Avion (Cyborgs: More Than Machines, #7) by Eve Langlais Page A

tip when they orgasmed.
    Not a pleasant way for a human to die. Good thing the merchandise was usually not for playing with. Unless a prisoner misbehaved. It only took one example of the alien lizards lust for people to fall in line—male and female.
    The shorter gray alien presented her with a short bow. “Chosen one. You are awake.”
    “Way to state the obvious.” She couldn’t prevent the sarcasm, the influence no doubt of the time spent with the cyborgs.
    “We apologize for having put you to sleep with the others. However, it’s standard protocol when dealing with the lesser races.” A moue of distaste curled its thin lips. “Much decontamination was needed.”
    Can we sneeze on him?
    No.
    Cough?
    No.
    Spoilsport.
    For now, until she got some answers. Then, if she didn’t like them, she’d let her more devious side play. “Now that they’re clean, I want to see them.” Avion, oh Avion, wherefore art thou, Avion? Why that quote from a play for star-crossed lovers came to mind she couldn’t have said. She’d thought the story dumb when her Earth teachers made her read it, and yet...she couldn’t help thinking of the tragic tale of lovers that were kept apart. Except Juliette was too much of a weakling to do something about it.
    “Contact with them might not be wise.”
    He dared tell her what to do? “I don’t care. I will see them. You will not deny me. Don’t make me go metal on your ass.” Her other side slipped free and threw the threatening words.
    Her erratic outburst had the slaver recoiling. “Were we mistaken in your status as one of the chosen ones? You are behaving in a very irrational manner.”
    Damned straight she was. And I like it. She tossed her hair. “It’s called emotions. And how dare you question me? As you’ve noted, I am one of the chosen. As per the agreement with my creator, you are to show me respect and accord me aid if requested.”
    “We are well aware of our duties. What would you like us to provide you with?” the alien asked, his expression placid.
    Lilith, on the other hand, wasn’t feeling very controlled. The refusal to bring her to Avion— I need to see him— fed her rash side. “For starters, you need to take me to the origin planet.”
    “Not yet.”
    What did he meant not yet? Avion would die if they delayed too long. “Unacceptable.”
    “We are sorry to distress you, chosen one. However, we cannot set course quite yet.”
    Lilith stamped her foot in a gesture of frustration she’d not indulged in since her younger years. “I can’t wait. I demand you take me to the source planet now.” They had the technology to do it so long as their power crystals were charged.
    The vertically-challenged gray being did not blink its large orb-like eyes as it replied. “Eventually you will be brought to the origin world but not until we’ve first dumped the impure ones.”
    A gasp left her. By dumped, the commander of the Zvali’dus meant he would auction off the cyborgs at the nearest trader planet. Not only was that unacceptable— friends don’t let friends get sold off as slaves— any kind of delay put Avion’s life at risk.
    Should have sneezed.
    She’d do better than that. He’d better not push me on this. I will push back, especially if I spot a cliff I can use. Her other half giggled in her mind. How she disliked these pompous alien slavers.
    First, though, before violence, she’d try reason. Her nanos insisted on it. “You can’t get rid of them.”
    “I can and will. You know as well as I that abominations are not allowed to set foot on the source planet. Your mentor would be the first to forbid it.”
    She lost a grip on her emotions in that moment and felt herself grimace. Some recollections resonated more loudly with her suppressed half, her mentor being one of them.
    Arrogant, know-it-all ass.
    Arrogant when it came to downplaying his own superiority but definitely knowledgeable—and unforgiving. “These are unusual circumstances.