Savage Planet Cyborg

by Cheyenne Hart

  "Hey," said Simon, putting her hand on Bree's shoulder and shaking her gently. "Something's going on. I think—oh shit," she muttered and cut herself off as she looked at the view screen. The little planet pictured on it was flashing now, with something that was like an arrow pointing to it. "You're not serious?" Simone had never been great at navigation, but she was almost certain that this eerily Earth-like planet was their destination.

  And that was a destination they had apparently reached. The shaking from the pod had to be due to the metallic capsule starting to enter the atmosphere of this planet.

  After all, it didn't make sense for an escape pod to be programmed to rocket its occupants out into the endless void of space so they could slowly starve to death, or just sleep forever; that is, until the life support systems failed. Imagining drifting through space like that, completely helpless and unmoving like a corpse, yet still alive and breathing. It made Simone's skin crawl, which in turn reminded her of the "essentially invisible" implant lurking beneath the surface.

  At least it looked like there was plant life and water. That meant the place could actually be inhabitable by humans. The kidnapping frog aliens had been breathing just fine aboard The New Horizon, and their ship had been livable for the humans. If the escape pods were set to go to this planet, the atmosphere was probably not going to kill the two lost Earth women.

  "I guess this is going to be our new home for a while," she said to her slumbering crew mate. "I guess you're lucky if you sleep through this landing. I have a feeling it's not going to be a fun ride. It'd be nice to be able to see outside though."

  The rumbling grew, and Simone sat firmly back against her seat. There were no harnesses, nothing that could be held on to. Just how safe a landing in this thing would be was anyone's guess. The air seemed to warm up a bit, and an elongated grinding sensation swept through Simone's body and mind, making her ears almost feel pain from the noise—or perhaps it was pressure forcing its way in. She didn't know much about this type of thing.

  "Shit, shit, shit!" she called out and cupped her hands firmly over her ears. Closing her eyes, she started to picture her family back home. Of course she didn't have a husband or long-term boyfriend. No, crew members were required to be fairly unattached so they could focus. Would she ever see her mother and father again? Her friends back on Earth would miss her if she died, too. They would never find out what happened to her!

  "God. Bree? Are you okay, Bree? Please wake up!" Simone was starting to panic, an uncharacteristic occurrence that did still happen sometimes. Her implant usually took care of it, but her nerves were working on overdrive now.

  Bree was somehow still quite complacently sleeping.

  The vibrating of the pod slowed down but was still strong, sending the reverberations rocketing through Simone's very skeleton. Maybe they were finally slowing down.

  And then there was an immense thud.

  She breathed deeply, trying to keep herself from hyperventilating. Simone had a strong intuition that the people inside this pod were not meant to be conscious for a landing like that. It was like staring into the sun and risking blindness—seeing the face of God, or one's own imminent death. No, no, she wasn't going to let this get to her. "Pull yourself together, Simone. You've got this. You're as cool as ice. Come on…"

  "Hey. What hit us? Are they coming to get us?!" Bree cried out from the adjacent seat. "What? Oh, Simone! Thank hell you're here. What just happened? We were asleep? Those horrible aliens!" She sounded a lot more panicked, which was understandable given that she had no clue what was going on after being asleep.

  "Just calm down for a second," Simone said in her professional doctor voice. "Let me get a look at you. You're not hurt at all. I feel okay. We just landed on some planet. This one, I think…" she gestured to the screen.

  They both sat and looked at the little orb of blue, green, and shades of brown to white. "Huh," said Bree. She was a technician, not prone to bouts of hyper-emotion. Besides, the prospect of an undiscovered world, and this alien escape pod's technology, must have distracted her away from her rising panic. "What's this?" she said, reaching out to press down on a panel that was a slightly lighter color than the rest of the interior. It made a hissing sound and popped open. "Neat."

  "Hang on a second. Don't mess with that!" Simone was used to leaving things alone if they were working fine. Poking around inside a person, or throwing random diagnoses at them and hoping something worked, did not pay off in her world like it could for techs.

  "That is neat!" reiterated Bree with a childlike enthusiasm that was almost scary. She reached her hand into the newly revealed compartment and pulled out a small case. Without even a moment of thought, she opened the top. There were several small, oddly everyday looking items inside: two that looked like a wireless earpiece, and a round thing that looked like a keychain, with a button on it.

  "Do not press that button, Bree. I will knock you out."

  "Oh please, I wouldn't be that stupid. It could be some kind of self-destruct device for all we know." She laughed but quickly stopped.

  Simone did not laugh at all.

  "Well, what are these things then? Some kind of audio device judging from the tiny speaker holes—I assume that's what they are. Hmm," she mumbled to herself as she put the alien device into her ear without thinking. Looking around, she seemed unimpressed, almost deflated. "I guess they don't work without a signal to pick up or something." And then, looking around the pod, her eyes went wide as she caught sight of the display screen. "Wow! Oh… no!"

  "What. What's wrong? Does it hurt?" Simone was right into doctor mode, expecting to deal with a dying crew mate who couldn't resist shoving random artifacts into her ear cavity.

  "I can read this writing now. And, if this is accurate—why wouldn't it be accurate? If this is true, we're a long way from home, Simone."

  "How far?" Simone's whole body went icy cold. She told herself to remain calm, but it also felt like she was sinking.

  "72 years' travel. It says, well… I know you well enough, and you're going to want to see this for yourself before you believe it." Bree shoved the other earpiece into the doctor's ear without asking.

  "Hey! Watch where you're shoving things, thank you. Okay then," Simone said as she looked the screen over. It was certainly in English now, to her anyway. She read it aloud to herself, not even noticing she spoke. "Arrived at target destination: Lystria. Total travel time: 72 years."

  "I know, right? Hey, this is one hell of a translator. I wonder if it works with languages. It'd have to, wouldn't it? Wow, this is amazing. I can't believe this. How does it know our language? Do you think those things have encountered humans before? I mean, that's the only possible expla—"

  "Please!" Simone shouted. It was all too much to process. "72 years we've been asleep? But, my parents would be… my friends might be…"

  "Oh." Bree was apparently hit by the weight of the reality of the situation too. "I guess we should see where we are then?" She reached for the door.

  "Wait," said Simone. "We have no idea what kind of planet this is, or where we are. I think we should just wait until… let's just…. We should at least think about this for a minute?" It was just like her to want to sit and think instead of taking action. But the other options might not be any better than staying put.

  3

  -Jaxxon-

  The General described the urgent mission. "Kalyss, my daughter, is barely old enough to be counted as a woman. She still has a lot of life to look forward to. I have no other way to get her back. Search parties are already sent out, but they could take weeks to find even a trace. By then… it could all be too late. I know you don't have any emotional attachment to her, but I like to think you're a real military man. More so than anyone else under my command, Jaxxon."

  "You're right to think that, General Plahter. And even though I've never met your daughter, I am still mostly human." He wanted to tell the General that being called a "man" and not treated lik
e a piece of equipment was important to him. That being spoken to like a person instead of of some farm animal made Jaxxon eager to go out there and achieve his mission. His chest felt tight and he clenched his fists into balls of rage. "And I have permission to use any means necessary to get her back?"

  "Of course you do. Don't give them any compassion. They're the worst kind of scum. Members of The Flensed; a bunch of sadistic murderers and thieves who make life hard for the honest, hard working people in our region." The General seemed like he wanted to cry. Actually, he had the steeled demeanor of a veteran military officer. However, Jaxxon's enhanced senses made it easy for him to detect slight variations in the middle aged man's blood flow, breathing, and stance, among countless other minute details. Consequently, he could tell that the General was extremely torn up on the inside, but just doing a great job of hiding it.

  "I will get her back. And I'll punish them personally, don't you worry."

  "Well, that's what those pieces of shit who took my daughter deserve. Uh, there is one other thing that was stolen from my home."

  "Wait, they took her from your home? Why weren't the guards able to stop them?"

  "Killed, all of them. These are some seriously dangerous men you're dealing with, Jaxxon. Well, one of them's a woman anyway—this sect's leader is a woman, if you can believe that. And they also have a machine with them. 'Robot' is the word for it. It's not like a man, not any part human like you are. These things are like a wildfire, unpredictable and older than, well, you. If those bastards lose control of that thing, if something goes wrong inside it, Kalyss could be—" He stopped himself short and stood up rapidly, trying to hide his expression. "That's enough time wasted, though. They took an important case that belongs to me and I need it back as well. Naturally, my daughter is the priority, but you are equally charged with bringing this golden case back. You will know it when you see it, trust me. And do not open it."

  The air outside was cold like steel. Even for night time in the desert. Jaxxon didn't miss being fragile and constantly one mistake away from being at the mercy of the elements. He could not actually remember what it was like to be a fully fledged man, but he interacted with them enough to understand their inherent weakness.

  Blinking in the air above the murky black horizon hung a marker. His sensors were not as powerful as they used to be--he did remember his earlier years as part machine—but his relatively short distance scanner was picking up signs of life in the form of an unusual heat signature. Out in that desert at night, that should have only meant one thing. Unless there was someone else lost out there—maybe having wandered away from a caravan or nomadic group perhaps—that heat signature was most likely what he was looking for.

  As he moved toward it, another one appeared. This was bad news, as there were several more of them right near the first. Well, it would be considered bad news for most people. Jaxxon was looking for a small group, and it consisted of some desperately diabolical individuals.

  The only equipment that he'd taken with him was a pack that he could neatly strap to his back so that it didn't move around while he was running or fighting. Inside were medical supplies, food, and other essentials. Oh, and he had something very special strapped to his hip: a laser weapon, a pistol. They weren't completely uncommon on Lystria, but most of the population of the planet still considered them more myth than reality. And this was in great condition, highly accurate and with plenty of charge capacity.

  He checked his laser pistol and readjusted his pack to minimize noise. If this went well—and he knew it would—Jaxxon would be able to take these assholes out, rescue the General's daughter, retrieve the golden case, and get back to the city before sunrise. After that, he would be given a good week to stay online and enjoy the riches of the palace. That would involve feasting, entertainment, and conversation, albeit with gawking people who thought the cyborg was come kind of monster, or a hero to be stared at and never treated like a person.

  Then there was all the sex, as many women as he could possibly want, each one more beautiful and talented than the last. Many women at once, if the mood took him. It made his cybernetically enhanced cock twitch to remember all those times of pleasure and reward. And then, back into the deep sleep, for any amount of time.

  He'd let his mind wander, something that had never been a problem decades earlier. But as he aged—without looking any older—and went in and out of sleep again and again, something didn't feel right inside him. Whether it was just the living flesh parts of him showing wear and tear, or maybe something mechanically wrong, he did not know. And Jaxxon was terrified to let the doctors find out.

  A star in the dark blue sky caught his attention. It didn't look right, like it was moving or maybe growing. He wasn't any sort of scientist in his past life, as far as he knew. But Jaxxon was sure this was an anomaly. He widened his eyes with surprise as the moving thing seemed to roar into the nearby scenery as it rocketed through the open sky and toward the desert sands.

  The people of Baklofer were aware of space ships and life on other planets, although their dealings with them were extremely limited; highly advanced beings didn't have much time for what they saw as a primitive culture.

  Then the thing impacted with the ground, and made surprisingly little sound. It was just a few minute's away, running as fast as he did, so Jaxxon was approaching the impact zone soon. He drew his laser pistol and slowly walked closer, still wary of the heat signatures he'd seen nearby. This could have been some sort of trap for all he knew.

  He edged closer and saw there was a hole punched in the sand, and there was some kind of structure beneath it, a tunnel. The thing from the sky had gone right through that and was sitting inside the tunnel. Jaxxon's instinct told him to avoid this and continue to follow the hot lead on the escaping criminals. Whatever was inside this object from the stars, it did not relate to his mission.

  But on the other hand, something wouldn't let him leave without knowing what this thing was. So, he dropped himself down and walked up to the big, metal object. It was shaped like a pill, with bright lights that flickered on and off. He found a door on it and carefully opened that, still completely unable to stop himself from doing so.

  Inside, he expected to find some kind of horrible alien perhaps, or perhaps a doomsday weapon that was sent to wipe his people out. But instead… were the two most beautiful creatures he'd seen in his life.

  4

  -Simone-

  "What the fuck?!" shouted Bree, almost jumping up out of her seat at the sight of the alien. "You're not a human, are you?! This is, I mean—this has to be the biggest discovery since…. We've made first contact, and—"

  "What about the aliens who captured us?" Simone said quietly, not able to take her eyes of the striking alien man who was standing outside. There was only a small amount of light filtering into the hole they seemed to have made when they landed. And then there were a few little lights on the outside of the escape pod. They were various colors, blinking on and off.

  "Where did you come from?" the man asked, and it seemed as though he was speaking plain English too.

  "Excuse me?" asked Bree. She was so worked up that it was almost possible to see her trembling with excitement. "Shit, these really are translators in our ears! These are incredible, Simone!"

  "Ahem," said Simone, tapping her friend and crew mate on the leg and nodding at the man, as though to remind her that he was even standing there.

  "Are you in shock?" asked the alien. He was holding a gun, and didn't seem like he knew what was going on any more than the two Earth women. He had a leather looking backpack on and wore plain, dark clothing. Nothing about him looked particularly high tech. He looked so ordinary, apart from being exceedingly handsome. His masculine, chiseled facial features were simply perfect, as though he'd had endless surgery done to make him just right. Yet there was a certain rugged quality to him, as though just ever so slightly imperfect.

  "I… I…" Simone was at a loss for words, and s
he'd completely lost her normal sense of composure. The fact that this man was holding a weapon and was a strange and possibly murderous alien seemed to have slipped out of her mind. Oh, and there was the whole thing about being crash landed on an alien world nearly a hundred light years from home!

  Bree elbowed her, now quiet and seemingly unsure about what to do, faced with this bizarre stare down between the alien man and her coworker. "Simone, what's wrong with you? Don't flake out on me now, for chrissakes."

  "Simone. That name is, I—" the man began to say. But he didn't get to finish that sentence, because a loud bang sounded nearby. The man fell to the floor, struck by some unseen force.

  Seeing him go down with such a look of shock and pain made Simone's heart ache. But she was immediately sent reeling back into reality as soon as her eye contact with him was broken. "What the hell was that?" she shouted.

  "Something hit him. It came from up there I think," answered Bree. For once, she'd been more aware of her surroundings than Simone.

  The man got up, and aimed the gun at nothing. He was looking around at the edge of the hole above them, where the night sky dimly glowed its dark blue hue. "Get back in that space ship, or whatever it is," he said to the two Earth women. "Now!" he added loudly when he saw that they had not moved an inch.

  "Who the hell do you think you are?" asked Simone. "I don't think you're in any position to be—" but she was pushed back into her seat by Bree, who quickly pulled the escape pod door shut with a thud.

  "You lose your mind, Simone? That guy has a gun. Not to mention, something else is out there that has him worried. Did you see him hit the ground like that, as if some invisible force had just knocked him down or something? I can't believe this place, there are so many things that I could just spend years and years taking apart and—" she stopped herself. "Sorry. What was that?"