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DVS went to the main command room, unsurprised to find JSN already in attendance. His friend and comrade would have naturally stepped in while he interrogated the prisoner.
A dart of discomfort shot through him at the idea of describing Carrie that way, but it was the most apt descriptor. She was currently a prisoner, and he had been attempting to get answers from her. That she was supposed to be his mate made no difference, and he still couldn’t see Rote’s logic to that.
What value was a mate to a man like him, one embroiled in a war for their very survival? Rote had promised DVS a way to end the war, but had simply delivered a human female from the distant past. There was no value in the union, and he needed to ignore the physical urges leading him to want to claim the human as his.
“Did you learn anything of use from the human?” asked JSN. His lips turned down into a frown. “She is completely human, isn’t she?”
DVS arched a brow. “I assume so, but I didn’t give her a thorough inspection.”
JSN gave him a knowing smirk. “You would have had time to, and she is your mate. Perhaps you can overlook the fact that she’s human. She’s not completely unappealing. If you don’t want her, there might be another—”
Before he’d realized it, DVS’s hand shot out and wrapped around his friend’s throat, squeezing hard enough to keep him from speaking. “None will touch her.”
JSN didn’t seem unduly worried as he lifted his hands in a gesture of surrender. He didn’t speak until DVS withdrew his hand. “It’s like that, is it? I’m surprised you’re back already then and not consummating your union.”
“I have no intention of touching her. I simply want to ensure her safety. She’s an enigma, and if Rote is telling us the truth, she might be the key to ending the war. We just have to figure out how she’ll serve that purpose. We can’t do that if she’s injured by one of the cyborgs, or harmed in any fashion.”
JSN chuckled. “I don’t believe she’d be harmed by any who might claim her as a mate, though she might not walk straight for a while.”
DVS struggled to control his temper, uncertain why his friend’s ribald comments were irritating him in such an extreme way. He shouldn’t feel at all protective or possessive of the human. He’d never agreed to take her as a mate. He’d simply agreed to meet Rote at the appointed time, and he’d been lured there with the promise of ending the war.
In point of fact, he had paid little attention to Rote’s insistence that he was bringing him his destined mate. He had focused on having the upper hand to finally end the vicious conflict with the synths and the humans. So why did the idea of one of his cyborgs claiming her offend him so greatly?
He shook his head, trying to dismiss the thoughts. “She’ll be safe here, so spread the word that she’s off-limits.”
“And will she be staying in the brig, General?” There was a knowing gleam in his friend’s eye despite the deference in his tone when he phrased the question.
“Of course, at least until I figure out what value she might be, or what her fate will be.”
“I’ll spread the word then, General.”
He turned away from his friend, planning to focus his thoughts on the tasks before him. There were offensives to plan, data to sort through from the reconnaissance teams, and myriad other tasks that went with coordinating and commanding a large army. Any of the duties before him should have been enough to occupy his thoughts and keep him focused solely on what he needed to do.
It was disconcerting to have the human’s face continuously slipping into his mind. Her delicate heart-shaped face and big brown eyes were an unwelcome distraction. Thoughts of running his fingers through her long mane of dark brown hair were inappropriate as he tried to focus on the reports from the recon scouts.
The idea of allowing his hands to roam freely over all her soft curves instead of focusing on what he should be doing was practically a dereliction of duty. He should write himself up, but it would be too humiliating to have such a report appear in his records. Despite a monumental mountain of tasks before him, he accomplished precious little in the intervening hours as he tried repeatedly to get the human out of his thoughts.
***
POOR PENNY WAS PACING urgently around the confines of the room, pausing to give Carrie a pleading look every few steps. Carrie was irritated on the dog’s behalf, and once again, she started pounding on the door through which the General had disappeared more than an hour before. “You need to let my dog out.” She shouted the words as she took a break from trying to get someone’s attention as she’d been doing for at least the last twenty minutes.
Despite the sides of her hands hurting from where she had formed fists to pound on the door, she was determined to keep at it until someone responded. It was bad enough to lock her in here, but completely unacceptable to do this to Penny. She knew the dog would be traumatized if she was forced to potty inside. She clearly had better manners than the cyborgs holding them prisoner.
Suddenly, the door opened, making Carrie stumble back as Penny moved forward eagerly. Carrie called out to the dog, who was trained enough to stop, even though she was clearly desperate to relieve herself. She didn’t want to risk Penny running out into the hall and being hurt by one of the cyborgs for trying to escape.
The person who stood on the other side of the door was a bit of a surprise. Carrie was average height, and so far, the cyborgs she had seen had all towered over her. That was not the case with the shorter female cyborg in front of her. She was petite, and her pixie cut only served to further enhance her delicate appearance. Though she was the same light blue as all the others, with the luminescent vascular/circuitry system, she seemed to glow with a different light entirely. There was also kindness in her eyes, along with curiosity.
“Hello.”
“Um, hi,” said Carrie a bit uncertainly. “My dog needs to relieve herself.”
The cyborg tipped her head slightly, clearly confused. “What do you mean?”
“She needs to go outside. If I’m not allowed to leave, could you please take her and bring her back?”
She smiled. “Of course, but you can come with us.” She spoke with unwavering confidence.
Carrie still had her doubts that she was supposed to leave the room, but she wasn’t going to cower in this cell when she had an opportunity to flee. Or at least escape for a few minutes. She hadn’t yet decided if fleeing was wise, should the opening arise. From what DVS had told her, she wouldn’t be safe with the cyborgs, but was she any safer without them unless she could find the humans?
She studiously ignored the small pang in her chest at the idea of being separated from DVS. That was a ridiculous reaction, and she was certain she wouldn’t have even had the briefest thought about him if Freydon Rote hadn’t put it in her head that he was her mate. Utter rubbish.
Hesitantly, she fell into step beside the cyborg female, discreetly trying to guess the girl’s age. She certainly seemed like a girl. “How did you become a cyborg?”
“I was injured in battle, and I requested conversion to a cyborg so I could survive. I had a disabled mother and three siblings to support, which was why I joined the military.”
“But you’re so young.”
She giggled, sounding far more like a human teenager than a cyborg soldier. “I was nineteen when I became a cyborg. I’ve been a cyborg for sixty-one years.”
“Don’t you age?”
She shook her head. “Parts break down and eventually, we sustain serious injuries, or simply get too old for our repair systems to maintain, but we don’t actually age.”
“How long does a cyborg live?”
She shrugged. “It depends on the cyborg. The general is one hundred and fourteen years old.”
Talk about an age gap. Not that it mattered that he was nearly ninety years older than her, and that was without calculating how old she technically was after traveling more than four hundred years into the future. None of that mattered, because they weren’t actually meant to be mates.
She reminded herself of that firmly as the female cyborg led her out of the base and back into the barren landscape she had seen before. She hadn’t seen this part, since she had been unconscious during the trip back to their base, but it was basically the same as the area where Freydon Rote had deposited her. There were no trees or signs of greenery. The wind whipped up, stirring dirt that blew in her eyes and hair. She closed her eyes and coughed, attempting to clear herself of the irritants. When she opened her eyes again, Penny was a few feet away, taking care of business.
The cyborg was watching the dog with fascination. “I understand what you mean now. Can she not use the facilities?”
Carrie’s lips twitched, and she struggled not to laugh at the idea. “Back home, I occasionally saw a YouTube video of a dog who had been trained to use the facilities, but no, Penny can’t. She’s a clever and sweet girl, but she isn’t quite that talented.”
The dog finished and approached, and the cyborg bent down to greet Penny. As she laughed when the dog sniffed her face, she seemed entirely human, even with her blue skin. “She’s amazing.”
“Yes, she is.” Watching them together made her smile, especially when Penny licked the other woman. Abruptly, she realized she hadn’t gotten her name. “What’s your designation?” That sounded like a sci-fi way to phrase it.
“I’m RVN99.” She giggled again as Penny licked her neck.
“RVN,” she repeated, mind whirling. “Is it all right if I call you Raven?”
RVN paused in her interaction with the dog, looking up at Carrie with a startled expression. “You mean as a name?” At Carrie’s nod, she frowned before a smile slowly overtook her face again. “I like that.”
“Unless you prefer I use your name from before you were a cyborg?”
A ghost of a smile touched her lips. “I don’t remember it. I don’t remember much about my human life, though the really important details are embedded. I still remember my mother’s face, along with my siblings, but even their names are lost. It’s a deliberate mechanism used during the process of conversion. It was used by the military to ensure we fought like weapons instead of as people.”
“I’m so sorry.” She couldn’t imagine enduring something like that, only to lose all the memories of her previous life, aside from the very important ones. All the people she’d loved would be gone, and she couldn’t imagine how awful it must be to lose every other detail, including her own name.
Raven shrugged, looking far more pragmatic than she should at her apparent age. “I knew about it before I agreed. My family needed the compensation that came with entering the program, and I was going to die otherwise.” She stood up, petting Penny on the head before turning her attention back to carry. “We should get inside. Dinner will be served soon.”
Her eyes widened. “You eat?”
Raven seemed to be puzzled by the question. “Don’t you?”
“Of course, but I’m human. I haven’t been...upgraded like you guys.”
Raven laughed. “We have fuel cells and a nourishment solution that circulates through our cybernetic veins, but we still have to feed the organic side of ourselves too. Most cyborgs still have a digestive system, unless the injuries were too extensive to salvage. It’s more economical and easier to obtain food than terbium, which is a critical ingredient in our fuel cells. The military wanted to make us as cost-efficient as possible.”
At the mention of food, her stomach rumbled, and Carrie smiled slightly. “I can eat. I know Penny’s definitely hungry. Rote packed her a bag, and he included her favorite treats, but no food. I hope she can eat what you eat.” Carrie hoped she could eat what they ate too. It would be inconvenient to be plopped into the future and starve to death because cybernetic food wasn’t compatible with her system.
They reentered the base together, and Carrie automatically headed toward the direction from which they had come, pausing only when Raven touched her wrist. “Mess Hall’s this way.”
Carrie frowned. “I don’t think I’m supposed to join you.” A tremble of fear went through her at the thought of being surrounded by cyborgs, who hated humans.
Raven seemed unbothered by the thought, or perhaps the idea hadn’t even crossed her mind. She had been so open and welcoming already that maybe she hadn’t even considered the notion that the other cyborgs would view Carrie’s presence in a far different light. “You can’t spend all your time in a cell. Come on.” With surprising warmth, she linked her arm through Carrie’s to pull her in the right direction.
Carrie was surprised by the texture of her skin. It felt exactly like real skin, though she was clearly a couple of degrees warmer. It wasn’t an unpleasant heat, and she had a brief mental image of curling up against DVS on a cold night.
As quickly as possible, she banished the thought and focused on the task ahead of her. She was nervous and frightened, and it took every ounce of courage she had to keep walking forward beside Raven as they neared a room alive with the rumble of voices. It was impossible to know how many were inside, but she was certain the area was crowded just by the din of noise coming from inside.
She stumbled to a halt when DVS suddenly raised his voice, and silence fell immediately. Raven tried to tug her through the doorway, but she slumped against the wall instead.
“I have news for you. We met at the coordinates provided by the alien, and the weapon we assumed would end the war is a human female.”
Carrie grimaced as a wave of disappointed and angry sounds washed over her.
“Quiet,” roared the general. “Until I can discover what her purpose is, or how she might help us end the war, she’ll be on the base, and I expect you all to keep her safe.”
“She’s a human,” said one in a vicious voice.
“I’m aware,” said DVS with an inflection of heavy irony.
“According to that Freydon Rote, she’s also your mate,” said another voice, this one tinged with laughter.
There was complete silence for a moment, and then the others laughed as well. Carrie cringed at their amusement at her expense, but what really made her want to flee was when DVS spoke again.
“She isn’t my mate. Don’t be ridiculous. I would never take a human as a partner.”
The disdain in the way he pronounced human made her shiver, and she stepped away from the wall, intent on returning to the cell from where Raven had rescued her and Penny. She ignored Raven’s call to come back, but paused when she realized Penny wasn’t beside her. She turned back to find her dog facing the doorway, tail wagging as she inhaled deeply. With a sigh, she recalled Penny had no food in the cell, and there was no telling when either of them would be fed.
“It will be fine,” said Raven with complete confidence. Of course, she wasn’t the one facing a roomful of angry, disappointed, and disdainful cyborgs.
Carrie approached again, stepping into line with Raven before they entered the Mess Hall. Her nerves were strung taut, but she struggled to keep her expression blank as she stepped through the doorway. Complete silence greeted them for a moment, and then DVS was rushing toward them, his anger evident.
“What’s the meaning of this, RVN?”
“Her dog needed to relieve herself, and she needs to eat.” She faced the clearly angry general with an air of complete calm.
Carrie admired her ability to remain unruffled.
“She’s been designated as a prisoner.”
Raven scoffed. “She’s not going to hurt anyone, and neither is Penny. She’s a sweetheart.” At the words, Raven bent down and reached for the dog, who happily came forward to shower her with doggy kisses.
That left Carrie in an awkward position, with the choice of keeping her gaze on Raven and Penny, or looking around the room, which was unappealing. The last option was to look at the general, and she chose to do that. Her plan had been to glance over his shoulder and avoid his eyes, but they drew her gaze despite her reluctance.
She was worried by the anger she saw there, but surprised by something else. It was a tantalizing hint of what she tentatively identified as desire. If she wasn’t mistaken, the general found her attractive, though he probably loathed the idea of doing so.
He was still for a moment, as though weighing his options. Finally, his posture relaxed slightly. “She can stay, but you need to get authorization next time, RVN.”
“Of course, General.” She said the words cheerily as she got to her feet and reached for Carrie’s hand. “There are a couple of free seats over here.”
Before Carrie could take the offered hand, DVS intercepted her wrist, clamping it with his own hand. He ignored her sound of surprise, and RVN’s protest, as he dragged her behind him. A moment later, he pushed her into a seat before sitting beside her.
She was aware of every critical gaze on her, and she had to blink back tears. At least Penny had come with her, wriggling under the table and now pressing her head against Carrie’s lap. She curled her fingers into the dog’s silky fur, drawing strength from her presence as she patted Penny on the head.
She let out a startled gasp when the table rumbled, seeming to shimmy for a moment as the top layer rolled back to reveal a line of trays. There was one directly in front of her, and she eyed the mixture in front of her doubtfully. “What is it?”
“Quinoa, essential vitamins, and algae. It has all the components necessary for survival,” said the cyborg on her right.
She recognized his voice as the one who had mentioned she was DVS’s mate. “Is it okay for humans to eat?”
“Of course.” He looked down at her lap, where Penny was pressed against her leg, eyes hopeful. “Your canine can eat it as well.”
“Penny. That’s her name. And I’m Carrie.”
“JSN42,” he said with a small smile. She couldn’t help noticing how vividly green his eyes were, and she wondered if it was part of being a cyborg, or if he’d had such a vivid shade before conversion.
“I hate the idea of calling you by letters and numbers. Would it be all right if I called you...Jason?”
He seemed startled by the suggestion, but before he could answer, another angry voice broke into their conversation.
“No, you can’t. That’s a human designation. JSN is a cyborg, and you can’t pretend otherwise, human.” It was definitely the one who’d expressed such negativity about her after DVS’s announcement.
His tone was so angry that she immediately flinched and withdrew, though he was seated on JSN’s other side. In the process, that brought her closer to DVS, and she was tempted for a millisecond to melt against him. Instead, she kept herself erect, not allowing her body to sway in his direction.
“Don’t be so mean, MX409,” said Raven from another table. “I like the idea of having a different name. She calls me Raven.”
MX409 made a scoffing sound. “She can call you whatever she likes, but that doesn’t make it your name, RVN.”
“Raven,” insisted the younger cyborg with fire in her eyes, though there was a wobble in her voice.
“Enough,” barked DVS in a tone that brooked no defiance. “You may use whatever designation pleases you, Raven.” He turned to glare at MX. “There’s no need to speak so harshly to our guest.”
The cyborg shook his head. “Now she’s a guest? Not five minutes ago, she was a prisoner.”
“Don’t forget, she’s also his mate,” said JSN with obvious amusement.
DVS glared at him. “Your continued mockery grates on my nerves, Jason,” he said in a scathing fashion.
JSN just shrugged. “I’ll keep that in mind, General.”
DVS surprised her by chuckling. “Of course you will.”
Silence reigned again for a few awkward moments until a cyborg at another table spoke up. He appeared to be a few years older than Raven. “My designation is FLD. What would you call me?”
Carrie frowned, focusing on the letters in his name and drawing a blank for a long moment. Finally, she tentatively offered, “Floyd?”
The cyborg grimaced. “I prefer FLD.”
His blunt response startled a laugh from her, and it felt good to relieve some of her tension. She smiled at him. “I can’t say I blame you. Do you have numbers at the end of your name?”
“80.”
She thought for a moment before suggesting, “How about Aiden?”
FLD seemed to mull it over for a moment before shrugging. “I suppose that would be an interesting designation.” It wasn’t a commitment, but he hadn’t outright refused it either.
She was surprised by the number of cyborgs who offered her their designation, asking for her version of their name. It required some creativity, but she was able to come up with an alternative for most of the options offered, though it was unclear if any of the cyborgs, aside from Raven, planned to use the names she improvised.
She was happy just to have something to focus on and to keep herself distracted both from DVS’s presence beside her, and the godawful food she was trying to ingest. She managed half before slipping her tray under the table to Penny. At first, she was afraid the dog would refuse to eat it, but Penny proved to be the gourmand she had always been and quickly licked up the remnants.
In a way, it was a relief when the meal ended, and the cyborgs filed out. It was also another opportunity for anxiety to rear its head. She was certain it meant a return to the cell, and she summoned her courage to turn to look at DVS.
Carrie wasn’t certain why he was so intimidating, other than the circumstances themselves. She wasn’t used to be a shrinking violet, but common sense cautioned her to keep her head down among a group of people who saw her as the enemy—though many had been surprisingly welcoming in the situation.
“Is it possible for you to schedule a guard to let Penny out once more this evening, and then early in the morning? And if possible, may I please accompany her from the cell?”
He just grunted, which wasn’t any kind of answer. Anger flared, and she glared at him. “I realize my problems aren’t your concern, but Penny doesn’t deserve to suffer.”
He let out a long sigh. “Come with me.”
She was no closer to an answer about Penny’s need to potty, and she followed him in frustrated silence, pausing just briefly to wave to Raven, who had been waiting for her. When they exited the Mess Hall, she was somewhat surprised to find they went in the opposite direction of where she had expected, since the cell was at the other end of the facility.
Or at least she thought it was, though she might’ve gotten mixed up. It was a large underground facility, and she was certain she’d only seen a small bit of it so far. She was uncertain if she would ever have a chance to see the rest, because her status was murky. Was she prisoner or guest? Either way, without the ability to travel back in time, and without the peach alien who had brought her here, she was stuck with the cyborgs in their base, and she’d appreciate clarification on just exactly what she was supposed to do.
DVS led her down several corridors, and she made a conscious effort to memorize the path they had taken. She wasn’t entirely confident she could get herself back to the Mess Hall, but she thought she could.
He paused before a door and opened it with a hydraulic hiss. He grunted at her and inclined his head sharply, and she took that to mean she was supposed to enter. She stepped inside reluctantly, expecting another cell. Instead, it was a larger chamber, with a much bigger bed that seemed to actually have a mattress.
An arrangement of items she tentatively identified as chairs awaited, though the proportions were far different from what she had ever seen, even in modern furniture, which could be quite strange. “What is this place?” She dared identify it as guest quarters, but that didn’t seem entirely right either. There was a lived-in air about it.
He ignored the question as he walked across the room to another door. “Come with me.”
She fell into step behind him as he opened the door and led her up a steep incline. They emerged outside the base to the area around the building a couple of moments later. “All quarters have an escape route, aside from cells. You can use this to allow Penny to see to her needs.”
She smiled at him. “Thank you, General.” The word felt strange on her tongue, but it was what she’d heard the others call him.
He inclined his head sharply, waiting with his arms crossed as Penny sniffed the area before marking her territory. When she’d finished, he arched a brow. “Has she completed her task?”
The formal way he worded the question gave her the urge to giggle, but she suppressed it. Instead, Carrie nodded. “Yes, she’s finished.
“Then we’ll return to quarters.” He waited for her to precede him, and at the door, he showed her how to open it by putting her palm against the glass. He had to speak into a microphone above the biometric panel, and she realized he was authorizing her to have entry and exit privileges from the door.
Once they were back inside, he closed the door behind him with his palm on the panel before turning to her. “You aren’t a prisoner, but I would advise you not to take off without an escort. You might find the humans, or you might find the synthetics. Perhaps they’ll recognize you as human and take you to the humans, but they might just as easily identify you as the enemy if they realize you’ve been among the cyborgs.”
She nodded. “I understand.” The idea of stumbling around in the barren wasteland around them didn’t thrill her anyway. She didn’t feel entirely safe in the cyborgs’ base, mainly due to the attitude of the few cyborgs like MX, who hadn’t bothered to hide their aggressive response to her presence, but she was still safer inside than she was outside. She was certain of that. Or maybe she was just too afraid to find out for sure. Either way, she had no intention of venturing outside alone, other than to take Penny for brief potty breaks.
He nodded, apparently satisfied with her response, and left through the other door without speaking to her again.
She inferred from the way he left her that this room was for her use, so she spent a few moments exploring it. There was a sliding partition that led to a second room, which revealed what she assumed was a bathroom. It had the basic appearance of such, though the shower was more like a long, skinny tube. She would have liked to get clean, but she wasn’t certain how to work any of the mechanisms.
Figuring out the toilet was a challenge itself, but she finally succeeded in waving her hand over the right spot to make it flush. She put her hand under what she assumed was the faucet and immediately withdrew with a shriek of surprise as orange liquid flooded over her hands. She brought one tentatively to her nose and sniffed, finding it had no smell at all. As she watched, the liquid drained off her hands, and what didn’t quickly absorbed into her skin, leaving them feeling smooth. She hoped it was a safe substance for humans, whatever it was.
She spent the next hour pacing, wondering what she was supposed to do with herself. There was nothing in the quarters that she could identify as reading material or a television, which didn’t surprise her. She doubted there were such things as television or movies any longer with the world the way it was. Maybe there was no call for books either, which saddened her.
Finally, exhaustion caught up with her, and she decided to slip into bed. All of the things Rote had packed for her and Penny were still in the cell. She’d have to try to retrieve them tomorrow, or find someone who would do so for her, but she was too tired to bother tonight. Instead, she simply stripped down to her bra and panties before sliding under the covers. The bed was surprisingly comfortable, as was the pillow, and she was usually picky about her pillows. Either that, or she was just too tired to care as she surrendered to sleep.
At some point, she started dreaming, and in her dream, DVS was in bed with her, his arms around her. She spooned with him, snuggling closer and drawing warmth from his skin and his presence. The dream left her feeling safe, and she slipped into an even deeper sleep.