Science Fiction Romance: Biomechanical Hearts (Space Sci-Fi Love Triangle) (New Adult Paranormal Fantasy)

by Olivia Myers

  Neil brushed past me and I heard the shower start in the small bathroom we shared. I sat on the bed, trying to understand.

  Neil was leaving me.

  I was pregnant and had a part-time, minimum wage job in New York City. I was going to end up on the street with my baby unless I got my shit together. I reached for the cinnamon roll Neil had left on his nightstand and took a bite.

  Maybe he’d calm down after the shower…

  Boom.

  The earth shook. I grabbed hold of the bed and Neil’s coffee fell on the ground, soaking into the carpet. I fixated on it. The stupid coffee. How I wanted everything to be perfect for the baby and here was this stain that I probably couldn’t get out because of a freaking earthquake.

  Boom. Boom. Boom.

  Chunks of plaster fell from the ceiling and I screamed as the entire twenty-eight story building swayed. Neil ran naked and wet from the bathroom, holding a towel over his dick.

  “What the fuck?”

  It happened again, but by this time I’d grabbed his hand and hauled him toward the door. The lights flickered and went out as we ran down the hall along with about twenty other people just as confused as we were. Was it another terrorist attack? Someone asked it out loud and people panicked even worse, shoving and screaming as we ran down the stairs through the explosions. The building shook and I grabbed on to the banister. Several people, screaming, went flying over the side of the banister to fall three whole floors.

  Somewhere I lost Neil’s hand, but I could still see his naked backside as he streamed down the steps with the mob. People joined in on floors below us and it was a miracle we got to the lobby before the whole building collapsed.

  The second we made it to the street and I caught up to Neil, a whole battalion of Them came marching down the avenue, ships the shape of sleek black arrows in the sky above, shooting chasms into the ground and taking chunks out of buildings. They left craters so huge that it looked like a monster had taken a giant chomp out of each one. The sidewalks were littered with bodies and blood and more panicked people running in every direction.

  Some people went down on their knees in the middle of the street, begging for their lives. The invaders didn’t care. They shot them all. All except the younger women. I noticed it right away – maybe because I fit the category, or maybe because it was so damn obvious. They left the young women unharmed, but herded them like sheep to a spot on the corner where a black ship, larger and more rounded than the others, was hovering. I watched, horror-stricken, as beams shot down from the belly of the ship and sucked the women up inside. Group after group.

  Before my eyes, the ship vanished, shooting across the sky. Then another ship took its place.

  Swearing under my breath, I grabbed Neil’s arm and pulled, but he wouldn’t budge. He just kept staring at the Vendi as they marched closer. They looked like men in tight leather suits. Really tall, really strong men with rust-colored skin. It was like the Terminator on steroids, or maybe Iron Man.

  Their large weapons incinerated about a third of whatever they shot at. I tried not to look at the carnage, but the foul odor of something burnt stung my nose. I knew we had to get the hell out of there.

  “Neil, wake up!” I screamed. Finally he shook himself and let me pull him toward the next block. But by then we were fighting chaos and even more of Them coming from other angles. I searched for a place to hide, but saw one of the larger ships hovering. It opened its beam and women’s bodies were dumped out onto the concrete, over screaming people and parked cars that set off alarms, adding to the anarchy.

  Such disregard for human life. All those women, killed instantly.

  I vomited. There was no holding it back. Neil pried his arm from my hand and ran for cover as they came, but one of them shot him in the back. Right there, just like that, the love of my life and father of my unborn child fell dead in the center of the street.

  I think I cried. I didn’t really know what I was doing at that moment, just that a large, strong hand yanked me off of my feet and dragged me to the corner. I kicked and screamed, and stared back at the broken bodies of the women who’d been taken by the other ship. I tried desperately to run, but there was some sort of force field that prevented anyone getting out. We were packed in an invisible square, probably thirty of us, all pushing against the side of our cell. The women closest to the sides were squashed against the others, but comfort was the furthest thing from our minds. I stayed toward the center, trying to think of some way to save my baby.

  That’s when the beam came down. It was so bright I had to shield my eyes with an arm, and when I looked again I was standing in a cavernous room. The women around me were stumbling and trying to orient themselves to this new reality. The room was large, and the walls were covered in white padding. I looked around, trying to see if there was a way to escape, when a loud booming voice echoed throughout the room.

  “Remain calm. We are the Vendi. You have been chosen for a great purpose. We are selecting the finest specimens of your kind. You will be led into a test chamber with one of our doctors. There is no need to panic. If you panic, you will be considered unworthy and put down immediately.”

  This didn’t go over well. Many of the women started chattering and crying, but I breathed in and out as slowly as I could, trying to stay calm. I had to stay calm if I wanted to survive.

  Part of one wall slid open and one of Them, a Vendi, came inside. He was flanked by two other Vendi with weapons. The women parted like a sea. They selected five women, then pointed at me. I swallowed hard and followed, trying not to shake.

  One woman tried to run and a Vendi shot her in the back without hesitation. The others stumbled, but managed to keep walking.

  “I am Argo,” the Vendi without a weapon said. “I will be your doctor while you are here.”

  “I want to go home,” a girl of about seventeen said.

  Argo turned to look at her, tilting his head to the side. “I am sorry. But you most likely have no home left to return to.”

  It was odd, the way he said it, like he was actually sorry. The girl began to cry, desperately trying to stop herself, straining her muscles and covering her mouth. One of the other two Vendi aimed his weapon at her.

  “No!” Argo said in a firm voice, and the Vendi held. “She is distraught, but not unreasonable.”

  They led us down a bright white hall to a glass sliding door. Inside there were exam tables like I’d see in a doctor’s office and instruments of all kinds, some familiar, some not, to the side. A second sliding door on the opposite end was just closing and three naked women were being ushered to one side while five clothed ones were being sent the other way.

  “Where are they going?” I asked, as calmly as possible, slipping next to Argo. I was a tall girl, but I only reached his shoulder.

  He peered down at me, his large orchid eyes flicking back and forth like he was searching my face. “You are calm?”

  His voice was actually quite soothing, not what I expected from the soldiers I’d seen. But maybe he wasn’t one of them. He said he was a doctor.

  “I see no reason to loose my cool yet.” It was good to know I was doing a decent job hiding the terror inside. Every cell in my body was bent on survival. I had a child within me, a child to protect.

  Argo nodded appreciatively. “As to your question, you will soon see. I regret that I am not at liberty to discuss that. The truth is, I don’t know where half of them end up.” His eyes trailed after the ones still in clothing and my mind flashed back to the bodies being dumped out on the warzone below.

  It occurred to me then how quiet it was in the ship when the chaos on the street had been all consuming.

  “Please remove your clothing.” Argo fixed himself at the center of the room, while the guards stood at either side of us. We looked at each other. The seventeen-year-old started to plead, “Please! Please let me go.”

  The guards raised their weapons, but she ignored them and threw herself at Argo, wh
o caught her in his arms. At least what was left of her, after both guards fired.

  “No!” Argo yelled and it echoed back over the cavernous space, rattling the glass. “I said not to do that! She was frightened. She was not attacking me.”

  “We are doing our job,” one of the others said.

  “Perhaps,” said Argo, laying the girl’s body on a square of the floor. “But I am doing important work as well, and you could have destroyed a viable breeder.”

  Breeder. I felt faint. That’s what they wanted. I don’t know why I didn’t see it before. They wanted women of childbearing age so they could impregnate us. But I was already pregnant and when they found out, they’d kill me. They’d dump my body on Manhattan with the others.

  I’d just have to hide it. It wasn’t obvious from the outside yet.

  I began undressing. It was important to cooperate. No matter what, my life was over. I had to accept that and live for my baby. I had to find a way to save her. That would be my goal. Whatever it took.

  Argo sighed and pushed a button. The dead girl’s body shimmered and disappeared.

  Two other women followed my lead and pulled off their clothes. The last ones cried and took much longer, but eventually did it. Argo motioned to the exam tables.

  “I will be asking you a series of questions,” he said, reading from an object that looked like an electronic tablet. “Please answer truthfully and to the best of your ability.”

  “How do you speak English?” I asked.

  Argo glanced up from his tablet, surprised. “I don’t. But everything I say is filtered through the onboard sensors and translated into your language or the best equivalent possible. What is your name?” He stepped toward me.

  “Rachel.”

  Argo stared at me for a while then went back to the center where he ticked off his questions.

  “If the answer to any of these questions is “no,” please stand and you may re-dress. Are you over five-foot-six? Are you over one hundred and thirty pounds? Are you under thirty human years? Are you physically fit?” Argo paused as three women rose and rushed to put on their clothes. Two were clearly petite, but the other… I wanted to tell her to stay seated, that she was rushing toward death not freedom, but maybe that was what she wanted. Or maybe she had some unseen illness. How was I to know?

  Argo continued. “Have you ever had a miscarriage? Is your cycle regular? Are you pregnant?” He paused again.

  I held my breath. I was certain if I got dressed I’d end up dead, and so would my baby.

  “Stay still please. This will only take a minute.” Argo picked up a long tube and a blinking handheld device. He passed the device over the woman next to me then pressed the tube against her arm. She jumped a little and the tube rapidly filled with blood.

  “Pass. Go stand by Neflin.” He gestured to one of the guards who looked her up and down as she cowered.

  Argo moved on to me. He did the blood first this time and it stung, but I did my best not to move. Then he passed the device over me and hesitated. Did it tell him the truth I’d hidden? I waited.

  His eyebrows raised and he repeated the gesture then leaned down over me. “Open your mouth, please,” he looked inside. I was surprised to find that he smelled like freshly mown grass.

  “You did not re-dress,” he whispered as he pretended to examine my ear.

  “I know where they go,” I whispered back. “To their deaths.”

  It was my last possible recourse.

  He considered me, brow furrowed like he was trying to work out a tricky puzzle. “Please stand by Neflin.”

  I hurried to do as I was told. The other woman stared at me like I was a traitor. She was probably twenty or so, pretty, with short blonde hair and large breasts, which she kept one arm over. I guessed she couldn’t understand my complacency, but I wasn’t complacent—I was determined to escape. I just needed to take it one step at a time. Step number one was not being killed.

  “Here comes the next group,” Argo said, motioning for us to leave through the other side.

  I glanced back at the next group made up of five women, all huddled together, crying and hugging. I wondered where they would end up. But Neflin shoved me from behind and I followed out the door and to the right. Away from death, but toward the unknown.

  ***

  We ended up in yet another pristine room with white padding along the walls. There were about fifteen of us there, each separated into a ten-foot square area. It looked weird, but as soon as I was deposited in mine, I realized there were again invisible force fields keeping me inside. It was a tiny, see-through cell. Most of the women were crouched on the floor, rocking and crying, hiding their nudity as best they could. Some were standing, like me, searching the room and their cells for weak spots. There were none.

  Slowly, the room filled up, with a final count of thirty. It was a good sampling of women from a wide variety of races with a wide variety of physical characteristics. The only common denominators seemed to be our age and that we were all on the larger side.

  Suddenly one woman began to scream, pounding on the cell. “Let me out! I refuse to do this! I refuse!”

  One of the few guards flanking the room walked slowly to her cell where she pounded her fists at him, unable to touch him, not that it would have done anything if she had. The guard laughed and touched something on his belt, then the invisible wall. Orange gas flooded the ten-foot cell, pooling around the panicked woman. When it cleared, she stood frozen, a scream etched on her face, fists raised in the air. The guard punched a couple of more unseen buttons, rearranged her limbs at her sides, tapped her chin so that her mouth closed, and tucked the woman under one arm before carrying her away.

  Several of the others started crying harder and cowering. It was a lesson for me, though. Under no circumstances could I panic or reveal my anxieties. I absentmindedly stroked my belly as I surveyed the room, trying to understand as much as possible about this alien world.

  I observed Argo and another doctor taking notes on various “specimens,” as they referred to us. I noticed Argo steal several glances at me as well. The other doctor seemed to have control of the cells on the other side of the room. One by one, the women were escorted out of the room. After a couple of hours, they returned, one by one. Those that returned had far off looks, or cried uncontrollably. Not one seemed to have kept her composure, and that terrified me.

  Eventually it was my turn. Argo escorted me, which seemed unusual as it was typically one of the ever-rotating guards. He steered me by my elbow toward the door while a returner passed going the opposite direction, limping. Bruises had started to form on her lower abdomen, and she sported a black eye and split lip. She seemed to be hyperventilating.

  “What happened to her?” I asked in a whisper.

  Argo’s grip on my elbow tightened. “We ask them to be as delicate as possible because we know you are a weaker race, but sometimes I suppose male Vendi may get carried away.”

  I swallowed hard. Breeding. We were already being taken to breed with Vendi? “I can’t,” I whispered as he led me to the hall, one of the guards shooting us a disapproving look.

  “You are capable according to my scans,” Argo said, pausing once we’d made it a bit further away.

  “The baby. It’ll kill the baby.” I begged with my eyes, getting as close as possible to Argo head on. He couldn’t ignore me if I was this close. He couldn’t.

  Argo searched my eyes and sighed. “I jeopardized the entire project because of your condition. But don’t worry. I can terminate it easily without pain to you. Then the project can continue unhindered.”

  All of the horror I’d witnessed in the past few hours, all of the screams and blood and terror came washing over me in that moment and my entire body shook. Argo caught me in his arms and lifted me easily, cradling me like a baby. “Rachel. What is wrong?”

  “I don’t want to lose the baby. I’ll do anything to protect her, please!” I beat my fists against his massive c
hest in desperation even though I’d been so good at keeping it together. He ran with me down the hall and I wondered if he was taking me to a guard to have me shot, but all I could do was sob on his shoulder. His grassy scent filled my nostrils, calming me a little as he finally set me gently down.

  When I looked around I saw that I was on an exam table in the room with the glass doors on either side, only we were the only ones around.

  “What… what’s happening?” I sniffle. “Wait. Don’t kill my baby.” I scooted back on the exam table, pulling my knees to my chest protectively.

  Argo stopped moving toward me and glanced around. “Shh. Rachel, it’s okay. I’m sorry I scared you. The few females left in the Vendi race have no attachment to the young. I misunderstood your desires. But you said the child you are carrying is a female? Is that correct?”

  “Yes. I had an ultrasound the other day, and a test confirmed it.”

  Argo began to pace as I relaxed a bit on the table.

  “I think I can use this to our advantage,” he said finally. “If I can convince the Councilate that it would be an intriguing experiment to raise a human as a Vendi…”

  “What? No! You can’t have my child.” I jumped off the table and grabbed Argo’s wrist.

  We both stared dumbly at the gesture.

  “You are a human sample,” Argo said, snatching his wrist away. “I am a doctor and so I understand that you have feelings, but do not take me for a fool either. Be appreciative that I have done what I can.”

  “I am a person, not a sample.” I grabbed Argo’s hand again and held it over my thrumming heart. “I’m scared and with child. My home, my boyfriend was taken from me violently by your people, and I was captured like an animal and only spared from death because you thought I might be a good vessel to bear your own children. You would send me to be raped and take the child, and then what? Rape me again until I can no longer produce offspring? Perhaps your calculations didn’t count on me having feelings.”