Breathing Vapor

by Cynthia Sax

  “We comply,” they said in unison.

  She leaned back in the seat, relaxing. “Good.” She had privacy…of sorts.

  “Good?” Vapor snorted. “I could kill you and no being would ever know.”

  Thrasher sucked in his breath. He expected her to reprimand his friend. He didn’t know Vapor had threatened to kill her last planet rotation and she’d done nothing.

  “You could kill me.” Mira nodded. “And then you could escape.” The cyborgs’ eyes didn’t flicker. Was that their plan? “But that would have consequences. My father would deem your entire batch to be defective and decommission them.”

  Over four hundred cyborgs would die and she wouldn’t be able to save them.

  “Cyborgs are designed to follow commands.” Vapor’s answer told her nothing.

  Cyborgs were designed to do that but they were also half human and humans rarely followed any set program. They had the ability to make their own decisions, follow their own path, find joy. The Humanoid Alliance, even her father, forgot that.

  “You’ll be deployed in three planet rotations.” She’d uncovered that rather depressing tidbit of information at sunrise, when she was scanning the Humanoid Alliance’s database, looking for any indication her baby cyborg had been spotted. “Cyborgs often go missing while on deployment.” Rumors of entire battle stations filled with cyborgs vanishing had been in some of the communiqués.

  “Battle is dangerous.” Vapor’s face was blank, revealing none of his thoughts.

  Did he plan to escape? She hoped he would. The alternative was human lifespans of abuse from his human masters and planet rotations filled with killing the enemy. If he made a mistake or faced an opponent he couldn’t defeat, he’d die on the battlefield, alone and unloved. If he survived war, he’d eventually be replaced by a new model and decommissioned.

  Her future wasn’t much brighter. She’d help others, rebelling quietly against the Humanoid Alliance, until some being betrayed her and she was caught, executed on sight, as her mom had been.

  They traveled in silence. Their surroundings grew poorer, dirtier, darker. A layer of grime coated the domiciles. Fires burned in metal containers.

  Vapor and Thrasher not-so-subtly placed their hands on their guns. Her honorable warriors might hate her but they’d protect her.

  The ship slowed and stopped at the designated meeting spot. “Scan our surroundings for beings,” she instructed.

  Vapor turned his head, his expression serious. “There are twenty thousand, seven hundred and thirty-one humanoids within scanning distance. Twenty thousand, seven hundred and twenty-nine humanoids are positioned inside structures and appear non-threatening. Two humanoids are positioned outside structures. Both are male and heavily armed. I do not advise exiting the ship.”

  Her cyborg worried about her. She can’t remember the last time any being cared for her well-being. “I’ll be safe.” She extracted a folded piece of cloth she’d hidden under her seat. “Stay here.”

  She opened the door. A wave of smoke and urine-scented air swept inside the ship, heavy, poignant, telling. Mira placed the cloth on the street’s cracked surface and stepped onto it, feeling vulnerable in her glaring white garment. One of the gems in her hair was worth more than the residents would earn in their lifespans.

  “I’m here,” she called.

  A form detached from the shadows, the being big, bulky, slightly hunched. “Quiet, female. I see you. In that garment, every being within yelling distance has noted your arrival.” X, the leader of the non-violent resistance, hefted a huge long gun. As he’d told her multiple times, he was a pacifist, not stupid.

  “There’s only one being, other than you, in the vicinity.” Mira gazed around her, unable to see far into the darkness. “Is he yours?”

  “Yeah. No one sane ventures into this district alone.” His sarcasm was thick.

  She wasn’t alone but X wouldn’t know that. Unless his devices were calibrated for cyborgs, he wouldn’t have detected her guards’ presence.

  “We both know what is coming.” She didn’t have to say more. X was aware, as she was, that more violent factions within the rebellion were building support, eager to wage war against the Humanoid Alliance. When that happened, the war-hungry humans would have the excuse they need to annihilate the Tau Cetians. “The battlefield is no place for children. They’d be safer placed at an Academy on a distant planet.”

  “That requires credits.” X shook his head. “We don’t have credits to feed our children. We certainly can’t transport them off planet to pursue a fancy education.”

  “You can. These are sun stones, rare, precious, extremely valuable.” She slipped two of the sparkling gems out of her hair. “They’ll pay for enough children to be transported off planet to ensure a continuation of your species.” She dropped the jewels into the male’s weathered green-and-brown hands.

  “I know what sun stones are.” X gazed at them. “These could transport an entire district off planet and you use them for decoration.” He closed his fingers over them. “And the Humanoid Alliance wonders why beings are rebelling.”

  Guilt swept over Mira. “I can’t spare more sun stones. That would instigate an investigation.”

  “You risk enough for a cause that isn’t yours.” X’s voice softened. “I’m assuming the usual directions apply—you wish for no being to know of your involvement.”

  “No being must know. If the sun stones are traced back to me, I’ll say they were stolen.” She would lie to save herself.

  Because telling the truth wouldn’t prevent X’s death. The Humanoid Alliance didn’t make deals with rebels. They tortured, exacted information and killed. Her mom’s death had taught Mira that.

  “They won’t be traced back to you.” X frowned. “As this information I’m about to impart to you won’t be traced back to me.” He slid his hand into his brown animal skin garment, hiding the sun stones within the folds. “This is not the evening for parties. You should return to your domicile.”

  “This party is necessary.” Lives depended on it.

  “Be—”

  X raised his long gun. Mira stepped in front of the ship’s open door, instinctively protecting her cyborgs.

  She bumped against a muscular male form. Her tightening nipples told her it was Vapor. “Stop.” She raised her hands, facing her palms outward. “He’s with me.”

  “Kokami,” X cursed in the local language. “Do you have a death wish? Tell me when you’re bringing company.”

  “More company is arriving.” Vapor’s voice held no emotion. “Thirty-three heavily armed males are moving toward this location.”

  “We’re leaving.” Mira spoke to no being. X had already disappeared, leaving her to fend for herself. She glanced at Vapor’s grim face. Except she was no longer alone. She had him.

  Mira returned to the ship. Vapor slammed the door shut, flung himself in the opposite seat, glared at her as she inputted the next location.

  The ship moved and so did he. He flew across the space and pinned her arms to the seat back. “What the frag were you processing?”

  “I-I—” His response rendered her speechless.

  “We guard you. You don’t guard us.” Vapor’s eyes gleamed, the brown lit by gold and green specks. “You never put your form between us and the enemy. We’re cyborgs. We can survive a projectile. You’re a human. You can’t.”

  His chest rose and fell rapidly. His skin was flushed. He was no longer an unemotional machine. He was a pissed off male.

  Why was he so angry? “Do you care if I survive?”

  His gaze slid to the right. “If you die, we die. We’re designed to protect humans. The Designer would decommission us for our failure.”

  Her father would do that. But Vapor didn’t answer her question.

  Because cyborgs didn’t lie. A smile spread across Mira’s face. “You do care if I live or die.”

  “Do I?” Vapor’s gaze dropped to her lips. His eyes darkened even m
ore. He leaned forward and their breaths meshed, sweeping in, out, in, out, in perfect harmony, the waft of warmth exciting her.

  Would he capture her mouth with his? She lifted her chin, closing more of the distance between them. Would he kiss her, press his flesh against hers, plunge his tongue between her lips, claim her as she desperately wanted to be claimed?

  He didn’t move, his body stiff, his grasp on her shoulders hard.

  “Vapor,” she whispered.

  “No. I won’t have others question my loyalty.” He released her and Mira swallowed her shriek of frustration.

  Vapor returned to his own seat, crossed his arms in front of his chest and scowled at her. She met his gaze unflinchingly, the feel of his palms lingering on her skin.

  “I do care if you live or die,” he finally admitted, breaking their standoff. “You’re my kill. No other being will steal your death from me.”

  Thrasher watched them.

  Mira touched her breast. The teeth marks around her nipple had healed, vanishing inhumanly quickly. The memory of his bite remained. “That’s why you marked me.”

  Vapor nodded. “You’re mine. If it’s decided you’re the one to die, your life is mine to take.”

  The cyborgs planned to kill a human. Mira could think of many humans whose deaths would make the universe a better place. But relaying that information would expose her double life, putting others, innocents, at risk. “Do what you have to do.”

  “Do what I have to do?” Vapor glowered at her. “Your male was correct. You have a death wish.”

  “He’s not my male.” She wasn’t attracted to X, and he wasn’t interested in her, not in that way. The older warrior had one goal—to free his people. “He has never touched me.”

  “That’s why he continues to live.”

  She blinked. Her cyborg was very possessive of his kills.

  “You dressed us inappropriately, foolish female.” Vapor plucked at his chest covering. “We’re wearing no battle armor and these light colors are highly visible. The enemy will detect our presence.”

  That was the point. “We’re attending a party, not a battle.”

  His face grew even more grim. “The male said it wasn’t the evening for parties. I agree with him.” He glanced toward the door. “Groups of beings are gathering. They’re armed and angry, urging others to help them take back their planet, to drive out the humans, the death-bringers.” His gaze locked with hers. “You’re human.”

  Not every being believed in pacifism, as X did. Those beings would die. The Humanoid Alliance excelled at waging war, developing the cyborgs for exactly that purpose, and they were resource hungry. They welcomed any excuse to wipe out local populations.

  “You heard my answer to X. It’s necessary for me to attend this party.” She couldn’t share why. “The host’s domicile is secure. No being would dare to attack it.”

  “Never underestimate the enemy, Mira.”

  Her name flowed off his tongue like a caress for her soul, warming her all over.

  “Are they the enemy?” She studied him through her eyelashes.

  “They plan to hurt you.”

  “You plan to hurt me.” Mira tilted her head toward Vapor. “I don’t consider you to be my enemy.”

  His eyes gleamed. “You should.”

  Chapter Five

  Who was the real Mira Breazeal-- the cold, cruel creature who vowed to make him beg or the soft, smiling female seated in front of him?

  Vapor gazed at her, her beauty striking him harder than any blow from an enemy’s hand. She glowed, her skin pale, almost translucent, her eyelids partially lowered, her lips parted.

  He couldn’t read the thoughts swirling in that keen brain of hers, didn’t know if they boded good or ill for him and his brethren.

  She has a plan for this planet rotation, he transmitted to Thrasher. This isn’t a frivolous party.

  Her plans might not be malicious. She stepped in front of you, when she thought the humanoid male would shoot you.

  That action angered him. Vapor folded his fingers into tight fists. He was a cyborg, designed to survive projectiles. She wasn’t. She could have been killed. Why would she do that? What purpose would that serve? She can’t be trusted.

  Yet you threatened her multiple times, giving her a reason to have you decommissioned. Thrasher continued to defend her.

  My processors malfunctioned.

  Your cock was fully functional. His friend chuckled, unconcerned, having a faith in the female Vapor didn’t share.

  He couldn’t trust her or himself. His logic was suspended around Mira, replaced by the primitive pounding need to breed, to claim her, bind her to him.

  He needed more information. “Why are you paying for the off planet education of the local offspring?” How did that benefit her?

  And why did every offspring who came in contact with Mira adore her?

  Last planet rotation, K017282 had cooed at her, reaching out with his chubby cyborg fingers, trying to grasp her garment. The newly manufactured cyborg had also placed his mouth on her breast, marking her as his.

  Vapor had removed that claim.

  Pepe, the green and brown humanoid offspring, had called Mira friend, had clung to her legs, smiling up at her. There had been no fear in the little one’s eyes.

  Vapor gazed at Mira. It was as though they saw warmth where others perceived coldness. “Tell me, female.”

  “Why should I tell my enemy anything?” She lifted her round chin.

  She has you there. Thrasher was enjoying himself.

  “Why shouldn’t you answer my question?” Vapor countered. “Unless you have something to hide.”

  Mira met his gaze and he knew right then and there that whatever was coming out of her mouth would be a lie. “Stupid offspring are of no use to any being.”

  Frag. She was fierce. That shouldn’t turn him on as much as it did. “Relay one truth to me. Anything.”

  “You wouldn’t believe me.”

  He likely wouldn’t. “Then you’re risking nothing.”

  She tapped her lips with her index fingers. “My mom was executed for treason.”

  “One truth.” Vapor balled his fingers into fists, yearning to wrap them around her pretty neck and squeeze. “Is that too much to ask for?”

  Mira’s eyes hardened. She turned her head and gazed out of the transparent viewing panel, saying nothing.

  I think she’s telling the truth. Thrasher was sucked into her lies.

  She’s not. He glowered at Mira. “Your mother died in a transport accident. That’s recorded in the Humanoid Alliance database.”

  “Oh.” She rounded her lips and widened her eyes. “The Humanoid Alliance said that’s how she died? Then it must be true.”

  He wanted to drag her over his knees and spank the sarcasm out of her. “Why would they lie?”

  “Why would I lie? If the truth behind my mom’s death becomes public, I could lose everything.”

  It wouldn’t become public. She’d sworn them to secrecy. “You might gain my sympathy.”

  “Woo whee. I might gain the sympathy of an about-to-be-deployed cyborg.” Mira rolled her eyes. “That’s worth putting my life in peril.”

  Thrasher laughed over their transmission lines. Vapor glared at him. His friend laughed louder.

  “I should have kept my mouth shut.” Her voice grew quiet. “My mom told me bad things would happen if I ever said anything about that planet rotation.” His female looked out the viewing panel. “I kept my silence. Until now. I suspect that’s the only reason I’m alive.” A heartbreaking sadness ghosted across her beautiful face, flattening her lips, dimming her glow.

  What bad things would happen? And why did he care? She was a human, his target. He should put emotional distance between them.

  Vapor made an attempt to do that and couldn’t. Her sadness tormented him, her words staying with him.

  She was right. She accomplished nothing by lying about her mother’s death.
It was a risk without any perceivable reward.

  “My processors don’t work around you,” Vapor confessed. “I want you too much.” He shifted in his seat. His cock pressed against the fabric of his ass covering.

  She glanced at his face and then down at his groin. “I see that.”

  Silence stretched. Mira nibbled on her bottom lip, that action not easing his need.

  “You have to do something about it,” she finally said. “Females will want to touch you, stroke you and you can’t become aroused. That won’t serve our purposes.”

  There was no ‘our.’ The purpose of this party, whatever it was, was hers alone.

  “Cyborgs were designed for two things—fighting and breeding. There have been no opportunities to breed.” Ever. Before this planet rotation, she’d been the only female he had contact with. That was part of his problem, why he was so fascinated with her.

  “Your friend doesn’t have an issue with controlling his urges.” Mira glanced at Thrasher.

  He certainly doesn’t. Thrasher was enjoying Vapor’s predicament.

  “My friend knows you’re wet for me. I make you hot.”

  Her cheeks turned red. “That is irrelevant. You can’t have an erection at the party. Take care of it.”

  She wanted him to take care of it? Vapor unfastened his ass covering. Then he’d take care of it. He lifted his ass and yanked the garment down to his ankles, revealing his hard cock.

  She stared at him, unabashed in her perusal, and that turned him on even more. He curled his fingers around his shaft and pumped, ruthless with his own body.

  She watched him for several moments.

  “Slower,” she murmured. “You’re working yourself too savagely.”

  She was critiquing how he masturbated.

  Frag. His cock bobbed. She was magnificent. “I like it fast.”

  “I don’t.” Mira sniffed, her prissiness feeding his fascination with her. “You’ll make a mess in my ship.”

  “If you don’t like the way I’m touching myself, you’re free to take over.” Vapor issued that challenge, not expecting her to accept it.