Shards [Book Two] Read online

  It wasn't three minutes before the door opened and Susie rushed in. She knew at one glance the episode was over, and pulled me out of my bed and into her arms, hugging me fiercely. My heart pounded in relief and I and hugged her back.

  MY SUSIE NEVER HUGGED ME

  Warm tears ran down my cheeks as the bottled up emotions of the last few days tumbled out. It was wonderful to have the physical touching again! They didn't dare before. Even though I was now about her size, I became the scared little girl of two years

  LIKE THIS. DIDN'T SHE LOVE

  ago, and let her warmth and caring engulf me. We had become like sisters, and this woman was the only family I would or could have. Now that I was a sharded Cue, it was too risky to try to integrate me into society with a family. I would have to remain with the Third until I was an adult. I had already made up my

  ME? AM I SO BAD? I'M SORRY! PLEASE!

  mind that I would stay with them even after then.

  I don't know why I thought these things, they just poured out uncontrollably, along with many other thoughts

  PLEASE ... SAY THAT I'M WORTH ... LOVING...

  and emotions and ideas. Mike! I needed to check in with him; he'd be so worried. And I'd need to get to the exercise area and do some real workouts. I wanted to find out about the two riped women, and maybe get in some hoops with the girls, oh! I needed to thank Sarah for all the help, and apologize for my, no her, behavior.

  PLEASE ... I'LL BE GOOD...

  And what about Raul? I blushed at the remembered thoughts she had had about him. This recovery was going to be harder than from the last shard. At least mentally. Physically, it would be much easier. After spending time as a computer, it took a few days to get any muscle coordination back. At least that wasn't going to

  PLEASE...

  be a problem this time. I hoped Thawell didn't disqualify me from other raids. He couldn't! I was too valuable for them, wasn't I? I'd have to make sure that...

  “Welcome back, Abby! We've missed you.” Susie's voice trembled with emotion.

  “I know. I was aware the whole time, this time. I wanted to scream when you first saw me like ... that. You looked so sad. But I couldn't do, say, or really even feel anything."

  She wiped a tear. “You were aware the whole time? How awful for you!” She shuddered. “I can't begin to imagine what it must have been like."

  I shivered as well. “I don't want to try to explain right now. By the way,” I lowered my voice to a whisper, “I am so sorry about the advances I made on you that first night. I—"

  “Don't apologize! I know it wasn't you. If anyone should apologize, I should, for losing my temper and hitting you. Believe me, I wasn't offended. If anything, I was a little flattered.” She laughed when my eyes got big. “Not for that reason, silly! I don't have erotic feelings for you or any woman. But I was flattered that even in your sharded state you came to me for support.” She winked and grinned. “Just not the support I wanted to give. I'm very much honored that even your Shards trust me."

  I nodded. “I thought about that, too. I know I had absolutely no control over her. I don't think she even knew I existed. But she saw you as her owner the moment you met us at the hanger, before you had even stepped from the crowd. I wonder...” I swayed slightly on my feet, my legs becoming wobbly. Susie grabbed me.

  “Are you okay? Here, sit on your bed. You're still getting over the effects of the shard. Take your time, girl. You and I are on leave until you're up to speed."

  I looked up. “Leave? You mean, real leave? Or just inactive duty?"

  “Real, what's the term you taught me...? Yes. Real, ‘honest-to-gosh’ leave. I figured you probably wanted to get out of here when you snapped out of it, so I wrangled a personal hov and some free time."

  “That's great! I could use a breath of fresh air! And a new dress. And while we're gone, I can drop off my gun with Dusty, I had a couple of new ideas while—"

  “Whoa! Slow down! First things first! And first is a shower.” She sniffed delicately. “We weren't too keen on letting you into the showers. Not only would you embarrass yourself and everyone else..."

  “...you felt the circumstances, meaning her being in the buff with others, would further embed the personality. That's what I figured, too.” I giggled. “I suppose I am a bit aromatic. Still, you could have arranged for some private time in the middle of the night."

  “We thought about that. But the world didn't stop for you, Abigail. It may have once, but now you're a dog just like us. We've been very busy with the two ripes you picked up on the raid. And we've staged two others in the past forty-eight hours. That cyberjerk of yours—"

  “Mike?"

  “Who else? Mike told us about the tricks you'd set up for the London diversion raid and the real Denver supply run that was attached to it. It was so well laid out that we couldn't pass it up, so we went through according to your suggested plan."

  “Really?” I asked excitedly. I had worked on this combination for several months, and had manipulated

  PLEASE

  NATech leaves, downtimes and even a high level promotion into the formula. I was glad it wasn't wasted.

  “Really. You do have the knack for understanding how people will react, Abigail. When news of a ‘botched’ raid—I love that word!—in London hit the NATech military news net, they scrambled their phase hover squadrons instantly.” Susie laughed, obviously relishing a retelling of what I already knew. “Or tried to. But with two squadrons in maintenance shifts, a third led by some idiot you'd promoted and a fourth away attending bogus ‘Attack Procedures Retraining classes', only the Denver unit was ready, and they went. If they weren't NATech trash, I'd feel sorry for them, getting hit twice in four days. We were in and out so fast, it didn't seem possible we ended up with twenty-five kilotons of supplies, weapons and ordinance.” She picked up a small bag she had dropped when entering. “We even ended up with some little amenities we're not used to.” She started scrounging in the bag.

  “Amenities?"

  “Uh-huh. Here, these are for you.” She held out a beautiful brush, a handful of hair ribbons, and a gold necklace. The necklace was very thin and had a simple cross on it. It was stunning in its simplicity.

  “How pretty! Thank you!"

  “Consider it the spoils for a job well planned. I have no idea why they were in the supplies, but there they are. Enjoy.” She and I both knew exactly why they were in the supplies. I had a feeling that someone deep inside me recognized them, too. She closed the bag and helped me to my feet. “Come on, let's get you cleaned up and fed. Then it's off to Dr. Barrett for a quick check out. And finally, leave!"

  “Yay!” I gathered my things. And walked with Susie to the showers. I never felt so wonderful, doing something so simple as walking.

  PLEASE

  I frittered away the rest of the morning getting caught up. A long, long, hot shower, followed by an equally long session with my hair and new brush. I kept it in a long pony tail most of the time. Most of the women of the day wore theirs short, but I had always liked long hair on women, so now that I was a girl, I allowed myself the luxury. I figured it would be a pain to keep care of, and it was on occasion. But I discovered early on I had the same fascination and enjoyment many women had in combing out and working with their hair, so it was only bothersome when I didn't have the time to do it properly. Today, however, I had plenty of time, so Susie and I braided it up into a single pigtail in the back, using the new ribbons.

  We made the rounds, saying hi to everyone and seeing what was going on. Susie was right; they were busy. Company B was still out, though due back in a couple of hours. The newly formed Company C was prepping for another hit, and would be leaving in about five hours. We normally had enough serviceable phase hovs for simultaneous raids, but the high activity of the past weeks had put several of them into the shop. We talked a bit, helping them load what vehicles were present with the cold weather equipment they needed. NATech operated a microsat sno
oper base down in the Antarctic; taking that station out would make surveillance from space more difficult as the microsat either overburdened the other snooper bases with their telemetry or just continued sending it to the ruined polar base. Either way, Resistance activity would become easier for at least a few weeks.

  We finished up and headed over to the rec area. Unlike the mountain base where I had been reawakened, this desert base was much larger and had separate hanger and recreation areas. I was hoping to get in some hoops, but the court was empty. I wanted to shoot a bit, but Susie had never liked the game, so I didn't push it. We had decided to grab a bite for lunch when I heard a shout behind me. It was Sarah.

  “Abby! Girl, is it good to see you!” She picked me up off the floor and crushed my ribs with a bear hug. It felt like she squeezed about five centimeters off my bust—something I could ill afford to lose. I put my arms around her and hugged her back. Little lights started popping all around in my brain before she finally put me down. I hugged her a little longer, more for support until I could breathe again. All my guts fell into a ball in my feet. She grinned her big grin, and I again thought that this wonderful, cheerful woman really needed a cigar.

  “I saw Susie take out like a shot earlier, so I asked the computer to tell us why. That little creep of yours has been driving us nuts trying to find out about you, so when the computer told Susie, he couldn't wait to tell everyone—"

  “He what?” interrupted Susie. “I can't believe him! That jerk! He knows the protocols for private messages! Knows? He's the computer for crying out loud! How can he override himself?"

  “Go easy on him, Susie,” I said. “I'm the one who made him like that. And he's not the computer, really. He's his own entity. Not alive, but real."

  “I don't know why you made him like that, Abigail. He acts just like my brother did when he was an intolerable, hormone-crazed teenager!"

  “He knows his way around the puterverse. And that same brashness is what makes him so ingenious, too. After all..."

  “Ha! Listen to you two!” Sarah laughed. “Fighting over a boy! And a holoboy at that! I guess you're fine, Abby!” She slung an arm around my shoulder. “C'mon! Let's grab a bite and you can tell me what it was like being a little pervert.” She winked at me. “You still got some things to do that you promised me.” I gasped and turned beet red. She laughed again and we marched off to the mess.

  * * * *

  “Hiya, Dusty!” I plopped my packed bag on the floor, and he jumped.

  “Why, if it isn't my little artiste!” Dusty got up from the beat up bench he was working at, genuine pleasure in his voice. “I'm glad to see you back, runt!” He gave me a fatherly hug, the kind that I imagine only daughters ever really get.

  “Thanks. I hope it's for good this time. Listen, Susie and I are off for a few days, so we're hitting the city. I have a couple of favors to ask."

  “Done and done. I don't know what the second one is, but the first is probably for the proper weapon. The girl about town must keep her fashion sense when it comes to proper clothes, lethal objects and other feminine dainties."

  “That's pretty much it.” I put a hand on my hip and flipped the other one with mock snootiness. “One simply can't have one's gun clashing with one's skirt.” We laughed. “Seriously, I do need one to carry on my person without being obvious."

  “No problem.” He pulled open a drawer and pulled out a small handgun that could be hidden in the palm of even my hand. He handed it over. “She's not much, but will do the trick. Energy enough for twenty shots if you don't overload it."

  “Overload it? You can do that?"

  “Uh-huh. To save weight and cut down size, all the sightings, indicators and safety interlocks are gone. All but this one.” He pointed to a switch. “Twist this, depress the charger, twist it again, then leave. Sixty seconds later, it explodes."

  “Nice, in a Draconian kind of way. How big a hole?"

  “Depends on what's left in the pack. Fully charged, maybe two megawatts of juice and a three-meter crater. Here's a handy ized holster you can stick straight to your skin or clothing. It polarizes here and here. As for where you put it, well, I'll avoid any lewd suggestions. Now what's the second favor?"

  “Here.” I handed him my holstered gun. “I've had a couple of thoughts about the sonic finder. As you know, I never use it, so it's pretty much a waste."

  “So you want me to remove it? It would be lighter, but the balance..."

  “No, I had another idea.” I told him what I wanted, and he was surprised. I sketched out the technical aspects, and he was intrigued. By the time I left to meet Susie at the hov, he was excited and rapidly clearing bench space to start work.

  Susie wasn't at the hov yet, but Aaron was. As I'd mentioned earlier, Aaron was one of my wingmen on missions, Sarah being the other. What I didn't mention was that I had begun to have feelings about him. Was it an attraction? An infatuation? It was more than just friendship. I wouldn't call it love, I don't think. But I felt tight in the chest when I saw him look at me, and I had been thinking about him more. And more. He had also been talking to me more.

  He was leaning against the hull when I first saw him, but he straightened when I approached. I brought my bag around to hold in both my hands. I wanted to crawl inside. It was hard to look at his eyes. His magnificent, drop-dead gorgeous deep brown eyes. He shifted his feet uncomfortably and didn't seem to know where to put his hands.

  “Hi, Abby."

  “Hi, Aaron."

  Ah, the talk of young love! I didn't know what to say, and neither did he. Part of me wanted to run into his strong arms, another part wanted to run away and hide. I agonized every time we were together like this. On a mission, we were buddies, watching the other's back and ready to kill or die for the other in an instant. As a triteam, Aaron, Sarah and I were the best, which is why we were on point.

  But during times like these, when it was just him and me, and we weren't trying to shoot our way out of a jam, it was very awkward.

  We stood facing each other for a few seconds, desperately hoping the other would say something. At least I was. Finally he cleared his throat.

  “I—I just wanted to, uh, say hi and let you know that it was great to see you back.” He paused, as though waiting for the thud as his flat statement hit the floor. I smiled, still staring at his feet. Determined or encouraged, he pushed on. “I heard you and Corporal Lendler were going into town. Ummm ... is that going to be Alexandria?"

  “No. Alexandria's too close. We're going to go to Phoenix. I'm from...” I broke off, a little embarrassed. Smart move, Abigail! Remind him about how you started out. Do you want him or not? I didn't know! I didn't even know what ‘want’ meant to me. “I'm from there,” I finished quietly.

  “Oh."

  “So, anyway, thanks for seeing us off. It was really nice of you to.” My heart was banging away so hard I was getting light-headed.

  “Um, sure. When will you be coming back?"

  “I think in five or six days. Maybe a week.” I had a thought. “Is there anything you wanted me to pick up for you?"

  “Oh, no! Thanks, though."

  “Are you sure? I wouldn't mind. I hear they sti-still have nice silver jewelry."

  “No, I don't wear jewelry.” He must have noticed the cross on my neck. “But it looks nice on you,” he added, hurriedly.

  A compliment! Ham-handed, and made to cover up a blunder. So why did it sound so incredibly wondrous coming from him? I almost fainted. Probably because I wasn't breathing right. And the hanger was very warm. I carefully looked up at him. He was looking right at me, his slow smile just beginning. He could always get me to smile with it, and this time was no exception. I couldn't help myself. I smiled back and crinkled my eyes, and we both felt a little better. He broke out of his thrall and took my bag.

  “I see Susan's coming. Here, let me stow this for you.” He put it in the storage compartment, fumbling with the door a bit, banging at it. I suppressed a giggl
e. He finished up and turned back.

  “Say, I know! Can you pick up a jar of that cactus jelly? I wouldn't mind some of that on my toast in the morning."

  “Yes! I mean, sure, I can get some for you.” Susie was taking her sweet time getting here! The hanger wasn't all that big. “I'll get some right away, so I don't forget."

  “Thank you. Well, I guess it's good-bye. Uhhh...” It appeared he didn't know whether to shake my hand, offer me a hug, or give me a kiss. He seemed to be waiting for some sort of clue from me. I couldn't help him, because I didn't have the faintest idea either.

  “Um, okay, good-bye. I'll try to, try to ... ooohh!” Susie shoved me from behind, and I stumbled into Aaron's arms. His strong, safe, warm arms. I suddenly didn't have to think anymore. My arms went up his back and I hugged him close. He brought his arms down around me, engulfing me in his tender strength. He put his gorgeous face close to mine, pressing his forehead against mine and looking down into my eyes. I couldn't catch my breath, but let myself drown in his eyes.

  “You have a fun time, Abigail,” he whispered. “I'll be thinking about you. Take care."

  “Good-bye, Aaron. I'll be thinking about you, too.” Heart racing, I quickly stood on tiptoe and kissed him, brushing his lips lightly. I then broke away and ran into the hov, my ears burning and my lips tingling. I sat in my co-pilot seat, sick in my stomach and dizzy. It took three tries to attach the harness. When I adjusted it, I stared down in near disbelief at my heaving chest. I was hyperventilating.

  The rear door closed up and Susie sat down beside me, a big grin on her face. She didn't say anything as she ran down the checklist, but she didn't stop smiling. I tried to do the standard co-pilot procedures, but after fumbling three switches in a row, Susie reached out and took my hand. It was trembling uncontrollably.

  “You've got it bad, girl.” She laughed quietly and powered up the hov. I wanted to say something back but knew I shouldn't interrupt her during taxi. That's what I told myself. The truth was I didn't know what to say. I did have it bad.