When Good Toys Go Bad

by Cairo, Debbie

  The acrid smell of burning synthetic filled the air as a laser beam emanating from the tip of the forceps cut a swath of fabric from Kai’s orange jumpsuit. I stood motionless, frozen in fascination. A panel opened on the robot’s side, into which the forceps dropped the piece of material, and along with it, the bug.

  “Surveillance device rendered inert.” The arm folded itself back inside the robot, which departed without any of the fanfare of its arrival.

  “They shot you with a tracking pellet. It stuck in the cloth of the suit. You must have been moving pretty fast.”

  “You can say that again,” I confirmed.

  Brynn ignored me and continued her thought. “They’ll have tracked you at least to this sector, hopefully not to the pod. Either way we don’t have long.”

  As if on cue, a loud crash came from the other room. Beams from flashlights scampered across the walls, followed by shouts of, “Clear,” and, “Team one right flank,” and other such terse commands.

  Again the small robot flew around the corner, shouting, “Intruders, intruders!”

  “No shit,” Brynn spat at the little mechanical creature, which turned on its wheels and disappeared back through the door.

  Kai pulled me tight to his body. My heart raced. I felt lightheaded from hyperventilating. Before I was able to process the events, his arms encompassed both Brynn’s and my waists. He lifted us off our feet. Seconds later, we were crashing through the pod wall, shouts from frustrated would-be captors echoing behind us.

  Our combined weight, coupled with the speed we were moving, caused a tremor each time one of Kai’s feet hit the ground. Pods were silver or white blurs as we passed.

  I managed to glance behind us. The air felt as if it were trying to pull my head off. Black dots on the horizon were all that remained of the team chasing us. They were completely out of range and no longer a concern as long as we kept moving. Fear bolted though me. Shit, what if they were able to call the air units? And what about the civilians standing by the road, mouths agape? We must have been quite a spectacle. Though I didn’t think they could see us at these speeds.

  “Where are we going?” Kai asked, his voice steady, without even a vibrato to suggest he carried two women and traveled at preternatural speed.

  I tried to speak, to offer a suggestion, but the force of his footfalls made talking almost impossible.

  Brynn, on the other hand, gave short, staccato orders. The words pushed out as much by the bounce of Kai’s stride as by actual speech. “Right—straight—left—left again—right—stop.”

  Kai halted immediately as ordered. My stomach lurched.

  He carefully placed us on the ground. My feet steadied beneath me. I surveyed the area, scanning the streets behind us and the skies above us for any evidence of followers. I don’t think I had let out a breath the whole time we were moving.

  “There!” Brynn pointed to a pod on the corner.

  Even through the fear and exhaustion, I had to smile when I saw Brynn. The rapid travel had not been kind to her. Her hair resembled a ball of spaghetti tangled on the back of her head. I reached up and touched the mess on top of my own head. Kai, as usual, remained perfect in every way, except the large swatch of cloth missing from his backside, exposing his taut buns.

  We followed Brynn’s lead to the doorway of a medium-size pod. She knocked. My mouth fell open when Marjin Grak answered the door.

  “What are you doing here? I thought they left. Come inside before anyone sees you.” She ushered us through the front door. “Do you know what they’ll do to me if they find them here?”

  “The transport was a trap. I didn’t know where else to take them.”

  “I’m Marjin,” the woman introduced herself. “I’m assuming you’re Darra and you’re Kai.”

  I stood amazed. We nodded.

  “Well, you look like hell. Come, I’ll get you some tea, and we’ll come up with a plan.”

  I peered around the room. Unlike most people who had pictures of their families on the walls, she had pictures of political figures, mainly men from history. Martin Luther King, Gandhi, John F. Kennedy, Franklin Roosevelt. A few women joined the list of dignitaries. Joan of Arc, Aung San Suu Kyi, and Marda Grath, the woman who tried to unionize The Consortium. When Grath disappeared five years ago, most assumed she’d fled up top. A few, like me and I’m sure Marjin, were certain she lay rotting in a Consortium prison.

  Marjin stood in her kitchen wearing a pink, frilly apron which said, “Bless This Mess,” the perfect picture of domesticity. A stark contrast to the woman called a revolutionary and an anarchist by the media. The Consortium made her out to be an inhuman villain, since she spent her life defending the women who tried to break The Consortium’s stranglehold on the world.

  “I almost didn’t recognize you without your bullhorn.”

  Marjin smiled.

  “But why are you helping us? We’re not fighting for your cause.”

  “Because that’s what I do. I didn’t become a lawyer be a mere puppet for The Consortium. I fight for the little gal.” Her lips formed a kind, motherly smile. “Besides, Brynn here is my goddaughter.” She put her arm around Brynn’s shoulder.

  We shuffled past her though the doorway. Marjin stifled a giggle at the sight of Kai’s bare butt hanging out of the back of his jumpsuit. “Would you like me to get you a towel or something?”

  “Unnecessary,” Kai answered matter-of-factly.

  “Do you drink?” she asked Kai as she placed steaming mugs in front of Brynn and me.

  “Yes, please.”

  She programmed the order into the food dispenser, returning with mugs for Kai and herself.

  “I think you’re going to have to turn yourselves in.”

  “What!” What little relief I had experienced evaporated like water on a hot stone. “They’ll throw me in jail. They’ll melt Kai down and use him for scrap!” The flush of anger crept up my face.

  “Now, now.” She put her hand on my shoulder. “I wouldn’t let anything like that happen to you. I don’t see any other way. The only escape is living up top, scrounging for food and shelter. I say you stay here and fight. Fight this in court. Give yourselves a chance for a normal life.”

  “And if we lose?”

  “At least you fought. And people will know about you. You won’t rot anonymously in some cell. And if they kill Kai, he’ll be a martyr instead of another decommissioned android.”

  “I’m not turning myself in! There are still options. We can hide.”

  “Are you going to go live in a cave somewhere?”

  “Maybe.”

  Marjin put a hand on my arm. “They’ll find you. Besides, what kind of a life is that, cowering in the darkness like animals? I’m telling you, your best chance for a life is to trust me and turn yourself in. You think about it.” Marjin got up from the table. “I’ll give you a few minutes to discuss.”

  “What do you think, Kai?” I grasped his hand.

  “I’m willing to go with you anywhere. She’s probably right. We could go up top, but that frightens me. I’m not sure how long you would survive. We don’t know what the climate is like, or if we’ll be able to find sources of food or water.”

  “But people have gone up top.”

  “There have been rumors of people leaving the colonies. For all we know, they are living in some cave, or up top dead, or rotting in some Consortium jail.”

  Brynn sat down next to me, and I turned my attention to her. “So what do you think?”

  “What do I think? I think I want to go back to before this whole thing ever started. I want to work, date, shop—you know—normal things. I want my life back! When did I become the one with all the answers? When did I become responsible for both of your lives?”

  I took her hand and gazed into her eyes. “I’m not sure how we got here or why. What I do know is I love you, trust you and need you. In short, you’re stuck with me, babe.”

  Brynn laughed. She stood tall, her e
yes brightening as the confidence physically returned to her body. With a snap of her fingers, I saw the proverbial light bulb go on.

  “You could get new identities. Though that would mean Kai would have to live like a woman. I know a girl who designs faces for Consortium androids. I think I could charm one out of her. Tell her my cleaning droid got burned or something.”

  Hope started to creep back in. Maybe we could pull this off.

  “That might work. Kai, what do you think? “ I turned with a glint of hope to face him.

  “I think Marjin’s right. It’s only a matter of time until they discover us. If we turn ourselves in now, you could walk away from this mess. Both of you.”

  A terrible foreboding settled into my stomach. I had opened my mouth to protest when Marjin appeared at the kitchen entrance.

  “Have we made a decision?”

  I answered, “We run,” at the same time Kai said, “Turn ourselves in.”

  “So, no decision then?”

  “We are turning ourselves in. I don’t want to hear anything else from you, Darra.” His grip on my hand tightened. “It’s my fault both of you are in this mess, and I’m not going to see anything happen to either of you, not when I can help.” He faced Marjin, his expression stone. “You can make sure nothing happens to them?”

  “I can and will.”

  “Then it’s decided.” His tone left no room for negotiation. “Call them.”

  Marjin nodded.

  “Why don’t you to go upstairs.” Brynn motioned toward the bedrooms. “I’ll stay here and help Marjin with the arrangements.”

  “Are you sure? Maybe you should come with us,” I said, and Kai nodded his approval.

  “No, I think you two should be alone. I’ll be fine.”

  I got a full view of Kai’s bare ass as we climbed the stairs. I couldn’t help myself. I grabbed a handful of each cheek and squeezed.

  “You like that, do you?” he asked without turning around.

  “I do.” I gave him a playful swat. Though I couldn’t shake the terror of what would happen next, I was happy to have him with me and, for the moment, safe. Our hopeless situation faded into the background as love and lust floated to the surface.

  The bedroom was midnight blue. Much more feminine than I would have expected. A four-poster with a stunning white-and-blue, honeycomb-patterned sheet set took up much of the space.

  Kai sat on the edge of the bed and reached out to me. I took his hands. He drew me close.

  “This horrible material must be scratchy on your soft skin. I think you’d be much more comfortable without it.” He pulled open the magnetic fasteners and pushed the blouse off my shoulders, causing the garment to fall to the floor.

  He drew me into his lap so I was sitting sideways across his legs, burying his face in my neck, kissing the curve at the top of my shoulder. Goose bumps rose on my arms as he trailed his tongue along my skin, grazing me lightly with his teeth. He traced my jawline, moving on to my cheeks, nose, eyes and forehead, deliberately avoiding my hungry mouth.

  Kai circled my breasts with his finger, first one, then the other. Slipping down, he found my nipple and began to knead softly until the red nub stood at full attention and was ultrasensitive.

  “Kai, please…”

  He put a finger to my lips. I held my sentence, and my breath. Gentle and deliberate, Kai lifted me and placed me down on the bed. He brushed my lips softly, standing when I tried to pull him in.

  “Patience,” he said as he removed his jumpsuit in slow motion. So slow I saw every muscle tense and relax.

  I sat on the edge of the bed and took his semi-erect penis in my hand, urging him closer to me until his cock was within reach of my mouth.

  My tongue flitted across the tip. I meant to tease him like he had been doing to me, but I didn’t have the self-control. I grabbed his ass and took his full length into my mouth.

  “Oh yes,” he moaned and buried his hands in my hair.

  His cock grew massive and hard my mouth. I could no longer take the whole size, and I supplemented with my hand. I must have surprised him when I moved down and took his balls into my mouth because I felt his legs start to give. He braced himself on my shoulders and came hard.

  He climbed behind me, pulling me into the curve of his body until we were spooning, his hand over my breast and my hand over his.

  I was about to fall asleep when Kai took my hand and guided it to his semi-erect penis. He started to kiss my shoulder, then my neck. I stroked his penis and it sprang to life, fully erect.

  “That’s better,” I said as I lifted my leg and resting my foot on his knee. His kisses became more passionate as I guided him inside me. I returned my leg to its previous position and we were spooning again, only this time Kai was inside me.

  Every stroke Kai made sent tremors through my insides. My whole physical being centered on that magical portal—and the wizard bringing it to life.

  I reached over and grabbed Kai’s ass, both because I loved the feel of it and because I wanted to pull him deeper inside me. It worked on both accounts. Kai seized my hips, pulling me deeper onto his very erect cock. Every thrust elicited grunts from both of us. I closed my eyes and bit my lip as the exquisite pounding drove me closer and closer to release. I found myself torn between wanting this sensation to last forever and wanting to go to the place where my muscles seized, my blood turned electric and I felt even more alive.

  Kai made the decision for me. He put his hand between my legs and started rubbing my clit. Two more strokes and I went over the edge I had been dancing on. One stroke after that, Kai followed. This time I felt the shudder, felt him spill into me and heard the guttural, uncontrolled groan that went with his orgasm. It was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard.

  I was still basking in the aftereffects of our lovemaking when a loud knock at the downstairs door and shouts of, “Police!” reverberated through the pod.

  Chapter Eight

  Marjin pounded on the door. “Get dressed, but stay here!”

  I heard the loud thumps of her footfalls as she bounded down the uncarpeted stairs. Then her voice, loud and determined. “You were not supposed to be here until the morning.”

  “You’re harboring two fugitives,” the unmistakable deep voice of a Consortium guard bellowed back at her.

  “They were to turn themselves in tomorrow morning to the colony police. I made arrangements with the magistrate. I’m not letting them go anywhere with Consortium guards, especially under the cloak of darkness.”

  “What should I do?” I heard Brynn ask.

  That’s my Brynn, always in the thick of things.

  “Call the police. When you’re done with that, call number three on my comm pad. Tell her we need press and lots of it.”

  We heard the distinctive sound of a tussle on the stairs as the Consortium guards tried to push through Marjin and Brynn to get to their quarry—us. The confrontation ended when colony police sirens sounded in the distance.

  Pounding on the door intensified.

  “Well, let them in,” Marjin ordered, obviously not willing to give up her perch on the stairs.

  “What’s going on here?” the much more feminine voice of a colony police officer asked.

  “I have Darra Athol and the Kai unit here. I made arrangements with the magistrate to have them turn themselves in to you tomorrow morning. These Consortium goons—” she spat it out like bitter apple, “—showed up and demanded I turn them over. I refused and called you.”

  “Under what authority are you taking these citizens into custody?”

  “The Consortium,” the butch guard answered with conviction.

  “Last time I checked, the Consortium guards didn’t have any authority off Consortium property. I suggest you leave this to the real police.”

  I swore I heard the Consortium guard growl. Whatever connection that existed between The Consortium and the colony police apparently didn’t extend to the officers.

 
“You can come down now,” Marjin yelled up the stairs.

  Kai entwined his fingers around mine. We cautiously made our way down the stairs.

  To my relief, there was no sign of more Consortium guards. Two blonde, pony-tailed, colony police officers stood by the front door.

  “The arrangements were—” Marjin held up her fingers as she counted off the list, “—they are not to be separated. They will remain in the same condition they are right now. Not that I don’t trust you, but half the press corps is outside to document their condition both physically and mentally. They will make a statement assuring everyone they have no intention of killing themselves or each other. They will not be running away topside. And last but not least, neither of them has any physical conditions that could lead to their untimely demise. I will have complete access to them, and Darra will be allowed two phone calls per night.”

  “We’re not barbarians,” one of the officers chided.

  “I’m just making sure you stay unbarbarian-like.”

  Marjin’s speech went pretty far in quelling my terror, though Kai’s grip on my hand remained the only thing grounding me. The whole situation felt unreal—impossible.

  “Don’t worry. Everything will be okay.” She put a hand on my shoulder. “I’ll take care of making the statement to the press. You don’t talk to anyone. I will be right behind you.”

  “So will I,” Brynn added.

  Night had fallen, but it was hard to tell. Lights radiated from every corner of the neighborhood as the entire press corps gathered for the spectacle of the heterosexual and her android lover being led out in handcuffs. Impeccably dressed women shoved microphones in my face. Some expressed sympathy for me, asking how I felt. Others conveyed their disgust, asking me what it was like to be a freak. Under Marjin’s orders, I kept my mouth shut, though it took all my willpower not to fight back at the Consortium reporters’ verbal attacks.