Deadly Betrayal (9 page)

“No. She’s probably just on display for viewing pleasure.” John didn’t sound his usual calm self.

“Because, she opened her eyes.”

“Are you sure?”

Adam frowned and took a couple of steps into the room. Right now I really,
really
wanted the fully functional version of him.

My feet tried to follow him, I have no idea why because I didn’t want to go in there, but John’s strong hand on my shoulder kept me in the corridor.

All three of us stared at the head in the jar and there could be no mistaking the mouth’s movement. At least some part of Cheryl remained alive, and it said, “Kill me.”

Adam stood frozen, staring at the body and the head.

John squeezed my shoulder so hard I thought he might break my collarbone.

My mouth formed words without my brain helping. “We have to help her.”

We should probably bury her, or something.

Adam said, “I will do it. We didn’t part on good terms, but she is my mother.”

John said, “No, I’ll do it. She was my wife.”

I said, “Guys, I think we’ll get through this one better together.”

Adam ripped a sheet off the bed and covered the body. A part of my mind still worked and wondered how the whole compound didn’t stink.

“Stay here.” John gave my shoulder a final squeeze and entered the bedroom. The head watched him and I could see its mouth form the word, “Sebastian.”

It was his original name, the one he carried when married to her. The one he dropped when fleeing from her.

He pulled out one of his giant guns and changed a setting. The head mouthed, “Thank you” and then it was gone. Disintegrated.

Eve told us about killing Cheryl the
first
time we encountered her. It was a long time ago. The poor woman had existed as a head in a jar for longer than I could keep track of.

I admired John’s hands being so steady. Mine sure weren’t.

He spun around and left the room, marching past me into the corridor. Adam followed and closed the door.

John said, “Let’s get this done and get the hell out of here.”

*****

Adam took the lead again and I expected every room to hold a new horror, but we only passed two more doors on our way down the corridor.

He turned into a room on the left side and I followed. It was a vast laboratory.

John nodded to a chair. “Sit down, son.”

I averted my eyes when Adam opened the hatch in his head, revealing the charred mess he had to live with for so long.

“Does it… Do you need… uh… repairs in more places?”

“I do, but this is a priority, don’t you think?”

It wasn’t a statement, he was really asking.

“I agree.”

John came over with his hands filled with mysterious devices. “There’s a kitchen two doors down to the right. Would you mind going there to see if you can find me a drink?”

I shook my head and sat down. “Absolutely not. We’re staying together.”

He sighed. “It was worth a try.”

Adam opened a hatch in his left arm and took out a charred circuit board. The removal made his arm fall limp and he held the part out to me with his still functioning hand.

“Would you please see if you can find one of these?”

One of them probably knew exactly where they were, but looking for it gave me something to do. I suspect that was his intention.

*****

John and Adam worked for a long time. I did my best to assist, but wasn’t much help.

When they finally closed him up, Adam said, “I will attempt to rebuild my databases.”

I ran a hand over his hair. I
really
hoped this would work.

The new him was sweet and caring, just like the fully functional version, but also seemed lost. I didn’t want him to spend an eternity wondering about all the strange things that happened around him. He learned new things, but forgot them again because of corrupted circuits.

As he had put it, he balanced on the edge of an abyss, and he seemed to slide further down every day.

John said, “Best case scenario, this will take hours. We should go all the way around. Make sure nothing is sneaking up on us, and check if there’s anything we need.”

I didn’t want to leave Adam all alone in this creepy place, but I didn’t want John to wander off by himself either. As if I would be useful if he encountered actual danger.

When I didn’t move, he nodded towards the door. “Come on, Hon. The sooner he can start, the sooner we’ll know if it worked.”

He didn’t have to say anything more. The sooner Adam was back to normal, the sooner we could leave. I was relieved I wasn’t the only one eager to get out of there.

This time I followed him, but I reached out to stop him just inside the door. John lifted an eyebrow and I whispered, “Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?” He frowned and nodded as soon as the words left his mouth. There was a soft rattling, metallic creaks, and a weird hissing. In my imagination, a giant metal rat with paralyzed hind legs dragged itself over the floor, searching for innocent humans to sink its metal teeth into.

John motioned to stay behind him and I nodded. I had no intention of going anywhere else.

The corridor lay empty.

“Am I hearing things?” I whispered to be on the safe side.

“No.”

The sound grew louder, but I still couldn’t see anything. John tipped the muzzle of his gun towards the floor and reached back for me with his other arm, pushing me against the wall.

Looking down, the sight wasn’t
as
bad as Cheryl’s head, but still creepy. A metal hand pulled itself through the corridor, and the hissing came from cables dragging behind it.

It passed us and continued its arduous journey.

“That is creepy.”

John nodded. “It is. It must have been going around and around for a long time. Maybe years.”

I wanted to ask what powered it, but didn’t want to risk him picking it up and showing me. Had it passed us before, several times even, and I hadn’t noticed?

He led the way to the kitchen. It didn’t hold much food, but it had clearly been a cozy place once upon a time. I could imagine him in there. John liked to cook and he might very well have designed the food-related areas.

I slumped on a chair. John put his gun on the table and sank down next to me, resting his head in his hands.

“This must be so weird for you.”

He ran his hands over his face. “It is.”

“I kind of wish he had waited until we returned home.”

“I do too, but this way we won’t have to come back if he needs something more.”

He clearly didn’t want to check the rest of the compound any more than I did. I reached out to put my hand on his.

“I’m sorry you had to come back here.”

He gave a slight shrug.

“We were happy here, at least for a while.”

I didn’t expect him to talk about it.

Much later, I heard the soft clickety clack of the hand again. It passed the door and continued on its way, oblivious of the intruders in its world.

*****

John and I stayed in the kitchen for a many hours, and when footsteps approached I was sure it must be Cheryl or Eve come back to life to haunt us.

John lifted the gun and aimed at the door.

Both of us exhaled when we saw Adam.

He lifted an eyebrow. “You two seem jittery. Want to leave?”

I said, “Yes” and John said, “Did it work?”

“I believe so. My self-checks report no anomalies.”

“That’s fantastic.” I grinned and he returned my smile, but it didn't reach his eyes.

John got to his feet. “Let’s get out of here. This place is fucking creepy.”

The hand approached again and Adam snatched it up. It kept making the same movement in the air as it had on the floor until he found a control and turned it off.

“Last time I left this place I promised myself I’d never come back. I hope it will be true this time.”

I wouldn’t mind never returning. Two severed heads were well over my limit for one day.

I walked between them to the lift, enjoying the feeling of safety they instilled.

Adam explained, “This is the back door. There are at least two more entrances that I know of.”

I stopped. “The head.”

Both of them stared at me as if I’d sprouted extra arms.

“Shouldn’t we bring him?”

John said, “We don’t have a body. I really don’t want to search all these rooms hoping to find one.”

Adam lifted an eyebrow. “We don’t know if he’s like Eve.”

“I guess we don’t have to turn him on. It just feels weird leaving him here.”

“And you’re the one who wouldn’t even hold it.” He sounded amused, and he had a good point.

John chuckled. “We’ll wait for you if you want to go back and get it.”

I looked down the corridor. It was brightly lit and nothing had attacked us this far, but just thinking of Cheryl’s head in the jar made my skin crawl.

“I’ll get it.”

Adam took a couple of steps before my mouth agreed to move. “We can go together.”

This time his smile was real. “Stay here.”

He was good at reading people. He must know how frightened I really was.

He walked down the corridor and I expected robotic monsters to jump out and attack him, even though there weren’t any there a minute earlier. Deeming from the way John held a hand on his weapon, I wasn’t the only one.

Adam disappeared into the lab and it seemed to take forever before he became visible again, carrying the head and a bulky bag.

He still didn’t return to us; he disappeared deeper into the complex and John cursed under his breath. “Should I go after him?”

I grabbed his arm. “You are not leaving me alone. If he doesn’t return we’ll both go, but you are
not
leaving me alone.”

Adam’s voice drifted over. “Do you want another Eve?”

Had he gone crazy? “No!”

“A robotic dog?”

I closed my eyes for a moment and rubbed my forehead. John chuckled and called out, “Only if it’s really cute.”

When Adam returned, he carried a large box brimming with parts and had the android head balanced on top. “I figured why not. We’re here, and we don’t want to come back.”

My husband was himself again, and that was good news.

The bad news?

He didn’t seem interested in spending time with us. Once we reached the ship, he put his box with parts in an empty room and disappeared.

John said, “What a day.”

“Is it morning?”

“Our time, I think so. Want a drink?”

I wanted a nap, but everything that happened had been more emotional for him than for me. He deserved company.

“Sure.”

When John declared he was going to bed, I was tempted to follow him. This wasn't the time and I set out to look for Adam instead. My eyelids wanted to fall shut, but I should at least try.

I searched for some time and found him just as I was about to give up. He stood in a completely empty room far down in the ship, staring out at the stars.

“Hey handsome.”

He glanced back and a shadow of a smile flew over his face, but he didn’t respond.

I walked up to him and tucked my hands around his arm. “It’s late, or early, I don’t even know anymore, and I’m going to bed. Would you like to come keep me company?”

He shook his head ever so slightly. “Not this time. I have some things to work through. You know, being dead and all.”

I wanted to plead, but if he needed space I had to be able to respect it.

“Okay.”

This was the first time he said no to following me
anywhere
when it was within his power to do so. It made me feel like icy water flowed through my veins instead of warm blood.

I squeezed his arm. “You know where to find me if you change you mind.”

He nodded, but I could see in his eyes that he wouldn’t show up.

This, whatever it was, was too much for me to deal with at the moment. My feet brought me to the door, but stopped moving a yard or so away from it.

“Adam, do you still love me?”

It wasn’t what I intended to say.

He glanced back. “Of course I do. Go get some rest.”

My feet shuffled forward again, towards my empty room with my cold and empty bed.

*****

Just as I expected, I was still alone when I woke up.

I headed for the lounge and was relieved to find John there. He sat by a table with a pot of coffee and a stack of pancakes. I took a seat next to him, and he poured me some of the heavenly dark brew.

He said, “Seen your husband?”

I shook my head. “You?”

“No. This was hard on him.”

“On you too.”

“Yes, but you and I bounce back.
He
thinks about things forever.”

That was true. In HD video with perfect sound.

“He can’t hear us from here, can he?”

John gave a slight shrug. “I doubt it, not even if he’s right outside.”

I doubted it too, but with Adam you never knew.

“Is it just me, or is life really complicated?”

There was no need to elaborate. He knew what I meant. “It’s complicated to us, because we’re humans. It’s not complicated to them.”

He paused and sighed. “You love him, and you love me. I love you, and I love her. It’s a squiggly pattern that fits together most of the time. To them it’s a straight line. He cares about you and nothing in the world but you. The rest of us exist, but we don’t matter, not really.”

Jia’Lyn told me something similar in the past. The same thing was probably true for Anya.

“I don’t know what to do.”

John smiled. “Yes you do, you know exactly what to do. I will always be here for you, and I suspect you will be here for me. Relax and enjoy life. Live it now. Life is happening right now and you don’t want to miss it.”

He was right. And when did breakfast turn into a counseling session with
John
at the helm?

“Can I have a hug?”

“Of course.” He held me tight for a long moment. “Go on. Go find him. Snap him out of this and make his day.”

I had to laugh.

*****

My brain claimed Adam would be in one of the places John or I would visit, but my instincts said he hung out in the shuttle bay. Now when he was back to normal he’d find something technological to potter about with.

He liked to tinker, just like his father, and Shuttle Twelve reminded him of home.

I was right. I found him on his back under the flight console, picking it apart. He must have heard me coming, but didn’t acknowledge it, not even when I sat down on the floor next to him.

Was he scared too? As afraid of losing me as I was of losing him?

“What are you doing?”

He pushed himself out so he could sit up without hitting his head and showed a burned circuit board.

“Maintenance.”

How long had he been out alone in the small shuttle? It was probably a step up from the closet, but anyway.

He sighed. “Alex, I am grateful the two of you took time with me and repaired me, but if you want me to go I will leave.”

He was definitely back to himself with his old worries. The malfunctioning version was easier to handle.

I reached out to snatch the ruined component from his hand and tossed it on a chair. “No. I don’t want you to leave, and that’s not why I came down here.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “Why did you come down here?”

“Because I’m done.” Those words could be misunderstood and I made sure to keep a cheerful voice.

I clearly made no sense to him.

“Done with what?”

“I asked you to give me a couple of days to understand that you’re back and won’t vanish again. It took more than a couple of days, but I’m done now.”

Deeming from the look on his face, he still didn’t get it. I straddled his outstretched legs and draped my arms around his neck. “Done.”

My husband gave a soft sigh. “Are you sure about this?”

“Oh yes. And you know you want to.”

He still didn’t move, so I grabbed his hands and put them on my back. It made his mouth twitch into a smile.

“And you want to do this
here
?”

“Right here.”

He still didn’t move and now I was sure he was teasing me. I bent forward so far our noses almost touched. “Do you want me to leave you alone?”

“No.” At least he answered with a smile.

“So, what are you going to do?”

He pulled me close and brushed his lips over mine. Good start, but not enough.

I pressed my mouth against his and he returned the kiss, entangling his fingers in my hair.

When he broke the kiss I said, “I will need you to remove your uniform, Commander.”

“No one has called me that for a long time.”

“If you want them to, I’m sure they’ll call you that again. If you
don’t
want them to, you probably still want to get out of the uniform.”

He brushed a lock away from my face.

“I know.”

All the things that had been broken between us were clearly still broken. I sought his eyes, but they held no answers.

“Are you okay?”

I wanted to ask if
we
were okay, but I already knew the answer and I didn’t like it. My heart claimed everything should be like it used to, despite all the time that passed and everything that happened.

“I think I will be. It’s hard not to think about all this but…” He trailed off and made a small grimace.

No words were sufficient for the sympathy and loved that welled up in me, but he could probably read my feelings on my face. He was good at that.

“I need you to stand up for a second.” His smiled was forced, but it
was
a smile.

I wanted to ask why, but he said it in such a sweet way I didn’t want to argue.

Adam rose too and swept me off my feet, making me yelp with surprise. He carried me to the back of the shuttle and pressed a switch with his foot, making a bunk swing out from the wall. I expected him to sit down with me on his lap, but he put me down and took a seat on the edge.

“Let’s talk.”

What was it with the men in this family? It seemed impossible to get any action from them unless I dropped my clothes and walked around naked. With their self-control not even that might do it.

“Alright. What do you want to talk about?”

A faint smile played on his lips. “Us. The past. The future.”

Oh boy. Well, I probably had it coming.

“You start.”

He chuckled. “I knew you would say that.”

I reached for his hand and he entwined his fingers with mine, falling serious again.

“I died. You were a widow, you mourned me, you were moving on, and I barged in again. If had been myself I would have let you go.”

“I’m glad you didn’t.”

“Good. Do you still want to be my wife?”

What a strange question. “Of course I do.”

“Because one party dying cancels a pair bond in most cultures.”

“What are you saying? Don’t you want to be my husband anymore?”

He looked honestly surprised. “Of course I do.”

He still wore his ring. I had taken mine off during the long weeks of mourning on the Bell. John acquired a gold chain for me during one of his less drunk moments, and I had carried the precious bands around my neck ever since.

I pulled the chain out from under my clothes and opened the clasp so I could drop the rings in his palm.

“If you still want to be married, put them back on me.”

He looked at the glittering treasures.

“You want them back?”

“If you wish to continue your commitment to me, yes. This is your moment to decide.”

Adam smiled, slipped the rings on my finger, and kissed my hand. When he released it I wrapped my arms around him and pressed my lips against his.

This time he relaxed and allowed himself to get into it. He trailed his fingers over my shoulder, sending tingles down my spine, and when I leaned backwards, he let me pull him down.

Now
he was in a hurry, tugging at my clothes.