While I worked on it, Molly bent over a circuit board, soldering iron moving quickly and expertly as she modified it by hand. By hand. That the human technology even allowed that was ridiculous, with Prytheen circuitry it would be impossible. We printed our circuits directly into crystal or gel: they might be self-modifying, but to alter them with hand tools and a magnifier?
In that moment, I gained a new appreciation for my mate. Molly had already shown me she was skilled at her work, even if the other humans somehow missed what a treasure she was for them. Tonight, though, she’d shown me she could function under pressure, that she had the skill to put together a circuit out of nothing.
And that she looked amazing bent across the workstation in a short dress while she focused on her task. I made a note to explore that discovery later, when we weren’t fighting to save the life of one of her friends.
“There, done,” she said, looking back and showing me the datastore, its new epoxy-wrapped frame, and now a modified power supply attached to the side. Before, it took a moment to see that it wouldn’t fit in a bracelet. Now, the idea was ludicrous.
I joined her, the vambrace open, and she nodded. Quick on the uptake, she padded the inside, keeping a cutout space running down the metal lengthways. A space just big enough that the datastore and holoprojector fitted. And when she snapped the vambrace around her left forearm, it fit perfectly. I’d ground it down, warped it, until it fit her human arm, and while it was an odd look along with the human party dress, it suited her.
Molly bit her lip, and I nodded.
“It’s time.” I didn’t say the rest out loud. Time to see what’s left of Glitch.
5 Molly
The strange weight of Glitch’s new home sat uncomfortably on my left arm. Looking up at Karnac, I chewed on my lip, suddenly afraid. What happened if I switched Glitch on and got only static? Or, perhaps worse, a crippled version of him, enough of him left to recognize but not enough to function?
The temptation to leave things alone, to leave the box shut, was very real. He’d be Schrodinger’s Glitch, perpetually half alive and half dead.
Only one way to find out which is true, I told myself. The activation button clicked under my thumb and a hiss of static surrounded me for a moment. My heart fell when it failed to resolve into Glitch.
Karnac barked a laugh, and before I could wheel on him for being so insensitive, I felt a strange weight on my head. A pressure, rather — the forcefield generator giving a hologram the illusion of touch.
“Glitch?” I breathed the question, not yet ready to believe. “Glitch get down from there, let me see you.”
He leaped towards the workbench, vanished halfway there, and reappeared a moment later, sitting neat as you please beside my soldering station.
“Glitch, you’re okay.” I felt a great weight lift from my shoulders. He looked up, staticky eyes seeming to say, ‘why wouldn’t I be?’
“I thought I’d lost you.” My paralysis broke and I rushed to the workstation, giving Glitch ear-skritches and whispered endearments. He sat straight, dignified, allowing me to make a fool of myself over him. As a cat, he was supremely unbothered by the attention. Obviously. How could anyone accuse him of loving it?
Karnac’s hand landed on my shoulder and I almost jumped out of my skin. I’d all but forgotten that I wasn’t alone with Glitch until the Prytheen pirate reminded me he was there.
“Thank you,” I said, turning to face him. Golden eyes stared back at me with an intensity that made me tremble. I ought to thank him with more than just words, some part of me thought.
The horny part, of course.
Admittedly, standing this close to Karnac, ‘the horny part’ was most of me.
“I am glad he is well,” Karnac said, tactfully ignoring my state if he noticed it at all. “He is my friend too, isn’t that right, Glitch?”
Reaching past me, arm brushing mine, he stroked Glitch who nodded and rolled over to have his tummy scratched.
The slight touch, arm against arm, sent a blazing flash of need through me, reinforcing my need for his touch and more. I really ought to thank him properly.
No, I told myself. No way. Sure, I’m grateful, but we don’t fuck for a debt. I am not that kind of woman.
But for Karnac, I just might be.
The choice was taken out of my hands by Glitch meowing an urgent message alert. I frowned and cursed my indecision, wishing I’d made up my mind before the moment passed.
“Okay Glitch, give it to me.”
“Priority message. For Molly King. Do you accept?” The automated voice sounded bored, and above Glitch’s head, the same message scrolled past in English, Galtrade, Russian, and Chinese.
“Yes, that’s me,” I answered, curious and worried. I’d never seen this feature before, and it sounded ominous.
Allison’s face appeared, eyes narrow and lips tight, glaring into the camera. The contrast with her bright pink lipstick was almost funny, but only almost. “Molly. Since you’re not answering your comm, I’m using the priority alert system to make sure you get this. I’ve left several messages already.”
“Whatever urgent message she’s got, it sounds like she’s more annoyed by me ignoring her,” I muttered. “And thanks, you know, for being worried about me when you couldn’t reach me for hours.”
“I’ve received a complaint. An official complaint. Harmon says that you attacked him, and he has the injuries as proof.” The view widened out, and there he stood. Harmon’s face was bandaged, and his little eyes stared hatefully out of the hologram. I winced. Yeah, that doesn’t look good. “You must provide your own statement at once so that I can complete my investigation of this incident.”
The worst thing was that Allison had no reason to listen to my explanation, and every right to send me back to the Joint Colony. Which would leave her free to pursue Karnac.
From the angry rumble beside me, I didn’t think she had much chance there, but knowing Allison, she’d see the chance to get rid of a rival as a definite gain.
“So,” the hologram continued, focusing back on Allison. “When you get this, contact me immediately. I’ve included a location request; once you open this message, remain where you are. I will come to you.”
“That’s not good,” I muttered as the hologram started over from the beginning. A gesture from me and Glitch shut it off. “She’s probably on her way here already. What are we going to do?”
“Tell the truth,” Karnac answered. “You were not at fault here, and you didn’t give Harmon his injuries. We tell her what really happened and if she is even slightly honest, any punishment will land on me.”
“But you didn’t do anything wrong either.”
“True.” His lip quirked into a smile that made the butterflies in my stomach flutter. “It doesn’t matter, though. I stepped in to protect you from Harmon, and I kept you safe from him. Now I can stand between you and a different sort of harm.”
“You don’t have to. I can take my lumps.” The last thing I wanted was for him to get hurt for me. He’d already done so much for me. But he shook his head.
“If she convicts you of this, you will be sent away. Neither of us want that. If she blames me, though, she won’t be able to send me away, not when Auric sent me up here. I’ll get shouted at, probably. What more can she do to me?”