Shark Bite (Cyborg Shifters Book 3) Page 20

  The drum of her heart was in her throat. Rylie hacked as the grime in the air coated the interior of her mouth.

  “Faster!” She sputtered around the debris and helped a woman detach her torn lab coat from the metal. She tempered her urgency for their sake, but it became more difficult while the noises from the nearby shore rose with each passing second.

  When the people stopped pushing through, she peered into the hole to see no one beyond but for several androids.

  “Netto! Zeph?” Her voice rang through the clouded garage and echoed back to her with no answer. Rylie jumped back as another person ran her way and pushed through.

  Her eyes watered. The sirens stopped. The sudden drop in noise prickled her skin. She gasped as the dust thickened, her stomach cramped up, and the world spun. Rylie yelped as she was suddenly picked up and carried away from the building.

  “Wait! No! Netto!” she screamed as the smell of gasoline permeated the air. She fought the grip of whoever had her as the crack grew smaller the farther they got.

  “Let me down!” she thrashed.

  “There are dangerous levels of methane and benzene. The risk of poisoning is one hundred percent if you stay more than two minutes within the area.” The voice was monotone and regulated. An android held her.

  “What?” she coughed and rasped. Her vision blurred. Her ears rang and she wasn’t sure if she heard it correctly.

  The android repeated itself and continued running. They soon caught up to the others who were fleeing the scene. It didn’t release her.

  Rylie twisted back to look for Netto but he was nowhere. The robot’s hold on her strengthened as the hard, hollow sound of a shock wave pulsed beneath them. She sucked in and braced. Those around her fell on deaf ears as the air puffed out a roar and a metal hand clamped over her eyes as a bright light blinded her to everything.

  She cowered behind the shield of the android as a gust of wind pushed them forward. There was nothing but screams before the explosion.

  Rylie lost her senses as a heavy wave of heat enveloped her. When the world returned, so did the cries of the wounded.

  She choked back a sob. Netto.

  “WHAT THE HELL DID YOU guys put into that water?!” Zeph screamed at the lead scientist. The man looked a strange cross between utterly terrified and unbelievably excited to be in the presence of a Cyborg.

  “Well, um, you see, when we first got here growing crops was, well, hard...” the man hedged.

  “Now!” Netto interjected, flashing his teeth and pulsing the blue of his eyes. The scientist looked ready to wet himself.

  “Oh, yes, um, can you please have your goon stand back? He’s making me very uncomfortable,” he pleaded, avoiding eye contact with him.

  Zeph laughed. “I don’t tell him what to do. Perhaps you should tell your story before you lose a limb. I’ve heard modern medicine is good enough that you might not lose it forever. We’d make sure you did,” Zeph replied, “And Netto might be inclined to eat it.”

  The scientist blanched, the whites of his eyes striated with fear.

  “Enough! What did you do?” Netto growled.

  “When we first a-arrived,” his voice shook, “we were not prepared for the difficulties that came with growing crops on a non-terraformed world. Nothing responded to the soil and while the local flora was uncooperative with regard to industrialization, our Earthian transplant species were utterly impossible. We are outside of any Earthian regulatory involvement, so the local planetary council, who has jurisdiction in these matters, you see, approved research for accelerated fertilizers. See, what we did is take the standard nitrate and phosphate boosters that worked well in the past and added complexes to the mix that would signal cell uptake. Effectively, we kicked the plant growth into high gear in order to overcome the issues we were having,” the scientist sputtered, spraying saliva with each sentence.

  “We didn’t have time to survey. Everyone was panicked that we would run out of food because the first four generations of crops failed. So we went ahead and did what we figured would work. And it did! It worked beyond our wildest dreams. The only problem then was when we finally figured out that the bio-uptake regulator we were using for plants also seemed to work on the local sea-life, we were too far in. There was no way we could discontinue production without crippling the food production of the colony.

  “You see, we built too good of a growth catalyst. It doesn’t really degrade and it seems to work forever. So as we went through more and more planting cycles, and the concentration in the oceans kept rising from the runoff. As the concentration went up, so did the wildlife response. We assumed that the oceanic relay network that the EPED installed would live up to its hundred year guarantee. The system is defective—”

  “No,” Netto said under his breath, feeling calm despite the circumstances. “I was here when it was installed.”

  “It could not have been foreseen! It’s not our fault the EPED’s tech faulted. We had no way of knowing that this would happen. This is totally unprecedented with Earthian species and we continued on with the promise the seawall,” the scientist argued, throwing off the blame.

  Netto didn’t have to look to know Zeph wanted to pull the man’s spine out through his throat but shut him up. But they couldn’t, as long as the man continued to talk, Zeph and Netto continued to record.

  “It doesn’t matter anyway! Everything is gone...” the scientist had a cold, distant glare in his eyes. “The plant is gone.” They hardened suddenly as he looked at Zeph, “There’s no evidence. Nothing. We’re innocent.”

  “Hmm,” Netto hummed and didn’t bother correcting the scientist. Netto grabbed the back of the man’s shirt and dragged him toward several nearby emergency vehicles. He handed the man to the local authorities without a word except to give instructions to deliver him to the Montihan homestead and to Zeph’s ship.

  The scientist had earned a place in Zeph’s lab, inside one of the empty enclosures usually reserved for animals. It was as good as any brig but with no privacy and no upkeep.

  Netto didn’t stay; he needed to find Rylie. Even his charred skin couldn’t stop him from seeking her out on the outskirts.

  Many died. Many.

  But more had been saved. And he had made sure she was safe, sending one of Fert Tech’s androids after her, recoded to his specifications. It didn’t settle the wires that thrummed through his chest. Those wouldn’t stop until she was within his sight and within the shield of his arms.

  It was all he could do to not run in the direction of the android’s signature. She’s fine. She’s being treated for carbon monoxide poisoning but nothing else. It was all there in the android’s systems.

  When his eyes landed on her, she was lying on a slat in a medical vehicle, with a plastic clamp over her mouth. She was breathing but there was a hitch with every inhale. In the evening gloom and with exhaustion painting her features, she was still the most beautiful thing in the universe. He climbed into the transport and sat at her side.

  “Stay still,” he placed his hand on her chest as she moved to get up. He smelled the tears in her eyes before they rolled down her cheeks. When Rylie settled back, he kissed her forehead.

  Netto breathed her in and caressed her hair until the crease in her brow vanished.

  “Is...it over?” she mumbled over the apparatus in her mouth.

  “Shh, now. It will be soon. There’s a lot of damage and a lot of people hurt. The death count is climbing, Kepler has taken a significant hit to its population.” Netto located a cloth and began to clean the smut on her face. “We saved a lot.”

  He fell into silence as he cleaned her up, taking care to avoid any skin that appeared raw. The dirt pulled free from the chemicals on the cloth and disintegrated into the air. With each slow swipe of his hand, her bronzed skin came back into view.

  Rylie watched him.

  “Fert Tech was the cause of the phosphates in the water, which increased the algae bloom in the area. The fertil
izer they made went toward the crops for the local agriculture farms. And I think toward farms off Kepler’s surface. The increase in demand increased the run-offs.”

  An android peered into the vehicle and Netto willed it away. He didn’t want his words to be recorded before he had contacted the EPED and Montihan.

  “The amount in the water—although I haven’t analyzed it yet—was at devastating levels. It went unchecked or ignored for some time. Enough to affect the natural balance. Zeph is interrogating one of the CEOs. Everything came to a head when the algae attracted the attention of those creatures on the other side of the barrier.” Netto ran his tongue over the points of his teeth. “It’s the only explanation I have. My only guess.” He took hold of Rylie’s hand and cleaned her palm. He lifted it to his lips and kissed the clean surface.

  “If it wasn’t for your father contacting us...”

  She muttered something then sighed, giving in to the breather attached to her face.

  Netto continued when she gave in.

  “More would have died. When we fixed the module, those creatures that were stuck on our side gravitated toward the overgrowth. The phosphate irritated me, and I have cells that filter toxins. I can’t imagine what it did to them.”

  Rylie closed her eyes tight before reopening them. She gripped the breather and pulled it out. Netto didn’t stop her but instead helped her sit up as she coughed up phlegm.

  “I hate those things.”

  “Everyone does,” he held her hair back. “But you took in a lot of toxins. The drip clears your systems, it’s not meant to be comfortable.”

  “I’ll put it back in in a few,” she conceded with another cough. “I only want a couple of minutes. The android said I wasn’t poisoned.”

  “No, but the air is still thick.”

  Netto got up and closed the door to the vehicle before he returned to her side. He adjusted the settings to filter and sanitize.

  “Are Janet and Da okay?”

  “Yes, they’re still at the colony.”

  Rylie wrapped her arms around her middle and sat forward. One of her hands rose to cup her throat and massage her trachea. “My throat tickles, ech.”

  “So does mine,” he smiled until her lips lifted. For once, for several moments there was nowhere else he needed to be but with her and vice versa. He wanted to enjoy her smiles.

  “Will Fert Tech pay for what it did?”

  “Yes, and more.”

  “More?”

  “They’ll go to trial and their off-world licenses will be reviewed, possibly terminated, and those that were responsible to report to the government will be interrogated. There was negligence. It’s up to the EPED to figure who the guilty parties are.”

  “Good. I hope they're dealt with,” Rylie sniffled. Netto ran his hand up and down her back; he couldn’t stop touching her. He never wanted to stop touching her. Amongst the corruption and death, the fire and blood, he found her and, although he was worse for wear, exhausted in his own right, he was happy.

  Happy when no one else was.

  “Yes.”

  They sat there for some time as he continued to pet her and as she began to tire out. Her pulse slowed down and continued to do so the longer he was with her. When she moved to lie back down, he swept her hair from her face.

  “We still don’t have nuggets to give you,” Rylie chuckled under her breath.

  “I know.”

  “How will we pay you? It could be years before the next harvest...if we ever have one again.” She closed her eyes and sighed wearily.

  “Don’t worry about that now. And with any luck, now that Fert Tech is gone, everything will go back to normal. There’s no point in having technology if you don’t know how to use it.”

  “Yeah, I guess that’s true. And you?”

  “What about me?” Netto rested his elbows on the slat and threaded his fingers, needing to be closer to her.

  “What will you do now?”

  “Stay until you’re better.”

  Rylie smiled up at him, her eyes hooded, her body pliant and limp. “You’ll still be here when I wake up? I don’t want you to leave without saying goodbye.”

  Netto stiffened and lifted the breather.

  “I’ll be here.”

  She opened her lips and he placed the apparatus back into her mouth. He remained with her while she slept.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Nearly a week went by before they left the southern colony. Netto, with the frustrated help of Zeph, oversaw the cleanup of the colony and plant. It would take months, possibly years before the damage Fert Tech caused could be undone, but it was doable, and it was worth it. The thought of the clear waters came to mind, he wanted to swim in it with Rylie.

  The EPED sent backup after Zeph sent in their report. Mia, their handler, annoyed but not surprised. Netto listened in on the call but didn’t contribute. The bottom line was that they needed the glass and the fact that they were not bringing it back would not go over well with the EPED.

  They couldn't be blamed, not with Fert Tech's involvement. The EPED not only had their glass but now had a very pricey situation on their hands. There'd be a significant loss of money with no hope of a return until the environment righted itself.

  Fert Tech would pay. Netto was certain of it. No one drained the EPED’s funds without repercussion.

  But he and Zeph were easy targets, and the EPED would continue to use them as such until they had the Board of Trustees of Fert Tech in their grasp.

  His partner was ready to blow.

  Netto noticed the Croc had become short-tempered and had taken to tobacco and alcohol like the universe itself was going to end tomorrow. Netto kept his eye on him and did his job, he had to make sure the EPED didn’t have another Gunner on their hands.

  Now that the worst of the damage had been mitigated, all the fires had been put out, the air was clear of toxins and that he had driven the serpents away from the shore, they were finally heading back to their ship.

  Netto's fingers twitched as the Montihan settlement came into view. Rylie and her family had left several days before to alert homestead about what happened. They had planned for a day out at sea and it ended up being more than a week. The watership was in dire need of repair, and Sheryl Montihan needed to be pacified.

  He remembered Rylie's exhausted face, looking more frightened than he had ever seen before, after her conversation with her mom. He remembered those looks when he was a newly created being and his cybernetic mothers reprimanded him. It was a look he knew well, as no being could elicit more fear in a child's eyes than that of a pissed-off parent.

  Netto needed to see her again; the separation had nearly killed him, but he was afraid that this next meeting would be a goodbye. The type of goodbye that lasted forever.

  His fist clenched at his side as Zeph dropped the flyer down to land next to his ship. They had been silent for the entire ride. It wasn't unusual for them but after the last two weeks, it was no longer comfortable.

  Not only would he have to say goodbye to Rylie, if it came down to that, but he would have to decide whether or not he wanted to rejoin the EPED.

  Stryker's old ship still needed a monster hunter to captain it, regardless of the destroyed lab. Mia and her bosses wanted him and now that he could reconnect to Zeph's ship, half a dozen messages had been queued for him. Each waiting for his signature. Each a contract that he wasn't sure if he wanted to sign.

  Being a monster hunter—a retriever—was a lonely profession, and now that he knew what having a family was like and close-knit camaraderie, Netto didn't want to be alone anymore. He had no more time to dwell in his head. The ship landed.

  He and Zeph stepped out without a word.

  Netto inhaled as Rylie ran from her family's house and barreled into his arms. He picked her up and kissed her, starved for the feel and taste of her lips.

  “I missed you!” she said between kisses. The reception momentarily took him back.


  “I missed you too.”

  He kissed her again, relishing every moment he had with her. Netto didn't want to let her go. With Rylie in his arms, he knew he didn't want to be alone again. The thought of his previous life made him sad.

  “I don't want you to go,” she glanced at Zeph’s ship. “Please don't go.” Netto wasn't sure if he heard her correctly. She had given voice to his thoughts.

  Zeph stomped away and disappeared into the homestead.

  “Where would I go?” he asked, confused and hopeful, goading for more. Rylie's eyes were wide and the light of Kepler's sun made their irises glitter. The corner of her lips jerked up into a smile and he leaned down and kissed it.

  “Back to space.”

  “You want me to stay here?”

  “Yes, with me. I hated these last few days, hated them. You made me fall in love with you and I'm not above begging and guilt tripping you to keep you in my life.”

  If Netto could burn the EPED contracts in their digital space, he would have at that moment. He would've loved to see them curl in the flames and turn ash.

  “You don't have to beg and I don't think you could guilt trip me. I love you too.” He cupped her face and pressed his forehead against hers. “If you’ll have me, I’ll never leave your side again.”

  “I'll have you. I'll have you any way I can get you.”

  Netto couldn't believe his ears as he processed the information over and over. Rylie wanted him. She wanted him to stay with her and for the first time in his life. He pulled her against him and held her close—breathed in the shampooed scent of her hair—and was relieved that she still smelled of sunscreen and ocean.

  He wasn't a human man and he didn't follow the traditions of the human race, but he had the urge to ask Quinten Montihan for his permission to court his daughter. It was absurd, an old tradition. Ancient even, but it felt right, here on Kepler, and he wanted the planet to be his home. Kepler was a product of the future but still firmly rooted in traditions of the past. It was where he belonged, and as he overlooked the endless miles of the ocean, he felt complete. He wasn’t created for space. He was created for this.