Chapter Fourteen
Three weeks later, Agrippa, alone with Amelagar in the infirmary, read the story that Aurora had started the previous week.
Amelagar’s skull had mostly regenerated; his enforced steel skeleton had regrown and muscles and skin covered it in patches. It may be much better than when he had only half a skull and a bare back bone, but it was still gruesome to see. His hair had not regenerated and she suspected it never will.
His eyes opened. He didn’t groan and look around or even blink. As usual he opened his eyes and honed in on her as if she was one giant beacon. His lips barely moved, “female.” His voice sounded strange, as if the cyborg and organic halves of his voice box have not synced properly.
Agrippa jerked upright. “Did you need something?” She wanted to kick herself. What was she supposed to do for him while he was trapped in the regeneration tube?
“Open the tube,” he rasped.
“You know I cannot. I didn’t think your ability to speak would happen this fast. Don’t overdo it. You still have a lot of regeneration to do.”
“Open the tube, clone.”
“Not yet, there is still the threat of infection. And don’t call me a clone.” If only he was well and could leave the tube, she wouldn’t mind what he called her. “How would you like it if I called you cyborg 321.”
His glare intensified. “You will pay for that. Obey me clone .”
She put her hand on the glass and leaned close. “I wish I could, but it’s almost over. Another month and you will be able to get out without risking infection. It’s a miracle that you are speaking already.”
“What is going on here?” Hamurabi asked.
She opened her mouth to answer, but Amelagar spoke first. “Get me out.” His eyes flashed green. “Now.”
“No, the clone is correct, you risk infection that could put you in the regeneration tube for months or even years.”
“Not a clone, not a clone, not a clone,” she muttered.
Amelagar glared at them both and then closed his eyes. “Continue reading.”
For one horrible moment she wanted to slam her fists against the tube. Did he realize that she’d been cooped up in the infirmary for months now? That her back ached from sitting in one position, reading to him for hours and hours. If she dared move where he couldn’t see her, he let his displeasure be known.
Agrippa sat down and took up the reader. If she had to lay in a tube for months on end, maybe she would act like that as well. She looked at Amelagar and her heart softened. He lay rigid, staring at the glass covering the tube. She may have been cooped up in the infirmary, but he’d lain in that position for months now. The tube kept him from doing anything more than move his eyes.
“It won’t be long now. I have made some more adjustments that will speed up your organic healing.” His skeleton had regenerated at an astounding rate.
He didn’t answer and with a sigh she continued reading.
He was almost there. Before, she’d checked every day, had made sure that everything proceeded well. Seeing his bare bones had been upsetting, but not a problem. Now she had to be careful not to look at his body. His very attractive body. Even without ryhov he was more magnificent than any clone. Even more magnificent than the most handsome natural. Why haven’t he asked her again to give him a soul. Apart from when she went to work on the hybrid ship with Anatu, she spent all her time together.
The day came that Hamurabi opened the regeneration unit. The night before she couldn’t sleep and she knew Amelagar was awake as well. She got up and silently went over to the glass tube. She pressed her hand against it and after a moment Amelagar pressed his hand so that they touched through the glass. He’d had control of his motor functions back for more than a week now. Before they’d had to keep him immobile to ensure his recovery.
“It’s almost over,” she whispered.
They stayed like that until Hamurabi came. Without ceremony he pressed a few buttons and the unit opened and Amelagar sat up. His cyborg systems cut out the need for physical therapy to get his muscles working again. He ignored Hamurabi and locked gazes with her. It was as if he focused all his emotion, all his pent-up energy on her. Hamurabi stopped talking and stepped back. She sucked in a quiet breath when he surged out of the tube and stood upright.
He glared at her. “Female. Come. Here.”
She stepped closer, now that the moment she’d dreamed of were here, she was afraid. What if he only saw a clone when he looked at her? Maybe now that he was free, he wouldn’t need her company anymore. Amelagar grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her to him. He kept pulling her until they were so close she could see the fire in his eyes, smell him under the musty medicinal air the regeneration tube had coated him with. This close, she even heard his heart beat.
Even when he had only half a head and an eye, he’d had the kind of presence that had everyone tiptoeing around the regeneration tube. Fully regenerated, he had the presence of a mountain.
Said mountain stared down at her with those fiery green eyes. Without ryhov on his skin they appeared twice as bright. She waited and had the strong sense that now that he’d made her come to him, he didn’t know what to do with her. No doubt he’d figure it out real quick.
“You will not deny me.”
Her heart hammered. He wanted her. “D … deny you?” Did he want to kiss her again? Maybe do more?
“You will give me a soul.”
Hope and despair surged in her. Hope that he still wanted her to give him a soul. And despair because it would break her heart if that was all he wanted from her. Her ryhov slowed down until it barely moved.
“It will take some time. Did you know that when two people are destined to be together their ryhov become synchronised?” Why did she tell him that? What if she managed to find a way to give him ryhov and he didn’t synchronise with her. She would still want him, but would he want her? What would he do to her if she could not figure out a way to get his ryhov? The memory of way he’d torn apart the captain haunted her.
“You will give me ryhov and ensure that we are synchronised.”
Suddenly she could do anything. If it was the last thing she did, she would get him ryhov. And synchronise it with hers. “I will, but it will take time.”