Chapter 16
Haven
Haven wasn’t sure exactly what prompted her to make the offer.
They weren’t mated yet. He’d only spoken of it, then surprised her with the iron bar in his pants.
A bar was definitely bigger than she expected but was also not really where she expected it to be.
It came from his groin, but it was like it was lying flat up against his abdomen, which didn’t really make much sense.
He’d moved away before she could figure out what was going on down there. She had never been so interested in something biological in her life.
That wasn’t what made her want to share her secret, though. She hadn’t become dick-matized just by the sheer might of its presence. At least, she was pretty sure that wasn’t what had just happened.
Maybe it was because he’d been so open with her. Maybe it was because she felt relatively sure she wasn’t going to be driven off after telling them now. Maybe it was even simpler than that. Maybe she just wanted to show off what she considered her greatest creation
“Are you still wanting to knowing my secret?” She asked again, a thrill rushing through her at the thought of finally getting to share it with someone. And not just anyone, but someone that would be able to appreciate what she’d done.
“How you manage to hide from us?” He asked, focusing back on her with a laser like sharpness.
She nodded eagerly, and she saw his ember eyes flash. He was calm, however, when he responded.
“If you’re ready to tell us.”
Haven bit her bottom lip, excitement rising and near choking her.
Lifting up, she reached across Vytln for her storage shelf, and the utility belt she’d taken off and rested there.
It was heavier than it looked, and she grunted when she picked it up and slid back.
Vytln took hold of the end of the belt and held it up, looking over the old, worn leather curiously as she opened one of the side pockets.
From inside, she took out a small control panel.
She wasn’t sure what it originally went to.
She’d found it in the trash and rescued it before it could be broken down and recycled.
She’d learned a lot thanks to this little thing.
But more importantly, she’d done a lot of great work with it.
The controller was thin like a smart phone, though just a bit too long and thin to be comfortably used as one.
It was beaten up, old and dented slightly.
But it responded to her touch, coming alive and displaying in perfect English.
A necessity for her. Since she learned Standard by listening, she hadn’t had a chance to learn how to read.
Fortunately, the subnet was translatable not just between Standard and all the native tongues of the Coalition planets, but there were also a few non-Coalition world tongues and even a few human languages.
Once she figured out how to translate everything, it made her life a lot easier.
And after messing with this device and its programming, she’d managed to create the ultimate shield for her life.
Vytln watched her screen, unable to read it but involved in the process, as she brought up the homemade program. It was still operating exactly as she’d set it. It hadn’t been hiding her face or voice from Alred anymore, but all the other programs were still running.
One by one, she began turning them off. Vytln’s head cocked in curiosity, but he wouldn’t notice any difference. Not while he was this close to her. He wouldn’t understand all the things she was altering, changing, turning off.
Until she just began playing with it. With a few touches of the screen, she began playing music through the comm system hooked up in Vytln’s workroom. The familiar human song made her head bob as she set the lights to flash and dance in time with the beat.
“You’ve hacked into the computer systems of the ship,” Vytln said, his tone impressed as he looked around. “How did you manage to do that without alerting Alred?”
Haven laughed. “You are being close. I not hacking the ship’s computer. I am hacking the ship.”
Vytln frowned, and she knew he didn’t understand what she meant.
With a wicked laugh, she began summoning her mites.
Bringing them all back to her. If they weren’t needed to obscure her, they didn’t need to hide either.
They moved quickly, gathering like a building storm.
She knew the moment Vytln saw them moving around the rim of the trap’s hole.
He stiffened and sat up, frowning as he squinted.
“Is that…” He breathed, blinking.
It was hard to see them. It was only because they were actively moving that he even could. Haven laughed as she reached her hand out. Obligingly, her little mites gathered over her hand. Gathering, building, coalescing until they formed a silvery ball, undulating in her palm.
“Those are nanobots,” he breathed, looking up at her, then down to the ball.
“Close,” she said, closing her hand. She squeezed and played with the little ball like it was slime.
The tiny bots were metal, but they were so small that holding them all together was like liquid.
They were smooth and cool against her skin as she squished and pulled them.
She’d gotten them so precisely programmed, it was like they moved to her will rather than her command.
“They are being older microbots,” she said.
“Bigger than the nano used now. Most be considering them useless anymore. Too big. Not working well with most modern tech. But that is what is making them perfect for me. I don’t wanting them to integrate into the system like a nanobot is supposed to being. I want them to controlling it.”
Beaming, absurdly proud of herself, she held up the ball for Vytln to exam. The surface was smooth, but the tiny, almost imperceptible motion of the bots constantly moving in and around each other was still detectable.
As he watched, she used her tablet to set it into one of its pre-set shapes.
A not-wrench small enough for her hand to hold but big enough for the large bolts used in the Coalition.
A tool that couldn’t easily be found, because aliens didn’t come in her size.
But by having the microbots interlock their cilia and freeze in place, she made a tool that was just as strong and immobile as any other.
But one that was perfect for her, and one that could actually help her add more force to her torque.
“These are my mites,” she said affectionately, holding the tool to her face and smiling at the coolness of it on her skin.