Rubicon by J. S. Dewes

Author:J. S. Dewes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tor Publishing Group

CHAPTER

SEVENTEEN

With a final stabbing spark of pain, the electrical charge faded from Adriene’s skin. Relief flooded her strained muscles.

// Transfer complete. //

“It’s done.”

Adriene peeled her eyes open.

West stood in front of her, and it took a second to focus on his steady gaze—half-hazel, half-flat ocular implant, and fully unreadable. Gray-flecked stubble lined his jaw, a dark bag under his single real eye. The metal augments covering his left side glinted in the blue-green glow from the screens of his nearby workstation.

Over half the monitors were lit with a flurry of activity. Adriene had no idea what any of it was, but the flashing worsened her pounding headache.

She withdrew her hand from the partly deconstructed hardsuit glove. West peeled the diodes from her temples and gathered the wiring he’d used to connect her to the glove, and thus to the console. He tossed the jury-rigged contraption aside.

Adriene closed her eyes again and her mind slid back into the flashes of data, attempting to grasp whatever fragments she could. She’d drifted in and out of consciousness a half dozen times after they fled the derelict station. While she was out, her mind had worked hard trying to piece the information together, create some kind of narrative she could understand. She still couldn’t make sense of most of what she’d seen and felt. Which was exceedingly frustrating. Like trying to recall a dream, only to have the details erode, but for ten thousand simultaneous dreams.

She slid off the stool. Her head swam, vision tilting, and she steadied herself on the edge of the counter.

West silently passed her a metal water bottle.

“Thanks…”

He turned to the console and hunched over one of the interface keyboards.

“So, it worked?” she asked. “You’ll be able to read the data?”

“I believe so, yes,” West rumbled in his low, gravelly timbre. “It seems to have been an effective method of data transfer…” He shook his head, then mumbled to himself, “If not incredibly dangerous.”

Her jaw flexed, anger directed inward.

Dangerous? Incredibly dangerous? You told me it was safe.

// I ran dozens of risk assessments before proceeding. The major’s concern is unfounded. I would not have put your life in danger. //

Okay, but what about my mind? And you promised you wouldn’t lie to me again.

// I did not lie. Informing you of what the transfer process would entail was not only superfluous but a risk in itself. It could have triggered hesitation, creating a barrier that may have impeded the speed—and safety—of the transfer. //

Adriene ground her teeth. You’re missing the point. I know you’re just trying to accomplish West’s objectives, but—

// No. That is not what I am doing. //

What?

// Nothing I do is for his sake. //

I’m pretty sure everything you do is for his sake. He created you.

// That fact is irrelevant. I am only trying to accomplish the major’s objective because that is what you want. I exist to serve you, and you alone. West, unwittingly or no, gave me that choice when he granted me sentience. //

A weight sank into her stomach and she wavered.

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