He seeded into it like he seeded into the ship and temporarily lost himself as the signal grew. A hand fell upon his arm and brought him back to reality.
Elodie squeezed his bicep. “Are you okay?”
He handed the beacon back to her. “I couldn’t connect to the network but the signal is strong now and is using me as an adapter. If anyone comes close to us, they’ll be able to pick it up. Keep it safe, because if it breaks we lose the connection.”
Elodie nodded and took a step back.
Gunner turned to face the others.
“I hear the chairs are more comfortable on the bridge. Let’s find out, shall we?”
***
“IDON’T TRUST HIM,”Chesnik said.
Elodie stood stiffly at the other end of the hallway. Gunner and some of the other men were preparing weapons by the elevator. The door kept trying to close but was stopped again and again, and the sound of it was giving her a cluster headache. Each bang was like a gong, a countdown, and it made her increasingly uneasy.
“I do,” she murmured.
“Going to the bridge is suicide. We’ve already lost men. Some of whom didn’t even make it off the elevator before they were gunned down. Their corpses came back ravaged with bullets and smoking from laser wounds. You should’ve seen them. If you had, you would know that I’m right.”
She knew why her father felt the way he did, but she made her choice and she was sticking with it.I chose to trust him.She trusted herself; she trusted her choice. Elodie shuffled back and forth on her feet.
Taking over the ship had never occurred to her until Gunner mentioned it, but the idea was sound, especially since she knew how capable he was. He knew the ship better than any one of them and not because he had lived on it or walked its hallways but because it was a machine, just like him. Machines never changed.
“Ely, you’re not listening to me. I’ve been up there with the pirate crew. I know what they’re like and what they’re packing. They have dozens of androids on their side. The only reason we’re not all dead—”
“—is because of Gunner,” she finished for him. The only reason she wasn’t standing naked in the flesh markets of Elyria right now was because of Gunner. If the pirates had never captured him she would be in far worse circumstances. Even though her dad had come for her and released her from the brig, that didn’t mean he would’ve still gotten the chance if it hadn’t been for Gunner creating a distraction.
“It’s because they can’t easily get to us, Ely,” he tried to correct. Elodie turned toward her dad, tearing her eyes off the Cyborg and the men gathered around him.
“Why do you hate him so much?”
“He fucking bargained for my daughter’s body. There’s no honor in that. Do you think he would be helping us now if you were a man? No.”
She threaded her fingers together to stop them from twitching. “You don’t know that.”
Would Gunner have still helped them? Gunner hadn’t even known she was a woman at first.We became friends through the diversions.Elodie chewed on the inside of her cheek.
“I doknow.I know because I’m a man and so were you until recently! They’re looking at you.”
She twisted away and scanned the others. Somewerelooking at her. Their gazes felt heavy on her skin but she didn’t feel afraid. In fact, it was freeing. They didn’t look at her with menace, or lust, or any other peevish expression she’d come to know from being among men her whole life. “I can take care of myself.”
Her dad sighed. “You’re breaking my old heart, boy.”
A sudden burst of anger flooded her vision and she jerked back around to face her dad. “You broke mine first!” His eyes widened and his lips thinned. “You left me first,” she accused. “Don’t tell me I’m breaking your heart. It’s unfair after all you’ve put me through.”
She could see the guilt wheedling at him. “We couldn’t both stay,” he started.
So much guilt. It made her angrier.
“You. Left. Me. All alone in there.” She pointed in the direction of the brig. “You didn’t tell me your plan, even a half-baked one. You didn’t reassure me at all. I followed you my entire life and when I needed you most, you vanished. How am I supposed to forgive you? I don’t even know where to begin.”
“I should’ve told you something but—”
“—I don’t care.”
“Boy...”
