"No. There is no medical reason why you cannot go back now."
Tina started to move toward Re-lee, but Gianna held her arm.
"Don't girl," Gianna said. "There has to be a logical reason for this. Surely there's more to it than just holding you here."
Re-lee took a step toward her, smiling that smile of hers that was charming and almost seductive, but not. "You have to be willing to give the process a chance."
"I do not want to be here," Tina said. "I want to go home. I have responsibilities. Family. Friends."
Gianna shrugged. "Well, I'm your friend, so there's that."
"I know. But this is wrong!" Tina waved her hand and glared at Re-lee. "I want to know why you lied to me. Why did you tell me I couldn't leave?"
"It is not completely a lie. Some humanoids can get very sick from traveling through multi-dimensional portals too often. You were so sick upon arrival, until the tests were finished, we were sure you would be again."
She shook her head. "You should have told me." She took a few steps away and rubbed her temples. "This is crazy," she muttered. "I can leave at any time." She suddenly felt like Dorothy, when the good witch told her the power was with her all along.
"And I won't get sick."
"Not likely, no."
"Why are you doing this to me?" Tina asked. "Why are you making me stay here?"
"You need to give this a chance, between you and Kolvin. You two are mated. We found you, in all the stars in all the multiple dimensions of existence, to match with him. He, who has very little opportunity in his position to find someone to love and care for."
"He's a cyborg. They don't love."
"They do, but it is a different kind of love."
"He's not in love with me. He's just a cyborg who is fascinated by how I make his Craving react. He'll forget about me as soon as he's programmed to."
Which was the one side to all of this that she had to remind herself of. All he needed was a tweaking of his programming, and she'd be gone from his memory. She would mean nothing to him.
So, what happened between them didn't mean anything.
That was the shield she told herself.
That he would forget about her as soon as his programming got adjusted. Committing more than her physical attention was pointless.
"Do what you need to do to prepare for me to go back," Tina said.
"Are you sure?" Re-lee asked.
Tina nodded. "I want to go home. He won't remember me after the cybernetics reprogram him, anyway."
Gianna smacked her in the shoulder. "Girl! I am so done with your shit."
Tina glared at her. "What?"
"He is not going to forget you! None of these cyborgs are going to forget us. Now stop that right there. And if that's what you're clinging to, that they'll just be programmed to forget, you know that shit don't work. We saw50 First Dates! We know, the heart knows what it knows."
"They're not human!" Tina said.
"Sometimes, I wonder if you are," Gianna said.
* * *
The doorto the apartment opened, and Kolvin walked in.
