I held onto the table that separated us, staring at the thing. It. Him. Danie. Whatever it was. My stomach roiled when I touched the ports in my head. “Like… mine?”
“What?” Freska’s eyes widened. She whipped around the table and pushed my hand aside, exclaiming when she saw the ports. A light flicked on and flared past me. She nudged my head this way and that, mumbling. I gripped the table with both hands, my knuckles white, and stared at my hands.
What was I? What had Captain bound himself to?
“Freska, stop it. You don’t touch people like that.” Captain gently urged her away and placed his hands over mine. He didn’t uncurl my hands, didn’t pry them away from the table, just covered my fingers with his and shared his warmth. My joints ached as I let go and turned my wrists to lace our fingers together. “You’re fine, Kohen. We already know all about you, remember? I chose you, and you chose me. You can’t take that back. Not ever.” Warmth passed from the bond and not just his body.
I sagged, half-closing my eyes as I nodded. I hated that I needed his reassurance all the time, but…
“You have reason, and I don’t mind sharing my thoughts and feelings for you, no matter who we are with.” Captain leaned down and kissed me gently on the lips. He let go of one hand and urged our little bond companion to leave him and curl up with me. “I think you need him.”
The synthgar curled up on my neck. “He needs a name,” I said. I stroked his smooth skin with one gentle finger.
“He does. Maybe you can think of it.” Captain rubbed my side, holding me close still.
“Maybe.”
The entire exchange was watched by Danie, which I tried to ignore. Freska had moved back over to the A.I.’s side, flicking her fingers over a portable vid. She physical made a noise. “Aha!”
“What?” Captain asked.
“As I thought. See, here and here and here.” She tapped her vid and held it out flat. The picture zoomed up, solidifying in a way I’d never seen before. More of her hologram tech wizardry. “Look at the similarities in the alien biomechanics. I have no idea what species they come from, but what bits and pieces are in Kohen’s mind and nervous system to increase his intelligence, suppress his memory, increase his compliance, all those things, are also tied in to the fiber options running through his body along the natural channels to enhance his strength.
“Now here’s Danie’s.”
The two images rose, solidified, and spun slowly side by side. There were a lot more parts in his, but there were too many that looked the same for it to be a coincidence.
“Were you made or born?” I asked him.
Danie stared at me. “Unknown.”
“Freska, what do you know?” Captain asked. “You’re magic with machines. You’re telling me this is all you have?”
She dropped into a chair at the table. “I’m going with the human body making this special circumstances.” She looked sad. Or maybe mad.
I couldn’t tell.
“What I do isn’t magic, you know. It’s skill. But he’s an A.I. He’s not a machine. He’s intelligent. Self-aware. Really self-aware. Not just some sophisticated program running algorithms and probabilities. And. He’s. Not. Talking.” That look was definitely anger. And something else I didn’t know.
Captain sat down and I took the chair next to his. He pulled it closer, and I smiled. Danie stared at us.
“Who are your makers, Danie?”
“Classified.”
“Why?”
Danie blinked, those gray eyes flickering. “What?”
“Why are your makers classified?”
He opened his mouth then shut it. “I don’t… know. It’s classified.”
“Even from you? Your mind is made up of circuits and data.” Captain was calm. “They created your purpose. Hiding who they are means they don’t want that known, which must mean your purpose isn’t good. Are you evil, Danie?”
“Evil isn’t real. It’s a human construct formulated from superstition and stories.” Danie shifted.
“Are you sure of that?”
I licked my lips, stroking the synthgar. “They made me do evil things. Hurt people. Hurt myself so I could hurt people. Then they’d poke around in my head and my body and that was worse.” I put my hand down so I wouldn’t hurt the tiny creature curled against my throat. “They took away my choice, made me into something I’m not. Something I never wanted to be.
“Can you say they’ve never done that to you?” He kept staring at me, so I stared back at him, letting him see my truth. I hadn’t shared it with anyone but Lakshou and Captain. Lakshou betrayed my trust, but Captain had helped make it okay.
Danie’s throat bobbed. “My makers are…” He jerked, his head twitching. “Makers are… are…”
Freska jumped to her feet. “He does have subroutines. Look at that.” The scans she had rotating must have been live. Something on his flared orange. “Danie. I can help you. Look at that, do you see those? Those are—”
“I see them. I know. How can you h-help?”
“Let me in, Danie. It goes both ways.”
“If I say no?” His hands fisted.
“You said it before. I respected that.” She mirrored his twitches now.
“Yes,” he said roughly, his chest heaving.
She pulled him into her arms, and I stared with wide eyes. Then Freska turned and stared at the scans.
“She has biomechanical parts,” I whispered. Gold light shone around the long digits of her fingers buried in his ports.
“How else do you think she gets all things mechanical like she does? Talks to ship A.I.’s? She connects with them.”
“Like Lakshou, but with machines?” That was the second time I thought of him.
“She cannot open them without opening herself though. What she will learn of Danie, he will learn of her. It’s a two-way passage.”
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