Cybot Awakened Read online

  “I-I’m not sure we should do this.”

  “I’m sure. You’re going to have to trust that I know best here.”

  Her cybot knew best? But they couldn’t think or reason, not really. Could they?

  “Qy, maybe-”

  “Sabra, we are going up hard and fast. You will probably pass out, but you will be all right. Make sure the air piece is in your mouth. Now.”

  She nodded, tears streaming down her face, and positioned the tube in her mouth while he fastened his own mask. It can’t be healthy to be this afraid…

  The speed of their ascent crushed her into her seat, and soon all went black.

  Sabralia woke up in a soft bed, covered with silky, warm covers. A delicious aroma of a hot meal filled the room. She was not wearing the spacer suit, though Alfyt’s jacket still covered her gown. She climbed out of bed and noticed right away that they were in light grav. She had to move with care so she wouldn’t careen into things.

  Qy was standing in the kitchen area, attending a meal. He was wearing just a thin pair of spacer knit leggings, no shirt, and high soft spacer boots. Somehow he’d removed the implant on his torso, and the one on his temple. Neat newskins covered the wounds left by the implants. She saw another newskin on one arm.

  “What happened to your implants?”

  Her voice was hoarse.

  “While you were sleeping I took them off.”

  “Is that safe?”

  “Yes, we take them off frequently for maintenance.”

  His arm and leg implants remained. The thigh implant showed clearly under the thin knit.

  He saw her glance. “The arm and leg implants are information systems. They come in handy.”

  She nodded. She couldn’t think of anything to say. It was as if her thoughts were frozen.

  It finally dawned on her that they were not moving. There was no sound of the ship’s engines. “Where are we?” The view screen was dark, and the pilot section was dimly lit.

  “Hidden on a chunk of rock. You slept for a long time, nearly twelve hours. I have coordinates set, but I want to rest and eat. I need to remove a tracer, which is a technical chore. I want to take it off after a good sleep. Until then, the magnetics of this rock will conceal us. Once the tracer is off we’ll be virtually undetectable. We can get safely away.”

  “Are we safe now? We got away?”

  “Oh yes. The sentinels in orbit could not distinguish us from the Strafe. We jumped orbit with no problems at all.”

  It seemed impossible they could be safe after the events of the past few days. Sabralia sat down, and hid her shaking hands from Qy.

  “The tracer works when we are moving, so with our engines powered down we’re good.”

  Cybots didn’t sleep or eat, and Qy never carried on conversations, though he did answer questions. She watched his every move.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Katherine Hub. I calculated and we have enough fuel. Stinsen Hub is actually closer, and anyone else fleeing the coupe will probably go there. But I did some careful calculations and we can make it to Katherine on the fuel we have. There are a few sub stations out there where we could buy more fuel, but I wouldn’t trust any of them. I shut down several unneeded systems, including Life Support on the utility level. So don’t go down there.”

  “I didn’t know there was a lower level.”

  Qy stirred vigorously, then spooned food onto two gilt platters. “Maintenance systems, they probably won’t be needed during our trip. If they are I can either wear a suit or reset the Life Support.” He set a platter and some utensils in front of her. “From Katherine Hub we will have time to decide what to do.”

  “You know how to calculate fuel, Qy?” Sabralia asked, the tension in her body so tight pain shot through her neck. This was not the cybot she knew, who had to be taught every little thing and given orders. “And what have you done with your hair?” Her voice was getting high and squeaky again.

  His hair, those long glossy waves, had been divided into locks of tightly matted hair that hung in a wild mass to his shoulders, and the front of his hair was pulled back into a knot at the back of his head, mostly covering the section where the temple implant had been. He looked barbaric and his face somehow looked harsher, more masculine. Part of that was his expression. His face was no longer bland and emotionless. There was no slackness in his mouth now.

  Qy turned to her and slid those pale blue eyes up and down her body, a gaze the cybot had certainly never used before. “Pretty curls were fine for the maidservant, my lady. But now I am once again a warrior. I wear a warrior’s hair. My Tier wears their hair in this style as a sign of camaraderie.” His eyes slid over her once more, pausing on her breasts, which showed because the jacket hung open. She swallowed nervously and yanked the jacket over her, but her nipples hardened as though there was a chill.

  “You remember your past?”

  “Two nights without the maintenance removed the cybot drugs from my system. I believe my memory returned fully when I heard the Strafe. My Tier fell to the Strafe.” He turned away abruptly.

  Qy was a cybot name. “Wh-what should I call you?”

  She pushed the platter away, unable to choke down food. Qy took it and put it in a food keeper.

  “My name is Kaistril. Go bathe. You will feel much better after you bathe and eat a real meal. There are spacer knits in the cupboard.”

  Kaistril? Could it be? I thought cybots were made from human remains. How could he have a memory? Sabralia watched him for a moment, confused. Alfyt had told her they had no memories because they were truly dead before they were processed. But in just this short time, he looked so different than Qy, even though he had the same face and body.

  Sabralia fled to the bathing room and just stood for a moment. Taking her clothing off made her feel exposed. He’s not my cybot anymore, he’s a stranger. She locked the door.

  In the past she daydreamed about her cybot changing into a man, a gentle, courtly man, who was refined, attentive. One who played a lute.

  Kaistril did not seem to be like the man she daydreamed about. He seemed more intense. More everything. Commanding…dangerous…

  She bathed in a water shower, though the luxurious bath had other options. The spacer knits were soft and thin, and pale blue gray in color. Spacer knits were specially made to be resistant to any form of dirt or bacteria, and were healthy for the wearer’s skin in the artificial environment of a spacecraft. The knits were able to adjust to body temperature, to keep body heat stable, and they stretched for an extremely comfortable fit. She was glad to get out of the sheer dress, which was never warm enough. She recognized a hygenie and stuffed the gown inside. While she didn’t intend to wear it again, there was no point in leaving it around dirty. The cupboard held high sock-like boots, like the ones Qy wore, that fitted themselves to her foot size, and made the ship’s gravity more normal for movement.

  Sabralia dried her hair by herself for the first time in years. Qy always did her hair. But now he was Kaistril. A warrior, he said. Was he a good man? He was a good warrior, that much she could tell. But how did he treat women? Like walking pleasure centers? Like slaves? Was he rough? Did she escape the Feast for nothing?

  Could she bear it if her loyal cybot turned out to be a cruel man?

  Sabralia walked out to the main area and Kaistril raised his head from the platter he was loading with food. He looked at her…and looked at her some more, eyes roving up and down her body.

  “What’s wrong?” He’d seen her naked daily, but she suddenly felt self-conscious.

  “Nothing is wrong. The knits are thin. I can see your lips.”

  She raised a hand to her mouth, frowning a little.

  “Not those lips.”

  Her eyes opened wide. Did he mean…?

  He was smirking. Yes he did!

  Chapter Four

  Sabralia fled back to the bedroom and threw on Alfyt’s coat. Heart pounding, she wondered if she should l
ock herself in the bath. He was every bit as crude as she’d imagined Sirn’s Officers. And now she was stuck here alone with him.

  After awhile, Qy came into the doorway. “Come eat,” he said.

  “I’m not very hungry, thank you,” she replied.

  Qy came further into the room and she watched him warily. “I should not have said that,” he said. “I rarely spend time with gentle women, and the women I know are not easily offended.”

  She nodded. For some reason, speaking was difficult around this new Qy.

  Her food was on the small table when she came out, and Qy was plowing through a plateful. She sat gingerly on the chair.

  Qy flicked a glance at Sabralia. “You have nothing to fear from me. I will not rape you. I am not one of Sirn’s lawless men.”

  Sabralia had no idea how to answer that, but it did put one of her fears to rest. A little. She ate a bite of the meal he’d prepared, some type of creamy meat and pasta. “It is good,” Sabralia said, somewhat surprised.

  “I like to eat, so I learned to cook when I was a schoolboy in New Prague.”

  “You are from New Prague? Where is that?”

  “It is on the edge of the Puregen Systems, where Sirn is concentrating his moves.”

  She’d thought he might be Puregen, a genetically altered, lab-created human. He had that perfect face and body, and his eyes were a rare sky blue. “You are Puregen?”

  “Yes, but my homeworld does not have a Puregen constitution.”

  She looked at him blankly. “I didn’t know there were Puregen constitutions.”

  He grinned. “That means that non-Puregen humans can hold citizenship. On Puregen constitution worlds, only Puregens can be citizens.”

  “Oh.”

  “You are from Coloun, correct?” he asked.

  “Yes. It is an agricultural world that supplies Sirn’s forces. Not Puregen.”

  Qy helped himself to more food. “I think Sirn may be dead. You might be a widow, little queen.”

  His look was intense, and she floundered around, trying to think of why he would care about Sirn.

  “How did you come to marry Sirn, anyway?”

  “I was married as part of a treaty. We—my cousin was my guardian—thought it would be better for our planet. Our weaponry was far out-classed by Sirn. We had no chance against him.”

  “Why didn’t you live in the Palace of the Wives?”

  “I didn’t get pregnant with Sirn’s child, so I lost favor right away. I must have offended him in some way…I don’t know. I doubt he remembers my name. I will not mourn him.” She looked down at her plate, finding the intense way Qy looked at her disconcerting.

  “Good.” Qy stood and moved to her side. “If he is dead I will have you declared a citizen of New Prague and so you can divorce him, since he is not recognized as a citizen. And he is an enemy of my homeworld.”

  “You can’t do that.”

  He grinned. “Can too. I’ll copy you out our laws. I’m the captain of this ship—it is mine by spoil of war. In our laws, that is like being a judge and a governor. Once we get to New Prague, I can declare you a citizen.” His grin deepened and she was struck by the difference in his smile compared to Qy’s sweet, gentle one. “Then you would be a free woman. Free to be with me. If you choose.”

  Hot blood rushed to her face. She ducked her head and pushed food around on her plate. “Wh-what do you mean, Qy?”

  “Kaistril is my name. I mean we will be alone on this ship for several weeks. We could pleasure each other.”

  Her fork clattered onto the plate with a clank. She shoved from the table to flee to the bathing area where she could lock the door.

  Qy-no, Kaistril, because Qy would never intimidate her-blocked her way. Steely hands gripped her upper arms. She struggled against him, but found his strength too much.

  “I told you I was not one of Sirn’s lawless rapists. I have no intention or desire to hurt you. You are safe here.” His lips curved slightly. “Or, at least, as safe as I am out here alone in space in the middle of a war.” They stood in silence for a moment, bodies lightly touching. She couldn’t halt her rapid breathing that brought her breasts up against his hard chest. He let her go, removed his utensils from the table, and took them to the hygenie. “Finish your meal.”

  She stood, undecided for a moment. But what real defense did she have if he was one of the lawless men, if he…?

  Finally, she slid back into her chair.

  “Tomorrow I will remove the tracer from this ship. In three days the orbit of this rock will take us beyond their sensors and we will head to the Katherine Hub, virtually invisible. From there I go to New Prague. You are welcome to come with me. I am not forcing you into anything.”

  If Sirn is dead, then I’m free. Sirn had loomed so large for so long, she felt dizzy at the idea of being free of him.

  “If Sirn is dead, then I could return to my homeworld. But if he is alive, I can’t go to Coloun. They would alert him to my presence.”

  “Even if Sirn is dead I do not think you should go back to Coloun. I do not think you are ready for such a journey by yourself, little queen.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean you would be in rough, lawless places, with people you can’t trust. Since Sirn’s invasion, the treaties and contracts that kept the hubs and common lanes orderly and safe are gone. Far different than an Emperor’s luxurious palace.”

  He thought she was useless and weak. That knowledge made her feel awful. Blood rushed up into her face. “I think I would manage. And how do you know, anyway? You’ve been a cybot for years. And quit calling me ‘little queen.’ I have a name.”

  “All right. Sabralia.” He grinned in a cocky way. Then his expression got more serious. “Even longer than three years ago the rule of law was ripped away from this system. It became each world for themselves, which made the way even easier for Sirn’s Forces. I think you would be better off staying in New Prague.”

  Sabralia didn’t reply to that. Kaistril seemed very certain of what she should do, while she was not certain at all.

  “How long will it take to reach New Prague?”

  “It will take us six weeks to reach Katherine Hub. From there we will have to contact my family, so they can bring a jump ship to us. This vehicle has no jump capabilities. We would never get to New Prague in it. We could take commercial jump passage, but I would rather wait for my family.”

  “Right,” she said, feeling a little faint. “Your family has access to jump ships?”

  “Yes. But even if they didn’t, we could find a public transport to the Hub nearest New Prague. Public transports are often the target of pirates and raiders, so they are not my first choice for travel.”

  She finished eating. Kaistril showed her how to use the hygenie to clean everything, and they cleaned the dishes together. When everything was cleaned up she turned to go sit on one of the upholstered chairs, not knowing what to do next. Kaistril followed her and stood so close she could feel the heat of his legs against her knees.

  “Come, Sabralia. We need to go to bed.”

  “What?” Her heart gave a hard thud and she jumped up, shaking with tension.

  He grinned. “Not that. Not yet, anyway. I need sleep so I can take care of the tracer tomorrow. It is a complex issue. As a cybot I did not feel fatigue, but now I do as a man. I will leave you to the stateroom, and sleep at the command center. The chairs convert for comfort.” He turned and left her alone.

  Sabralia went back to the luxurious stateroom. She wasn’t really ready to sleep and she was pleased to find a collection of readers. Sliding one into her arm com, she crawled under the covers and tried to relax. It was so odd to be sleeping by herself. She found it very hard to relax. Part of her listened beyond the telling of the story for movement, for Qy-Kaistril-to come to the stateroom.

  The story was compelling, though, a romance about an Etherian poet and a Star Woman Priestess. She ended up staying awake far past the tim
e she could have slept to read the story to its satisfying end. Maybe her own life would have a love like that, someday. Maybe her future wasn’t a bleak one, under Sirn’s shadow.

  Sabralia woke and checked her com. She’d slept several hours after finally falling asleep. She used the bath and braided her hair before entering the main room.

  Kaistril was up, dressed in spacer knits, sitting in the ship’s control seat. His fingers fairly flew over the ship’s key panel and data flipped across the viewer. Sabralia helped herself to a cup of Kaf and a fruit cup. Once she finally fell asleep, she’d slept hard and she felt only half awake now. Kaistril looked far too robust and energetic.

  “What are you doing up? You stayed up very late.”

  “I think it is the strange room. It was hard to sleep.” She didn’t want to mention that she was used to sleeping in the arms of her cybot.

  Kaistril turned toward her. “I should have looked through Alfyt’s belongings earlier.” He held up a cube of info films. Alfyt’s bags were open on the floor next to the control panel.

  “What’s in them?” Curious, she slid into the co-command chair and looked through the bags. Jewels were knotted and tangled together in the bag. Sabralia picked up a strand of iridescent beads and started to untangle the mess. A fortune. And more info film. The other, smaller bag held mundane clothing and toiletries.

  “Tons of data, along with priceless jewels from the harem.” Kaistril slid one wafer into a data slot on the ship’s com. “I don’t think it is Alfyt’s personal library. I think he was being very, very disloyal to his Emperor. It’s all encrypted. This could be very good, or very bad.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He was probably heading toward a Puregen world, where he could sell the information.”

  “You think it might be Sirn’s? Military information?”

  “Yes. And if anyone knows he had it, they might try hard to find it.”