffee. “So, what are my duties as your companion?”

  His expression was impish as he sipped at the steaming dark brew.

  She sighed. “I don’t know. You are my best friend’s brother, so I think you are off limits for any shenanigans.”

  He shook his head. “Nope. I am the older brother, not the younger. I am definitely in the shenanigan category.”

  Alphy blushed. “Ah. I see. You are declaring your eligibility?”

  “Definitely. I also want to convince you of my suitability before we get to the base.”

  She blinked. “Before there are other candidates for my hand?”

  “Or any other body part. I believe that we would be good together.”

  Alphy stared at him. “I don’t even know you.”

  “That is incorrect. You have my file, you know my sister. What else is there to know?”

  She blinked. “Um... I don’t know. There just seems like there should be more. Shouldn’t there?”

  He was about to answer when an alarm sounded.

  Alphy stood and ran for the bridge.

  Lexo kept pace with her. “What is that alarm?”

  “Proximity warning. There is a Splice ship out there.”

  The guys were feeding her information from distant relay stations. They were panicked about the incursion. Apparently, having a Splice ship discover them while they chugged through the stars wasn’t part of their plan.

  “How do you know it isn’t just a stellar event?”

  Lexo could carry on a normal conversation while he ran. Good breath control. She would have to keep that in mind.

  “This ship can and has taken direct meteor strikes. That is what it is built for. If someone is heading toward us, they are doing it in a straight line and without any gravitational curves. They are aiming for us.”

  He nodded. “Right. Where are the weapons?”