“Because water is chaotic neutral.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s needed by nearly all life forms, and yet it’s a nuisance.”
“Why?”
Gunner grew suspicious. “Because water isn’t everywhere.”
“Why?”
“Enough, Socrates,” he warned, inadvertently killing off his remaining people. He lost in record time. Lily bared her teeth in excitement and started another round. He stopped playing. “Do you feel safe here?”
Her face scrunched up. “Yes. Janet and Uncle Zeph keep me safe.”
“Hmm…”
Gunner began to lift his consciousness out of the android, repairing Mr. Heartface’s coding and adding a few codes of his own to the Bin as he slowly slipped away. “Kid, if you’re ever in trouble, tell Mr. Heartface you needGunner.”
“It’s your turn!”
And then he was gone.
8
Zeph rushed to the bridge, tearing through his ship, already going through its security feed and nearby sensory systems that scoped targets outside his ship. There was one following his tail, keeping up with his current speed and pairing with his navigational systems. The crack in his coding, so abruptly, could only mean one thing.
The fucking EPED had caught up to him.
How? Impossible.
He bent over his console and readied his weapons, knowing there were only two ways out of this. Fight or fucking flight. He moved to answer the incoming call, seeding briefly into the closest ship outside his while slamming his fist down onto the table.
Gunner’s IP token flashed across his mind, along with his arrogant grin and the ridiculous gun tattoos on his cheeks.
Zeph glared at the dozens of missives that had piled up in his communications feed. He’d been ignoring them for far too long.I’m getting weak.
I already know what he’ll say. I’m a fucking criminal. A kidnapper.He was prepared for the backlash of stealing Janet but not for the fallout from taking a child as well. Kidnapping the daughters of a much-needed supplier for the EPED simply added to his crimes. The Montihans may never sell to the EPED again, and if that was the case, his last job would not only be his last ever, it would also be his most expensive. Billions were on the line. He didn’t need to listen to nor read the communications to know his head was on the chopping block.
But to hear it from fucking Gunner? The exiled jackal that every Cyborg hated? It was too much. If it weren’t for Janet and Lily, he’d fight the jackal to the death. Getting a smug morality lecture from the only Cyborg to be banned from entering the Solar system was more than he could bear.
The call from Gunner kept ringing in his mind, blasting him with sharp stabs of pain that only added to what was already trying to tear out from his flesh.
He cupped his brow with both hands and squeezed his eyes shut, willing it to go away.
It didn’t.
How did he find me?
His nails sharpened into claws and stabbed straight through to the metal barrier protecting his brain. At least he could replace one pain for another.
Zeph slammed his hands down onto the console and answered the call.
“Fuck off,” he growled, as Gunner’s face appeared before him.
“Hello darkness my old friend.”
Zeph’s claws cut into the metal ledge of his console as the moving bumps on his back threatened to tear from his spine. “How did you find me?”
