He could feel her breath against his arm. He inhaled deeply and Janet’s lavender scent filled his nose. Zeph brought the Bin out quietly. He commanded it to sit and it did so without hesitation while he triple checked to make sure it wouldn’t leave Lily’s side. Janet remained quiet beside him. Zeph closed the door.
“Yes. I reprogrammed it to match the standard childcare bot on the market. Didn’t you have one like it growing up?”
She shook her head. “No.”
He stepped away. “I’ll be alerted the moment she wakes.”
“What about me? Can I be alerted too? I’d like to take you out of this equation.”
Burn.He ground his teeth but cocked a lazy smile anyway. “Sure. Follow me.” Zeph didn’t wait for her as he made his way back through his ship toward his laboratory. When he reached the end of the hallway before the next turn, he looked back. Janet remained where he left her, standing motionless.
I can be patient.
Could he? Even now, the muscles along his back knotted painfully, pulling his skin inward as if the thing inside wanted him to implode. He canted his head, watching her.
Janet took a step toward him, and then another, and another before she lowered her eyes and refused to meet his. When she caught up, he led her into his mostly empty menagerie.
The glass cages ran up along the sides, with doors and computers interspersed between. In the center sat a round, slightly raised dais with a circular console and control system. He usually had several androids manning the space but since the lab was empty, except for a few alien plants, no one watched over the room.
On the far wall next to the storage facility were his trophies, each on display in a room they clearly didn’t belong in. The lab was all glass, white plastic, and metal furnishings, with scentless, completely scrubbed facilities. The trophies added a touch of cybermanity to the otherwise stark existence of the room.
He watched in silence as Janet familiarized herself with his lab, slowly making her way toward his collection. Zeph moved toward his central control system and upped the heat.
He often forgot how sensitive humans were to temperature. His own biological makeup precluded him from feeling much of anything.
“Where will you put the monster head from Kepler?” Janet asked from the other side of the room as she stood gazing at the heads mounted on the wall.
“I haven’t figured that out yet. Never imagined I’d go up against something so large. Maybe the bridge?”I can do small talk. I can do whatever you need me to.
“There’s no room in the bridge. There’s barely enough room for it on this wall, even if you were to take everything else down. Where is it now?”
“On the loading dock.”
She glanced his way. “Won’t it rot?”
“Not in the chamber it’s in.” Zeph picked up a receiver lying on the console and paired it with Bin-one. “Here, take this,” he said, closing the distance between them and moving to her side. “It’s paired to Bin-one. You’ll now be able to access it remotely and receive its updates.”
She took the receiver from him without touching his fingers. “Can I ask it stuff remotely?”
“Yes. Push your finger over the top to make a connection. The range is pretty short, only several hundred miles in space, and changes depending on the atmospheric conditions of the planet your on while using it. Although that doesn’t factor in signal corruption.”
Janet studied the small contraption, turning it over with nimble, calloused fingers. He remembered how they felt sliding across his skin. She pressed her finger to the top. “Is Lily still sleeping?”
He wanted her to care as much for him as she did for her sister.
“Yes, Mistress Janet,” said the bin’s voice softly.
“Thank you,” Janet said into the receiver before lowering it. Her lips didn’t even graze it and he already wanted it back simply because she had breathed upon it. She looked at him. “This has gone on long enough. You need to take us home.”
6
Janet inhaled and rubbed her arms. The jacket helped with the cold but it did nothing to shield her when it came to Zeph’s devastatingly handsome face. Though men had repeatedly tried to intimidate her in the past, the Cyborg was on a level all his own. Her breaths quickened in his presence, her gaze shifted in his direction, and she always wanted to step into his space and run her fingers up his chest. She also wanted to run screaming to her bed and hide under the covers.
“I can’t,” Zeph said. “At least not right now. When I planned—”
“You planned? You planned this?” she asked incredulously.
“To take you! Fuck yes I planned that. I started the day after we closed your family’s case when you started pretending I no longer existed. Who the fuck does that? So, yes, I planned that.” Zeph took a step toward her. “I wanted to shake you for being indifferent toward me. You wouldn’t even look me in the eyes. I saved yourlife, held you at night to keep you warm, and you act as though it never happened.”
