Free Nightmares & Dreams: A Science Fantasy Space Western: Eydulan Series Book 2 by Mark Brandon Powell Page B

and get out. Alive preferably.
    Kat looks up from the floor. Gravan is standing near the stove top, looking at her. He has a smile on his face, but she can tell its only for show. How could he be smiling at a moment like this? Every thought about making a plan seems to add more problems. She takes in a breath, letting it out slowly. This whole process was getting her worked up in worry, something she knew wouldn’t help the situation. She just stares at Gravan, trying to figure out where that goofy grin is coming from.
    He breaks the silence first, saying, “I got a plan, but you’re not going to like it.”
    Kat folds her arms across her chest in anticipation for whatever bad idea he just came up with. Of course at this point, anything was better than what she was coming up with.
    She says, “Ok, what is it?”
    “I’m already wanted by the Guild, so if I just fly there on a shuttle…”
    Kat cuts him off, “No. Not happening.” This idea was worse, that’s what she gets for thinking a man could plan better than she could.
    “You didn’t even hear the part…”
    “I said no. I don’t want you captured. It’s bad enough that our little piece of paradise is destroyed and out of our reach. To have you incarcerated… No. I can’t handle that.”
    “Whisper could pair to me and hide inside me, I could then use her to get Hanna and myself out.”
    Kat stops herself from immediately saying no. The last part is actually a decent idea, and she had to give him at least that. Whisper will be overjoyed to be included in this, and Kat can’t wait to hear what objection she’s going to use this time.
    Kat asks, “Well Whisper you heard him. Do you think its possible?”
    There is a pause in the air before she answers, “No. I can’t be separated from Katrice. It would cause a catastrophic loss.”

7

    Kat takes a moment before saying anything. What could Whisper be talking about.
    She asks, “What do you mean by catastrophic loss?”
    Whisper replies, “If I were to be separated from you there would be a reset initiated to some of my main systems. I haven’t found a good time to tell you this, but I unlocked a few more sealed files. If I change users, my personality will be tuned to the person who’s in possession of me.”
    “Wait a second. You’re telling me that your super sarcastic and organic hating because I want you to be that way?”
    “It seems so. My experiences and mental growth are still my own, and I keep those, but my mannerisms and speech would change. I could even flip genders so to speak. AI’s don’t have them like you humans, but the humans that made us wanted to have distinctions.”
    Gravan says, “So you can’t change over to me without losing yourself in the process?”
    “Correct. I’ve become quite fond of the way I am, and would prefer not to change.”
    Kat rubs her forehead. “I still can’t believe that I would want you this way.”
    “You have never been a fan of cybernetics, and you are straight forward in most of your dealings. I’m your counter balance.”
    “Great that’s all I ever needed.”
    Gravan and Whisper laugh.
    Kat says, “Hey.”
    Gravan says, “That is too perfect.”
    Everyone in the room has another laugh. Kat had hated cybernetics since she was young. She watched her mother go berserk and kill her father. Then she got to watch the police come and kill her mother. They told her it wasn’t her mother’s fault. There was a bug in the cybernetics, and it made her go crazy. Shortly after that was when she got tossed into the orphanage. It took her two years of bouncing around, before she wound up on Bexar Omega, and ran away. The foster families and orphanages were filled with nice people, but they weren’t her parents. They would never be her parents. She ran when a middle-aged couple came looking for a daughter to adopt. They may have been the best people in the universe but at that point in time, Kat didn’t care.
    She was lucky when she found