by Meg Ripley
“Thirty seconds to landing.”
Ada brought her eyes up to the window to see the tiny golden planet drawing nearer and nearer to her ship. They were zooming toward the docking hub just above the field, and Ada knew she would have to use a protection bubble to get down. Bubbles were temporary fields of energy that encased their bodies and carried them safely through flames, debris, and even laser fields, but they could only be used once. She opened her storage panel and grabbed three bubble pods, pushing them into a pocket on the side of her suit. Her eyes moved over the planet, trying to find any signs of life, like a plant or a pool of water. Pili would expect her to bring something back, and she hated to disappoint her. She spotted a cave protruding from the uneven surface of the planet, but its mouth was closed off with what looked like sheets of reinforced aluminum. There was a yellow symbol painted across it, but the ship touched the landing pad, and the partially enclosed area hid the mark from view.
“You may now disembark,” the cool voice told her. Ada unbuckled her straps and stretched her long, heavily muscled legs briefly to prepare to drop one hundred feet from her ship and onto the ground below. A frisson of energy moved through her body--- a whirling, heart-pounding energy that felt like a burst of adrenaline, something she’d experienced artificially after her body reacted to an allergen and the tech was forced to clear her airways with medicine. She ignored the sensation and slipped a bubble from her pocket, waiting for the ship’s floors to spread open. When they did, she squeezed the tiny pink disc and held her breath as the golden tendrils of repulsive energy wrapped around her body. Ada started to float toward the ground, and an icicle of terror pierced her heart as she passed through the neon field---she half expected to be fried despite her protective measure. When nothing happened, she exhaled heavily and waited for her boots to touch the soil, touching her suit to make sure she was still all there. Something dropped from her suit, and she looked down to see a bubble. She was unnerved; she thought she’d zipped her suit. The chilly calm that replaced her terror unnerved her more, and Ada realized it was because her internal stillness was growing more scarce than her periods of strong emotion. Focus, she thought. One thing at a time.
****
The sky here was nearly the same shade of violet as Pili’s suit, and Ada wished she could take a chunk of the color with her. She allowed herself to gaze at the unbroken space for a moment before starting to walk the remaining hundred yards to the tall silver pillar projecting the fence. The soil on Oro was springy, and little orange plants were bursting from the golden surface. She tried to remember which alien race owned this rock; the Azurans? The Hyppo? A violent, nameless species responsible for the decision to cordon the planet off from the rest of the galaxy? Ada was happy then that she hadn’t been sent on a more physical mission in a while; she’d seen some of the toothy things that warranted being held back by a laser fence in the past. Once had been a time too many.
Finally, Ada’s light strides brought her to the pillar. She pressed her palm to the surface, and its electronics panel opened for her immediately. Ada scanned the wires and circuit boards, feeling her brain whir through schematics and facts that had been beamed into her mind years before. The answer came to her after a moment; a rock had knocked one of the connecting bridges loose, and power wasn’t getting where it needed to be. Ada used the long, steely nail of her pinky finger to pry open some of the circuits and shuffle around the wires and data. As usual, it felt vaguely wrong---she was looking and poking at something whose guts were a precursor to her own, after all. Ada knew most cypeople didn’t feel this way, but most cyborgs also wouldn’t think of the parallel in the first place.
A low buzzing noise told Ada she’d succeeded; she looked up, and sure enough, she could see a glowing grid in place of the void she’d seen when the power was down. She lifted her wrist to her mouth, tapping the microcom sewn into the sleeve with her middle finger.
“This is Ada, prime directive has been achieved. Returning to ship.”
“Thank you, Ada.” A human’s voice came over her com, probably Adam, the director of her dorm. She couldn’t always tell them apart. “Proceed to your ship.”
She turned on the spot, taking much larger strides now that her mission was finished. She felt lighter, more free; a soft ripple across her face told her that there was a breeze on this planet, and she let herself enjoy the sensation. Her body was made so that it would acclimate to most temperatures, but the cool breeze was still pleasant for her. Ada reached behind her head and tugged on her ponytail, letting her dark curls spring into place around her shoulders as she leapt across the ground. Another successful mission, and she hadn’t turned unrecognizable to her ship yet: Awesome.
Something caught the corner of her eye, and it made her stop bounding across the soil. She turned in her heavy boots to the right, gazing at the cave she’d first seen as the ship descended onto the planet. Ada saw that the cave was much bigger than she’d realized---its mouth was forty feet across, at least, and it stretched a few hundred feet back. It was only about twenty feet tall, so Ada knew the massive, tree-like Azurans were probably not utilizing this particular rock. The barricade across its opening was indeed a shiny aluminum, but Ada felt compelled to examine it further. Her ship could wait; mission control would come looking after a few hours, if at all.
As soon as she got about fifty feet from the cave, she saw why her attention had been so drawn to it. There was a hole on the far right corner of the aluminum, big enough for a creature slightly larger than her to push into. She could see a soft glow emanating from the hole, flickering like firelight. Ada held her breath automatically, not wanting to give whoever--or whatever--it was any more notice than necessary. The air was silent around her, and not even her footfalls were heavy enough to make a sound. Ada was aware of her own heart pounding in her ears, and she cursed her mutation--or impending decay. She dropped to her hands and knees as she approached the hole, trying to see as far inside as she could as her head crossed the threshold.
She saw two things as her eyes adjusted to the light---a huge wall made of something cool and pearlescent, and a figure at the back of the cave, shrouded in darkness. A third thing was rushing toward her, brown, furry, and about the size of her own head. A single clear thought was able to complete itself before the creature collided with her---where’s the fear?---but it was wiped from her mind as the round, faceless ball of fur crashed into her, zapping her with a strong electric current while it emitted a high screech. Then there was only darkness.
****
Ada was aware of a gentle warming sensation growing ever-so-subtly more intense with each passing moment, outweighed only by the mind-shattering pain consuming her bones. It felt like there were a thousand needles digging into the metal and mineral alloy of her frame and cracking her open to drain the fluid away; it felt like lava was seeping in through acid-eaten holes in her skin. She thought: this is what death is like. This is it. I’m burning in the sun. She couldn’t even locate a pulse in her chest, and the foam-fiber muscles wrapping her skeleton wouldn’t obey the signals in her brain. If they could, she would be shrieking, thrashing, trying to find some way to get rid of the energy slashing at her body and slowly shutting her down. Ada wished it would be quicker, at least, even if it wouldn’t be clean.
But then the agony started to recede, and Ada felt her body start to hesitantly reboot. Her back seized, and her heart started to pump; after a long, rattling gasp, she started to properly pull air into her lungs. Fire was still clawing at her skin and organs, but she felt the coolant in her artificial blood start to return her core to optimal temperature. The chaotic clanging in her brain quieted, and after a few stuttering attempts, her eyes flew open. Ada cried out--- the world appeared as though washed in a bright white light, and for a moment, she thought she really was on the sun. Then the color ran back into her vision, and she saw that the iridescent walls of the cave were merely reflecting the light of an electric lamp somewhere near her feet
.
“Beautiful soul…please heal…”
Ada heard the voice before she realized she wasn’t alone. Her muscles still weren’t responding, so she could only open her eyes wide as she struggled to take in as much as she could from what she could see from her position on her back. Her head was propped up on something warm and somewhat soft, and she could see hands above her chest and stomach, presumably the owner of the voice. She stared at the palms, trying to figure out if her eyes were playing tricks; they were much bigger than her own, and humanoid besides their color---vibrant and continually changing. Though the skin on the palms was much paler than what she could see of the being’s fingers, Ada could pick each color out as clearly as her own emotions: a rich red the same shade as a human’s blood, a crisp green like Pili’s eyes, a violent orange, like the outside of her elevator pod. Her mind quieted as she focused on the changing colors, and after a long moment, the pain had completely faded from her body. Ada could tell the being was still talking, but while she focused on the light purple of its skin, she couldn’t discern a single word. Finally, the hands receded, and Ada felt her agency return as though a spell had been lifted; she sat up quickly, then threw her hands behind her as a wave of lightheadedness crashed over her.
“Careful,” said the voice from behind her. “Your energy signature still isn’t the same as from before; something could be wrong.”
Ada froze, and at first it was from fear at hearing the decidedly male voice speak clearly for the first time. Then she realized the voice had moved something else in her, something familiar and sad, like a smoky shadow of her former self. She realized that this must be what the humans called nostalgia. Her mind was naming emotions feebly, like a new student in a big class. The deep tone, the melodious nature of his speech---it reminded her of Tod, who she’d loved---not love, precisely, but the pale shade of it cyborgs meant when they said the word---for two years. But it couldn’t be him, she knew; Tod was on Earth, protecting the Pathos down in whatever city he’d been assigned to. Ada knew it wasn’t him, but she felt her heart wish for it even as her body turned and her eyes finally fell on the creature who had presumably just saved her life. She felt a rush of something cool and stabilizing---her mind supplied a suggestion weakly: gratitude?
He was a Hyppo, Ada realized, even though she’d never meant one in her life. As a child, she assumed they would look like the extinct Earth animals she’d glimpsed in old human picture books and in the encyclopedias in the hub’s library, not understanding that they were named for the Greek word meaning “both”. The correct pronunciation ---HEEpoh instead of HIPoh---also eluded her for years. Their form wasn’t difficult to remember however, since they were humanoid, for the most part, except for a third eye in the center of their foreheads. Some Hyppowordlers chose to obscure these with hair styles, but more often than not, they were left bare or covered by a colorful patch or sticker. A good percentage also had extra sets of limbs, teeth, or even second heads, complete with their own third eye. Like all natural born species in the galaxy, Hyppo were found to be as diverse as humans in their personalities, but shared other similarities beside the third eye. Healing, Ada knew, was one of them, and she felt a lingering sort of shame for not realizing it before. Embarrassment? A voice chimed in her mind.
The Hyppo smiled at her, and Ada realized his natural skin tone was an astoundingly unbroken shade of rich, sparkling gold. All three of his eyes were honey brown, and the hair curling around his ears was as black as the fabric of space. His shoulders were wide, and his tall, lean body looked pliant and fibrous, as though he lifted lots of heavy things in his free time. Ada could see that his legs and calves were heavily defined, even while he was on his knees. She realized with a jolt that she’d never seen anything so terribly beautiful---even Earth from miles in the air. Her eyes drifted between his thighs, and she remembered at that moment that Hyppo people had humanoid genitals, too; his member was bigger than any she’d seen on a human, however---or a cyborg, for that matter. Distantly, she was aware that she was naked, too---she looked down at the light brown skin stretching across her heavy breast, wide hips and strong thighs---but that was forgotten as she looked up again and gazed at him, feeling something she hadn’t experienced in years, but her brain shouted the need as clear as day: desire!
It was different---richer, heavier, much harder to turn from than it had been with Tod, which was why they, and indeed most other cyborgs, had sex so little. But there it was, beating at her attention like water on the shore of an Earth beach, igniting every nerve ending embedded in her skin. The Hyppo rose, his eyes wide with concern, and the clarity of the motion coming from him shocked her. She felt a tingling warmth slip through her skin, heating and warming her heart unbearably. Confusion followed fast on its heels; how could she feel so strongly? She didn’t even know who he was!
“Are you okay?” the Hyppo asked. “I had to remove your clothes to tend to your burns.”
Ada shook her head and stood, backing away from him, throwing her hands out behind her until she could feel the cool press of the wall. Terror was now at war with the desire in her body, and they were both still there---something that she’d never experienced, not even at the peak of an emotional burst. Something had happened; she’d been corrupted. This was phantom emoting, and it was eating her sanity away. A cry tore from her lips as another emotion ripped through her---like sadness, but huge, crushing and cold, and somehow more empty---and it brought her to her knees. She could hear the Hyppo rushing toward her over the sounds of her ragged breath, but he stopped short, apparently afraid of hurting her with his touch. Distantly, she heard a series of clicks, and then he spoke.
“This doesn’t make sense.” His voice was velvety, more comforting than it should have been. She wanted to run toward the voice, and she didn’t know why she had to try so hard to stop herself.
Ada raised her head and stood, trying to breathe through the chaos inside her. The Hyppo was gazing at her with all of his eyes held wide open, and she realized the clicks were coming from him. He was standing now, reading her energy signature with his own sound waves, another unique Hyppo ability. Again, she felt a strong warmth rolling from him, with the unmistakable taste of affection. Emotions don’t have tastes or heat value; I’m going insane.
Ada forced herself to speak, and she was surprised at the steadiness of her voice. “What doesn’t make sense?”
The Hyppo jumped, apparently as startled as she was. He still seemed afraid to approach her. “Wow. Your recovery time, for one. Also, your energy signature.” He knelt down in front of her hunched figure, peering at her intently. “You’re reading as a human, but you’re clearly not, by the feel of your body and the way you’re reacting to human-level emotion. You’re a cyborg from Earth, aren’t you?”
Something about the way he spoke made Ada realize that this creature knew something about her that she didn’t---or at least saw her in a way that she was unfamiliar with. Ada caught his gaze and nodded, feeling sweat run down her forehead. She sat back on her haunches and finally settled on sitting cross-legged, with her back against the cool wall of the cave, eyes closed. She puzzled over the Hyppo’s words, struggling to think through the storm of emotion still raging through her. He’d said human-level emotion, but he’d identified her as a cyborg from Earth. As her heartbeat gradually returned to normal and her desire and fear faded into the background, Ada opened her eyes and finally voiced another question.
“What did you do to me?”
The Hyppo seemed ready for the question. “Nothing, but a Bezoar had gotten to you when I turned around, so if something’s wrong, that came from it.” He pointed to a corner of the cave, and Ada looked to see a dark brown lump of slightly flat fur. A feeling of repulsion seized her muscles---disgust, she realized.
“Unluckily for it, I kick pretty hard.” He smiled, and Ada smiled back automatically, enchanted by the symmetry of his lovely golden face. Her heart leapt in her chest, and the sensation terrified her,
but not as much as the sudden need to press his lips to hers. Then her eyes slipped to his chest again, and she felt another vicious burst of longing in her belly and between her legs. She gasped as a gentle heat rolled through her loins, and she pressed her thighs together, trying to relieve some of the sexual pressure in her body. Humans had been unable---or maybe unwilling---to remove most of the more animal urges from cyborgs, so each of them went through a puberty of sorts sometime between the ages of twenty and twenty-five, and it usually lasted three to five years. For Ada, that meant feeling a pleasant tingle when she thought about Tod, and---when they had gentle, quiet sex every few weeks--- what had been the single most incredible sensation of her life until a few years ago, when she’d experienced the gentle awe of seeing Earth.
This, however, was nothing like either sensation. It was paralyzing, almost; she couldn’t think around it, and the need to feel his skin grew stronger than she could resist. Ada watched her hands reach toward his shoulders as though they were someone else’s. As soon as they encountered the firmness, there, however, she felt all of her consciousness return to her body as lust shredded her focus again.
The Hyppo’s eyes glazed over with an unreadable emotion as Ada pulled him on top of her and fell backward at the same time. His cock was already fully erect, hard as steel against the hot flesh of her vulva, and she moaned as pleasure enveloped her senses and took away all of her control. His golden hands cupped the firm mounds of her breasts, and his long fingers pulled and twisted her erect nipples, sending streaks of ecstasy through her body. Ada was screaming her pleasure, thrusting her hips against the long shaft of the gorgeous being on top of her. She plunged her hands into the softness of his thick hair and brought his lips to hers. He tasted unbelievable---smoky and sweet, and it lingered in her mouth after he pulled back.
