“The reaction worldwide was something no one predicted. You had every reason to hate the Gran, yet you were the most ardent supporter of peace. Yours was the voice of reason crying out to the world – a world that had rejected you. If you could find love and forgiveness in your heart for these Cats, then why not the rest of humanity? People began to question what virtue the Cats evidenced that could win your affections, after everything you had suffered. You, Angel, sparked the curiosity and compassion of the world. You embody the most redeeming parts of the human condition.”
I didn’t get it.
Cesar patted my hand. “The Emperor stepping in to finish the peace talks with Doctor Vale of the UN made the difference. The Doctor, as Chairman of the Council, is far more reasonable than his predecessor. Without the Guild BureauCats in the way, the Emperor and the Doctor quickly settled on reasonable terms with a new treaty, and a booming business in mining robotics and tech. Since I already have trade deals, jump routes, and business experience with the Gran, I’ve been designated overseer of all jumpship routed trade with the Guilds. Several megacorps are gearing up to supply the Gran with automated drilling robots and mining equipment. I’ll be jumping across to the Gran for meetings with both Guilds, assuming you’ll be translating. We’re in business woman! I’m talking billions of credits.”
“But what I did … how can I ever face anyone again, human or Gran? I killed everyone, heads of the Guilds, Admirals, the UN Chairman! I’m a terrorist, Cesar.”
“What you are is dead. The holovid logs of the negotiation show exactly what happened, how the Chairman goaded and baited you. He tried to sabotage peace talks by focusing on you, rather than discussing solutions and compromises. He refused to listen to any rational discussion of peace. The holovids also showed the Guild Cats threatening your life – in direct violation of Gran law. They would have killed you … if you weren’t such a wicked bitch.”
I knew then the universe had listened to me. All my troubles, all my prayers, everything I’d suffered. Everything happened for a reason.
“People aren’t stupid, Angel. The world knows what kind of man Chairman Riechert was. His financial conflicts of interest became glaringly obvious as he continually disrupted the peace talks with bullshit arguments. The people know your extreme actions removed the primary stumbling blocks to establishing a new world order of peace with the Gran. Now, if you set foot on Earthside as Angelina 6.0, you’ll probably be arrested and tried for war crimes. I’m keeping you on the opposite side of the galaxy, way out of the DC’s reach for a while. For now, as far as humanity is concerned, you’re dead. The world watched you die in high definition. I watched you die, and it tore my guts out. I still can’t believe you tried to kill yourself! How could you? Don’t you know how much we love you? Me, the Prince, the Emperor? Why would you do that to us?”
I reached out to stroke the hard lines of his stubbled jaw. “Shhh, I’m here, Cesar. I’m not going anywhere without you. I don’t really know why I wanted to die… except that I couldn’t see a way forward. I killed everyone. Yes, they were corrupt pigs, but what I did … I’m a monster. I’m no better than they were.”
His eyes held me and the intensity of his pain dug deep into my soul. “You’re my monster god damn you! I love you, and I don’t care if you buried your gauntlet knee-deep in their rectums – they all fucking deserved it. I don’t care what anyone else thinks, Angel. I love every monstrous thing about you, and if you ever try that woe is me shit again, I’ll kill you myself!”
I laughed in his face at the absurdity of his threat. “Please forgive me, Cesar. It was selfish to abandon you.”
With tears in his eyes he kissed me. He might be a lying pirate bastard with secrets yet unrevealed, but I loved him, and it was enough for me.
I looked to my father and knew I needed more answers. “Cesar, can you give me a moment alone with D’Anton?”
He kissed me again. “Of course. I’ll be just outside if you need me.” Cesar winked and left the room taking Chancy with him.
My father sat at my bedside and held my hand. “I think I know what’s on your mind.” If ever I doubted his love for me, the way he looked at me in this moment, I knew for certain.
“D’Anton, why did you create me? Why did you give me these cursed genetics? They said I carry an unpredictable berserker genotype. I don’t understand your intentions.”
His benevolent shining grin said more than words. Though I was born in his lab, he loved me, in his strange way. He truly was my father.
“Angel, you’re the first person born with the true capacity for freedom. You can live free of ignorance, physical weakness, ailments, stupidity and greed. Your loyalties cannot be bought or compromised. You cannot be intimidated or conquered through force. You’ll never fall prey to foolishness and lies, and you’ll never know the soul-destroying shame of cowardice. The universe is your oyster, if you but reach out and take it.”
“Lofty words, Doctor. There’s no one like me, no one who understands. You created the loneliest person in the universe.”
“Angel, this is only a moment in passing. Humanity and the Gran will eventually accept and appreciate your gifts. If not this generation, surely the next, or the one following. Patience, love. I’ve never told anyone the full truth. Portions of your genofile records were deleted. There’s a secret I’ve kept from you. I hoped your birth might bring changes, usher in a new era of human genetic development, but I don’t feel humanity is ready for this knowledge. Listen carefully, Angel. You’ll never grow old, never age, and as you’ve learned, you are exceedingly difficult to kill. Your cells replicate and regenerate flawlessly. There is no degradation of your genetic coding that humans experience in the process of aging. I made you immortal. You’re absolutely perfect in every way.”
“The perfect killer. A perfect mess.”
My father laughed and I couldn’t help but laugh with him. Perfect or not, I was happy to be alive with the people who loved me. I guess that’s all I’d ever wanted. I had little to complain about.
Cesar tapped on the door and slipped back into my room. “Someone would like to talk to you.” He set a holovid projector at my feet and the image of the Emperor floated in the air.
“Dear Angel, the Goddess Lura smiles upon us. I feared the worst at news of your death. Seeing you well brings me immeasurable joy. We will be reunited soon. Rollick is on his way to you now.”
Cesar held my hand and whispered. “Rollick is setting a new record for the fastest burn across our solar system. He should be here in a few hours.”
I couldn’t help but grin like an idiot at the thought of being together with both my lovers and the Emperor. I spoke to my father-in-law as I wiped away more tears of happiness. “Tell Rollick his Princess awaits him eagerly.”
The Emperor’s eyes squinted in pleasure. “I pray that someday the Gran and humanity will recognize your invaluable contribution to our lives.”
The question had been burning in my mind for days, and finally I blurted it out. “Why trust me? Why send me to handle the Guild Cats and these corrupt humans?”
“I sent the most capable and trustworthy Emissary at my disposal.”
“But look what happened … I killed them all! Is that what you wanted?”
“One can only hope.” The Emperor nodded to me in respect.
I was at a loss for words as the Emperor bid me a fond farewell and canceled his transmission. The strange synchronicity of events sent my mind spiraling in odd directions. Maybe there was a higher power somewhere in the universe, distilling order from the psychotic chaos of our lives. Or maybe we all got really fucking lucky.
I showered and changed into one of the simple linen gowns and canvas slippers I wore back in my Nugene days. Roaming the halls of my birthplace with Cesar at my side imbued me with a deep sense of nostalgia. Not that I wanted to live on Nugene again, but there were some things I missed about life on the station.
“Come, there’s something we have
to do before I leave Nugene.” I smiled at my lover and pulled him to the station elevators.
Up, up, up, we went, to the top-center of the spinning station, away from the centripetal gravity at the outer rings. Within minutes we arrived at the edge of the two hundred meter hub cylinder – a mild one quarter G, barely enough gravity to keep our feet on the ground.
The open air center of the hub is completely absent of the seventy kilometer-per-hour centripetal spin of the station – zero G.
“Do you trust me?”
Cesar looked at me and nodded slowly. I knew he didn’t really trust me, not completely. But I had all the time in the world to better earn his trust. Gripping his hand tightly, I pulled him with me as I leapt out into the open void of the hub, guiding us into dead center. I loved this phenomenal floating sensation.
Only in the center am I truly free, nothing to hold me back.
My lover’s heart raced and his eyes grew wide as we floated in place, the massive station rings spinning around us, the eye of Jupiter watching over us.
“Cesar, make love to me in zero G.”
* * * *
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Excerpt of Angel 6.0: ESCAPE (Episode II)
Angel 6.0
Episode II
Escape
Chapter 1
“Here comes our Angel with her freshly-fucked glow.” Jason snickered at me from the other side of the barred door to his cell. “Returned to have a romp with the Criminal? Fucked your way to the top, only to slide back down to the bottom.”
I tried not to rise to his bait. Jason hated it when I accompanied Captain Cronin to his personal cabin to play the role of concubine. Jason knew the Cats couldn’t really have sex with human females, and I had explained to him many times what the Captain wanted from me, but Jason still harassed me endlessly.
“What I do for him has probably saved your life. He treats me well, and you benefit from it too.” Due to the Captain’s generosity with me, I was able to gather quality food for myself and Jason, far better than the liquid gruel the Gran fed to the worker drones.
The Captain unlocked the cell door and I nodded to him and walked inside. Strangely, returning to lockup with Jason felt like coming home. I set aside the small basket of bread the Captain let me take from the cafeteria and went straight to Jason. I wrapped my arms around him, though he tried to turn away from me. “You know you’re the only one I want. We have no one but each other.”
The scrutiny of his eyes proved he suspected I was partially lying. I may not be able to have sex with the large, cat-like male who claimed me for his concubine, but I was capable of serving his sexual needs. I served him very well. The Captain had learned my secrets, all of them. He knew how to trip my pain switch, he knew I was something more than human, and he knew how to use that to his benefit.
Though they look like tall, lanky cats standing upright, the Gran were not stupid. The Gran developed jumpship technology centuries before humanity made the mistake of jumping into their quadrant of space. As a prisoner on this Gran jumpship bound for the far reaches of the galaxy, I had learned to appreciate their intelligence and cunning. Captain Cronin had proven to be a highly perceptive master. I’d never admitted to Jason the full extent of what the Captain did for me, and how much I enjoyed it. If Jason knew the truth, he’d probably hate me just for being born.
“So why do you always come back to me flushed and smiling? Like you’ve been rode hard and put away wet.” He reached down and unbuckled my belt securing my skirt that barely covered my front and back. The belt and fabric fell to the floor at my feet, leaving me mostly naked.
Bared to Jason, with the Captain watching from the barred cell door, I was forever trading my body from one lover to another, while lying to them both. Jason dipped his hand down between my legs into my wet, ready folds. I bit my lip with the sweet sensation of two fingers curling up inside me. I moaned as he slipped out and brought his hand to his nose. “You been fucking someone, or something.”
I looked back to the Captain who adjusted the large lump beneath his skirt, the same style of skirt I wore. Hand at his crotch he growl-chuckled, winked at me and walked away.
Since when did he wink?
The Captain had been adopting nuances of human communication from the day he kidnapped me from Nugene station.
Jason’s attitude grated on my weary soul. Lack of sleep will do that. I’d been ridden too hard for too long and constantly drunk on the Captain’s bottomless supply of liquor. Occasionally I managed to catch some sleep in the Captain’s quarters, but lately I’d been too busy serving him to rest. “I have no love for the Captain or the Gran, Jason. Can you please accept the role I’ve been given on this ship? I have to live with it. The least you can do is endure it for me … for us.”
I enjoyed the illusion that this man and I were a couple. Mostly we were a breeding experiment for the Gran. An experiment that would fail miserably. I was born sterile. All clones were sterile.
I had tried to convince Captain Cronin of this fact, but he thought I was being obstinate. I didn’t have the heart to tell Jason I would never be able to give him a child. So I performed diligently, every day, in an attempt to conceive the child that would never happen. I shouldn’t complain. Though I couldn’t procreate, I had a wonderful time trying.
Jason reached behind me and undid the strap on my tiny brassiere and tossed it aside. The thing barely covered my nipples – almost ornamental. Apart from my metal collar that marked me as property of the Gran Empire, that scrap of fabric and the skirt lying on the floor were the only clothes I owned – courtesy of Captain Cronin. My jumpsuit had been shredded weeks ago from my one attempt at suicide, when I took on four of the Gran at once. Their claw marks on my skin healed in no time, but my clothing had been reduced to blood-stained rags.
I suspected my outfit had come from some Gran female that had once entertained the Captain aboard this ship. Since the Captain and all his warriors wore similar belted-skirts, I assumed the clothing was part of the Captain’s pretend routine. He dressed me like the Gran, sprayed female Cat mating pheromones all over me, and then pretended to fuck me as hard as he could.
It wasn’t quite pretend though.
The only thing the Captain and I hadn’t done yet was try to fit his monstrous cock inside me. Everything else had been done – repeatedly. I was the only female on this ship, human or Gran, and he made good use of me.
Jason tweaked my hard nipples with his fingertips, using them to make his point. “Why do you put up with this? With me? Do you like being used and abused?”
I hated when Jason behaved this way. All I wanted was to be in his arms, to enjoy our time together, before Captain Cronin came to collect me again. “I’m begging you, please. I’m not your enemy, Jason. I’m your lover …”
He snorted. “Whatever. I don’t know what you are. I’ve never met a woman who would do the things you do, who acts like you. Are you sure you’re not one of those fucking idiot drones?”
Standing naked to Jason’s scrutiny and spite, my emotions welled up into an explosive mix. The Gran liquor always did this to me – more passionate. “I’m not an idiot and I’m not your whore! I don’t exist for your pleasure and abuse.”
Slap. His head turned sideways and he staggered.
My palm stung from the hit, but no
t nearly as much as the hot tears rolling down my face and the aching squeeze around my chest. “I live in two worlds, Jason. Here, with you, and there, with him. No one gave me a choice. You have my body. I give it to you willingly. I give you all I have. I give you my love.” I’d never been one to cry, but the liquor had me sobbing on an emotional roller coaster, and I had to ride it out of my system.
He looked at me then. Not the look of vitriol he’d been wearing since I stepped in the cell, but one of guilt. He came in close and wrapped me in a hug. I cried against his bare shoulder and wrapped my arms around him. “I just want to survive. The Gran must value me somehow if I am to survive in their world.” Jason’s strong, lean arms squeezed me tight and it felt so good. All I wanted was for him to love me, to enjoy these too-short moments we had together.
“Shh. I know, I know. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t do this to you. It’s not your fault, Angel. It’s me. I … I can’t stand it when he takes you away. You’re so kind and beautiful. You’ve been so good to me. You’re the most unselfish woman I have ever met … I know you’re doing this for me, too. I have no right to take away your future. Besides, I doubt they’ll let me live much longer. Not once you’re pregnant.”
I almost said it then, but I clamped my mouth shut. I hated lying to him. I hated the sick feeling in my stomach whenever I thought about my deception. “I’m not pregnant yet, and the Captain wants babies. Lots of babies. They won’t kill you, not if I have anything to say about it.”
He pulled away and brushed my wild hair from my eyes. “You would try to stop them, you strange woman.” He shook his head and smiled. “You already know how I feel about this. I’m not giving the Gran any of my children, and neither are you. We made that pact, and I hold you to it.” He’d made me promise that if I were to get pregnant, we would do whatever it took to ensure our child never ended up in the hands of the Gran. An easy promise to make – considering I would never have Jason’s child, no matter how much I might want to.
Angel 6.0: Emissary Page 14
