Chapter 15: Kelta
When I wake hours later, Thruster’s sitting in the pilot’s seat, looking at an image onscreen. I climb into his lap and curl up against his muscled chest. I thought he was all machine until I encountered his interstitial fluid and saw the pulsing way the parts inside him moved. Thruster is not a metal machine, not completely.
“What are you looking at?”
He zooms in. “This is the cyborg that caught me. She’s part human. How much, I’m not sure. I’m glad she didn’t get to you. She hits hard.”
“Where did this picture come from?” I ask.
“Ship’s scanners.” He points in front of the nose.
Sinking dread grips me. “That’s probably who I saw when the Welvirs showed up. She disappeared right after I shot the second.” A symbol on her chest catches my attention. “Ooh, Thruster… That is not a cyborg.”
“What do you mean?”
“She’s not aTitan. If this symbol is the same one I’m remembering, then that is KillStar. She was a human Solcrue augmented with cybernetic parts from other humans. My fathersaid they tried to free her and others, but couldn’t get her out. She had too much security around her.”
“KillStar?”
"She is more powerful than most Titans with weapons and upgrades that have been pieced together. She has the highest level of merge tech, so she can keep a few human things, like her face. Heard it's toxic as hell, though. Had to keep replacing biological parts. She's basically the Solcrue's version of a Titan, but she's a mishmash, not designed for any one purpose."
He draws me close, guides my braids behind my shoulder, and kisses my forehead. “Holo’s on his way to pick us up. Anyway, I bet she’s in constant misery with body parts fighting the others.”
“What makes you say that?”
“If I get a part from another Brother, it takes time to accept it and understand its capabilities as much as its programming to adapt to mine. We also have nanotoners that condition our interstitial fluid like spleens do with human blood. For her to be in WreckTank stages of merging…” Thruster trails off and looks away.
“What’s wrong?”
He shakes his head. “Just have a handful of flashes from that time.”
“You were a WreckTank?”
He tilts his head and looks down at me. "Every CyberTitan was at some point. It was part of the transformation process. They gave us memory blockers. They didn't quite work on Diesel. A few of us have images but not full memories. He dreams of it, remembers whole battles. But he was also a BloodCypher. Not many of us were mentally strong enough to handle that suit."
The more Thruster talks to me about what he’s seen, the destruction of Brothers, of ships, of the tearing feelings insideas his body operated without his will, the more sympathy grows in me for him and the more I want to protect him from further pain.
"I thought my life was hard in space," I admit. "I was alone on my ship for days or weeks without stopping at a communal asteroid hangar. My father drilled us with lessons on ship tech, armor, weapons, and strategy. He taught classes to other fleets. They taught us what they knew. It was just studying, scavenging debris fields, repairing ships in hangars or in space, upgrading weapons, watching over our shoulders, not sleeping more than a handful of hours at a time, always on patrol. Rag baths. Food rations."
I take his hand in mine and brace it to my cheek, begging for the comfort of his touch to ease the hopelessness I feel for our future. “Hiding, waiting…praying your kind was still out there somewhere, that we weren’t just hanging on until the Solcrue finally eliminated the last of us. But being torn apart and put back together sounds far worse.”
“I’m still here. We survived.” Thruster’s thumb sweeps over my cheek. “And I’m so glad we did.”
The rumble of engines on a ship makes us look outside.
“Holo’s here. You ready?”
“Never. I want to stay here with you forever,” I admit.
Thruster chuckles, kisses my temple, collects me, and sets me on my feet. "I wish we could, too, but we are stronger together. And I'd rather you not spend the rest of your days hiding and alone. You should be with other humans."
"Maybe I don't like other humans and only like one Titan." I still grab my weapons harness and climb into it because I know we have to go. The others need Thruster.
He’s a shy unit, the way he struggles to take a compliment.
“It’s okay,” I tell him as I open the hatch and the stairs descend. “I know I have to share. But I don’t have to like it.”
Thruster studies me for a long breath, then collects me, crushes me against the wall, and kisses me with hunger.
