Cyber Witch

Chapter 12.1 - Daughter

[Avia]

Caught in the margin between abyss and wakefulness, my numb mind floated without direction. There was a kind of peacefulness here, but it was not my place, and I knew I could not stay. Slowly, the grayness faded away.

Bliss blossomed in my heart as my eyes fluttered open to a familiar setting: aboard the Freebird and laying in Zach's bed. No, our bed.

As I rose to my elbows, dizziness surged, and I plopped back down, closing my eyes and pulling deep breaths while a chill swept up my neck.

"Hi." Zach's voice said.

My heart soared as he sat down beside me. When he took my hand, a pleasing warmth flowed up my arm. "Hi, yourself," I said with the brightest of smiles. "You saved me?"

Zach's eyebrows narrowed to slits. "Why didn't you run like I told you?"

Taken by surprise by his chastisement, I adverted my gaze as my chest tightened. "I... I couldn't do that. I might have lost you."

"And you might have lost everything we worked for." Letting out a breath, Zach put a hand on his forehead. "I'm sorry. That was unfair. Truth is, you saved us both. A brilliant scheme, putting their ship AI under my control."

A smile appeared on my lips as my chest relaxed. "So, it must have worked?"

"Yes, but it almost didn't." Zach put on a boyish half-grin. "You were a boring date, by the way. Slept through the whole party."

My smile faded as I reached up and placed a hand on his arm. "I'm sorry about your friend, Spade." I searched my mind for more comforting words, but what else could I say?

Dipping his head, Zach said. "He was avenged."

"Tell me everything that happened," I said, raising to my elbows again, fortunately this time with only minor dizziness. "But first, I need to do something."

"Anything," he mewed, bringing his lips closer to mine.

"Yes, I want that," I said, putting a finger to those beautiful lips. The uncomfortable pressure pulsing in my lower abdomen required a different priority, and I grimaced. "But not before you help me to the head — I really gotta pee."

*****

The planet Panchaia, named after a Greek mythological island paradise, nearly lived up to its billing. Viewed from above, it was stunningly beautiful with turquoise-blue seas surrounding lush green lands. But being warm and steamy in equatorial regions, the world also brewed infamous tropical cyclones. Temperate latitudes were more ideal, though. The world lacked metals or other marketable commodities, other than specialty agricultural products, but became popular for tourism and as a retirement destination. Flint lived in a retirement villages that catered to former Federation soldiers.

"Are you sure we can trust Flint?" Zach asked. "I mean, he is ex-marine..."

"I trust him," I replied. "Yeah, he's hardcore military, and when I ran away, it was technically desertion. But he didn't report me or even try to stop me. We... We had a big disagreement, though, and I have always wanted to make things right between us." I wrapped arms around myself. "Maybe he won't want to see me, but at least I will have tried."

"That happened before the Federation purge of the cybernetic enhanced. Surely, he will understand why you left now?"

"I hope so."

"But won't the Federation be watching Flint in case you return?" Zach asked, his fingers nervously fidgeting on the pilot's seat arms.

"I'm on wanted lists everywhere, but I know how to get around them. And Gideon's spy network would have ended when he did."