The Star Thief (34 page)

Her skin prickled.

They reached the end of the hallway and turned left. “We’re almost there,” she said, glancing back over her shoulder. “One more set of doors and then the stairwell and we’ll be outside. How’s Myka doing?”

Finn shook his head. “Not moving, but I can feel his heart beating. He needs help.”

Who could help him? They didn’t even know what he was anymore. She pushed the thought away. One thing at a time. She needed to focus on getting them out of here.

Renna pushed open the door and gestured Finn and Viktis through. Just a little farther to the stairwell and they’d be almost out.

Two labs sat on either side of the hallway, and she expected them to be empty like all the rest. But as they approached, the doors slid open and a group of people marched out into the hallway from each lab. They fell into formation, three abreast, and one of the young men in the front row stepped forward. His eyes seemed to gaze past her, and a red light flashed once, deep inside the cornea.

They were the people from the auditorium.

“Intruder alert. You may not pass. Please come quietly with us.”

His voice sounded human, but the cadence was off, as if he’d been programmed to say that. She risked a glance at Finn and saw that he was backing toward the doors. Viktis had his pistol out, aimed at the leader.

“Let us go and no one gets hurt,” she said sternly.

“Assassination protocols have been engaged,” the man said. “Please return the boy to his room immediately.” He took another step toward her, and Viktis fired his gun into the man’s head.

It erupted in a shower of metal and flames and screams. Organ tissue and blood splattered everywhere, coating her face and hands, and Renna pressed a hand to her mouth.

He spoke like a machine but bled like a human.

“What are you?” she whispered.

Another man stepped forward to take the leader’s place. “We have been perfected.”

Dear gods. These things were hybrids. Robot-human creations. Navang’s drug was keeping the human bodies from rejecting the tech.

Had they done this to Myka?

“Viktis. Remember our job in New Holland?”

He raised an eyebrow. “You want to try that here?”

“Now.”

Renna and Viktis dropped to one knee, opening fire on the robots. Renna focused on the column to the right, Viktis on the left. She aimed at each robot’s head, squeezing off a shot with her blaster. Each one exploded in a mess of flying tissue and metal.

Blood splatters turned the walls into crimson rivers, and the rich metallic scent filled the air, mixing with the smell of the drugs. She gagged, forcing her nausea back down with every shot.

She fired again just as one of the robots surged forward. The bullet ripped a hole through the woman’s chest, spinning her away, but not before Renna caught sight of a living, beating heart through the wound.

Bile burned her throat as her lunch tried for another return trip.

“There are too many of them! Get Finn and the kid out of here!” Viktis yelled, still shooting. He’d cleared a path down the left side. She glanced back at Finn. He dashed past, and she followed, shooting at anything that moved toward them. The sound of Viktis’s blaster screamed through the narrow space behind them.

“Up the stairs and to the right. The exit is at the end of the corridor!” She turned back to keep shooting at the robots following them. These things moved fast, and there were mere yards between her and the front of the crowd. The only thing left to do was stop and fight. Finn needed enough time to get out of there with the boy.

“Take him to Aldani. He’ll be able to help,” she shouted over her shoulder. “Don’t wait for us!”

“Renna!” Finn’s eyes were wide and terrified as they darted between the limp boy in his arms and Renna’s blood-smeared face.

She flashed him a smile. “I’ll catch you later, Captain. You still owe me a shore leave.”

He shook his head. “No. There’s got to be…”

“Go!” she shouted, drilling two bullets into the head of the closest robot, then pivoting to hit the next one through the door.

She heard the airlock swish open behind her, and then he was gone.

Down the hall, Viktis’ gunfire was slowing. Was his pistol charge running out, too?

Another surge of robots pushed through the door, and she picked them off until her gun whined and vibrated in her hand. She threw it to the floor and grabbed her knife from her boot.

She slashed through two human-metal chests before glaring at the oncoming pack. “Who else wants to rumble?” she taunted.

That’s when they charged.

THIRTY

Renna woke with her head spinning. She kept her eyes closed. Any other motion might have sent her over the edge. She licked her dry, cracked lips, but her tongue felt like it had been coated with glue. Around her, the hum of machines vibrated against her skin. She’d bet her life she was still in Navang’s station.

Slowly, she eased her eyes open. Her head was propped on something soft and white. A pillow. So someone had moved her after the attack.

She had a pretty good guess as to who.

Renna blinked again, trying to clear the fog from her eyes. Everything seemed hazy, indistinct. Even her thoughts felt fuzzy. A series of machines beeped near her head, and her arm itched where a needle was stuck into the vein. It felt like spiders crawling up and down her skin, and she shuddered.

A woman’s voice cut through the room. “She’s awake, Doctor.”

Renna sucked in a breath. She’d had no idea someone was there with her.

“Very good. I’ll be there shortly.” The man’s voice sounded as if it came from an intercom. Though tinny, it was firm and melodious.

The nurse moved around to Renna’s head. “Please don’t struggle. Dr. Navang wants to help you. You’ve been exposed.”

“To what?” she croaked.

The nurse pressed a button, and the head of the bed rose enough so that Renna was propped upright. Then she handed her a glass with a straw.

Renna drank thirstily before sinking back against the pillows. Her heart raced like she’d run a mile. Even sitting up had sent her spinning. What the hell was going on?

The nurse smiled reassuringly at Renna’s expression, her sharp blue eyes softening as she said, “Just try to relax. The doctor will explain everything once he’s here.”

Relax? That was the last thing she wanted to do. Had Finn and Myka made it out? Where was Viktis? And the robots? By her ear, the heart rate monitor beeps increased until they sounded like an alarm.

The nurse frowned and turned down the sound. “Please be calm. I don’t want to have to sedate you again.”

Renna’s muscles twitched and rebelled, but she took a deep breath, trying to get her racing heart back under control. Her head began to ache, and everything had a strange halo of light around it.

What exactly had the doctor done to her?

Her hand drifted to the necklace at her throat, and she squeezed it like a talisman. Panicking was not going to help. This was bad, but she’d gotten out of worse. She was Renna Carrizal, the Star Thief. It was going to be fine.

Across the room, she heard the door slide open and turned her head to watch a man in a white lab coat enter the room.

“Miss Carrizal, I’m glad to see you’ve finally woken up.” His smile didn’t reach his cold, blue eyes. “I’m Dr. Navang.”

“What did you do to me? To Myka?” The effort of talking left her out of breath and shaking. She forced herself to relax back against the pillows. She’d need all her strength to escape these people.

The doctor shook his head, his cropped white hair glowing in the helolights. “I did nothing, I assure you. The people you work for did that themselves.”

Renna rubbed her eyes with a shaking hand. “You’re saying MYTH created these…hybrids? I highly doubt it.”

“Then you’d be mistaken. Let me show you.” He flipped a switch near the door, and the monitors along the wall flickered on.

“Five years ago, the MYTH installation on Banos Prime discovered an interesting element in the soil. It had strange properties, ones that held promise in the medical industry. MYTH sent a research team to investigate and work with the element. Myka’s parents, both MYTH doctors, headed up the project.” He paused and adjusted one of the monitors to display an image of utter destruction. What looked to be some sort of building lay in pieces around a crater. Bodies lay everywhere, along with chunks of machinery.

“Two years into the project, there was an explosion. Many of the MYTH staff were killed or injured, and Myka was caught in the worst of the blast. His parents knew MYTH was developing advanced cybernetic implants in secret in another facility, against all regulations. They proposed an exchange. Use the new implants to save their son and the others injured, and in return, get a real-world test case.”

Renna opened her mouth to protest, but the doctor held up a hand. “Let me finish. MYTH granted approval for the Aldanis to try out the implants, but there was an interesting wrinkle. Myka had been downwind of the mine when it exploded and cast the experimental element into the air. He was exposed for several hours before they could rescue him. Thee others, both MYTH agents and civilians, who were injured in a different area of the mine weren’t exposed.”

He pressed another button, this time bringing up an image of a lab full of bodies on tables. Some were obviously dead, bleeding out of wounds too horrific to fix. Others had the same sort of robotic hands and eyes and legs she’d seen on the mercs back on Banos Prime.

“The child was the only one who survived the experiment. The other human bodies rejected the implants, killing their hosts in days or weeks. But Myka…his body embraced them. Integrated with them until it was impossible to find where the boy left off and the machine began.”

“I don’t understand.” Renna’s head throbbed like her brain wanted to ooze out her ears. She forced her eyes to stay focused on the doctor. “Are you saying Myka was the first hybrid?”

Navang nodded. “Myka’s parents were already familiar with the work Aldani and I had done on an anti-rejection drug. After seeing Myka’s miraculous recovery, his parents hypothesized that the new element they’d found in the destroyed mine had been the missing key. They developed a new formula and tested their theory on other accident victims. Each one was given a cybernetic implant and put on the drugs. Sixty-five percent of the cases were successful. But Myka was the most important because his implants truly became a part of him. They changed him, and he changed them.”

“So where do you come in?” she asked.

“I was part of their team in a consultant capacity. MYTH asked me to step in when the Aldanis were killed.”

She shook her head. “Why you? David Aldani seems like a better choice.”

“He wasn’t given the opportunity. MYTH was afraid his emotions would cloud his judgment, and you must be impartial when running these kinds of experiments.” Navang’s lips curved into a smile. “Besides, they needed the best. Aldani is a washed-up has-been.”

Renna snorted, then winced as her head pounded. “Aldani is a better man than you’ll ever be.”

Navang shrugged. “You know nothing of me. Of the work I’ve done for this organization. I’ve used my research to create an army for MYTH. One that will be unstoppable.”

She stared at him. It couldn’t be true. MYTH wouldn’t have hired her to find the boy if they were already involved. None of it made sense. “You’re saying that MYTH asked you to create an army of hybrids to take over the galaxy? That doesn’t make sense.”

The man was insane. Completely and utterly mad. He’d created a new race with the blessing of a government agency. They’d be completely undetectable once they assimilated into the humans.

If it was true.

“But it
does
make sense,” Navang said. “Someone wants power, and undetectable assassins and spies are the perfect solution. I don’t ask questions. I just get paid for my work. One branch of MYTH is the same as any other to me. Besides, who’s to say the order came from MYTH headquarters itself? The bigwigs probably had no idea what we were working on. Dallas certainly didn’t when he sent you after the boy.”

She struggled to sit up. Enough of this mad man’s ramblings. Aldani had said not to trust him. These were probably all lies. “Where is he? Where’s Myka?”

“I was going to ask you the same thing.” The doctor narrowed his eyes. “Seems like the good captain has escaped with our template. I want him back.”

She forced her face to stay expressionless, but she felt herself relax against the pillows. Myka and Finn were safe. That was the most important thing. And if she could keep Navang talking, maybe she could figure out a plan to get out of here.

“So who was behind the attacks on the planets?” she asked.

“MYTH was, of course. I needed test subjects to build my army, and my contact was more than happy to oblige. Each attack gave me thousands of dead or dying humans to work with. A virtually unlimited stock of research subjects. It was the perfect solution.”

Impossible. MYTH would never condone that. The people she’d met were honorable. But a sliver of doubt wormed its way into her mind. She’d wondered before about how easily the kidnappers had found Myka. About the attacks on the planets. But surely they wouldn’t kill their own people. Unless…