Cyberella: Preyfinders Universe by Cari Silverwood

hiding places many.
    Now they had a week before landfall at Riptide itself. They had to nurse the pulse drives due to some unrepaired problems. With only two crew, they had to go slow anyway. He had time to think ahead.
    He took Ella’s hand and held it lightly. The sheet had drifted down a little and the swell of her breasts showed above her top. Dressing her had been an exercise in restraint. The little bot hadn’t been capable, unfortunately, or fortunately.
    While asleep she was vulnerable. While awake too. He had no doubt that Ella was as incapable of fending for herself as a newborn baby.
    She might agree to him helping her. She might not.
    Yes, and that clinched it. He dug in his pocket and pulled out the fist-sized, slave stamp encryptor, slipped his fingers into the central hole made for gripping it. He’d charged it earlier. Lucky he’d kept the thing. When he pressed the power switch, the ready light blinked on.
    Dresdek’s voice was a rumble. “I know what that is. Why? I thought you were all into the no slavery and let everyone be free?”
    “After the trouble she got into?”
    “And that will solve it? Making her a true slave?”
    “I’m not. It’s insurance only. Think of it as backup.”
    “You know I’m not that into women unless they’re under me in bed. But...I thought you were in love or something? You do that, she isn’t going to love you. She’s going to want to smash something over your head, if you don’t get her under control. And controlling someone that deeply, without them wanting it, heart and soul, it makes them hate you, down deep, forever.”
    “And that was you helping?”
    “Just my thoughts. Yes. It was. You know my kind’s history. I know slavery from the inside.”
    Torgeir sighed, watching her turn in the bed toward him, her eyelashes fluttering. If she heard this and remembered...
    “Your past is different. If I don’t do this, I might lose her completely. It’s worth it.”
    Silence from Dresdek. He picked up the encryptor. The bot’s medical scans had showed her limbs were more cybernetic than elsewhere. The total percentage had surprised him but it was a plus. The encryptor liked to start with the cybernetics. When he pushed the sensing nub of the device to her wrist, the light blinked rapidly. After twenty or thirty seconds, the light went a solid red, then it slowly changed to blue. He kept it on her skin, sure that his hand was warming up. The light went green. He lifted the encryptor away and switched it off.
    Done. Every cybernetic part in her, every living cell in her body, now held his personal code.
    Dresdek pushed himself away from the wall and stamped his boots, making them jingle. “Hope you don’t regret that.”
    “I won’t.”
    Knowing his code was inside her pleased him. Watching her sleeping aroused a fierce satisfaction. The soft curves where the sheet caressed her body, the rise and fall of her chest, the tumble of her hair over the pillow – his. He’d not take her until she said yes, but with this, she was his.

Chapter 8
    A man was looking down at her. Not an enemy, no. Her memory told her that. Torgeir.
    “Awake at last? You’ve been drifting in and out for hours.”
    “I guess.” She frowned, feeling her forehead crease. “Where am I?”
    A sheet covered her. Phew.
    Memory whiplashed in.
    Oh god. The last she remembered the captain had been beating her. The pain was gone. Her feet ached a little but there was nothing more that said she’d been hurt badly, and it had been bad. Even the sheet near her face had been smeared with blood spray.
    Stop thinking about that. It would go in circles in her head if she dwelled on it. Around and around and around. She knew her habits.
    She propped herself up shakily on her side, using her elbow beneath her. The fixtures of the room were familiar.
    “I’m still on the Finatar ?”
    Her trembling voice must’ve betrayed her fears, since he leaned in and said, “You’re safe. We caught