Page 1 of The Cyborg Way (Cyborgs on Mars #9)
CHAPTER ONE
S omething moved in the lichen, and Ellie’s heart skipped a beat. It was impossible. There were no living beings on Mars except the humans trying to terraform the planet.
It must have been the wind.
Except there was no wind. The usually ever-present wind that swept across the deserts of Mars had dropped as evening approached.
A trick of the light.
That explanation sounded more reasonable.
As the pale sun dipped lower in the sky, uneven shadows from the surrounding mountains slanted across the ground.
Nodding to herself, she straightened and put a hand on her aching back.
It had been another long, hard day but as she looked around at her homestead, she was filled with satisfaction.
She’d been here on Mars for almost a year, and her hard work had paid off.
One of the requirements for the homestead claim was to cover fifty percent of the ground with lichen over the first five years, and she was ahead of schedule.
She had expanded her original habitat to include a separate greenhouse dome and a third dome which housed her small but precious flock of chickens.
It was far more than she had hoped to accomplish, especially by herself, but grief and loneliness had driven her.
If only her mother were here to see the results. Even after almost two years, a wave of grief made her throat tighten, but she pushed the sorrow aside as she always did. She was fulfilling her mother’s dream, and she had to believe that that was the most important way to honor her memory.
As she stretched again, she caught another flicker of movement from the corner of her eye.
She whirled around to face the area directly, but as soon as she moved, everything went still.
Despite that, she was sure she’d seen something.
Fighting back the urge to panic, she put her hand on the holster of her gun and moved cautiously towards the base of the cliff that rose up behind her claim, hoping she looked more threatening than she felt.
She’d never fired the weapon except in practice, but L-485, the cyborg ranger in charge of her territory, had insisted that she wear it at all times. She hadn’t seen the point, but he’d looked at her with that stern grey gaze.
“Not all men can be trusted. You should be ready to defend yourself.”
“Do you really think that’s necessary?”
Growing up on an overpopulated Earth with too many unemployed and hopeless individuals, she’d always been alert to the possibility of violence, but here on a planet populated only by homesteaders, it seemed very unlikely.
“You must remember that there are very few women on Mars. You are very desirable.”
For the briefest second his gaze was no longer stern and cold, but hot and hungry.
The look vanished so quickly she wasn’t sure if she’d imagined it.
But after he dragged a promise from her to wear the gun and left, she’d found herself thinking about that hungry look.
She’d been attracted to the big cyborg ranger since the first time she’d seen him, but despite his frequent visits, he rarely showed any sign of reciprocating the attraction.
The thought of him gave her courage and, tightening her grip on the holster, she carefully approached the base of the rocks.
The lichen had been specially bred for the low oxygen levels and subzero nights of Mars.
All the homesteaders were planting fields of it to assist in breaking up the soil and to provide additional traces of oxygen to the atmosphere.
Several different types had been mixed together so the colors ranged from muted greens to oranges and golds that mirrored the native Martian soil.
The movement had come from one of the greener areas, and she stared down at it, trying to determine what had attracted her attention.
There was another slight flicker and she suddenly realized what she was seeing—a small lizard, no longer than from the tip of her middle finger to the heel of her hand perched on the patch of lichen.
Its skin was a combination of muted greens with a streak of dull orange along each of its sides, the colors mingling perfectly with the lichen on which it was resting.
As she stared at it in shock, the small head rose and two bright, dark eyes stared back at her.
It’s impossible , she thought again, blinking.
No life existed on Mars. They hadn’t even found any traces of ancient life.
Every living thing on Mars had been imported by humans.
Was it possible that this was another one of GenCon’s experiments?
GenCon was the corporation Earth Government had chosen to partner with in the development of Mars.
They appeared benevolent enough, but she and her mother had had their own unfortunate experiences with apparently benevolent organizations before.
Could they have bred the lizard to handle the environment?
“What are you doing here, little one?”
The lizard tilted its head and gave a soft chirp, as if responding to her, and she laughed, the sound surprising her. How long had it been since she laughed? Or had anybody to laugh with? Other than L-485’s visits, the only time she ever saw anyone was on her quarterly trips to town.
“Did you show up to keep me company?”
The lizard chirped again and hopped closer to her.
Unable to resist, she bent down and extended her hand.
Those big eyes looked at her hand, then up at her face, and then it hopped up on her hand.
Filled with unexpected warmth by the gesture of trust, she raised her hand very carefully to eye level.
“Hello there. My name is Ellie. I wonder what your name is?”
It tilted his head again, and the combination of the head position and the curiosity in its gaze reminded her of a boy she’d gone to school with a long time ago.
His family had been forced to move to one of the outer ring developments when he was ten and she’d never seen him again, but they had been good friends before that.
“How about Henry? Do you think you’d like being called Henry?”
Henry didn’t respond but he blinked at her a few times, then settled down on the palm of her hand, sending another little wave of warmth through her. But his easy acceptance didn’t explain how he’d come to be in her lichen field—or how he could survive on the surface of Mars.
The project to terraform Mars has progressed to the point where the atmosphere was safe for humans—and other Earth creatures—but the oxygen levels were still low enough to require supplemental oxygen from breathing masks like the one she was wearing.
Even the specially bred chickens and goats available for the settlers to purchase were kept inside oxygenated domes.
Once again, she considered the possibility that he was a GenCon experiment. It seemed unlikely given their emphasis on practical matters, but perhaps…
A sudden gust of wind interrupted her thoughts, and she shivered.
The shadows were lengthening, and it would soon be full dark.
She looked at Henry, now curled peacefully in her palm, and then down at the patch of lichen.
He must have been all right out there, but somehow the thought of returning him to the cold ground bothered her.
On the other hand, what if the oxygen-rich environment inside the habitat turned out to be a problem for him?
Maybe it would be best to leave him where she’d found him.
But when she regretfully attempted to put him down, he curled long toes around her fingers and refused to let go, not responding to her gentle nudges.
He was so small and delicate that she was afraid to use any additional force, so eventually she sighed, picked up her tools with her free hand, and made her way back to the airlock.
Keeping a careful eye on him, she closed the outer door and set the airlock to cycle.
As oxygen flowed into the space, he almost seemed to smile, his nostrils flaring and a small sack expanding beneath his chin. Since he didn’t show any sign of distress, she carried him inside.
“Welcome home, Henry.”
L-485 brought his horse Blaze to a halt high on a rocky outcropping, looking out over the plain below.
Not that Blaze was actually a horse, although the big cybernetic creature was based on the ancient Earth animal.
Blaze was a machine, just like he was a machine, but he still found himself leaning forward to pet his neck as he studied the area in front of him.
The rocky orange desert stretched out in the distance, reaching to the base of the mountains ringing the great crater.
When he’d first come here to work on the terraforming project, nothing had disturbed the huge, empty plain.
Now human workers continued those efforts and he’d become a ranger, a representative of law and order for the scattered homesteads sprinkled sparsely across the desert.
For now the signs of life were still diminished by the vast emptiness, but how long would that last?
Humans were an invasive species, and as the great terraforming project progressed, more of them would appear. He had mixed feelings about that knowledge. He had become used to being alone in the cold and dark— almost used to it.
His eyes turned, as they so often did, to the homestead nestled against the base of the outcropping.
Unlike most of the homesteaders who had chosen open areas out on the plain, Ellie had established her claim on a slight rise beneath the rock cliff, her habitat looking out over the rest of the desert and protected by the great wall of rock behind her.
I should stop and check on her. Except it hadn’t even been two weeks since his last visit.
He visited all of the settlers in his territory on a regular basis, and for most of them, that meant every month or two.
In Ellie’s case, he had difficulty preventing himself from stopping by every day.
The small, curvy woman working so hard by herself constantly occupied his thoughts.
As much as he admired her bravery and determination, he wanted to make her life easier.
To make sure she was safe and watch the myriad expressions playing across that bright, expressive face. To hold her soft body against his…
No. She was human, and he… was not. He had given up his humanity when he made the choice to become a cyborg.
Not every soldier had a choice—if their injuries were deemed terminal, the agreement they had with the military allowed the government to transform them into cyborgs.
His own injuries hadn’t been fatal, but they would have left him paralyzed from the neck down for the rest of his life.
He had chosen this path instead, knowing that in the eyes of Earth Government—and of the majority of Earth’s inhabitants—he would no longer be human.
On the whole, he hadn’t regretted the decision. He was once more strong and capable. Almost as importantly, he still had a purpose. After a lifetime in the military, he needed to feel that he was useful. It wasn’t until he met Ellie that he had actually experienced any doubts about his choice.
But then again, even if he had still been human, she was too young and pretty to have been interested in a cynical old soldier. Any relationship between them was even more impossible now. All he could do was watch over her and help out when he could. It was enough. It has to be enough.
Which meant he had three more days to go before his self-imposed two week gap between visits was up.
He patted Blaze’s neck again and directed him towards the trail back to New Arcadia, the largest—and only—town on Mars.
The horse hesitated, tossing his head in the direction of the path down to Ellie’s homestead, and an unwilling smile crossed his face.
“I want to go that way too, but not yet. Back to town.”
A metal hoof pawed at the ground, but the horse finally obeyed, setting off down the ridge as L-485 cast one last longing look back over his shoulder.