“Who is injured. Wasalmost dead.”
Ultima smiled faintly.
“What?” he asked, tiltinghis head.
“You sound almost like oneof us.”
Something flickered in his eyes. Aftera moment he looked away. “We are … abominations, are wenot?”
Anger flickered through Ultima. “Youare not!”
“We are housed in theshell of your enemy.”
“The cyborgs housed ourenemy, yes. The cyborgs were not and are not our enemy. And even ifI thought that, I still wouldn’t see any of you as myenemy.”
He moved closer. “You are certain youdo not feel hate and disgust when I touch you?”
The shift was so sudden and abrupt, itwas almost breathtaking. “I am as certain as I can be that I don’tfeel either of those things when you touch me.”
“Even though I hurtyou?”
Ultima felt her face heat. “You didn’thurt me. I moved wrong and it hurt. That’s not the same thing atall.”
He frowned, obviously struggling withthe fine point of it. “But … I caused you to move.”
She lifted a hand and cupped hischeek. “The cyborgs that tried to kill me caused the pain when Itried to … got too frisky when you kissed me.”
She could see he was trying to figurethat out.
“Desire?”
She chuckled. “Yeah. I feltthat.”
He grinned at her abruptly. “When youare better, I will make you feel more.”
Oh joy!
“That could take a littlewhile.”
He nodded. “The project will take alittle while. We cannot even attempt to leave until we havedestroyed the traitor, Eml.”
Ultima frowned. “What exactly did hedo that you guys were sent to capture him or kill him?”
His expression closed.
She thought he wouldn’t tell heranything at all, but finally he admitted that it was a revolutionthat had caused a war on their world.
She had a hard time imagining that …until he explained that there was a faction that had grown boredwith their existence and had decided that the old ones were happierbefore the transition.
She wasn’t certain she understood itbetter when he had left.
Transition suggested that there hadbeen a change.
But was that transition into the metalmonsters that had first arrived on Earth and begun to cut peopledown in the streets? Or had it been something else?
And was that anymore pertinent to themthat the cyborgs were?
* * * *
