Lifel1k3 (Lifelike #1)(30)

“Thank you,” it said to Eve.

She shrugged. Ezekiel glanced at Cricket, who gave a small golf clap.

“Nice of you to help,” the lifelike said.

“Oh, I’d have helped if I could’ve, prettyboy,” the little logika replied. “Helped push you right back under the slop where you belong.”

Ezekiel ignored the jab, returned its gaze to Eve. “Where’s Mistress Lemon?”

Eve was blinking hard, trying to focus despite the pain rocking her skull. She pointed to Lem’s discarded jacket, fighting the panic in her belly. “She was with m-me … but I lost her. And I dunno where Kaiser is, either.”

“I had him,” Ezekiel replied. “But I lost my grip after I got swallowed. Don’t worry, they’ll turn up. They’re probably in one of the other stomachs.”

“Stomachs?” Eve slumped onto her backside, trying to wipe the slime off her hands. “Look … where the hells are we? What is this place?”

“A kraken,” Ezekiel replied.

Eve shook her head, eyebrow raised. “What does that mean, Braintrauma?”

Ezekiel sighed. “I wish you wouldn’t call me that.”

“I like Stumpy, myself.” Cricket waved at Ezekiel’s severed arm. “Just putting it out there.”

“My name is Ezekiel.”

“And my name’s Eve.” She tilted her head. “Or wait, is it Ana?”

The lifelike sighed again. “I told you I was confused when I called you that. I hurt my head in the crash.”

“So Braintrauma it is, then.”

“Mistress Eve, I thi—”

Eve hissed as white light burst in her head. A slideshow of images strobing in her mind. She and her family gathered around a long dinner table and smiling at each other. A tower looming over a kingdom of burned glass. Her family again, cold and dead on the floor. Four figures in a pretty row. Their eyes cold. Their faces perfect.

More human than human …

She was on her hands and knees, head bowed, Cricket beside her.

“Evie, can you hear me?”

“Mistress Eve, are you—”

“Give her space, you bastard,” Cricket growled. “Let her breathe.”

“I’m trained in human anatomy and medical—”

“Oh, all the better to murder them, right?”

“In case you missed that firefight back there, little man, I just saved her life.”

“We don’t need your help, Stumpy!” Cricket yelled, shrill with fury. “And if you call me little again, I’ll rip off your other arm and shove it up your—”

“Will you two please shut up?” Eve moaned.

Cricket zipped his lip immediately, hovering beside her like some metallic mother hen. Eve squeezed her eyes closed, hissing in pain. The ache slowly subsided, her breath came easier. The blood in her temples pounded in time to the pulse in the walls. A war-drum rhythm to match the war inside her skull.

Lub-dub.

Lub-dub.

Ezekiel knelt beside her. Not saying a word. But as she glanced up at it, she saw fear shining in those too-blue eyes.

The walls are white and pristine. Ezekiel is on one knee beside her bed, fingers entwined with hers. A gentle ping sings from the machines beside her, chiming with every beat of her heart.

“I thought I lost you,” he whispers.

Eve frowned, temples pounding. “… What?”

The lifelike blinked. “I didn’t say anything, Mistress Eve.”

The world was dark again. The pulse thudding through the chamber, throbbing at the base of her skull. Eve pushed her fingers into her eyes to stop the ache.

“Evie, you okay?” Cricket asked.

She shook her head. “I think my Memdrive is fritzing.”

The little logika inspected her implant, head tilted. “Looks like that murderbot fractured a chip when it slugged you. Not good.”

“Which chip?”

“Third from the back. The red one.”

Her memories. The fragments of her childhood, held together with spit and masking tape. The ones Grandpa had pieced together for her.

“… Grandfather?” A sharp smile twisted the lifelike’s perfect lips. “Oh, you poor girl. What has he been telling you?”

Eve closed her eyes, wincing against the pain.

“Evie …”

“I’m okay. Just gimme a sec.” Eve cursed, slumped back on her haunches. She looked to Ezekiel, trying to banish the flickering images in her mind’s eye. “What were you saying, Braintrauma? Stomachs? Kraken?”

Ezekiel glanced at Cricket, concern written clearly on its face.

“Spit it out, dammit,” she snarled.

“You’ve heard of BioMaas Incorporated?” it finally asked.

“My Memdrive is fritzing, but it’s not totally OOC.” Eve scowled. “They’re one of the two big mainland Corps. They’re all about gene-splicing and DNA modification.”

“Their motto is ‘Sustainable Growth.’” Ezekiel nodded. “And they take it seriously. BioMaas technology isn’t built anymore, it’s grown. Thing is, they don’t like utilizing materials already used by the ‘deadworld.’ They consider them polluted. Impure.”