Lilith—the name secretly delighted her. She had an existence now. An identity.

Giggle. I am a person. Because Avion saw her.

But not with his eyes. Those were broken. She should fix them.

As she extended her left wrist, her right hand grabbed a scalpel. However, before she could slice, Seth stopped her.

“What are you doing?”

Was it not obvious? His eyes worked. Seth’s state of function was not inhibited in any way. But he asked, so she answered. “I am giving Avion some blood.”

“You’re going to drip it on him?”

“I could, but it takes longer to absorb that way. If I feed him the nanotech, then it will jumpstart him more efficiently.”

“Could we not achieve the same thing via an IV?”

“But this is quicker,” she said indicating her bared wrist while poising the knife over it.

Avion cleared his throat. “If you don’t mind, I think I’d prefer the tube method. I’m not into the whole vampire thing and sucking blood.”

“Vampirism is a fictional affliction.”

“With an avid set of believers. I thank you for your determination to fix me without delay, but we don’t have to be barbaric about it. Lie down beside me,” Avion requested, patting the bed that Seth had wheeled alongside. “We’ll do this together. Unless you’ve changed your mind, which is fine you know. You don’t have to do this.”

Not help Avion?

He saved me. He needed her.

People always need me. Need me for blood. Samples. Tissue. Blow that ship up. Crumble that structure. Only when she got to a certain age and realized she could say no did most of that stop, especially after a few of her tantrums.

But Avion wasn’t asking or ordering her to do anything. On the contrary, he told her she could do nothing. She didn’t have to allow yet another person to ram a tube in a vein and siphon her essence.

How decadent making my own choice. Freeing as well, which was so frightening. How should she choose?

I could say no.

As soon as she even thought it, she knew she wouldn’t. Avion must live.

He saw her and did not run screaming. Yet. But their courtship was yet young.

His voice tickled her mind. Courtship? That sounds so wickedly polite, which makes you only more attractive.

How can you formulate an opinion on my desirability when you’ve not seen me?

We have more than just one sense. Even blind, I am capable of seeing who you are and remembering it. Such as the delicate perfection of your long fingers, the skin on them so soft. I keep mine callused. The rough edge is good for grip.

And frictions on my skin, she replied. The recollection of the sensation stayed with her as she laid herself upon the gurney placed alongside him. She threaded her fingers with his. Even though his orbs were dull and inert, he still turned his head to face her. Sightless and yet he saw her.

She couldn’t help but shiver. How strange. Her temperature, while a little elevated, shouldn’t have provoked such a reaction.

He’s the one doing it. His words caused her body to react. Attraction was the theory of her inner voice, but other than the shiver, it could provide no empirical proof.

Seth, assisted by Laura, who had appeared at one point, punctured her skin—only because she allowed it. Early on in her rebirth, her mentor had taught her the art of shielding, how to make an energy barrier to repel objects, like needles or bullets. But in this instance, she didn’t activate her self-defense mechanism and allowed them to run an IV line. She glanced for a brief moment at the suspended tube, marveling at the rich vermillion that flowed from her, spiraling and arcing before entering Avion.

Thank you.

His heartfelt thanks tickled her. It warmed her in a way she wasn’t familiar with, but liked.

It didn’t take much blood or very long to see a difference. His pallor went from gray to a healthy flesh tone. He breathed easier. His heart adopted a regular rhythm.

“I don’t believe it. I think it’s working. His levels are stabilizing. And hot damn, the bleeding from the gunshot is stopping.” Seth couldn’t stem his happiness at Avion’s recovery.

Laura, a scientist who had also escaped the military, peered at Avion and palpated him.

Lilith restrained herself from slapping her hands. It seemed she had some strong protective instincts when it came to Avion. The female is only trying to help him. But if she did anything to hurt him…

Stay calm, vixen. We’re all friends here.

Avion’s mental touch soothed her, and Lilith turned her attention from the groping doctor to the machines hooked to Avion. They posted numbers, things like heart rate, blood pressure, brain activity. Who needed all that useless data when the physical evidence spoke for itself?

The change was slow.

An immediate improvement didn’t mean everything cured quickly. It took time for nanos to fully infiltrate a human system.

Bit by bit, her healthy nanotech flushed the dead bots in Avion’s body and repairs to the damage in his body began, if sluggishly.

Just in time, too, because those alien ships were back, this time with a few extra reinforcements.

Look at that, they’ve brought friends. Goody. Fun. Fun. Giggle.

Oops, she might have let out that strange inner chuckle. She tried to stifle that other person, the one who lived inside and who laughed inappropriately. No matter how she tried, she couldn’t quite quell that illogical inner voice with its penchant to indulge in irrational decisions—and get her into trouble. Logic was the building stone to a harmonious life and world.

Or it should be.

Lilith really had to wonder about her mentor’s teachings, given she’d indulged in rational thought, and yet her life seemed anything but harmonious. It’s a bloody hellish existence. Admit it.

She really needed to find a better method to gag that inner voice.

However, first the alien threat. These new arrivals weren’t running after them, trying to play catch-up.

No. These fighters were cunning and held a position of blockade just ahead. They’d set a trap.

It’s not a trap if we know about it. Evade it and use it against them.

But to do that, she had to… “I need to speak with the commander. I need access to the ship. The enemy has been sighted.”

She didn’t wait for permission or a reply. She tugged the IV from her arm before rising from the bed.

She’d done her part. How generous of me. I did a good thing. Already Avion improved. He just needed fresh blood from the source. From me. Lilith.

Where is my Garden of Eden? I could use another bite of the proverbial apple of knowledge. I know so much. So little. I must open my eyes and truly see what I cannot perceive.

Namely, she needed to figure out how to be, me.

As she exited the location labeled as medical bay on the diagram layouts for the ship, she took a sharp left and followed the corridor. It took a bit of time to reach her destination as she took four more lefts, two rights, and a jog up a flight of stairs all because she couldn’t bring herself to enter the confined cabin of the elevator.

Eventually she reached her destination. A door barring her way irritated her. Open, sesame seed bun. Special sauce. Lettuce, cheese. She really had an urge for a McDonald’s Big Mac, which was odd because she’d only ever tasted one smuggled in to her by a nurse, along with cold salty fries and an actual soda. How she’d loved that forbidden taste and for months after, craved it.

She waved her hand, and the door slid open. She strode in and met the muzzle of a projectile firearm.

“How in hell did you get inside?” Aramus barked. “I put the bridge access and all essential doors on repel, in case we were boarded.”

That flimsy lock was supposed to repel? He needed a better security system. “I told the access panel I wanted in.” Lilith wondered what the hint in her voice conveyed. Had she managed a smidge of sarcasm? The eye roll she performed was a touch disturbing. Normally her eyes behaved themselves.

“You asked, and it just…” Aramus trailed off. “You know what, I don’t want to know how you did it. Instead, I’d like to know, what the fuck did we get into? Girl—”

“I am called Lilith now.”

“Whatever the bloody hell your name is, what are you?”

“I am Lilith.”

“Which is what?”

“The sum of who I am.”

She noted a lot of silence and blinking. Given their vast differences, did the cyborgs not see their individuality? Before she was One. Unique and alone. Now she was Lilith, unique, and still just one, but able to interact with other uniques. You really need to chill out, her inner voice chided.

“I have no idea what that means, so I’m going to move on. I suppose since you’re here maybe I should see if you’ve got any skills or if you’re more useless than an eyeball on my ass.”

“I would think an orb in that posterior position wouldn’t provide much advantage, especially given the vestments covering said location.”

“Two words for you, lady. Lighten up.”

“As in—”

A stranger sitting at a console, to her left, placed her hand on Lilith’s arm. Unexpected and startling.

Lilith almost reacted, but held back. She didn’t break or incinerate the appendage.

She chalked it up as an accomplishment on her reintegration with other beings. Thou shalt not kill. One of the Ten Commandments. As good as any to start with, especially given her biblical choice of name.

But she wasn’t sure what she’d do about the ‘honor thy father’ one.

He deserved everything I did.

So sorry, Daddy.

Sob. Giggle.

Sigh. Her mind was such a complicated place. How to sort the emotions and find right from wrong?

She focused on the task at hand. “We are within less than one hour until we encounter a blockade of D’zpi. They outgun this vessel.”

“But they can’t outsmart us,” Aramus said as he flung himself into the commander’s seat and eyed the screen, which projected a visual display of their current location in relation to other objects, including the raiders.

“The most efficient exit from this system lies through them. If we can slide through their offensive perimeter, then we can slingshot via the forming black hole,” Lilith offered a possible solution.

“You want us to play with a black hole?” Aramus repeated.

“We will use its gravitational pull to project our vessel past this solar system.”

“And you’ve done this before?” he asked.

“I might not have essayed this outside of simulation before, but I know all the theories behind it.”

“I am vastly reassured.”

She didn’t need to analyze his voice patterns to hear the heavy sarcasm in his tone. He doubted her. Well then, she’d just have to show him.