Page 16 of Leviathan

"Or I can help," she said.

The likelihood of her being in on it plummeted.

"You would?" I asked, stunned by the sudden thought of her touching more of me, all of me. I really wanted her to do that, not only because it was practical, but because I wanted more of this, of soft fingers stroking over me, caressing me.

I wanted my senses to be overwhelmed by her again.

That desire was a whole new danger all on its own.

"It would make me feel better to have something to do," she said.

"I can provide plenty of entertainment for you," I said, giving her an out. If she were in on it, she wouldn't want to help me and would take the offer to do nothing without much more of a protest. "You don't have to help me."

Oh, but I wanted her to, with a sudden desperation that was deeply inappropriate. She was my passenger, in my care. She hadn't chosen to be kidnapped from her home. It was the obligation of any sentient being to help her without hesitation. People didn't have to work to deserve help.

She let out a sigh.

"I want to help you, and besides," she said, running a finger down one of my neurofilaments. "I think it is my fault."

Her words made my heart run cold and hot at the same time.

"Why do you think that?" I asked, keeping my tone carefully even.

"This spot is the same color as the gunk on the data storage,” she said. “That and my handler tossed a vial of it on me when she realized I was going to escape."

There was the confirmation I was looking for that it hadn't come in on an earlier supply stop.

Going to get the data was a trap laid out specifically for me.

I should have known.

But even so, if I had realized, I still wouldn't have left her there. I knew from the very first moment I saw her that she needed me.

I checked my subroutine to see if it had come up with any good hiding spots yet, and found a dense asteroid field. I hadn't yet felt any vibrational charges, but it was likely they were waiting for the infection to set in before alerting me that I was being hunted. If I could hide my mass within a larger one, that would stop them from being able to track me. I changed course, heading towards the asteroid field as I ran a more detailed search to find a suitable hiding place.

"Lyrien?" Maria asked, alerting me to the fact that I had been silent.

"You didn't know I couldn't see it," I said, my tone clipped. I wasn't angry with her. She didn't know anything about me.

If she were in league with the hunter, she would never have mentioned seeing the spot in the first place.

She would have let the infection grow until my systems were impacted enough for me to notice something was wrong.

"She told me that if I told you that you wouldn't let me on board if I told you about the stuff all over me," she said. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything. I was scared you would leave me behind."

My anger was tempered with understanding. It was a deception, the same kind of deception I was doing to her, letting her believe that I was code-trained into a form of sentience. The difference between us was that she came clean. That and our enemies were the same.

"Let me help fix this," she said. "I caused this, I can fix it."

"You didn't cause this," I said, my tone softer. "But I will accept your help. It is urgent we address this quickly."

"Why?" she asked.

"If it came in with you in the amounts that you remember, then it is likely beyond my ability to fully contain right now. If the patches spread and become larger, they become trackable," I told her. "In large enough patches, they can also interfere with my systems, especially my weapons, defense, and mechanical propulsion systems. I can section off and work around them, but since I can't see or sense it until I realize that an area has gone fully numb, it can be a serious problem."

"What do you mean, trackable?" she asked, latching onto the most important part of what I said.

"We are being hunted," I told her. "You were set free so they could attempt to capture me."