Norah’s eyed went wide as he shifted his lower half, his legs merged into one only to extend into a long, metalloid coil that he wrapped around the giant branch once over. His tongue shot out to lick the back side of his mask, and a hiss was stifled by the storm.
Stryker rose up, allowing his arms to meld into his frame. He held this fully-snake shape only long enough to spring around the scientist’s back. By the time she turned he was wholly a man again.
“Oh, God.” She scrambled away from him and took the place he had just vacated.
“I don’t lie, Norah. When I speak of trust, I speak of all that it entails.”
“Why? Why would anyone make you?” she asked, half-shocked, but it was still a punch to his heart. “Why?” she whispered again. “Don’t you think it’s cruel?”
“Possibly, but without that cruelty, I wouldn’t exist. I wouldn’t be here right now, keeping you alive,” he shot out, his tone harsher than he’d meant it to be. “They made many of us, with various strands of DNA. I was lucky to be paired with a snake, compared to some of the others,” he trailed off that line of thinking. “They made me to save human lives, to kill the Trentians, and to restore peace in the universe of my creators. That is what I am, whether I’m an abomination or not in your eyes. I’m here now, and that’s all that matters.”
Because nothing is error. And error is wrong.
He ripped open his pack and dug out a water purifier and began to set it up under a nearby trickle of rainwater.
He heard and felt the girl move up and kneel at his side. It took every ounce of his internal machinery to control himself when she placed her hand on his arm. His mind replayed her fingers caressing and cleaning her honeyed skin.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I was angered that they did that to you...not that–I’m sorry. It’s just, that I don’t even know you and I feel...,” he looked down at her, her head lowered as her fingers knit themselves together.
“Feel?” he prompted her to continue.
Her bun bounced as she jerked her head to the side, looking away from him. “I feel a lot of things right now. It doesn’t matter. All that matters right now is that we’re alive and we need a plan tostayalive.” An air of resolution came over her. “I have a plan.”
Stryker covered her hand on him and squeezed. “Tell me.”
Chapter Nine:
***
Norah had never felt more ashamed of herself, not even when she left her parents and her siblings high and dry to study the worlds beyond Earth’s borders and beyond their solar system. Her soul didn’t belong on Earth, not on a planet that had dried up its oceans and all of its natural water sources.
He just transformed into a snake. A SNAKE.Norah had never seen a metal weapon like him before. A metal creature, a monster, hiding behind a beautiful facade.
She wanted to look away but she couldn’t.
Stryker’s hand felt hot over hers, sending a bolt of warmth through her body. Her fingers twitched under his, knowing his arm, his hand was part of the silver coils and stretched skin that was his inner form.
Her feelings for him were locked in her throat, a ghost on the tip of her tongue. She didn’t believe in them herself but when she had almost died in his arms...and love had filled her as her last emotion. It had yet to dissolve in the aftermath.
Now, however, she didn’t know what to do about it. She was above the fairy tales of emotional, life-altering love. Kisses that could cure any curse, princes in shining armor, it was all a lie. Her eyes caught the glint of metal over his face.
Why does everything feel so god damned uneasy? He’s not a man.
“We don’t have much time left, right? And I figure that we’re about halfway to our destination. By foot, or at least by water and a lot of hard work, we can make it to the landing site within two, maybe three hours. But,” she looked at him. She needed to change the subject to something safe. At least for a moment to let her misgivings unwind. “We may be able to tell if the ship is still there now.” She took her hand back.
She watched as the Cyborg strained the polluted water out of the purifier and handed her the clean stuff. Norah drank it without question.
“I think I know what you’re after but I can’t sense the technology from where I am. It’s either powered off or it’s beyond my scope.”
“What else can you do?” she eyed him, waiting for him to shift again.
“A lot.”
Norah swallowed. “Can you see over a great distance? If you can climb to the top of this tree, you may be able to see if the ship is still there.” She wrapped her arms around her stomach, feeling chilled next to the heated man beside her. “That is if you’re not a target for lightning.” The intermittent flashes surrounded them.
Stryker looked up and didn’t say anything. She watched as his eyes darkened and computer code appeared over his pupils. Minutes passed before he responded, minutes where she began to count the noises around her.
“I can try. I can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to see over the other trees.”
