Stealing Coal

by Laurann Dohner

  “That’s why I don’t live on Earth anymore.” She tensed when she witnessed another crew member hit the restrained cyborg. He didn’t make a sound but she knew it had to hurt. “Aren’t you afraid they are going to kill him?”

  “Naw. Those cyborg bastards are tough and my men are just warming him up. He needs to learn how to handle pain. I’m taking him to the Arris Station. They offered me real good money for him.”

  Oh shit. The Arris Station had become well known and feared. If they were selling the cyborg there his lifespan would be pretty short unless he happened to be super tough. The station broadcasted their twisted form of entertainment out to paying customers everywhere in the galaxies. They usually used criminals or mutated space pirates to put inside a locked cage together to fight until one died. The death matches were said to be so brutal most official programming signal senders wouldn’t carry the option to buy the feed.

  “Want to see him up close? I kept this one because he’s got scars and looked meaner. The other one was kind of pretty and I figured he didn’t fight much. I made a good deal with Arris. They really wanted him bad when I sent a vid of him. I not only get a flat-out payment but a small percentage of however many fights he survives.”

  Jill hesitated. Pity welled up inside her for the poor cyborg. Soon enough he’d find himself in a living hell far worse than the one he currently had been dealt. The captain took her silence for agreement and started to move toward the flat freight-loader table, leaving her to follow.

  “Come on.”

  The crew torturing the poor gray-skinned male moved back, all giving Jill’s body a thorough examination when she stopped about five feet from them. Her gaze wandered slowly over the biggest man she’d ever seen. They’d chained his arms above his head, stretching them high up, and muscles bulged in his thick biceps. His skin—a warm, sleek metallic gray—reminded her of the bulkhead color on her shuttle. She stared into his dark, furious gaze.

  She forgot to breathe as they studied each other. He had really pretty eyes, though fury darkened them. They appeared nearly black under the bright, overhead cargo lights but she knew they weren’t. They were probably deep brown. A low growl came from his parted, full lips, drawing her focus to them. There was no denying his handsome looks—in a rugged, strong-boned sort of way. The cyborg reeked of an overload of testosterone in her opinion.

  “See why I kept him? Doesn’t he look vicious?” The captain and his offensive stink inched closer to Jill. “Those are grade-four steel chains. He broke free twice from the lower density ones. He’s a strong bastard and on his feet, he’s six feet five—we measured him for the Arris. He weighs in at two hundred sixty pounds.”

  “That’s big,” she agreed automatically.

  Her gaze lowered to his massive chest. She hid her horror at seeing darkened skin there that she identified as bruises. The crew had definitely been pounding their fists on the unfortunate cyborg. His stomach tensed, showing ridged muscles from his rib cage to the waist of the black, baggy shorts he wore. Her throat dried and she swallowed at the sight of how firm and in shape he appeared to be. She’d never seen anyone that muscular.

  “We had to shoot him with five doses of knockout drugs to get him down. He’s got a high tolerance to them so we’re hoping it’s the same for his pain threshold.”

  She nodded, unable to speak. His thighs were substantial, muscular limbs and his legs were bent at the edge of the flat surface, his ankles chained by more steel, securing them at the bottom of the freight carrier table. Her gaze jerked back to his face when he growled low again.

  “Like what you see?” He had a harsh, deep voice that sounded damaged.

  No one spoke that way, that roughly, unless something bad had happened to their larynx. They must have hit him there as well. Shivers ran down Jill’s spine when she realized the cyborg was speaking to her.

  He glared at the captain next. “I will break free and kill more of your men. You will all die when my friends come searching for me.”

  Holy shit. Die?

  The captain took a menacing step forward and shook a first. “I lost four good men, you freak. You really want to taunt me?”

  “I’m going to tear you apart with my bare hands,” the cyborg promised calmly.

  “Shut up,” the captain snapped. “You want my men to get the shock sticks again?” He suddenly grinned at Jill. “Want to see something fun?” He turned his head and nodded at one of the men. “Get them. Light his ass up for her and show her how he jerks around. It’s amusing as hell.”

  “No!”

  She backed up and then realized her mistake as all heads swung in her direction, their frowning faces staring back at her. Shit! Her reactions needed to live up to being a heartless bitch who worked for the meanest, nastiest, bloodlusting trader ever born. Watching someone be tortured should have been something entertaining to the character she played, not horrifying. She thought fast.

  “I’m running late already and it’s going to piss Big Jim off if I don’t undock now. I never want to do that. You don’t want to do that either.”

  The captain swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “Yeah. You better get on your shuttle.” He motioned to his men. “Let’s store the new cargo. We can watch the freak suffer when we’re done.”

  Jill had to look away from the struggling cyborg. He kept fighting the restraints in an attempt to break free, though it wasted his energy. She didn’t blame him. He wasn’t just going to be tortured by the crew but faced the eventual certainty of being beaten to death in a cage when he reached Arris. Pity and remorse slammed into her. Sometimes the shit she saw while trading made her wish she’d never left Earth. Not that Earth ranked that much higher but at least there humans attempted to hide their ugly sides. In space they flaunted their brutality as though it were a badge of honor.

  Jill spun on her heel and forced her legs to move. Regret tugged at her conscience for the poor man she walked away from. Is he a man? She didn’t know and her mind had no answer to give. She guessed he rated as one considering he must be made of flesh and blood if he could bleed. He obviously could feel pain. She had a limited education on the subject of cyborg history. Aunt Mary hadn’t told her anything about them except the fact that they had been decommissioned for being too dangerous. Later, as she grew older, she’d realized what that entailed. The Government had slaughtered them.

  Big Jim had insisted she be reared on Earth by his sister but Jill had been kept secluded from other people for her own safety. If any of her father’s enemies―there were many of those―had known he had a daughter, they would have killed her long ago. The irony of using his name to survive as an adult hadn’t been lost on her. As a child she’d been forbidden to even mention him for fear someone would discover her connection.

  She lowered her chin when she approached her shuttle. “Open up, says me,” she whispered into the com at the outer door.

  The docking door slid upward and a ramp slowly lowered to the floor in front of her feet. She’d had to fly her shuttle up into docking port of the larger ship to secure it to the freighter. She glanced nervously around when she moved forward, her boots making a metallic sound on the thin metal floor, and breathed out a sigh of relief after she stepped inside the cargo hold. One more safe trade had been accomplished.

  She turned then, peering out at the large cargo bay. Her gaze instantly homed in on the cyborg and she knew he would haunt her. Guilt could be a horrible thing. He still fought his chains, his muscles flexing and bulging, something she could see even from a distance. Her teeth dented her lower lip over the conflict his situation caused her.

  “Close the doors,” she ordered aloud. The ramp slid upward to return to the under floor she stood on and the shuttle door lowered to hide the sight of the cargo bay. She could no longer view the cyborg.

  Jill stood here breathing slowly, her heart heavy from the reality that her life had turned to shit a year before when she’d received a message that her father wanted
to see her. Aunt Mary had traveled with her and they’d met the dreaded Big Jim. His brutal lifestyle had finally taken its toll. He’d been on his deathbed and his body hadn’t even grown cold before his crew of brutal killers revolted.

  Hot tears burned behind her eyelids when she closed them. Aunt Mary had given her life to save Jill’s. None of her father’s crew had survived to spread the word that Big Jim had died. All she’d been left with was the shuttle she now lived on, her father’s reputation, and the trading schedule on the onboard computer. She’d opened up an account with a space bank, used the cargo she’d found secured in the shuttle’s hold to make her first trade, and her new life had begun.

  The doors to the interior section of the shuttle opened and it pulled her from self pity. She turned at the loud noise to stare at Roid. His forest-green, artificial skin drew her attention first—not her favorite color but beggars couldn’t be picky. She’d salvaged him from a dead ship she’d come across a year before.

  “You are safe and we have another successful trade.” His speech came out high pitched, almost feminine, but it had been the best she’d been able to do with her limited knowledge. “They paid?”

  “Yes. I’m safe and the transaction went smoothly. We’ll be set for a while.”

  The android stood there, unmoving, waiting for orders.

  “Prepare for takeoff, please. You’re better at navigating so you’re in the hot seat this time. I don’t want us to hit the sides of the freighter on our way out of the docking section. Wait for my order before we separate from them.”

  He turned, moved through the doors, and she knew he’d head for the pilot’s seat. His programming included flying small shuttles, to her immense luck. Her head turned and she stared at the closed exterior door toward the freight ship’s cargo area. Though she couldn’t see the cyborg, she still imagined him struggling against his chains in a frantic attempt to break free before they hurt him more.

  The door opened behind her again and she turned to face it. Fray, one of the three androids aboard her shuttle, entered and stopped, his head tilted a tiny bit to the left, making him appear thoughtful. “Do you require assistance?”

  “No. Strap in and recharge.”

  The android turned away to do as she’d ordered. Jill opened her mouth before she even thought about it. “Tell Arm to come to me.”

  “Of course,” Fray confirmed, leaving the cargo area.

  “Fuck,” she muttered, shaking her head, and fought the disgust that rose in her. She walked to the cabinet by the door, jerked it open, and looked hard at the weapons stored inside. “What are you thinking, Jill?”

  She sighed and after only hesitating for a few seconds, reached in to grab the gas-ball shooter. “Stupid, really insane, and pathetic,” she muttered, hoping that hearing her voice aloud would make her reconsider her actions. Instead she spun around to glare at the exterior door. “Dumb, Jill. Really dumb. He’s not your problem. You’re a hardened trader, a bitch, just like your ex-husband said. Remember? Heartless shrew, cold-blooded hag. And don’t forget frigid.”

  The doors opened and she winced when Arm entered the room. He squeaked badly as he came forward. She turned her head to watch him advance. He had extensive damage to his face and chest that she hadn’t known how to repair. He looked hellish but there wasn’t much she could do about it. The only thing on him not messed up in some way had been his left arm, hence the name she’d given him after she’d pulled him from a scrap pile on a distant junk moon when she’d discovered the android while searching for spare parts compatible with her shuttle.

  “Orders, Sir?”

  She’d given up on asking him to stop calling her that. He was military issue and had proven to her yet again that Earth Government wasted money by throwing great assets into the trash.

  She took a few breaths and then blinked back tears that blinded her. “I’m a sucker,” she announced to Arm. “You should call me that instead of Sir. Yeah, man down, Arm. He’s male, gray-skinned, and the enemy has him in the cargo area just outside. What is it you always tell me about a man down when we talk about what happened to you?”

  “We don’t leave them behind the way they did me.” Arm turned his big frame toward the weapons cabinet, and studied the contents. “How hostile is the threat?”

  “They aren’t military but they are hardened criminals. No kills, okay? Chase them out of the cargo bay since we need to blow the seal. I don’t want them dying when the air vents out.”

  “Understood. Advanced scare tactics, grab our man, and retreat.”

  “Exactly.” Jill wanted to smack herself over her hasty, stupid decision. The cyborg wasn’t her problem but that didn’t change her mind. “Um, he’s injured so do not free him from the restraints. He’s on a flatbed freight table so bring him inside on it. Repeat that order. It’s important. Do not unchain him.”

  “I don’t understand. He’s our man.” Arm spun to stare at her with his strange glowing eyes. They didn’t match since she hadn’t been able to find two lenses the same color but they were better than leaving him without cover for his sight sensors.

  “He’s been tortured and I’m afraid he’ll hurt me,” she admitted softly. “He needs to learn that we’re not the enemy before I can trust him not to attack. Is that clear enough?”

  “Protecting Sir is my number-one priority. Order is understood.” Arm spun around, grabbed weapons from the locker, and then faced her again. “You provide cover while I retrieve our man down. That plan puts you in the least danger.”

  “Got it.” She moved to the wall and hit the com. “Roid?”

  “Yes, Jill?”

  “We’re undocking hot once we retrieve some additional cargo.” She paused, pushing back the fear that gripped her. “You may have to blast through their docking sleeves to shake us loose. Monitor Arm and me. As soon as we’re back inside the cargo hold with the freight, get us clear. Don’t wait for me to order you to start engines. They have cannon flares so heads up and try to avoid allowing them to hit us if they open fire.”

  “Understood. I will get us free from this ship and full blast with evasive maneuvers. I haven’t failed to do that yet.”

  Yeah, we’ve been in this situation a few times before, she remembered with a flinch. She took a deep breath, released the com, and then ground her teeth together. She ripped a breathing mask from the wall near the door and tossed it to Arm then grabbed another and tugged it over her face. Her gaze locked on Arm while she gripped the gas-ball shooter with trembling hands. “Let’s do it. Make sure you put that mask on him so he doesn’t choke. You are in charge of this mission. I’m a green soldier.”

  “I have taken remote control of the doors.” He moved forward. “I will take incoming fire until you’re able to lay down gas cover safely. I will retrieve our man. Stay behind me to shield yourself, Sir.”

  She moved behind the big defense model android and said a silent prayer that this wasn’t going to be suicide. It was crazy, stupid, and flat-out insane to steal a cyborg from a ship the size of the freighter. She didn’t want to think about losing an opportunity to make more money from dealings with this ship in the future, but she figured if she just left, knowing what the fate of that poor bastard would be, she could never face herself in a mirror. Even Jillian Maris still had moral lines she wouldn’t cross.

  “Go,” she whispered. “Before I chicken out or remember I don’t have a set of balls.”

  The exterior doors opened and the ramp slammed down hard when Arm hit the fast release. The loud noise made Jill’s ears ring. Damn Arm and his military tactics. He’d wanted to make an entrance and he certainly had. She opened fire, the gas balls whistling through the air and exploding into the deck across the large cargo bay as she turned the gun to spread them out. The smoke rose instantly, spread fast, and shouted alarm came from the surprised men who found themselves in the midst of the unexpected attack.

  Arm ran down the ramp and took careful aim to spread out more gas pellets
near his perceived enemy without hitting them. Jill’s gaze darted around, happy to see only four crew members in the cargo bay, all of whom rushed for the exit doors to escape the smoke that quickly filled the room. The retreating men hopefully mistook the harmless yellow, smelly smoke as poisonous when it temporarily blinded, disorientated, and choked them.

  Arm moved forward quickly, tearing across the cargo bay toward his target. Jill glanced at the cyborg, his expression openly shocked while he watched the android rush toward him to shove the breathing mask over his face. Arm grabbed hold of both sides of the freight table and then sped back toward the ramp, dragging the cyborg and freight carrier into the cargo hold of Jill’s shuttle.

  Jill jumped out of the way and backed up as the door across the large bay opened. The captain who had flirted with her rushed forward with gun in hand. Their gazes locked before the smoke doubled him over in a fit of coughs. Jill fired again, laying down more gas balls between the captain and her shuttle to prevent him from shooting at her.

  “We’re in. Go!”

  Jill dropped her weapon, tore off her mask, and grabbed for the wall to find a handhold. The sound of the ramp retracting and the doors slamming closed assured her that Roid heard her. Something pinged on the exterior of the shuttle and she flinched, hoping nothing would breach the outer hull. They would have no choice but to leave the freighter, leaking air or not.

  The engines roared to life, making the floor vibrate hard. Jill flinched at the thought of the damage that could be done to the old shuttle by forcing such a cold start but knew there were no other options. She heard when Roid opened fire on the docking sleeves to force them to release the sealed grip they kept between shuttle and freighter. The room lurched, nearly sending Jill to the floor as they moved, a loud metallic groan reverberating throughout the cargo hold. She turned her head to stare at Arm, gripping the mute cyborg who remained motionless while he gaped in obvious astonishment at Arm’s face just a few feet above his. The android carefully lifted the mask off him.