Original Sin

by Midway, Bridget

  "Do you desire sex with anyone or just me?" He watched her contemplate her answer. He could almost hear her sophisticated computer chip working this problem in her brain.

  "You. I want you."

  Adam brought her head down and he kissed her. Just as he suspected, she trembled in his arms. "If you just want me, you got me. I won't leave you if you promise not to leave me."

  "But I'm not good for you. I'm not who you think I am, Adam."

  He stared at her for a moment, trying to decipher what she could possibly mean by her statement.

  "I know you're pissed off at how robotics have taken over some human jobs and the army. I didn't ask to be made this way."

  He put his hand to the side of her face. "Chip or not, you're a hell of a woman, Eve. We can deal with that chip after we fight these fuckers. I just don't want to lose you."

  She nuzzled her face in his hand. "But what if I'm not everything you want me to be? I don't want you regretting anything. I should still go and save the humans."

  He couldn't bear the thought. "You'd be killing me."

  The statement came out faster than he could stop himself. But after years of shutting off his emotional side to be a perfect soldier, he found it refreshing—and somewhat ironic—that the one person, the one woman, who opened his eyes to new possibilities was a fellow soldier, and enhanced woman, Eve.

  If she walked out of his life, jettisoned to an unknown planet, Adam knew his heart would stop beating. Wherever she would go, she would take his heart with him.

  A tear rolled from her eye and onto his hand. He wanted to take her pain and blast it out of existence. What hurt her so much? To ease her mind, he decided to make some confessions.

  "Eve, I tried to fight it. I tried to get transferred to a different unit so I wouldn't have to see you all of the time. But bottom line is that I can't get you out of my mind. I want no one by my side in battle or in my bed but you. I need you."

  She smiled. She caressed his face with her fingertips, tickling his senses and bringing them to life.

  "And there's something I need to tell you about me…and my family." Adam knew it was time to come clean about his father to Eve. She of all people would understand.

  Before she could respond, her eyes closed and her head slumped down as though she'd fallen asleep on the spot.

  "Very funny, Eve. You're not getting out of hearing my story by pretending to be asleep."

  But she didn't move. She didn't stir. Her arms hung down her sides and her body swayed as though she were boneless. When Adam lifted her chin to catch her expression, his stomach jumped when she didn't react.

  Tilting her head back and placing his ear to her chest, he listened for a heartbeat or to hear her breathing. He heard both, but her breathing came out shallow and her heartbeat seemed sluggish. What the hell had happened to her?

  "Eve! Wake up, baby." He shook her gently.

  Maybe her chip finally shorted out. Right now he didn't care what she was hiding. Seeing her in this comatose state rattled his brain. He couldn't hear above the rush of blood going through his ears.

  Setting her on the bed, he stood and pulled up his pants.

  "Medic! I need medic in room CK-99 now!" he screamed in the air.

  The computer didn't answer.

  "Did you fucking hear me? Get a doctor to this room now or I swear to the gods I'll shoot a hole in the middle of your fucking motherboard!"

  When the computer still didn't answer, he took a step toward the door to get a doctor in to help her when her door opened on its own.

  Adam froze in his spot. Since the alarm wasn't going off he knew that someone of a higher authority hadn't called another AWOL inspection. So who the hell gained access to her room?

  Adam saw the barrel of the laser gun first before he saw the man carrying it.

  "Urlean," Adam said.

  Chapter Seven

  The elderly man gazed down at Eve and snickered. "Good. Looks like the old remote can still countermand her systems."

  He held up a black, slim remote next to his wrinkled face. Adam would have thought that, being a man of science, the old doctor would have created a serum or pill to slow or reverse the aging process and become virile, younger. Instead the Urlean appeared feeble and decrepit.

  Looking all of ninety pounds, he stood hunched over showing off his speckled bald head. Liver spots dotted his hands and arms, visible under his black knee-length coat. His thick glasses made his eyes look too large for his pruney face. What seemed odd was that he had straight, white perfect teeth. They didn't appear to be false either.

  Adam couldn't begin to fathom why Urlean would take such good care of his teeth and nothing else.

  "I have to thank you, hot shot," Urlean said, his voice high-pitched yet gruff. "Thanks to your valiant attempt to fight my robot, I managed to break through your force field behind your home base to get in here. Nothing like a good decoy."

  "Decoy or not, that thing would have destroyed our home. It had to be stopped."

  "And you had to do it, eh?" He chuckled. "And how brave of you. Tell me, son, how many orgasms did you give her before you decided to take the first shot?"

  Adam clinched his jaw, flexing the muscles in it until his head ached. "Just give me that remote and we'll go quietly."

  "You're all going anyway. I've taken over your systems here. My robotic troops are seizing the humans as I speak. I saw some nice, pretty young girls, too." Urlean slithered his tongue over his purplish lips. "They'll be fun to play with."

  Adam approached the cretin with his fists ready to knock him out. "You sick son-of-a—"

  The doctor raised his weapon. "Oh, I don't think you'll be wanting to take another step. This time I won't give you a warning shot. I'll shoot your foot off for real, then your knees, then the cock that bitch seems to love so much."

  Urlean staggered toward the bed to get a closer look at Eve, but still managed to hold his gun steady on Adam.

  "Look at her. Never thought she would last this long. I thought for sure after all of the surgeries she would have expired eventually." He coughed. "Women just aren't as strong as men. You know that."

  Adam did…until he met Eve. If she were awake right now, she would have knocked this asshole out. Eve proved to be a different kind of cyborg. Adam knew firsthand how the earlier cyborgs wouldn't last very long at all. One good fight and they would wear themselves out.

  Seeing Eve look so helpless on her bed tore at Adam's heart. One reason for staying away from Eve, from allowing her to get into his heart was because he had no idea how long Eve would make it. She could last for a hundred years to come. Or today could be it for her.

  Adam wouldn't let it be, not on his watch. It had taken him too long to find his perfect match. He would be damned if he was going to let her slip by him. All he needed was a distraction to get that remote away from this madman.

  "Wake her up. Let her go." Adam made his request simple. He would give his life for her.

  "As though it could be that simple." Urlean laughed and it turned into a coughing fit. "That damn Tuumlar. So fucking simple. Such a woman. Damn romantic. Only she would have implanted a chip that would reverse my work. Love." He snorted and shook his head. "I gave her research, knowledge, my bed. None of it was enough. She wanted love." He glared at Adam. "And how fitting that she had the High Commander pair you up with E-V-E. Adam and Eve. How biblical."

  So Tuumlar had a hand in getting the two of them together? But why? Adam had been very vocal about his stance on robotics. He made his opinions known and had vehemently refused to work with Eve when he first got the assignment.

  Wouldn't Tuumlar want someone who would be more accepting of Eve, making it easier for them to fall in love?

  "So tell me, Adam, what's your last name? I'd like to know the full name of the pawn used in this game." Urlean waved his gun at Adam.

  "I prefer not to say." Adam didn't need to play in Urlean's game.

  A laser shot whizzed by
Adam's arm.

  "Let's try this again since I've now reminded you of who's holding the gun. Your name."

  Keeping his gaze on the gun's barrel, Adam said, "B'Luven."

  Adam brought his attention up to Urlean's face when the man laughed, he got into a coughing jag that nearly brought him to his knees. "I don't believe it. Here I thought Tuumlar was just a romantic. Turns out, she's the one who converted your father. She changed your father into an early edition cyborg."

  Adam didn't want to recall those times with Urlean. He had meant to tell the story to Eve and only her.

  Yes, Adam had known his father, with hopes of immortality, opted to be one of the first humans to become a cyborg. Despite Adam's mother's wishes and Adam's pleas, his father underwent the risky surgery.

  Adam didn't have a problem with his father wanting to be a groundbreaker in any field. It would have been wonderful to talk about his father's contributions to the Federation and the world…if he didn't know the truth.

  The truth that Adam overheard from his father to his mother was that his father volunteered to be changed into a cyborg so that he could be a better soldier. It shattered Adam to know that his father doubted his skills as a fighter, so much so that he wanted to change himself.

  For this reason, Adam rebuked anything that had to do with cyborgs. He would never change himself. Little did he know that an enhanced soldier would change him, change his perception.

  Adam's father lasted two years after the surgery and after his first combat as a cyborg. After that, Adam couldn't bear to open his heart to another cyborg, especially since he knew the potential outcome. Looking at Eve, it appeared he might be right again.

  "In all fairness to that cunt, Sonjie Tuumlar, I don't think she knew that your father would expire so quickly. But if it wasn't for your father's death, Tuumlar wouldn't have figured out how to fix the subsequent cyborgs, including E-V-E. So on the one hand, you lost a father. But on the other hand, you gained a new play toy."

  "She's not a toy." Adam glanced at her lifeless body. "She's a strong and talented soldier."

  "How sweet. Is that what you told her while you were taking her virginity? Such a gentleman, aren't you?" Urlean wagged his gun at him.

  Adam had to keep this man talking. The more he talked the more time Adam would have to think of a plan to get the remote and get Eve out of there.

  "So what's the forbidden fruit?" he asked, referring to the biblical story.

  Urlean raised his overgrown salt-and-pepper eyebrows. "Why it's you, of course!"

  Adam blinked, not quite understanding.

  "You have type O-positive blood. Used to be the most common type of blood in all of humans. With the diminishing population, it's rare to find someone like you. Tuumlar knew this when she treated you once in the sickbay a few years ago. You're one in a million. And since there are less than a million inhabitants on earth, you're basically the only one with your blood type. Tuumlar made sure to fine-tune E-V-E's chip so that her sensors would make her overly sensitive to you. Basically she would get horny as a cat in heat when you're around. Neat trick, huh?"

  Adam didn't answer. He wanted to think that Eve's attraction to him had more to do with him than his blood type.

  "So when E-V-E takes a bite out of you, so to speak, everything becomes clear to her. She'll stop thinking she's a robot and start believing she's human. With her chip, I can make her do anything I want."

  Adam could have sworn his heart stopped at that moment. "What do you mean?"

  Dr. Urlean set the remote on the bed next to Eve's leg. Adam kept the device in his field of vision as he stared at the gun. Reaching in his pocket, Dr. Urlean retrieved a pocketknife. With a push of a side button, the knife flipped out revealing a two-inch blade.

  Adam swallowed hard as he watched the man holding the knife. In an instant, Urlean had sliced the blade down Eve's arm.

  "By gods, man! What the hell are you doing?" Adam stumbled to her but Urlean took a shot on the floor about a millimeter away from Adam's foot. Heat permeated through his work boot.

  "Don't worry. E-V-E's blood is mixed with accelerator. She'll heal in no time." Urlean lifted her arm and dug his fingers into the open wound. "You humans think that the cyborg's chip is in the head. Not so. We purposely implanted each cyborg's chip in different areas on their bodies that way a simple shot to the head may not disable them. For our dear E-V-E, her chip is in her arm. Of course, we told the dumb bitch that it was in the back of her head. Ever notice her rubbing it?"

  Adam remained silent. But even knowing now what she was, what she was made of, what she had to endure by being trained by this man, he wanted her even more. Even if Eve was reacting to his DNA, Adam was reacting to Eve's character, her integrity, her true beauty inside.

  Urlean flopped her arm down, landing it in a pool of blood.

  Come on, accelerator. Work faster. Don't let her bleed out.

  "I'm feeling generous. So tell you what I'm going to do. I feel like we owe you something since my colleague did experiment with your father. You can join me and my robotic army. We'll take over this planet and rule it like it should be ruled. Make it our Gomorrah more than that fucking satellite with all of the obsolete sexbots. If you like the way E-V-E fucks, you're going to love the enhanced women I have in my lab."

  Adam could only see red and feel rage swirling through his body. "Sure. When do we start?" he ground out through clenched teeth.

  Dr. Urlean laughed. But his laughter soon stopped when Eve took in a gasp of air like she'd been under water for several minutes. Her upper body jackknifed upward. Faster than the blink of an eye, she snatched the gun from Urlean's hand and shot him three times— three precise shots that landed between his eyes, on his chest at his heart and in his groin.

  Seeing the last shot made Adam unconsciously cover his manhood.

  With a blank stare, Urlean slid to the floor in a heap.

  * * * *

  "Thank the gods, you're okay!" Adam rushed to Eve but she pointed the gun at him.

  She tried to get her breathing under control but, like the rest of her body, everything was going out of whack. She was surprised she'd managed to shoot Urlean as fast and as accurately as she had. With her shaky grip, she should have missed him at least once.

  "Were you really going to join Urlean in taking over the humans?" she asked.

  Adam, his hands still raised in the air, released a long breath. "Of course not. I was trying to get to the remote."

  E-V-E glanced down by her feet at the familiar small controller. She'd never thought she would be close to Urlean again for him to use that damn thing. Pointing the gun at the remote, she took another shot and blasted it to pieces. Shards landed on her legs and on the bed.

  She slowed in lowering the gun. She wanted to believe Adam but the men in her life had been more than untrustworthy.

  "I wouldn't dare hurt you, Eve. You know that. Listen to your heart."

  "I—I—I'm not human."

  Adam approached her with great caution. "Yes, you are."

  She peered down at the blood on her arm. The deep gash Dr. Urlean had made had almost healed. But she still felt like a robot. Not human. No human would heal this quickly.

  Glancing at Adam, she knew he must think she was some sort of freak. "Your father."

  Adam nodded. "I was going to tell you."

  "He was like me?"

  "In a way, because of him is the reason you exist."

  E-V-E rubbed her eyes to focus better. "Did you hate your father?"

  Adam took a deep breath. "I hated what he did to himself and why. Looking at you, I think I understand why he did it."

  E-V-E stared at him. His expression read like he did appreciate her and maybe he understood her more. But he lost his father after the transformation. Maybe Adam hated her now because of that.

  "How do you feel about me now?" Her hands shook as she held the gun.

  Lowering his hands, dropping his guard, Adam's face softene
d. He leaned close to her. "I love you, Eve."

  Gaining more control of her muscles, she raised the gun higher. "No, you don't. You can't love me. I'm a fucking robot."

  "Babe, I realize that I would die without you. I love you so much. It killed me to see that prick slash your arm and treat you like a piece of meat. I meant what I said earlier about wanting you by my side in battle and in my bed."

  Tears stung her eyes. Her hand trembled again but this time she surrendered to her emotions. "I don't know if I can have children," she said with a quaky voice.

  "Then we'll find out together." He took another step closer.

  "What if Urlean had another remote? I could be made ineffectual again."

  "Then we'll find Tuumlar and get that thing out of your head."

  "What if what I feel isn't real? Your blood and my sensor—"

  "Tell me how you feel. If you didn't care about me, you would have shot me already, right?"

  E-V-E wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "I don't know how long I'll live."

  "Welcome to humanity, baby. No one knows for sure how long they're going to live. You just have to enjoy the time you have now." He got close enough to sit on the bed next to her. Cupping her face, he planted soft kisses around her mouth. "I love you." He kissed her cheek. "I love you." He kissed the tip of her nose. "I love you."

  "I love you too, Adam." She dropped the gun and kissed him fully on his lips.

  In the distance she heard explosions, crashes, and general sounds of chaos. The building shook but it didn't stop them from sharing this tender moment.

  When the dust settled and Adam pulled back, a smile as wide as the galaxy, he heard the High Commander's voice over the system.

  "The Cerillion robots have been destroyed! They all exploded simultaneously. Anyone know how this happened?"

  E-V-E snickered. "Should we tell her?"

  Adam shook his head. "Later." He went in for another kiss but stopped. "How did you manage to get up from Urlean's control?"

  She shook her head. "I don't know. I could hear everything around me and I could sense things. I kept wishing in my head that I could get up and help you. I prayed over and over again. Someone must have heard my prayers. It was like someone turned on a light switch. I just got up."