Chasing Mayhem by Cynthia Sax Page B

for her family. To give up all hope of future happiness shouldn’t be that difficult.
    “How would you rescue them?” She gazed at him, willing him to give her a viable alternative.
    “I require more inputs before determining that plan.” He placed the footage of her mom on the main viewscreen. Her face was paused in time, had a few more wrinkles than the image displayed on the wall.
    The footage had been recorded in the interior of her family’s chambers. Objects were neatly arranged on horizontal supports behind her. Her sister’s attempt at fabricating a container, a lopsided visual mess, was prominent. Her brother’s seedlings, fragile and new, were set under special growing lights. Her mom’s collection of green stones, one for every solar cycle Imee had been parted from them, lined the horizontal surfaces.
    They remembered her as she remembered them.
    “I will be the envy of my brethren.” Mayhem’s lips curved. “I have found my female. She’s the strongest and most beautiful of all the females.” He pulled her closer to him. “And she has a family, a mother with lines upon her face.”
    “That’s a good thing?”
    “Cyborgs and their females don’t age.” He brushed a strand of her hair away from her scarred cheek. “They also don’t scar.” He followed the jagged white mark with his laughing lips. “You’re rare, special.”
    How can she deliver him to his death after he’d called her special, strong, beautiful? “Play the footage.” Her voice was gruff.
    “Hi, small bits.” That was her mom’s unique name for her. “I don’t know how long I can talk to you.” Her gaze moved to the right and she nodded. “But I wanted you to know I miss you. Jae and Geo miss you too. They’re getting so big. You might not recognize them.”
    “I would,” she whispered. They were a part of her.
    “Jae is training to be a medic. She cares for the others here.” Her mom’s eyes shone with a pride Imee shared. Her sister was such a good, kind, giving being, worthy of being saved, being protected. “Geo wants to be an agri lot worker.” She swallowed hard. “He’s like your dad in that way.” Emotion weighted her words. Her mom missed her mate, Imee’s dad, even more than Imee did. “They say if…if things go well, they’ll give Geo more containers of plants.”
    If things go well…if Imee continued to make quota.
    The feed scrambled for a moment and then stabilized.
    “Already?” her mom asked the being to the right. “Give me a few more moments. I haven’t spoken to her for solar cycles.” The answer must have been ‘no’ because she made a distressed sound. “I love you, Imee.” Her mom reached out.
    Imee did the same. She knew her mom couldn’t see her, that the footage was almost a solar cycle old, that Mayhem was watching her, but she couldn’t stop herself.
    “And I’m proud of you. Your dad would have been--”
    The footage stopped. The screen went black.
    Imee gulped air, trying to control her emotions. She missed her mom so blasted much, the loneliness clawing at her heart.
    Mayhem pressed her cheek against his body armor and stroked her hair, silently soothing her. She took his comfort, drawing on his strength and savoring his touch, his warmth, the solidness of his big form.
    Moments passed.
    “I have to keep them safe, Mayhem.” She willed him to understand. “Whatever that requires, I’ll do it. I’m all they have and they’re counting on me.”
    “ We’re all they have,” he corrected. “If your family lives, we’ll rescue them, my female.”
    “My family lives.” She frowned. How could he question that? “They’re the Humanoid Alliance’s only leverage over me. They won’t be harmed, not as long as I make quota.”
    Mayhem said nothing.
    Her concern increased. He’d been manufactured by the Humanoid Alliance, knew them better than she did. “That footage is less than a solar cycle old. You saw my mom.”
    “Images can be fabricated, my