***

GUNNER KEPT THE SIRENS suppressed as he made his way through the crew-deck. His control was coming back to him slowly, minute-by-minute.

He wanted to go back to Elodie but couldn’t. The information the guards had given spurred him on. He didn’t like that the ship had changed course, even though he had no idea where it had been going to begin with, and he knew he couldn’t keep hacking the security feed before his prey realized what he was doing.

They’re already trapped. If the captain had truly locked himself inside the bridge, he knew he was in trouble. Gunner was surprised the man hadn’t stationed the whole crew as a human shield outside his door.

He dodged into a side room as a pair of men went past, waiting until their steps faded far down the hallway before he ducked back out. His fingers twitched on the dead pirate’s pistol in his hand. It felt right holding a gun again.

His mag remained untouched in his thigh strap, his one prize and the single piece of property that had been stolen from him, returned. He wasn’t going to use its bullets on just anyone. Like a welcome home gift. Karma gave him a little something for not burning everything to the ground in an uproar the first day he was brought aboard.

And for not doing so again when it came to Elodie’s safety.

The pull to Ballsy’s technology brought him right outside a closed, double-barricaded door, with turrets lined a top it, and protruding cameras following his movements.

Gunner’s lips twitched as he looked down at himself, naked as the day he was created, and his own mainframe still on the verge of bursting out of his skin to let his beast back out.

He tempered it and connected with the first door’s systems, forcing them open and eroding the encryptions. When he was through, it closed behind him with a thunk.

At the second door, he pulled his hand back and slammed it right through its locking mechanism. It sparked, short-circuited and thundered, echoing angrily in the small hold. He sensed his target on the other side.

It was almost too easy.

He calculated the odds of a trap. But even if the odds were high, he was entering into it regardless.

The door jerked open in broken spurts, revealing a server nerd’s dream: giant bright towers littered with blinking lights stood throughout, and Ballsy slouched over a holographic tablet across the room.

“I was waiting for you,” he said, unafraid.

Gunner approached, equally uncaring. “Miss me?” he asked.

Ballsy shrugged without looking up. “Sure.”

“Your eyes are dead.”

“So are yours.”

“Yes,” Gunner pulled out a stool and sat down. “I suppose they are.”

“Were you created with them like that?” Ballsy looked up and met his gaze.

“No. War has that effect on people, in my experience.”

“I would’ve liked to have seen that,” he said, looking past him and at his sparking inner door. “The war, that is.”

Gunner canted his head and took measure of his adversary. The man was thin, gaunt, but sharp. Something about his features was serpentine but only in fleeting glimpses. Mainly, Ballsy came across as bored, constantly so, and always calculating. “No one should have to see what I’ve seen. How did you end up here?”

“Same way anyone else would. I was a hacker, a good one, growing up. Born and raised on Elyria to a mother who paid the bills on her back, and a father who was a booster addict. They were great role models. The best,” Ballsy said without sarcasm or amusement.

“I fell into computers to drown them out and I fell in deep, got myself real good in reading and understanding intelligent systems and artificial intelligence software. I don’t know why, maybe because they think differently. I’ve always appreciated the efficiency of a machine. I understood it in ways I didn’t understand people. Sold my services the same as dear old mom, except I was the one doing the penetrating this time, stealing data to sell to the highest bidder. Along the way, I was picked up. Technically kidnapped, I suppose, but it got me off Elyria.”

The flat effect of Ballsy’s voice told him everything he needed to know. “You’re a sociopath.”

“You’re a Cyborg.”

“What gave me away?”

Ballsy looked back down at the tablet in his lap. Gunner seeded through it but found more of the same offensive prickles from before.

“That right there. You’re trying to break into a space that’s protected against your kind.”

“Nothing is protected against my kind.”

“It is if it’s made by your kind.”

Gunner frowned, eyeing the systems in the room with newfound curiosity. “Who?”

Ballsy scratched his cheek. “Like I said, I understand intelligent systems better than people.”

“I’m not people.”

“And you’re never getting your ship back.”

Gunner rolled his gun right as Ballsy slammed his hand down on his screen.

A shockwave plumed out and struck Gunner before he pressed the trigger, and his missed shot burned a hole straight through one of the server towers behind his target.

The surge was hot and strong, knocking him off his seat. He barely managed to roll back and find his footing before another pulse blasted through the room.

Stunned. His tech fizzled and the machinery thundered. Ballsy winced and walked over to him, above him.

Gunner strained to move, strained to make the killing blow but everywhere he shifted, inside his digital self and his mainframe, he was surrounded by the same needle-like prickles he had come to know that protected Ballsy’s information.

The fucker blasted him with EMP-based malware—a virus that acted like a shockwave of tiny targeted EMP charges. He sensed it snaking through his body and rendering him useless. Gunner watched with rage as a booted foot came down on his chest and knocked him over against the floor. The gun remained tight in his hand.

“Don’t be mad,” Ballsy told him. “In my line of work, one can never be too careful. I won’t kill you but I won’t help you either. What is that saying?” His eyes glazed. “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t?” Gunner glared death. “My head’s on a pike either way, so I’m out.” The boot lifted and he turned around, grabbing a bag, throwing it over his shoulder.

“What’ve you done to me?” Gunner gritted out, already feeling his strength returning.

His hold on the ship was gone though, and the sirens blared to life. The server room, once filled with electrical life, was now nothing more than inert metal. The EMP malware had destroyed everything in the room.

“Electromagnetic nanobots,” Ballsy muttered halfway out the first door. “You’ll recover. No sense in destroying a creation like you.” His voice faded. “You’re inside a Faraday cage, Cyborg. You might want to move. The cage protects the rest of the ship from me, and me from the rest of the ship. They’ll be coming here first.”

“How,” he hissed through his teeth, his body seizing as if electrified, “are you not affected?” Ballsy had implants inside him too.

“My room wasn’t the only thing I put a Faraday seal around.”

And then he was gone.

Gunner knocked his head on the ground, straining his body with everything he had, willing it to move. His systems scrambled as the pulses sparked off like firecrackers against his skin. They neutralized his tech, did just about everything to it but destroy it like they had the rest of the room. A swarm of microscopic bees.

In the distance, he could hear Ballsy walking away and he knew the only place the man could go to get away from him was an escape pod. He focused on trailing Ballsy’s power source, his answers escaping him as his target made his way through the confusion.

His fingers twitched until he managed to curl them into fists. He heard the crew coming long before they reached the door.

When the first tumultuous shocks faded, Gunner rose slowly to his knees, his metal frame still too heavy for his body to handle just yet, but each second his nanocells fought off the derangement, his strength returned.

And you’re never getting your ship back.

The words flashed behind his eyes when the first bullet hit him in the back.

***

ELODIE GLANCED UP AS the muffled sounds of a very familiar ring—distant sirens—went off somewhere far away, far above her. It didn’t extend in full force amongst the giant metal contraptions, the propulsion and thruster tech she and her dad skirted through, but it still stopped her in her tracks.

“Something’s happening.” She looked behind her.

“A siren. Another damn siren, it sounds like. If we’re lucky they found the creature that killed those men. Not that I mind that they’re dead, but it would make me feel marginally safer knowing there isn’t a beast lurking around.”

“But the sirens. They’re not supposed to go off.” Gunner. He’s supposed to be sneaky...

Elodie chewed on the inside of her cheek, suddenly worried.

“What the hell does that mean? It could be from anything. If they found those men, they’re soon going to find your cell empty. We need to keep moving, Ely.”

“Dad, there’s no place for us to go on a ship in the middle of nowhere. We can’t hide here forever. Our best bet is staying at the entrance, not going deeper.” That was exactly where her father was leading her: deeper. “We don’t even have food.”

“We can and we will! Geez, boy, when have I ever let you down? I learned some things while I was outside the cells and I know hiding in the bowels of this ship is a hell of a lot safer than what would happen otherwise.”

Elodie looked back at him. “Otherwise?”

“Captain knows something’s wrong, he’s not leaving his bomb-proof shelter of a hell-bent bridge and neither is his bridge-crew. They’re holing up and there’s been talk. More than just what Kallan is saying about us being related. Talk that they ain’t making their way to Elyria anymore, that they’re headed back to the main fleet, and I ain’t thinking it’s because of a reunion. I think it’s because of the chaos that is about to erupt on this ship. If they make it back to the main fleet...”

“What?” Elodie was confused. Isn’t going back a good thing?

“Boy, this ship is big, costly, and manned better and by more people than most pirate or blacklisted ships. There’s also cargo, beyond the humans aboard, worth a pretty penny. If the captain can’t control his men, and those men mutiny, with everyone on board, we’re going to be in the crossfires of a lot of bad fucking shit.”

Her lips lifted into a small smile. Gunner must be beside himself.

She still couldn’t shirk off the safety she felt just knowing he was around. But then the men with the torn up body parts came to mind, the gushing blood, and the looks of pain on their faces.

Would Gunner continue to protect her? They made a deal, she knew, but how long and how exact was it? The farther she got away from the brig, the more distressing her thoughts became. Those bodies looked like he had lost control. Those men didn’t just die; they were eviscerated.

“We’re going to fucking hide until I say we’re done hiding, and then we’re going to get ourselves to an escape pod.”

Elodie chewed on the inside of her cheek just as her belly grumbled for food.

“Them men up there are looking for anything and everything to save their own hides. Everyone’s on fucking edge.” He stopped and sighed. “If they use you to get to me... Elodie.” She blinked. He never called her by her name. “They’ll find out you’re a woman. We can’t let that happen.”

Sweat coated her palms. “It won’t happen.”

“It will! It’s a miracle you’re with me right now!” He cocked his head and ushered her deeper among the machines. “Let me try and save you, us, for as long as possible. If we’re lucky, this ship will land sooner than later, and we can climb our way out of the thrusters or warp drive.”

Climbing deeper into the machines had never seemed so unappealing to her, but she took a step forward, hugging Gunner’s jacket tight around her. Every second was a battle for her not to turn around and find him; she wanted to find him and make sure he was safe, then scream at him a little, then kiss him for a little longer.

We had a deal. Have. Have a deal.

It frightened her how much she had come to depend on him in such a short amount of time. Maybe because he never lied to me? Even when it was something unbelievable, something seemingly impossible, he never lied. He never hurt me. His sharp face appeared in her mind, red eyes, and guns. It made her shiver and calm. It made her uneasy and content.

As they traveled deeper, the sounds became more muted. Soon, the sirens were replaced altogether by the low hum of machines. The familiar silence was all at once soothing and dangerous, and she perked up, trying not to be lulled into a false sense of security by the nostalgia of it all. Even the wafting heat pulled at her concentration. Sweat had been a constant for her when on the job. Unlike some men, who went shirtless at times, she always had to wear a jacket to hide her figure.

“There should be a break room somewhere further in,” her dad grumbled, ducking beneath a pipe.

“You think this ship will have one?”

“It’s got the workings of a Legionnaire Titan with freighter modifications, of course there’s an engineer’s room down here. They might have just filled it with bullshit, but doesn’t mean the floor plan is any different.”

Several short minutes later her dad jittered, “There. There’s a door up ahead.”

He lifted his keycard but she stopped him. “Don’t. They may be able to track access.”

It took several minutes toying with the lock, but with both of them and the abandoned tools they had picked up on their journey into the innards, they unlocked the mechanism the old-fashioned way.

A cold breeze hit her in the face, along with stale air and dust.

Elodie took in a deep breath as she stepped in, seeing the array of lockers first, straight across, and the scuffed up shelving on the wall beside it. It was all so normal. So like any other ship she’d ever been on. The ping of a siren and a flashing red orb jutted out of the wall above her, and it was the only connection to the rest of the ship.

The door closed behind with a thud and she moved deeper into the space. Behind the lockers was a mostly empty storage room, and beyond that was a lounge.

“Dad, come look at this,” Elodie called. Chesnik stood up from the lock he was reinstalling on the door.

The lounge was small but luxurious compared to the brig, with one steel table and four stools rooted to the ground, and a replicator. Elodie scrambled toward it and powered it on. Her heart pumped at the prospect of food. The panel lit up and the codes and choices were all there for the world to see. She saw stars in her eyes and for a brief moment, everything was right in the universe.

“Try it,” her dad urged. They were kids in a candy shop as she coded in the machine for coffee.

It thumped and ticked, the smell of burnt dust filling her nostrils, but a gel produced itself with clear, brown liquid within. She picked it up and marveled. A food replicator.

“Well?”

She plopped it into her mouth and moaned as the fake, fabricated, magnificent taste of black coffee spilled out and over every inch of her mouth.

“Coffee,” she told him, eyes half closing in pleasure. Chesnik slapped her on the back and she let out a laugh. It startled her.

“Good thing your old man is looking out for you.”

“Yeah.” Elodie took a step back. “Yeah,” she repeated.

She followed him into a side room that was lined wall-to-wall with empty bunk beds, and back out to the door next to it that led to a small washroom.

She sank to the floor, staring at the turned-off faucet. Water. Fresh, running water. Moisture beaded her eyes and a warm arm went around her shoulder, joining her on the floor. Her tears fell like how the water would soon flow over her.

“It’s okay, Ely. It’s okay. For now, we’re safe. There’s no two better people who know how to get lost in a ship than us. We’re safe.” Tears continued to fall and she scrubbed her face. “I would’ve never left you. I would’ve found a way to get you out, regardless of the opportunity that presented itself. Luck is on our side. It always has been and it always will be.”

He tried to comfort her but it only made the floodgates open further. “That’s not it...” she began.

“You’ve never left me, not once in your entire life, not once. I’m not a great man but I sure as hell got lucky enough to have a great child. Ever since your mom died...”

“Please.” She didn’t want to hear it.

“I ran and I took you with me, forced you into a life that you should never have experienced, and for all the stress of having you there, I loved every moment. I couldn’t do what was right and leave you behind. I tried. I made all the wrong decisions, knowing it was my way of trying to run away. But when it came down to it, it wasn’t enough and I brought you along on all my bad decisions.” His hold on her tightened. “And our luck hasn’t run out. We’ll get through this too, make it off this ship, and before you know it, this’ll all be a bad dream.”

Elodie nodded, uncomfortable. The warning sounds pinged in the background. She pressed a hand into her heart and hoped it’d stop hurting—that the wariness would go away.

One drop of water emerged at the edge of the faucet and her gaze zeroed in on it. Waiting for it to fall.

“We stick together, okay?” Chesnik said. “You’ll never leave me?”

Gunner’s face, welted with bruises, swollen, staring at her with impassive, dark eyes shot to her mind.

“Never,” she whispered.

He gave her another squeeze and then stood up, bringing her with him. “It’s settled then. I’m going to crack open the replicator and see what we have in terms of reagents. You go ahead and get cleaned up, you smell like a pig.”

“As if you know what a pig smells like.” A smile tugged at her lips. “Do you really think it’ll be okay?”

“If I have any say in our fates, yeah, it’ll be okay.” He patted his newfound gun and turned to leave. Her gaze followed him until she closed the door and silence filled the space.

The only telling sign of an emergency was the flashing red light on the ceiling. Elodie stared at it as it stared back down at her.

Red like his eyes.

The orb grew in her mind and she watched it unblinking, willing for it to stop, and hating she wasn’t waiting in the brig for Gunner. She hadn’t even been able to leave a note or anything. But my dad’s safe. I’m safe. The others were not. She wondered if her dad knew about Gunner and his ship. Elodie locked the door from the inside.

Will he come for me? It hasn’t seemed like anything on this ship has been able to stop him yet.

Her pulse raced.

I want to go to him. The sentiment damned her and she buried her nose into her shoulder, breathing in the smell of Gunner as if she’d never get a chance to again. She felt safe with Gunner, even behind the bars of her cell, she felt safe, safer than she did now. His forthright nature had her trusting in him, believing in him.

Elodie checked the faucet at the sink, refusing to look at the mirror, and shook with joy when the water spurted out in bursts over her hands. The shower stall reacted the same until ice-cold water flowed freely into the receptacle.

She dropped Gunner’s jacket to sag on the floor at her feet. She didn’t want to risk washing it and have it no longer smelling like him. Elodie stepped under the frigid water, clothes and all, and pressed her hands into the walls to hold herself up. It sluiced and clung and claimed every inch of her body, drenching her in seconds. Her skin froze, and her hair plastered to her head. A shuddering moan escaped her lips. She was surprised when there weren’t rivulets of dirt washing down the drain.

Her shirt came off first, followed by her jeans and underwear. She kicked them into the stall’s corner. Her fingers drifting up to tug at the double band around her chest.

For the first time since her entrapment, she looked at her naked body.

Unmarked, unclaimed, unused by everything but the water. But for how long?

He’s coming.