“I don’t care how many fucking jumps it would take, damn it! Didn’t I just say calculate it?”
“This is not reasonable,” Kane growled.
Chloe turned and gave him a look. “Not reasonable? Didn’t youhearwhat I said?”
“You wish to extract Damon, a sexdroid, before his owner can return him to the company and we are three jumps from the coordinates where you last knew him to be,” Jared said.
Chloe stared at him. That was, quite possibly, the most she’d ever heard him say at one time. “So?”
“The ship is old. It would be dangerous to attempt three jumps in succession. Beyond that, the droid you refer to may not even be in the possession of the brothel where you first … utilized his services. This incident you referred to—how many years, Earth standard, since it occurred?”
“This is ahellof a time to decide to be talkative!” Chloe snapped. “Damon’s in trouble! I can’t just let them tote him off and disassemble him!”
“He is not yours,” Jared said pointedly. “This is not your decision. If he has been recalled you would not be able to purchase him from the owner even if he still had the cyborg in his possession. In all likelihood, by the time you could reach this system, he will have been turned over to the authorities and you will not be able to convince them to give him to you. I do not understand why this cyborg is important enough to you to expend so much fuel and take unnecessary risks.”
Chloe felt her face reddening. “You wouldn’t understand if I tried to explain it,” she muttered. “I’ll worry about how to get him out of this mess when I get there. I have to know what I’m dealing with, after all, before I can make plans. It’s an out-of-the-way system. They might not have heard and even if they had, the proprietor wasn’t keen on giving him up. He could still have him. Just … get the ship ready, alright? And then get into the harnesses. I don’t want you two splattering against the bulkhead when we make the jump—jumps. You’ll knock a hole in it.” Dismissing them, she returned her attention to the ship’s navigational computer. “Prepare for the first jump. When we emerge, run a thorough system’s check, recalculate the second jump—just to be sure your calculations from here aren’t off—and then take the second. Repeat that process before you take the ship through the third jump. Understood?”
“Affirmative, Captain Chloe.”
“How many hours away from the target planet will we be when you’ve taken the third jump?”
“Estimated 8:34:20 Earth standard.”
Chloe chewed her lip. “That’s getting us as close as you can with the third jump?”
“Affirmative. The third jump will place the exit from folding just beyond the last planet of the Osirus star system. I do not have the data to execute a jump within the system.”
“Fuck! Well, it’ll have to do, I guess, if it’s the best we can do! Give us fifteen minutes to lock down before you execute the first jump.”
“Count down … mark. Fifteen minutes ….”
Chloe bumped into Jared when she shot out of her seat. She would’ve ricocheted off of him and hit her seat again except that he caught her on the rebound. She gaped up at him. “What are you two standing there for? Look alive, guys! Let’s get this bucket of bolts locked down for a jump!”
“This is a dangerous undertaking. I do not understand your reasoning. I am fully capable of fulfilling your needs as a sexdroid … as is Kane. If you had only mentioned this before, I would have taken care of your needs. This is completely unnecessary.”
Chloe merely stared at him for a moment. Slowly, it dawned on her as she studied their set, angry faces that they weren’t just confused. They were … disturbed. Maybe because they felt threatened in some way? She patted Jared’s arm. “Hey! You two guys are my best buds! No way am I going to let the bad old company men get their hands on you! Don’t sweat it! I’ll leave you two on board while I head down to the planet to grab Damon.” She pulled away from him. “Now let’s get everything stowed for the jump!”
Jared glanced at Kane as she swept past them, hurrying to grab up the game board and pieces. “We will check the load in the hold,” Jared said finally.
“Good idea!” Chloe said absently, rushing around the bridge, grabbing things up at random and tossing them into the lockers. “When you’ve checked it, do a cabin check.”
“The load is secure,” Kane growled when they had left the bridge. “Why did you say that we would go and check it when weknowit is secure!”
Jared slid an irritated glance at him. “I did not want her to hear the discussion,” he retorted testily.
“What discussion? How will it help for us to discuss this? We must reason with her! I do not know why she is determined to go to this place, regardless of the danger, only to retrieve a sexdroid—particularly when we can do as well!”
“I do not understand either. I thought you might,” Jared said tightly. “What do you suppose she meant when she said that we were her ‘best buds’?”
Kane frowned. “This is slang for friendship—between two males.”
“This is what my reference says, also. But she is not a male! She is confused and believes herself to be male? Or she is confused and believes us to be female?”
“She is disturbed over this gods damned sexdroid!” Kane growled. “She is not behaving at all rationally.”
“I think I have been insulted,” Jared said after mulling it over. “If she meant companion, then I am not insulted, but if she is thinking that I have no sexual significance because she believes I am a friend, then I am definitely insulted! She cannot have meant that she cannot consider us as sexual partners because we are cyborgs, for she stated very clearly that this Damon is also a cyborg.”
“You are not more insulted than I am!” Kane snapped. “Mayhap she did not believe that we truly have been programmed as sexdroids and she thinks that she must get this other cyborg for that reason?”
