“I need a minute to process some things.”
“If it’s RAM you need, we brought extra from the BlazeStar. “Rebel still has some. He’s in the med…”
I glance back at him and nudge his mind.
Chaos frowns at my silent request for him to stop. “Don’t get lost in your headspace and gorogueon us. I do not want to fight you.”
The warning hits home, but I’m not upset. I know what he’s doing. And I’m grateful for the reminder of Rogue Fleet’s tendency toward independence. We have to stick together. Solcrue win when we are scattered in smaller, easier targets.
Celeste gasps. “Chaos!”
“What?” Chaos shrugs and adjusts the chain of hydramidium over his shoulders. “I’m teasing. I wouldneverwant to fight Evo. None of us do. The moment I touch him, he turns into me. AchaoticTrio of Terror against anevolutionaryTrio of Terror is a cataclysm waiting to happen. He can best any of us. I’m certain that’s why Solcrue hacked him.”
With the turmoil inside me now, Chaos would not stand a chance. But Rogues are not confrontational like Relics. We see a problem, process it, solve it. We don’t fight about it.
“I just need somespace,” I admit.
Chaos grins. “I knew there was a mote of humor in your core, my nebulous friend. Take all the time you need. But find us when you’re ready. And ping us if you require anything.”
When I glance at Jeris, he wilts and steps far out of my way.
Fracture notices me leaving the bridge, gets up, and follows me.
Fracture>>Evo: I am grateful for our Relic brothers, but sometimes they are a bit animalistic. I am looking forward to being among Rogues again.
Part of me is. Most of me isn’t. The Relics rescued me. I owe my Brothers everything, no matter their model. But I don’t know how to prevent myself from being corrupted again, except to prevent contact. With our forces close enough to help one another, they are close enough to be infected by me if I am not completely virus-free. So I am taking the opportunity to go out on patrol. I must protect them…from a distance.
Evo>>Fracture: It takes an animal to tame one. It is why they work well together.
Fracture sighs as we enter the dock hangar and rests a hand on my armored shoulder, a fingertip accidentally grazing my neck. His contact makes my synthskin crackle like broken glass. I feel it in the way it hardens, and fissures tear across the surface, rising and falling into small angular peaks and crevices. The change cascades through my insides, making me feel like a brittle humanoid held together only by will.
I do not envy Fracture’s ability. I feel fragile and on the edge of bursting.
After a sad smile, he pats my shoulder and turns toward the opening hangar doors. The sealscreens hum and shimmer pale green because Ravenger III was a Solcruean ship.
His change slowly fades from my body, and my insides begin to feel whole again.
The Rogue’sMotherBeaconsummons us home with a gentle pinging tone that comforts me. I want to give in, let her take my body and carry me into her warmth and her light and feel like I belong with her again.
But I don’t.
Each Mother signal was unique, so we knew which ship called us.Aegis 189has detected us and will snatch us up in her gravity beams if we become unresponsive. So I must willingly walk away. And it nearly breaks me.
Or it could just be residual destabilized energy from my recent fracture.
“One last time?” Fracture asks. “We can jump the gap between ships, and see our Brothers before the Relics. You must be eager to dock in one of Mother’s recuperation chambers.”
I look through the sealscreen at the nearing ship and our Rogue brothers, waiting beyond Mother’s blue shield. There are still many ship spans between us. And while I dream of such rest, I will never dock with any mothership again. It is my sacrifice to not risk infecting our host vessel and every other Brother.
“Evo.” Fracture stays with me. “You are still punishing yourself, Brother. Why?”
I do not understand his confusion. “I did not foresee the threat that proceeded to infect me. I terrorized and killed those we were built to protect because Solcrue were able to control me like…like a cyborg. Like a machine.”
All these emotions make no sense when I am clearly no more than a subpar piece of equipment.
“I do not function like a CyberTitan. I cannot call myself one. I have no place among the other Rogues.”
“Evolution...” Fracture’s pale blue white eyes swing away and back again. “I know the feeling of being trapped for years inside a body that’s betrayed you. Quris was a corrupt Creator and kept me in a frozen tomb in a cloud ofpieces. But someone else did those things to us. Accept that. Learn from it. I know you can adapt. It’s your design. And the fact that it upsets you so much proves you are more than a cyborg.”
