Page 17 of Thruster (Hunted Relics #9)

I drop to my knees, broken, seeing Thruster attached to the bottom of the anomalous ship. They carried him into space, to a vessel beside the mothership.

I’m going to get him back. I’ve got to find a way.

Suddenly, I understand my father's obsession with everything space battle-related: the gear, the tech, the maneuvers…all of it. It was because he lost Mom, because he didn't want to lose the rest of us. Because he was pissed .

I’m not going to lose Thruster. He’s my family now.

A rustling groan makes me scan the brushy hills. A glint of sunlight on metal exposes Holo’s failing body.

I clamber up, snag a boot on a root, faceplant, and get up again. Running to Holo, I slide myself under his arm. “What the hell happened?”

“They took him, magnetic panel on a Poison Arrow.” Holo chokes and wavers. His eyes screw shut. “I’m sorry, Kelta. I cannot protect you in my condition.”

"No fucking shit," I joke. "Why don't you tell me our best options and leave the rest to me?"

He motions to a cluster of rocks. “There’s a tunnel entrance there. It will take us to an old Titan outpost, but there are welvirs.”

“I have killed two already. We will survive.”

Holo’s eyes fill with sadness as I help him limp back to the tunnel. “What is it?”

"Other than realizing we didn't destroy all the Poison Arrow ships like we thought and feeling a lot of pain everywhere, it's the fact that you have to help me. We are supposed to protect you."

"We're helping each other. That's a give and take agreement, Holo." Spotting something familiar not far out in the sand, I encourage Holo to sit on a rock. "Be right back."

I run through the soft soil into the desert and find my pack. Brushing the sand off and fixing some of the webbing, I hoist it back up onto my shoulders, then push my legs hard to get me back up the hillside to where Holo waits. “Ready?”

He clenches his jaw and lets me help him up. I’m not much of an assist compared to a Titan, but Holo makes it to his feet.

“So what is it, really?” I ask as he reluctantly hangs an arm across my shoulders. The weight on me is immense, but compared to the pain Holo’s in, I think I still have the better deal. I keep a handgun ready in my right hand, wrapping my left around his waist.

“Women should not have to endure such conditions.”

“Why?”

“Because you are—precious. You make the future possible.”

I find a flashlight in my pack and click it on as we enter the tunnel. It’s a steep, loose decline into the passageway. Holo slips and slides the rest of the way down. When I’m under his arm again, I check the tunnel for welvirs and listen. With no sounds from possible threats, I help Holo limp down the passageway.

“We’re a team,” I tell him. “And while we’re not reproducing, we can be valuable assets in other ways.”

“That’s not quite what I meant. I didn’t mean it’s your only purpose, but it is a divine one, part of your role as a Creator, not the summation of it. We just want to protect your minds, your hearts, the capacity you have to pay attention to others, to understand, to love us when we do not even love ourselves. You help us...” He lifts a wiggly hand to his forehead and taps it. “Have a future.”

I think about his words as he directs us through a network of passages and down to a heavy door.

“You haven’t met the likes of rebel men,” I mutter. “Few of them give a damn about us, let alone care what we care about.”

"I know we can be hard-headed and pretend like nothing matters, but often that's just because we can't cope on our own, so we block everything out because it's easier. And while we don't have a mother, we still love Creator Besha as if she were. Deep down, we need women in our lives, mothers and lovers. You make existence worthwhile in ways revenge can't." He unlocks the door and lets me into a small base built into the core of a mountain.

“Wow, what is this place?”

"Old mine shaft. They mined Ellipsis before they terraformed it. Cara's grandfather did that."

“That’s why she knows how to make remedies from what’s on this planet?”

“That, and she’s lived here as long as us.” Holo walks around a corner and into a room that looks like a lab and sits on a workbench. “She broke us out of Hyperion.”

Holo begins fixing himself with parts from the drawers of a cart.

“How can I help?”

Holo directs me to a few cabinets and crates in the room. I set down my pack, relieved to be free of the weight, then gather up what he asks for.

“This will take me a few hours. I think you should rest. When I’m finished, I can help you get to Thruster. But I’m in no condition to fly a ship.”

"No way am I going to be able to sleep," I tell him. "All I can think about is finding a way to get to Thruster and help him. Am I safe to wander?"

He shrugs. Holo’s face twists up as he gasps and drops the tool like he’s in immense agony.

“Fuck this. I don’t know why you want to do this alone, but let me help.” I gather up a handful of parts that he seems to prefer and set them on the steel bench.

“It’s alright, really,” he rasps.

The dejection on his face tells me he wants help but doesn't want to ask for it because he doesn't think he deserves it. "Holo, I have hand-built three ships. I've repaired Thruster. You're tired and in pain. You're important to him and are the records keeper for the Titans if what I've seen from your eyes is any indication. Let me help you. I want to."

He swallows hard. “I don’t want to take help from a female or a Brother.”

"I promise I'll be gentle. My hands are steadier than yours right now. And you cannot expect yourself to only serve. You are a sentient being who has needs, too. And as much as we like that you're so amiable, it makes your friends happy to do some things for you."

“How can that be?”

I prop his feet up with a crate. "It shows us that we're needed. We all have roles. Let others help you sometimes. It makes us happy."

He lifts a hand and stares at his shaking fingers like he doesn’t understand why his body is failing him.

I pull up a large crate, sit on it, and brace his right knee between mine. “Can I get you anything for the pain?”

He shakes his head. “Nothing left here. Only Cara has natural remedies.”

“Okay, I’ll just get you back together as quickly as is safe. Will that help?”

He gives me a nod and supports himself on the table as I begin repairs.

Holo’s dislocated his knees, ankles, wrists, and shoulders. Getting them back into place is much more difficult than with a human because I don’t know his cybernetic anatomy. I have to rely on what I can see and what he tells me he feels to find and fix all the damage.

After a couple of hours, I have Holo mostly back together, with the exception of the nanobooster he says he needs.

“Feels like dry gears. But if I move slowly, it doesn’t bother me.”

“So Titans get arthritis?” I ask.

"In a way." He thanks me and motions to a cable cart outside the room. "We'll take that to the hangar. I think we can find something down there to get you to Thruster. I can't join you in battle until I get lubricant. I'll get too hot and seize up. I need Rebel to return to full duty."

“I understand.”

He runs the controls as I climb into the cage with my pack on my shoulders again. We swing out to the center of the round shaft and drop fast. I’m stunned by the sheer number of levels we pass as we drop into the heart of the planet.

“They were trying to reach the core with this one. Didn’t make it a 100 th of the way. Ellipsis is a massive planet,” he tells me.

“Plenty of places for tunnels that keep you away from Solcrue,” I offer.

“Yes. They don’t like it down here. Neither do any of us, but…”

“You survived.”

He sighs as we set foot on the basement level. "At least this shaft is a bit warmer than the ones where Savage stayed. He chose the mountain territory like the other animalistic batch Relics and lived in the snow with Redline, who quickly overheats."

Holo flips a switch and a room lights up with suits, armor, weapons, and a handful of small fighters. “We try to leave things like this untouched and locked away so that when we need it, Solcrue haven’t had time to figure out we have it.”

“So you want to wait to fly a ship out of here until the final escape?”

He nods.

“What options do I have?”

Holo rubs a hand over his mouth and looks away. “Thruster told me to keep you safe. And I will, but I’m not going to make you mine. You are his. And you have your own mind.”

“Damn right.”

Holo inhales slowly. “So here’s what I propose.”