Cyborg Claude
Episode 14
In the previous episode, Salindra has a discussion with Hawkins that leads to talk about Stefen and Claude. They know the goeks sent messages to Telna, but could not decipher them. Salindra realizes it could be an ancient language and dives into figuring that out rather than going to sleep.
Cyborg Claude Main Page and Table of Contents
Claude woke up and blinked in the semidarkness. Why did he see dragons and gauzy curtains? He rubbed his face and groaned. He hurt, but felt great at the same time.
Min lay curled in a ball with her back pressed against him and she rolled with a mutter when he slid out of bed.
His stomach growled as he walked into the bathroom. The food search must begin after relieving himself. He shook his head, wondering how he never gained weight with how often he wound up eating. Amazingly, he had bought food when he was in the field on Goeken. How could one be a complete ghost if they had to eat? He smirked and stopped to look in the mirror. Not bad for over forty, though he looked his age with furrows around his mouth and in his forehead. Some gray hairs mixed with the dark hair at his temples.
“You’re getting old, bud. Face it.” He shook his head. “And no scars to prove any of the other stuff ever happened. Even the recent wound looks like something from years ago.” He touched the entrance hole scar. “I’m a walking test lab.” He frowned at the image in the mirror, making those furrows deeper.
Once done, he stepped back into the darker bedroom. The faint light that had helped him see the curtains had come from the night light in the bathroom. He could not see Min’s features in the shadows of the gauzy curtains, but he smiled. “You never cease to amaze me.”
He walked into the sitting room and tripped in the dark. “Lights.” The sudden light blinded him. He slapped a hand over his eyes. Now to see if the woman had any food in here at all, but knowing her, he might find some crackers or something else light. His system screamed for a meal. Yup, just a bag of fortune cookies.
He sighed, knowing he would have to wander down to the kitchen to find something. A look at the clock made him blink. Was it really seven o’clock? Then they should be serving breakfast and he would need clothes. Now he had to figure out what she did with them.
Several minutes of attempting to find his clothes proved she had not set them aside in the bedroom. He could not walk out in the hall at this hour in his underwear. A chuckle escaped him at the thought of streaking through the yacht.
He stepped into her closet, a walk in affair with an automatic light he made dim immediately. Well, there was the laundry shoot and his shoes. The clothes from last night were missing and probably down the shoot. He gave the men’s clothing a quizzical look. On quick examination of several, they were all his size. She always supplied him with tasteful clothes, but at least a dozen outfits? He accepted none of them outright, but he would find changes to his closet now and then. Honestly, she had given him pretty much everything over the past five years. With Stefen’s knowledge, she had authorized for him to have life again. He owed her a lot.
The realization hit him hard, causing his body to shake, and he dropped to his knees. Why would she do that when he had never given her what she fully wanted? He had let fear ruin most of his life. Two decades of stupidity. They could have chosen any of the twelve that died that day for the biomechanics testing, but it had been him. He became the lab experiment because she could not bear to lose him.
He took several slow breaths to calm himself. Last night had proved that even if it took this long for both of them to confess their love, their relationship wouldn’t change much, but it would get stronger. The goeks having his picture changed everything far more.
“Okay, get a grip, old boy. We can deal with this. It’s a good thing, after all.”
He forced himself to his feet and braced himself with a hand on the shelf above the hanging clothes. How could he be so emotional when he had the reputation of being the calm and collected one in most situations? He chuckled and shook his head. Time to stop thinking so much and go with the gut feeling. It told him everything was all right except it growled for food.
“All right, let’s see what a man should wear to breakfast.”
He sorted through the clothes, finding everything from business suits to leather pants. Another leather trench coat hung in the back. Good thing, since he liked the one he had left behind on Goeken. He went for casual slacks and a black polo shirt with the Zen Royal Yacht Club emblem on it. It felt comfortable, so he slipped his shoes on and stepped out of the closet.
Min still lay curled up in the sheets. She muttered something as he kissed her cheek. He smiled at her for a moment before walking out of the suite.
His stomach told him to run for the food, but he kept his pace to a stroll. He turned a corner and hit the wall with a grunt. Turning around, he saw Salindra catching her balance.
“Sorry.” She smiled weakly at him.
“Not a problem.” He pushed away from the wall, noting how that dress wrapped around her. He still found her overly appealing in a physical sense. That had to stop. “Seems you are in a hurry about something.”
She flushed and stammered, “I, well, umm, wanted to get up to the bridge. Have to explain it.”
He arched his brows. “Sounds intriguing. I’m sure I’ll see a report about it later.”
She paused with a quizzical look. “I suppose so.” She strode off at a fast clip with one glance back.
He shook his head once she disappeared around a corner. He rubbed his face. What was it about the woman that attracted him? He snorted and continued to the dining room. He only knew her as a fellow agent that had dragged him to safety. Time to think of Min instead, which proved an effortless task that got him smiling.
He did not recognize two of the officers sitting in the dining room. Going to the enlisted crew dining hall would prove far more awkward. He was dubbed the ‘Mystery Man’. He had three years of working since his recovery, but in jobs that kept him away from most of them. The force had expanded during his three months on Goeken. The less anyone knew about him, the less that could be spilled to the enemy. How lovely. Min and Stefen had their hands full with him. He grimaced, hating the memory of his death and the first year of finding life again from a wheelchair. Such a depressing time they had to watch him day and night so he would not try killing himself. He gulped and slammed the door on those memories, which he doubted he could ever deal with.
The server walked up to him. “What would you like for breakfast?”
“A full meal. Eggs, toast, sausage and hash browns. I big plate of it all.” Time to stop thinking and just get some food in his system.
“I’m sure we can arrange that, sir.” The server returned to the kitchen as Claude claimed a seat at the table.
The two officers nodded and then polished off their breakfast. They left, probably heading on duty.
He drummed his fingers on the table. What did one do alone when not having to be on the alert every second? He did not have a scrivpad to pull up something to read and even then, what would he read? There was a view screen in here attached to galactic broadcasts. Might as well see if something was on. A morning news show would work to keep him up on current events.
He rose out of his seat and went to the cupboard holding the control along with other items used during officer meetings. A quick scan of the channel listing gave him several news channels from three different empires. He chose the main one for Deserka and sat down with the remote.
Admiral Hawkins stepped into the room wearing the black and silver uniform chosen for a military standard, but dressy for the personnel of an elite yacht. He pulled out a chair and sat down next to Claude and watched the news until a commercial came on.
“So I’m assuming you are second in command of the entire agency?”
Claude glanced at Hawkins. Not even a good morning before leaping into what he wanted to know. That proved rather interesting and disconcerting. “Yes.” Might as well go along with it, though he had seniority over everyone left of the old guard. Min had taken the lead because he could not do it while recovering. He had no desire to settle into anything until last night.
“I’m part of an obvious reorganizing, aren’t I?” Hawkins did not look at him.
“Not sure exactly. That part Min has figured out. I spent the last three months in the field. I have a feeling something is missing.” He left the data parsing of what he acquired to Salindra, but quick scans proved holes existed. “The best way to hide anything these days is not to have it stored on a networked computer or to make it seem like something else entirely.”
“Funny you should state that, as my curiosity finds no satisfaction in the computer when trying to figure you out.” Hawkins looked at him now. “Seriously, if we are to become a team like Min wants, we all need to know each other better. I never believed we had a mystery man in this organization until Salindra wound up working with you on Goeken. You should hear the tales about you.”
Claude tried not to frown and did not know if he succeeded. “I have heard most of them.”
“Especially from the women.” Hawkins snorted.
Now he frowned. “I’ve heard some of those, too.”
Claude shifted in his seat when his meal was placed before him. He dug in while the server took Hawkins’ request of his usual.
Hawkins rotated his seat so he could lean against the table while facing Claude. “You are a distraction.”
Claude spoke up before Hawkins could say more. “That explains why I get a lot of field jobs, despite my rank.” He smirked despite seeing the look of ire shot at him by the older man. Lovely, the guy had a burr up his butt about something. “I still think something is missing.”
“Well, there is no file on you. There is something missing.”
“Oh, there is a huge file on me, just not one on the network.” He wanted to eat, but the admiral had some point he was driving at. “You don’t like me. Is it the fact I put a gun to your head?”
Hawkins clenched his jaw. “That’s part of it.”
“Hmm, dramatic, but I’m still edgy from being in the field.” He shoveled in some of the food and let Hawkins make his next point.
“You and Min are very close, aren’t you?”
“Yes.” He continued eating and answered while chewing sausage.
“Looks pretty close to me.”
Claude slammed his fist down. “My personal life is none of your business.” He glared at the admiral.
“In a way, I think it is.” Hawkins gave him an icy look.
“All right. What is the real issue here, Admiral?”
“I don’t like the way you look at Salindra, let alone the rumors I’ve heard about your liberal ways.”
Claude stared at the admiral, waiting for a second head to pop out. So this guy had an issue with rumors and how he looked at Salindra. Min had commented about the looking part.
“What does Min think of it?”
Claude wanted to stab the man with his fork. “Just to shut you up, I’ll give you the quick version. Min and I have known each other for a very long time. Yes, I have slept with a few women in my day. After all, I’m already forty and definitely on the single side of things. Yes, I find Salindra quite attractive looking. Will I act on that attraction? Probably not.”
“Then what was that last night at dinner?”
Claude played that moment over in his head. Too much wine had not helped the situation and made him unsure of what he had been thinking. “You act like her father.”
“I pretty much am.”
Claude arched his brows. “Interesting. I did not know that.”
“There, now you know why I have an issue with you.”
“To some extent.”
“She thinks you might be interested, and I hated having to tell her what I saw last night in Min’s room.”
“That was probably the best thing you ever did, since Min floored me last night in a way I never expected.” Claude speared a piece of sausage and chewed on it angrily.
Now maybe the man would drop the issue. The news that Salindra had someone to be like a father and confidant to her relieved him. She spent more time in the field than he did, so probably did not have many friends. Not good. He only had two people in his life he knew and trusted with his life beyond a doubt.
“She wants to know you.” Hawkins finally sighed and his anger seemed to dissipate with it.
“Understandable. She is one who loves information and probably hates anything she cannot figure out. I’m an utter mystery and probably always will be at some level. Less so now than before.” Claude frowned.
“The goeks know I’m an agency man now. Too many close up and personal encounters with them lately. Of course, they have no clue what agency I work for or even what my name is. Though they know some agency uses this yacht, so now this ship can’t move around freely.” Claude looked at Hawkins seriously. “We definitely hit close to the mark, even if we had to give up some anonymity. Sometimes there is a price to pay for such things. I did not expect us to do this without some repercussions.”
“Who are you really?” Hawkins ignored his omelet when it was set before him.
“Myself.” Claude smiled at the admiral and then turned to his plate to see if he could finish it before it got cold.
“Well, make sure Salindra knows your true intentions, so this old man can stop worrying about his daughter.”
“Deal.”
Claude did not know how to approach such a topic with Salindra. The closest he got to seeing more than he should have was draining the bathtub at the safe house. He had thought of ways he could distract himself with her, but he knew they would never come to fruition. Nothing had in a long time, including with Min, who he had treated like a sister for years to keep some space between them. Even that had felt too close until now.
Am I ready to play leader like I’m supposed to while still the Mystery Man to everyone?
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Update:
Well, I sort of lied about the romance side of things last week, but it comes up more because Claude is trying to figure out his life now that he wants to live it and remain a part of the agency.
Share your thoughts about the episode in the comments. Thank you for reading.