Page 25 of Logic Broken

I returned to the cave to find that Akri had made his way through several ration bars, the silver wrappers neatly folded in a little pile in front of his crossed legs. He was using the small first aid kit that was part of my supplies to patch up an oozing cut at the base of his right Liades. He had refused any assistance with it before, saying we should focus on putting distance between us and the base.

Finished smoothing the plasfilm bandage in place, his beautiful starry night sky eyes finally met mine. His Liades were drooping over his shoulders, limp and tired, and I wondered if they would still respond to me if I got close.

Picking out a single ration bar for myself, I carefully sat down on the spread blanket at his hip. Tracking the nearest Liades from the corner of my eye, waiting with bated breath to see if it would move, but it didn’t.

“Okay! Enough,” I said, a bad feeling bubbling in the pit of my stomach. “What is up with you? Why are you so withdrawn? What happened in there, Akri? Talk to me! Please?” I hated seeing him like this, so closed off and so sad.

His head tilted, chin pointing towards the back wall of the small cave. “You were right. I should never have risked another day at the mercy of Lekri to get the information I wanted. It put you at risk too, and that was the wrong choice.” I scoffed, so I had to get in on the action; that didn’t matter to me. It had been kinda fun to super spy my way down to those basement levels.

“Did you get what you needed?” I asked. Scared of the answer, because I already knew what it was going to be, I reached up to touch his Liades myself. Relieved when it curled around my hand and held on.

“I got his notes…” Akri said, breath hissing out from between his teeth. He turned his face to mine, finally letting me see the anguished expression he wore. “But… It wasn’t… There’s no…” He faltered, unable to put into words what he wanted to say. I understood. He had hoped there was an answer there to help him handle the feelings he struggled with, but there was none, just like I had known there wouldn’t be.

“There’s nothing in it to help me control my urges, to help me understand why I feel the things I feel! Why? Why is there no answer, Jenny? How do you do it?” There was shiny wetness to his beautiful eyes, tears he was refusing to let fall. The pinpricks of light that dotted the black were shifting, swirling, hinting a little at orange and yellow.

I turned, sitting on my knees so I could cup his face and hold him, refusing to let him look away. “Do you remember that moment in the lab when I tasered and pummeled that scientist?” He nodded, his mouth quirking into a faint smile.

“Don’t you think I was a little out of control then? That was violent; that was a lot of rage… Are you scared of me after seeing that?” I asked him, already knowing the answer but needing him to say it anyway, admit it to himself. He shook his head again, the smile dropping, but something eased in his expression.

“No, of course not, because you know me. Because you know that that’s not all I am and that I wouldn’t just do that without any kind of provocation. Right?” I was relieved when he nodded much more firmly that time, so I lifted one hand from his cheek to jab him in the chest. “How’s that any different from you?”

His mouth dropped open and closed again when he seemed unable to answer the question. That was okay; he probably needed to mull that one over with that clever mind of his. “Nonetheless, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell your friends what I said, okay? Good first impressions and all that... In exchange, I won’t tell them you let that scientist bonk you over the head because you forgot he was there. Deal?” I hoped that would make him smile, and it did.

“Those terms are satisfactory,” he agreed. Finally, he let me crawl into his lap, allowing me the closeness that I’d come to crave. I could see that the corners of his mouth were turned up as he kept smiling. “You’re something else, Jenny. Because of you, I won’t give up, and I won’t re-upload myself to the Vagabond. I want to stay a man.”

I shivered at the announcement; that had been an option? I understood that he was once a machine, a spaceship, something that existed in the databanks of a computer. It hadn’t crossed my mind that he might want to return to being something like that. I clutched him tightly around the middle, holding him close as if he was about to disappear right in front of me.

“Good, don’t leave me, Akri.” I wanted him to be by my side for as long as he wanted to be by mine. I wasn’t done having crazy adventures with him yet. Not when I’d let him into my heart after protecting myself for as long as I had. I wasn’t losing him, not now.

“No, I won’t. We mated, remember?” he said, sounding more like his normal self again. His arms came around me to hold me to his chest. “It’s going to be okay. I just need to find out a different way to control myself. I researched Aderian mediation; I could try that again… Or, maybe Rummicaron emotion suppression techniques.”

I hoped he wasn’t serious about that last one. I hoped he would learn that he didn’t need to find more control; he wasn’t doing all that bad at being a person of flesh and blood. I just needed to convince him to see that too. I was too tired, too frazzled right now to figure out how, so I settled for making him smile.

“Please no, what if you won’t enjoy this anymore if you do that?” I said, and before he could ask what I meant, I rose up and pressed my mouth to his. Happy when he eagerly responded, his tongue sweeping into mine and his tentacles curling around my shoulders. It didn’t take much coaxing at all the get him to lie down with me, and then clothes were being shed, and things really started to heat up. Yes, perfect. Now he wasn’t thinking, just doing. I’d remind him of all the reasons why he liked having this body.

Afterward, I fell asleep curled up against his chest, my body sated but my mind heavy with worry for tomorrow. Tomorrow didn’t arrive quite the way I would have liked. A sound jerked me from my slumber in the early morning hours. I started to move, but something clamped down over my face, a strong scent swirling up into my nose. I was just coherent enough to recognize it as a date rape drug common on Ov’Korad, something Drova sold under the table; I recognized it because I had smelled it before.

Then it was lights out for me.

Chapter 16

Akri

I woke up suddenly, my body jerking into wakefulness with my senses on high alert. Something had happened, something bad. For a disorienting moment, I had no clue what, or even where I was. It was dark, with only a faint light coming from somewhere much further away, the cave? Was that the light from the suns rising?

When I fell asleep, Jenny had been in my arms, sleeping sweetly after we’d shared sex. My body heated as I remembered that, then rapidly cooled when I realized that she was missing. There was no sign of her anywhere, and this definitely wasn’t the cave. I should have noticed it much sooner but my mind felt foggy.

I was lying on a metal floor, and when I sat up I noticed the bars lining one side of the small room I was in. Another cell. What had happened? I didn’t remember anything beyond falling asleep with my arms full of Jenny. I didn’t have any injuries either, nothing to explain this sudden loss of memory.

Getting up, I headed for the bars, trying to see what was beyond them. I didn’t like this one bit, where was my mate? Had I been the only one taken? Or had they taken her too? This was not good and the longer I was without answers, the harder it was to stay on top of the many rising feelings in my chest.

Jenny was missing; it was making me frantic. Was she hurt? Dead? What was happening to her right now? Where was I? How could I get out of here? I paced back and forth like a caged animal, locked in my own spiraling thoughts. There was no one in here with me; I saw more cells but each of them was empty.

I had nothing on me, just my boots and pants. Nothing I could use to pry open these bars or hack the electronic lock on the other side. I tried just brute strength on them but that was as stupid an idea as it was futile. Jenny needed me right now! Think damn it! How could I get out of here?

Did I have any cables left, or had they taken them all? I patted my pants, feeling along the seams and in my pockets. Yes, the one twined behind my belt, I still had that one! I rushed for the bars, already attaching the cable to my left Liades where the port was located. In moments I had it hooked up to the lock, a simple thing with no real access to any network. Didn’t matter, I could tell it to open my cell, that was a good first step.

Unhooking the cable from the lock but not my Liades, I jogged out, looking left and right to make sure I was really alone. There were bound to be cameras in here but I couldn’t see them in the dark, I had to hurry if I wanted to avoid whoever was on his way to me right now. If I wasn’t in time, I’d take them all down, I wouldn’t let a fight deter me. I had a new mission. The most important mission there was; to rescue Jenny.