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Instead, I smiled. "I guess you all get a dose of nanobots. Do you have any to spare?"
"I have a few I don't want," Slek said. He turned and looked right at me.
I took that as a cue. I raised my anti-bot device and hit the button. I expected Slek to freeze, and for the bots to flood out of him.
His eyes widened slightly, but then he grimaced and started to writhe.
"Mother of fuck," he said in clear discomfort. "That tickles."
I bit back a smile. I'd thought he was in pain, or dying, or something equally bad. Tickles sucked, but he could deal.
Yinika looked outraged at the sight of nanobots pouring out of Slek to lie on the ground at his feet.
He stepped back quickly. "There you go, they're all yours."
"Edie…" Danec's voice was a whisper.
I turned my device toward him. When he nodded, I pressed the button to finally free him from the vermin which invaded his body and held him prisoner for too long.
He twitched, but barely moved while his skin turned back to blue. His eyes watered and a couple of tears accompanied the bots on their way out.
Finally free, he sagged before Zarex caught him and helped him to stay on his feet.
"They will be reactivated," Yinika spluttered.
In one moment, Danec was leaning on Zarex. In the next, he'd leapt toward Yinika, blaster in hand, fury flashing in his eyes.
"Danec, no." I grabbed for him, he was too quick for me.
"If you kill her, you'll have to live with that," J'avet told him. "You'll be as bad as she is."
Danec stopped, blaster aimed square at Yinika's terrified face.
"Think carefully," she said coldly, having regained some of her composure. "You were better with those bots inside you. Faster, smarter, part of a hive. As a Freytauri, you were never a part of a community like the Iritauri are. The Empire nurtured you. Cared for you."
"Edie cares for me," Danec said, his voice almost as chilly as hers.
"I care for him too," Slek said. "But I don't boss him around."
"I boss him around, but I care as well," J'avet said.
I snorted a laugh.
"I haven't had much chance to boss him around, but he's a part of my community," Zarex said.
"Mine too," Brinley said. "And E'rel will when he gets to know him. Right E'rel?"
E'rel looked surprised, but he shrugged one shoulder, then nodded. "Yes, of course."
Danec smiled with one side of his mouth. "See, I don't need bots to belong."
I made a mental note to have that printed on a t-shirt, and stepped closer to Danec.
"You see how happy they are without the bots?" I said to Yinika.
"Happiness is irrelevant," she said. "Only productivity and strengthening the Empire matter."
"Said every dictator ever," I replied. "Happiness is everything. Without it, there's no point in living." To her co-conspirator Freytauri, I asked, "Do you want to be a mindless drone? Do you honestly think people are better off like that?"
