SFR Brigade Presents #6

In the opening scenes of my science fiction romance, Passages, the hero, Quinn has no idea the woman he thinks is his grandmother is actually an electorg. Eve, the heroine, is the unlucky one to discover the masquerade, and tell Quinn.

I slid a fingernail under one crusty end and lifted. The scab moved, exposing—“Wires. Why didn’t you say she’s an electorg?”

“Huh?”

My tight shoulders relaxed. This wasn’t the tenuous life of an endangered native we were dealing with. I slipped a vial from my bag, probed my finger into the shallow cavity and collected a spark of her power to identify her from the Corps files. “Since she’s a ‘torg, this changes everything. I suspect a loose or damaged—”

“What are you talking about?”

His hostile emotions hit me before I saw his strangely boyish look of confusion and defensiveness. This had all the signs of a ‘torg raising an orphaned native—years ago, judging by Quinn’s mature physique—but without explaining how we electorgs were altered. She probably had strong mothering instincts from her organic years. Instincts, urges and compulsions all against Docga policies here on G47, though following them served the mission. I wasn’t going to be the one to point a finger at her.

I drew a breath. “Circuitry is subcutaneous, so shutting down to prevent further electrical short-out isn’t unusual. Let’s get her back to—”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Quinn growled.

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