The scavengers exchanged glances, clearly reassessing the situation.Their leader barked an order in a language I didn't understand, and they began a hasty retreat, dragging their wounded comrades.
"This isn't over," the last one threatened from the hatchway."That tech is valuable.We'll be back with reinforcements."
"Looking forward to disappointing you again."I called after them, brandishing my pipe.
When the last scavenger fled, the ship was half-lit, half-destroyed, and I found myself laughing breathlessly.My hands shook with leftover adrenaline, my heart pounding against my ribs.Pixel zoomed triumphantly around my head before settling back on my shoulder.
"Well done," I told it, scooping the little drone into my palm."Looks like I've got a new little buddy."
The drone spun in place, flashing a cool face in sunglasses and heart emojis in reply.I glanced at Silvyr, who had collapsed back against the wall, his systems clearly taxed by the exertion.But he was smiling faintly, an expression that transformed his alien features into something startlingly human.
"You attract trouble and loyalty in equal measure," he murmured, his voice steadier than before.The fight had actually seemed to stabilize his systems temporarily, giving his form more solidity than it had since our crash.
I grinned back, feeling the electricity humming between us just as strongly as before the interruption."Yeah," I said, stepping closer until I could see the code flowing beneath his skin, "seems to be my type."
His eyes met mine, silver irises ringed with scrolling data.The emoji drones slowly reemerged, filling the space between us with soft light and revealing emotions he couldn't, or wouldn't, express directly.
"We should leave," he said, though he made no move to create distance between us."The scavengers will return."
"Let them," I replied, reaching out to trace the edge of his damaged chest panel with my fingertips."I've got work to do first."
The drones pulsed with heart emojis as I connected my terminal once more to his arm port.This time, he didn't protest.Instead, he watched me with an expression I couldn't quite read… something between wonder and fear, as if I were both salvation and danger rolled into one.
Maybe I was.Maybe we both were.
Either way, I wasn't letting him power down.Not now.Not ever.
CHAPTER4
SILVYR
Iwatched as she moved through the wreckage like it was a treasure map only she could read.My internal systems flickered and dimmed with each of her movements, power conservation protocols fighting against the need to track her every step.The control tower creaked around us, a dead beast whose bones we picked clean, while beyond its shattered windows, the sprawling Vorthar scrapyard stretched like the graveyard of gods.I sat motionless in the corner, cables pooled around me like spilled entrails, my body half-powered and humming with quiet dissonance.
"Jackpot!"Tanya's voice echoed against the metal walls, her hands deep in the guts of a terminal panel."This circuit array isn't completely fried.Just mostly fried."
My lip components twitched upward without command.An involuntary response.Her comparisons always activated something in my emotional subroutines that bypassed logical processing.Alarming.Fascinating.
The tower swayed with a gust of artificial wind.The environmental systems still functioned in patches across the scrapyard, creating unpredictable pockets of atmosphere.Wind.Gravity.Temperature.All shifted like ghosts haunting the ruins.Below us, broken ships jutted from the landscape like the bones of prehistoric beasts.
"You're quiet again."Tanya glanced over her shoulder, grease smeared across her forehead like war paint."Your emoji drones are all over the place."
I looked around at the little bots, betraying emotions I couldn't suppress.The diagnostic subroutines flashed warnings in my peripheral vision: [EMOTIONAL OVERFLOW.FIREWALL COMPROMISED.STABILITY AT 78%.]
"I am processing," I said, my voice crackling with static.
"Processing what?The existential dread of being surrounded by your tech corpses?Or trying to calculate how many rare components I've found in the last hour?"She tossed a handful of parts into her collection bag, the metal bits clinking together like wind chimes.
"Both."I didn't elaborate.Couldn't.My silence was a survival protocol, developed through years of hiding from those who would dismantle me for study or control.Plus, I was still deciding if she could possibly be my fated mate.I'd originally come to her to save her from Asset P, but I'd felt a heat in my circuits unlike anything I'd experienced before.I had to protect her.
Tanya abandoned her scavenging and crossed to my corner, dust swirling in her wake.She crouched before me, her knees cracking in a way that made my repair protocols twitch with sympathetic diagnostics.She smelled of engine oil, sweat, and the artificial sweetness from the energy drinks she'd been binging for however long she'd been in that hotel room.
"I've been digging through wreckage and making jokes about space necromancy with wrenches for three hours," she said, no longer smiling.Her eyes… hazel-green, sharp, calculating, pinned me to the spot."Meanwhile, you're sitting there with the facial expression of a man watching his own funeral.Talk to me, Silvyr.What's going on in there?"
The pressure of her gaze triggered involuntary data release.My protection protocols scrambled but failed to contain the words that spilled from me.
"You were specifically targeted."My voice modulated between synthetic tones and more natural cadences as my systems struggled to maintain control."The entity that has been corrupting the IDA… He's seeking out specific mates with traits he deems vital.I wanted to protect you from him."
Tanya's face softened but her eyes remained fierce.She sat fully on the dusty floor now, knees pulled to her chest, giving me her complete attention.A precious resource I didn't deserve.
