by Bianca D’Arc
She felt him come with her a moment later, drawing out her climax, wringing every last drop of sensation from the magic they made together. She leaned forward, draping herself over his hard body like a living blanket, too spent to move, his cock still within her, though it was somewhat smaller now that he’d come a second time.
“Thank you for that, Rox,” he said softly, brushing her hair away from her face and kissing her lightly. “You’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever known…in either lifetime.”
Too tired to answer, she held his words to her heart. That was just about the nicest compliment a lover had ever paid her. She would remember this moment…this man…always. She knew now, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that he’d made a place for himself in her heart.
He might never be able to return the emotion, but that was okay. She was with him now, and she would enjoy whatever came their way for as long as this lasted. It was the best she could do, considering the totally uncertain situation they were in. It would have to do. For now, at least.
*
The next day, hours before they would exit jump space, the women of the ship called a meeting, demanding that the cyborgs come down to the galley so they could all talk about their situation. A woman named Cornelia, who had been part of admin on the station but had refused to leave so many people behind when everyone else left, was seen as a hero by the other women. They had turned to her for help organizing, and she’d fallen into the role naturally. She addressed the group first, stating what they had done so far.
“We women have organized ourselves into work groups. Some are technical, working around the ship in different capacities. Some are homemakers set on doing the food prep and cleaning activities not accomplished by bots. Some are mothers with children. They set up a daycare. We have a nurse who is manning the med bay and others who are using their skills to help keep this ship running smoothly.”
Medeus stepped forward, as captain of the ship. “And we thank you humbly for helping keep us afloat,” he said gravely, looking around the room at the assembled civilians. “We, like you, have differing areas of expertise. I was chosen to captain the ship because I was once a fleet commander, before…”
“Before you were so badly damaged in battle that the military powers thought it best to turn you into a cyborg,” Roxy said quietly, finishing Medeus’s sentence when he’d left it hanging too long. She stepped forward, and Chiron was right behind her. “I know you guys are remembering. I know you’re not the unfeeling machines everyone says you are.”
“We were,” Medeus corrected her gently, “but recently, things changed.”
“You awakened,” Roxy agreed, nodding. “Chiron told me.”
“You were the spokesman for the cyborgs on the station,” Cordelia said, seeming to think aloud as she recognized Chiron.
“I was the first to awaken,” Chiron replied. “I’ve been helping the others where I could.”
“So, all of the cyborgs on this ship remember who they were?” Cordelia asked point blank.
“We do.” The cyborgs answered as one, in an eerie sort of unison from all around the room that made the women start nervously.
“Would you tell us if some of you were convicts sentenced to cyborganization?” Cordelia demanded.
Chiron stepped into the cleared space. “I know each one of these men, and I know all their stories. None of us were criminals. A few were civilians, but the majority of us were soldiers who would have died in battle if not for the cyborg program and the ongoing need for our skills. You need not fear any of us. We are here to protect, not harm.”
“If I remember correctly, in Greek mythology, Chiron was the teacher of many of the ancient heroes. Is that your role here?” Cordelia asked, her face showing open curiosity.
“Chiron was the first of us to awaken,” Medeus put in, answering the question for his fellow cyborg. “He acted as mentor to all of us on the station. So, yes. The name fits. Though I don’t know if we’ll all turn out to be heroes.”
The cyborgs chuckled. A much more human sound. It set the women a bit more at ease, Roxy was pleased to see.
“As long as you’re not villains,” Cordelia said, once the laughter had subsided.
“You have my word on that,” Medeus replied. “And if one of us does step out of line, the rest of us will deal with it. You may have noticed that we have near-instantaneous communication among ourselves. When one of our number goes silent too long, we tend to check on each other.”
“How long is too long?” Cordelia asked shrewdly. “A day? A week?”
“More like thirty seconds or so,” Chiron said with a grin. “We run systems checks in the background at all times. We are men, but we can’t ignore the fact that we have been modified with computing power far beyond that of simple neural implants.”
“We’re at least half—in some cases a lot more—machine.” Medeus gestured toward his own heavily enhanced body. “Even if we do have the memories, thoughts and feelings of our former existences.”
“So, you’d know almost right away if one of your brother cyborgs was doing something they shouldn’t?” Cordelia pressed the question.
Every cyborg in the room nodded, again in that creepy unison. It only brought home the point Medeus had been making. They were machines. They had the sophistication and circuitry of the most advanced computers humanity had ever designed. But they were also men. It would take some getting used to.
“Okay. That’s good to know,” Cordelia went on. “Now, we called this meeting because we need to put some sort of system in place so that the passengers know what’s going on. I understand you guys have that running comm line open at all times, but the rest of us have to rely on more standard methods of finding things out, such as where we’re going and what the plan is once we get there.”
What followed was a relatively short session where organization tables were made and the cyborgs agreed to points of contact that would keep the civilian crew informed. The civilians agreed among themselves to work out further processes for information dissemination after the meeting with the cyborgs was done, because there were other matters they needed to discuss as a group. Such as…
“Here’s something that will affect us all sooner rather than later,” Cordelia brought up the next topic on her agenda. “Water.” She paused to be sure she had everyone’s attention. “We don’t have enough of it on board for prolonged travel.” She gave the facts and figures so everyone could understand exactly what she meant by not enough.
Silence greeted the revelation. Water was precious on a ship. They would have to find a way to replenish the supply or they’d have to find a place to land. And with a ship as old as the Toby, there was no guarantee that once landed, they’d be able to take off, again.
“As most of you know by now, we are going to come out of light speed in a few hours. We deliberately set course around the spiral arm of the galaxy, yet aiming slightly inward, to avoid pursuit by the aliens. We calculated that the most direct paths toward Earth would be the most likely routes for the jits to take if they were intent on conquering humanity. Also, if they wanted to follow us from the station and wipe us out before we could pass on news of their invasion, they would probably assume we took the shortest route to other large human settlements or Earth,” Medeus revealed. “We also wanted to stay clear of any of the outlying jump points in case this was an all-out invasion. We took multiple factors into account—pursuit from Eagle Nest, other invasion points, navigation hazards reported on the star charts and those reported by members of our company, and avoidance of the other ships that left the station before us. We chose a path that we believed would be deliberately obscure, that will take us into regions of space that are not well mapped.”
“So, what you’re saying is that we have no way of knowing if there’s a place we can pick up clean water where we’re heading,” Cordelia summarized, “but we won’t be likely to run into anyone else either.”
Medeus nodded grimly. “T
hat doesn’t mean there’s not a place to resupply our water reserve,” he pointed out.
At this point, Billie stepped forward. “You guys know I’m a navigation student, and I’ve been helping out on the bridge,” she prefaced her words with the reminder. “I agree with the path they chose. I plotted the course myself. And I got far enough along in my studies to know that sources of water exist in most systems. We just have to look around when we come out of jump space and do the appropriate testing before we start resupply. Until then, I suggest conservation.” There was a bit of grumbling, but heads were also nodding in agreement. “What we need to find is a comet or planet with suitable liquid or frozen water that we can purify using the ship’s systems.”
“I’ll check over the water purification systems,” Roxy volunteered. “This ship is old, and the in-system drive was wrecked by a novice pilot, but everything else seems to be functioning well enough. I didn’t notice anything abnormal when I did the full system check earlier, but I’ll give the water system a special going over, just to be sure. I can have a range of tolerances for you before we come out of jump space.” She addressed the captain because it was time the women realized the cyborgs were their partners, not a separate species.
Medeus nodded his thanks. The meeting broke up not too long after that, each group feeling a bit better about where they stood. While the cyborgs went back to work, the women remained behind and decided among themselves how they would get the word out to each group among them. Group leaders and chains of command were established, and those with jobs that took them among the cyborgs regularly—like Billie in navigation—were tapped as primaries. They would send any information everyone else needed to know down the line with a code depending on urgency.
Once that was all settled, the women ended their meeting and went back to the self-appointed duties. Everyone had a place, now. Those who hadn’t picked what they wanted to do to contribute aboard ship were given assignments, and Roxy got a couple of assistants who would rotate into the engine room to help her watch monitors.
One, named Bailey, was a former mechanic on an agricultural colony, used to dealing with heavy machinery. The other, Suzanne, was a computer tech who knew more about the wiring of small devices. Both would be in training with Roxy so they could watch the boards when Roxy wanted to sleep. If they showed any aptitude, Roxy would teach them all they wanted to know about ship engines and maintaining them, but that would take time.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Roxy was working with her new helper-students when the signal came through to secure for the drop out of jump space. Chiron was off somewhere with his cyborg pals, so it was just the three women in the engineering section when they came out into normal space and the in-system drives kicked over. Roxy called up to the bridge to find out what was going on. Without Chiron there to relay the cyborg communications, she wasn’t quite as in-the-know as she would’ve liked.
When Billie had a chance, she was able to tell Roxy that they’d come out of light speed exactly where she’d calculated and the scans of the area were coming back clear so far. No other ships. No other signs of life. Right now, it seemed like an empty system. If life existed on any of the planets in this area, it wasn’t at a technological level to have satellites or even detectable communications.
Billie signed off, busy mapping the system, but Chiron reopened the comm channel a few minutes later. He was on the bridge, manning one of the consoles, but he kept the comm line open so Roxy could listen in on what was happening. She supposed he could also keep tabs on her, as well, but the thought comforted rather than annoyed. She had it bad for the big cyborg.
Roxy listened in as Billie talked about a planet with lots of liquid water not far from their position. Medeus ordered them to set course for the planet and to prepare a scout drone that could be sent out once they were closer, to test the waters remotely before they made a closer approach.
Roxy’s attention was caught by a slight flare on the number two engine, and she was kept busy for a while, showing her trainees the ropes. They were actually more helpful than she had expected and that gave her hope that this training process wasn’t going to be as drawn out as she’d feared. The women were basically intelligent with a good understanding of their own fields, but they were showing a willingness to learn new things and an aptitude for mechanics never hurt.
They were just taking a break from the newly repaired drive when Roxy picked up on the voices over the comm. Deep discussions were happening on the bridge, and it sounded like the scout drone was starting to report back.
“Plenty of liquid water. Oceans of it,” Billie said in an excited voice. “Chemical composition coming through, now.”
The hush in engineering was replicated on the bridge as they all waited to hear whether or not their ship could handle the impurities that might be lurking in this planet’s oceans. The Toby had robust systems, as most of the older ships did. They’d been designed to deal with a lot of different conditions, but even a system as tried and true as the one they had couldn’t deal with every scenario.
“Poison,” came Billie’s disgusted tone over the open comm line. “You can check with engineering, but I don’t think our ship can do anything with this. I think this planet is a bust as far as water goes.”
Chiron shunted the chemical readings to Roxy’s comm station, and she quickly ran them through the water purification system’s input ranges. Red light after red light. Billie was right. There was way too much in this water besides good old H two O.
“Sorry, bridge,” Roxy reported. “Navigation’s assessment is correct. This sample is a no go for our system. We need something a bit less squirrely.”
“There was a comet not too far out.” Roxy heard Billie mumbling in the background, as if thinking to herself. “Captain…” Billie’s voice was stronger now as she addressed Medeus. “Can we redirect the scout drone to the comet I plotted? It was very reflective. Could be ice.”
On the comm screen, Roxy saw Medeus signal to one of his men. Without words, the cyborg began working at his station to retrieve the scout drone and send it on its new mission.
The ship hummed along on in-system drives, and the routine the crew had fallen into prevailed, though a sense of urgency filled them, and they were all rationing water. Roxy had taken to spending all her day shift hours in engineering. Her two trainees were sharing the night shift, but Roxy was basically always on call. Still, she was able to take a few hours to herself each night and get some real sleep in a private room.
Chiron had helped her set up her new quarters, and she’d convinced him to share them with her. They were cabin-mates as well as bed-mates, and she’d never enjoyed a voyage more.
Two days later, the comet proved to be mostly frozen water with fewer impurities. It was usable but would require a little more delicacy to harvest. Roxy’s experience on the mining colony would come in handy, as would the cyborgs’ EVA expertise. Ideally, they could do the entire job from inside the ship, but this was an old ship, and everyone was aware that it hadn’t had to do this kind of maneuver in decades, according to the ships’ records.
Plans were made, and the Toby matched course with the comet, coming up on it slowly and mapping the surface in minute detail. Roxy and her two trainees were busy watching the boards while others tried to capture a chunk of the massive comet’s tail to haul into to the ship. Everything was going well…until it wasn’t.
“The grapples are on, but the mechanism is jammed. We can’t get it to retract into the ship with the ice chunk, and we can’t close the bay doors until we retract it,” Cornelia summed up the problem over the comm. She had called Roxy at the first sign of trouble.
“I’m checking the readings, now, but it might require an up-close-and-personal. Hold position and give me a few minutes,” Roxy told the other woman. She checked and rechecked the system, a feeling of dread hitting her as she shook her head. She turned to look up at Chiron. “I need to suit up,” she told him.
&
nbsp; She’d have to put on full EVA gear in order to enter the open cargo bay. She wasn’t crazy about the idea, not when they were flying so close to a comet and the bay doors were stuck open until she could fix whatever was wrong with the grapple. She stood from her seat at the engineering station she’d claimed and was about to head for the locker where the EVA suits were kept. Was there even one small enough for her on this tub? Now was when she really missed the suit Jeffers had stolen from her by abandoning her on the mining outpost. It had been custom fit, and she knew its controls like the back of her hand.
Chiron blocked her path. She looked up to find him looking at her with an expression of sympathy on his face.
“I can go,” he told her. “You can direct me from here.”
Roxy shook her head. “If I knew what was wrong, I could maybe do that, but I have to see the mechanism myself in order to diagnose the problem. Don’t worry. I’m trained in suit use, and I’ve done it often enough before.” Though never without her own custom-fit suit, but she wouldn’t tell him that part.
“Then, I’m going with you. I can help,” he insisted.
Roxy looked up at him for a moment, touched by his offer. “You don’t have to,” she told him, even though she knew she’d feel better having him with her.
He firmed his jaw. “Yes, I do,” he answered right back. “You’re mine to protect, Roxy. Get used to it.”
As declarations went, it wasn’t the most romantic, but it hit her right in the mid-section, making her tummy wobble. He cared. He might not be the most eloquent of men, but he had it where it counted. He’d go into danger with her and stand by her side. He’d help where a lot of people would have just watched from the relative safety of the aired-up hallway—behind the blast shield.
But Chiron was going into danger with her. He actually wanted to protect her. She found that incredibly sweet.
