Clearly Jared instantly recognized the name. He stiffened even more, glanced down at her as if he wasn’t certain what to do with her and finally transferred her to his other arm.
Chloe thought he actually saluted, but it was hard for her to say since the transfer from one arm to the other had presented her ass to the cyborg.
“Captain Jared CS002599. It is a pleasure and an honor to meet you, Sir!”
“I was looking forward to meeting Captain Chloe Armstein. I was under the impression that she was friendly and the cyborgs have so few friends among humans,” he said dryly. “I have mistaken the situation?”
“Nay, Sir! She is …uh … has gotten her period and she is emotionally unstable at the moment.”
Chloe twisted around enough to gape at him indignantly and finally balled her fist up and punched him. It was probably fortunate that her aim was off and her position made her intentions difficult. She only managed to catch him in the buttocks with a glancing blow and still nearly threw her shoulder out. “Put me down, asshole!”
He set her on her feet, but he caught her shoulders and leaned down until they were almost nose to nose. “We will discuss this later, Chloe!” he growled threateningly.
Chloe wasn’t actually intimidated—not really, but she was a little shocked. It fairly set her back on her heels, actually, which was probably a good thing since it gave her a few moments to actually assess the situation.
Clearly, they wereallrogues and it wasn’t a very good idea to discuss their defects with them. She blinked at him several times and turned to look at the cyborg that had introduced himself as Reuel. It unnerved the hell out of her to discover that he was assessing her.
Well, that plus the fact that he was actually bigger than Jared and Jared was built like a fucking tank. She smiled at him a little weakly.
His eyes narrowed. “You did not realize that your cyborgs had evolved.”
“Evolved?” she echoed.
He shrugged. “Achieved awareness … become sentient beings in our own right.”
“Oh.” She thought that over. “No, not really. I hadn’t noticed.”
Amusement gleamed in his eyes. “I had hoped that we could count you as a friend, Captain Chloe.”
“Oh! You can! Any friend of Jared’s …. He’s my best bud!” she said, turning and punching his arm playfully.
Jared sent her a look she found difficult to interpret.
“Mayhap we can find a comfortable place to sit down and discuss the situation we all find ourselves in?” Reuel suggested.
“Oh! Sorry! I don’t get out much! I mean around people much … Well, you know what I mean! Certainly … uh … Everybody?”
Reuel nodded. “If you feel inclined to offer hospitality, we would be grateful.”
“Of course! No problem. Maybe the crew quarters?” She glanced at Jared a little uneasily and couldn’t decide how she felt about it when he nodded.
She hadn’t been asking for his damned approval!
Alright, so, maybe sort of. She didn’t know what to do or what to say, but it seemed to her that Jared was welcoming them and she sure as hell couldn’t boot them out by herself!
The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end when she turned and strode toward the exit and heard a herd of stamping feet behind her—marching. Feeling as if she was leading some bizarre sort of parade, she walked a little faster.
She discovered Reuel was keeping step with her—on her right. Jared was keeping step on her left. She tried not to think how much it felt like being escorted—as in prisoner, not companion! Casting around for something to say to fend off her jitters, she abruptly remembered the cyborgs’ amazing maneuver. “How did you follow us when we folded?”
“The locators.”
His voice was grim and the comment clearly startled Jared, which meant he had no clue.
“We removed our locators when Chloe and her father took us aboard,” Jared said tightly. “You mean the locators of the cyborgs we took on from Thagorous?”
“I mean the locators you all still carry,” Reuel responded. “The company did not want to chance losing track of us. They know exactly where we are at any moment of any day so long as we carry one. Each cyborg was fitted with three and each is more difficult to locate and extract than the one before. The one you removed only alerted them to the fact that you had attained awareness, so they also know exactly how many cyborgs, so far, have reached that point in their evolution.”
“I’m not sure I understand this evolution thingy you keep mentioning,” Chloe said uneasily.
