by T. J. Quinn
She kept telling herself she shouldn’t care about what he felt for her but despite all logic, she had fallen in love with the cyborg.
She had allowed an enemy to enter her heart and she was paying the consequences a bit sooner than she expected.
At some point, the tears she hadn't shed since she had been abducted by the Taucets finally come out, and in no time her whole body was shaken by her sobs. She hid her face in her hands to muffle them, unwilling to have Khajal all over her, trying to find out what was going on.
She lost track of time, but she didn’t care. By the time she returned to the house where they were staying, Khajal had some meat on the fire and had opened a couple of cans of beans and vegetables.
“Are you feeling any better?” he asked when she saw her come in the house.
She gave him a faint smile. “Yes, thank you. That smells delicious,” she said, not letting him deepen the topic.
“Yes… I thought we should celebrate.”
“Oh… What’s to celebrate?” she asked, raising an eyebrow as she took a seat at the table.
“I searched Anion’s body for any weapons I could use, and along with a few of those, I was able to find a transmitter,” he announced, with a triumphant grin. “I was able to communicate with the cyborgs, and they’ve sent a vessel. They’ll be here in a few days.”
The news shocked her. She hadn't been expecting it, and it hurt like a damn punch to the stomach, making her gasp.
“Oh… that’s great,” she managed to utter.
“Yes. We’ll be able to leave this place behind,” he added, with a wide smile.
She tried to emulate his smile, to no use. She should feel happy he was leaving, but she wasn’t. Her life would never be the same, and she would always miss him, she was sure of that.
“Didn’t you find anything we could use to get rid of my trackers?” she asked him, pasting her best smile on her face.
“No, nothing. But I’m sure the other cyborgs will have a way to at least deactivate the damn things,” he assured her.
“Yes, that would be great. I don’t want to be a Taucet magnet,” she replied, with a scowl.
“My friend Jarcor is coming along. If there’s someone able to deactivate them it’s him. He was the one able to break through the human’s controls and find the passwords to free us from their yoke,” he added.
“Then I’m sure he’ll be able to help me,” she smiled and got up to help him finish their meal.
Chapter Twenty-One
The following days went by in a blur. Savannah wavered from moments she couldn’t wait for the other cyborgs to arrive so she could start the rest of her life and others where she wished something would stop them from coming, thus giving her more time with Khajal.
She wasn’t ready to say goodbye. She knew she would never be ready for that, and she tried to strengthen herself, but the simple idea hurt too much.
She had to have a damn masochist vein hidden somewhere inside her.
But the day finally came and though, she had tried to prepare herself for it, it was still a shock seeing the huge vessel landing on what must have been the town's square.
Khajal was out checking the perimeter as he called it and she had to welcome the strangers by herself.
They came out of the vessel carrying heavy guns, and the one leading the group stepped forward and spoke to her in a cold tone, thick with his loathing for her race.
“Greetings human. We’re here to see your master. Where is he?”
She pursed her lips at his manners, but she knew it wouldn’t be a smart move to show hostility to the newcomers.
“He’s out checking his security perimeter. But he won’t be long. I’m sure he has noticed your arrival,” she replied in a polite tone.
“Very well. We’ll wait inside,” he announced and without waiting for her answer, they walked by her and entered the house they had been using as shelter.
Fortunately, Khajal arrived only moments later, and she decided she had no place at that meeting, so she silently left the house, while Khajal greeted his friends.
Khajal was already on his way back to the house when he saw the vessel approaching the small town. His friends had finally arrived.
He ran the rest of the way and soon he was greeting Jarcor and the rest of the guys.
“So, are you ready to leave this planet?” Jarcor asked him, with a scowl.
“Oh, yes. It’s not a moment too soon,” he assured his friend.
“We can leave as soon as you want. Have you thought what you’re going to do with the human slave?” his friend asked and Khajal frowned at his tone.
“Take her with me.” There was no doubt in Khajal’s voice.
A thick silence filled the room. “Humans aren’t welcomed at our planet,” Jarcor finally said, breaking the tense silence.
“Perhaps, but I know you have a few humans there,” Khajal replied, standing his ground. He wasn’t leaving without Savannah. She had become important to him, and though he hadn't stopped to examine his feelings for her, he knew he wanted to keep her at his side.
“Yes, we have a few slaves,” Jarcor admitted.
“Then, one more won’t make much difference,” he pointed out.
“Are you willing to share her with the rest of us?” one of the other cyborgs asked.
“No, she’s mine and mine alone,” Khajal declared sternly. “If this is a problem for you, then, I’m afraid I made you come all the way here for nothing,” he added.
“You’ll be fully responsible for her?” Jarcor asked, clearly not pleased with the position Khajal had put them.
“Of course, I told you she’s mine.” There was no doubt in his assertion.
“Very well, then, if that’s what you want.” Jarcor finally accepted.
“Before we leave though, there’s something I need you to do for me first,” he told Jarcor. “Savannah was one of the Taucets’ slaves, and they’ve put some trackers in her nipple rings. We need to deactivate them before we leave. The metal seems unbreakable,” he explained.
“Yes, it is. I’ve come upon with those. Some of the slaves we have were bought from the Taucets,” Jarcor replied.
“Are you able to deactivate the damn things?” Khajal asked.
“Yes, of course.”
“Then we can leave as soon as you take care of that.”
Jarcor nodded. “Go get her. Though we haven’t detected any humans in the area, I really would prefer to leave as soon as possible.”
Khajal nodded and went looking for Savannah. He found her sitting on a rock, not far from the house, enjoying the last sun rays.
“Good news,” he announced, with a wide smile, when he reached her. “Jarcor knows how to deactivate the trackers,” he added.
“Oh… that’s great,” she replied, trying hard to simulate his enthusiasm, but not being able to.
One of the cyborgs left the house and headed to the vessel.
“Come, let me take you to Jarcor,” Khajal said, helping her up.
Back at the house, Khajal introduced her to the man she had spoken to. “Jarcor, here’s Savannah.”
The tall man nodded. “Koltra went to get what I need. If there’s something you would like to take with you, this would be a good moment to go get it.”
“No… there’s nothing here we would miss,” Khajal replied, scowling.
The other cyborg returned with a small box and handed it to Jarcor.
“Let’s see what we can do,” he mumbled, as he took a couple of tools from the box before he turned to face Savannah. “Show me the rings,” he ordered.
Savannah didn’t really want to show her breasts to this stranger she’d just met but didn’t think it would be a good idea to protest. She was in a room filled with people with all the reasons in the world to hate her species.
Slowly, she opened her jumpsuit and exposed her breasts to the Jacor.
He examined the rings for a few moments, moving them through the nipp
le so that he could examine the whole extent of the ring.
“Yes, this seems to be the same model our last slave had,” he said, sounding pleased before he attached some tiny wired clips to the rings. He looked at Khajal, gesturing at her with a nod of his head. “You better hold her still. This will hurt a bit, but I need to cause a short circuit on the tracker, and this is the only way,” he explained.
Khajal nodded and grabbed Savannah when she stepped back.
“Maybe this isn’t necessary…” she suggested, suddenly scared.
But before she could utter another word, a blast of pain rushed through her, as Jarcor turned on the device he was holding in his hands.
Jacor rechecked the rings while she was still whimpering.
“All done. The circuits are fried,” he announced.
Khajal cupped her breasts and appeased the pain for a few moments before he helped her to put on the jumpsuit again.
“Perfect. We’re ready to go,” he told his friend, with a grateful smile.
“Let’s go then,” Jarcor said, leaving the house and being followed by the cyborgs that had accompanied him.
“I know you’re in a hurry to leave,” Savannah said, in a shaky tone, “but could we have a few words, before you do?” she asked him.
“We’ll have enough time to speak once we’re out of here,” he replied, taking her arm and pulling her towards the vessel.
Startled, she looked at him confused, but he didn’t give her any more time to speak. Soon, they were inside the vessel, and they were taking off.
She guessed he was taking her to somewhere closer to a small town, so that she wouldn’t have to wander the woods alone, on her way to the closest village. They hadn’t discussed it, mostly because she had tried to ignore it as much as she could, not ready to face the imminent separation.
It wasn’t the first time she was on board of a vessel, but this time she was able to really look at it and explore it. It was a fantastic device and a lot bigger than she had expected it to be.
“As soon as we’re out of the planet’s atmosphere, we’ll be able to take a long shower,” Khajal told her as he guided her to a chamber down the hall.
Startled, she stopped and looked at him astonished. “What are you talking about? Out of the planet’s atmosphere?”
“To get home, we have to leave this planet. You know that ” he pointed out, intrigued by her question.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“You’re taking me with you?” There was so much surprise in her tone, he stared at her frowning.
“Of course, I’m taking you with me.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re mine and I keep what’s mine,” he said in a firm tone, as he guided her inside the chambers and closed the door behind them.
“You didn’t seem to care much about me when you challenged Anion to kill me,” she replied, in a very cold tone.
“Your life was never in danger. I knew he would have to take his focus off me to shoot you and those seconds were more than enough for me to get what I wanted: to take him out,” he explained. “I had calculated my options, and that was the best outcome I was able to come up with.”
“How could you be so sure?” she asked skeptically.
“My brain is partly a computer. I’m able to make analyses and calculate my chances with extreme accuracy,” Khajal continued explaining. “I would never do anything that might endanger you in any way.”
His words erased all the mistaken conclusions she had reached that fatidic moment, and though it appeased most of her pain, it certainly didn’t make it disappear completely. He still considered her property, a slave for him to use and play with.
And now he was taking her to another planet, ruled by people that considered humans as their enemies. Her future didn’t look that bright.
“Will the other cyborgs accept my presence in your new planet?” she asked, bracing herself.
“Yes, there are a few other humans already on the planet.” He omitted their condition, knowing she wouldn’t be very happy with it.
She let out a long sigh, trying to order her thoughts.
“You seemed troubled,” he said, in a cautious tone.
“I didn’t think you would want to take me with you,” she admitted.
“Why wouldn’t I?” he asked, surprised.
“Why do you?” she retorted. “It’s not like I’m the love of your life, your soulmate. Why would you want to take a slave with you into your new life?”
Khajal looked at her with the strangest expression on his face, as if her words had shocked him.
Khajal stared back at Savannah, flustered. Somehow, her words triggered something inside him, but he wasn’t able to identify it. All he knew was that he wanted her in his life at all cost. She had become part of him, and he wasn’t willing to let go of her and lose all he had experienced with her.
He didn’t know much of love. He had been conceived in a test tube, developed in a hard glass incubator and raised on a military facility with instructors, so he hadn't received any love in his life. Not until he had time to socialize with the other cyborgs and create links, if not of love, at least of friendship, so he really had no idea how love felt.
It was probably what he felt for Savannah, but he still didn’t feel ready to analyze that in particular.
“I know this must be a lot for you to process, but I assure you, we’ll be fine,” he told her. She nodded but didn’t look very convinced.
He looked out the small window before he turned to look at her again. “We’re out of Earth’s atmosphere. Why don’t you take a long shower and get some rest? I’ll use Jarcor’s bathroom meanwhile. You’ll find clean clothes in the closet,” he suggested.
“Why don’t you shower with me?” she asked him, furrowing her eyebrows.
“Because you look exhausted and if I step into the shower with you, you won’t rest,” he said with a self-deprecating scowl.
She chuckled and nodded.
He kissed the top of her head and left the room leaving her alone.
Savannah stared at the closed door, trying to understand the complex personality of the man that had been able to steal her heart.
It felt like paradise to take a warm shower and rub her whole body with scented soap and use shampoo on her hair. When she finally came out of the shower, she was feeling human again.
Like he said, she found some sort of tunics on the closet, so she put one on and crawled into the bed, suddenly feeling too exhausted for anything else.
Khajal found her sound asleep over the bed and with an amused smile, he covered her with a blanket before he went to meet Jarcor and the others.
“Have you had news from Rafaroy?” he asked his friend, throwing his body onto a chair in front of the other man.
“No, not yet. We believe he was able to escape along with Bretdon, but we haven’t got this assumption confirmed by anyone,” Jarcor explained.
“The biggest problem for the ones that escape is finding a way to communicate with you guys. I managed to do it, due to the encounter I had with one of the Taucets. Otherwise, we would still be there waiting for you.” Khajal explained.
“Yes, we have been thinking about scattering a few transmitters around the planet to help the fugitives, but we’re still looking for a way to inform those imprisoned about the device’s location,” Jarcor explained.
“Yes, I understand, but this has to be a priority if we really want to help as many of them as we can,” Khajal said, in a stern tone. “Before I left the colony, I gave Rafaroy the coordinates to the ghost town, and I left the Taucets’ transmitter hidden in a place he might find if he looks hard enough. If he manages to get there, he should be able to find it and communicate with us,” he added.
“That would be perfect.”
“Let’s hope he’s able to get there.” He let out a sigh and rubbed his eyes. Though they were built to endure a lot, all of the past day's stress was starting to affect him.
Jarcor’s comment made him stiffen and look at his friend with suspicion.
“What’s the matter with her?” he asked, in a cold tone.
“You seem to be very protective of her,” his friend pointed out.
“Well, you would be too, if you had found a woman like her,” he replied, shrugging.
“What’s so special about her?” Jarcor asked, skeptical.
“I’m not sure, but she makes me feel like no other woman before, cyborg or not,” he confessed. “But, you know the weirdest part?”
“What?” Jarcor asked with an amused scowl.
“My nanocybots have adopted her.”
Jarcor straightened in his chair and looked at him, astounded. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Exactly what you’ve heard. Instead of dying once in Savannah’s body, the nanocybots have adopted her. Have you noticed the code bar the Taucets’ slaves have on their necks?”
“Yes, of course, but what the hell do they have to do with the nanocybots?”
“The nanocybots were able to determine they were a threat to her and they started working on the code until they were able to deactivate it,” he explained.
“That can’t be possible,” Jarcor said, shaking his head.
“And yet it is,” Khajal assured him. “She first started saying my saliva, and my sperm gave her a tickling feeling, and that the feeling seemed to grow stronger with every time we had sex,” he added. “When I licked the code bar, the nanocybots immediately attacked it, causing her a burning sensation while they worked on deactivating the damn thing.”
“This is the first time I hear about this. You’ll have to allow us to scan her and see why she reacts this way to your nanocybots,” he said, leaning forward as if to emphasize the importance of these findings.
“We’ll discuss that in due time,” Khajal said in a cautious tone. “It’s probably just a onetime thing, nothing to be excited about. At least, not to anyone else but me.”
“Even so.” Jarcor insisted. “We need to find a way to reproduce ourselves. Otherwise, all we’re building on the new planet will be wasted.”
