Page 10

CORINNE

Corinne finished the haircut and then trimmed his beard with a laser shaver.

Then she took a step back and nodded in satisfaction.

She’d taken a beauty course when she learned that she was going to be stationed by the Company in a distant station.

Being able to cut hair was a skill that others were happy to barter for—it was also a good way of making friends.

She’d always cut Isla’s hair and she often practiced male hair cuts on the Cyborgs .

K-lx looked much more presentable, she decided. Now she just had to replicate some sleep trousers for him…and decide where to put him for the night.

“Er…did you have a docking station. Back home, I mean?” she asked. She hadn’t seen a docking port at the back of his neck, but she still wasn’t quite sure how to recharge this kind of Unit .

He frowned.

“A what?”

“A place where you could hook up to a power source and recharge your Cybernetics and Cybertronics ,” she explained.

But K -lx shook his head.

“No, Mistress . My parts are self charging—thanks to the implant in here.” He patted his well-defined abs.

“Hmm—you must have a power source in your abdomen,” Corinne murmured.

Which was exactly what she’d read about the older units from the dawn of Cybernetics .

The Company would probably like to know exactly how that worked—it would save them hundreds of billions of credits if they didn’t have to build expensive docking stations to charge their Cyborgs .

But what if they wanted to cut K -lx open to examine him? What if they hurt or killed him? The thought gave her a cold chill. Maybe she wouldn’t mention his self-charging mechanism in any further reports to the Chairman , she decided.

Her thoughts surprised her a little. She had never felt so protective of any Unit she’d been working with before—not eve L -5. And the feelings had come very quickly. She hadn’t even known K -lx for a whole day yet.

Well, maybe it had to do with the strength of their Neural Link , which did seem to be extraordinarily strong. Also , K -lx was sentient and aware in a way that no other Cyborg she’d worked with had been. He was more human, or rather, more Kindred , she supposed.

But where was she supposed to put him for the night?

She mulled over the problem as she punched an order into the simple replicator she usually used for cups of caffeine brew and spare parts for her lab.

At first she thought about having the big K - Unit sleep on a blanket on the floor. But she didn’t like that idea. It got really cold in the station at night—it was chilly already and the temperature was going to drop more as the night went on.

She supposed she had no other choice than to let him sleep with her. Luckily she had a double bed…but it was still going to be too small for two, especially when one of them was as big as the massive Cyborg .

Corinne sighed. Maybe tomorrow she could find a spare cot somewhere. In the meantime, they would just have to make do.

“You’re sleeping with me tonight,” she told him, as she handed him the sleep trousers she’d printed for him. “ Put these on.”

“Sleeping with you?” His eyebrows shot up in apparent surprise.

“You do need to sleep, don’t you?” Corinne asked. She knew that some other Company scientists were trying to eliminate the need for sleep or physical rest in Cybernetic units. But so far, as long as there was a biological component involved, sleep seemed to be a nonnegotiable necessity.

“Yes, Mistress . I need to sleep.” He yawned hugely, as if to prove it. “ I need to eat too,” he added. “ But right now I’m more tired than hungry.”

“That’s not surprising—you had quite a day,” Corinne remarked.

“I did.” He frowned, looking troubled. “ I …killed those human men, didn’t I ? The bodies I saw on the floor when you first came for me— I did that.”

“Yes, you did.” Corinne put a hand on his broad shoulder.

Once again she was astounded—she’d never met a Cyborg who could feel regret for any of his actions.

It was one reason why mind-wiping and reconditioning were next to useless when it came to dealing with Rogue Units .

Yet it was clear from the look on his face and the emotions she felt coming through their Link that K -lx was, indeed, feeling remorse.

He shook his head.

“I didn’t mean to kill them, Mistress . I thought I was in danger and I wasn’t fully awake. I don’t think I woke up completely until you put me in the shower and made me come.”

“I understand.” Corinne cupped his cheek. “ I don’t blame you, K -lx. You weren’t brought out of Stasis the right way. It’s not surprising you reacted badly to a sudden waking and the overload of neural input.”

He frowned.

“I don’t mind killing to protect those I care for or love…but I don’t like random violence. That’s not who I am.” His brow furrowed. “ At least, I don’t think that’s who I am.”

“You’ll learn more about yourself tomorrow,” Corinne promised him. “ I’m going to run some tests on your software and find out more about your programming. It should be enlightening for both of us.”

“Will it hurt?” There was sudden vulnerability on his face, followed quickly by a frown. “ I mean, not that I care—whatever you can dish out, I can fucking take. I just like to know ahead of time.”

Corinne felt another flash of affection for him.

“No,” she said. “ No , it shouldn’t hurt.”

“Oh—all right.” He shrugged as though it didn’t matter to him, though she could tell that it did. Then he looked at the bed, which was pushed against the far wall of her room. “ So …how do you want to do this?”

“You sleep on the inside and I’ll sleep on the outside,” Corinne decided. “ I’m afraid it’s going to be a little bit cramped, though.”

“I’ll sleep on my side,” K -lx rumbled. “ I’ll take up less space that way.”

Well, he was probably right about that. He was so broad that if he slept on his back, she’d be hanging off the edge.

Corinne nodded.

“Good idea. Go ahead and get in.”

The big Cyborg climbed into her bed, which creaked alarmingly. It was a good thing its metal frame was sturdy, she thought. She waited until he turned on his side, facing the wall, and then she climbed in beside him and called,

“Lights off!”

The lights dimmed—all except the dim glow from the bathing chamber which she kept lit in case she needed to pee in the middle of the night. And then there was nothing but the sound of deep, quiet breathing.