BioCybe

by Imogene Nix

  “I’m fine.”

  “Damn it, you’re not. You’re a danger to yourself. Now let me see.”

  Mirth bubbled. “I’m fine. Look.” She held out her hand and he hissed, watching as her skin visibly healed.

  “How the hell did you do that?” His eyes narrowed, and against her will, she raised her hand to his cheek, cupping it. Feeling the rasp of his day-old growth.

  “It’s a by-product of the implants. My body heals far faster than most, particularly from this kind of injury.”

  He sighed deeply and gathered her close, burying his face in her hair. The act drawing her deeper into the web of emotion she couldn’t comprehend. “I’m never going to know where I am with you, am I?”

  * * * *

  “Those documents are not available for release. No matter who you are.” The officious clerk opposite her stuck her nose in the air once more, and Levia gripped the back of the chair’s metal frame, hoping to keep a modicum of control. It creaked and she knew the metal had started to bow. She was holding onto her anger, but it was tough.

  After nearly a week in transit, using the hyperspace corridors, waiting a moment longer was too much. She needed that file. Needed the information contained within it.

  If it contained even a percentage of what she’d found in her own… She blocked out the memory of the feelings of betrayal that had come with the knowledge that Sandon had seen it. She’d scanned it, looking for hints of what might be hidden in Mayerber’s. Treating it as an intelligence gathering activity had allowed her to avoid the freezing chill that crept up her spine each time she thought of it.

  “I told you, I need Mayerber’s file now.” The woman was being a total pain, and Levia didn’t have a lot of control when it came to people who got in the way of her work. She glanced at the woman’s nametag. The name and image settled in her databank.

  The woman blinked. “And I’ve told you, Recruit Seven-One-Four, that the files are not available.” Sevran Des’tay’s hands were white knuckled, and Levia sensed any satisfaction she might achieve from forcing the woman to comply would be fleeting.

  But still she obviously needed to exert a little more pressure to get her hands on the damned file. Why is the galaxy inhabited by fools and middle management? They’re constantly getting in my way!

  Levia cleared her mind, reaching deep as she calculated the best way to deal with the woman. “I don’t think you understand the gravity of this situation. If I don’t get that file, the only thing standing between you and possible vivisection—which just happens to be Mayerber’s favorite way of disposing of people—is your sense of self-importance and obstructive behavior.” She leaned in closer, scanning the reaction from her current nemesis. The woman’s respiration had sped up, her pupils were dilated, and the subtle mask of deodorants couldn’t hope to conceal that she was sweating more heavily. Levia swallowed the smile that rose. Oh yes, she’d made her point. “So, get that file, now.”

  “I… I can’t.

  The rumble that started in Levia’s chest grew.

  Des’tay flung out a hand, likely attempting to stop the anger that rose inside Levia. “No… See?” The woman turned the screen in her direction.

  Document Status — Incomplete File, Access Denied.

  “What the hell does that mean? Incomplete? Where’s the rest?”

  The woman tapped at her keyboard. “It was in one of the repositories that were damaged during a skirmish in the war. I can give you the little we have… Honestly though, you’d get more on Cordero. Likely the whole file. I can’t access the repository lists here, but that’s where the master files are kept.”

  Shock froze Levia. Go to Cordero? Her homeworld?

  “I don’t…” She stepped back, away from the desk. Sevran’s face paled, but she leaned in Levia’s direction. “Go back to Cordero?”

  “Yes. Well…” Sevran’s gaze narrowed on her.

  For an instant, the wave of nausea almost overcame Levia. She shook it off.

  “Seven-One-Four, do you require medical intervention?”

  Those words… She’d heard them before. Long ago. Now, they just pounded into her head like a metal spike.

  A sick, burning feeling rose in her throat, and she shook her head to negate the woman’s request. The need to get away, to retreat from Sevran’s words, had her pulse thrumming. Control. Reduce the nausea. Get away. The commands flashed through her and she followed them blindly.

  Spinning on the ball of her foot, she moved, heading for the door. She didn’t care that Sevran was calling after her. She needed to escape. To deal with the vise that squeezed her brain and heart. Breaking into a run, she got through the twisted maze of corridors and out onto the forecourt.

  Home. She needed to be home. On the Echo. The tiny shuttle, the ZZ8, waited for her, and she dashed into it and hit the door lock symbol. Levia barely had time to stumble to the ablution cubicle before her stomach heaved out its contents.

  Do you require medical intervention? The thought reverberated through her brain.

  Tears escaped, but she ignored them. Nothing could help right now.

  Levia rose on unsteady legs and made her way to the bridge, strapping in. Then she opened the communications link with air traffic control. “Air traffic control, this is Gamma-Vega-Gamma-Alpha-Zeta. Get all traffic out of my way, I’m burning hot and heading out.”

  They would too. They’d recognize her call sign, and she welcomed the boost of adrenalin that came with their ascension.

  She punched the ignition and slammed it into life while the engines screamed. She’d already disengaged the comm system. Let everyone else get out of my way. The thought ended on a vicious snarl.

  Riding the waves of air pockets that jostled the craft, it ascended and broke from the grips of gravity. She was going home.

  Chapter 9

  Sandon glanced in Levia’s direction. “You’re okay?”

  Levia was gazing out the viewing port of his cabin, as the small green-gray planet rose before them. He’d refused to allow her to pilot the ship for this leg, worried that she was already stretched thin. The fact that she’d given in so easily spoke volumes about the stress she was under.

  “Yeah.”

  “You can talk about it, you know.”

  When she glanced in his direction, the white lines bracketing her mouth looked deeper and whiter while the glow of green through her makeup reminded him of everything she’d been through since leaving Cordero. What had been done to create the perfect warrior for the Jurans.

  “I haven’t been back. Not once. When we were removed to take up our positions, they contacted our families and told them that we’d died.” The convulsive sound she made, a cross between a hiccup and a strangled laugh, pierced him.

  He waited, letting her talk as and how she felt necessary.

  The carpet on the floor absorbed the sound of her footsteps as she moved closer to him, tugging on the neck of her body suit as if it were choking her. “They thought having no ties to our previous life would make it easier for us to do what had to be done.”

  This was the most she’d ever shared about leaving home and the enhancements without being pushed. As much as it sickened him, he needed to hear it all, so he could help her. He wanted to build a life with her, but until she opened up, those festering wounds would taint any life they built between them.

  “We didn’t get a say in any of it. Once the family has been informed, that’s it. It’s like whatever connection existed between you and them has snapped. You can’t go back, because… What is there to go back to?”

  She lowered herself onto the seat beside him, tugging the zipper down so that she revealed the scarred skin below.

  “We learned what we had to do. We trained and followed instructions, because that was all we had left. The rest of the Cybes I knew...we parted ways, because being together was painful. It reminded us of everything we’d lost.” Levia inhaled with a hiss. “That we were the outcasts and abominations.”
The words were bitter and broken.

  “But you aren’t alone anymore.” He reached out, stopping her movements. “And if you want, we can go see your family. Find them.”

  He knew the moment she understood what he was saying, because the great wracking sob left her shuddering.

  “But to them, I’m dead!”

  “You don’t have to be.” Maybe this was something else he could give Levia. It was clear that top of the list was being in control of her own destiny.

  “But they won’t know me. To them I’m going to be some kind of creature! A… A bloody Cybe!”

  “Are you scared they’ll turn you away?” The words were painful, but necessary, so he plowed on, releasing his grip on her hands and edging closer.

  “I… I don’t know. But if they turn away… I don’t know what I’d do.” She whispered the words as he framed her face. Twin pools of misery gazed at him. “They think I’m dead.”

  “But you’re not. You’re here, with me, alive and loved. Loved, Levia. You’ll never be alone again. If they turn their back on you, the crew of the Echo and I will be your family.”

  The kiss was a benediction. Soft and sweet, and she opened to him as never before. She accepted the caress and gave back what he took. She tasted sweet and womanly. When his tongue swept over her lips, she sighed and the tension in her body seeped away. Now there was heat and desire. The kisses deepened and ravaged. The taste of her and warmth, even her slight weight, encouraged him to show her how deep his emotions flowed.

  Without thought, Sandon stripped the heavy material from her body, the pads of his fingers traveling over the expanses of flesh that he uncovered. He took control, dragging his mouth away from hers long enough to touch every dip and hollow, before he pushed her bra over her head and onto the floor. He tugged her panties off as she sighed, and for a moment, he allowed himself to gaze at the woman laid out before him, like an offering to a god.

  His body jerked and trembled as the emotions flowed through his system. Love and desire, warring with the need to cherish this impossibly hurt woman. He’d give anything for her. Even his life.

  “I love you, Levia. Every inch of you.”

  Each kiss he dotted over the scars was heady, and he hoped, prayed, that she understood the depths of his feelings. There weren’t enough words to describe how he felt with her, so he relied on actions. Soft touches that left her sighing, and light caresses that ended with her twisting and turning in his embrace.

  “Levia, you’re so beautiful.”

  She averted her gaze. “I’m not. My body is scarred and—”

  “No. There’s much more to you than the physical state of your body. I intend to show you exactly what I mean.”

  Slowly, she bloomed for him, her skin a rosy pink, her nipples distended while her body reacted to her desire. He had her naked before him and his body responded, jerking and pulsing. He gently caught the tips of her budded nipples between thumb and forefinger and watched her eyes blank. Her lips opened wider, and her flush of arousal grew deeper as he tugged lightly.

  “Sa… Sandon?”

  “Shhh… Beautiful. Let me pleasure you.” God, how he wanted to watch her fly apart in his arms while her eyes flashed and her lips trembled.

  Down, boy. The thoughts pushed his desire up another notch, leaving him sweaty and hard. Sandon struggled to find a comfortable position. He carefully adjusted himself. This isn’t about me, I need to get my head back in the game.

  He pushed her down onto the seat, and she gripped the material covering his shoulders. “Sandon? But you’re still—”

  The laugh erupted, dark and hard. “Yeah, but this is about you, my love.”

  “But...” The broken wail excited him further. The knowledge that she wanted to share her body with him, that she’d never done so before, coalesced inside his mind. Mine!

  “Not this time.” He ground the words out even as the arousal spearing him urged him to tear the clothes that constricted his body and shove himself between her thighs. Not this time! For a moment, the pounding hunger nearly overcame him. You’re not some primitive caveman! The reminder almost wasn’t enough, and he breathed deeply, battling the need and subduing it.

  He kissed her skin, zeroing in on the raspberry tip of a breast, suckling hard, and she arched and moaned. Her hips gyrated amid the panting sounds, and the scent of arousal wound around them like a magic spell.

  The hands that gripped her hips moved down to the tops of her thighs and skated toward her center. His thumbs dipped lightly within the lips of her labia and toyed with her engorged flesh ever so lightly. Each time they slid against the tiny hooded nub hidden at the apex of her intimate flesh, she shuddered beneath him. “Sa... Sandon!”

  He couldn’t help the smile that rose. “So ready.”

  He played and stroked, driving her to the edge then retreating. Each time he skimmed away, she mewled her distress and his own hunger grew urgent.

  With ruthless efficiency, he teased, not allowing entry into her body until she was writhing uncontrollably, her skin sheened with sweat. She was slick when he slid one finger within, finding the erogenous zone he planned to toy with until he pushed her over the edge. “God, I love the feel of you.”

  His mutter was met with a cry.

  He moved harder and faster, plunging the digit in a parody of the most intimate act of all. The rapid movement of her hips warned him she was close, and he stilled for a moment, needing to suck in an unsteady breath.

  “Now, Levia. Let me show you.” His guttural words echoed through the room, and he found the spot he sought while her body began the pulsating, rhythmic draws that signaled her orgasm. God, how he loved to feel her come!

  “Sa… Sandon!”

  That he’d been able to give her this moment, filled him with a sense of triumph. His own body might throb, but he’d given her a gift of love. Sandon scanned her face, aware the instant she returned to him.

  Levia lifted a shaking hand to his chin. “Why?”

  “Because I need you to know that your needs are important. In case I ever forget to tell you that, to me, you are more precious than anything.”

  She smiled at him slyly. “No. You see, if this is to work, we need to remember this is a partnership.” Her voice took on a husky tone, and she curled her arm around his neck. “That means you should deserve the pleasure too.”

  Before he could argue, she fitted her mouth to his and the world spun away.

  * * * *

  Landing on Cordero was both an anti-climax and a revelation. Levia’s heart pounded as they descended through the atmosphere, and she panted while trickles of sweat inched their way down her spine.

  “Okay?” Sandon stayed beside her every inch of the way. His solid presence and the touch of his hands kept her upright as she headed down the steps to the surface.

  After eleven long years, coming home seemed… Odd. She wasn’t the same frightened girl returning. Memories of the rushed departure all those years ago flashed through her mind on what felt like a video loop.

  The slight pressure on her hand reminded Levia that she still needed to answer Sandon’s question. “I’m good.” Well, maybe she was and maybe she wasn’t. The jumble of emotions that ran like quicksand through her meant she wasn’t sure quite how to react. Instead, she kept holding on to his hand, accepting his support, needing the connection between them.

  Her eyes moved side to side as she scanned the area. Not much had changed out here on the landing field. “We should grab an air-cab.”

  Dragging him toward the terminal, each step was cautious. What if she saw someone she’d known? She stopped and gulped down oxygen while an array of blinking lights shone before her.

  “Levia?”

  “What if I meet someone I knew?” Even as she spoke, she shook her head. “That’s silly, right? Even if they saw me, it’s unlikely they’d recognize me now, or me them. It’s been eleven years!” She laughed, but it sounded hollow. She screwed up her eyes, becaus
e they suddenly burned. “Man! I’ve never cried so much in my life until I joined the Echo.”

  When Sandon dragged her close, she breathed deeply, filling her lungs with oxygen. “It’s because you feel safe. And, no, it’s not silly. Your life here was stolen away from you. It’s okay to feel confused.”

  “Maybe.” When she opened her eyes again, her gaze fixed on Sandon. The way his black hair waved in the gentle breeze and his soft brown eyes... Here was her Sandon, caring about how she felt. I need to be strong for him. To show him I can overcome my past. “Come on. I want to get this done.” The question she’d avoided popped into her mind. Why? Why did she have to show him? What driving factor caused her to need to be better for him?

  She’d shied away from naming the emotion in her mind, but she couldn’t any longer. She loved Sandon. The thought didn’t stun her or cause her to lose her step. Instead, it filled her with warmth.

  Levia dragged him in the direction of the tiny terminal, focusing on the destination rather than her surroundings, and once within, she was prepared for the request to present her credentials.

  The nervous dance inside her belly began again as she extended her arm for the scanner.

  “Oh…” The technician before her shrank back.

  Levia shrugged inwardly. There wasn’t much she could do. Once people saw the B-C prefix to her credentials, it was how they usually responded.

  Sandon held out his arm even while he dragged her close with the other. “Where can we grab an air-cab?”

  The woman pursed her lips. “I’ll, uhhh… I can order one if you like?”

  At Sandon’s nod, she scurried away.

  “Do they always do that?” he asked Levia.

  “What? Look as if I’m about to kill them? Yeah, pretty much.” It was something she doubted she’d ever become accustomed to, but this time, Sandon was beside her. She twined her fingers around his and clung on.

  Their conveyance arrived and they hustled in. For a moment, the knowledge of having done this before rocked Levia.

  “Where to?” Sandon’s tone was distant.