by Naomi Lucas
After some distance, Kat stopped and looked back. No one followed them, no one had left Dommik’s ship. Where is he? She cared about that, she told herself it was because she would’ve liked a guide, something or someone better than her android.
My android?
She told herself that he wouldn’t mind that she left. He may leave without me. Her eyes widened in horror. But was it because she craved his company? Kat cleared her throat and kept walking toward the bowed entrance to the main ship. She looked at Bin-Three. He won't leave without one of his Bin’s.
“Will your Master be upset we left the ship?” she asked.
“He did not state the exterior as a restricted zone.”
“And you?”
“I am to ensure your safety and report to him if you try and enter a restricted zone or if you are in distress. Are you in distress, Katalina Jones?” It flashed.
Kat looked around. “Kat. No.” She kept walking, it kept following. They passed through the landing deck and...into another landing deck. She glanced between them, they were exact replicas. Lights and music streamed out from one of the passageways, on the opposite side from her. She saw a couple beings standing outside that area.
“Who runs this place?”
“I do not have that knowledge.”
“You don’t know?”
“I do not have that knowledge.”
Kat headed toward the music. Someone must have noticed them because they were headed toward her. She had met one Cyborg and had talked to another. She hadn’t offended a killing machine yet and three times were a charm, right? She eyed the man coming closer with every step and met him halfway. He blocked her path.
“Who are you?” he asked.
She looked up at the Cyborg.
He was different and so unlike any being she had ever encountered. The Cyborg had a blue-grey tint to his skin and it appeared waxen and rounded with smooth lines. No creases, no body markings, nothing. Strong features. Not handsome, not cute, but huge and encased with muscle.
“My name’s Kat and this is Bin-Three.” She introduced them.
“You’re a human.” Rude.
“I am.”
“Who are you with?” His voice rough with a warning.
Um… “I’m with...Dommik.”
“He let you wander here without his guard?”
Kat licked her lips. “Yes? And I’m with Bin-Three.” She indicated the android again. “It’s deadly impressive when it wields a knife and spews fire.”
The Cyborg looked at the android, sizing him up. Bin-Three’s face had code coursing over it. Kat looked at the man and saw the same code in his eyes.
Oh, fuck no.
“What are you doing to it?” She gripped her androids arm, clutching it.
“Leave her alone, Netto. It’s obvious that’s Dommik’s bot.” Another man appeared. Another Cyborg. Can four times be a charm? This one had spiked silver hair and piercings. “You must not be important.” He looked down at her.
Kat narrowed her eyes and stood in front of Bin-Three. “I work for him. Why am I being stopped?”
“We’re just curious. It’s not every day an unknown human is wandering around Ghost, let alone a girl, and one being without an escort.”
Netto came to her side and visibly sniffed her. “I don’t smell Dommik on her.”
Kat backed up a step. “What is with you guys and smelling?” She stood up straighter. “Nevermind, I get it, you have enhanced senses, well, do one of you know a doctor on this ship?”
“Are you ill? Hurt? I don’t smell blood,” Spike asked. She nick-named him, Spike. He went up to her and took her hand, his eyes went silver as he studied it. She didn’t have a chance to tug it back before he released her.
“Katalina Jones, are you in distress?” Bin-Three asked at her side.
No. Am I? No. She looked at the Cyborgs before her. “I’m fine.”
“Your vitals are average, little one, your readings are standard but if you need a doctor, we have several on the main ship,” Spike said. “I would be honored to escort you to the medical unit. It’s not far.”
Netto grumbled next to him, “I will come too.”
Kat looked behind her back toward where Dommik’s ship was docked, hoping he was walking toward her, but there was nobody. She turned to Bin-Three. “Is it alright that I go with them to see their doctor, Bin?”
“Are you ill, Katalina Jones?”
“No.” She didn’t know.
“It is unrestricted. I will follow you as ordered.”
The Cyborgs eyed her, curiosity in their gaze, Spike reached out his hand for her to take it and Netto growled.
“If Dommik looks for me, tell him I am conversing with Ghost’s doctor.”
“Yes, Katalina Jones.” She followed the two men into the ship without touching them. One walked at her side and the other a step in front of her. Kat kept looking behind her hoping for her Cyborg but he was not around. She began to worry about him.
“What brings you the Ghost?” One of the Cyborgs asked her.
“I don’t know. Something with Dommik and Gunner,” she mumbled.
They both tensed up and stopped, looking at her. “Gunner is here?”
“I don’t know.”
Spike checked her out, she noticed–it was deliberate and slow. “You’ve met him?”
“I’ve talked to him, why?” They started walking again, but tension filled the air. Netto and Spike both had their hands on their guns. Netto moved to walk behind her.
“Nothing, just a surprise, that’s all. Nothing for you to be worried about.”
Kat narrowed her eyes at Spike’s back. They went up a lift that had her clutching the rail as it shot up. Netto tried to stabilize her by taking her arm. She shrugged him away. Beings stared at them as they went past and deeper into the city-ship. She assumed most of them were ‘borgs, based on their obvious lethality, but she swore she saw several humans.
They stopped at an open door and a woman appeared. The first one she had seen. Beautiful and perfect, wearing a lab coat, with long light-brown hair clipped back. She grabbed her in a big hug.
“Hi?”
“I’m so glad they brought you to me! It’s all over the city that a human girl was walking around. Walking around and unattended!” The woman held her arms and looked at her. “You’re adorable and young, and so cute. I have a young daughter and she has curly hair too.” The woman ushered her into the medical lab. “Come in, sit on the cot over there, do you need a drink?”
Kat was trailed by her three escorts. “Water would be nice.”
“Out, all of you, out! Our matters are confidential.” The woman shooed them through the door, the android didn’t move. And she knew, in that instant that the doctor was also a Cyborg when numbers flashed over her eyes and Bin-Three left to stand outside. The door shut behind them.
A glass of water appeared in the doctor’s hand, Kat took it warily.
“So what’s the matter, beautiful? If you don’t want bed play, I can warn the mech off. Netto is a good guy. Jayce though,” the doctor waved her hands, “well, Jayce is Jayce.”
Kat took a tentative sip and smiled. The silver Cyborg had a name. “So this will be confidential?”
“Of course, sweetheart. Doctor-patient confidentiality. I rarely see humans anymore.” The woman swiveled over to her on a stool. “I was created as a battlefield medic and well, once the war ended, I came here. I specialize in my kind but I know human anatomy as well. But if you’re here for a cybernetic implant...”
“I just had a couple questions. I have money.”
“It’s okay, no money needed. You have Dommik’s android following you. I sent a message to his ship to tell him you’re here.”
Kat looked at the door and wondered if he would be mad. He doesn’t own me. I’m not his captive. If he would leave her behind.
She raked her fingers through her curls and adjusted her clothes. She wasn’t sure why she was feeling an
xious. Although everything about this was risky. At least she could have a second opinion here without alerting medical back home.
She took a deep breath. “Alright. I never planned for this but recent events brought me here. Do you know anything about the Gliese parasite?”
***
A hand gripped his shoulder and the force of it turned his bridge chair around.
Silver hair and silver piercings filled his vision. Dommik rubbed his eyes. “Get off my ship, Jayce.”
“Your assistant is wandering Ghost with one of your android’s, Spider-Man, thought you should know before someone tries to claim her.”
Dommik already knew. He had tracked her signature since they landed. “She can do what she pleases. If someone claims her, good riddance.”
Jayce stepped back and allowed Dommik to rise. He walked over to his weapon cabinet and strapped a single gun to his hip.
He felt like shit, like rusted metal, his body was depleted of poison and his thoughts were weighed down by the inevitable. Kat kept sneaking into his head and it didn’t help that the inside of his suit jacket smelled like her. He had buried his nose into it more times than he would care to admit. Or that he tugged on his cock at the same time.
If she had the mark of someone else, maybe she would stop haunting him.
“Well, I’ll let Netto know then,” Jayce snickered.
“The fucking bull shark?”
“The one and only. He approached her first, sadly, I was second.”
The thought of Kat under Netto filled him with jealous rage. He stormed out of his bridge with Jayce laughing behind.
He stopped. What the fuck am I doing? He closed his eyes and cooled his ardor.
Dommik checked on his creatures before he walked out onto Ghost.
“What kind of monsters are these?”
“Get off my ship, Jayce.”
“Shit man, what’s up?”
So many things. He turned to address the Cyborg. “Is Stryker here?”
“Not that I know of. Gunner isn’t here either.” Jayce stretched out his arms and threaded his fingers.
“What did you say?”
“Kat mentioned him.”
So now they’re on a first-name basis. And she’s talking to them. Dommik scanned the facility, eying the shell he was currently standing in, registering all who were on board. Stryker and Gunner were perfectly and completely absent.
“Where the fuck is he?” he gritted. He turned to Jayce. “Can you locate Stryker’s signal?” They all had their abilities, many of those abilities crossed, but his radar abilities were limited to his general area.
“Already did, he’s not within orbit or the perimeter beyond.”
Dommik turned full circle.
“What’s eating at you, man?”
Stryker must have answered the distress call.
He powered on his console and sent him a message. He sent one to Gunner too. Dommik then returned his attention to Jayce. “Let me ask you something.” He leveled the Cyborg, connecting with him, reading his stats. Jayce did the same. It was an electrical bonding, but more intimate and more thorough, and often needed to encourage trust amongst themselves in all things. If a Cyborg went deeper than an initial stat reading without allowance, it was permitted by their unspoken law to kill the perpetrator. “Have you heard of Xan’Mara?”
Jayce stiffened as he read his database. “It’s a moon,” he responded after a moment. “Trentian controlled. Why?”
“My next mission takes me there, to retrieve a plant, of all things. A flower.” He began to walk down the railway, following Kat’s weak scent. “There’s a colony of aliens on the planet, a religious colony.”
“Okay. Land your ship away from them.”
“They inhabit most of the moon. But that’s not the issue, they’re protected under their Space Lords...and the EPED mentioned that the flower is sacred to them. A rarity. A myth. It’s what got them involved I assume.” Dommik left her trail, restraining his impulses, and headed toward the music. A ship converted into a lounge for Cyborgs that offered a place for leisure. A place to meet on neutral territory. It was a permanent addition to the main vessel.
His feet, all four of them, wanted to get his assistant back, he wanted Bin-Three to signal him. Instead, he stormed into the bar and found himself a seat in a dense corner where the smoke was heavy. Jayce sat across from him. His piercings twinkled in the neon lights that flashed in sync to the music.
“Why do they want this flower?”
“Supposedly it only appears to the worthy. That when crushed and eaten, it gives the being vitality and communion with the elements. It’s also worn on the bride’s dress during a bonding ceremony and, they say, helps with vitality and fertility. Maybe I’ll bring you some back, Jayce, I’ve heard rumors you lack in that department.” Jayce’s only response was a scowl, but he knew better than to pick a fight with Dommik.
Dommik knew Mia had a hand in this, a retaliation of sorts. He hadn’t helped the situation by denying her the job and then forcing all contact with Kat.
“I don’t think your biggest problem is the flower, Dommik, I’m not a rusty, outdated shell yet so if you want advice, just come out with it. You can’t take Kat to the other side of the galaxy.”
“I have a lot of problems right now…” he split his jaw off and bared his metal fangs, retracting them a moment later. “And yes, that is a problem.”
“Claim her, then she’ll be safe.” Jayce waved his silver-studded hand in annoyance. A twitch on his lips. “Or leave her here and let Netto take her swimming. It’s all the same, except for the biting.”
His muscles tensed as he pictured her with the shark. Her legs spread as a bald, bluish head bobbed between them underwater. Dommik hissed out a breath between his teeth, “No.”
“Then claim her, wrap her up in your webs, put a ring on her finger, spread your cum over her body. Just do it in a way that the Trentians understand the bond. She isn’t safe without it. Or put your damned jealousy in a jar and your cock in a sex-bot and leave her on Ghost.” Jayce sighed. “Unless you don’t like her.”
“The flower doesn’t fucking do anything, dammit.” He didn’t want to leave her here, he didn’t want to take her into Space Lord territory, he sure as hell didn’t want her to encounter a Knight, and he definitely didn’t want to burden himself with keeping a girl who would one day find him revolting. He had so much insectoid DNA in his blood that sometimes he questioned his overall make-up.
It was easier for someone like Gunner, who had an exorbitant amount of canine in his system. Although Gunner couldn’t be trusted because he let his jackal run rampant.
“Then refuse the mission,” Jayce laughed, enjoying this.
“Can’t. They’ll blame Kat and fine her life, they’ll place stop-gates at every turn for her. There is too much money involved.”
“You don’t know that for certain, I think your decision is easier than you realize.”
Jayce produced a cigar from a nearby wall receptacle, lighting it with an electrical fuse from his finger. The musty scent of honey and barnyard filled the vicinity. The smoke created a thicker haze between them, capturing the two of them in an amorphous circle until it was breathed in. Honey remained.
Dommik changed the subject. “Stryker encountered a distress signal.”
Jayce took a puff. “Oh?”
“A woman. I don’t know the rest.”
“Eh. It’s probably a trap.” Jayce shrugged.
Dommik leaned back and checked his wrist-con. No response from his friend or Gunner. Watch your bloody, rusted asses, he thought to himself as he breathed in the second-hand aroma. Jayce offered a suck of his cigar, Dommik took it and breathed the fumes in. His mouth filled with its heat, but his body began to destroy the carcinogens. Once the tingles started, he let it out. He handed the cigar back to Jayce.
“I should check on him.”
“Eh.”
Cyborgs filtered in and out of th
e lounge, most sat alone, some were in pairs, talking. There were less than a dozen total. Dommik surveyed the scene and nodded at those who surveyed back. His console buzzed and a message appeared. It was from Bin-One saying his ship received a message.
He connected his wrist-con back up to his ship’s servers and scanned the database and comm files, thinking Stryker or Gunner was blocked from his personal, internal server.
It wasn’t them. Dommik felt his metal pieces pull apart, demanding he shift. Calm down.
Kat was in medical.
He teeth descended again and he was at Jayce’s throat in the next instant. The sharp points like needles waiting to plunge into flesh and bone;. through metal and electricity. He tore his head back, pulling on the man’s spiked hair.
“You didn’t tell me Kat was in medical,” he growled from his throat, venom at the ready, wanting release.
“Thought you knew,” Jayce said calmly, smoke escaping his lips. “Doctor sent the message before I found you.” The poison dripped from several of Dommik’s teeth and trickled down the other Cyborg’s neck. Jayce held inhumanly still as he was locked within a centimeter of agonizing pain. No one stopped the scene from happening.
What’s wrong with me? Dommik thought.
He released the Cyborg and stormed out of the lounge.
Chapter Nine:
---
Kat was silent as the medical tube ran over her body with lights and a series of mists that dried instantly on her skin. Dr. Cagley had had her change into a thin, tied back gown, as the full-body physical took place. She couldn’t wait for the results or for her heart to stop racing.
She had told the doctor all about her parents, her upbringing, and her grandmother. Before the conversation had come to a close, she was half-way through a body exam. Being poked and prodded and asked numerous health questions.
‘How long have you been in space?’
‘Are you on any medications?’
‘Have you had sex recently?’ She had thought about sex recently but she didn’t say that. In fact, she thought about it a lot. The dangerous appeal of her boss left her panting in bed at night.
