Original Sin

by Midway, Bridget

  Thank goodness that skill only worked for all things mechanical. For as long as Eve had been a part of the Federation Army, she fascinated him.

  At first he was only curious about how she worked. Did she feel pain? Could she fall in love? Was sex even possible for her kind of cyborg? Sure, there were sexbots, most of which had been shuttled off to a remote planet when their usefulness ran out.

  But Eve was different. Not only was she a kickass soldier, but she was also beautiful. She kept her straight reddish hair pulled back into a ponytail most of the time. It was rare to see anyone, human or otherwise, with pale skin.

  Lately when Adam saw her, he wanted to touch her, a strange reaction considering what her kind meant for him the Federation Army. But he couldn't deny his internal need.

  "This thing isn't going down very easily." Eve moved far from Adam to shoot it from the side.

  Not liking the distance between the two of them, he shuffled next to her, closing the gap as he continued to shoot away. When he noticed Eve giving him a suspicious look, he said, "A united front is better than fighting separately."

  She took another shot. "Is that why you didn't want me to fight with you at first?"

  "What are you talking about? I still don't want you out here. Get inside and help the troops with the civilians."

  Eve shook her head. "Not on your life."

  She stepped back as she continued shooting and stumbled in a hole created when the robot blasted between them. On instinct, Adam grabbed her hand and pulled her close to him.

  Being a keen observer of everything around him, Adam first noticed silence. He glanced at the robot as Eve straightened herself out and found the assailant quiet. He thought in a moment like this, where both he and Eve were off their guard, that it would have been a perfect time for the beast to blast them into oblivion. Instead it stopped and waited.

  Adam let Eve go. As soon as the connection was broken, the machine continued its attack. Was this some sort of polite robot wanting to only fight when it was fair? What the hell was going on?

  "Something strange is going on here." Adam kept his stare on the monstrosity but kept looking back at Eve.

  "Yes, we haven't figured out how to take this thing down. Between the two of us, we should be able to deduce its weaknesses." Eve wiped her brow and continued shooting. "I have a grenade in my pocket. If we can find its vulnerable spot, we could set it off inside of it."

  Adam reached into Eve's pants pocket for the explosive. Again, the robot stopped shooting. He glanced at the beast then back at Eve.

  Without getting the grenade, Adam removed his hand from her pocket but wrapped his arm around Eve's waist as he walked behind her to the other side. Once next to her, he kept his arm around her slender waist as he continued shooting. The robot, however, even during the retaliation, didn't fight back.

  Adam let Eve go and took a step away from her. As soon as he did that, the monster attacked. Holy shit. Was this what the commander meant when she said that the cyborgs had intimate knowledge of the enemy?

  "Eve, I think I know a way to fight this thing." What Adam was going to present would shock her. After the argument they just had, it may even repulse her. But it was a theory worth exploring. "You're going to have to trust me."

  * * *

  Trust was one thing E-V-E didn't have in abundance. She barely trusted other cyborgs only because so many, with a faulty chip, could be corrupted, either by the chip or by a human. As long as E-V-E stayed dedicated to the job at hand, she felt she could stand strong.

  E-V-E's regimented and practiced skills thrived while protecting those who couldn't fend for themselves—humans—against all outside forces determined to take over. The last thing she needed was to take advice—no, orders—from a man, especially one that made her question herself.

  Peering over at the lieutenant in his now tattered pants and opened jacket, she took in a long, haggard breath and jerked her attention back to the advancing monster. However, the image of his muscled thighs and the honey-colored skin of his thick neck and smooth, barrel chest invaded her thoughts until she had to swallow the saliva gathering in her mouth.

  Her reactions didn't compute. Once she took this spherical giant down, E-V-E would have to defrag her computer chip. Seemed to be about that time anyway.

  As soon as the Cerillions had entered the Earth's atmosphere, E-V-E's internal sensors had been on alert. Three rapid beeps every five minutes had given her a not-so-gentle reminder to remain alert until the attack. It finally stopped when she and B'Luven confronted the beast.

  Why B'Luven, this human, had to tag along, made no sense. She knew the only reason for his presence was because he didn't want to be one-upped by a cyborg. Her being a woman mattered little to him, at least she thought so.

  But E-V-E had been told she was the best. Period.

  She recognized a babysitter when she saw one. But at least he offered a pleasant diversion from looking at the flat, rusty Earth all day.

  "Lieutenant, get inside," E-V-E demanded. "I'll stay here and hold off this thing until you can get the inhabitants to the tunnels."

  "All one hundred thousand of them? Not likely." He took a precise shot at the underside of the predator's carriage.

  Good to see that he remembered the basics of his robot-defense training. Go for the weakest spot.

  The thing didn't falter. It took another step closer, shaking the ground until both E-V-E and B'Luven fell into one another. He put his arm around her shoulders to steady her.

  As though he willed her to do so, E-V-E turned her attention to B'Luven when the robotic intruder stopped its attack, righting its clunky posture and lowering its rifles as if at ease.

  "What's going on? A truce?" E-V-E stared at the quiet giant.

  She'd never known a Cerillion to give up. It had to have been a trick.

  "That's what I've been trying to tell you." B'Luven held his gun at the being and managed to turn E-V-E around to face him.

  "I figured something out and I think it'll work."

  E-V-E glanced at the robot, which started to hoist its guns back up for a second wave of attack. She asked quickly, "What? We don't have much time to—"

  Before she could finish, the lieutenant, in an awkward motion, put his arm around her shoulders.

  "What are you doing? This isn't time for us to resolve issues between us." E-V-E attempted to push B'Luven's arm off of her but he held on like it was his job. "Let me go!"

  The robot took a precise shot between B'Luven's feet.

  "Shit! Maybe I need to do something else, something more." Ignoring E-V-E's inquiring, he stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist while pointing his gun at the robot.

  "Why are you surrounding me? Are you crazy?" She pushed his arms down.

  That gesture got the beast to fire off three shots: one over their heads, one right next to them and another an inch in front of E-V-E's boot.

  "Don't fight this, Eve. I think there's something here. I just need to dig deeper."

  "Dig deeper where? What are you talking about? Why do you keep touching me?"

  "Don't worry. I'm just trying to take down a bad guy, nothing else."

  It felt like more than just B'Luven doing his job. What was his deal? First he chastised her for being a cyborg and not being a real woman. And now he acted like he couldn't keep his hands off of her. What kind of tactic was this?

  "You're not going to beat this thing by hanging on me."

  The Cerillion robot sliced a section out of the dome door with its laser.

  "Fuck! I really thought there was something to this." B'Luven let go of his embrace.

  The robot raised its guns. B'Luven touched E-V-E's shoulder and the guns were lowered again.

  "Are you ticklish?" Before E-V-E could answer, B'Luven wiggled his fingers around her waist and in her armpits.

  "What the hell?" She shrugged away from him.

  "Move!" B'Luven grabbed E-V-E's arm and pulled her just before it
shot in the spot where she stood. "I have to make you happy."

  "Why would you care?" E-V-E took a couple of shots at the mechanical monster.

  "In some strange way, I think the fate of the world depends on your happiness." He held her hand. "When I touch you, that thing stops shooting at us. When I let you go, it starts firing."

  E-V-E shook her head. "You're crazy. How do you know this?"

  To test his theory, B'Luven pressed his firm lips on hers. Keeping her eyes open, she glared at the lieutenant.

  Her pulse quickened and that scared her more than the attacker. The loss of her senses reminded her of her training days when her programmers took over her body during exercises. When she felt herself lowering her gun, she pulled back.

  "What are you doing?" E-V-E held on to his muscled arm.

  He nodded toward the gatecrasher. "Take a look."

  Turning her head, she noticed that not only had the robot lowered its weapons, it started to shake uncontrollably as though on a self-destruction mode. When she turned back to B'Luven, he kissed her again, passionately.

  His hand pressed against the small of her back as he held her even closer. Sweat rolled down the side of her face, a first.

  She turned to break from the embrace. If Adam wasn't trying to pass secret documents from mouth to mouth, then this action proved futile. But her slight struggle caused him to hold her tighter.

  E-V-E took in his masculine scent, a combination of red clay dust, salty sweat and ammonia, the last a permanent aroma that constantly wafted through the atmosphere. Her hand snaked up to the back of his neck as she took in the kiss, another first.

  When Adam broke from her, he asked, "How was that?" He peered over at the robot, which still vibrated violently, but struggled to hold its gun to them. "Say it now. Say it fast."

  "What are you talking about?"

  "Christ, Eve. For a computer, you sure aren't the fastest processor in the lot."

  "I'll have you know that I'm able to compute multiple—"

  A laser shot blasted over their heads, denting the door and burning a small hole in its wake.

  "Don't argue with me." Adam moved her over to avoid the molten steel pouring down the door as a result of the gun blast. "It's reacting to conflict."

  E-V-E blinked. "Which is why we need to continue our rifle assault."

  "Not that kind of conflict." He waved his hand between the two of them. "Us. Our fighting is causing that thing to fire on us."

  She didn't have a chance to ask why. Without warning and with no hesitation, he pressed her back against the door, the smoldering hole over their heads a reminder that they weren't doing a practice attack. He paused for a moment, then did something she'd never thought he would do as long as she'd known him: he dropped his weapon.

  "What are you doing, Lieutenant?" E-V-E kept her gaze on the robot. "We have an intruder in our midst!" Standing on the tips of her toes in her class five work boots, she peered over his shoulder to see the Cerillion attacker gearing up for another battering. "Pick up your weapon!"

  "I can't hold it and do this at the same time." As though he'd done it before, he ripped open her moss-green government issued jacket, lifted her T-shirt and palmed her bare breasts.

  Shock should have been the appropriate response. Perhaps E-V-E should have been appalled. She'd seen other women, non-enhanced women, get offended when a man leered at them in a manner that they must have found disgusting.

  Instead E-V-E's body melted to Adam's touch. She closed her eyes and let her head fall back as he massaged her sensitive orbs. Her body felt like it belonged to him. He elicited responses she'd never felt. Aside from examinations from Army doctors, no man had ever touched her this way—in a manner that made her forget her self-defense training.

  Why didn't she want to twist his arm behind his back until he cried for mercy? Or jam the heel of her hand against his nose until it snapped?

  Wetness pooled between her legs and she felt her clitoris throbbing. A moan flowed through her parted lips when her pebbled nipples brushed the calloused palms of his hands.

  Her body reacted in a way that was unfamiliar to her. Not used to sweating, she now felt a trickle of it rolling down between her breasts. A few beads of the perspiration dotted her forehead.

  Wanting to feel more of his touch, a sensation so foreign to her she thought her chip would short circuit, she pressed her free hand on top of his.

  B'Luven shook her hand off of his as though she was guiding his hand on how to shoot his weapon. "Eve, one of us is going to have to keep an eye on that thing."

  E-V-E snapped her head up. The Cerillion invader. That's right. She did have a job to do. And what in the hell was Adam doing?

  "I am an Emergency Violator Equalizer, Lieutenant." She hoped using her full title, and his, would snap him out of whatever crazed state that made him react this way.

  Maybe hearing her say it out loud would trigger her to react as she should as well—with force, with violence, without feeling.

  "I know what you are, Eve." He said the name like a curse.

  E-V-E had known Adam's reservations—no, hatred—for all things robotic. He'd expressed his feelings to anyone within earshot of how the robots were trying to take over human jobs in the Army. E-V-E still remembered his look of disgust the day he'd been told to pair with her.

  For all she knew, Adam could have been trying to trick her to get her out of the army. Perhaps he wanted give her a head butt to attempt to damage her circuitry. Or maybe he wanted to get close enough to cram his large hand up her nose to shove her cartilage into her brain. Or worse yet, maybe he was trying to convert her into a simple sexbot, a toy to use and throw away when the fun was over. The thought made her blink.

  Although the Cerillion robot remained still, E-V-E was fully aware of a possum attack. She aimed her gun at the dormant giant but reserved her ammunition for when it started its next wave of attack.

  "What the hell are you doing? I could have you charged with sexual assault on a fellow officer." She struggled, weakly, to close her jacket but her body craved more of Adam's touch, his attention.

  What was wrong with her? How could her body react to a man who had been anything but welcoming to her? What she suspected was that she may be becoming something she didn't want to be: a sexbot. She knew that those cyborg units were built for one function without thought of who or why.

  "Yeah, and when home base gets a look at your computer response read-out they'll drop the charges." He dipped his head and let his tongue lave over her other nipple.

  For that, he was rewarded with a moan that nearly matched the groaning sound from the robot behind them. He lowered himself to his knees. When he started unzipping her pants, he pushed his luck too far.

  Moving her hand behind her back, she retrieved her small handgun that she kept tucked into her back holster and placed it at his temple. "Section 41B-12 of the Officers' Handbook states that an officer may not physically nor sexually violate another at any time," E-V-E stated matter-of-factly as her hand trembled. "A violation of any rules stated in the Handbook is subject to arrest, incarceration and punishment including execution. I hereby place you under arrest, Lieutenant Adam B'Luven."

  "Get down!" He grabbed her wrist and yanked her to the ground. In one swift move, he covered her body with his, making sure to shield her face.

  The blast from the Cerillion's robot seared through the door where they had been standing.

  "Are you trying to get us killed?" He placed his hands on either sides of her head as he hovered his face over hers.

  "What did I just say about conflict? No more arguments between us, get it?"

  "What are you doing? Turning the thing on and off?" She turned her gaze to the machine. Its smoking guns sank to the ground again.

  He smirked. "No, but apparently I'm doing that to you."

  Snatching the handgun from her grip, he tossed it a couple of feet away from them. "Just keep your rifle aimed on it and concentrate on
me."

  "I don't understand."

  Adam blinked. "You really don't get it, do you?"

  She shook her head, feeling inadequate for the first time that she could remember.

  "Who is the leader of the Cerillions?"

  As E-V-E was about to answer, he kissed the side of her face, then circled his tongue around the shell of her ear. His warm breath sparked a fire in her abdomen that spread throughout her body.

  "Dr. Lars Urlean," she answered in a moan.

  Adam lifted his head. "Very good. Do you know what he's known for?"

  Before she could respond, he bowed his head again and repeated the same kissing and licking process to the other side of her face. Her toes curled in her boots. War wasn't supposed to feel this good.

  "Robotics," she answered. "Machinery. Artificial Intelligence."

  "Sex," Adam said bluntly. "The man uses sex like the way humans take in oxygen."

  "What does that have to do with me? With us?"

  "Who is your creator?"

  "You mean my biological parents?"

  "No." Adam tapped his index finger on the center of her forehead. "The chip. Who made it? Who put it in you?"

  "Dr. Sonjie Tuumlar."

  "I'm thinking there's got to be a correlation between the two. Every time I protect or touch you, that thing stops blasting at us. And when you throw this gorgeous body in front of mine, it sets its guns down. Why is that?"

  "You think my body is gorgeous?" E-V-E shouldn't have cared what the lieutenant thought of her. Curiosity and the ache between her legs got the better of her.

  "It gets my attention quite often." He winked.

  "Does my appearance aid in combat?"

  "Believe it or not, in this situation it really helps."

  She put her hand to her cheek when her face felt oddly tight around her mouth. Was she actually smiling?

  In a supine position, E-V-E gazed at the blue-black sky as though searching for answers. As she lay still, B'Luven managed to undo her pants and pull them down to her knees. This time she offered no protest.

  As odd as it seemed, E-V-E was willing to concede that his methods may be on the mark, even though every ounce in her logical being screamed that it didn't make sense. She balled her free hand into a fist as she struggled not to do the same with the other and shoot the Cerillion robot instead. Rolling her head to the side, she gazed at the steel enemy.