C looked at Kane. Not sure he understood or believed the intel he was being offered. A Cyborg being anything other than honest was inconceivable. “I am not faulty?” he asked confused.
Kane shook his head. “No. Just aware that a possible mate is here. There are many Cyborgs experiencing the same thing every day. We are not sure why this world offers us so many, the calculations on that probability, do not match the evidence. However, it exists and is probably a combination of so few males surviving from seeding this world and the other women that come here from other worlds. It creates a vast gene pool for us and offers a peace and tranquillity for the females not found easily. Did you do anything other than scent her?”
“No.”
“Good. Stay away from the female. You don’t need any more shit to deal with.”
C ‘s frown deepened. “I do not want a female.”
Kane shrugged and laughed. “You are not alone in that thinking. I too thought that for generations, then met my Laura in the labs which triggered my emotions. I did not understand it, until I met my Laura here again many years later. The Admiral had not thought it possible before he met Kim. There are plenty of Cyborgs out there that never expected to have a future, that now do. Councillors Dark, Pain, Angr, Vict, to name but a few. It is a part of who we are now.”
“Kim is a good human. She helped me after being found and crated. Fixed,” he tapped his head, “a lot of damage. Helped me function again.”
Kane nodded at him. C realised Kane knew all that information from his logs. “You need to train. Work with your team. Focus on getting stronger. Optimum performance levels are essential. You were a hand to hand specialist, first in last out. Work with that with your team. I need good point teams. There are a lot of unexplored lands out there that our scanners need boots on the surface to check out. Security here is a priority. We are constantly on the lookout for infiltrators. Nothing can be allowed to harm this community again. Your mission will be to ensure its safety and track down any intruders. If you do not engage the female if she rejects you, your interest will wane and you can move on.”
C gave a nod and stood. The female was making him illogical and that was not Cyborg. “I have my orders,” C told him. Kane stared at him for a moment then gave a nod back. C left the office and headed for his room. He started tomorrow. There was no room for anything other than being Cyborg.
***
Two months later….
“Athena, where do you want this lot?” Elenor looked over to her in the nursery, carrying several seedling trays.
“The 4th wheel, position 4.” Elenor nodded and walked out to the cart putting them with the others. It was loaded to the top. New seedlings to go out into the fields for the next crop.
There were a dozen people waiting on her. “Ok guys you heard the lady. 4th Wheel position 4. We start in the top corner, as we move down, spread out until we are completing ten in a row each. Then move down a foot and doing it all over again until we reach the end. Simple stuff make a hole with this,” Elenor held up her seeding hand shovel and gave an action, “in the plowed ridge, put the plant in, cover the roots and push down in the soil and move on. Any questions?” No one answered. “Good, let’s go, it’s going to be a long day.”
***
C looked at his troop. They were ready. Training non-stop to get in peak performance and he was now functioning within optimum parameters. No more incidences of perceived failures within his diagnostics. Nothing overriding his logic or set parameters. He’d come along way in the past year. From waking at 13% capacity in that crate in danger of shutting down permanently. This he knew. Train, mission, execute. This was what he was created for. They were machines.
“They look ready.” Kane had come up beside him. He’d heard him coming for a while, his unique step sequence indicating who he was. Undetectable to human hearing but to a Cyborg, everyone walked with an identifying marker. Enough that you could ID them, track them, kill them if needed. The female came to mind with her distinctive stride and he pushed the thought away.
“They are. We move out tomorrow.”
“Good. I need this sector swept. My ship tells me they tracked a vessel and there was a blip on the scanner some fifty clicks from the furthest farming sector. I’ve been informed there are no colonists out that far but that could be wrong. People wander here. I’ve alerted the Cyborgs at the farming community to be on guard. You will head for this point,” he showed him on his datapad. “Search and detain. Deadly force if life is threatened. If they are not colonists, they shouldn’t be there. Check with me on contact, bring them in for interrogation. Force for force nothing more.”
C gave a nod. They were ready.
***
Elenor sat on the porch nursing her coffee. She’d been unable to sleep again and given up trying to watch the sunrise. She loved this time of day. The freshness of the air, cooler and cleaner than the rest of day would ever be. Almost magical, as the darkness gave way to the new dawn. It was always spectacular, and she couldn’t think of ever being away from all this permanently. As the light filtered down from the rising sun, shadows became clearer and the world awakened once more.
Standing four feet from her were two Cyborgs. She’d not seen or heard them arrive or was it that they had always been there and she’d just not seen them? Either way, it no longer surprised her what lurked in the darkness. She smiled, Cyborgs did.
She gave them a nod. They responded continually scanning the surrounding area. Then noticed several more off around the farm doing the same. They were guarding. She hadn’t seen them do that or heard of it before now. Something had changed during the night. She turned back to the two near her. “Problem?”
They stepped forward. “We are to guard you until reinforcements arrive.”
Elenor frowned and stood. Enjoying the sunrise was over. “Why?”
“Unknown possible infiltration of the planet. Search and destroy team are on their way. People should stay inside until it is safe.”
Elenor raised both eyebrows. Had he just told her off for being outside?
She quirked her lip. “How close is the threat?”
“Uncertain, maybe 50 clicks.”
“They on foot?”
“Uncertain but most likely. We have not heard their ship.”
Elenor sighed and breathed easier nodding. 50 Clicks was a long way off. Off-worlders could do that in maybe 30 minutes in low orbit speeds. She heard the off-worlder arriving before she saw it. Instinctively she turned towards it shading her eyes. “Yours or someone else’s?”
“Ours. Troop arrival. We should go back.”
She watched it for a while longer seeing it land some way off. They were taking this seriously. That meant the threat was real. Elenor swallowed. It never really ended did it? She turned and headed back to the main house.
“Do George and Athena know?”
“Yes, they have just been told.”
Elenor nodded increasing her pace. “We need everyone up and in the main house to discuss what’s going on. Some people may wish to leave and that is their decision to make.”
***
The off-worlder landed and the ramp started to lower. “Cyborgs ready for deployment, team leaders to me on the ground,” he called out vocalizing all his commands. Like him, many of his men didn’t have neuro net communications for one reason or another. They’d been named ‘Trojan Horse’, what you saw, wasn’t what you got. Many still had damage to their faces and bodies. Others carried metal implants or limbs they chose not to have re-grown skin over. They looked defective but were far from it. His men stood and checked weapons. The ramp hit the dirt. “Trojan’s are you ready?” he called out.
A cry of ‘hoorah’ came back.
“Forward,” he ordered. And led his team off the ship.
Two Cyborgs were waiting on him as the ramp hit the floor. His team leaders spreading the men out in perfect formation around the craft. “Report.” He asked both models waiting on
him. He knew to expect them, and they would have been forewarned he had no neuro-net.
“I am the team leader here. Torc. All the humans are in the main house. We informed of a possible threat. Some are choosing to leave, others to stay and work the crops. We are to escort those that wish to go back. Food and rations will be provided by the house. Twenty Cyborgs will be on duty here at all times. One female has two Cyborg guards as directed by Counsellor Kane, she is important to him.” The wind changed, and scents hit his sensors. The female …… he bit back the impulse to leave immediately and go find her.
“She should leave if she is an important target,” C told him automatically.
“Agreed but she is refusing to go.”
C pulled up his datapad, calling in his team leaders to join him. He pulled up the map of the area. “We are here. Our target area is due North. From here, we widen out our searching perimeter. I want those with working neuro net on the fringes of our search pattern sending back any intel they pick up that needs closer inspection to the datapads. Those without neuro net, must remain within eye contact and be able to signal to the column physically or use data input if they have to move further out. Signal stop and search. If anyone finds anything of interest or value. Clear?”
A series of ‘clear’ rang out.
He turned to the Cyborg Torc, he couldn’t wait any longer. “Take me to see the female.”
Elenor was determined to stay. Athena and George would still need the help and she’d decided she couldn’t just leave them. A knock on her door interrupted her thoughts as she finished dressing. Elenor walked over and opened it.
The Cyborg from the ramp stood there. He looked….. different. Polished and in a new uniform. She stared at him not sure what he was doing here and noticed his rank. Commander.
“Are you with the troops?” she asked.
C breathed in. The room full of the scent of the female flooded out to him from the open doorway and saturated him. “Leave us,” he barked at the Cyborg Torc.
Elenor frowned and backed up instinctively. He’d sounded aggressive. The Cyborg turned sharply back to her. “I will not harm you.” Elenor shook herself. She knew that.
“I know.”
“Then why did you back up?” Elenor raised both eyebrows. Had she? She hadn’t meant to and shrugged. “I wish to come in and speak with you.”
C controlled his systems. He had vocalized more harshly than he’d intended with the Cyborg, he did not want him near the female. It was an irrational thought but persisted. The realization that he had scared the female pulled the irritation back.
Elenor moved back into the room. She was no coward and knew he would never intentionally hurt her. She let the door go and he moved in past her pushing the door closed in behind him.
“You should leave.” He told her looking around. “It is not safe here.”
“I am as safe here as anyone else.” She told him calmly.
He turned to look at her. His gazed penetrating. “Why do you say that when you do not have all the facts?” Elenor didn’t know what to say to that. He was right. “You call to me. Why?”
Elenor swallowed. “I don’t,” she squeaked frowning at him. He moved slowly towards her. Lifting his hand towards her face. Elenor didn’t move and held her breath. He was so much taller than she was. The barest touch of his fingers slipped over her cheek. She watched as he brought the hand to his nose and breathed in, then slipped the fingers into his mouth and sucked on them. His gaze never leaving her face. Elenor’s shocked expression followed his actions. The visual was …… tantalizing and she breathed in, her chest aching for something. Her body heating.
His eyes widened on scenting her. Pulling his fingers from his mouth. “Not enough,” he told her roughly mirroring his thoughts.
Elenor’s skin broke out in goose bumps. His hand slipping around her neck pulling her forward to him. Before she knew it, one large Cybrog was up against her, running his nose and lips down her neck. Tasting her. She knew she should have told him to stop. To back off. Denied him. But she couldn’t find the words. His hands moved under the collar of her top and moved it off her shoulder. His mouth followed it. Elenor wanted to lean into him but clenched her hands, her nails digging into her skin to stop herself from grabbing him. Her body pulsing in all the right places and scaring her with its intensity.
C scented blood in the air. The female’s blood. Reason permeated the fog in his brain and he let her go and stood back. Scenting the blood came from her hands, he gently took them turning them over and looked at the damage her nails had done. He didn’t understand. She had injured herself deliberately. C looked up at her. “Why do you harm yourself?”
Elenor felt like crying. She was embarrassing herself and him. She didn’t have an answer as to why she did that. Or why she hadn't stopped it before it went too far. Had he not scented her blood, she would have let him carry on and worse, she would have continued to enjoy it!
“I don’t know,” she whispered trying to hold the tears back.
C could see and smell the tears in the female’s eyes. She was troubled. Possibly faulty in her own way. He understood this. He could see the tears threatening to spill. He lifted her head and kissed them away. Then lifted her hands and mouthed her wounds, transferring his nano’s to her skin to mend the damage.
C pulled back to study her hands. Satisfied she was healing he looked into her face. “On my life, no one will harm you female I promise.” Elenor’s heart pounded.
He let her go before he did anything else he couldn’t rationalise and walked to the door, opened it and walked through.
Elenor couldn’t take her eyes off him. Every inch the warrior he was. He’d been so gentle and kind she wanted to call him back. Wanted to beg. Wanted to feel his hardness against her once more. Wanted far more than that and that was dangerous. Elenor’s clit pulsed as she stood there watching him go, through the haze of her tears and rising need. “Who will protect my heart from you?” she whispered quietly so only her ears would hear it.
C walked back to his team leaders waiting on him. The taste and smell of the female deep within him. Binding to his DNA. He hadn’t meant to do it but couldn’t stop himself from seeing her the moment he’d scented her presence. The fact that she’d injured herself bothered him. Had she been so upset by his presence? If so, why had she not objected or denied him? C did not understand. There appeared no logic to it. Had he read her signals wrong? The Cyborg Torc he’d dismissed so roughly was waiting with them.
He nodded to him. “We will be back in 72 hours to re-stock provisions. We cannot risk using the off-worlder it will alert possible threats that we are hunting them. Ensure you are ready on our return. Have the female leave.” C gave the signal to move out and watched his men move into position. The formation registering on his data chip making comparisons and projections as it did. It lined up with the mission objective and automatically gave him the last time he imputed such data to his storage banks. It had been a very long time. He gave a nod to the Cyborg security and moved out jogging after his men. He would soon catch up to them and spearhead the mission. It was his job to lead no matter where that took him.
***
The meeting in the workers dining room had been short and sweet. Torc had relayed the information to all of them. He’d told them he'd met with the commander of the forces sent in by Kane. They were now on deployment doing a ‘recon’ of the area and would be back in 72 hours to re-stock. In the meantime, those that had chosen to go back to the community, would be escorted by Cyborgs back to the community. George and Athena were adamant they were staying, so were the main workers along with the Cyborgs.
Elenor told them she was staying too. She’d taken no argument on it. George and Athena had both tried to get her to go, so had the Cyborgs but she wasn’t having it. It hadn’t passed her notice that she seemed to have gained two Cyborg shadows who didn’t tell her much, other than they were security.
She guessed her mother had
blown a gasket on hearing of the possible threat and threatened Kane with hellfire, unless he sent some guards. Elenor didn’t like it much but as they’d lost workers, they could do with the extra hands and she set them to work, much to their confusion.
They kept telling her they were there for her protection and she would nod and hand them whatever she needed carrying. Seedlings, tools, machinery and they would carry it without complaint, reinforcing what the word security meant.
Elenor tried not to smile. It was endearing how they thought she genuinely did not know the difference. They came up with different interpretations for two days running at each encounter. On the third day they were running out. As she handed them bales and feed to put on the wagon, they tried again. Searching for words they’d not used before. As the last bale and feed bag went onboard she turned to them. “Look guys, I know what security means. I know you’re here for my protection.”
They both stared at her, then each other and back to her. “Then why do you insist that we carry things and do other work. It prevents us from doing our job?” Torc asked.
Elenor smiled. “Working to keep this going is far more important than standing around just in case a bad man turns up.”
They looked at each other and glazed over. She knew they were communicating. They both turned back to her. “In not being vigilant you could be damaged.” The Cyborg Cade told her gently.
C- Sizzling Page 5
