Chapter Eight
Acion’s circuits were sizzling after Thalina’s kiss.
And this was not a bad thing.
It made him feel alive, and truly, if this was the last sensation he experienced, he would not regret it. He considered the possibility that his new programming would be deleted, but could not conclude that the probability of success was high. His body was changing, and that would be hard to undo. Chances were higher that the experiment would be allowed to continue for a short period of time, to better quantify the changes in his nature.
Acion proceeded to 65X, reasonably convinced that Thalina would do as he had instructed. He also had a sixty-four per cent conviction that he would be able to return to her, at least to say farewell again.
At least to collect another kiss.
After that, his projections became too qualified to be useful.
Acion entered the room, which was just as he had anticipated as it was almost identical to the one deep within the Hive. There was a tank filled with liquid, undoubtedly possessing a high concentration of the nanobots that ensured the repair of all androids. He placed his hand on the panel on the wall, permitting his computer to be scanned.
“You are late,” said the Hive.
“This is true,” Acion said. “The delay could not be avoided, but I have returned as quickly as could be contrived.”
He made to step into the bath.
“No,” the Hive said, halting him. “Plug in first.”
Acion blinked. This was a change of protocol. All forty-three times that he had returned to the Hive to report, he had both entered the bath and plugged in to transfer his collected data.
Perhaps the protocol had changed.
Certainly, he had changed, because he felt trepidation for the first time as he followed the Hive’s instructions.
* * *
The Hive reviewed the data delivered by Acion and decided that the experiment had been a complete failure.
There had been a possibility of the android presenting Acion’s identification being an imposter, but that was not the case.
The truth was infinitely worse. Acion showed all the same weaknesses that Arista had developed, except that the effect was more pronounced. The subroutine the Hive had believed an elegant enhancement was proving to be a rampant infection.
Acion felt.
Acion yearned.
Acion believed.
Worse, Acion chose to follow different paths than those that would most logically fulfill his assignment. The android had become unreliable.
Worse again, the shell and workings of the android had been infected by the programming of the nanobots. Destroyed mechanical matter had been replaced with biological equivalents, a fact exacerbated by both the extensive damage Acion had endured under dragon fire, and by the addition of nanobots programmed to heal biological organisms.
The change was beyond the Hive’s control.
The predictability of Acion’s reactions was demolished.
The loyalty of Acion had shifted from the Hive to Thalina.
And that combination made this android trash.
The Hive decommissioned Acion and arranged for the disposal of the remains.
* * *
Thalina had never thought she had a suspicious mind, but she didn’t trust the Hive.
And she didn’t like Acion going to make that report alone.
She paced the deck of the Archangel after he had left, debating what to do. She was still dressed as a servant in Incendium’s palace, and really, her clothes were both dirty and ragged. She looked more like a beggar than a princess and wouldn’t be able to command any attention or support, given that she was unknown on Cumae.
On the other hand, she was unknown on Cumae. She could be a servant and escape the notice of pretty much everyone.
She might be invisible, or as close to it as she’d ever been.
Thalina locked the ShadowCaster back in the console. She confirmed that the access to the Archangel would lock after her departure and that she would be able to open it on her return, checking the code a couple of times before she stepped outside the vessel and secured the door. She verified again that she could open it, before locking it once more and setting out after Acion.
By this time, there was no sign of him in the bustle of the starport. Cumae’s port was smaller and more utilitarian than that of Incendium—Thalina had the impression that Cumae was less affluent, or maybe just less interested in appearances. The starport was shaped like a star, similar to Incendium’s, with spurs extending from a central ring and offering docks for vessels. Except Cumae’s starport had only four spurs, rather than the twelve of Incendium’s port.
Another difference was that this starport was filled with far more warriors than would be the case at Incendium’s port—there, the main corridors and bars were crowded with merchants and traders, as well as scientists and researchers. There were also androids at this starport, or at least individuals more readily identified as androids. The refreshment facilities tended to be bars instead of restaurants—Thalina passed a very large and busy one called Valhalla—and the shops were well stocked with weapons and armor. There were also android charging stations and a parts store, with a used androids display. As much as Thalina would have liked to have browsed there, she had to find Acion.
Just as at Incendium’s starport, the greatest congestion was at the loading areas for shuttles to the planet. They departed at regular intervals here, too.
It didn’t take Thalina long to figure out the numbering of the rooms in the central ring, although 65X proved to be on the opposite side of the station. She wished she was as tall as Acion as she strode toward it, knowing that he had probably already arrived at his destination and she had a long way yet to go.
When she approached the door tagged 65X, a cleaning cart came from the opposite direction and parked outside the door. A pair of androids that were about as tall as her hip separated themselves from the cart. One opened the door and the other rolled inside. The first followed a moment later.
Thalina eased closer and looked inside
There was a tank on the floor at one side, and a number of ports in the wall. One android was moving back and forth rapidly, one appendage pushing along the floor. Thalina could hear the suction mechanism that enabled it to clean the floor. The other android lifted something and bustled out the door, heaving its burden into the cart.
It was Acion.
Thalina hurried to the cart. “Acion!” she whispered and his eyes opened just a slit. The effort seemed to be too much for him, which made no sense.
“I exist to serve,” he said, the words slurring slightly, then his eyes closed again.
“Acion!” The Hive had done something to him. Thalina knew it.
She unfortunately didn’t know how to fix the damage.
The androids returned then, the one rolling into the bottom of the cart and closing a door behind itself. The other closed a lid over the section that held Acion and buzzed against Thalina’s legs because she was standing in its way. She moved instinctively away and the android rolled into another receptacle.
She was trying to open the lid of the cart when it began to roll away. She thought maybe a brake had been released, but a light illuminated on the lid and the cart moved with definite purpose.
And speed.
Thalina ran after it.
It raced down the corridor toward the waiting area for the shuttle, Thalina right behind it. Her heart was racing, but she wasn’t going to slow down and lose track of Acion. Beside the waiting area for the shuttle, a door slid open. Lights were blinking on the front of the cart and on the door, so Thalina assumed there was some connection between them. The door opened into a small room, so small that there little extra room around the cart. She squeezed into the space just as a chute opened in the wall. The cart tipped and dumped its contents, including Acion, into the chute.
Thalina jumped over the cart, banged her head on the side of the chute and fell into the space after Acion. She snatched at the chute, but her hand slipped off the metal and she fell into a pile far beneath it. She grabbed Acion’s arm by the time the chute closed and pulled him closer as they were lost in darkness again.
Thalina wrapped her arms around his chest and shook him, but he was unresponsive.
Where were they? It smelled of organic matter, and in fact, smelled so strongly that Thalina felt her bile rise. She stretched out a hand and touched something slimy, then recoiled. She hung on to Acion, wondering if it was her imagination that she could feel a pulse within him.
His heart.
His motor, he’d say.
Thalina closed her eyes and held tightly to him, her hands locked over that faint vibration and summoned the shift from deep within herself. She’d get them out of here by brute force and back to the Archangel, no matter who she had to fry to do it. She was glowing blue and feeling the surge of the change when the bottom abruptly dropped out of the chamber.
They fell.
Along with all the garbage from Cumae’s starport that had been packed into the bin with them.
Cumae was far below, wreathed in clouds. The space station was within the gravitational pull of Cumae, Thalina realized, because they were rapidly falling toward the surface and would soon enter the atmosphere.
Thalina completed her shift with a roar and spun an orb faster than she’d ever managed to do so in her life. She encased herself and Acion just as the first pieces of trash began to burn. They had already fallen a considerable distance, and she turned, fighting against the gravitational force of Cumae to reach the moored Archangel. It was harder than anything she’d done before—not only was the oxygen thinner but the orb was less stable at such an altitude. She had to spin another orb, then carry on, beating her wings hard to get back to the vessel. She strained to reach the Archangel, knowing it was their only chance, and was concentrating so much that she didn’t realize Acion’s eyes had opened until he spoke.
“Free,” he whispered, and her heart skipped with joy.
Thalina closed her eyes as her pulse matched that of Acion. She felt strength flood into her, as if she was able to draw power from him, and she beat her wings harder.
“HeartKeeper,” she whispered, because that was the only explanation for their hearts matching pace. She didn’t know how it could be and she didn’t know why, but her body told her the truth.
Thalina gripped Acion and soared the last increment to her sister’s ship.
Just as Acion had told her, there was a pair of large cargo doors on the underside of the vessel.
Dragon-sized cargo doors.
But how would she open them without anyone at the console?
“DNA recognition,” Acion murmured. “The ship knows you already.”
And he was right. The doors opened. Thalina flew inside and shifted shape, collapsing against the air lock with Acion in her arms.
The cargo doors closed and so did her eyes.
She just needed a moment to catch her breath.
* * *
Flying!
The rush of air over Acion’s skin awakened him and the sight of Cumae so far below thrilled him. He saw the orb that Thalina had spun and looked at her great wings flapping overhead. She held him tightly against her chest with one claw, her talons cold against him, and Acion had never felt so alive in all his days.
He could feel the beat of her heart against his back, and when his own matched pace with hers, the sensation made him dizzy.
“HeartKeeper,” she murmured beneath her breath, and Acion understood the meaning of the term.
It changed everything.
It filled him with a new sensation.
Joy.
Thalina seemed invigorated, too. She soared, seeming to close the last distance to the Archangel with new ease. The ship welcomed her, with a logic and timing that Acion found most admirable. Thalina collapsed against the air lock in her human form, her breath coming quickly. She had done her part to save them, and now he would do his. Acion stood to activate the lock and get them out of the hold.
He carried Thalina to the deck, new power in his stride as if he’d been rebuilt. He strapped her in as she stirred, then activated the engines and backed the Archangel out of her mooring. He turned off the comm, as disinterested in any interference as Anguissa might have been, and steered the ship with that dragon captain’s verve. Once they were cleared of other vessels and in the jump zone, he activated the course he’d already programmed.
“Prepare for jump,” he said to Thalina and smiled with satisfaction.
Acion was taking his HeartKeeper home.
* * *
The jump fell short.
It was probably because the Archangel had run out of fuel.
Thalina awakened to discover that they were still two months away from Incendium. The Archangel was drifting in the right direction, and she knew that if it was necessary, the ship would be harnessed and hauled into Incendium’s starport.
They weren’t in danger, but they might have a few hungry days.
She couldn’t regret the situation, because it would give her more time with Acion.
Maybe it would give more time to Incendium’s lawyers to revise Scintillon’s Law, if they were even trying. She should send a message to Incendium, to her father, and request that they do as much.
But first, she wanted to be with Acion. She wanted to celebrate their escape in a most fundamental way.
He was still in the captain’s chair and his eyes were still closed. His finger dangled over the ship’s port but wasn’t plugged in.
More than that had changed. Thalina had to look closer to identify the dark shadow on his jaw and on his scalp.
It was hair.
Acion had stubble. She ran her fingertip across it, feeling how it bristled, and he stirred a little but didn’t wake up.
The nanobots must have improved his biological membrane, so that it was more like skin than it had been before. That was interesting. She ran a hand down his arm, glad to see how much he had healed and felt the musculature beneath the membrane. When her hand reached his elbow, his free hand rose to capture her hand beneath his own.
As if he had felt her touch.
But he had told her that he had sensors only in his face and his hands.
Thalina remembered the second time they’d made love and how he’d responded to her touch on his back. She thought of the neurons she’d seen in his shoulder and speculated—just the word made her smile in anticipation of what Acion would say—that his body was changing.
It was amazing.
But what was even more amazing was that his eyes were moving back and forth beneath his eyelids.
Acion was dreaming.
Thalina couldn’t suppress her cry of delight. She couldn’t stop herself from jumping onto him and kissing him awake, just as she couldn’t keep herself from seducing him thoroughly to celebrate the change.
And when Acion opened his eyes, she was surprised again. They had turned blue.
* * *
Acion awakened to Thalina’s kiss, a situation that he found most satisfactory.
“You’re changing,” she said when he might have drawn her closer. “Your eyes are blue!”
She was right. Acion ran a scan of his systems and found that his reporting was less accurate than it had been. In some sectors, those which had been most extensively damaged by dragon fire, he had to rely on sensation to verify his functionality, instead of receiving performance readings.
His finger was out of the ship’s port and when he tried to put it back, he couldn’t reveal the plug hidden beneath his fingertip. That opening had sealed, as had all of the other ones.
“I’ll miss one finger,” Thalina said and he realized she’d been watching him.
He checked that one again and frowned that it was no longer functional.
“Maybe we need to do a complete assessment,” she said, sliding into his lap. Her arms were around his neck and her lips were touching his throat. Acion closed his eyes in pleasure. The sensation of Thalina’s weight against him, her touch, and their hearts beating in unison again was almost enough for him to put practical considerations aside.
But not quite.
“If you are right, the implications are important, though,” he said, reaching past her to remove the override he’d installed at Anguissa’s command. “If we are two biological organisms, there might not be sufficient supplies for us both to reach Incendium…”
“We’re okay. I checked,” Thalina said, stilling him with a touch. “Anguissa has undocumented supplies stashed all over this ship.”
“I should not be surprised,” Acion murmured. “But still, you must proceed alone, as my termination on arrival is a given…”
“No,” Thalina said, interrupting him with confidence. “It’s not.”
Acion surveyed her. “But even if there is a change under way, the definition of android might still include me…”
“No,” she repeated, her eyes dancing. She leaned close to whisper. “What did you dream about?”
“Flying, with you,” Acion said without hesitation, then stared at her as he realized what he’d said. “I dreamed.”
“You did,” she agreed with delight.
“But how do you know this?”
“REM sleep. Your eyes were moving. And Venero recognized Arista as an android because he couldn’t send her a dream.”
Venero. Prince of Regalia. Partner of Gemma.
“He’ll be able to test it and prove that you’re not an android. Scintillon’s Law won’t apply!”
Acion felt as if his universe had been rearranged.
For the better.
“You look the way I feel after a jump,” Thalina said, then kissed him below his ear. “Come on. I want to see you wearing only that tattoo.” She kissed him again and Acion felt his body respond to her touch with an enthusiasm that was becoming familiar. She ran her fingertip over his tattoo. “What does it mean, anyway?”
“It is Cumaen script.” He picked her up and left the deck in search of a wide berth.
“Let me guess.” Thalina kicked her feet playfully. “It says either ‘I exist to serve’ or “that information is not available to you at this time’.”
Acion laughed, liking how pleased she looked with herself. When he laughed, she looked even happier. “The first, just as the ring does. It could be recast in whatever shape you desire.”
She spun his ring on her own finger. “I like it as it is, because it was yours and you gave it to me. You can’t remove your tattoo either.”
“What if I added your name to it?” Acion indicated a space on his thumb.
“I exist to serve Thalina.” She smiled. “Oh, I like that. And I could have your name engraved inside the ring.”
“Then no one would ever doubt our loyalties,” Acion murmured, then caught her lips beneath his own. He kissed her slowly and sweetly, even as he lowered them both onto the berth. He dimmed the lights with a touch and pushed Thalina’s chemise from her shoulders, savoring the sight of her for a moment. He swept her clothing aside, kissing each increment of skin as it was bared, caressing her until she was beside him wearing only his right. Her smile made his heart thunder.
“I wonder if my father will allow a new android research program,” she mused, reaching for his chausses. Acion stood up and shed his clothes quickly, then rejoined her on the berth.
“I wonder if we could devise an augmentation to restore that finger’s functionality,” he replied and she laughed as she rolled him beneath her.
“Maybe you just have to learn a new skill.”
“Maybe we should begin immediately.” Acion touched Thalina and she sighed contentment, her pleasure fueling his own in a most fascinating way. There was a new radiance about her that he wanted to explore. He ran his hand over the slight rounding of her stomach that was new and realized he had no data about the delivery of dragon shifters, much less their upbringing and genetic inclinations. “Will it be a boy or a girl?”
Thalina smiled. “I don’t know. Does it matter?”
“I have no information about children,” he admitted, feeling that his brief for partnership with Thalina was incomplete. “It was never considered a possibility that I would father a child.”
“Much less a dragon shifter,” Thalina teased. “Are you sorry?”
“I am…awed.” Acion had to search for the word, but it was the right one.
Thalina brushed her lips across his. “We’ll manage it together,” she whispered with a dragon’s confidence and he recognized the truth in her words.
Together. They were partners in more than the conception of a child. They had worked together to ensure their return to Incendium and their mutual safety. They worked as a team.
And Acion could not have had a better ally. Fiery and loyal, passionate and logical, mother of his child and keeper of his heart, Thalina was a gift beyond all expectation.
She was his own dragon princess, and their adventure together had only just begun.
That was a victory worth celebrating in the style his princess preferred.