“You can clearly tell that no one is in here,” she barked. The cyborg glared at her.
“I’m going to give you a code word. Do not talk to anyone unless they give you this code word first. Understood?”
“This is crazy. I’m going to take my shower now,” Avi announced as she started to make her way towards a secluded shower in the back.
“Dammit! Can you just trust my judgement in this?” the cyborg growled.
Avi spun around and saw a flash of concern on his face, which was gone just as quickly as it appeared. The look shocked her because she had been taught that cyborgs didn’t have feelings, especially when it came to humans and their well-being. But, she was sure of what she had seen and it intrigued her.
“For the time being, yes,” she replied.
“Good,” he said as he provided her with the safeword.
*****
Krug watched as Exonyie led the captive into the communal showers. He had known that his commander couldn’t push off his desires forever. He had to give it to him, this was a great tactic: get the captor naked, help her clean off and then have his way with her. Nobody would ever expect Exonyie to touch her, but Krug knew and when his commander walked out with her, he was going to catch him red handed and then tell the rest of the crew about it. His commander thought that he was above everyone else, but he was a cyborg, just like the rest of the men on the ship—with the same needs. Krug wanted to prove that to the rest of the men who seemed to worship Exonyie, like Astoroth and Zen.
Krug braced himself against the door adjacent to the showers and waited. He figured that the commander would be in there for a while. However, the door opened within minutes of them entering and the commander walked out into the hall, alone. This meant that the captive was in there, also alone, and showering. Krug could just picture the warm water running off of her naked body and it almost put him into a panic. He could hardly contain himself; forget the other plan, now he could get want he really wanted. He could get this woman back for keeping him away from his home and his wife for almost a year. His wife was pregnant when he left Zethron, and she had gone into labor just a month after he had left. Unfortunately, both her and the baby had caught a disease in the communal hospital in which she had birthed the child, and they had both passed within hours. He never had a chance to meet his new baby girl or even say goodbye to his wife. Her parents buried her according to their family traditions and he didn’t get to be a part of any of that. All of this could have been averted if he had been home on time. This mission was originally supposed to go no longer than 30 days and Krug, with the rest of the men, had flown thousands of parsecs over almost a year to find this fugitive. All that exhausting loneliness and bereavement was all her fault and he was going to make her pay for it. Sexual intercourse between a cyborg and a human was forbidden on Zethron because of the amount of harm that can be induced upon a human during the act. But Krug wanted to make sure that the woman felt the full effect of what he could do. What did it matter? Who was going to care what happened to a murderer anyway?
***
Avi let the warm water run over her face and into her mouth. It had been so long that she had fresh water, that she couldn’t get enough of it. The first day, she had gulped down every cup that the cyborg brought her, until she felt like she was going to burst. She picked up the bar of soap and smelled it. Yes, it was actual soap! It was interesting that a cyborg woud have soap that contained human ingredients. Did cyborgs even shower? That was a dumb question. He had handed her a bar of soap and the ship had a communal shower area, so they must actually shower. Avi couldn’t fathom that cyborgs needed to concern themselves with the most human-like of chores, such as taking a shower or maintaining standards of personal hygiene. It kind of shocked her, but there were quite a few things that shocked her recently, especially today. Her mother had taught her and her brother about the harsh reality that they lived in. One morning, her mother had brought both children to the breadhouse, but her mother only had enough money to feed two of them. When they were standing in line, there was an elderly man who didn’t have enough money for even a loaf of bread. When his ticket number was called, the man walked up to the counter and presented his coin. The cyborg behind the counter laughed in his face. The man begged for mercy, he had worked hard all day, but his supervisor only paid by the pound and the man physically couldn’t do anymore work. The cyborg yelled at him to leave and when he refused, they had another one toss him out on the ground. Avi and her brother both had been taught to respect their elders. Avi asked her mother if they could give her coin to the man so that he could eat. Her mercy was the only mercy that the man received that day.
So when Exonyie had showed genuine concern for her welfare, she was astonished. He didn’t seem to be like any of the other cyborgs that she had come across in her life; he made sure that she ate, he gave her a real bed to sleep on and he protected her from those who would do her harm. No one, save for her mother and brother, had showed any concern for her welfare before and it touched her in a way that she never thought it would.
As Avi was contemplating her next part of her escape plan, the door to the communal shower opened. Thinking that it was Exonyie, Avi opened the door and called out.
“Did you forget something?”
“Yes, I did,” came the reply from a cyborg that she had never seen before. Avi was so startled by the man’s presence that she slipped on the tiles and hit her head against the floor of the shower. Then there was only darkness.
***
Exonyie found his way onto the bridge. He needed to get an update from Astoroth. He had no idea how far they were from home and he wanted to make sure that they were taking the fatest route possible, but also make certain that they wouldn’t come into contact with space pirates. He had been in one of these battles before and it was not pretty. He didn’t want to ever go through that again, if he could help it.
“Tell me where we are, Astoroth.”
“Captain, we are about 5 million light years away from Zethron.”
Exonyie sighed. They were so far away from Zethron. It was going to take them at least a week, if not more, to get back to their planet.
“There isn’t a faster route that we can take?” he asked tireledly.
“Commander, I have checked every route that we could possibly utilize. This is the fastest and safest route back to Zethron.”
“Carry on, Captain,” Exonyie said as he got up and checked on the rest of his crew. He decided that he would go and check on Zen and Krug at their posts. He wanted to keep their morale up for the voyage home, and he was especially concerned that they did not do anything foolish when hey were so close to the end.
“Hey, Commander. What brings you down here?” Zen asked Exonyie as he walked into the emergency pod compartment of the ship.
“I just wanted to check up on you and Krug, see how you two are doing. You must be tired.”
“Thank you, but Astoroth already sent Burg and Navi to relieve us earlier. I ate and took a nap.” Exonyie looked around the room.
“Where’s Krug?”
“I don’t know. He should be back by now,” Zen informed the commander.
“Back by now? Zen, where did he go?
“He took a bathroom break about a half hour ago. I thought it was odd that he walked down the hall to use the bathroom, but I just thought that he wanted some privacy. When he didn’t come back I started wondering, but I can’t leave my post. I figured that he would wander back here eventually; it’s not the first time that he’s left his post for a given amount of time. He usually comes back though,” Zen explained.
Suddenly, all Exonyie could think about was the safety of his prisoner and how he had left her in the shower alone and defenseless. She didn’t have the strength to defend herself against a cyborg of that caliber and he had been naïve enough to trust the integrity of his men. “Zen, I need you to call the bridge and let them know that Krug has gone AWOL and that he has left his po
st. Anyone who sees him, needs to seize him and throw him in the hold,” Exonyie commanded as he left Zen standing there, calling the bridge from his eyeswath.
***
Krug stood over the wet, naked body of the unconscious woman, lying in the shower. Humans were so fickle and weak. Krug—or any cyborg for that matter—wouldn’t have blacked out over a simple head injury like that. This was one of the prime reasons that the cyborg race was obviously superior to humans. For one, cyborgs were a lot stronger than humans; their bodies could withstand more and their eyeswaths helped them communicate with their kind instantly across great distances of space. Humans were a weak race. Their bodies were easily breakable, and they couldn’t even communicate with their kind without the use of technology.
Krug felt his manhood harden as he stared down at the lifeless body below him. His hand reached out to touch her firm breast, but then shot back as he reminded himself that this was not the place to do what he wanted to do to her. Anyone could walk into the shower area and catch him in the act. He couldn’t compromise his job and his life just to fulfill his desires. No, he would take her back to his room and clean her up and then he would have her. Krug laughed out loud as he thought about the suffering and humilation that he would cause this woman. It would never make up for the pain and loss that the felt for his wife and daughter, but it was a start.
He bent down over her wet body and picked her up in his arms. The woman weighed practically nothing and she felt like a doll in his hands, something that he could bend and break at his will. It made him feel powerful, and he liked that feeling. All of a sudden the door to the room burst open and Exonyie flew at him. Krug dropped the girl and ran towards the back door. He ran into the hallway and headed straight towards the emergency pods. He needed to get off this ship as fast as possible. When he got to the pod compartment he ran smack into Zen.
“Hey man,” Zen began.
“The commander’s looking for you. You’re in big trouble. You know that you’re not supposed to leave me here by myself,” Zen chastised his comrade.
“Look. I’m sorry, but I need your help—I need to get out of here. You know how to drive one of these things right?” Krug asked him.
“Oh, no. You’re not going to drag me into your plot. I know what you’re up to, and I’ve had enough of it. I’m not someone that you can push around!” Zen exclaimed.
“Okay, Okay. I’ll do it myself. I don’t want to get you in trouble,” Krug muttered as he backed up towards the pod.
“There he is!” a group of men yelled as they ran into the compartment. What Krug didn’t know was that Zen had sent out a mental note to his other crew members, checking him back into his post. This immediately alerted the men to his whereabouts.
“Commander, we have him,” Zen proclaimed as the men put handcuffs onto Krug.
“Great. Take him to the hold. I’m going to make sure that the captive is okay and then I will be in to interrogate him,” Exonyie replied grimly.
*****
Avi slowly opened up her eyes and took in her surroundings. It looked like she was lying in a hospital room. As she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, she realized that she actually was lying in a hospital bed, hooked up to a bunch of machines. She had no recollection of how she ended up here. She tried to sit up and her head promptly began to throb.
“Be careful. The doctor said that you hit you head pretty hard,” Exonyie said as Avi tried to get comfortable.
“What happened? Why am I here?” she asked as she stared at him, and then it all came rushing back to her. She remembered taking a shower and being startled by a strange cyborg. She remember hitting her head and everything going black. But, then her memories shifted. It was fuzzy, but she remembered Exonyie wrapping her in a towel and gently picking her up from the floor. She remembered him telling her that everything was going to be okay and that he was wasn’t going to let anything happen to her ever again. Then she woke up here.
“How long have you been here?” Avi asked him.
“Since I brought you here,” he replied.
“And, how long ago was that?” she insisted.
“Yesterday afternoon.”
“I’ve been here since yesterday afternoon?” she questioned.
“Yes, after the incident with Krug yesterday—”
“What incident?” Avi demanded. Exonyie took a deep breath.
“After I left you in the shower commons, one of my crew members, Krug, found you and tried to assualt you. From what I gather, you hit your head on the floor. When I found you, your head was bleeding pretty badly. I picked you up, wrapped you in a towel, cleaned the blood from your face and brought you here.”
“And he hasn’t left your side all night,” a man said as he walked into the room. “Hello, I’m Dr. Michaels,” he introduced himself.
“There’s a human doctor on this ship?” Avi asked confused.
“Who else would treat our human captives?” said Exonyie. “We don’t know much about the human anatomy and we don’t want to. Dr. Michaels has been updating me on your condition. He says that there is no serious damage, but that you will need to take it easy for the next couple of days. Oh, before I forget,” Exonyie said as he handed her a bundle of clothes. “I know that these aren’t the type of clothes that you are used to wearing, but It’s all I have. Your clothes got misplaced during the incident.”
Avi stared at the clothes that he had handed her. “Are you going to stand there while I get dressed?” she asked him. She noticed his face redden in embarrassment. Did she really just make this cyborg blush?
“Well, I’m not leaving you alone again, but I will turn my back,” he conceded. Avi was about to object, but she felt comfortable wth him in the room. She gingerly got up from the bed and put on what appeared to be a smaller version of what the cyborg was wearing: a black one-piece body suit. The body suit fit snug against all of the curves of her body. It was actually a lot more comfortable than what she was used to wearing.
“Okay, I’m ready,” she said as the cyborg turned around and his jaw dropped to the floor.
Exonyie’s jaw dropped when he turned around. The child’s body suit that he had provided to the captive fit her admittedly attractive frame like a glove. His body started to react in ways that he never thought would happen in the presence of a human, and it wasn’t something that he could hide naturally. He needed to regain his composure, but he didn’t want to leave her side.
“Come on. I will take you back to my room, where you will be safe,” he said to her as he took her arm protectively. The woman had no problem following his lead and even let him put her back into bed.
“Would you like any food or water?” he asked her. “I know that you haven’t eaten much in the last 24 hours, and you must be starving. I can go and get the food myself,” he offered.
“Yes, I’m hungry, but I don’t want to be alone,” Avi whispered reluctantly.
“Okay. I’ll ask Zen to bring us in a plate of food from the kitchen,” Exonyie suggested.
“Thank you,” Avi said.
“You’re very welcome.” Exonyie watched the woman as she struggled with what she wanted to say next.
“Why do you care about my safety so much? I’m just your prisoner,” she blurted out. Exonyie was startled by the brashness of her statement, but he understood why she had felt compelled to ask. He wasn’t like most cyborgs; even though he didn’t have any human friends or associate with any for that matter, he didn’t feel the same way as other cyborgs. He didn’t resent humans for their weakness and their inability to protect themselves from alien attack. They contributed a lot to the well-being of cyborg society and they should be given the credit that was due them.
“It is my responsibility to make sure that you make it back to Zethron safe and sound. That is what I was hired for,” Exonyie explained simply.
“Is that the only reason?” Avi asked. Exoniye was taken aback by that question. Was that the only reason that he cared for her saf
ety? Because it was his job? His mind flooded back to the day that he saw Avi cowering on her ship, how strangely protective he had felt of her. He had no idea at the time, but her heart had held him captive from that very moment. From the moment he first laid eyes on her, he had fallen in love. How did he tell her this? How did he explain this to her?
“Well?” Avi asked him impatiently. Exonyie gulped.
“No. That is not the only reason why I care about your safety. To be pefectly honest, I care about your safety because I care about you.” There. He had said it. The woman put her head down and smiled.
“What’s your name again?”
“Exonyie.”
***
“Exonyie.” Avi loved the way his name sounded on her lips. She said it over and over again when he left the room. Zen was standing gaurd outside the door and wouldn’t let anyone else into the room without the commander’s approval. Avi had been in this bed for a little over a day now and she was starting to feel restless. Her body screamed for action, but she knew that Exonyie wouldn’t let her out of this room, even though their feelings had changed for each other, the fact still remained the same—she was his captive, and he her captor. He was completing a mission to take her back to Zethron where she would be tried for the murder of Authority Figure 718.
Her mind raced back to that awful day and she tried to push it away. It always hurt when she thought about what happened to Aric. Would it matter that she was trying to protect her brother, who was now in a coma? Avi wondered how her mother was doing and she felt tears start to bubble up. She did not want to cry for them. She had to be strong.
“Why are you crying?” Exonyie asked as he carried a tray of food into the room and set it down beside her.
“I was just thinking about what was going to happen to me when we get back to Zethron.”
Suburban Cyborg Page 79
