Hercules 500 Page 5

  Anika passed out from hyperventilating at some point.

  Well, not completely, but she was damned near unconscious when they landed on the roof hard enough they almost went through it. Chance bounded away before the roof collapsed and raced across it.

  She did pass out when he leapt from the side of that building toward the next building, bounding across what looked like the Grand Canyon from her viewpoint.

  Unfortunately, she came out of her swoon before the next jump.

  He stopped jumping and slid down the fire escape of a building about a block and half from the ‘crime’ scene, now crawling with cops on foot and in a helicopter, and mounted on flying cycles.

  When they reached the ground, Chance set her on her feet.

  Her knees wobbled and she promptly collapsed in a heap on the ground.

  He lifted her again and steadied her until she managed to lock her knees, then he examined her pretty much like the thug had, patting her down from head to toe.

  “You are injured?”

  Anika gaped at him. “I am?”

  He shook his head at her and looked around. “We cannot stay here. We must leave before they get to this area in their search.”

  “Good idea,” Anika said vaguely. “Where we going?”

  Chance seemed to think it over. “The ship.”

  Anika nodded. “Ok.”

  Chapter Four

  Chance found he was having a great deal of difficulty ignoring the damage the damned cop had done to him when he had tried to split his skull.

  Served the bastard right if he cracked his own skull instead, Chance thought angrily.

  But then confusion followed.

  Because he was angry, he realized, and he did not recall learning how to ‘feel’ anger.

  In point of fact, he was fairly certain that he was never to feel anger at all.

  So … had the blow to the head broken the inhibitors that he had been fitted with? Did that explain why he felt so very strange? Not just angry, but … jittery, worried about pursuit even though he was almost completely certain that they had not only avoided identification but also that he had fled the area so fast he’d gotten well ahead of the drag net the cops had set up.

  It was not logical to feel worried or be concerned.

  Emotions, in point of fact, had no logic to them, or very little. They were primitive instincts that had helped the human race survive extinction.

  He did not have any of the organs that would produce the chemicals that created ‘emotion’.

  He did not think he did, at any rate.

  If all of that was not disturbing enough, he kept having … flashes of images in his mind, as if he was ‘remembering’ when there should not be anything to remember.

  He had certainly not been bought for home security as Grandpa had told Anika.

  There was no before.

  And yet these memory recordings seemed to be his.

  He was not certain how he managed to get Anika safely to the ship under the circumstances, but somehow they did manage it.

  He was proud of Anika.

  True, she appeared very mechanical, but she controlled her emotions while it mattered.

  She dropped the façade the moment they entered the cabin and flung herself at him hard enough he was caught off guard and staggered back a step.

  Well, swayed.

  She cut loose then with the most ungodly racket he had ever heard.

  “I was soooo scared!” she wailed, wedging her hands beneath his arms and wrapping her arms around him tightly.

  He stared down at her head uneasily, wondering if he was expected to make a comment on the statement.

  “I don’t know what was worse—all the yelling and shooting or the running and jumping!”

  She leaned back and looked up at him. “I want you to know that I’m absolutely terrified of heights!”

  He nodded acknowledgement, and she burrowed against him again.

  “You’re supposed to put your arms around me, too,” she said in a voice muffled against his shirt.

  He had been wondering what to do with them. It seemed … awkward to simply stand with his arms hanging at his side, particularly when she had slipped hers beneath and he had to hold them out to allow for that. He replicated the hold that she had on him to the best of his abilities.

  It was certainly more comfortable for him, but he did not entirely grasp why she wanted to do it at all. He did not think there was danger that she would fall down.

  One thing did occur to him after a moment, though. “Shall we fuck now?”

  She scrambled away from him and glared up at him.

  He had the distinct feeling that she was thinking about hitting him.

  Not that he was worried. He could not imagine that she would be able to inflict much damage.

  “That was supposed to be a cuddle,” she growled. “Didn’t you get any sort of … non-sexual, affection programming? I mean … you’re a domestic. If you had sexual programming, it seems to me you should have gotten that, too.”

  He stared down at her, trying to ignore the sick feeling of consternation that had knotted in his belly—which was a very odd place for emotion of any sort as far as he could see. “I did not.” He hesitated to elaborate, but she had brought up the subject. “I was not given sexual programming either.”

  She gaped at him. “Well … why do you have a dick?”

  “They gave it to me.”

  “But not the programming?”

  “They could not find that. At least, Grandpa could not and Sonny said that he could not be expected to do everything and he was busy trying to find a dick … and cods.”

  Anika felt her face redden. “Obviously, from some of the things you’ve said, you learned more from that pair of …. Than you should have. I meant when you were originally made.”

  He frowned. “I do not recall that. There is much damage from the … fire.”

  “You were in a fire?” she gasped, horrified.

  “There was fire,” he corrected her.

  She frowned. “Is that why you were re-sold? Your owner perished in a fire?”

  He did not believe that owner had ever existed. In point of fact, the flashes of memory in his head suggested otherwise. “I do not recall precisely,” he responded since it was the only thing he could think to say that he knew was truth.

  She looked dissatisfied. “I know you have AI, but I’m not really crazy about the idea of training you … with personal stuff.” She thought about it a moment and it abruptly occurred to her that it was a rare opportunity—teaching a male how to behave in a desirable manner.

  Of course, he was a machine, not really ‘a male’, but … well if it looked like a duck and it quacked like a duck it wasn’t that hard to accept it as a duck. Wouldn’t be.

  But was that what she really wanted and would it be mentally healthy to allow herself to deceive herself?

  Probably not, but then again people often deceived themselves in their pursuit of happiness.

  Beyond that, people loved their stuff, usually unabashedly—obsessively and possessively at times—pets, people and things—especially things that gave them enjoyment and or made their lives easier.

  She still wasn’t comfortable with it and she had a bad feeling that it would be really easy to dismiss her qualms and just accept Chance at face value and thoroughly enjoy him as a companion.

  Her thoughts abruptly followed that track to another, however. “Where’s the vial?”

  “What vial?” Chance asked cautiously.

  Anika frowned. “The one you snatched out of my hand,” she said slowly, trying to remember exactly what had happened. When she did, she sent him a sharp look. “You put it in your mouth!”

  He had really dreaded this moment. “I swallowed it.”

  Her face went perfectly blank. “You what?”

  “It … bounced into my throat when the cop slammed his forehead into mine and I could not cough it up. It went down.”<
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  Fury transformed her face. He had no trouble at all interpreting the expression or the emotion behind it. “You … swallowed … my children?”

  “Technically—seedlings. They would have to join with your eggs, or some female egg, before they would be anything but spermatozoa.”

  “Technically? You want to get technical? When you swallowed all hope of a future family? Retrieve them, damn it!”

  Unhappiness invaded him. “I cannot … not at this point,” he added when she looked as if she was searching for a weapon, wondering if he would be able to at any point. Generally, there was no question about what his nanoes would do upon encountering a foreign body that was not fuel. They would break it down and eliminate it or redistribute it—as in the case of a bullet. This was biological materials, though. Would the nanoes recognize it as reproductive cells? And if so, would they simply move the cells to the correct placement? Or dispose of them because the biological material was foreign to him? He did not know, unfortunately. His onboard computer did not actually communicate with the nanoes.

  She stared at him, clearly thinking.

  He did not like to think what she might be thinking.

  “What possessed you to put it in your damn mouth to start with?” she growled.

  “I was thinking that you should not be holding the evidence in case you were arrested.”

  “Wait! Back up a minute! You said cop? That was a cop? You brained a cop? And then shoved him through a door panel?”

  He blinked at her, trying to untangle the comments, because they were certainly statements not questions when there was no way to answer them. “Technically, the cop brained himself when he struck me with his skull.”

  “That’s beside the point!” she snapped.

  “It is?”

  “Yes! Good thing you aren’t human! They’d get you for assaulting a police officer! Wait! Shit! They’ll get me because you belong to me! Oh my god! I am in so much trouble!”

  “You are not.”

  “I am!” she snapped. “And it’s your fault!”

  He was taken aback at the accusation and replayed the entire event within his mind. “I do not see that it is my fault. I cannot think of anything that I did that I chose to do … beyond taking the evidence and hiding it.”

  She glared at him. “I do wish you would quit harping on that! It makes me feel like a bitch for complaining when you were trying to be helpful and I damned well didn’t tell you to put it in your mouth! And I certainly didn’t suggest that you should swallow it, damn it!”

  Chance frowned thoughtfully, but despite every effort, he could not see any logic in those remarks at all or that they in any way explained how it was that he was at fault that she appeared to be in trouble with the law.

  In any case, he could not help but feel that it was fortuitous that she decided she did not want to speak to him because it gave him the quiet he needed to reflect upon the strange changes that he had felt since the cop had broken something in his head.

  * * * *

  Cole’s head was throbbing when he woke. He stared up at the ceiling for several moments before recognition dawned. A wide range of emotions flooded him when it did.

  Rage and humiliation dominated.

  That bastard had caught him off guard, knocked him cold, and he’d missed the whole fucking operation!

  After working his ass off on the case for damned near a year, he’d missed out on all of the action.

  Well, most of it.

  He vaguely recalled that he’d been told they netted the supplier and the seller.

  Nobody seemed to have seen the buyers leaving.

  Well, except the other two officers who’d also been knocked cold. But their memories were hazier than his.

  “God damn it!” he growled.

  “You need something, Detective Parker?”

  “Yeah! Where’s my clothes?” he growled.

  “You have not been cleared to leave, Detective Parker. We are keeping you for observation for 24 hours.”

  “Fuck you!”

  “We are authorized to keep you until tomorrow,” the voice responded pleasantly. “I have injected a sedative to help you relax.”

  “Son of a ….”

  * * * *

  Cole still wanted to kill something—or someone—when he finally got to the station.

  He would’ve happily started with the fucking robot that had kept him sedated until they were good and fucking ready to let him go, but he hadn’t been able to get his hands on it.

  Which had turned his focus to the bastard that had knocked him out and given him a concussion to start with.

  Despite his thunderous expression when he entered the squad room, there were cheers all around, foot stomping, and hand clapping.

  “You look like shit,” the captain said with a grin, advancing to pound Cole on the back for a job well done.

  “Aww thanks, Captain,” Cole responded dryly, but he managed a facsimile of a grin in return, forcing his anger down to a slow boil.

  “Great job! We got the supplier, the seller, and rounded up some more people at the Bank that were in on it.”

  Cole nodded. “We just missed picking up the buyers in the sweep.”

  Somebody snorted and then pretended he’d coughed, but Cole knew they were enjoying his downfall—maybe not with malice, but still in a way that made him cringe inwardly because he knew he’d screwed up.

  The captain shook his head. “Well, I’m not saying I’m not disappointed, but I’m not going to let that deter me from enjoying a damned fine job by everyone. It would have been icing to get the buyers too, but they’re little fish. We got the ones we were really after, the big ones.”

  “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about, Captain. I’ve been mulling over it while I was tied to that fucking bed and I think we can still get the little fish,” Cole said, struggling to tamp the mixture of hopefulness and embarrassment that it was even necessary. “They bought the bait and that means they’re planning a family and I can’t think of any place that would be possible around here. I’m betting they’re bound for one of the colonies and it just so happens there’s a ship at the space port right now that’s about to launch a new mission to Beauterre.”

  The captain studied him, hard, and then told everyone to get back to work and ushered Cole into his office.

  “If I could just get a search warrant …,” Cole started as soon as the captain shut the door.

  The captain held up a hand. “You can’t. Give it a rest. It’s out of our hands now.”

  “But they aren’t gone yet!”

  “If they’re on that ship they might as well be. No judge is going to be willing to hold up the launch for a search that’s not only going to prove fruitless, but … well the ship itself is out of our jurisdiction. Damn it! You know that!

  “What the hell is wrong with you, anyway? You pissed because you think that bastard made you look like a first year recruit? Well, don’t feel by your lonesome. I’ve got two other officers—seasoned men—that are still in the hospital.” He shook his head. “I know it’s personal for you, since you supplied the bait, but you know damned well it isn’t going to come back on you and bite you in the ass. It’s not like you just decided to do something stupid like going bareback without birth control.”

  Cole’s lips tightened. “I’m not worried about fines or child support ….”

  “Well, why the hell not? I know I would be! We’re talking a minimum of three here! Except I know that that constituted kidnapping and they couldn’t come back and demand child support even if they weren’t headed across the galaxy with your off-spring and were stupid enough to think they could still collect.

  “Forget it. I’ve got a new assignment for you ….”

  * * * *

  The cabin Anika had been assigned was smaller than her postage stamp apartment—which was saying something. Since it was basically just a sleeping area, it was still roomier—which was a good thing considering
how much space Chance took up. On the down side, it was roomier because it didn’t come with a private bathroom or kitchen. Food was prepared and served in the main congregational area that was used for anything ‘group’—like eating, socializing, games and recreation—and it started with a gathering for orientation. Toilets and showers were available on either side of the main lounging area.

  Lovely.

  But it was a colony ship and not a luxury cruiser.

  Anika had braced herself for the discomfort of a long, boring trip.

  And that took into account the fact that she would be in hibernation sleep for at least half of it.

  It was a way of minimizing needs while maximizing the number of passengers that could be carried. There were enough hibernation pods for a third of the passengers. They would be rotating every couple of weeks and naturally while they were podded, they needed very little oxygen, water, or food—thus conserving ship resources.

  And the sanity of the passengers since they got two weeks ‘off’ every four where they didn’t have to deal with endless space.

  Boredom had already set in for pretty much everyone that had been stupid enough to report early to their cabins.

  Well, Anika really hadn’t had a lot of choice since she’d sold her apartment and the new owner wanted to move in.

  Then there was the little matter of the cops looking for them.

  At least, she feared they were and that was enough to convince her to stay on board the ship once they made it there and mostly in her cabin hiding.

  Plus she was still torn between anger at Chance for swallowing her children and grief that they were gone—possibly forever.

  Everyone, unfortunately, was required to go to orientation, though.

  That included Chance since it seemed that everyone had gotten the impression that he was her travel companion.

  She didn’t know how—especially since she’d put him down as her domestic—but then she had known that Chance was a robot before she’d ever set eyes on him, and she’d interacted with him, as well, so she knew he didn’t sound or think like a human—not when you were looking for the difference.

  Just looking at him, she realized, he completely passed for human, so much so that even she had problems remembering that he wasn’t and she didn’t feel that she’d had him long enough to get so used to him that she just overlooked it.