Assessing Survival Read online

  He grinned. “Glad to hear it.”

  When they arrived in the medical centre, Captain Blue was there, and he raised his brows. “Is there something wrong?”

  Stitch scowled at him. “No, I just thought that Niko needed the workout.”

  Niko bounced her a little. “She ran out of oxygen on our way back through the airlocks.”

  Captain Blue was suddenly all business. “Right. Set her down on the scan table.”

  Niko set her down, and Captain Blue gave her an injection. He paused. “Oh, damn. I should have had you remove your suit first.”

  Stitch sighed. “You are enjoying this.”

  “Only a little. Captain Lukai, if you would help? I am assuming that you have experience getting out of a suit.”

  He gave Captain Blue a dark look. “Yes, if you give me a sheet for her, that would be appreciated.”

  Captain Blue suddenly got the expression that she remembered from waking up with him ordering her hand around. He considered her a toy to play with.

  He left and got a sheet.

  Niko stripped her as efficiently as possible and pulled the sheet over her as soon as it was feasible to do so.

  The scan was quick, but Captain Blue actually took on a serious expression when he stared at the results. “What was your previous lung capacity?”

  “Not great. I spent years running to increase it. I grew up with serious lung issues.”

  “Your lungs have been restored to their genetic state. That means that you can’t properly exert yourself without passing out. You are just not efficient at processing oxygen. I am amazed that you were admitted to the armed forces.”

  “I wasn’t really. I got along with my mental requirements. That is what was needed, a planner. Someone who could look beyond the wounds and turn them into weapons. The doctors couldn’t or wouldn’t do it. You should know; I designed you.”

  He blinked. “What?”

  “I was a consultant on your case. I suggested the micro control unit to help you in surgery, and Lucky wrote the program for it.”

  “Oh. Well, thank you.”

  “It was my job, and I take my job very seriously.”

  “Well, due to your genetics, avoid running. Your nanites will keep repairing them to the current state. You will be starting over every day.”

  She tried to make a fist, and her body slowly reacted.

  “Great. Can you flush the paralytic now?”

  “Sure. Of course. If you suffer any more lightheaded episodes, let me know.”

  He held a small device to her neck, and her hand was released from stricture.

  Niko picked her up again and carried her to her quarters.

  She rubbed her head. “I just want to rest.”

  “So, rest. I will be here when you wake.”

  He tucked her into bed before he peeled off his clothing and crawled into bed with her. He wrapped her in his arms and rubbed his chin along the crown of her head.

  She sighed and relaxed in his arms. The time in the machine might have been supposed to keep her up, but her body wanted what it wanted. Right then, it wanted sleep.

  Chapter Eleven

  “Niko?” She rolled over, and the sheets were cool where he had been lying.

  “Well, if he can’t be here when I wake up, as he promised, I will just kick him out after sex.” She didn’t know who she was talking to, but it made her feel better.

  She got out of bed and took a shower, towelling her hair dry as she checked her closet. Yup, the liner and her suit were back in place.

  She grumbled as she got dressed again. She made her bed and stalked into the base, feeling the eerie quiet the moment she took a step out of her personal space.

  She headed to her office instead of stopping for breakfast. The reports were showing two large Splice warships approaching, and so all of the remaining cyborgs had been sent out.

  She rubbed her forehead. They had been gone for six hours, and she didn’t know how long they were supposed to be gone before she worried.

  “Damn it.”

  “Major Stitch, good morning.” Liakon was lounging in her doorway.

  “Good morning, Commander Liakon.”

  “Captain Lukai has given me orders to make sure that you take the time for a meal.”

  “Good luck with that.”

  Aluak, the youngest of the Alguth, came in with a tray, and it contained a steaming cup of coffee.

  “Well, that is new.”

  “Captain Lukai also said that delivery was the only way it could be managed.”

  She sighed as the tray was set on her desk. The hot items were still hot, and the sweet pastry was tucked onto one side.

  She sipped at the coffee and sighed.

  “Right. I have gotten the specs for your wings, along with a note from Earth Control threatening me with incarceration if I do it. So, we should have the materials on hand to make the struts, I am ordering the machining now. You should be in surgery late this afternoon.”

  Liakon blinked. “You are risking your own life here?”

  “No. Just my freedom. I haven’t had much of it so not a huge loss.”

  She ate with one hand while the other went through the correspondence. She almost missed the note from Windy.

  The hidden code nearly skimmed by in a system upgrade. She set her pastry down and got to work.

  She dismissed Liakon and sealed the room, putting a com unit into her ear.

  The twenty-three-digit code took four tries to get right, but when she heard the familiar voice say, “About fucking time, Stitch,” all she could do was laugh.

  When she sobered, she said, “It is great to hear your voice, Windy.”

  “Ah, I do love the old names. So, is it true you have actual aliens running around your base?”

  “Damn straight. I just kicked one out. He wants to make me his queen.”

  Windy snickered. “Who wouldn’t? So, what are you up to today?”

  “Oh, you know, running around on an alien world, finding out that my adaptation nanites have set me back to the asthmatic wheezer I used to be and waking up to find everybody but the aliens and the med staff off on a mission against the Splice.”

  “You could always have your lungs removed.”

  “I really don’t want to. There is already less of me than there used to be.”

  “You and me both, Stitch.”

  “Have you heard from Alphy or Lacey?”

  “Sure. What do you need?”

  “More staff.”

  “If you want more staff, thaw them out. You are sitting on the largest collection of warriors in the galaxy.”

  She stared at her screens. “What?”

  “Sure. Three med officers ago, Alpha Base was made the repository for all off-duty cyborgs. You have them all. The rest of the bases are only to spread out the communications and the administration.”

  “So, they can’t take us all out.”

  Windy chuckled. “I guess that’s the plan.”

  “It is such a relief to hear you again.”

  Windy was suddenly sober. “You too. You were the last one back.”

  The question she had been dreading was now in her throat. “What did they do with the others?”

  “Full honours. Fired into the sun.”

  “Right. Of course.”

  It was the only way to treat human bodies in space anymore. They had to be burned or they were fodder for the Splice.

  There was a pause between them. Windy whispered, “How did we end up like this?”

  Instead of giving the canned answer, Stitch answered honestly. “Our people were attacked, we were asked to go as support, and an asshole blew us up because they wanted to surrender to the Splice. Our friends died, we lived and here we are, still trying to support the cause even if we don’t know where we are in space.”

  “Yeah, that sounds about right.” Windy chuckled. “If you w
ant a three-way with Cracker, let me know. You have my number.”

  “Polite dismissal?”

  “Yup. I can’t hide this signal much longer. Talk to you soon.”

  The link went quiet, so Stitch put the com headset in her desk and grabbed the file with the specs for the installation of wing struts that would hold the body weight of one of the Alguth.

  She brought the designs to medical and showed them to Captain Blue. “Do you think you can manage this?”

  “Sure. I will have to check the musculature while I am in there and connect the tendons, but if his body is already re-growing the connections, it will be easier.”

  “Great. When do you think you can try this?”

  “Well, we have some quiet time now. I can have the parts called up and the team ready in two hours.”

  “Excellent. I will tell Liakon to turn up.”

  “I have to say, this is a bit exciting. We had no idea they weren’t human when we worked on them.”

  “They said they can alter the perceptions of others around them to ensure acceptance.”

  “Apparently that is what they did. Their musculature is remarkably similar to ours.”

  “I have seen the reports and scans. You aren’t wrong.” She left the reports on his monitor and turned to leave. “See you in two hours.”

  Now, she just had to find Liakon. She made an educated guess that he would be at the gym.

  The Alguth were all working out and chatting with their companions in the way men did when they were trying to relax.

  She found Liakon sprinting on a treadmill, and she waved at him.

  He turned off the machine and stepped toward her with a weird grace.

  “Yes, Major Stitch?”

  “Your surgery to implant your wings is in two hours. Just thought you might like to know. Be at medical; I will meet you there.”

  He was startled. “So soon?”

  “Did you want to wait?”

  “No. No! This is wonderful.”

  “Glad you think so. I have more work to do, but I will meet you there.” She patted him on the arm. “Two hours.”

  He nodded, and there were sparkles of tears in his eyes.

  She nodded to the other men in the gym and headed back to the office with a short detour for a cup of coffee and a pastry.

  Liakon stripped and lay down on the gurney, she whispered encouragement to him as he was sedated, and she remained outside the surgery with his men while the long spines were grafted to the muscle and tissue in his back.

  Solouk whispered, “Major, what do you think the odds of success are?”

  “I would say there is a ninety-eight percent chance of success. They have done weirder surgeries with far less chance of success. It should be easy if his musculature has begun to regrow.”

  She got tired of peering through the window of the surgery and went back to the med bay, bringing up the monitor from the surgical cameras. She and the crowd of Alguth watched as the spines were attached to Liakon’s back and the muscles were tested for strength and movement. Wires were used to increase the possible weight load divided across the torso.

  They sat and watched as six different struts were attached to different muscle groups.

  The aliens were nervous.

  Stitch smiled. “Look at the first one.”

  The new skin was creeping along the metal base, and the silver scales were appearing on the gossamer framework.

  She sat in the centre of a bunch of men who were crying with relief.

  Wing by wing, the testing for muscle movement proved that Liakon’s body controlled the struts.

  It took hours for the surgery to go from start to finish, but when Liakon was wheeled out, he was already on his way to wings that were about five feet long.

  He was lying on his stomach in recovery, and his men surrounded him.

  Stitch sat back and watched as he slowly came out of anaesthesia. He flexed his wings and tried to push himself upward. The med tech pushed his way to his patient’s side and coaxed him into lying flat again. He needed a few minutes more.

  Stitch watched him slowly come back to normal colour, and his scans gradually cleared, indicating his brain was back online.

  The tech helped him sit, and he started fluttering his wings immediately.

  Stitch decided to pitch in. The aliens moved aside for her. “Liakon. Remain calm. Stop trying to move your wings and let the graft take. Tearing out the doctor’s work is not going to do you any good. Wait at least three hours, and then, you can start moving.”

  Aluak smiled. “Can I go next?”

  “Let’s make sure that they work first, plus let the team recover. We don’t have a program to install wings.”

  Captain Blue came over, looking triumphant but tired. “We have ordered up enough materials for all of you. Two more surgeries and we will have enough data to program the machine.”

  Stitch pointed to the Alguth. “Keep Liakon from over doing it, and when he can use his wings to fly, you can get in line for the surgery. Not before.”

  Crystalline webbing was already filling in the spans of the wings. The Alguth were watching his progress with the intensity of folk who were witnessing a miracle.

  Stitch returned to her office and got back to work.

  Chapter Twelve

  It took four hours before Liakon came into her office and fluttered his wings rapidly, lifting off the floor.

  “Fine. Coordinate with Captain Blue. He can start a surgical schedule with you.”

  “You are worried.”

  “I am. Niko’s team has been gone for a while, and I don’t know when they are coming back. Yes, I am worried.”

  Liakon leaned forward. “Do you know where they have gone?”

  “Two Splice warships are staging.”

  “Can you show me where?”

  She lowered the lights, and the holo projector showed the Splice ship converging on a planet with three moons.

  “Alguth. Look there are other ships coming. We need to be there.”

  “There is no way to get there. I can’t really fly a ship, and I don’t have the skills necessary to fight a battle.”

  He was startled. “I never thought you should come with us.”

  She smirked. “Like I am going to let a chance like this go by. The moment that the machine is ready, get your men set up and recovering. When they are ready, if there is nothing back from the attack ship, we will head out.”

  “You are serious? You will take us to the fight?”

  “I will take you back to the arms of the Splice. After that, you are on your own. Now, congratulations on your wings, and please, leave me alone. I have to look into the practicalities of this, and I only have seven hours to do it if Captain Blue is willing to do the surgeries.”

  She waved him off.

  The moment he was gone, she grabbed a com unit and called Windy.

  “Hiya Windy, sorry to intervene. Have we come up with anything to scuttle a Splice ship yet?”

  “Hang on. We are doing that conference call ahead of schedule.”

  “Sorry. The Splice are targeting a planet and that can’t be good.”

  Windy went quiet while Stitch waited.

  “Cracker online.”

  “Lucky online.”

  Stitch smiled. “Stitch holding.”

  The other two chuckled softly.

  “Right, since we are all here, I need a means to disable a Splice ship.”

  Cracker muttered, “That is a rough one. I have designed a spike to get through, but the programming isn’t done.”

  “Yes, it is. I just haven’t had a reason to send it to you. The pieces have to come together.”

  Stitch chuckled. “Well, Lucky, I need it now.”

  “Data burst on the way. The programming will key the machine to the person who stabs the data notes.”

  “I will send the design to your manufacturer. Brin
g as many of them as you can. It will help the infiltrator to take control of the ship.”

  “The infiltrator being me.”

  Cracker paused. “The infiltrator being any other cyborg with you. You are irreplaceable, Stitch.”

  “If that was the case, they wouldn’t have left me in the tube for two years.”

  Lucky cleared her throat. “How long have you been up?”

  “Less than a week.”

  “Oh. Damn. I am sorry, Stitch.”

  Cracker chipped in. “Schematics have been sent. I have ordered the parts. Did you really give a bunch of aliens their wings back?”

  “Yup. Well, we are working on it.”

  “Wow. What do they look like?”

  “Neither the machines nor the doctors could tell them from us. It was the nanites that sent up the flag. I will send you a report on it, Cracker.”

  “Please. Aliens who look like us. What are the odds?”

  “Pretty good considering that the Splice keep looking like generally patchworked people. They seek out a type, and that is why we are here, right? We are around their new tissue source, now that the Earth is out of their reach.”

  Lucky chuckled. “You could always put the pieces together. Well, take the code, program the spikes and go for it.”

  “Thanks, ladies. I will be in touch if this works. If not, watch for a solar flare. Otherwise, I am going to try and do some damage, and we all know that I can manage it if I put my mind to it. Ah well, maybe my guys will return and I won’t have to.”

  “I sent a battle breather design to you that should fit. The manufacturing unit is working on it first.”

  “So, you guys have been in my computer this whole time?”

  Lucky and Cracker muttered, “Pretty much, yeah.”

  “Glad to know it. These guys need all the help they can get. Okay. Well, good talk. Glad we have all managed this. Now, we just need Alphy and Lacey back in the mix and we will be as complete as we could be.”

  Windy chuckled. “They are listening, but they don’t have active coms. They can hear you.”

  “Glad you know that you are still out there, ladies. One small step every time and we will finish this.”