Alien Paladin's Redemption - Mina Carter Page 0,61

Its thought processes and personality are driven by code and routines. It is an affront to the goddess herself.”

Shaking off Indra he stalked toward Keris, getting up close to snarl down into its “face.”

“If you did not have the protection of the champion’s name, believe me, I would already have put you down.”

Stephens moved at the same time, growling as he lifted his weapon to Nyek’s head. “Step back away from her, asshole.”

Nyek chuckled. The human seemed to have developed feelings for the hunk of metal and wires. “I suggest you take a second look at this thing you consider a person, human. You might find it’s not as friendly to humans as you might think.”

He stepped aside to reveal that Keris had Nyek’s blaster in her hand. Aimed directly at Stephens.

The human’s eyes widened, and he staggered back. “Keris?”

The AI dropped the pistol, looking at her hands.

“I-I… I did not mean to do that,” she whispered, her voice shaken and seemingly on the verge of tears. The only problem was, machines didn’t have tear ducts. “I didn’t even think.”

Nyek scooped up his pistol and shoved it back into its holster with a soft click. He walked past Stephens, patting him on the shoulder as he went.

“AIs are programmed to protect Latharian life first. Didn’t you wonder why she didn’t come to your aid in the corridor? Bluntly put, human, your pet AI here would have shot you on the spot if you’d hurt me.”

Nyek strode from the sector without a word, even ignoring Indra when she called out to him. Leaving it behind him, he continued walking right through the command center and down the corridors back toward the shuttles.

He dropped into the pilot’s seat of the shuttle with a sigh and ran his hand over his stubble. He needed a little space. Away from humans. Away from their word games and childish view of reality. To them it seemed so obvious. The AI needed a body and they’d found a way to get it one. They were so focused on the here and now that they did not see the wider implications or risks.

He did.

Turning his wrists outward, he idly studied the marks there. Twin scars where the blades of the Vesh ritual had bitten deep into his flesh, opening his veins to allow his lifeblood to drain from them. They’d left him there, before the altar of the lady, to see if she would allow him to live or take him into her embrace to dwell forever at her side.

Only the lady had decided whether his crime deserved life or death. And to this day he wasn’t sure if he’d been rewarded… or left to live to be punished further.

Blasphemer! It’s your fault your mother was taken from us. You killed her!

He closed his eyes against the sound of his father’s voice in his head. Normally he kept it locked in the smallest box in the back of his mind, silenced and impotent against the gag he placed on it. But seeing the printer… knowing what the humans wanted to do… the voice had escaped, and he couldn’t get it back into its cage.

With a groan, he pushed the heels of his hands against his eyes. The humans would bring disaster down on them all. The Cabal had operated in the shadows for a reason. If the court had known what they were up to, they would have been hunted down and stopped. And for the emperor’s own litaan to be involved…

A chirp from the comms console caught his attention. It was a short-range communication. He frowned, sitting up. They were in the ass-end of beyond, a tiny system so unremarkable it was little more than a number on a star chart. And no one knew they were here. Who could be calling them?

“This is S’Vaan. Identify yourself,” he ordered, opening a channel.

The screen in front of him crackled with a spark of static and then a face appeared in front of him. Nyek sucked in a hard breath as he looked at his own reflection.

“Hello, brother,” his twin smirked. “Miss me?”

For a moment, Nyek remained speechless. Younger by mere minutes, Tavik had always been their father’s favorite. Even more so when he had not manifested the same blood disorder that Nyek had. Ravel had seen that as proof of Nyek’s inferiority, even though the two boys were identical in every other way, and favored Tavik. Convinced by their father that he was superior in every way