Chapter Five
She bit back a moan. “Please put me down, my arms ache.”
To her surprise, he gently lowered her to the floor. “I am allowing you to be on your feet, because I do not wish you to be injured before you confessed the truth. Not because I am soft and willing to listen to female pleas.”
That struck Bunrika powered terror into her already terrified heart. “It’s the truth. Look at me, I’m a natural, not a clone. Go ahead, measure me, I’m shorter than a clone. You know they would reject a clone who does not meet the prescribed height and dimensions. Look at my ryhov, it’s brighter than a clones’.”
His eyes dropped to her cheek and then her vulnerable throat. Something she couldn’t identify flashed through those savage eyes.
He still held her with his hands firmly clamped around her arms. She desperately wanted some distance between them, but she forced herself to remain still. It won’t take much to set him off and she didn’t want end up like the captain.
“Clones lie.”
Did he ever stop? “I. Am not. A clone. How can I convince you?”
“You cannot, but the doctor can.”
They had a doctor onboard? A clone or maybe one of the humans from the planet below? No, it would have to be a cyborg. She had no doubt they killed anyone on board that was not one of them. When she’d gone into the crawl space, she’d kept far away from the areas where the cyborgs worked and recharged. But in none of her forays did she see clones. “Let him test me, he will tell you I am not a clone.”
“Come, clone.” He grabbed her upper arm and dragged her through what felt like the whole ship. She was out of breath and about to collapse when he entered what was clearly the infirmary. Cyborg 321 dragged her to the bed and putting his hands under her arms threw her onto it as if she was a toy. He did it so fast and smooth she didn’t have time to react.
“Hamurabi, I found the stowaway.” There was pride in his voice in the way he stood straight.
Another cyborg emerged from a room beyond the one cyborg 321 had brought her to. “Who?” He stopped in his tracks and his fists clenched. “Clone.” She struggled not to shrink back. “I am not a—”
He rudely interrupted her. “It says it’s not a clone. I need you to make sure.”
“It?”
They both ignored her and she clenched her hands. “Where did you find it? Did it do any damage to the ship. Are there others?”
“I found it in the storeroom. The scanner didn’t detect any more of them and the air consumption is in accordance with one of it of this size.” He motioned to Agrippa. She pressed her claws into her palms to stop herself from doing something that would get her killed.
Cyborg 321 glanced at her hands but continued speaking. “We need to know if it’s a clone. It’s urgent.”
The doctor looked her up and down. “She is small.” At last, someone who might listen to her.
Cyborg 321 dashed her hopes. “That doesn’t mean she is not a clone.”
“That is true.” The doctor took some of her blood and he wasn’t gentle about it, but Agrippa didn’t even try to protest. If drawing blood was all they did to her, she would consider herself lucky.
Cyborg 321 went to the wall and spoke into the console. He turned back to them. “The general is on his way.” The doctor and the angry cyborg exchanged looks that made her think they could communicate without speaking. She didn’t know a lot about the cyborgs. Most science on Tundra involved Bunrika principles, but the cyborg program was top secret and involved a new avenue of science Bunrika was clever enough to keep secret. She’d never been allowed near it. When The Souls, the resistance on Tundra, recruited her, obtaining cyborg technology was the one thing they needed her to get her hands on.
The two cyborgs stood over her, not talking or moving and it took all her self-control not to jump off the examination table and try to make a futile run for it.
A huge cyborg with a small patch of ryhov walked into the infirmary with a female next to him. She had to be human and under normal circumstances Agrippa would be thrilled to see an alien up close. Especially one with such odd smooth skin. But she was too stunned at seeing ryhov on a cyborg. How was this possible? Everyone knew that the goddess had granted Tunrians a soul. When they met their soul mates their ryhov aligned.
The female came to Agrippa and took her hand in hers. Such a simple action but it almost made her cry. When she realized she was an unwilling stowaway, when she didn’t know if her cryo unit would work, she’d never been tempted to cry. But now, this one simple act of kindness nearly destroyed her.
“I’m Aurora. Can you tell me your name?” Aurora looked up at Balthazar. “Maybe she don’t understand English.”
Agrippa wanted to tell her she understood, but the general answered first. “She understands. We found records that she taught herself.”
She should have stayed away from the computers. But the inactivity had nearly driven her mad. Would they be kinder to her when they realized how many repairs she’d made to the ship? Their numbers were few and if they weren’t part machine, she doubted they could keep the ship running by doing triple shifts.
“Oh.” Aurora turned back to her. “Please tell me your name, I promise, we won’t hurt you.”
Agrippa flicked a glance at the angry cyborg that still held her arm in his unshakable grip. The way he held her made a lie of Aurora’s statement.
“You are human,” she asked the female with the strange, but kind eyes.
“Yes, I am human, and you are a Tunrian. I never thought I’d get to meet aliens in my lifetime. My name is Aurora.”
Agrippa blinked. Meet aliens. Then she bit her lip to hide her smile and looked at the human who thought Agrippa was the alien. “Agrippa,” she said.
“Your human is good at making people talk,” Cyborg 321 said. Agrippa was focused on Aurora, but she did not like the fact that Cyborg 321 spoke so kindly of the other woman who was obviously with the general. With him still gripping her arm she couldn’t help but hear every word he said.
The general nodded. “She is soft hearted.”
The doctor turned to the computer and after a moment, said, “she is a natural.”
At least they now accepted she was a natural. Hateful word. There was no way on Tundra that she would ever call herself that.
Aurora looked at her with what she thought was an earnest expression for a human. Her odd smooth skin looked very soft and pliable. “Agrippa, please tell me if you contacted your home planet. Did you give them this location?” Aurora pleaded.
Agrippa flicked another look at Cyborg 321 and his hand tightened in warming. “I considered trying to contact them, but I decided against it.”
Suddenly exhausted, Agrippa swayed and closed her eyes. She wanted to talk with the female, ask her about humans. And to ask her if all humans dressed in such elegant clothes.
She vaguely heard Aurora say, “I cannot understand how all of you can hate this poor defenceless woman and want to hurt her.”
“Nothing bred on Tundra is defenceless.”