Gadget Read Free Page B

sister.”
    “You know why, now palm down, scooter.” Toby put all of her authority into her voice, and the young noble pressed his palm to the scanner.
    She watched and he jumped. She laughed. “I didn’t think to warn you. Sorry.”
    “What the hell was that?” Naroz cradled his hand against his chest and scowled.
    “It needs a bio sample as well as a standard scan. We don’t want anyone simply mimicking your bio-rhythm.” She shrugged.
    Shatter flexed his hand as the light authorized his scan. His muscles jumped as the ship bit him, but he didn’t jerk away. He simply removed his hand calmly from the unit. “Do we need audio or video recordings?”
    Toby smiled. “No, the Fairy does that for herself.”
    Shatter looked around. “It is alive?”
    Toby inclined her head. “She is. She doesn’t speak in words, but she talks through the instruments and readouts. We are linked.”
    Naroz nodded. With Nitza in service as dispatcher, he was privy to many secrets of the Guardians and their transport flock. Being bonded to a ship was a strange job requirement, but it is what the Nyal had asked for in exchange for their body mods.
    Five Terrans had been chosen for the remodel project by the Alliance. They did not do that kind of modification to a new species unless it was for restoration after an injury. The five women chosen all suffered from damage inflicted by their own natural environment or biology. The Champions of Terra had not existed, so the five were not privy to the more exotic healing techniques that were now on offer in the Alliance. The Nyal experimental sciences division had greeted them with open arms, and after transmuting them into cyborgs, they had been given all the necessary treatments and therapies to turn them into the Guardian Transport Division.
    Toby didn’t regret one moment of the pain for the body she was now able to control.
    The Dark Fairy was her partner, her guardian and her home. The mind was cultured from her own cells mixed with those of a Nyal donor. The brain had a neural net that ran throughout the ship, controlling everything with a combination of impulses and wiring.
    Shatter frowned. “Can you leave her?”
    “Not for long periods. She gets lonely, and when she gets lonely, she gets creative with the route maps. Last time I took more than three days off, she took me on a two-day voyage for a six-hour trip.” She grimaced.
    Toby straightened. “Now, I will show you the first-aid bay and the kitchen. The rations have been loaded in, so you can simply select them from the dispenser. If you want fresh food, you are on your own. I never managed to learn how to cook.”
    She showed them the galley and the small first-aid kiosk just large enough for two, but easy enough for a single person to use comfortably. She should know, she did it frequently when it came to tuning up her wiring and weaponry.
    “My quarters are here, knock if you don’t find me in the throne room.”
    Naroz laughed. “I thought you said we didn’t have ranks.”
    She chuckled and patted his cheek. “No, I said you don’t have ranks. I am queen of all I survey and ruler of this life-supported shuttle in the vastness of space.”
    Shatter snorted. “That was very politic.”
    Toby winked at him. “Speaking of politics, Naroz, do you have a destination for us?”
    “Yaviilianika. I need to talk trade routes with the emirate.”
    “Gentlemen, you have the run of the ship. I will be in my throne room.” Toby turned and left them in the galley. She had a course to lay in.
     

Chapter Four
     
     
    Toby leaned back as the clamps closed over her forearms, hiding her wrists and the jacks from view as the ship joined with her in the most basic way. The subtle notes of the ship were suddenly crystal clear, and Toby relaxed in the technological embrace of her other half.
    Yaviilianika was laid in, and she checked the pressure on the ship as she lifted off. All systems were white, and it was with a sense of