Marcus 582: Book Three of Cyborgs: Mankind Redefined (24 page)

Kyra was so fucking right. The human mind was a very powerful thing. Inside Rachel was always going to be the woman she really was. How could he not apply that same thinking to himself? Whether people wanted him or not was just their choice. He was still the man who in his heart believed he’d done only the right things.

Marcus grunted and swore when he heard the cage door lock click quietly back into place. Smartass Eric knew him better than he knew himself sometimes. Like right now, the truth was too obvious to miss. There was no way he was going to be able to turn loose of her or leave her in the cage alone now that Rachel had remembered him.

Wanting to make her as comfortable as possible, Marcus finally laid her out in the tiny sleep space and stretched beside her to keep her warm. Good thing he’d asked the military to leave his muscles on the lean side or they would never have both fit on the metal cot meant for a solider.

He snorted at himself when he realized, instead of thinking about all the bad things, he was actually counting his blessings tonight. He could almost see Eric laughing his ass off about it in the control room.

One day Eric would find a woman too…or cull one from his herd. Then his friend would know what it was like to have your life tied up in someone else’s happiness.

***

Since he wasn’t looking at her, Kyra fixed her gaze on the ceiling as she recited the positives…again.

“Her vitals are stabilized and normal. Her speech isn’t perfect, but she can at least make the right sounds. Her memories are selective which isn’t all that unusual given the wide variety of what we’ve seen in those being restored. I think it’s great Rachel has remembered everything up to the most recent abduction. I can only conclude that when I replaced the processor, I somehow took her latest abduction data from her. Or maybe her lack of recall has something to do with the chips that were taken from her by whoever broke into her residence. You can’t expect me to have all the answers yet.”

Nero studied the brain waves crossing the screen. “Rachel seems to be using the new chips to her extreme benefit. It’s only been a few hours and she’s already moving from a Beta state to an Alpha state and back to Beta at will. Kyra, you do realize their installation along with your prototype com processor exponentially increases her intellectual capacity. She’ll not only learn faster, but she’ll also be able to apply the information in ways she would never have been able to do before her conversion.”

“You know I hate it when you start using that professorial tone with me. Just state the obvious so we can debate it fairly, Nero. I have a zillion other things requiring my attention today. I’m not doing nuance well.”

“Alright—here is the truth. You have potentially made Rachel Logan far more intelligent than she was before her conversion. Why was this action necessary? I thought we agreed that leaving every person’s intelligence level at the point where it had developed naturally was the right thing to do in restorations.”

Kyra crossed her arms and studied the floor. “We did agree on that…and it is normally what I do during a restoration. I had reasons for what I did to Rachel. For one, I needed to see if the chips were going to work before we get around to restoring Evelyn 907 who is going to need a complete cybernetic makeover. I didn’t intend to turn Rachel into a test subject, but I wanted her to have some recompense for what Brad and the new pseudo-creator took away from her. If she can’t ever sing again in her life, I wanted her to at least be as smart as she could be. Litigate me—I made the decision to give her a cybernetic advantage—I don’t regret it.”

“She just might litigate you…when she figures out what you’ve done. Rachel Logan never wanted to be a cyborg at all,” Nero declared.

“And I didn’t make her one.”

Kyra sighed over their escalating argument. They both turned to see Brad studying them closely. Had he understood the source of their debate? Did he realize he was the one initially responsible for Rachel’s cybernetic conversion?

She had gotten too complacent around Brad lately. She needed to make sure he got a complete data wipe soon in case he’d picked up something she’d rather him not have garnering from his work with her and Nero.

“Brad…report to maintenance tomorrow for a data purging.”

“Data storage analysis indicates only forty-one point seven percent has been used. Maintenance is not required at this time.”

“Do it anyway. That’s an order,” Kyra said firmly.

“Affirmative, Dr. Winters. I will report for maintenance tomorrow.”

Kyra sighed and looked at her assistant. “Nero, I’m not going to make a habit of doing these kinds of adjustments. But Rachel’s restoration has accomplished two major things for us and she seems to be thriving. She and Marcus are together. I’m letting her go home tonight. I don’t see what the problem is here.”

Nero snorted and shook his head. “I am sure it will occur to you at some point in the future, just as it always does.”

“Thanks for the lack of support,” Kyra said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

“You are still welcome for the warning about your ethics,” Nero replied, not looking up.

Kyra turned to the other bane of her existence. “Brad, let’s go check the incoming Cyber Soldiers and pick out our next patient.”

“Yes, Dr. Winters. I have their data compiled and ready,” Brad said.

Kyra stalked to the door with Brad following on her heels.

Chapter 18

“Welcome home, Rachel Logan. Good to see you again, Marcus Kells.”

Marcus was stunned at the polite greetings from the guard bot who used their given names. He laughed when Rachel looked at him in stunned disbelief. She still wasn’t speaking much, but her look definitely asked if the feminine sounding guard bot was for real. He had no idea where such a model had been obtained, but was wondering the same thing about who had coded him.

“It is customary for residents to check in when they have been gone for longer than seventy-two hours. Please place your ID hand on the scanners to complete this request. For your convenience, there are now two scanners available here.”

Rachel placed her hand down on one of the scanners. Marcus placed his on the other.

They watched the guard bot, who did not look feminine at all, check the screen and read their information. It was eerie to think a female voice could come out of such a masculine appearing machine.

“Norton Towers thanks you for your compliance with their policies. To facilitate all future visits, I have added Marcus Kells as a registered guest of Rachel Logan’s. You both may proceed through the scanner at your convenience. Have a blessed day.”

Both snorting in amazement at the bizarrely accommodating new security guard, they walked through the scanner and to the airlift together.

“Strange,” Rachel rasped.

Marcus nodded and then sighed, wishing now he’d warned her about the rest. “There’s more bizarre stuff to come I’m afraid. I haven’t seen the setup yet, but from what he told me, Eric went for military lair in designing your latest security setup.”

Outside the door of her apartment, there was a retina scanner installed on the wall. Rachel turned and gave him a disgusted look. Marcus looked away to keep from grinning when her look turned into a full out glare. No doubt about it…his original, resistant girl was back.

“It’s a one time setup—promise. Then all you have to do is look at the camera when you come home. The door will open on its own. No more digging for your key. This will actually be easier. I have a cybernetic chip in my eye. Eric said he already coded my automated entry. You don’t have those kinds of chips, so you’re going to have to let it do a retinal scan on your actual eye.”

When Rachel rolled her eyes and shrugged over technical information she obviously didn’t care about hearing, Marcus sighed. They were back to communicating with just body language which wasn’t lessening his apprehension about this new setup.

He punched in the initialization code to add her. The retina scanner popped out and he motioned for Rachel to step forward to it. He hated to be a hardass, but it couldn’t be reduced in this instance. He wanted her security to make it nearly impossible for anyone unregistered to get through her door ever again.

“Place the assessment cup over your right eye,” Marcus directed.

When Rachel reluctantly did as he asked, Marcus stepped in behind her and leaned over her back to punch in the save command on the panel. The action brought him flush against the back of her. Awareness of her hips against his sizzled through him. Some parts of his body noted it faster than others did. No matter what else he tried to think about, not a single inch ignored the contact.

“I hate this,” Rachel rasped.

Marcus hoped she was talking about the retinal scan and not about what was happening in his jeans.

“I know. Let’s get this over with so we can forget about it forever. Blink twice and then hold your eye open until you get a confirmation that you’ve been read,” he said, his words coming out as husky as hers.

By the time the process had finished, he was painfully aroused. He stepped back and away from temptation. Until this moment, he hadn’t allowed himself to dwell on how much he had missed being with her. She was still working through what had happened. One minute she was angry. One minute she was teary. Since he still had plenty of days like those himself, the last thing he planned to do was cause Rachel more grief by pressuring her to resume a relationship she might no longer even want.

Tomorrow they could talk about it…or he’d talk and tell her how he felt at least. Tonight he would practice restraint. Abstinence wasn’t a foreign concept to him. He was going to insist on staying though, even if it meant spending the night in a chair. His cybernetics ran maintenance better in that position anyway.

Finally the scan was done. Relieved, Marcus put his hands on her hips and pulled her backwards a few steps. It gave him tons of ideas, which he did his best to ignore.

“Now look up. You have to give the camera three seconds to read your gaze.”

When she did as he ordered, her door clicked open…all three pressure latches giving way at once.

To his great surprise, Rachel turned and grabbed his hand, literally tugging him along as she walked inside. She paused about three feet in and he took the opportunity to close the door behind them. The three pressure locks Eric had installed slid instantly back into place. All in all, it was a better system than letting her locks be tied to the front desk. Now someone would have to input an override on the panel to gain access.

Marcus watched Rachel’s alarmed gaze sweep over the area. He suddenly realized how hard this must be for her. Rachel had been abducted from here once and nearly killed a second time when someone had broken in.

“Maybe we need to talk about moving you. You shouldn’t stay in a place with so many bad memories. I still don’t have a job so I can walk you to work if you move a few more blocks away,” Marcus declared.

“No,” Rachel declared, her hoarseness making the word more firm. “I am not…leaving. I am…home.”

Marcus rubbed his chest. He fell a little more in love when she turned loose of his fingers and walked chin up through every room. He stayed where he was…waiting. He had no idea for what. His processor wanted data to figure it out, but it was just out of cybernetic luck.

Rachel disappeared for a few minutes and then suddenly was back. She stared across the room at him. He wondered if he looked half as nervous as he felt. Worry, desire, and a host of other confusing feelings sent his processor spinning madly as she stared at him.

It ground to a halt when Rachel pulled the shirt she wore over her head and dropped it on the floor. Her bra soon followed it.

“Come,” she ordered.

“You first...I’m a patient man…at least in bed,” Marcus joked, barely daring to breathe.

“Ha. Ha.” Rachel croaked, kicking off her shoes.

It took two seconds more to push her pants and underwear down her legs. He stared at them as she stepped free of the ugly heap of clothes. He swore as she walked to him even though nothing had ever made him happier.

“Lady, I’m trying to be noble here,” he warned.

“Stop,” Rachel ordered.

Marcus laughed at her teasing and her determination. But he was still not on solid ground yet. “Are you sure about this? You’re not really yourself…are you?”

He was afraid if he did what he wanted that he’d just inflict more damage, more hurt on her. He didn’t want their time together to ever get mixed up with what she had suffered.

“Leave…then,” she said roughly, running her hands over his shirt and pressing hard enough to feel the muscles under it.

“No. I’m never leaving. You know damn well I can’t,” Marcus declared.

Rachel chuckled. “Good,” she rasped. Laughing hurt, but it also felt good to know her humor had survived.

Marcus let out a breath slowly when she reached up and ran her fingers over his beard. She smiled when his mouth turned up in a smile as well.