by Cynthia Sax
Jumping Barrel
Cynthia Sax
He requires an Expert. She needs a hero.
* * *
Barrel requires an Expert for the Tau Cetian orphans. He’s looking for a female who is willing to commit to a lifespan-long role, who is comfortable with moving off planet, and who, preferably, has the ability to speak the offsprings’ first language.
Nola wants the role Barrel is offering so badly she bends a few truths. Yes, she was born off planet but she has lived almost all of her lifespan in sheltered Academies. Yes, she has learned Tau Cetian but she has never spoken with a local. Yes, she plans to follow the rules but his deep, sexy voice tempts her to rebel.
When a fact-morphing human academic meets her battle-worn cyborg warrior, deceptions are revealed, passions flare, and circuits sizzle. Wrong seems right. Lies turn into truth. The candidate least qualified for the role becomes the one candidate Barrel can’t let go.
Jumping Barrel
Copyright 2016 Cynthia Sax
Ebook design by Mark's Ebook Formatting
Discover more books by Cynthia Sax at her website
www.CynthiaSax.com
All Rights Are Reserved.
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this story are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
First edition: December 2016
For more information contact Cynthia Sax at
www.CynthiaSax.com
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
About The Author
Chapter One
“Stand straight, warriors.” Barrel gazed at the upturned faces with pride. It had taken him and his males sixteen planet rotations of intense training but all of the offspring now lined up properly.
All of the offspring except one.
Ka-Na sat on the grass, picking ancient-Earth daisies, the sun shining on her brown curly hair. The little Tau Cetian female cooed happily, smiling, in a world of her own, her brown-and-green striped feet bare.
Barrel didn’t have the emotional strength to reprimand her.
Perfection was required of cyborgs. Some of his brethren had been decommissioned for minor malfunctions, killed because they were defective.
He had come to accept that perfection wasn’t always possible with not-yet-matured humanoids, especially with special humanoids like Ka-Na.
She was different from the others, her eyes pale pink instead of the brown normal for her kind. A vertical crease was located in the center of her forehead. She’d been manufactured that way. No medic or transfer of nanocybotics could repair her damage.
He’d tried.
“We have guest trainers this planet rotation,” he announced to the offspring.
“Bare. Bare.” Ka-Na giggled and reached out to him. Barrel forced a frown, stifling the urge to pick her up, cuddle her close to him. The female, her spirits not at all dampened, laughed louder, calling to him.
“Uncle Intrepid and some of his males have crafted wooden swords for you.” He continued, his expression as stern as he could manage. “They’ll teach you how to utilize them.”
The offspring chattered excitedly, breaking formation.
Barrel nodded to the cyborg and stepped to the side.
There’s a great probability that this exercise will be disastrous, Zip, his friend, communicated through their private transmission line.
Barrel agreed but Intrepid had proposed the exercise. He’d be responsible for it. We should be relaying non-battle information to the offspring also.
To some of the offspring, perhaps. Your Ka-Na—
Barrel glared at Zip and his friend stopped talking. No one, not even Zip, would verbalize that the little female was defective.
Intrepid distributed the wooden swords. Many of the offspring grabbed their weapons by the blades. That earned them gentle reprimands from the warrior.
It would be more efficient to wait until the offsprings’ brains are fully mature. Zip returned to the topic of relaying information.
It might be, Barrel conceded. He observed as Ka-Na sucked on the tip of her wooden sword, an action that would have resulted in severe damage if the blade had been sharp. But the humans relay information to their offspring at this stage.
He’d been researching their methods.
Training humanoids was a complicated process, as Intrepid was learning at this moment. The offspring ran around the field, mock fighting, hitting their friends with their swords, not listening to any of the warrior’s commands.
Someone would be damaged.
And Barrel knew who would cause that damage. His gaze shifted to the right.
Two strides away from him, Gap watched his female with a frightening ferocity, his arms folded before him, his face dark. He was one of the few newly manufactured cyborgs remaining on Earth Minor.
Cyborgs matured in one solar cycle, not eighteen like the humanoids. The other males had joined their brethren on the Homeland.
Gap would never leave the planet, not without his female, the being genetically meant for him. He guarded her zealously, not allowing any other male to touch her, threatening them with death.
Another female offspring chased her. The gap between them narrowed.
Intrepid.
It was too late for the warning. Wooden sword connected with chubby bare leg. Gap’s female yelped and fell.
The young cyborg rushed forward.
Barrel did the same, moving to block his attack. Their bodies smacked together, the impact jarring him to his frame. He held his stance, pushed Gap backward.
The warrior scowled. “She dared to damage my female.”
“Your female is training. Damage is part of that process.” Barrel spread his arms, barring access to Gap’s perceived foe. “She must learn how to fight so she can protect herself.”
“It’s my mission to protect her.”
That mission belonged to all of them. No cyborg would allow her to be damaged. “Then grant her the freedom to train.”
Gap narrowed his eyes.
Barrel held his gaze.
Gap’s female continued to howl. Neither of them could comfort her. Gap had agreed not to touch his female until she was fully mature. If Barrel touched her, the young cyborg would attack him.
Where’s Vapor’s female? Barrel transmitted to Zip.
She’s in their domicile. The late stage of manufacturing offspring requires multiple rest cycles. Zip gazed at the Tau Cetian offspring, appearing as conflicted as Barrel felt. Green’s female is in the far field, planting potatoes.
The female wailed louder. Gap’s fingers folded into tight fists at his side, his body vibrating with emotion, one wrong word away from losing control.
Barrel looked from the cyborg to the crying Tau Cetian female. We need more fully mature females.
Vapor’s female expressed a need for one also. Zip nodded. She believes cyborg warriors don’t have the ability to convey information about female humanoid biology.
That information is in our databases. If the offspring were cyborgs, all they would have to do was share the knowledge.
He didn’t know the process with humanoids.
I conveyed that we had that information. Zip lifted his palms skyward. Vapor’s female told me that since I was so knowl
edgeable about female humanoid biology, maybe I should be the one carrying Vapor’s offspring. Then she wouldn’t be as big as a domicile and have a head pressing down on her liquid waste disposal system.
Barrel was unable to follow her logic flow. Cyborg males couldn’t manufacture offspring. Human females are complex beings.
They are.
“Female,” Gap barked.
The female stopped crying and gazed up at her male, her eyes wide.
“You’re training. Damage is part of that process.” The young cyborg used Barrel’s words. “Get up and fight. Shove that sword of yours into that female’s soft stomach.”
The female obeyed him without a word, pushing herself to her feet and toddling toward her friend.
“My female will be the fiercest humanoid warrior,” Gap declared, stalking after her.
Barrel suspected he’d made the situation worse.
We need an Expert, he communicated to Zip. A being trained in dealing with humanoid offspring might have made a different decision.
We do. Zip agreed with him.
“Bare. Bare.” Ka-Na gripped his legs. She’d left her sword on the grass, having no respect for the mock weapon.
Barrel picked the offspring up and draped her over his right shoulder, his processors whirling with plans. Ka-Na laughed and smacked his body armor with her little palms.
We’ll locate a fully mature female Expert, either a human or a humanoid with similar biology. That was the most logical solution.
Zip tilted his head to the left and then to the right. That might be difficult.
It won’t be. Barrel was confident. Many of the Humanoid Alliance Academies have been destroyed by war. Before he’d escaped, the Humanoid Alliance had marched him and his cyborg brethren through settlements gutted by bombings and battle. Finding an unassigned Expert will be an easy task.
* * *
Twenty-three planet rotations later, Barrel was forced to accept that the task was much more challenging than he had predicted.
Not many females were willing to travel to an unknown planet and report to unknown males, accepting a role that would last the rest of their lifespans, with no option of leaving.
The few who did respond to his query had, thus far, been unsuitable.
One female had cried throughout the entire transmission. Barrel had witnessed enough pain in his long lifespan. He didn’t want the Expert to interpret her new role as a reprimand.
Another female hated all humanoids, ranting about how only pure humans should be given access to knowledge. If she held those disturbing opinions about normal humanoids, she’d view Ka-Na with even more disdain. Barrel would never subject the little female to a being who would emotionally damage her.
A third female had brought her male to the transmission and bred with him while she answered their questions. When Barrel questioned if she would leave her male for the role, she shrugged and didn’t give him a definite answer.
“What are the specs on this female?” Barrel asked Zip.
They were seated on the bridge of their parked ship. The image of an empty chamber in the communications depot dominated their main viewscreen.
They’d rented that chamber for the interrogations. The candidates were situated on the small planet of Vulpeculae 5, a sector under Humanoid Alliance control.
“The female’s name is Nola. She’s human, speaks the universal language and Tau Cetian, along with two other languages, has held three different roles since leaving the Academy. All of those roles were terminated for inappropriate behavior.”
Barrel’s lips twisted. “She must be damaged.” Three terminations implied the female was defective in some way.
“That’s highly probable.” Zip dipped his head. “We’ll interrogate her. If we deem her sufficient for our purposes, I’ll investigate why those roles were terminated. I am a systems deity.” He grinned. “All knowing, all powerful. There’s no system I can’t access.”
“I suspect the reasons for the terminations will be observable.” They’d identified the other applicants’ malfunctions immediately.
There was little risk in speaking with her. Zip, the self-proclaimed systems deity, had ensured the transmission couldn’t be traced back to Earth Minor. They would be able to see Expert Nola but she wouldn’t be able to see them.
That precaution was necessary. No one could know that cyborgs had escaped Humanoid Alliance control, that they had free will, could make their own decisions.
Moments passed. The female didn’t arrive.
“What interval was--”
“The interval has been exceeded.” Zip answered Barrel’s question before he completed it.
Yes, the female was definitely defective. They should end the transmission. Barrel opened his mouth.
The chamber doors slid open and a curvy female with the biggest hair he’d ever seen rushed into the space. The swish of wet fabric accompanied her.
“I realize I’m late.” Her voice coiled around Barrel’s body, hardening his cock and awakening wants and needs he didn’t realize he had. “The transport I normally utilize wasn’t operational due to the excessive rain over the rest period. Then I stepped in a puddle. It reached my knees.” She bent over and plucked at the light blue fabric of her flight suit.
The garment fell forward, revealing dark skin, full curves, an intriguingly deep crevice between her generous breasts, a valley a male could venture into and never return.
Barrel shifted in his seat, his body armor unbearably tight.
“One of my boots became stuck. I required assistance and--” Expert Nola looked up at the viewscreen. “Thank the stars.” She exhaled noisily. “It hasn’t started yet.”
Don’t say anything, Barrel told Zip through their private transmission lines. I’m leading this.
She was his, all his. His arousal communicated that she was the female who, through a fluke of genetics, was compatible with him. She could accommodate his nanocybotics. They could manufacture offspring.
Being an Expert, she could assist him with the family-less offspring. They’d be a team.
Perhaps she would grow to love Ka-Na as he did.
“Someone must be looking out for me.” His Nola’s big brown eyes flicked upward. “Because no Superior would tolerate tardiness in an Expert.” She slid into the seat. “Oh no, they expect us to be perfect.” Her tone was sarcastic. “They want mindless robots who will follow their rules without question and never put the best interests of the attendees first.”
That’s what the humans believed cyborgs were—mindless robots. Barrel gazed at his chattering female, captivated by her words, her beautiful face, her lush body. Her flight suit, dampened by the precipitation, clung to large breasts and even wider hips. Her cheeks were round, her lips red.
And her hair…he’d never seen hair like hers. It was thick and black and appeared decadently soft. Barrel’s fingers twitched. He wanted to sink them into the tendrils.
“Superiors don’t realize their rules can’t be applied to all attendees.” His Nola swiped her fingers over her forehead, removing some of the drops glistening on her skin. “Every being is different. What works for one attendee doesn’t work for another.”
The chamber is empty. Who is she communicating with? Zip asked.
She’s communicating with herself. Barrel leaned forward, enchanted. His Nola held strong opinions about training and wasn’t hesitant about expressing them.
She realized all beings were different, might not view Ka-Na negatively because she was defective.
“And that illogical rule about no physical contact? Ludicrous.” His Nola snorted. “Experts are the only beings who care about some attendees. I know all about that.” That last statement was mumbled.
My Nola has no family?
Your Nola? Zip frowned. She has family but not on Vulpeculae 5.
“But you keep those opinions to yourself.” His female plunked her tattered pack on the horizontal support. “Tell the Superior you
’ll follow the rules. Once you have the role, you’ll be the Commander of your own chamber.”
She’s giving herself advice. His friend sounded amused.
She planned to lie to him. A cyborg’s programming prevented him from relaying untruths but she was human. She had that ability.
“You need this role.” His Nola extracted a private viewscreen from her pack, set it on the horizontal support before her. “And they need you.” She looked down and shrieked. “My hair.” She ran her palms over the curls, flattening them to her skull. “The humidity. I have to--”
“Expert Nola.” He didn’t want her to change her hair.
“Sir.” She straightened, glanced at the larger viewscreen in the chamber, then to the right, to the left, and behind her. “I can’t see you.”
“You can’t see me but I can see you.” He enjoyed looking at her. She was everything a cyborg could desire in a female. “Call me Barrel.”
Soon she would call him her male.
“Superior Barrel?” Her eyebrows rose.
“Only Barrel.” He wasn’t her superior. They would be equals. “I’m the being who will relay our requirements.” And who would cherish her for the rest of his long lifespan.
If we offer her the role, Zip prompted.
That stipulation wasn’t necessary. They would offer her the role.
“I’m usually more...” She paused as though considering her words. “Refined.” His Nola played with her curls. “Neater.”
Barrel didn’t want her more refined. He liked her the way she was. “You process that this role will be off planet. Is that acceptable?”
Did she have a male on Vulpeculae 5? Humans, unlike cyborgs, weren’t monogamous.
“Umm…” Her gaze shifted to the right. “I was born off planet.”
Is that true? Barrel asked Zip.
According to her records, she was born off planet, his friend confirmed.
It might be the truth but she was hiding something. He studied his Nola. “You won’t have any more interactions with the beings you now know.” Was one of those beings a male?
“I know the deal.” She wiggled. “My father represents the Humanoid Alliance in negotiations across the galaxy. My mother accompanies him. They leave every being they know behind them when they depart for a new role.”
