Page 13 of True As Steel
It came surprisingly quickly. And I couldn’t have been more grateful for it. Granted, this crazy day had taxed me. However, beyond the incredibly distracting feel of this fascinating woman lying on top of me, a million painful thoughts kept racing through my mind.
Twice the snitch woke me, having detected movement near our retreat. In both cases, the camera feed only showed wild creatures roaming about their business. I had set the alarm to the lowest sound so that it wouldn’t unnecessarily awaken Tamryn. She needed the rest far more than I did, if only to recover from her injuries, but also because she didn’t benefit from the regeneration power of a Cyborg.
I slept until four in the morning, local time—an unusually long rest for me. Tamryn had stirred a few times before going right back to sleep. She had impressed me on the ship how she’d navigated around the debris, and again how she’d handled my leaving her. Most people in her situation—male and female alike—would have fallen apart. Tamryn had kept her head and started working on the escape pod. I didn’t know how she had intended to operate it, but it had been a clever plan. Seeing how she seized the distraction I provided to defeat her opponent had been even more impressive.
But what really sealed the deal had been the resilience she displayed during our long and painful ride here. Tamryn had been in pain. I could only imagine how intense it had been for her considering the great deal of discomfort I’d been experiencing myself, despite my significantly reduced sensitivity to pain. I almost stopped for a break on a few occasions. However, her determination to push through had only increased my admiration for her exponentially. It also allowed us to make a big dent in the long journey to Satos. It would take another full day and a half to reach our destination. Hopefully, we would find another semi-decent spot like this one for the night.
That said, I couldn’t deny that our conversation had shaken me far more than I’d ever want to admit. For a brief moment, I had genuinely feared she would want to part ways after my revelation. It had been reckless of me to confess. At the same time, I didn’t lie and especially didn’t want to start doing so with her. My instant trust in her was irrational, and even more so my desire to earn her respect. My confession had obviously damaged that. But however long or short our partnership would last, it would be rooted in honesty.
I sighed and wrapped a protective arm around her. I really loved the feel of her lying trustingly on top of me while she slept. I hadn’t been intimate with a female since my transformation six years ago. For the first time since, I was questioning all the choices I had made. I still didn’t regret becoming a Cyborg, but if I could turn back the clock, many things would have gone down differently. But now, I essentially had a clean slate. No allegiance or duty to anyone, a vast universe where I could start over. What did I want to do with this relative new ‘freedom’ I now possessed?
Tamryn shifted on top of me, making me realize I had subconsciously tightened my embrace around her.
Maybe I can help her? Until I figure out what’s next for me, I could help get her home…
The amount of comfort I derived from that thought took me aback. If I psychoanalyzed myself, I’d recognize my need to belong, to have a purpose, and to be needed. But why tie myself to her? Sure, she’d earned my respect and admiration, but Tamryn was clearly dedicated to this rebellion business. Now that I’d been released from my oath, did I really want to get dragged back into this political bullshit?
Don’t you want to make amends for all the wrong you did in his name?
That made me flinch inwardly. Did I owe the people of Kirs for following the orders of my ruler? I lowered my gaze to the female resting peacefully on top of me. If she asked for my assistance, I would grant it. But all these questions were pointless right now. Until we reached Satos and had a better sense of what Tamryn’s contacts could do for us—assuming they didn’t try to collect the bounties instead—everything else would be pure speculation.
Despite my desire to get an early start, I wanted to let Tamryn benefit from every minute of rest. I intended to push us hard today, and hopefully find some fresh water along the way. The sun would rise in about an hour. I would wake her then. In the meantime, I consulted again the maps of Satos stored in my neural processor to reevaluate the route I had planned.
I also took the risk of connecting to the Mainframe for any secret message Caylan might have left for me there. It was beyond a long shot, but worth checking. There was a remote possibility that, while his connection to our closed network might have been damaged, the one to the Mainframe hadn’t been. Wishful thinking of course… Sure enough, I found nothing in all the places where he might have planted an image or keyword that would have given me the necessary hint as to his situation.
The Mainframe had never been this quiet before. It almost felt eerie. But I didn’t dally, disconnecting swiftly, like every other Cyborg had done, to avoid the Emperor’s minions tracking my location.
To my pleasant surprise, Tamryn woke up a little before five. She gave me a timid smile while getting off me.
“How are you feeling?” she asked.
“Crushed,” I deadpanned.
Her jaw dropped as she stared at me. I smiled.
“Did you just make a joke?” Tamryn asked, disbelieving.
I grunted and shrugged, not knowing how to respond. It had been years since I’d attempted humor. I didn’t even know what had prompted me to do it just now.
“Let’s eat and then hit the road. We have a long way to go,” I said while rising to my feet.
Tamryn chuckled, her eyes sparkling with amusement. “Sure, if you can handle it after getting squished all night by little ole me.”
I glared at her, which only earned me a beaming smile on her part. It struck me then that she was truly a beautiful female. Even now, with her hair disheveled, and her face a little puffy from sleep, Tamryn was stunning. Before my transformation, it wouldn’t have taken me this long for it to fully register. I’d have pursued her in a heartbeat. She ticked all the boxes of attraction for me. From her strong, no-nonsense, no-drama personality to her physical abilities, and to that angelic face, with mesmerizing blue eyes, high cheekbones, a lovely bud nose, and plump lips that demanded to be devoured, Tamryn was stirring long dormant feelings inside me. I could still feel the silky caress of that long black mane of hers over my chest.
She made the old Jarog, from before the change, want to come back to the surface. I didn’t know how to handle that.
We had a quick breakfast with me finishing off the animal I’d caught and Tamryn eating one of the energy bars from the escape pod. When I asked her why not eat some of the mercenaries’ food, she wisely suggested we keep it instead for our lunch break today so we wouldn’t waste time hunting for food. We could try to catch something once we made camp later tonight.
We set off a little before 0600 hours with the rising sun still very low on the horizon. We didn’t stop before noon, Tamryn spending most of the lunch break eating standing up to stretch her legs. The second night turned out to be more comfortable than the first. I’d sent out the snitch to check out an old trading post. According to my database, it had been abandoned a few years back after the Ferein Cartel had all but been wiped out their rivals, the mercenary cartel who had run it. This sector had been annexed to their territory, although they performed all of their activities around their HQ in Tarkis—a three-hour ride from here.
Although the large building and annexed warehouse no longer contained anything of value, it provided a proper shelter, away from prying eyes, including a large couch in the staff room for us to sleep on. As a major added bonus, a still functional old replicator spared us the trouble of hunting and cooking. And the icing on top? A hygiene room complete with a particle shower provided us with much welcomed creature comfort. However, the temperature control was no longer working, and we didn’t trust the water to be drinkable.
During our respective particle showers, Tamryn and I seized the opportunity to wash our clothes. In my case, on top of my uniform, I also washed the stinky clothes I’d taken off the burly man from the trio that had sought to capture me in the desert. While I much preferred wearing my uniform, it would draw too much attention once we reached Satos. Dressed as a civilian, fewer people would notice us. In mercenary cities, people tended to mind their own business to avoid inviting too much scrutiny to themselves and their own shady dealings. Despite that, I wanted to delay our arrival until nightfall so that the darkness would further hide the branding on our faces.
With the defective AC, I remained shirtless as we settled down to eat in the breakroom. The way Tamryn discreetly stole glances at my chest pleased me far too much. Judging by the small beads of sweat pearling on her forehead, she would have loved to be able to remove her shirt as well. I almost invited her to do so but bit my tongue instead. I didn’t want her thinking I was hitting on her. And truth be told, she needed to make those calls for herself where her comfort was concerned.
I seized the opportunity of our little face-to-face during our meal to get a better sense of what we would run into tomorrow.