Netto bared his teeth at the Cyborg. "You'll be dead before you land your first blow." The plating in his back shifted, ready to expand out and attach itself to his head, to his legs, to every mechanical part of him.
Zeph laughed and tore off his shirt. But didn't move forward in challenge, instead, he moved away from him and strode to the ladder.
“We're wasting daylight. My advice? Stay here and focus. I'll check out the lot,” he said, slipping off his boots. Netto approached him, his frame towering over the other Cyborg, inhuman in his height.
‘I'm not done with you.’
To anyone who would see them, Montihan or his daughters, potential spies on the horizon, they looked as if they were having a tense conversation. No one would guess that he and Zeph were on the brink of a fight.
“For someone who is needling me to lose control, Zeph, I wonder who actually needs the time to focus.”
“Sharkman, we want the same thing. We just want a different prize. You haven't told them what you are, what we are yet, and right now the beast is about to erupt. We can't risk you changing in front of them without warning. I can't risk it because if you do, their terror will spur my beast to come out as well.” Zeph kept his voice low and looked out over the inlet.
Netto followed his gaze, feeling the turmoil ebb, as his eyes followed the water that crystallized more with each passing second as the last of the fog dissipated.
He's right. They don't know what we really are.His eyes caught the girls perched on a nearby rock with what looked like a giant oyster between them.
“Keep away from her,” Netto said. His eyes landed on Rylie, who glanced back at him at that moment. Her beautiful murky blue eyes went wide for an instant before she looked away. The thought of Zeph near her was enough to splinter his composure.
“I'll stay.” It took everything within him to relent. Even his beast couldn't argue with the part of him that truly ruled his mind...his systems.
Without a word, he turned away and heard Zeph get into the water. The Cyborg was as silent as he was deadly, and though he heard the telltale signs of his partner’s glide, he knew no one else would. He knew because he was just as quiet in the water.
“Don’t get your hopes up.”
Netto caught Montihan looking at him through his holo-screen. He took a deep breath and tried to find that control, that focus that Zeph talked about even though his auditory system zeroed in and picked up Rylie’s heartbeat.
“Sir?” he asked and sat across from him.
“She doesn't like contact. Buggy’s always been hesitant to take one step off our land.” Montihan sighed. “It's a shame but we did the best we could for our eldest. And it's hard to raise a kid so far from civilization, all you have is hope. Hope that you don't fuck’em up. We raised her on the job, learning the tech. She spent most of her time with machines and the ocean but not much else. Rylie tolerates those who live and work on the settlement but she prefers being alone. I think strangers...large groups make her anxious. Sheryl and I did our best.” He laughed, looking beyond and out into the horizon. “At least she isn't stupid. Buggy thinks with her head and not her heart. She won't follow you if you choose her.”
Netto didn't know what to say, not at first. He always had retorts running through his head but rarely ever spoke up. This time he felt comfortable opening his mouth but had no words to do so.
Rylie didn't seem strange to him. She was guarded and that was a trait he cultivated and understood. It was a strength, but as he pondered Montihan's words he did recall her tension, her shuffling, her eyes always looking everywhere but at him. He thought it had to do with his horrid appearance, but now he wasn't certain.
Far in the background, laughter rose up with Zeph's voice accompanying it. Netto all at once wished this mission had ended when it was supposed to, before yesterday's dinner, before he met the Montihan family, before he felt the ever-burning desire to protect those who didn't want his protection.
“What do you plan on doing with her?” Montihan asked.
“Nothing.” Netto wished it were honest. He wanted it to be the truth.
“I know you Cyborgs have a 'way' when it comes to something you desire. I've met a few of you in my younger years. A soldier of the first order, front lines of the space fleet, and I often flew a drone alone. I commanded. Fought behind the walls of a spaceship. I also fought by hand when I had to. A man doesn't set his feet on the ground during a space-war without the ability to do so. I've met your kind before.”
“Thank you for your service.”
“Don't thank me for shit. You may outrank most red-blooded, woman-borne men but I'm retired and you're on my land now.” He turned off his wristcon and sat forward, wariness and age slowed his movements. “Cyborgs lose control.”
Netto stiffened and narrowed his eyes at the man. He had misjudged him. Montihan knew exactly what was happening with his daughters. “I don't,” he said under his breath, and for the second time that morning, he felt challenged by another alpha male.
“My girls can take care of themselves. They're adults and I've long since given up trying to control them. I know when to lose control and when to command it. She won't follow you. I trust you to not do anything stupid.”
With that, Montihan stood up and leaned over the side, calling out to his daughters for an update.
Netto sat back and looked up at Kepler's sun. He had seen many in his life but this one was different. It was frightening in its size, appearing closer to the planet than it really was. The sound of swimming roared to the forefront of his thoughts. He already knew Rylie's movement pattern and followed her progress back to the watership.
Control. He dreaded and waited for the moment she would step over the side.
Montihan had called him out and Netto knew it should have surprised him. Men rarely engaged with a Cyborg the way he had. It was dangerous, bordering on suicidal.
