“Sorry, Virelle, I can’t spare a long-distance hopper for a trip to Earth right now.”
“What?” Corinne frowned at him. Silas was sitting in his office—which used to be her office—with a self-satisfied smirk on his narrow face. “We don’t have any long-range missions going on right now,” she pointed out. “The next supply run isn’t scheduled for two months. The hoppers are just sitting there.”
“And that’s where they’ll stay. Because I said so.” He leaned forward, hands flat on the desk that used to be hers. “I’m the head of the Division, not you and I do not give you permission to leave the station.”
“I need to get more information on K-lx,” she argued, trying to keep her temper. “I need to visit the lab back on Earth where he was first assembled and activated to avoid future problems.”
“No you don’t, because none of us will be having any problems with your new Cyborg in the future.” He leaned back and gave her an evil smirk. “Because, as Director of the Cybernetics Division, I have decided that it’s in the best interest of everyone aboard the station to decommission and dismantle K-lx, as you call it, for research purposes.”
“What?” Corinne felt as though she’d swallowed a fist-sized lump of ice. “You can’t be serious! K-lix isn’t like an ordinary Modern Cybernetic Unit. He’s a person. He has a personality and cognitive functions just like any human member of the station.”
“It’s nice that you think that,” Silas said loftily. “But I think that hunk of junk will be of more value to the Company if we take him apart and see how he works. We might gain some valuable scientific insights.”
“I’ll give you a ‘valuable insight’—taking K-lx apart would be murder!” Corinne was so angry now she couldn’t keep her voice from rising. “You can’t order him disassembled anyway,” she added, trying to regain her calm. “You might be the Director of the Division but I’m his Handler. I have the final say over him and you know it.”
“Not if I get the Company to agree with me,” he snapped. “Tell me, what kind of power source does it use? It spends every night in your room and seems to charge up there but we never found a Docking Station in its Stasis tube. How is it charging at night?”
Corinne felt herself go cold all over again. If Silas could make the case to the Company that the big K-Unit was more valuable taken to pieces than kept alive, he really would be able to have K-lx killed—with or without her permission. And if he had figured out that the Kindred Cyborg had an internal power source, which was something the Company had been trying to develop for years…
“I’m done talking about this,” she said, rising from her chair. “You’re not dismantling my Cyborg and that’s the end of this discussion.”
Silas’s close-set eyes narrowed.
“We’ll see about that. I’m expecting a communication from the Chairman soon. I’m sure he’ll be interested in knowing what makes that big Cybernetic brute of yours tick, Virelle.”
“Fuck you,” Corinne snapped, but inside she was worried—really and truly worried. There was a good possibility that Silas would get his way—better than good, actually. Whenever the Company smelled profit, it was ruthless in pursuing it.
But she couldn’t let the big K-unit be killed. She cared about him too much.
You love him, whispered a little voice in her head…but Corinne pushed it aside. She couldn’t be in love with her Cyborg—that was completely wrong. But she cared for him and she wasn’t going to let him be hurt or disassembled.
She left Silas’s office without another word but a plan was already forming in her mind.
26
K-LX
“Keep it quiet—we need to be long-gone before they realize we left,” Corinne whispered. She didn’t have to tell K-lx twice. He had even removed his boots, to be sure they wouldn’t clank against the metal floor.
It was the middle of the night and hopefully no one was up. They were making the trip to the lab on Old Earth after all—only without that asshole, Silas’s permission.
Corinne hadn’t told him much about why she was choosing to break the rules in this way but K-lx could feel her desperation and fear through their Link. Something must have happened during her meeting with Silas…but she refused to tell him what. She just said they had to get away and prove that he wasn’t a danger to anyone…which meant a trip to the lab.
K-lx wasn’t worried about finding it—he remembered the location. The Tollegs had wanted him to be able to find his way home in case of emergencies. He just hoped that the lab was still functional after all these years.
They got into the hopper with no problems and Corinne slid into the pilot’s chair and began examining the autopilot controls. After a moment, she let out a frustrated sigh.
“What is it?” K-lx bent over her shoulder to see what was wrong. There didn’t seem to be anything the matter with the ship’s navigational system so he wasn’t sure why she was upset.
“Oh, it’s just that the ship is physically connected to the station and it looks like the minute I fire the engines, an alert is going to go straight to Station Control. It’s going to wake up the Chief Engineer and he’s going to want to know why one of the hoppers is being taken without permission.” She ran a hand through her hair. “So much for sneaking out of here—they’re going to come after us right away, I’m afraid.”
“Why not just do a controlled drift?” K-lx asked reasonably.
“A controlled drift? What’s that?” She furrowed her brow in confusion.
“Just undock from the station and use some of the outside vents to release enough air to push us into space without starting the hopper,” K-lx explained. “Once we get far enough from the station to not send a signal, you start the engines and we’re out of here, baby.”
“Oh, well…that sounds like a good idea, but I’m not sure exactly how to do it.” She looked up at him uncertainly. “Are you?”
