Bees greeted them when the hatch rose, nuzzling his legs. Vee picked the cat up and went to feed him in the lounge. Cypher watched her go, deciding not to follow her.
She touched the Xanteaus Knight.He hadn’t the courage yet to bring it up. Cypher’s hands fisted, and his knuckles cracked.
It wasn’t real.He told Vee that several times over. Why couldn’t he fully believe it himself? Especially when it came to that dreaded connection between Vee and the alien. He had the logic, the rationale, he had his mechanical side… But none of it helped when he replayed that scene in his head.
He made his way toward the bridge, shooting a comm to Nightheart.
The Cyborg answered immediately. “Let me guess—”
“I need a favor,” Cypher interrupted.
Nightheart chuckled.
“Did you watch the semi-finals?” Cypher asked.
“I had it streamed into my systems.”
“Then you saw what happened to me and Vee.”
“That you blanked out and crashed their systems? That won’t help you win.”
“No,” Cypher growled. “What happened wasn’t that…” They must’ve not aired Vee’s simulation to the crowd, only his. His anger grew. Did they hope he’d provide more entertainment than her? Not only had the producers used them, Cypher now knew they didn’t give a shit about Vee’s merits. “There were two simulations. They separated the two of us, and I had to break down the codes to join hers.”
“Hmm? Interesting.”
Cypher narrowed his eyes. “Did you know?”
“No. I have no business with Terraform Zero. Any connection I had ended when you bought Vee’s contract. What really happened?”
“I’ll send you my feed, what I was able to view.” Cypher pulled the stream from his systems, encrypted it, and fed it to Nightheart and his connection. When he finished, he dispersed the trails.
Nightheart went silent in Cypher’s head.
“Fuckers,” Nightheart finally said, his voice cold.
“I want them destroyed.”
“You also want your name and face off of the entire network. You ask for a lot of hard to deliver things,” Nightheart growled. “Is Vee okay?”
“She’s as okay as can be. She’s done…” He trailed off.
Cypher agreed wholeheartedly with her decision, but a twinge of guilt still stabbed at him anyway.
“Looking further,” Nightheart said, “it seems that the two of you still placed. Not well, but placed in a recoverable position.”
Cypher frowned. “What?”
“Your simulation—at least the simulation that was aired to the media and crowd. The one that doesn’t show you being speared by a Knight. You and Vee placed eighth. It seems some teams failed even worse with their relations to the Trentians.”
“Fuck,” Cypher muttered under his breath, collapsing into his captain’s seat. “It doesn’t matter. I want them wiped.”
“That’s not possible.”
“It isn’t?” Oh, it was possible. It just wouldn’t be pretty. Cypher knew what he was asking for.
“I’m trying to restore our names throughout the galaxy. I haven’t even begun to rebuild a reputation with the people after Zeph’s stunt last year. You were supposed to fucking help with that, but look where we’re at now! I can’t get the swine to disperse outside my building. Humans commit egregious crimes every day. One Cyborg loses control, and we’re crucified.”
Cypher had never heard so many words come from Nightheart at one time before.
