The Cyborgs had gone below, carrying the supplies from their quarters to the interior lounge and kitchen. She hadn't seen them since and she appreciated having the time alone with her family, although her sense of safety felt shaken when Netto wasn't around.
“You did the right thing,” Janet mumbled under her breath as she swiped a disinfectant beam over the seating. “I'm proud of you, you know.” One of the cleaning bots trailed them, catching whatever was missed.
Rylie bit the inside of her cheek as a lump in her stomach formed. Having Janet be proud of her made her feel uncomfortable and a little guilty.
“I would never let them take my ship without me. It has nothing to do with the issues at hand,” she lied. It didn't alleviate the tension in her jaw.
“Yeah, well, I’m glad you're my older sister. When I rage everyone ignores me.” Janet shrugged. “But when you get angry, everybody pays attention.”
“Maybe you shouldn't get angry so often. It would add shock value when you do.”
Janet let out a small laugh. “I don't think that's possible. If I don't let what’s inside of me out, I end up a worse person for it. Steven says I'm a bitch, but I’m not hurting for suitors. Maybe if I was I’d try to hide it a little better.”
Rylie looked up as she tidied the tables of all of their drink cans and food wrappers. “Isn't a bitch a female canine? Is it derogatory? Who cares what Steven thinks?”
“Yeah, I'm pretty sure it is, but if that's what I am, that's what I am. It's never stopped men from approaching me so it can’t be all that bad.”
Rylie kept her mouth shut. She loved her sister like she loved the ocean, but loving someone didn't always mean you liked them. Janet was a hard person to get along with at the best of times, and it didn’t help they were so different, so at odds, that it was a miracle that they still spoke amicably. Sometimes, when Janet let her guard down and opened up to her, a different person came to light, but those moments were rare and Rylie had stopped looking for them years ago.
“Whatever floats your ship,” she said.
“Zeph wants me.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, typical man.” Janet changed the setting on the scanner and cleaned the tables now that the garbage was gone. “They're so predictable. Thought a Cyborg would at least be interesting, possibly a slight challenge, but no. If I wanted Zeph's cock I could have had it a day and a half ago. No challenge at all.”
“Isn't that your end goal?” Rylie asked, shaking her head. “What's stopping you?”
“I don't know, he seems so full of himself. I expect that from a human but from a Cyborg? He wants me. I can have him if I want. But the disappointment has made it boring for me. Netto on the other hand...” Janet fanned herself. Rylie bit down on her tongue, holding herself back from saying anything. “Hedoesn'twant me and that's intriguing. Do you think Cyborgs come in every shape, size, andorientation, or is he just playing hard to get?”
Rylie disintegrated the trash, which flared up right alongside her hope.He doesn't want her.She had to tell herself again.He doesn't want my sister. The revelation almost made her giddy and temporarily forget the dangerous circumstances they were facing.
“I don’t know...”
“Yeah, the Shark is immune to my moves. I’ve done everything short of dowsing myself in a bucket of chum and walking around naked. I even sat on his lap yesterday but he disengaged himself and moved away. I would've been embarrassed if it hadn’t made Zeph so damned mad. If I say Netto's name in front of him, it's like I shot a bullet into his heart. That guy does not handle competition well.” Janet laughed. “Not like I'm a competition at all, would happily do both of them and not make a fuss about it. But it is nice to see a man want me so bad that he's willing to bloody his friend to get some of what's between my legs.”
What does she mean ‘the Shark?’
Rylie heard the term over the past several days in reference to Netto but wasn’t able to connect the dots between the sea beast from Earth and the man. Sharks were giant predatory fish as far as she knew, and had gone extinct many years ago on the Earthian homeworld. Sharks were also selfish pricks who took over other businesses with seedy practices.
Netto didn’t seem like a corporate shark to her.
“You don't know, do you? That's what he is: a shark. Zeph told me he and Netto are different because they're part animal. Zeph is a saltwater croc and Netto, well, he's a shark. I can't believe you haven’t figured that out. I mean, look at his skin!”
Rylie put down her tools and thought back, there had been no mention about why the Cyborgs were different compared to the typical Cyborg. She remembered asking but she didn't remember an answer.
Janet pointed to her teeth. “That's why he's got those dangerously freaky incisors and that taut blue skin. Those’re traits of the shark, at least the type of shark inside him. Zeph said that all he really is a saltwater croc, with a little bit a caiman—whatever the fuck that is. He wouldn't shift into his other form for me unless I did him a favor so I haven't seen what these other forms look like, yet.”
Rylie didn't know if she believed Janet, but she had an inkling that it was the truth. Janet had never lied to her before. In fact, her sister often gave her too much information.Waytoo much information.
“You know you're better than all these men,” changing the subject and catching her sister's eyes. “You're better than every single one of them. Ma and Da and Lily love you more than the world itself, and I couldn't live without you. You're proud of me for getting angry? Well, I'm proud of you for being so damn loyal, for being trustworthy, for being the best younger sister anyone could ever have.” Rylie didn't know why she felt the urge to say this, but as the ocean drew out and expanded before them and the many isles fell away and were lost in the distance, the world didn't seem to matter anymore. Not while they were so far out. She wondered if outer space was the same way.
Janet’s face quirked up, making her look like a little girl again shooting her first bulls-eye. “I love you too.”
Rylie glanced at the door to the interior and wondered if the Cyborgs could hear them.
The sounds of her sister cleaning picked up behind her as she pictured Netto as a shark but could only see a weak Kepler fish in her mind.
