Page 2 of Her Cyborg Commander (The Drift: Haven Colony #9)

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“Does anyone have any questions before we begin?” River asked the six cyborgs who sat waiting for their turn to be scanned.

“Yeah, I do. Why do we have to do this? We’ve been tested before and they didn’t find anything.”

She recognized the voice immediately. Of course Thrash would be the one to ask that question. The cyborg had never met a requirement he didn’t want to challenge.

“It’s not the same thing. Last time, we were scanned to detect rogue code and behavior mods.” She touched her chest and looked straight at Thrash. “You know why we did that and what we learned. Three of us were involuntarily implanted with commands that made us vulnerable to outside influence.”

The words tasted bitter as she uttered them. “Vulnerable to outside influence,” was a prettier way of saying she and two of her friends had been turned into unwitting puppets under the control of their greatest enemy. The Gray Men might have been destroyed, or at least sent into hiding, but their influence over the cyborgs they’d created still held.

“And this time?” Thrash asked.

She shot him a look of mild annoyance. “I explained it two minutes ago. If you weren’t paying attention, check your data storage and replay it.”

A round of subdued laughter followed along with several jokes at Thrash’s expense.

Once she had everyone’s attention again, she continued, “This won’t take long, and I promise it will be painless. In fact, I’m going to do it first, as a sort of demonstration.”

Skye scowled at her from the other side of the room. “I thought I was doing the demo this time? You don’t have to do them all yourself.” The other cyborg sent via their internal comm channel.

“Next time it’s your turn,” she replied.

Skye’s lips quirked into a brief, sardonic smile. “ That’s only because you have to attend a council meeting this afternoon .”

River didn’t reply. Everyone knew today was her last day as a member of Haven’s leadership council. She’d already talked it through with everyone whose opinion mattered to her, and her decision was final. She’d done her duty and kept the promise she’d made what felt like a lifetime ago. It was time for her to move on to something else.

Shoving that thought aside, she focused on the task at hand. It only took a minute for her to activate the device she’d use today. Identical systems had been installed at various med-centers and communal buildings around the colony. Everyone in Haven was required to undergo the scan. It was the only way to be certain no other doppelgangers—physically perfect clones being controlled by a digitized consciousness that could be uploaded into the body—were hiding among the population.

For most of Haven’s citizens, the scan would look for any indication of cloning or the presence of a bio-matrix made up of their own genetic material that acted as a repository for the digital consciousness that piloted the body. The cyborgs would have their coding scanned, with the results compared to their previous records. Any anomalies, no matter how small, would be investigated.

They had to be sure no more infiltrators were hiding in the colony.

River sat down beside the scanner and attached the sensors with an efficiency that came from practice. They’d been at this for several days now. A few more sessions and all the cyborgs would be done. As relieved as she would be once they’d all been cleared, part of her wished she could do this every day. The repeated scans reassured her that no one had tampered with her code—that she had her free will back and couldn’t be used against her fellow cyborgs or the rest of the colony.

It would be hard to go back to the uncertainty.

When her demonstration ended, she detached the sensors and prepped the area for her next patient while Skye organized the group with a careful mix of encouragement and authority.

None of them wanted to be here. Testing like this always stirred up memories every cyborg on the planet did their best to ignore. They all had scars from their time at Reamus Research Station, some more than others, but none of them had escaped that place without a lifetime’s worth of nightmares.

By the time the last member of this group had been scanned, River’s stomach was growling. Her hope that no one noticed was blasted to moon dust when Skye cleared her throat and gave her a knowing look. “ When was the last time you ate?”

Cyborgs like them didn’t need to eat regularly, thanks to the medi-bots they all carried. The nanotech could keep them at optimal performance levels for days even without food, rest, or medical attention. That didn’t mean they could carry on without the basics of life indefinitely, though.

“ It’s been a while ,” River sent back. Now that she thought about it, she couldn’t recall the last time she’d eaten a proper meal. She had to check her data files to work out when she’d last eaten. The answer surprised her. Three days. Qarf . No wonder she was hungry. She hadn’t stopped to eat or get a decent amount of sleep since they’d discovered they’d been infiltrated by the Shadows.

Neither of them said anything else until they were alone. Less than thirty seconds after the last of the group left, Skye stood in front of her with one hand on her hip and a look that would send a gharshtu running for cover.

“You and I are going to grab lunch now. There will be carbs, and chocolate, and no claims you are too busy.”

River laughed. “Yes, ma’am.”

Skye’s expression softened, but she kept her hand planted on her hip. “Are you okay?”

It took her a moment to answer. “Sort of.” River tapped her chest and then her temple. “All of this stirred up everything again.”

“For me, too. How the fraxx are we supposed to heal and move on if those bastards won’t leave us alone?” Skye asked, her voice raw. “Haven’t they taken enough from us already?”

“Sometimes I wonder if they’ll ever stop. First, it was the corporations. Then we learned there was a faction called the Gray Men who called the shots. Now the Grays have evolved into the Shadows. Every time we think they’re gone, they come back as something worse.”

The two of them lapsed into silence for several seconds, both caught up in memories of the past. River and Skye had suffered some of the same abuses, and they’d both been used as involuntary sleeper agents.

“We’ll outlive every last one of the bastards,” Skye declared.

“And then we’ll dance on their graves,” River said.

Skye nodded sharply and gripped River’s shoulder. “Damn right we will. But first, we’re going to get something to eat. They don’t get to rob of us anything else… especially not Inet and Gali’s cooking.”

“Death first,” River agreed. “Does that mean we’re going to Earthly Delights? I love that place. Don’t tell anyone I said this, but their cheese toast is even better than the Bar None.” River’s stomach rumbled at the mention of one of her favorite comfort foods.

“Your secret is safe with me.”

Skye’s easy words settled something inside River. Her friend was right. They couldn’t live in fear all the time. If that happened, they had already lost the fight. That wasn’t how her story ended. It couldn’t be. But before she could start her new life, she had one more thing she needed to do. It was time to attend her last council meeting and hand back the responsibility she’d been given the day the others had chosen her to represent them. She’d found them a new home and a chance at a new life. Now, it was time she made a life of her own.