Chasing Mayhem by Cynthia Sax

They’d be killed if that was reported. So we’re careful.”
    That made sense…she supposed.
    He inserted the wires into his wrists, into the interfaces she’d never noticed there.
    “What are you doing?”
    “Replenishing my energy levels.” He placed his palms back on the control panel. “The nourishment bars we consumed during the rest cycle didn’t provide sufficient inputs.”
    “You’re replenishing your energy levels.” She gazed at him. “Because you’re a cyborg.”
    “And I want to be prepared for our next round of breeding.” He grinned at her.
    She’d fucked a cyborg, a machine. That hardness under his skin was his metal frame. She’d sensed he wasn’t completely human. He’d referred to his processors, not his brain, talked about repairing damage, not healing wounds. 
    “I don’t know much about cyborgs,” she admitted. Not realizing they could rebel against the Humanoid Alliance, she hadn’t studied them, hadn’t considered them to be possible targets.
    “I don’t know much about Retrievers.” Mayhem’s eyes sparkled. “Is this your mom?” He tilted his head toward one of the images.
    “Yeah.” Her heart warmed as she gazed at her mom’s smiling face.
    That image had been sent to her two solar cycles ago. Her mom was older, had a couple more wrinkles, more gray hair, but she remained strong and vibrant.
    Imee would ensure that didn’t change. “Do cyborgs have moms?”
    “We’re manufactured in vats.” Mayhem shared that appalling information with a lack of concern, as though it didn’t bother him. “We don’t have mothers or fathers but we do have thousands of brethren.”
    “Menace is one of those brethren.” She guessed.
    He nodded. “As is Death.”
    That was the male he had been searching for.
    She’d forced Mayhem to leave his brothers as the Humanoid Alliance had forced her to leave her family. Imee wiggled in her seat, restless with guilt.
    “This is your younger sister?” Mayhem indicated another image.
    “Her name is Jae and this is my brother Geo.” She pointed to her brother’s image. “He was a baby when I left them.” Now he neared adulthood, his formerly round face lean. “When I meet quota, I’m sent an image. When I exceed it, I’m sent more. Sometimes I receive a recording. Last solar cycle, the footage was transmitted live. I couldn’t communicate with my mom.” The Humanoid Alliance didn’t allow that. “But she knew I was on the other end, listening.”
    She didn’t want to think about the lives she’d traded for that reward.
    “Can I view that footage?”
    She hesitated. The footage was rare, hard-fought for, and she feared if she shared it with others, it might vanish.
    That concern was irrational and Mayhem sounded genuinely interested. He’d understand why she had to return him to the clutches of the Humanoid Alliance, their mutual enemy.
    “I’ll bring it up.” Imee searched through her hoarded files.
    “There’s no need. I have it.” Mayhem’s lips quirked upward. “I’m a cyborg, remember?”
    Being half machine, he’d have the ability to access every file in the system. His request for permission had been a courtesy. The lack of privacy, of control, irked her.
    “Then watch it.” She didn’t care. Imee turned her back slightly to him.
    Mayhem chuckled. “We’ll watch it together, female.” He scooped her out of her seat and set her on his lap.
    “I have to other tasks to perform.” She slapped his hands, not appreciating his handling of her. “There are communications to read.” The indicator light on the control panel flashed. “One of them could be urgent.”
    “We’ll read the communications first and then watch the footage of your mom.” He brought the first written communication up on a corner of the main viewscreen, against the backdrop of stars, the unknown vastness of open space.
    “Take that down.” She reached for the control panel. He caught her hands, stopping her. “The