by Olivia Myers
"What is this?" she asked.
"Material, and don’t let it connect to itself. It has microscopic interlocking links to allow a faux mending if torn. It's stretchy and durable with a realistic consistency of external human membrane."
Zoe rolled her eyes despite being interested. He basically said that it was fake skin. She wondered if she would have to prod more for an in-depth answer.
"So, how do you expect me to fix your leg?" she asked.
"You'll have to reconnect several wires, tubes, and metal supports. As you can see, things are bent out of place. I have stiffened and locked my leg to allow myself a continuation of movement, but it isn't functional as anything beyond a prosthetic at this point."
Zoe stared at the wound with a new sense of unease. His boxer shorts were bunched up to allow her access to the opening; it stretched along the inner thigh. The opening was jagged and deep.
"How do you expect me to fix your leg? It doesn't look like I can take all the pieces apart."
"Like a doctor performs surgery," the cyborg replied.
"Well, okay." She paused before adding, "Will."
"Will?” the cyborg asked.
"Short for William. You look like a prestigious douchebag, so a majestic name would suit you."
"I already have a name," he replied blandly.
"Well, let it come forth, my good sir?"
There was a pause. "It escapes my memory."
William seemed to be lost in thought. It was enough to make Zoe feel uncomfortable. If his story was true and his entire planet had been taken over, that would mean that his friends and family were lost.
"Hey, why are you not a zombie? If your planet was assimilated, wouldn't that mean..." Zoe trailed off unable to explain her train of thought.
William's eyes were downcast. "I was knocked to the ground by an explosion. I suddenly remembered my other life. Then I escaped the situation, but not without sustaining damage. I somehow ended up here after several days of traveling and hiding."
As she gazed at the cyborg, Zoe couldn't help but feel a sense of pity. She wondered what she would do if she had gone through the same thing as this creature had. But that didn't mean that she felt safe. She sighed. She wasn't equipped to handle this. "Well, if everything you say is true, then we should trust each other. Stop keeping me hostage and threatening me. If you're really a benevolent person, then I'll help you."
William stared at her. "Do not double cross me."
Zoe smiled and held out her hand. "Put it there, William."
He was still lying on her bed, so the handshake was awkward. Zoe laughed at his disgruntled expression. "Your face is very expressive for a cyborg."
"Automatic response in order to facilitate human mannerisms. Camouflage, because too much focus on interpreting and sending out the correct signals would distract me from more important actions."
Zoe sighed. This whole situation was insane. Sitting in her chair, the girl looked at the ceiling and wondered how she was going to get through all of this.
***
Over the next few days, Zoe was finally able to leave her room. She went back to her daily jog and was able to attend class before anyone got suspicious and questioned her. Her teachers accepted her excuse of having had the flu, and Sarah barely paid attention to her anyway, so it had all worked out fine. Of course, William was still around, needing her help. She found his presence wasn’t all that bad; he was interesting and had a plethora of information. Unfortunately, it was mostly information that one could find out by going online.
Zoe was tasked with helping William with his leg. Most of her free time was taken up. It was a new challenge, unlike any she had faced, and she was taking it in stride. Luckily the administration and professors at her university didn't notice anything unusual; it was typical for students to be working on their own side projects. The school would claim any advancements, as per tradition.
Once she was done with one of her mechanical engineering classes, Zoe went to the supplies building. She requested various materials and rented some tools. As Zoe had expected, her task was more complicated than the cyborg had let on.
The elderly woman in charge of the library stared at Zoe with a dull gaze. It was clear that she was just trying to do her job and wouldn't go any further than that. Her wrinkles seemed more prominent in this unnatural light and Zoe was unable to look away. She had forgotten how ugly people looked after staring at the flawless face of William. The wrinkles that he did have were purposefully placed.
Zoe smiled and thanked the woman before she was stopped by Emery on her way out.
"Where have you been?" he asked.
"I've just been busy with school and a personal project," Zoe told him quickly. She was caught off guard. She hadn't seen Emery in weeks.
"Seriously?" He sighed seemingly frustrated. "Could you be a bit more grounded?"
Zoe could feel her anxiety start to act up. She hadn't expected to run into a conflict. Why did social situations have to be so complicated? "I'm never grounded, and I want to get on with my day."
Emery stared at her for a moment; he seemed like he had way more to say to her, but was debating with himself on whether he should continue.
He ran a hand through his hair, and the gesture reminded her of William. "Get food with me."
"I don’t have time," Zoe said.
Emery's frown deepened. "Make time."
"Emery stop, I'm really busy."
"Then let me help you. I'm sure it's a ridiculously complicated project, knowing you." He softened the accusation with a grin.
"It's a personal project," Zoe grumbled. She was now becoming irritated. He was persistent, and she didn't know why. Emery could just mind his own business—surely he had better things to do than pester her.
"Well, it doesn't have to be personal,” he argued. “You should be more social. Being an Academy student while being such a shut-in is a waste of your time."
Ouch. A shot of pain ached in Zoe's chest. She knew that she wasn't the most popular or most attractive girl on campus, and she’d already noticed her lack of friends. Still, having that shoved into her face was a bit disheartening, especially since Emery was relatively popular with a lot of students at the Academy.
“Noted,” she said shortly. She turned away from him and began walking back to her dorm. Emery could go stuff himself for all she cared—his behavior right now was precisely why she’d never cared to make friends.
"Where are you going?"
Zoe didn't grace him with an answer.
He fell into step beside her.
"Just stop! Stop bothering me! Why are you always bothering me?!" Zoe snapped. Her face was red with embarrassment. She absolutely hated the feeling.
“Zoe, stop.” He grabbed her by her shoulders. "Relax. I'm sorry, I don't mean to rile you up. Please calm down."
She looked at his hands, where they still lightly gripped her shoulders. She was feeling emotional and wanted nothing but to get back to the safety of her dorm room.
"Why are you bothering me?" She tried to hold back her tears.
He hesitated for only a moment before blurting, "I love you."
Everything froze. Zoe stared back at him. His eyes burned with an unfamiliar passion.
“I—what?”
But she didn’t wait for an answer; she did the only thing that made sense in a situation like this.
She ran back to her dorm room.
She ran quickly, hoping that Emery wasn't following her. She passed several people. If they were confused about her urgency, they didn’t say much—they were probably used to Zoe doing strange things. Like talking to herself. Running off in the middle of conversations. Getting up early and jogging in the mornings.
Becoming friends with a cyborg and not seeing that a regular human was the one who showed interest in her heart.
Once she had locked her door, she slid to the floor breathing heavily.
"I'm so childish," Zoe muttered.
William had been lying on her bed, reading one of her textbooks. "What is distressing you?"
"I—this guy, a guy I thought I was kind of friends with, just announced his love for me," Zoe started. "But that is impossible. We barely talk, and when we do, he's such a complete jackass."
William raised an eyebrow before he went back to reading the textbook. He was clearly uninterested.
She sighed in frustration before she picked up her newly acquired tools. Crawling over to William, she looked at his pants pointedly. The cyborg had raised both eyebrows before he took off his pants.
Zoe angrily set to work on his leg.
The smallest wires needed to be completely disconnected before she could weld the solid metal pieces together. Then she would have to reconnect everything. She had to be careful not to completely destroy the material from overworking it.
She was grossly underqualified for this job, but it was invigorating. This was the place she was happiest—working with machinery and robotics. Not with the messy, splotchy feelings of humanity.
Usually William would quietly watch her, giving her bits of information and instructions. Today, however, she was distracted. She kept looking up from his thigh to make eye contact with him. He kept a determined focus on his book, rarely meeting her gaze.
"Just tell me what you have to express," he said after ten minutes of countless glances.
"I don't know how I feel about a guy wanting me. Actually, what if he just wants me for sex?" It was suddenly clear to Zoe. It was the only thing that could explain Emery’s random declaration. Maybe he thought Zoe was clueless enough to fall for it.
William raised an eyebrow. “I sincerely doubt someone would approach coitus in such a manner. But I haven’t lived with humans for long, so I’m far from an expert on human emotion. You know best."
"That's a cop out reply," Zoe sat up until she was eye level with him and proceeded to look disgruntled. She looked at William’s lips, then his eyes. He looked confused.
“You look like you want to kiss me,” he said automatically. “I know the signs. I find myself wondering why. Emotional distress? Curiosity?”
Without warning, he leaned in and put his lips to hers.
Zoe was so shocked that she couldn't do anything other than stare at William's properly closed eyes. His lips were dry, yet soft. Despite knowing who and what William was, she felt a bolt of excitement shoot through her.
William pulled away and opened his eyes to stare at her intently. Zoe leaned forward until their lips locked in a deeper kiss. Both were slow to explore each other.
Every touch was intentional. William brought his hands up to grasp her face. The sensation of his hands lightly brushing across her face made her shiver. He didn't have a scent or a heartbeat, but he was surprisingly warm.
William pulled her back so that he was lying down and Zoe was between his legs. She was surprised to feel a bulge against her thigh. At the sensation of his thick fullness against her leg, she couldn’t help but moan.
Zoe wanted nothing more than to stifle the burning in her system, and she wriggled against him, trying to get closer to him. William flipped her onto her back and stared down at her. In the distance, she could hear an alarm informing students of a lockdown.
William slowly peeled her pants down. Zoe's eye's widened as she saw his intent. He kept his gaze on her face as he lowered his lips to her sex. His tongue began to move against her. The feeling made her gasp and tense up, unable to focus on anything other than the velvety sensation of his mouth.
Despite how good everything felt, she had the urge to stop him so she could give pleasure back. She pulled his face up and gently pushed him onto his back. Her hand nervously traveled to his underwear where she gingerly started to feel him through the fabric. His length was straining to be free.
She moistened her lips with her tongue before she pulled down his underwear and attempted to be as seemingly skilled as he was. He calmly watched her. But despite the intensity, there was a separation. She didn't feel like he was doing all of this out of passion. It felt more like an experiment. Zoe pulled away.
"Why did you kiss me?"
"You wanted to be kissed," he told her simply.
Zoe frowned, "You're only supposed to kiss someone that you like."
"So you like me?"
Realization of what she had just said dawned on her when he pointed out her logic. Her face blushed madly and she stood up to dig through her welding supplies.
"Shut up, I need to get back to work."
Zoe wondered about whether or not Emery really loved her. Thinking about it now, even if it was the truth, she didn't think she would be able to return his feelings. Not with her newfound crush on a mechanical alien from some faraway galaxy.
There were a lot of things that she needed to figure out. Like how she would help save humanity, or if she would be able to get a perfect Grade Point Average with all of this nonsense going on. Zoe had no idea that her life would take such a drastic turn. She hoped that she would have the confidence to make it through.
Zoe looked over at William. He stared back at her expectantly.
"Maybe things will be better than I expect."
THE END
Bonus Books:
Biomechanical Hearts
Stella was restless, though she'd committed to wrapping herself up in a blanket, curling up with a cup of coffee, and spending a good hour with a nice book and the stars floating past. Without stress. A window to the outside in Space Station Orcus was a luxury, but one that she could well afford. She liked to gaze at the stars while she pondered the truths of the Universe, the meaning of life, and the ever-present human desire for companionship – and why she couldn't escape that companionship. A strange thought for a bot seller such as herself, but anything was useful to pass the time while she waited for the delivery man, who, as usual, was late.
As if hearing her musings from the cargo bay, a loud buzzing noise resounded. Stella stood up, stretching, thankful for the interruption from her meditations. She took her sweet time sipping her coffee as she made her way to the door and laid her hand over the unlocking mechanism to find her usual delivery man. He was waiting with a box that she'd guess was nearly twice his height. The delivery man, Carl, had always seemed to Stella like he must have been the result of a short tryst between a human and a bear – in both intellect and appearance. But no matter, four hours late or not, her goods had arrived.
“Evening, Miss Stella, this is the fourteenth delivery this month alone. I take it business is booming?” He motioned to the large stack of crates in the back of his truck.
Stella looked at him flatly. She thought by that point he would have given up with pleasantries, but most people seemed to think her irritability was charming. “I believe a 'good morning' is more apt now, Carl. The goods were due by twenty-two hundred hours yesterday. It is now two in the morning. I don't know if you’re trying to beat your own record for tardiness, but if this continues I’ll ask for a different delivery man next time.”
Carl managed the grace – or sense – to at least look a bit chastised.
“Aww shucks, Miss Stella. Don't be so mean! There was some trouble at customs. None of my fault, they just looked real interested in checking all bot cargo.”
“I’ll wave it one last time. Do me the favor of unloading the crates in the back. I happen to have no staff left for the night, seeing you took so long.” She rolled her eyes as she stepped aside to allow him into her apartment.
It was nearly four in the morning when the two finished wheeling the bots into Stella's cargo port, but she wouldn't sleep until the shipment was finally unloaded and documented.
She waved Carl out of her apartment and even gave him a tip for all his help with the unloading. He might not have been punctual, but at least he had the muscles to help with carting the bots around. Once he was gone, she turned to admire her new stock.
Thirty-five new bots in all. Some of her clients’ favorite mode
ls had made a return, and some were entirely new products fresh off the production line. It would now just be a matter of testing them. Stella wasn't one to let her toys go without ensuring quality. She was tired, but she figured she may as well use one to relieve her stress and help her get a night’s rest. Now to see which would catch her eye.
The box she settled on was nearly twice her size, but that didn't matter to her. She managed to wheel it into her bedroom on her own.
Stella's dealings had mostly to do with pleasure bots, modern marvels of robotics that looked and behaved identically to human beings with none of the extra human baggage. Like emotion or morals. Pleasure bots were made for one purpose, and that was to be entirely non-metaphorical sex machines. Stella found the bots infinitely more desirable for companionship than dealing with another person. And apparently, so did plenty of other people because, as Carl has mentioned earlier, business was booming.
The box had been labeled RAM-69 (Alternatively F.I.S.T.O.); she figured one couldn't really expect a higher level of maturity from the men who engineered her products. At any rate, this model was brand new, and quite impressive as far as specimens went. At over six and a half feet of lean toned muscle, he cut a prominent figure. His hair was an exquisite platinum that begged to have her fingers run through it. And she did, standing on her toes to reach up and tousle the soft locks.
Resting her hand on his bare chest for balance, she noted that he was quite warm, but he'd likely been tucked next to the engine, or may have been jostled and turned on during shipping. His face was angular and well proportioned, his eyes the green of forests only seen in photographs. Stella reminded herself to keep breathing, it wasn't often that she was so taken aback by her products, but this one was almost akin to a work of art. But the veritable Greek god in front of her was worth nothing if it did not perform its principal task. This was what Stella was so keen to now find out.
“R.A.M.-69, your Mistress demands that you bring her fulfillment.” Stella sighed. She didn't know who kept coming up with these activation phrases, but they became more and more off-putting with time.