Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
There’s another way.
Roshini was certain there wasn’t.
She and her team had examined the mission from all different angles over the last couple of solar cycles. And they had found only one Plan that guaranteed the Invaders’ leaders and their weapon would be destroyed.
But she wanted to be wrong. Drift was a warrior and a cyborg and seemed like an intelligent, competent being. He might uncover a solution they hadn’t considered.
Then she wouldn’t die. The team she led wouldn’t die. And she wouldn’t have to ask them to make that ultimate sacrifice.
Until then, she had to assume the Plan would remain in place. And that meant she had to visit Luam as she always did every planet rotation.
“I have to leave.” She reluctantly slipped off her cyborg’s lap and stood. “Do you need the flight suit back right away?”
“It’s yours.” Drift rose to his booted feet also. “I’m coming with you.”
She donned her boots and gathered the pieces of her ore-miner disguise. “What I have to do, I have to do alone.”
“Your humanoid friend won’t see me.” Her cyborg proved, yet again, that he was impossible to deceive.
“It isn’t Luam I’m worried about.” She marched toward the exit. “The Invaders might be watching him.”
Luam’s home was left empty when he wasn’t there. It wasn’t secure like Bubs’s Place. And the enemy didn’t fear the site like they feared her caves.
They could have placed recording devices around her friend’s home.
“The Invaders won’t see me either.” Drift followed her to her mounted transport. “Drop me off at a secluded spot before you reach the meeting site. I’ll protect you on booted feet.”
“I don’t need your protection.” She crammed her stuff into the seat compartment.
“You have it whether you need it or not.” Her cyborg was one stubborn being.
She didn’t have time to argue with him.
The sky was already decorated with streaks of color. The sun was peeking over the horizon.
And she couldn’t travel to Luam’s home directly. She wasn’t wearing the right disguise.
“I have to make a stop first.” She turned and eyed her cyborg.
His actions and his words communicated that he was, at least, temporarily on her side.
His captain was determined to locate the Invaders’ weapon. And all of his kind seemed to hate their shared enemy.
Taking him back to her cave was a big step, however. Supplies were stored there.
She would have to tell him the Plan in order for him to tweak it. But giving him access to the materials needed to complete it opened up the prospect of sabotage.
It was a huge risk.
“Then we’ll make that stop.” Drift met her gaze. “And don’t jump on your machine and try to leave without me, my female. I’ll chase you. And I’ll catch you.”
Fates. He had read her mind.
“You couldn’t catch me.” She called him on that bovine shit. He might be a cyborg, but he remained a being. And her mounted transport was fuckin’ fast.
“I could catch you.” The cursed male sounded certain about that. “My acceleration is faster than your machine’s.” He leaned forward until his face was a breath away from hers. “I’m fabricated for speed both in the air and on the ground, my doubting little human.”
“I’m tempted to test that claim.” She lifted her chin.
He grinned. “Then test it.”
The male was impossible.
“I don’t have time for those games.” She climbed onto her mounted transport. “Get on.”
He laughed as he hopped onto the back of her machine.
His long legs straddled hers. His arms wrapped around her waist. His body armor-clad chest pressed against her back.
The contact soothed the turmoil building within her. They were connected. That truth was now impossible to deny.
But she could ignore it.
“You’ll see how fast this sweet ride accelerates.” She gunned the engines, and they shot forward.
Her cyborg hooted. His joy was as acute as hers was. They whipped between the boulders. Sand sprayed everywhere.
“My short-run acceleration is faster.” He brushed his lips against her right ear.
She quivered with delight.
And she pushed the engines harder, seeking to prove him wrong.
* * *
By the time they reached her caves, the sun was fully visible. She would be late for her long-running meeting with Luam. And her friend would be worried about her.
He might be so worried he’d do something foolish. Like try to find her.
And that could expose his part in the Plan.
She didn’t want anyone else to know who was on her team. That would place all of those beings, beings she was responsible for and cared for, in greater danger.
Roshini parked the mounted transport. “Stay here. And don’t touch anything.” She hurried toward her makeshift home, stripping out of the boots and the flight suit as she moved.
Drift, of course, didn’t follow her orders. Her stubborn cyborg trailed her to the cave. “I like what we’re doing thus far.”
“I can’t have you on my team if you don’t listen to me.” She checked the monitoring device.
The energy levels remained within safe boundaries. There had been no movement except from some sand blowing and the antics of the lizards.
She grabbed a container and ventured into the growing area. The plants were her excuse to visit Luam. She couldn’t skip that part of her routine.
“I always listen to you.” Drift gazed around them. “I don’t always agree with you.” He paused. “You fabricated all this?”
“Yeah.” Pride edged her voice as she harvested some of the herbs. Before the Invaders arrived, she had left the growing of nourishment to other beings and had focused on the machines she loved. It had taken several attempts for her to figure out how to ensure plants survived. “There’s a watering system. The lighting is automatic. And all the unused organic material goes back into soil.”
“It has a cyborg level of efficiency.” He said that as though it was a compliment.
The container was filled enough to warrant a delivery.
She donned her shades-of-brown disguise, changing her skin, hair, and fingernail color to the varying hues and dressing in the chest-flattening fight suit. Her footwear was exchanged. And she stuffed a handheld into her pocket.
“You’re beautiful in brown also.” Drift’s open admiration eased one of her concerns.
He wasn’t only attracted to beings with orange skin color.
“I’m striving for unremarkable, not beautiful.” Her tone was dry.
Her cyborg placed his right index finger under her chin and lifted her gaze to meet his. “No being that truly looked at you would find you unremarkable.” His eyes glowed with appreciation.
Fates. He heated her to point of combustion.
“Luckily, the Invaders don’t truly look at any beings other than themselves.” She would fool them.
“Luckily.” Drift swept his smiling lips over hers.
She yearned to deepen their kiss, to lose herself in him, in desire. But every being on the planet was at risk and dying.
And her friend was expecting to see her. Soon. He was likely looking out for her at that very moment.
Roshini pulled away from her cyborg. “I’ll drop you off by a mountain. If you climb to the top of it, you’ll have a visual of Luam’s home.”
“That will do.” Drift nodded. “If I have a visual, I’ll have audio also.”
She always assumed the Invaders were listening to her conversations with Luam. That was why they talked in code.
“Then, let’s go.” She returned with Drift to the mounted transport.
The previous disguise was removed from the under-the-seat compartment. The container of herbs was put in its place.
She exchanged the machine’s panels.
“My clever female.” Her cyborg tapped one of the new panels. “This would fool many beings.”
“That’s the hope.” She got on the mounted transport.
Drift sat behind her. His presence and his touch were…comforting. And stimulating. And worrisome.
She liked him. Too much. It was dangerous to her, to her team, to every Cancri’s future.
Roshini pushed her concerns away and flew her machine as fast as it could go.
* * *
They approached the mountain overlooking Luam’s home.
Roshini slowed the mounted transport and pointed at the rock formation. It should give him a clear view of the structure and of her and her friend.
Drift didn’t wait for her to stop. Her cursed cyborg jumped off their machine, rolled over the sand until he landed on his booted feet, and then he ran.
Fast.
Fates. He hadn’t lied. His speed was impressive.
His big body blurred as he ascended the mountain.
If he maintained that pace, he’d reach the top before she arrived at her destination.
Especially as she had to progress more leisurely. The appearance of her mounted transport, with its brown rusted, worn-looking side panels, was one of age, of being barely fly-worthy.
Her speed had to match that.
Luam, as predicted, was waiting outside his domicile when she arrived. His forehead was furrowed with deep lines. He was frowning.
“Sorry, I’m a bit late.” She slid off her mounted transport. “A lizard got into the plants, and I had to deal with him.”
“Lizards can bite.” Her friend understood she was referring to her cyborg. “Did he hurt you?”
“This lizard doesn’t bite. Thankfully.” She quashed the impulse to look toward the mountain.
The Invaders could be watching her. She didn’t want to alert them to Drift’s position.
“He’s a friendly little creature.” She extracted the container of herbs from the under-the-seat compartment. “I’m thinking, if I can train him, I’ll add him to my team.”
“You’ll add the lizard to your team?” Luam’s eyes widened. “Won’t he eat the plants you’re planning to trade?”
“There’re enough plants for both of us.” She shrugged. “And we do have the same goal. Somewhat. I grow the plants to trade. He wants the plants to grow so he can eat them.”
“That’s true.” Her friend’s laugh sounded a bit strained. “But you might want to keep an eye on that lizard. You never know what his true plans might be.”
“I’ll do that.” She felt Luam’s unease over the addition of Drift to their team. “I included some of the herbs that helped you last time you went drinking with your buddies.” She handed him the container. “Is your head paining you?”
“Everywhere is paining me.” He rubbed his chest. “I don’t have the drinking capacity I once had.”
Her friend didn’t have much time left to live.
But then, neither did she. Unless her cyborg found an alternative to the Plan. “Maybe you don’t have to go drinking with your buddies. There might be other things you can do.”
There might be another way to rid the planet of the Invaders’ leaders and their cursed weapon.
“We’ve talked about doing other things.” Luam reminded her that they’d explored all the options. “Nothing else interests them. And you know me. If they ask me, I’ll go out drinking with them again.”
“You can’t say no.” She forced a laugh.
“I can’t.” He moseyed to a pile of metal parts and rummaged through it. “I finished that third digger you requested.” Her friend held up the planting tool. It had a handle she’d custom-designed. “It took me four tries to make this one.”
Every member of the team had crafted four similar handles. Those would be attached to their own tools.
“Thank you.” She took the digger from Luam.
The size of the handle appeared to be correct. It should be large enough to hold the explosives.
Fates knew it should be. They’d confirmed the dimensions multiple times with the other two diggers he’d crafted.
But she would test the design again. It was a key part of the Plan. If the handles failed, the Plan would fail.
And they had to be successful. They would have only one opportunity to stop the Invaders.
“I might have another request for you.” The requests were easy ways to convey information. “I’ll have the dimensions to you on my next visit.”
Those dimensions would relay a coded message to the team.
Each male would be assigned a position within the Invaders’ manufactured mountain. They had to ensure tools were left near every part of the Invaders’ weapon.
The males on her team would build relationships with the Cancris currently holding those positions. And on the planet rotation of the Plan’s rollout, they would trade shifts with those Cancris.
“I’ll take care of that request myself.” Luam met her gaze. “Some beings use robots to manufacture objects now. But I like to fabricate the tools by hand. It’s an ancient method, but I’m an ancient male.” His laugh was hollow.
The Invaders would soon be using robots. It wasn’t the first time Roshini had heard those rumors. “They would use a robot to build one tool?” She feigned disbelief. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“I agree.” Her friend nodded. “If they were making multiple copies of a tool, that might be worth it. But one? Nah.”
Fates. Luam also confirmed the other rumblings.
The weapon the Invaders were currently forcing the Cancris to fabricate wouldn’t be the only one of its kind. They would be manufacturing more of them.
Using robots.
Every Cancri on the planet could and would die, and the enemy wouldn’t care.
It was a struggle to conceal her anger. And her concern. “Do you need any special herbs?”
“Something more for the pain would be good.” Luam rubbed his chest again. “I doubt I’ll be recovered by sunrise.”
Her friend would never recover.
And he was tired. She heard that in his voice.
All the Cancris on the planet had been through horror after horror.
But Luam’s experience was…extreme.
He’d once had a mate. Whom he loved more than life. And they had a son who was born in the same solar cycle Roshini was born.
The three of them had the bad fortune to be visiting his mate’s family’s settlement on the planet rotation of that location’s Betrayal.
His son had been chosen by the Invaders to die.
Luam had stepped forward, offering to take his much-beloved son’s place. An Invader with an itchy trigger finger had shot at her friend.
The projectile had grazed his temple and knocked him unconscious but it hadn’t killed him. When he came to, everyone in the settlement, including his mate and his son, were dead.
Her friend’s entire family had died. Brutally.
Leaving Luam alone.
Her friend had been solitary for five long solar cycles, and he’d continue to be that way for the rest of his lifespan. Cancris mated only once.
He was also in extreme agony. That pain wouldn’t ever dissipate either.
Roshini suspected he was forcing himself to continue living for her, to implement the Plan. “My friend?—”
“I’ll be fine.” Luam summoned a smile. “I just had too much fermented beverage and too much excitement at sunset. Give me a planet rotation or two, and I’ll be back to my ol’ self.”
Her heart said that was a lie. But she wanted desperately to believe his words. “I’ll return at sunrise.” She placed the digger in her pocket as she returned to her mounted transport.
“I’m counting on that.” Her friend straightened to his full height.
And she saw a hint of the male he’d been when she’d met him – strong and determined. She gave him a small smile, climbed on her machine, and flew back in the direction from which she’d come.
She had a cyborg to pick up.
* * *
Drift was standing at the base of the mountain when she reached the drop-off point. His booted feet were braced apart. His expression was concerned.
She suspected he could have jumped on the back of the mounted transport. As he had jumped off it.
But he didn’t. He remained where he was.
She stopped the machine in front of him. “Are you coming with me or what?”
“Come here.” He reached out his arms.
Fates. She wanted to accept his offer of a hug. “Someone could be watching us.”
“There’re no beings detected on my lifeform scans.” Her cyborg must have thought of that possibility. “And I’ve surveyed the area. There aren’t any devices hidden in rocks or buried in the sand.” There was a hint of humor in his voice. “You’re safe, my female.”
“No one on this planet is safe.” She frowned at him. If she went to the male, she’d fall apart. And no one had time for that foolishness. “We should get going.”
“You’re safe from physical damage.” Drift didn’t move. “Either you come to me, or we stand here all planet rotation.”
“You’re impossible.” But she went to him because they didn’t have time to stand there all planet rotation.
And also because she couldn’t resist the call of comfort. She, like Luam, had been alone for far too long. The solitude had carved into her.
“I’m impossibly fast.” Drift wrapped his arms around her.
The cursed male was a fool. But he was also warm and unrelenting.
She burrowed her face into his chest, seeking to hide from the cruel universe, from all the losses she had experienced in the past and would experience in the future.
“I would give up my numerous speed records to protect you from the emotional damage.” Her cyborg rested his chin on top of her head. “If that was the solution.”
It wasn’t the solution. “I have to be tough.” Beings expected her to lead them, to take action. “I can’t let things bother me like this.”
“You are tough.” He rubbed his hands over her back, moving his palms up and down, up and down her. “But you don’t have to be tough with me.” He folded his form around hers. “And the situation should bother you. Your friend is in pain.”
“He’s in extreme pain.” No quantity of herbs or pain suppressors could offset Luam’s hurt. “And I’m selfishly prolonging his agony because I need his assistance.”
“I project nothing about you is selfish, my female.” Drift kissed her forehead. “I also project that your friend, like most beings, wants his lifespan to have had purpose. He’s living for that reason.” He paused for a heartbeat. “And because he loves you.”
Luam did love her. She knew that. And she loved him. So very much. He had been her greatest supporter over solar cycles of defiance against the enemy.
“We have to make all this count, Drift.” She tilted her head back and stared up at her cyborg. “We have to stop the Invaders.”
“We’ll stop them.” His voice rang with a certainty she clung to.
They’d stop the Invaders. Her friend’s death would have meaning. As would hers.
And all the pain leading up to that moment would’ve been worth it.
To achieve all that, however, she had to trust her cyborg.
With everything.