Chapter Nine

“Do you often wander around the ship naked?”

Alphy laughed. “Only when I forget to bring a change of clothing to the lake and what I was wearing is covered in Splice blood. This is the better alternative.”

He nodded. “I agree, but it feels weird.”

“You get used to it. There isn’t anyone else here, and the Triad is a little on the pervy side no matter what I am wearing. This shuts them up.”

“It does leave me nearly speechless.”

“Nearly?” She snorted.

“Well, I need to be able to express my admiration for your grace and poise.”

“Excellent. I admire your ability to point down the path no matter which direction we are headed in.”

He glanced down at his erection and shrugged. “It is very forward thinking.”

Her giggled echoed through the halls.

He reached out and took her hands, and after a few steps staring at it, she settled into a gait that kept her close enough to him to feel his body heat.

It was a weird Adam and Eve moment, but Alphy was happy to surrender to the fantasy, just a little.

 

The surface of the cradle was cool on her skin. She had never gone into the data stream with someone watching her before, and it took her longer than usual to settle herself.

“Okay, here we go.”

She opened her mind and pulled the Triad with her, opening all the satellites and gaining what intel she could.

Reports were flooding in from around the sector. Cyborg outposts were breaking away from their stations and making their way toward Stitch’s base. Her call had started a slow progression of humans toward their own kind. The military was over; it was time for a new colony and a new focus in their war against the Splice.

She came out of it with a shiver. “Wow. That is a lot of action.”

“What is it?”

She sat up and grinned. “Your sister is a force of nature or technology. She is calling for forces to mobilize and a new colony to be started.”

“You aren’t serious.”

“Yeah, I am. Since all I can really do is listen to the myriad stations and broadcasts, I am deadly serious. It is all anyone is talking about on the coded channels.”

“You can hear it?”

Alphy laughed. “I can hear and see it. My nanites do the translation for me. It is sort of like I am floating in a web of signals and listening to them all at once.”

“Can I try it?”

She looked to the body-shaped cradle. “I don’t think you would fit.”

“May I try?”

No. It would be far too dangerous. His brain would blow apart.

She wrinkled her nose. “The Triad says no, or at least, Trell does.”

“Does he say why?”

She got out of her station and rose to her feet. “He says your brain would explode.”

“I don’t think that is literal.”

Alphy moved past him down the steps and headed for the nearest fabrication unit. “I am pretty sure it was. He accompanied the warning with a visual.”

“Ah. What did it look like?”

She grinned as the machine whirred to produce her order. “Constipation followed by surprise.”

He looked as if he wanted to discuss it further, but he settled for ordering a change of clothing.

She got her jumpsuit from the unit and stepped into it. She was sealing the closure when Lexo got his.

Her feet were happy that they were no longer in contact with the hard decking. She wiggled her toes and watched the muscles of Lexo’s thighs and backside flex and twist as he got dressed. It was a pity to watch the silvered skin of his hips and ribs disappear under fabric.

The breadth of his shoulders was impressive no matter what he wore.

Alphy clawed her hair back and put it in a messy bun.

“Well, the boys are busy playing with trajectories and transmissions. If you want my undivided attention, this is literally the best time to take it.”

Lexo paused with the neckline of his suit open. “In that case...”

He wrapped her in his arms and kissed her. Apparently, hesitation wasn’t in his repertoire.

She closed her eyes and threaded her fingers through his hair. The strands were short, but she managed to get a grip to hold him tight.

Alphy was pulling his suit open when the proximity alarm went off again.

She wrenched away. “Shit!”

A triad of Splice ships have slipped past our defenses. There was no indicator of their approach, so we are attempting to trace their trajectories. Onic’s voice was tense.

“When will they be on the hull?”

They have attached. They will be inside in minutes.

Lexo was staring at her. She swallowed slowly. “The Splice are here.”

“I gathered as much. How much time do we have?”

“Enough to get to the armoury but not enough time to pull the weapons.”

Lexo nodded. “Let’s go.”

They ran through the ship and armed themselves. On the way, she asked, “Did you want to stay together or split up?”

“Stay together. If we are the only life signs on the ship, they will converge on us. Numbers are definitely a good thing.”

We are sending out a distress signal. The base is close enough to send out small ships to assist. Onic’s voice was tense.

Alphy checked her rifle’s sight before she armed the interior defenses.

“What is the situation?”

“Apparently, we are close enough to the base to call for help, but in the meantime, I have armed the interior defenses. They will take out any Splice who get close. Their alien parts will set off the scanner, and that triggers the energy pulse.”

“Which fries them into toast.”

“Yup.”

“How far apart are the nodes?”

“They are set at random around the ship. It is a weird configuration.”

“Are the Triad protected?”

“Oh, yeah. Nothing is getting at them. They have a physical shield that they can use, but once they do, they can’t listen in to what is going on.”

“Can you directly connect with the ship?”

Alphy nodded. “I can if I have to. It will put me out of commission while I use the interior scanners, but we can get an idea of where the Splice are.”

I will be your eyes. We have ten Splice in the ship. They appear to be searching for something. They have gathered and are moving in a group. They are passing the entertainment complex right now.

She sighed and passed Duss’s information to Lexo. “They are on the way past the movie theatre. Ten Splice, moving together.”

He stared at her. “Moving together? They don’t do that.”

“They are doing it now.”

“How do you know?”

“Duss is giving me information. They are keeping their link to the ship open wide and feeding me locations.”

“Will that put them in danger?”

“Probably. They are willing to stay with me until the Splice get within a hundred metres of them.”

Lexo nodded. “Good. Are you ready for this?”

“No, but I am a relatively good shot.”

He cocked his head. “Is there a better place to wait for them?”

“Sure. I have just the spot.”

She kept the position of the approaching intruders in her mind and led Lexo back the way they had come and up onto a catwalk overlooking the hallway. They had one hundred eighty degrees of vision, and no one could approach from underneath without their seeing it. The hub of connecting tunnels opened into a wide atrium that went up to the inner hull. Other catwalks were available, but none were accessible from their position. This was the best possible place.

“Wait. I will take the first shots.”

She nodded and lay as flat as she could, sighting at the entry point where the Splice would emerge.

Seconds dragged into minutes, and the first light scuff of a foot snapped her into alertness. She rolled to her back and took aim at where her senses told her to shoot.

The grunting hiss and bloody thud next to her were proof that she wasn’t insane. The rush of bodies was heard rather than seen. The fuckers were invisible.

“Back to back,” Lexo growled it as the lack of a visible enemy hampered their chance to aim.

She felt the heavy wall of him against her back, and she kept firing until the power cartridge was empty. Two corpses were stacked in front of her as she pulled her secondary weapons, but when hands grabbed her, and the crackle of a stun blast hit her, she dropped them.

Her body was numb, and she knew that her mind would shut down next, but that wasn’t what happened. She was pinned to one of the creatures, and they were hauling her away.

Instead of passing out as the Splice carried her away from the still-embattled Lexo, her hands flexed and her body flared back into awareness.

She gathered her strength, gripped the arm around her waist, and squeezed with all her might. The sound of the bone splintering shocked her, but her captor dropped her immediately.

Alphy scuttled backward until her spine was pressed against the wall. If she concentrated, she could see the faint outline of the Splice who was approaching her. She kicked outward and upward with all her strength. Tissue shredded and he staggered back.

The crackle and twist of light pulled him away from her, and another lashing of energy tore him in two.

Alphy turned her head, and Lexo stood, covered in blood with whips emerging from the palms of his hands.

The crackle sounded again, and the one who had grabbed her was gripped and torn in two, his head severed neatly from his body.

Alphy stared at the head as it went from translucent to opaque. She shuddered at the shock and horror in the dead eyes.

The light scuttling of another invader brought her back to her predicament. She clenched her fist and took aim but staggered forward as the whips tore the last Splice apart.

“Duss, did we get them all?”

All alien life signs are fading. When you are finished with cleanup, come to the tank. It is time to get this ship into its proper configuration.

She didn’t ask what he was talking about. It wasn’t her main concern. “Keep one to test it, Lexo. The camo is new, and I need to know how they are doing it.”

“Right. Any preference?”

“One of the ones that we shot. Something in one piece.”

Lexo nodded, and the whips retracted into his hands. “Got it. I will set one aside. Where is the medical facility?”

“Next to the gym.”

“I will get on that if you start with the body bags.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Right. The bots are on the way.”

“Great. I will find a whole one, you grab some heads.” He smiled tersely and headed for their previous hiding place that hadn’t done any good at all.

Alphy looked at the bot bringing the body bags to her. “Do you know which head goes with which body?”

The bot remained silent.

“Right. I thought so. Well, at least he carved them into manageable chunks.”

She got to work, grabbing slick and bloody parts and stuffing them into the bags. “Why is it that the ladies always get stuck with the cleanup?”

The bot still didn’t answer.