Page 24 of Argurma Warrior (The Argurma Chronicles #1)

K aylar moved carefully among the trees, his bio-scanners skimming over the surrounding environment. Two plump mammals hung from his belt, waiting to be cooked by Kaylar into a meal as a gesture of atonement, but despite his hurry to return to the lab, he did not forget himself. Although his bio-scans from the building had not detected E302, he was seeing signs of the biotech creature’s passage through the area. The trail was cold, the creature long since returning to the deeper interior of the island and far coast, but his systems recorded the increase in measurements of E302’s tracks imprinted into the soft ground. Its growth rate was accelerating even faster now that it was out in the open with a wide food supply at hand.

It would be illogical to take risks now in light of new data. Kaylar’s vibrissae twisted restlessly around him as he focused on the convoluted path he set back toward the lab. He would not make a direct approach back and risk drawing its attention there. Heeding the potential danger, he kept his bio-scanners engaged and wide open as he made his way through the dense forest growth. Although E302 was no longer in the area, it would return. His current calculations acknowledged that there was even a sixty-eight percent probability that the surrounding density of foliage could—in certain spots—hypothetically confuse his sensors even as it provided E302 any number of places to hide.

A clicking growl erupted in his throat as he scanned the surrounding trees again. This was becoming an hindrance. He should have evacuated it into space when he first began to note its rapid growth in combination with its highly aggressive intellect, regardless of orders to contain it. This was yet another situation in which his orders proved not only to be wrong but of limited vision toward repercussions. Just like his orders to seize a human, despite the fact that it went against the intergalactic treaty of protection for sentient beings. It was not the first time Kaylar was sent to perform a service for the council that violated intergalactic law, but repercussions were piling up with this mission.

Not only were his malfunctions multiplying at an alarming rate in response to the human, but he found himself increasingly unable to force himself to carry them out. Especially not now. He processed that he was beyond corrupted but he could not find it within himself to care. He refused to compound his mistakes any further by continuing on course. Something that he should have done, and failed to do so, in regard to E302. It was for that reason they had a very real danger that had become brazen and was drawing closer to the safety of the lab.

A disgruntled snarl vibrated in his throat as he took another turn, dropping down the sheer side of the hill to land in a crouch within numerous thick fronds. Just beyond them, the laboratory’s white walls, the lower portion stained with streaks of green in patches, rose up ahead of him. His mandibles flexed as he scented the air, his vibrissae rising into the air around him.

Nothing.

Good.

With a grunt, he darted through the fronds and around the side of the building. His heavy, powerful body cut through the foliage with more sound than he liked, but within moments he was once again inside the building, his boots echoing on the flooring as he strode across it toward the food preparation area. He would cook first so that he was properly armed with food when he approached Meg. The presentation and sharing of food was a dependable method of reducing hostilities and finding peaceful resolutions among his species. He hoped the same was true among humans.

Turning toward the doors that led to the dining space the humans within the facility set aside, he paused at the hurried pace of feet running his way. Kaylar whipped around only to have a small human body suddenly thrust upon him as Meg barreled into him, her hands latching onto his forearm. Careful of the spines at his joints, he held perfectly still as he stared down at her in surprise.

“Meg? What is the cause of your distress?”

The purr in his words was entirely unintentional—a male’s pitiful attempt to ease a potential mate—but she did not appear to notice the familiarity with which he spoke to her any more this time than the other times it had slipped from him. It was a relief as usual, but at the same time he suddenly found it to be highly frustrating, and the emotional conflict within his malfunctioning systems made his emotional output of frustration significantly higher, making him want to grip her to him possessively.

It was madness! Now he understood why the council kept such close observation on the malfunctions bred in their race. What was worse was that Kaylar did not wish to go back to his previous system alignment, even though moving forward made him feel a sense of unease. He did not wish to lose the connection he felt toward Meg and how that was changing how he processed everything. He acknowledged that he was so thoroughly corrupted that everything within him rejected going through reprogramming and realignment that would keep from being terminated. He could not process how Veral lived with this, but it was far clearer as to how easy a decision it must have been for his cousin to defy the council and keep his mate.

“Thank fuck, finally! I’ve been looking all over for you,” she gasped as she fought to gain control of her breathing.

“You were looking for me?” His head cocked. He had not calculated she would possess such a desire. “Why?”

Her hand slid up fractionally on his arm, her fingertips lightly brushing the skin around the thick horn spike protruding from his elbow. A shiver reflexively moved through him and his eyes nearly slid closed at the unexpected pleasure from that unintended caress along such a sensitive spot. She blinked up at him, caught off guard by his question before her eyes narrowed on him curiously as she took in his reaction.

“Are you okay?” she demanded.

“Apologies,” he gritted out. “You brushed a sensitive area. I reacted stronger than I believed I would.”

Her eyes darted down to her hand and she quickly snatched it back, her cheeks coloring. “Oh, right. Sorry about that. But yeah, of course I was. We need to talk but you apparently disappeared from the building without saying anything.”

He dipped his chin. “I did not calculate that it would be an issue. I meant to return before you noticed—with these.”

He lifted the plump rabbits and watched as her eyes widened. They had eaten many of the ground dwelling avians since they took refuge there but this was his first time hunting down one of the burrowing mammals. It pleased him to have caught her by surprise with his offering.

“I intended to prepare them for our meal before risking an attempt to approach and begin discourse once more.”

“Oh,” she said slowly, and she blinked again at them before chancing a glance up at him. “That is really very sweet. I kind of feel like I’ve ruined the surprise you had planned now—”

“It is inconsequential, it will be my pleasure to feed you,” he rushed to assure her and her lips twisted in a quick smile despite his interruption that warmed his processors and filled his chest with satisfaction.

“But can we put that on hold just for a few minutes,” she continued. His vibrissae drooped with disappointment and she immediately brought up her hands, waving them ludicrously. "I mean I really appreciate it and totally plan on enjoying the meal you cook but we just have a teeny tiny little emergency that needs to be dealt with first.”

His eyes widened, his vibrissae snapping out around him in alarm. “What emergency? Is something amiss?”

“No, no, nothing like that,” she assured him with a small, anxious laugh. “Just—come with me.”

He peered down at her curiously but lifted his hand to be grabbed again. He refused to admit how much he enjoyed that. Perhaps she would hold his hand again? He would like that very much. She looked down at his hand in surprise and disconcertion passed through his processors. Deflated, he began to lower it, his mandibles clicking, processing that his assumption was perhaps foolish, especially after he drew her attention to how her touch in sensitive areas affected him. He should not expect her to touch him. To her he was simply her captor, one who sought to use and harm her as the unworthy human did. She would not wish to knowingly give him welcome touches.

He looked away, focusing on the direction from which she had arrived. “Show me.”

She made a soft sound in her throat, drawing his attention back down to her as she suddenly stepped forward and grasped his hand, her fingers immediately lacing with his as it drew their hands into a firm, flush hold. He stared down at their hands, a curious sense of elation filling him, before lifting his eyes to meet her gaze. The corners of her eyes crinkled faintly as she gave him a small smile. How had he not noticed before that she smiled with her eyes as well? He purred and her smile widened as she tugged him down the corridor and he followed willingly.

“I haven’t forgiven you yet, by the way, for wanting to give me away to your council,” she said softly. “But I guess I kind of get why you would have reasoned things out the way you did.”

He sighed and shook his head, his vibrissae hissing with his sudden agitation. “No. Your summation was accurate, and I failed to process it. And… I do not wish to follow their orders,” he added, a sense of dissonance filling his processors. “What they require of me… I cannot do it to you. I am a monster to many—and it does not disturb me—but I will not be one for you.”

Shame. He recognized it for what it was now—one of the few emotions besides anger that the council considered effective when applied usefully in accordance with programming. He felt that dissonance because it was the reaction he was conditioned to have toward disobedience.

“Okay,” she said slowly, her fingers squeezing his gently as she directed a fond look at him, one he had seen her wear in recent days during their interactions and had never failed to fill him with a sense of rightness. “You do know that you have a choice, right? You can choose to disobey an order if it’s wrong. Regardless of what everyone else thinks about what you do, you are the one who has to live with the decisions you make.” Her face tightened moderately as she winced. “That is something that I’m still coming to terms with. We all sacrifice so many pieces of our soul by ‘doing as we are told.’”

His mandibles clicked slowly as he considered her words and the shadows that haunted his processors that multiplied throughout his numerous missions. The concept of the soul was not unfamiliar to Argurmas, although officially it was discouraged to consider themselves in such ways. It was barely acceptable to give allegiance to the old gods except that trying to eliminate the worship had caused massive civil wars on Argurumal generations ago until laws were put into place to protect their worship. But for the individual, the concept of the soul was considered a primitive hold over from their past… but he processed what she was saying because it was something that he too had suffered from.

What if the shadows within his systems were due to damage that he had inflicted upon himself? What if that damage was started by the programming process alone? Young Argurmas did not suffer such. They were untouched by the technology that would consume and considered so necessary to their civilization. Some considered them close to the gods with their innocence, though he never gave much credence to what he considered superstitious nonsense among their far-flung common populaces. Certainly, no elite warrior would.

Or was that his programming speaking? It was difficult to recognize the difference.

He stopped walking and dragged his arm back so that she was reeled in at his side. Meg’s head tipped up as she looked up at him in surprise. “I do not wish to give you to them but I do not wish to leave you here on a dying world, either. So, I will do neither.”

A skeptical look crossed her face, and he did not fault her for being suspicious. She had no way to process the fact that he had been struggling with his malfunctions for several rotations and all that he required was the key to analyzing everything with more clarity.

“You brought clarity to what I have been struggling to process,” he explained—most inadequately in his opinion. Her brows raised and he mentally snarled. Why was it so difficult? “These… feelings… are a malfunction, and my system has become thoroughly corrupted but it does not displease me. The truth has liberated me to act as I wish to.”

“And how is that?” she breathed. “What do you want to do?”

“I wish for you to remain by my side. I wish to remain together… free among the stars. We will be hunted by the council, but we will find a way to evade them. I will keep you safe,” he promised.

Her lips curved slightly as she turned toward him, but he was wary of the hard look in her eyes as she dragged a finger from his chest down toward his abdomen.

“And I suppose for this safety, I will have to pay with…”

“Nothing,” he growled as his hand closed over hers, stilling it. “There is no debt and no payment between us. I will protect you because I wish this and trust no other to do it. I wish for nothing in payment for it. Between us there is only freedom to be and do what is right for us.”

Her expression relaxed and her smile became more pronounced. The guarded look in her eyes faded but he knew that it would not be so simple to eradicate it. He would have to repair the damage before she would fully trust him again.

“Okay,” she replied. “I think I could live with that, if that is truly what you want. It sounds really good, actually.”

He inclined his head, pleased with her agreement, and straightened once more to his full height. “Now, what was this that you wish to show me?”

She nodded briskly, her hold on his hand becoming firm once again. “Right. This way,” she said, tugging him forward with her once more to the elevator.

He entered behind her, curious as to what could have happened. Whatever it was, it had his small human agitated. She was not afraid as far as his readings determined but there was an excessive amount of nervous energy which he could visually affirm by her constant little movements at his side as the elevator descended. Whatever it was, she was not being forthcoming about it either. For some reason, she wished for him to have a visual record of the data.

It was curious. He had scanned the systems numerous times and had seen nothing within the laboratory to be concerned about. There were certain individual labs, especially at the lower levels, that had protected security access but there had been no indication of any kind of threat. No bio-signatures and no activity that he had been able to detect. It was therefore even more curious that, upon disembarking from the elevator on the same floor they had been working on all week, he saw a door standing open at the very end of the corridor that by all logic should not have been open. It was a door that had remained tightly sealed and passcode locked so that even his best manufactured viruses within his system had not been able to infiltrate the secured human tech.

And it was open.

Kaylar’s vibrissae puffed out, expanding to draw in more information as he proceeded to walk toward the room with Meg. “What happened?”

“I don’t know,” she murmured quickly. “I was looking for you and thought you might be down here salvaging for more scraps, and I just saw it open exactly like that.” She gestured wildly toward the room with her hand. “I thought maybe you got the room open or something but when I went in there—”

Her voice trailed off and he looked down at her. “Yes?”

She shook her head. “You’re just going to have to see for yourself. The room is filled with all sort of strange machines that I’ve never seen before.” She paused, her teeth tugging at her lips. “And on more thing—”

He cocked his head at her as their pace slowed just outside the doors.

She gave him a cautious smile. “How do you feel about having another human around?”

Coming to a complete stop, Kaylar turned and stared down at her. “Repeat.”

“Another human.” She winced. “Because I think that I accidentally did something that’s waking them up.”

Spinning away, Kaylar stalked quickly into the room, his hand going to his blaster at his hip. A human could be an unpredictable threat toward his Meg. He would have to analyze the situation quickly and terminate it before it had the opportunity to attack them.

The robotic arm overhead turned toward him but he hacked into it effortlessly now that he had access to the room, terminating its programming to attack him. That alone was suspicious but he headed toward the end of the room where his scans told him the bio-signature was located. Whatever this was, he would end it now.