Assessing Survival Read online

  “That was cutting it fine.”

  She shrugged. “It took me that long to find it. I was just sent a decryption key. The rest of the data arrived after I got all the new com codes and protocols.”

  He slowly eased back, letting her slide down the wall.

  They left the surgery and headed for the recovery ward to see the new arrivals. The surgeons were still hard at work, but the newest cyborgs were all safe and monitored.

  Stitch whispered to Nikolai, “I am on.”

  She sat next to the beds and touched shoulders and cheeks. Some of the men chatted with her as she explained what was going on. They had been captured eighteen months ago with an entire warship full of men. They were what was left. The Splice were using them up slowly.

  One guy looked over with concern to the man in the bed next to him. “How is he?”

  “He seems to have a high pulse, but he is recovering.”

  “Those guys, they fought hard every time the Splice came. They also all have weird marks on their back. I don’t know what the Splice did, but it wasn’t good.”

  “Excuse me.”

  Stitch went over to the man in the bed. He was still out, but his muscles were twitching.

  She grunted as she rolled him to one side, and the long wounds on his back were already turning silver. The muscles were jumping in spasms.

  She uncoupled him from the leads and pushed the bed toward the hall. “Nikolai, get the rest of them into cold units. They are going into shock.”

  Nikolai stared at her. “Why? Is there a problem?”

  “Because they don’t have the primer. They aren’t human.”

  She could hear the other members of staff cursing as every mobile body grabbed a gurney and headed for the cold units.

  “Stich, where are you headed?”

  “The repair unit. I can use overrides to get a baseline calibration. The nanites need to be taught that these aren’t humans.”

  She moved as fast as she could, skidding the gurney around the corner before shoving it through the doors of the surgery.

  She really hoped that the adjustments to her body had taken, because this was not the point to discover that she had failed. Stitch grabbed the man by the shoulders, and she lifted him. He grunted, but more of his muscles were twitching. She heaved and pushed, getting him into the module on her own. Stitch had to reach under him to find his tailbone, but the split bone simply confirmed that this wasn’t a human.

  She wracked her brain for the protocol for setting the machine up. The first thing she needed was an untainted tissue sample, so she took a plug from his shoulder and inserted it into the machine.

  The calibration seemed to take forever, but when the lights went green, she took a deep breath.

  Since it was habit by this point, she spoke to the man on the med bed. “This is going to be weird and uncomfortable, but it shouldn’t hurt. As the first of your kind getting this treatment, we will be using you to try and save the rest of your men.”

  The machine chirped to announce that it was still ready, and she closed the lid.

  “The first thing you will feel is the sterilizing spray. It will keep infection at bay. The next step will be a primer injection. It should take effect immediately, and your muscle tremors will cease. After that, the implants that were installed will take, and you will regrow your limbs to match your genome.”

  The injections were sliding into him, the blank nanites were reading his existing tissue and spreading the message to their buddies.

  “There; you are being rebuilt from the bones out. The implants are grafted into your nervous system. It is amazing that the docs didn’t see it.”

  To her surprise, the lifters came out and flipped him. The machines went into his back and started digging around.

  Stitch watched as the machines removed plugs from the back of the man in front of her, and the marks immediately silvered over, becoming whole skin.

  “So, the Splice put plugs in your back to keep something from growing back, maybe?”

  The unit chirped completion, and the cover lifted. The hand that grabbed her throat was the metal implant that had been grafted on.

  The man stared at her with rainbow eyes and a serious expression. He spoke harshly, and she choked. He shook her again, and her hair fell around her.

  He must have been afraid of brunettes, because he dropped her to the floor. She got up and didn’t back away from him.

  “Hello. My name is Stitch, and I am currently in charge of this base. Now, I know you don’t understand me, but we are also victims of the Splice.”

  He narrowed his eyes, and she felt a strange pressure in her head, like a headache was coming on.

  He stood and looked at the raw metal struts that made up his arm. The flesh was growing down at a good rate, and astonishment came to his features.

  “The skin will grow over it, and you will have a working hand. It will be silver, but it will be usable.” She rubbed her neck lightly with her own silver hand.

  He reached out and took it and held it next to his hand.

  She smiled. “That is the idea.” She flexed her hand, and then, she grabbed his neck and held him against the repair unit.

  She gave him a serious expression as he choked. When his hand couldn’t dislodge her, he surrendered, and she released him. She stepped back and crossed her arms, sure that he knew where she stood.

  He bowed to her. It was a weird gesture to her, but she accepted it with a slight inclination of her head.

  Stitch pushed past the gurney and got a set of clothing for him. She handed him the clothing, and he slipped it on. He got the pants on backward at first, but she didn’t smile. She just waited until he figured it out and turned them around.

  When he was dressed but barefoot, he cleared his throat. “Where are my men?”

  She jumped at the English, but she explained, “We had to put them into cold storage while we worked on reprogramming you. Our doctors didn’t realize you weren’t our species, and the implants you were given were putting you into shock.”

  “It will become my hand again?”

  “It will. Your feet are already covered.”

  He looked down and wiggled his toes as if noticing them for the first time.

  “What were the plugs in your shoulders?”

  Excitement came to his eyes. “You removed them?”

  “Yes.”

  “Our wings grow back.” His smile was slow.

  “Well, that is something. Come on, help me get this gurney back to the pre-surgical area, and we can begin bringing your men in.”

  “How many of us were rescued?”

  “Fifteen, including you. The rest were our men.”

  “Can I see them?”

  “Yes. They are in cold canisters, so we have to take them out one at a time. I think most of them have been repaired and enhanced, but the canisters will slow the acceptance of the implants; it will also keep them from dying because the nanites don’t know what to do.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “I will tell you later. Come with me.”

  She led him to the pre-op area, where the canisters were humming. Nikolai was helping get the last of the quivering aliens into the cold canister.

  “Stitch, did it work?”

  “Ask him yourself. He understands English now.”

  Nikolai looked from her to the stranger, and his eyes narrowed. Stitch didn’t know he could move that fast, but he grabbed the man and held him in the air. “You touched her!”

  Veins were standing out in Nikolai’s neck, and he looked like he was going to break the stranger’s head against the wall.

  “Nikolai, stop it! Put him down. I already strangled him!”

  He looked at her in surprise and let the alien go. The man landed on his feet with a weird grace.

  The medics were standing around and staring at the stranger with confusion.

&nb
sp; She checked the canisters until she found the most likely candidate for an easy transition. The more the automated repair unit could learn, the faster the corrections would be.

  All of Lucky’s and Cracker’s lectures were finally hitting home. She never thought that it would come in handy to have all this crap in her head.

  “This is the one who goes next. Can someone give me a hand getting him onto a gurney?”

  “Stitch, is it a good idea to increase the amount of an alien force on our base?” Nikolai was scowling.

  “I think it is stupid not to help men so close to our own that the surgeons couldn’t tell them apart.” She keyed in the access code and warmed up the man who began to shake immediately.

  The stranger stepped forward. “I will carry him.”

  Nikolai shook his head. “No, you shouldn’t put weight on your implant. I will do it.”

  Technically, Stitch could do it, but she wasn’t a fan of heavy lifting.

  Nikolai picked up the twitching alien, and Stitch led the way back to the machine. When the cold, naked man was laid in the unit, she used her hand under his ass to line him up with the machine.

  His arms and legs were minimally damaged, but she had to set the machine with a skin sample just as she had with the first stranger.

  When the lights indicated it was go time, she stayed next to the machine as it whirred to life.

  She told him what was going to happen, and when the stranger came toward the machine, she held Nikolai back as he began to speak in the whispery language that had sounded so hoarse when he shouted it.

  He tensed when he saw the needles with their silver contents, but she explained nanites as best she could.

  When he paused, she continued to explain as the machine rotated the new patient and what it was going to do to the wounds in his back.

  The stranger whispered to his friend, and Stitch got the mental image of flying.

  When the machine chirped its completion, Stitch opened the unit and let the stranger catch his buddy when he came out.

  The men hugged and stood close together.

  Nikolai pulled Stitch aside. “Are you sure that this is right?”

  “They were being carved up by the Splice. That is enough credential for me.”

  He looked back, and the two strangers were looking at them.

  The first one smiled. “I am Commander Liakon, this is Sergeant Aluak. We are at your service in fighting the Splice. As are the rest of my men.”

  Stitch winced. “Damn, I am going to have to find quarters for them.”

  Nikolai smirked. “The joys of being in charge.”

  Stitch poked him in the chest. “Go and get another one so we can get them into their own beds. And find some pants for that guy.”

  Nikolai nodded and saluted. She turned around and stalked back to the sleeper canisters and lined them up in order of priority.

  She had one of the medics carry the next patient into the machine and showed him how to line the guy up and take the sample.

  When everything was ready, the door closed and Liakon and Aluak were watching closely.

  “Why do you take the sample?”

  “To tell the machine you aren’t human. It changes the program and lets it do things like analyze what your bodies should look like and then build them again.”

  “And those shots?”

  “They provide a bridge between the programmed bots that are causing the problem and the implants, including organs.”

  “You can replace organs?”

  “Everything but the brain, and even that has some wiggle room.”

  The medic looked at her nervously. “Major Carter, you are going to leave me here?”

  “Unless you have authorization to accept five human and fifteen strangers to the base and find quarters for them all, yeah, you are up.”

  She smirked. “Nikolai, when you are done finding a stack of clothing for them, feel free to help carry the men in for treatment. You are best suited for heavy lifting.”

  He stuck his tongue out at her, and she laughed as the door closed between them.

  Chapter Seven

  She sent a note on the aliens to headquarters with a mention of how she was keeping them under surveillance, whatever that would entail.

  With that taken care of, she ran through the usage of implants and equipment, putting through requisitions for the parts that couldn’t be manufactured with the machines on base.

  Her stomach growled and alerted her to the passage of time. Stitch finished the essentials and got to her feet, stretching before the long walk to the dining hall.

  The few men that she met in the halls nodded politely and addressed her as major.

  She patted the loose bun that she had managed to wrangle her hair into and smiled. It seemed that the trick still worked. Girls with their hair down were free to flirt with; hair up meant business.

  Her bones were tired when she went to the machine and got a pre-packaged ration to eat. The hot breakfast wasn’t starting for hours.

  She dragged herself to a table and prodded at the meal with her fork. It had been one exceptionally busy day, and there was so much more to do.

  “Stitch. Stitch. Wake up.” Nikolai’s voice whispered in her ear.

  She cracked her eyes open and saw his concerned face inches from her own. “What?”

  “The new arrivals wanted to speak with you, so we went looking.”

  She sat up and looked past him where fifteen men were lined up, each with military bearing and all staring at her.

  Her food was cold. She must have been out for several minutes at least.

  She looked around and saw the clock. “Well, hell. I have now gotten to the point where I can sleep sitting up. Evolution at work.”

  She smiled at Nikolai and said, “Have them pull up some tables and chairs. Standing up is not really an option.”

  The men obviously heard her. They pulled in tables and surrounded her in a semi-circle.

  Nikolai stood behind her. She could feel the heat coming off his body.

  Commander Liakon cleared his throat. “Major Carter, we are thankful that you have accepted us as guests at your base.”

  Aluak inclined his head. “Your timely assistance saved our lives.”

  Liakon cocked his head, his rainbow eyes staring at her. “How did you know?”

  She answered honestly. “My family assisted in designing the programming, and if a person had not received the initial introduction of the nanites before the implant was attached, the seizures would begin. The active repair nanites would start tearing the body apart, but not know how to put it back together. They are machines, but we have to tell them exactly what to do.”

  Liakon nodded. “How do we remove them?”

  “You don’t. They are part of you now. For some of you, they are running the organs implanted; for others, they maintain the balance of skin and bone. Yours are now part of you just as mine are part of me.”

  He frowned. “It can’t fall into the hands of the Splice.”

  She nodded. “That is true, but it won’t. Our men who have fallen into the hands of the Splice, including those who were retrieved with you, have already had the nanites and live with them. They had them before they went to battle, and they have them now.”

  Aluak scowled. “If the Splice have this technology, why aren’t they using it?”

  “The nanites are programmed for the possibility that they will be separated from their host. Without a working immune system, they burn out.”

  The men looked sceptical, so she took her knife and cut her normal hand. The men gasped, and she dripped a puddle of blood on the table.

  It bubbled and scorched until there was nothing but ash.

  “Severed tissue does the same.” She held up her hand so they could see that the cut was healing at an accelerated rate.

  Stitch smiled. “I am not recommending that you all try, but now, y
our bodies can recover rapidly from any damage inflicted with the exception of having a limb or organ destroyed. Those need frameworks to build tissue around.”

  Liakon nodded as if it made sense. A slow smile crossed his features. “Do you have a lover, Major Carter?”

  She was about to open her mouth and speak when Nikolai said, “Yes.”

  She shrugged with a smile.

  Liakon nodded in agreement. “If you ever have need of one, please consider me or one of my men for the position. We all have extensive training in the arts of love, and it would be an honour to be at your service.”

  “Um, thank you. I will keep it in mind if there is an availability. I do have a question for you and your men.”

  “Please, do not hesitate.”

  “The question is twofold. The first part is what are your kind called, and the second is do you have anyone who can make a scale drawing of your wings, including tensile strength and lift capacity? We may be able to speed the regeneration if we can install frameworks that will help your body repair.”

  “Solouk is a biologist. He should be able to reproduce what we have lost.”

  “How long does it normally take for your wings to regrow?”

  “Six months.”

  She made a face. “How long were you a prisoner?”

  “Our ship was captured a week ago. Your men were already on board. It was a shock to see the men coming to rescue their own, and we were even more astonished when they took us with them. We were grateful; we are grateful, but for one species to take in another in the face of war is amazing.”

  Nikolai sighed. “To be honest, we didn’t know you weren’t ours. You look the same.”

  Stitch was surprised. “You didn’t notice their eyes?”

  Liakon cleared his throat. “We did not let them see. The Alguth are sensitive when it comes to the minds of other species. When we saw how close we were to your kind, we blended in.”

  “So, a chance to escape was in front of you, and you took it?” Stitch fought her smile.

  “Yes.”

  “Well, I am delighted that you have all made it out alive. Now, did Nikolai show you where you are staying?”