He knew most of it already. Diatrix Greer, born offworld aboard a cargo ship to Anne Greer, a worker on the vessel. Cypher frowned. The cargo ship made deliveries back and forth from Earth to Elyria. As an Elyrian citizen, Anne Greer wasn’t subject to as many travel restrictions as an Earth-born woman was. But Diatrix, born in space and on the way to Earth, was.
Information about Anne stopped when the woman died of a strange flu ten years after Diatrix was born. Mother and daughter remained on the cargo vessel during that time.
There was no information about Diatrix’s father.
Nor was there any real information about Anne Greer’s job.
“Your mother was a ship whore,” he muttered. Anne had been a woman, hired by ship crew, to live onboard and keep the men company during long periods in space. It wasn’t wholly legal, but it didn’t matter. Everyone looked the other way.
A surge of hatred suffused Diatrix’s eyes, and he got his answer.
“Yes,” she said.
“Were you?”
Her lips twisted.
Whatever age Diatrix was, alone in space with what her mother’s profession was, things could’ve happened. Disgust filled him.
But it made no sense why Diatrix sought to take Vee.
“I would never give myself to one of those men,” Diatrix spat. “Or any man.”
Cypher released her neck again, and this time, she remained standing. “I don’t give a shit about you, what your past shaped you to be. Were you sabotaging us so you’d be the only female-led team?”
The pettiness of humans never ceased to shock him.
“Sabotaging, sure, but she wasn’t the real target, Cyborg. You were.”
Cypher snarled. “Why?”
“You’re so damned blind. How can you even call yourself a Cyborg?”
A low rumble rose from his chest as the plates in his torso expanded. Moans sounded behind him, and he knew the women he’d stunned would rise soon. He couldn’t shoot them again without killing them, and he’d rather not kill them for Vee’s sake.
What am I missing?
His mind surged, scanning everything. His eyes took in and analyzed every bit of information he had about Diatrix.
The one thing he couldn’t get an answer to was her father.
Her father.
Stiffening, he reached back into his jacket and pulled out his gun.
She smiled. “I told you that you would kill me once you realized.”
Diatrix Greer was a Trentian—a half-breed with Trentian blood coursing through her veins. Cypher’s systems went red. The image of Vee touching the virtual Trentian commander shot to the forefront of his mind, and all his rage came crashing down.
“Your kind has killed mine for so long, so hatefully, it was in my blood to risk Deadly Dearest and hurt you. Vee? I have nothing against Vee, only that she betrayed all womankind when teaming up with you.”
Cypher stumbled back as his hand shook, resisting the urge to aim and press the trigger.
Diatrix continued, unconcerned, “My mom may have been a ship whore, but it was my father she loved. They met on Elyria. He was killed before I was born, and she hid my identity. Like most of my kind, we hide amongst you. I don’t just hate men. I hate mankind. I may look like a human woman, but I’m Trentian to my bones. And you, Cyborg, are the antithesis of why my species is all but devastated.”
His kill codes raged. This wasn’t like how he felt in Terraform Zero facing the commander. This was all too real.I’m being taunted, goaded by what I was designed to kill.Sirens went off in his systems, his codes creating a stranglehold on his control.
He’d been created for one purpose, and one purpose only: the destruction of all Trentian life.
