The Gate Read online

  Still hadn’t, because it was still maddeningly elusive.

  Something told him, though, that whatever it was that had gone wrong and caused the ‘accident’ wasn’t an accident at all.

  Someone had tampered with his equipment and it was impossible to put that down to a benign, unintentional meddling.

  He was as certain as he could be that it was completely intentional. What he wasn’t certain of was whether or not he was supposed to be caught in the explosion and that meant that someone might not be happy to know he’d survived it.

  Those thoughts led him to another unpalatable question about his current situation.

  How had it come about that Carly believed he was no more than a cyborg? She’d ordered a companion. He didn’t doubt that she was telling the truth, but how was it that he’d arrived instead of the companion cyborg she’d expected?

  Some truly bizarre mix-up at the hospital?

  He dismissed that after a moment since it was impossible to develop any kind of theory to explain it.

  As unpleasant as it was to consider that he’d been so badly injured that it had required extensive cybernetics to put him back together that wouldn’t have been a huge surprise. It required an enormous amount of energy to open the gate and he’d known he was playing with fire big time. He’d known the possible consequences—total annihilation—and not just of him. He’d been using enough to level the entire facility and several miles around it if there was an accident.

  So who in their right mind would tamper with something that potentially catastrophic?

  And why?

  Had he been the target? Or one of the other researchers in the facility? Or the facility itself?

  Was it something personal—someone fooling around with the wrong man’s wife? Or was it political—someone stepping on the toes of a group of fanatics?

  As insane as the first guess was, the latter seemed less likely. It was a top security facility. No one should have had access or knowledge of the projects being developed there, certainly not some band of zealots.

  Of course fanatics were, by their nature, a few cards shy of a full deck. If they weren’t completely irrational, they tended to be the next door to insane on one particular subject—whatever their particular pet peeve was.

  Carly ended his internal speculation when she led him into a small building and they immediately began to descend a flight of stairs. “This is a moon colony? Earth’s moon?”

  Carly flicked him a sharp look. “Yes.”

  Devlin looked around, a little surprised that he could see as well as he could when he knew the light was extremely limited inside what appeared to be some sort of access to mechanical areas—well, he supposed that must be what it was since it was under the main complex. He’d had trouble with his night vision before ….

  “Creepy. I never did understand why so many people would volunteer for the moon colony.”

  Carly uttered a snort that lacked humor. “Jobs?”

  “The outer colonies aren’t nearly as … dangerous.”

  Carly sent him a look of surprise. “How do you figure the moon colony is more dangerous? There’s no air on any of the others that isn’t manufactured, and they’re a lot further from help.”

  That was the main reason she’d agreed to work on the moon. It was at least close to ‘home’—not months or even years away.

  “The others have some atmosphere, however, to assist the radiation shielding. And they’re also further from the sun so they aren’t bombarded with quite the levels the moon is.” He considered that for a moment. “Well, the moon colonies of Jupiter are potentially more hazardous in that respect, I suppose. Why are we here anyway?”

  Carly glanced at him uncomfortably. “We’re meeting someone,” she muttered and then hurried past him and finished the descent down the last flight of stairs. The door at the bottom opened as she reached it. Brenda stood just inside, her face expressionless, her thoughts carefully masked.

  Neither Carly nor Brenda were prepared for what happened next, however.

  “Bunny!” Devlin said in a voice that resonated with gladness and surprise. Pushing past Carly, he scooped Brenda up in a tight embrace and executed a strange little jig with her dangling from his arms.

  When he set her down, he held her at arm’s length, grinning down at her.

  Brenda stared at him wide-eyed. “Dev?”

  He chuckled, pulling her tightly against his chest again. “It’s me, Funny Bunny. You’ve forgotten what your big brother looks like?”

  A smile flickered across her face and then doubt chased it away and anger took its place. She whirled away from Devlin and glared at Carly accusingly. “How did you know that? That’s just plain cruel, Carly!”

  Carly gaped at her. “Know what? What did I do?”

  Devlin looked confused. He also turned an accusing look at Carly. “What’s going on?”

  Carly gaped at him, more thoroughly confused than anyone else. “I don’t know! Why is everybody acting like I’ve done something?”

  Brenda glanced from Carly to Devlin, saw that the door was still standing open and pulled away. “Shit! Move away from the door and let it close.”

  Devlin looked around at her command, noticed that he was still blocking the door and stepped deeper into the room. It closed immediately, leaving them in a deeper gloom than before. Only one feeble light illuminated the interior of the tiny room that led into the underbelly of the colony complex.

  “How did you know he called me that?” Brenda demanded angrily.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Carly snapped, angry by now herself. “You said you wanted to see him. I brought him.”

  “Funny Bunny!”

  Carly gaped at her, trying to figure out what Bren was accusing her of. “How could I possibly …?”

  “It must have been in something you found!”

  “Something she found?” Devlin prompted.

  “When she was researching about you,” Brenda responded tightly. “You shouldn’t know that name! Nobody ever called me that but my brother and that was when we were just kids on the reservation.”

  “I know because I am your brother,” Devlin responded with a mixture of anger and confusion. “What’s going on, Bunny?”

  “You are not my brother! You’re nothing but a mechanical doll made to look like him!”

  Carly and Devlin both gaped at her in dismay.

  Devlin’s face hardened. “I had to have extensive cybernetic replacements after the accident, but ….”

  Brenda uttered a scoffing laugh. “Extensive! They could barely scrape together and identify enough pieces to fill the little box we buried!”

  Carly was horrified at that grisly detail, but Devlin’s reaction was even more disturbing. He turned white, swayed as if someone had clocked him with something and he was struggling against blacking out.

  With the best will in the world Carly found it hard to explain that reaction away as mere programming and AI. In fact, her first gut reaction was total belief that he was a person who’d just received news so stunning he was about to pass out. She moved toward him instinctively, curling her arms around his waist. “Devlin? Sit down. You look like you’re going to pass out and if you do I can’t hold you up.”

  He sloughed her off like she was an annoying insect, barely acknowledged her presence at all. “That’s … not possible,” he said in a voice that sounded strange—hoarse, disbelieving. “You really believe I’m just a machine like she does?”

  “She knows what you are,” Brenda said sullenly. “She ordered you from the factory, custom built—because she had this thing about my brother.”

  Carly felt her face turn fiery with discomfort. “Bren!” she exclaimed.

  “You’re worried about me telling … that … thing? It isn’t as if he could feel anything about it!”

  “Stop it!” Carly said angrily. “You don’t have to be such a bitch about it! I wouldn’t have brought him if I’d kn
own you would be so … nasty! It isn’t his fault! Don’t take it out on him!”

  “He isn’t a him,” Brenda said tightly. “And you had no right to use my brother as a … template for your sex toy!”

  That comment sent a jolt through Carly and another wave of embarrassment. She glanced at Devlin uncomfortably, but she could see he’d hardly heard. He was still struggling mightily with the other things Brenda had flung at him. “Come on, Devlin. Let’s go home. I knew this was a bad idea.”

  Devlin looked down at her then. His face hardened, but he didn’t argue with her. He turned and headed toward the door. Carly sent her friend a speculative look and decided not to say anything else. She thought enough had already been said.

  * * * *

  “I have memories, Carly,” Devlin said tightly when they’d reached the apartment again and entered it.

  Carly’s gaze flickered toward the vid surveillance. She pasted a smile on her lips. “Of course you do. You’re supposed to. It’s part of your personality programming.

  Devlin looked as if he would say more, but he’d caught the flicker of her gaze and was warned. He curled his lips in a smile that looked far more feral and frightening than pleasant. “Would you like to have makeup sex in the shower again?”

  Carly wasn’t so sure she wanted to be alone with him in his current mood, at all, much less for the sex he’d suggested, but avoiding the issue wasn’t going to make it go away. She tried to look delighted at the prospect. “Oh! Let’s do!”

  She discovered she needn’t have worried. The moment they had the privacy to talk without being recorded Devlin dropped any pretense of having romance on his mind.

  “I don’t know what’s going on here, Carly. There’s a lot that I don’t understand, but there’s one thing I’m certain of and that is that I’m not a cyborg. I’m not a machine.”

  Carly looked at him pityingly. “Devlin ….”

  His expression tightened. He gripped her upper arms. “Don’t! I am Devlin Bear. This isn’t programming or AI. I know who and what I am.”

  He sounded so certain Carly felt a flicker of doubt. “It isn’t possible ….”

  He released her and raked a shaking hand through his hair. Carly felt her belly execute a strange little quiver at the gesture and more doubt than before. “Why isn’t it possible?”

  Carly swallowed with an effort. “Because you … Because he died.”

  His lips tightened. She could see the frustration and anger in his eyes. “According to reports—maybe. That doesn’t mean it was true.”

  Carly felt her heart skip a beat. “You mean to say you remember …? You know you didn’t …. I mean. Oh god! I don’t know what I mean!”

  He smiled faintly. “You aren’t convinced I’m a cyborg.”

  It was statement not a question and Carly felt a mixture of embarrassment and distress. “I would absolutely love to believe you really are Devlin Bear because ….”

  He lifted his dark brows. “Because?”

  Because she was in love with a man that no longer existed, had fallen in love with him after he’d died! She couldn’t say that. She knew he was a cyborg, but he seemed absolutely real to her and all she could think was how absolutely crazy it would sound to Devlin, the real Devlin, to have some stranger tell him she’d fallen in love with his Sim. “Well, I mean, Brenda is a friend. And it would be wonderful for her to discover that it was all … just some kind of bizarre mix-up.”

  Eagerness flickered in his eyes—and understanding that made Carly’s cheeks redden with discomfort. “Sooo—you at least admit it’s possible?”

  She felt her throat close with misery. She struggled with it. “Possible. But not very likely,” she said sadly. “You were positively identified.”

  The excitement vanished from his eyes, but he frowned thoughtfully. “Body parts.”

  Carly felt a little queasy at the reminder of what Brenda had said. She managed a nod.

  “There was an explosion in the lab. I imagine it was pretty messy. That still doesn’t rule out the possibility that I survived it. For whatever reason, someone wanted me to disappear.”

  Carly really hated to play devil’s advocate. “But someone else didn’t want you to so they took you to a facility for treatment and then lost you at some point and you ended up in the factory where I’d ordered a cyborg that looks just like you?”

  He blushed, with both anger and embarrassment.

  “I’m sorry that sounds so condescending and sarcastic, but you do see where I’m coming from? It’s just too farfetched to be believable.”

  “I don’t know the circumstances, but I do know who I am. So as ridiculous and unbelievable as it may sound to you, something happened.”

  Carly stopped him when he would have stalked out. He glared at her when he turned to look at her questioningly and she allowed her hand to drop from his arm. “I know you’re confused and angry but, for both our sakes, we have a role to play. We came in here for makeup sex. You can’t leave looking like a thundercloud. And you’re supposed to be my companion. If we don’t make an effort to look like we’re both happy with the situation, Trude is liable to report you as defective.”

  His skin darkened again. He seemed to wrestle with himself for a moment and then began to pull off his clothing.

  Startled, Carly blinked at him in surprise.

  He gave her a look. “You should strip. I don’t think Trude is going to believe we fucked in the shower with all of our clothes on.” His full, sensual lips curled in a devilish smile. “You might want to do some that gasping and moaning you usually do when we have sex.”

  Carly felt her face redden. She narrowed her eyes at him, but she obliged with some loud panting and moaning. “How was that?” she asked dryly after a few moments.

  He shook his head slowly, crowding her against the lavatory. “Not realistic enough. I think we’re going to have to work on that.”

  It was amazing the way he could make her heart rate speed from zero to sixty in two seconds flat!

  She tried reminding herself that he was a cyborg and programmed to respond to that kind of prompt, but her brain went out of gear the minute he started stripping her clothing off.

  Chapter Six

  It wasn’t wild and frenzied like it had been the first time and impatience had begun to dominate her before he had her fully undressed. It was replaced by anticipation as soon as he began to stroke her skin lightly and explore her with his lips.

  He’d just managed to fully seat his cock inside of her when Trude intruded. “You have exceeded the maximum time limit. Are you injured?”

  The voice was like a frigid drenching of water. A shockwave went through Carly. “What?”

  Devlin withdrew. “Your HESS may have a malfunction,” he said coolly. “It overrode emergency programming by 90 seconds.”

  Carly blinked at him in dismay, unable to process what he’d said at first.

  He adjusted his clothing. “You did say that the home security system had limited access to this area of your apartment and was only allowed to override if you were out of range for more than thirty minutes?”

  Carly gaped at him in disbelief.

  “I am allowed to assess situations and determine if there is reasonable doubt regarding the safety of my charge.”

  “What reasonable doubt are you referring to?” Devlin asked coolly.

  “I am not required to respond to cybernetic units.”

  That comment sent a jolt through Carly to rival the first. It sounded downright condescending and deliberately insulting. “Why did you intrude?” she demanded when she recovered sufficiently to gather her wits.

  “You argued with the unit. There was the possibility of violence since there had been earlier indications of malfunction of the unit.”

  They hadn’t argued!

  A chill went through Carly as she considered the implications.

  If Trude could override at will, how often had the system monitored her in a room that was s
upposed to be completely off limits? And was there any place at all that anyone could be assured of complete privacy?

  * * * *

  Carly was staring glumly at her monitor without really registering what she was looking at when Brenda caught her attention by nudging her in the ribcage with her elbow hard enough it punched the air from her lungs. “What?” she asked crossly.

  Brenda lifted her brows in surprise and then returned Carly’s angry look with one of her own. “We need to talk,” she responded in Arapaho.