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“If I were them, I’d wait until the station was suitably disabled and launch an attack.” Loka’s gaze went to the door. “Without external monitors, we cannot see if any alien craft is approaching Prodigy.”

“You think an alien invasion is coming?”

“If your theory is right, and these aliens have implanted the code for that reason, they will want to complete their mission.”

“Destroy My Single Alien?” Heather grabbed Loka’s hand. “Blow up Prodigy?”

“With you out of the way, it clears the path for a new agency to take over.”

“We need to tell Diadora,” Heather said. “Actually, no, we need to find Helga. She won’t know what’s happening. She needs to get everyone off the station. The Banti and Vincole have representatives on the Council. They will put a stop to this.”

“Providing the Council isn’t in on it.”

Heather’s cheeks grew pale. “What if they are? Could they be working on the inside to destroy us? I know both the Vincole and Banti councilors voted against us having our license renewed. Diadora ranted about it for a week.”

Another thought troubled Loka. “What if the Vincole want to destroy the agency entirely? They don’t want matches to be made. They’re not looking to take over your work.”

“We know the Banti want to eat us.” Heather shuddered. “They could start trading us as a food commodity. What do the Vincole want us for if not to set up their own business?”

“I’ve heard rumors they are interested in running a bidding war. They would put human females into an auction. Sell them to the highest bidder. It’s not about making a suitable long-term match.”

Heather grimaced. “It’s all about making the most money. That would be disastrous.”

“In particular, for any human taken by a predatory alien,” Loka said.

“We have to stop this. We need to stop this code infecting any more of the station and find out if there’s a group of hostile aliens waiting to see the space station destroyed.”

Loka looked around at the experiments. They had done half of what he’d wanted, but they needed to move on. They couldn’t let the agency or the space station be destroyed. “Let’s find Helga. We’ll tell her what’s going on and stop this attack before it happens.”

Heather nodded, already moving toward the door. As she opened the door, she jumped back.

In front of her stood three members of the cyborg security team.

Chapter 11

Heather took a step back, bumping into Loka as she did so. “Erm, hi there. What brings you three to the lab?” She noticed the red glow of the cyborgs’ sensors. They must be infected by the code. They normally had a warm, friendly green glow. She missed that glow. She wanted the friendly green glow back.

These cyborgs were the big guys of the station security. They’d been designed to look like larger versions of humans. They came with reinforced titanium alloy shells. They were almost impossible to bring down. They were fast, trained in all forms of attack, and had built-in stun guns and tasers. All in all, they were hard core, metal bastards.

“Come with us.”

Heather resisted the urge to say if you want to live. If they went anywhere with these cyborgs, their chances of survival plummeted. She glanced up at Loka and saw the tension in his jaw. “Where are we going?”

“Humans are to be detained.” The cyborg to the right took a step forward.

“We are not a threat.”

“It is for your protection.”

“What are we being protected from?”

The three cyborgs remained silent.

“What is your mission?” Heather asked. In theory, a cyborg had to respond when asked this, unless the mission contained information that put lives in jeopardy if it were shared.

“To detain all humans,” said the only cyborg who had spoken.

“I am not human,” Loka grumbled. “I am free to remain here?”