Daggertail by Kaitlin Maitland Page B

she found out his background. He hadn't missed the fear and revulsion in her voice when the cyborg unit passed them by. What would it feel like when she turned that revulsion on him? Would it even matter that his father hadn't been a true cyborg? Would she give the truth a chance?
    Shaking off his lingering doubts, he strode into Heidi's living room with renewed purpose. He had to get to Mendez. Tavish had come here with an eye toward that result. It was time for her to let him know exactly how she intended to accomplish that goal.
    “We need to get a move on, Tavish. Warrick has opened a window for us at the Persian Maiden.”
    She jumped up from the sofa. Her expression showed surprise at his abrupt manner, but this was no time to protect feelings. He hated this businesslike demeanor. He hated having to keep his needs and desires under tight rein. But if he let it all hang out, the only thing that would get done would be Tavish.
    “Okay, I just need to borrow a dress from Heidi's stock.” She shifted her eyes to the plump old lady still sitting on the worn sofa.
    “What kind of dress, Tavvy darling? And why ever would you go to the Persian Maiden?”
    “I think Mendez would've gone to ground where Aiello could help him hide.”
    Heidi sighed. “That is not a safe place for you, Tavish.”
    “I know. But we have to get Mendez.”
    “Who does? You? I think not! It's him that needs Mendez.”
    Xave resisted the urge to shrink beneath the old lady's fierce glare.
    “It's dangerous for Tavish to appear in any of these clubs. You should take her off world immediately! Don't you understand what Louie will do to her if she is returned to him for any reason?”
    “I won't let that happen,” Xave assured her.
    “Stupid man. No doubt thinking with his prick instead of his brain.” Heidi heaved herself to a standing position. “Come with me, Tavvy darling. I'll have you looking like some rich man's wife in no time.”
    Tavish tossed an apologetic glance in his direction. “Thanks, Heidi. And don't worry, I promise I'll stay clear of Louie.”
    Xave watched Heidi grumble her way out of the room, dragging Tavish behind. He considered sitting but discarded the idea. He was wound too tightly to stay still for long. He took to pacing back and forth before the faux hearth instead.
    It'd been years since he'd had a hearth. They'd been all the rage when an influx of homesick Earth natives had settled on Janus 5 to set up shop. Not that you could actually have a fire. The lack of substantial water sources made fire a dangerous thing to treat so casually.
    He mulled over the relationship between Heidi and Tavish. The woman seemed to have been a mother figure to Tavish during her formative years. A brief smile creased his lips when he compared Heidi to his own mother. Two more dissimilar creatures had never existed.
    His memories of his mother were faded images from a distant past. But he could still recall the iron will that had forced him to hone his body beyond all limitations. It had been her warrior spirit that had attracted the attention of his father.
    His father had wanted his mother on first sight. He was a Gen 8 traveling with a band of renegades fleeing their Alliance-orchestrated demise on Earth. Assigned the serial number XA85621V at birth, his father had already been calling himself Xave by the time he reached the city of Tyra on Tristan in the Helix system.
    He knew very little of his mother's home, other than the stories she'd often told of fighting off the constant raids from Tristonian pirates. He didn't know if his father had forced himself on his mother. His parents had spent a scant two weeks together before the renegades left Tyra. His mother hadn't stayed long after that. She chose to wander the worlds, finding work on merchant ships headed to outlying planets. She'd drifted through two different systems, Xave at her side. Years later, when they entered the Lexicon system, she was murdered by a man who liked