by Naomi Lucas
She looked down. It had no sexual organs and in a way, that relieved her. Kat wasn’t opposed to sex-bots, she just didn’t want the ones who would be her only co-workers be them.
“Is there a bathroom in here?”
The robot handed her a thin bracelet. “This will allow you access to everywhere our Master has deemed okay.” Kat took the circlet and put it on her wrist. “If you don’t want to wear it, there are codes you can memorize for each door. Follow me for the lavatory.”
Kat twisted the thin metal over her wrist, it was hot, unusually so. The android led her out of the facility and back into the main ship. The dark passages from before engulfed them. They stopped in front of the lav door.
“When you are done, go back to your quarters, the rest cycle is about to begin.”
The light of the android’s face lit up the space. It made the shadows outside their periphery even darker. Dark enough for a lurker.
When she finished up in the cold wet room, it was gone.
Kat quietly made her way to the open door of her quarters. A trickle of fear ran up her spine. She looked down each end of the hallway but she couldn’t see far beyond the gloom.
“Hello?” she called out. “Dommik?” she whispered under her breath.
Kat shook herself and quickly walked into her room. The door shut behind her and the lights came on. Her fingers trailed through her curls as she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Her heart raced. And it wasn’t entirely with fear. The image of the Cyborg’s muscled chest filled her head, his depthless dark eyes that made him ghoulish in the shadows, and his sculpted arms trapping her in the chair.
The blistering heat he radiated.
She heard footsteps outside her panel door, heavy and slow, stopping right on the other side. Kat turned around to face whatever came through.
But they picked up again and faded away.
***
That night, hours later, Kat’s eyes sprang open. She was curled on chemically cleaned bedding that had magically appeared, and a loose cotton blanket that smelled like the Cyborg covered her to the tip of her nose.
The footsteps had returned but accompanying them was the sound of clicking. Metal on metal.
Once again they stopped outside her room. The lights were set to dim and she twisted her head on her flat pillow to stare at the closed door. She could see him, in her mind, right on the other side of the barrier, standing there breathless like she was.
Kat moved her fingers into the blanket and tucked it tighter under her chin. Her body was flushed despite the cold temperature of the ship.
Her eyes burned. She refused to blink. The footsteps had yet to move.
Part of her wanted Dommik to walk through the door. Part of her wanted him to go away.
Kat licked her lips and waited until time slowed down and sleep gripped her remaining energy and pulled her under into its blissful throes. She fell asleep without ever realizing it had taken her. She never heard the footsteps leave.
Chapter Five:
---
“Is the girl strapped in for warp?” Dommik asked the android, Bin-One, at his back.
“Yes, Master, Bin-Three is with her. Would you like a status report?” the robot asked.
“No,” he mumbled, even though he did. He hadn’t approached his new employee, his assistant, his slave since the first day; and that was only because of his irritation.
She had finished the governmental-forced training to work the job she fought her way into. The girl, Katalina, had begun accumulating data from the creatures on board. She was now sending updates to the EPED and Mia was her main point of contact.
Dommik’s lips twitched at that.
They wanted Katalina to do more but he refused to allow her clearance. His androids were capable of everything the girl could do...except free-thinking and free-will.
The fresh smell of her had clung to him like a parasite. It stayed with him wherever he went. He couldn’t sterilize it, he couldn’t wash it off, he couldn’t get away from it. It made getting through the day unpleasant, and the night agonizing.
So he avoided her. If the girl knew what he really was, what he had done, or what he did currently, she would run screaming. They always do.
It’s best to keep her and stay away. If it isn’t her, it’s Mia…
He couldn’t even imagine the horror of having Mia spy on him while being stuck with her on his ship. She was desperate to get off of Earth and Dommik couldn’t bring himself to feel bad for her. Mia was good at her job but she was stuck soil-side doing it and she didn’t make enough cash to travel.
He turned to Bin-One. “Brace, we’re cleared for warp.” He turned back to his console, well used and faded, and thrust his ship into lightning speed. By the time the colors of the stars and planets flooded his vision, he was a system away from the Moluc’s home-world.
The steel wiring and plates in his body shook from the pressure.
His cyber-mechanical makeup was different than that of any normal Cyborg. Everything on his interior was completely fabricated, even his biological organs were fabricated. His brain was human but it was filled with more circuitry and wiring than it was with nerves and blood vessels.
Dommik thumbed his chest, finding the plates just below his muscles, and wondered when he would have to upgrade them next. He had suffered internal mechanical damage on several occasions, one of those occasions had been recent and was why he had a live-body on board now. Those pieces had been replaced.
After he dropped off the Molucs, he had a debt to pay.
The ship settled back into auto-pilot as he put their course toward the snow-covered planet. He ran his hand over his face.
“How did the girl do?” he asked the android as it detached from the wall supports it used.
Dommik knew the girl had never been space-side before. Kat had been green with it as her eyes had taken everything. She had taken him in, in the same way.
Wide emerald orbs with specks of gold. No matter how hard he tried to delete her from his thoughts, she refused to go away. The girl had reacted to him in the way he liked best: fear. Uncertainty. Trepidation. All of them had flashed over her wild features but her voice intoned otherwise.
Stubborn courage.
“Katalina Jones had an adverse reaction to the warp, Master.”
He turned to the robot. “How so?”
“She ran to the lavatory. Bin-Three is outside the door right now. Bin-Three hears sickness from her.”
Nausea wasn’t unusual for a first-timer.
Dommik turned back to the console and double-checked his coordinates. He could see the white ball of the planet in the distance outside the glass. The Molucs would need to be prepped for send-off. I’ll have to encounter Katalina. His cock jerked at the thought.
It didn’t matter that he was a Cyborg, he was still a man in many ways, and the rest of him was bestial, animalistic and those instincts were kicking in. They became harder to control when he caught a trail of her scent on one of his robots or when he passed her quarters at night.
He wasn’t designed to breed with females, he had been designed for theory and for war. A war that lasted nearly a hundred years before it ended with mutual hatred and acceptance. A war to fight for control of the Milky Way galaxy. An endless battle against another alpha species.
The Trentians were intelligent but protective and had odd, mystic ways about them. Where Earthians worshiped knowledge, the Trentians worshiped their god, Xanteaus, and everything the alien god mandated.
But he was different and so were his brothers. Why not try and add animal DNA into a Cyborg? Let’s find out what happens…
So he was created, tested, and approved and the part of him that was a beast wanted to be unleashed. Dommik flexed his fingers before he unzipped his pants.
No matter how many times he had sterilized his ship, bathed himself, or had the androids go through quarantine procedures, the smell lingered. He still couldn’t put a name to her sc
ent, only that it was her and it was wild like her hair. It was fresh and clean and completely erotic to him.
The white planet grew closer. Dommik tapped his fingers, deciding what to do. His blood wanted sex. He wanted the girl with copper curls that had only entered his life days ago.
The blood of beasts. He gripped his dick and squeezed. Thoughts of her flooded his head, legs spread and wet sex. His palm moved up and down his hard length as his blood pooled hard and painful in the cusp of his hand. The tip of his cock pointed high and taut; straining and desperate. His fingers curled around the large head and massaged it as he thrust into his hand.
Freckles and green eyes beneath me. He released himself just long enough to spit into his palm and continue. The heated saliva did nothing but relieve a little pressure and fuel his thoughts. Curls wrapped around my fingers, damp and slick against my lips.
He came with a grunt and his cum shot into his hand. It dripped down his wrist and back onto his still-hard cock.
His ship had reached its destination. The white, swirling planet filled his vision and brightened the bridge with its reflection from a nearby star. Everything glowed around him, even his own sperm. Dommik flicked the seed from his hand and located a nearby cleaning cloth, wiping it over him. The smell of his cum lingered in the air and for the hundredth time, he programmed the sanitization units to run.
“Bin-One, I want you to land the ship in the exact coordinates from our last visit. Once we’ve settled into the snow drifts, release the hatch.” He turned to the android, buckling his pants. “Keep the systems secure and the current diagnostics running. Send a signal to Stryker and tell him to meet me at Ghost City.”
The android moved to follow his orders as he stepped out of the bridge. He pushed his long hair back and tied it at the base of his neck. Slowly, he regained himself and found the control he needed to proceed. His fingers gripped the hatch that led down to the girl and the menagerie.
Dommik dented the metal wheel.
***
Kat wiped the back of her hand over her mouth, staring into the receptacle. Her stomach was tied in knots, and she could have sworn her heart had burst. There had been no forewarning of the impending warp. If she had known, she wouldn’t have had breakfast just prior.
Feeling her senses come back to her, she got up and splashed water over her face and into her mouth. She shook out her curls and headed back to the chamber, feeling queasy but refreshed.
The android, Bin-Three, followed her. He was always within eyesight of her in any of the public areas. The robot kept constant tabs on everything she did and stopped her from doing anything that would upset the ‘Master.’ She wasn’t naive, she knew the Cyborg was watching her.
He just has his minions do it for him. Kat wasn’t sure if she cared that he kept his distance. The dark corridors of the ship were scary enough without having an angry Cyborg creeping around.
But he always visited her at night. Every rest cycle since that first day, she stayed awake until the footsteps sounded outside her door. She hadn’t fallen asleep until she heard them leave since her first night.
Kat entered the large laboratory, her eyes adjusting to the lights. The pinging sound of an incoming call rattled from the console room and she sighed audibly. The EPED didn’t trust her.
Well... I listened to you, grandma. I would count this as an adventure even though I’m alone with a bunch of machines, some alien creatures, and a pissed off employer.
It had taken her some time and research to run the reporting system for Mia, and no matter how accurate or how thorough her information was, it was never good enough. The girl disliked her and Kat wasn’t quite sure why. The EPED wanted constant coordinate updates, data based on the living organisms onboard as well as additional information and opinion from her. So she watched the androids and for the Cyborg as much as they watched her.
No wonder he didn’t want to hire anyone.
Mia and her superior wanted more information on Dommik but she had none to give them. They believed her that he kept his distance from but they didn’t believe he stayed away all the time.
He comes in at night when I’m gone. Bin-Three told her as much on the second day. Kat made her way past the room and headed for the Molucs. She wanted to make sure they were okay. The warp flipped her stomach, who knows what it did to the animals on board?
The fuzzy dragon-like creatures were curled up together in a nest of snow. She longed to pet them, her fingers touched the cold glass that encased them. They look so peaceful.
Familiar footsteps entered the giant chamber, they echoed off the quiet, steel walls. Her fingers froze on the glass and the shivers that ran through her weren’t from the cold. Kat took a step away from the enclosure as the thuds came to a stop next to her.
She looked up into dark, emotionless eyes, but her gaze didn’t linger on them for long as they drifted down a hard, lean body covered in a white form-fitting bodysuit. The Cyborg was imposing and far too large not to be noticed, not to be appreciated and frightened of. If Dommik ever happened to fall on her, she would be crushed. She glanced down and saw the outline of a large cock, it twitched when her gaze settled on it. His body was frightening but his bulge was terrifying.
The Cyborg cleared his throat and her eyes shot back up to his emotionless face.
“Your name is Dommik,” she uttered. Her cold fingers rubbed her cheek as the Cyborg studied her.
“And yours is Katalina.” He turned away as she blushed. The outline of his ass came into view and she had to stop herself from reaching out and touching it.
“Call me Kat.”
“Don’t care.” He handed her something long and black.
Bastard. Her eyes narrowed as she took the item from him. It was a jacket, military quality, and sized for a large male, not her small form. The coat was heavy and rough in her hands.
“What’s this for?”
“Put it on, we’re about to land and return the Molucs back to their homeworld.” Dommik dismissed her as he turned to the console next to the glass unit and typed. His long fingers danced over the screen. “Make sure you watch my every move so you can add it to your next report.”
Bastard.
Kat shuffled on the thick jacket, dwarfed by it, consumed with the smell of metal. Gravity shifted under her feet, briefly disorienting her. The androids operated a device on the other side where part of the Moluc’s enclosure began to fold in on itself. The creatures shifted and uncurled, waking up, fluttering their fluffy wings in the drifts.
The hatch opened to a glorious white and turquoise world. Giant, crystalline snowflakes fell quietly from the sky and between the flakes she saw a flock of Molucs flying in the distance.
“Are they going to be okay?” she asked.
“Yes, they’ll start their own flock. They’re a mated pair and the female is heavily pregnant.”
She walked over to where the creatures were being ushered. “Bonnie is pregnant?” How had she not noticed? It wasn’t like she hadn’t stared at the dragons for hours desperately wanting to cuddle them.
Dommik stepped up behind her. “You named them?” The glass enclosure shut and the snow inside began to melt away.
Kat watched the dragons cover each other with their long, white wings. “I named them Bonnie and Clyde.”
“Attachment grows when you give things names.” He turned toward her. “They mate for life and no other Moluc would approach a bred female, regardless, they are herbivores and very territorial of each other.” Dommik looked down at his leg as a knife appeared in his hand, he strapped it to his thigh.
Kat flinched as a freezing gust of wind hit them. Her curls flew back in a mess of webs around her head. “I wish everything bred for life, a life-mate, or such. It would make the world better.” She shoved her hair out of her face.
Dommik stepped between the opening and her, blocking out the wild wind that wanted to freeze her skin. “Unless your soul mate turned out to be evil, a murderer, a dr
inker of the blood of innocents. Or a rapist. A system like that wouldn’t differentiate.” He took a step closer to her and Kat felt the cold breath in her lungs seep out through her parted lips.
A tingle, slow and steady, drifted down her body and settled between the crux of her thighs. The Cyborg, with every hard muscle outlined, moved a hairsbreadth in front of her. His thick black hair fell between them, a soft whisper would shift the silken strands.
He looked down at her, towering and deadly. Only the heat coming off his body touched her now, an invisible force-field to the elements.
“Evil people may be paired together?” Kat kept her eyes on Dommik’s dark ones. Her nipples pebbled against her shirt, she sucked in her stomach and lifted her chin. Caws and high-pitched cries rose from the Molucs, their excitement at being home was evident in their raucous frenzy. “Maybe we shouldn’t paint everyone as black and white. Some people lose their way and that one person was meant to bring them back.”
A twitch of a smile hit the Cyborg’s lips. Kat leaned into him, intrigued by the show of emotion. She knew better, she didn’t even know the man, but she couldn’t deny her attraction to him.
He lifted his hands and tugged the lapels of her jacket. Startled, she watched as he zipped it up to her neck only to tug the hood over her head. Long, white fingers, painted metal in their strangeness, tied the hood at her nape.
The Cyborg leaned forward until their faces were an inch apart. Kat thought he might kiss her and the need to stay and feel his mouth was almost as strong as her need to run and find a weapon.
“Good thing there’s no such thing as fated mates,” he whispered, his breath hit her lips. Kat shuffled as the ache built at her core. An ache that badly needed to be soothed.
His nostrils flared and his face darkened. Dommik jerked back with disgust on his face. He turned from her and strode toward the exit.
What did I do? Do I smell bad? She looked down at herself dwarfed by a jacket that reached her knees. Kat glanced up just as he walked out into the wind and swirling snow.
