Cyborg Claude

Episode 8

In the previous episode, Conrad gets Angela back to their room while stewing over how close he had gotten to capturing Claude. Meanwhile, Claude gets reprimanded for his risk taking, but Min finds a way to get him to relax to help his system. Salindra starts analyzing an odd diagram with Hawkins, while distracted by thoughts of Claude.

Cyborg Claude Main Page and Table of Contents

Claude woke with a start coming to his hands and knees on the massage table. He glanced around. No one occupied the room with him. It slowly sunk in why he would be naked and in this room. His fingers dug into the padded table while he recalled the all too vivid dream he had just had.

He climbed off the table to find his clothes folded on a stool behind the divider blocking one corner of the room. A small, folded note card lay on top of them. He flipped it open and laughed as he read. Min approved of his new suit.

He paused when he heard the chimes, which denoted the second calling to dinner. The first ones must have woken him up. He looked for a clock, then remembered Min would never allow one in her massaging room. Neither Min nor Stefen would let him over sleep, so it had to be the same day. The nap had been short.

He snorted. That dream had him believing that hours had gone by. He shuddered at the excruciating effort to get out of somewhere that did not fade like most dreams. His nose wrinkled, as if the smell of the dream could exist in the pristine massaging room. It reminded him of the Goeken sewers. He would have died again if Salindra had not hauled him to the safe house.

His stomach growled loudly. “You talk like I really had that kind of workout.”

He laughed and rubbed his stomach. His humor faded. How much of the dream had been from memory? He shuddered again and shook his head. Thinking of it would only drive him crazy. Shoving it to a corner of his mind only made him remember it all clearly. He knew some of the dream was pure fantasy because he had done nothing with Salindra beyond the escape and catching her in the bath. He smirked at that memory and let it distract him from the darker side of things.

“I’m driving myself crazy.” He gazed at himself in the mirror hidden behind the small privacy barrier. He pointed at himself. “You don’t have time for such fantasies, so get over it.” He sighed, knowing that he could never convince himself of that. “I don’t even know her.”

“You know why you have such fantasies. You are avoiding Min.”

He threw his hands in the air. “I’m even talking to myself about it now.”

He growled and dressed in a rush. Combing his hair back added to his frustration. Three months was too long without a haircut. He preferred it high and tight.

He tugged on the jacket and stared at himself in the mirror. At least, he had the inclination to shower and shave once on the spaceliner. He looked good in this suit that Min liked.

A vision of him in a casket with Min leaning over him swirled through his mind. He sucked in a breath when pain blossomed in his chest. The vision shifted to his last memory of his death, with Conrad standing over him. The point-blank shot into the chest had not put him out instantly. He had seen the extraction ship coming in, which sent the Goeks running for whatever holes they could find to hide in.

He grabbed the stool and swung it back, knocking over the dividing screen. It’s clattering to the floor brought him back to the present. His reflection glared back at him. Several breaths later, he eased the stool to the floor and turned to take in the divider haphazardly leaning against the small fountain and the massaging table. One of the paper panels had a jagged rip through its peaceful cherry tree in blossom.

The escaping sigh hissed loudly in the room. He rubbed his hands on his pants. Would he ever get past that day? How did he tell Min he couldn’t live like this? After all, she did to make sure he lived and put up with his need to hide from it all out in the field. Conrad could have killed him a second time.

His mind returned to the vision of himself in a casket. That hadn’t happened, though the agency had made any public facing information record him as deceased. Well, his spy persona. His real persona lived as a phantom tied to a family home he rarely visited. One full of memories he preferred to avoid because his parents had died in a freak accident. He still had a package he never opened from the family lawyer. It held things they had prepackaged before their deaths as if they knew something could happen. He could never open it the few times he pulled it out.

“You’re pretty pathetic having spent your life running from one tragedy to the next.” He snorted.

A chime within the room made him look to the ceiling, but it wasn’t the public address system of the yacht. It sounded again from a panel near the door. He stepped around the massage table and pressed the button.

“Hello.” He cleared his throat.

“I was hoping the dinner chimes woke you.” Min’s voice flowed out of the intercom. “Ready for dinner?”

“Uh, sure. Was just heading that way.” He coughed.

“Are you all right?”

He nodded his head, but he had not activated the video in answering the call. “No, but when has that ever stopped me?” He hoped his voice portrayed enough candor to divert her from digging deeper despite his honesty.

“We can talk later, but it is time for dinner and some mixing with our agency members.”

He frowned. Putting on the facade of a pulled together agent for that long would take a miracle.

“Okay. I’m dressed, so I’ll be there shortly.”

He pushed the button to disconnect the call before he heard her say anything else. Maybe it would distract him enough to keep his mind off the past and why he was still here at all.

He sighed when his gaze took in the toppled divider. His body shook with the effort to fold it closed and lean it against the wall without bashing it on purpose to release his tension. His gaze went to the fountain that showed no signs of the impact other than a few broken blades of ornamental grass. The bonsai tree perched on the rim sat as if a storm had not come close to it.

He rubbed his face vigorously and then clapped his hands. “Now or never.”

His stride carried him out of the room and down the hall to the officers’ dining room in a dozen steps, maybe fifteen. Not enough time for transitioning to what he would face as the door automatically whooshed open for him.

Claude stepped into the room and claimed the only empty seat in the room to the right of Min. Everyone watched him sit. Stefen sat at his right and Min at the head of the table to his left. His stomach churned. Min and Stefen were the only two he worked closely with since the change that allowed him to live after he had died. He swallowed the bile and stared at his empty plate.

“This is to be a night of relaxation and some of you better adhere to that.” Min smiled, but her gaze leveled on the admiral and Salindra at the other end of the table. “Enjoy the meal and the entertainment planned for afterwards.” She clapped her hands twice and servants entered the room with platters of food.

Claude watched his plate fill with food chosen by Stefen. Leave it to the doctor to know what he should eat. Then again, it looked like he was getting royal treatment on this one. A steak, baked potato smothered in butter, and lots of steamed vegetables filled his plate. He arched a brow when they filled his glass with wine. Stefen nodded with a sly smile.

What did he have planned now? How many more years could he handle this? So far, he had survived five years with the first two of them spent endlessly with Stefen through so many tests he thought he would go stir crazy. He frowned. That time included learning how to walk again. He shut the door on the thoughts and dug into his food with his gaze latched to his plate.

Conversation revolved around old friends catching up on events outside the agency. Most of it left Claude clueless, forcing him to remain silent. Even when they talked about entertainment, he decidedly stayed out of it even if he could name off every band and song mentioned. He could have ended an argument about a name of a song that made one band famous a year ago. Stefen jumped into this conversation. Claude smirked. He probably knew so much about this topic because of his time with the doctor.

He blinked when seconds were heaped on his plate. His wine glass never emptied. He arched a brow, which only made the doctor nod. Great, it was another test, but what made him do it now and not wait a day to make sure the biomechanics had calmed down?

The long meal turned into a blur of food, drink, and conversation he merely listened to.

---

Salindra watched Claude for most of the meal. The amount of food and drink he packed away reminded her of how he had eaten both bowls of stew in record time back on Goeken. How did he stay so healthy and trim eating and drinking that much?

The doctor signaled for what food Claude was served and made sure the wine glass never emptied.

Claude had nothing to say in any of the conversations. She had an excuse at least, but what was his since his last mission had only been three months per her knowledge? Four years in the field on Goeken with only updates to life from the point of view of Hawkins did nothing to let you jump into the mainstream talk that went on around the table this evening. Most of it revolved around the Zen Free States happenings rather than Droeken, anyway. When could she go hide from all of this?

Servants cleared the table while a musician appeared in a corner playing a quiet melody on a string instrument propped on short legs before her. The entertainment began. She leaned back in her chair and resigned herself to staying there for however long Min made this last.

Min rose to her feet and looked around carefully at every single one of them. “Everyone stand.”

The scraping of chairs pushed back and some shuffling occurred. Servants removed the last items off the table and wiped it down. Then all the chairs were moved against the walls.

The floor opened and the table sank into it. Salindra marveled at how the panels could not be detected once they slid back into place.

Min went to great lengths to have things just so. How long had Min run the agency without people questioning her? Only the loyal had a chance at a career in the agency. All who left were watched like hawks to make sure they never leaked information. What if her time here ended after analyzing the data of this latest mission? Could she handle stepping into civilian life?

“I want you to mingle more. Get to know one another. You are a team, but you have not had the chance to bond with one another.”

Salindra saw a few expressions of doubt that mirrored her feelings. On the good side, maybe they meant to keep her beyond this mission.

“I don’t expect it to happen overnight, but at least get to know a little about each other. Most of you wonder what I am up to. I like it that way.” Min laughed.

Salindra looked at Hawkins. “I don’t know how to mingle.”

Hawkins grinned at her. “Well, then talking to Claude won’t be any harder than talking to any of the others.”

She rolled her eyes at him and refrained from punching him when he gave her a gentle shove in Claude’s direction. Her gaze darted around the room, picking out pairs or small groups of three to four. Some already knew each other. Much like how she had Hawkins by her. This image helped a little, since she was not the only one wondering how to approach a stranger.

Her gaze stopped on Claude, who stood with Stefen. The doctor appeared to coax Claude to go talk to people without a lot of success.

She tugged her jacket in place. She was under dressed compared to most of those in the room. With a nod, as if confirming her confidence, she walked up to Claude. Both men stopped their discussion to look at her. She forced a smile. “Hi.” That one syllable caught in her throat.

“Hi.” Claude’s voice made her shiver when he answered.

Stefen shifted away from them.

“How are you feeling?” She clasped her hands tightly to keep them where they belonged and unable to fidget.

“Not bad.” He took a drink from his glass. His gaze darted to something across the room.

She shifted her weight while forcing herself not to look. “That’s good.”

“Still digging through information, as usual?”

“Yes, but have more questions than when I started.” She stepped closer without thinking about it.

She tried swallowing the lump in her throat, only to find it stuck. Maybe it was her heart, which pounded excitedly. She never had this issue before the day they had to run from Goeken. Sure, she had fantasies about what could break up the tedium of hiding out with nothing to do but analyze things brought to her.

Claude set his glass down on a chair. He reached out a shaking hand. Was he that nervous? She caught the hand in hers. His gaze may have been on her, but it definitely focused on something else. A memory, perhaps? His hand clenched hers.

“Ow.”

He jolted and let go of her hand. He bumped into the chair, sending the wineglass to the floor where it spilled its remaining contents. A derogatory sound, maybe a bad word in a language she didn’t know, followed.

She backed up a step though she had intended to stand firm. What was Min thinking? This kind of evening did not prove appropriate for field agents out of the field only hours ago. Especially ones that narrowly escaped the enemy twice. She blew out a breath in frustration.

“Exactly.” Claude looked around. “Ever have one of those days where you know you need to stop running, but it’s all you know?”

She arched a brow, but nodded. “Four years with little contact other than hand offs. Do you realize you never said a word to me until we were in the safe house?”

He ran fingers through his ragged mop of hair. It was the only thing he hadn’t cleaned up yet.

“Better that way. I’d have done something for a distraction otherwise.”

She shivered, wondering what he would have wanted to do. It took her a moment before she could respond. “Yeah, might have turned into something that messed with our heads.”

He barked a laugh and some of the humor she had seen in the safe house lit up his eyes.

“How long did you watch me in the tub before you yanked my earbuds out?”

He sobered, but one side of his lips curled up in a smirk.

“I’ll take that as long enough.” She paused, not sure what else to ask. What did people talk about besides entertainment and other things she had little info on for four years? Again, her sparse calls with Hawkins didn’t cut it.

Claude fidgeted with a button on his jacket.

“So, what do you expect to do now?” She watched him pop his gaze back to her. This time, she looked over her shoulder. Min stood in a cluster of others, including Chancellor Krollin, who tilted his glass to her and smiled. She huffed and put her gaze back on Claude.

“He’s definitely not your type, no matter how much he wants to be.”

She blinked as Claude’s words registered. “Try spending an hour with him and Admiral Hawkins in a conference room waiting for you.” She chuckled to ease the awkward tension.

His brows rose. “Oh.” He grinned. “That bad?”

She nodded.

“I’m sorry, but not that sorry.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “You took that long on purpose?”

“Yes, and no. But I…”

A warning whistle went off and a red light flashed on the panel above the door.

The queasy feeling of a ship coming out of hyperdrive hit, but it never hit as bad as the jump into it. Maybe she would get used to it. Four years on Goeken had acclimated her to its gravity and stability.

Claude whirled for the door without a word.

Salindra watched the flow of people out of the room, decidedly lost on how she could help. In seconds, she stood alone except for Stefen. He shrugged at her when their gazes met. She sighed. So much for figuring anything out about Claude.

“Talk about bad timing.” Stefen shook his head. He stepped toward the door. He stopped when it swooshed open. “Follow me. You can help while I prep for whatever the outcome of this might be. We can talk about him.”

Salindra gulped, but nodded.

Do I want to talk about Claude with the doctor that obviously knows him to the point of controlling his food and alcohol consumption?

< Episode 7 | Main Page | Episode 9 >

---

Share your thoughts about the episode in the comments. Thank you for reading.