He blinked rapidly and seemed to come back to himself.
“Yes, sorry. My subroutines were rerouting themselves with you as the focus,” he replied. “You are my Handler…my Mistress. I am attuned to you now.”
“That’s good, I guess, but it’s time to go now,” Corinne told him. “Aren’t you hungry? We don’t want to miss breakfast.”
“I am hungry.” He rose to tower over her again. “But do you think the other humans will be happy to have me eat with them after the death and destruction I caused last night?”
Corinne lifted her chin.
“You’re Linked to me now—I’m your Handler and I’ll vouch for you. I don’t feel any fear or anger or any of the other emotions you were having last night coming through our Link, so I’d say you’re safe to go out among the general population of the station.”
In fact what she did feel through the Link was more lust and desire—which was ridiculous. She had on a baggy coverall and no make-up at all—there was nothing about her that would inspire the emotions she felt coming from K-lx.
She tried to ignore his desire for her, even though it made her feel slightly hot and bothered just as his comments had earlier. At least he was obeying her order to keep his hands to himself. She would have to consult the manual and see if it was normal for a Kindred Cyborg to have such strong sexual feelings for his Handler. But for now, they both needed breakfast.
“Come on,” she said and led the way out of her room.
13
K-LX
“That thing is not welcome at this table!” The angry human male from the night before pointed a trembling finger at K-lx as he settled himself at the end of the long table beside his Mistress.
The rest of the seats at the table were also filled with humans who stared uneasily at him. Some of them looked almost ready to run.
K-lx supposed he couldn’t blame them. He had ruined many pieces of equipment and killed two of their personnel the night before. They had a right not to trust him now.
Luckily, Corinne stuck up for him.
“Enough, Silas,” she snapped at the other scientist, who had a narrow face, thin shoulders, and eyes that were set too close together. “K-lx is fine.”
“He’s not fine! He went Rogue last night!” the human male protested.
“He did not go Rogue,” Corinne said firmly. “He was disturbed because you brought him out of Stasis too quickly—he had a Neural Interface Overload which brought on a panicked flight or fight response. Now that I’ve Linked with him, he’s completely regulated—I’d stake my reputation on it.”
“Your reputation is already in shreds, Virelle,” the human male sneered. “After you allowed poor Isla to Link with a Rogue Unit?—”
“We both know that C-17 was perfectly fine when Isla Linked with him,” Corinne interrupted him. “Neither she nor I had anything to do with him going Rogue. Just because you leveraged her death into a new position for yourself, doesn’t mean you’re suddenly the expert on Rogue Cyborgs.”
“I know a Rogue when I see one!” the male snarled. “And that Unit went Rogue last night no matter what you say! You haven’t had time to mind-wipe him or reprogram him and yet you bring him here, into the middle of a crowded dining canteen and expect us all to eat with him as though he didn’t kill two of our team last night!”
K-lx had to admit, the other male’s words made him sound like a crazed killer who might snap at any moment and kill again. But what bothered him the most wasn’t how the human male was making him look—it was the slight to his Mistress’s reputation.
Part of him—a large part—wanted to stand up and threaten the human male. To tell him he’d better keep Corinne’s name out of his filthy mouth and leave her alone from now on…or he was going to be fucking sorry. If he lived long enough to be sorry, that was.
However, he recognized that acting in a threatening manner was only going to reinforce the view these humans now had of him. He needed to act rationally and reassure them that he wasn’t there to harm them. Just the way they were whispering among themselves and casting sidelong, fearful glances at him was enough to let him know how frightened they were of him already.
“Excuse me,” he said, speaking up above the murmuring of the others at the table and everyone abruptly fell silent.
“Yes, K-lx? You have something you want to say?” Corinne looked up at him calmly. K-lx couldn’t help admiring her courage. She had faced him down when he was at his worst the night before and now she was backing him calmly despite the negative opinions of her peers. Truly, she was an extraordinary woman.
“I want to apologize for what happened last night,” K-lx said clearly.
There were wide eyes and surprised looks all around the table. Even the people at the other tables around them were watching and it seemed like the whole canteen was holding its breath.
“I was awoken suddenly from Stasis and the rush of neural input was too much for my circuits to process. I realize that I caused death and destruction and I want to express my sincere remorse for that,” he continued. “And I want to promise that it will not happen again. I am Linked to Dr. Virelle now.” He nodded at Corinne, who was still watching him calmly. “She has regulated my emotions. It would be impossible for me to hurt anyone. In fact, if I could be allowed, I’d like to help clean up some of the mess I made in your lab last night,” he finished.
For a moment, no one spoke. Then the whole table—and in fact, the whole canteen—erupted in speech.
