Read Only Superhuman for Free Online Page B

but hugged her back just as tightly. When it ended, Emry told her, “Actually I won’t be going out on patrol for a while.”
    “Really? But your ship’s all ready, waiting for you! And Zephyr’s actually agreed to be its cyber! He has got the sexiest voice.…”
    “Ohhh, yeah, the Goddess is generous,” Emry sighed. “But I’ve put in for one more set of upgrades. The surgery’s in a couple days, and then I’ll be breaking ’em in for a few weeks.”
    “What?” Kari said. “More mods? Emry,” she laughed, “come on, you were born superhuman and you’ve had yourself chopped and channelled three or four times on top of that. What’s left to put in you? Bucket seats and fuzzy dice?”
    “They say they can up my strength maybe another six percent. Plus there are some upgrades on my IR resolution, filters for a few new toxins … and they’re gonna see if they can up my reaction time any more.”
    “That doesn’t sound like much! Emry, you’re reaching a point of diminishing returns. All those surgeries aren’t easy on the body, not even yours. You can’t get much stronger without overstraining your organs! And for what real gain, seriously?”
    Emry met her eyes intently. “ Any edge I can get, anything that gives me more power over a situation, can make the difference between saving a life or not saving it. So don’t you tell me it isn’t worth it!”
    Kari looked down, chastened by Emry’s words. In apology, Emry hugged her again, and then they got out and helped each other towel off. But as they dressed, Kari spoke gently. “Emry, I understand why you don’t want to lose control. I remember what happened when I did.” She paused, remembering her father, facing the guilt that was always there beneath the surface, even in her happiest moments. Her guilt let her understand Emry’s own; that common bond had been a basis of their friendship from the start. “So believe me when I tell you: more power isn’t what you need. Too much power in one person’s hands, it puts things too far out of balance. The greater the imbalance of energies, the more destructively they flow. What you need is balance.”
    “But what about the people who depend on me? What do they need?” Emry wasn’t angry anymore, but she was firm, unbending, and Kari prayed she wouldn’t break. “I have to be sure, Kari,” she said. “I have to make sure I never lose anyone I love, ever again.”

 
    3
    Origin Stories: Emerald’s Dawn
    March 2085
Greenwood habitat
2:1 Kirkwood gap
    Emerald Blair was trouble from the day before she was born.
    Lyra Blair-Shannon had taken it as a good omen that her water had broken on Ostara—Earth’s vernal equinox, the beginning of spring when the Mother gave forth new life. She had gone to the hospital convinced that this would be the perfect, beautiful process of creation she’d always imagined. She had her faith in the Goddess to support her. She had Richard to hold her hand and strengthen her with his love. She had an experienced doula who would help her through every step of the process. And she was sexually active enough that her pelvic floor muscles were in excellent shape, which should ensure easy labor. She doubted the same could be said for most Greenwooder women. The doctors had reminded her that the baby took after her large, robust father, so she shouldn’t expect the birth to be effortless. Indeed, the heightened metabolic demands of the fetus’s superhuman physiology had been a constant drain on her dainty, mere-mortal body, making this a difficult pregnancy almost from the start, albeit six weeks shorter than usual. But Lyra had her music and meditation to relax her, and the water birth would cushion her body, further easing the process. She wasn’t worried.
    The Greenwood doctors had looked askance on her arrangements, just as the people of this small, rural Bernal sphere had looked askance on Lyra and Richard since they’d moved here nine months prior. It had