He gave her a cheerful nod and she relaxed a little more. Together they made their way to the landing ramp and, as the crowds increased, she found herself grateful for his intervention. People pushed and shoved, yelling with excitement, but he managed to keep everyone away from her. She kept her head down and avoided making eye contact with anyone.
She wanted to pause at the top of the landing ramp and study her new home, but the press of the people behind them was too great. It wasn’t until they got to the bottom and Big Tom carefully guided her out of the crowd that she got a chance to look around.
The first glance was not encouraging. The area was already swarming with people and equipment. A broad cement floor covered with orange dust stretched out around them, doors leading off at regular intervals, while an equally dusty dome arched overhead. There were no windows and no view of the outside world.
“My buddy says this is new,” Tom said. “They used to just let everybody off on the ground.”
“At least they would be able to see that they were on Mars,” she muttered, and he laughed.
“I know. It’s not much like the pictures they show back on Earth, is it?”
She had to agree. The images of Mars that were so prevalent on Earth showed gleaming white glass buildings filled with greenery, occupied by smiling people in white uniforms. Earth Government was making every attempt to entice the population of an overcrowded and polluted planet to immigrate to Mars, but most people were still afraid of the journey, the hardships ahead, and the knowledge that they could not return. Only the very brave—or the very desperate—made the trip. She knew in which category she belonged, but she gave her companion a curious glance.
“Why did you come to Mars?”
“I came to homestead. I want land of my own.” He hesitated and looked off into the distance. “And a family. I want to have a family.”
Sympathy finally softened her cautious stance. On Earth, he would be lucky to afford a small room of his own, let alone any land. A license to father a child was becoming ever harder to obtain, driven by wealth rather than worthiness.
He gave her a curious look. “Did your husband come ahead? Or are you here as part of the mail order bride program?”
“The bride program,” she admitted, her cheeks flushing.
“You’re a brave little lady. I plan to apply for a wife as soon as my homestead can support two people. I hope I’m lucky enough to get someone like you,” he said with a surprisingly shy smile.
A confused mixture of emotions washed over her, her pleasure at his admiration tempered by guilt. Should she tell him that it was desperation rather than bravery that had driven her here?
She shook her head. “Not so brave. But I hope you get matched with someone nice.” Looking away from him, she cleared her throat. “Speaking of matches, do you know where I should go to meet my husband?”
“No, but let’s find out.”
He caught the attention of one of the uniformed attendants scurrying about by the simple expedient of grabbing his arm.
“This lady needs to meet her husband. Where should she go?”
The harried man tapped quickly on his tablet. “Over there. Door A.”
He rushed off before they could ask him anything else.
“Come along then,” Tom said cheerfully. “I’ll walk you over.”
She wished she felt brave enough to disregard his offer, but nerves were making her stomach roll again. She felt rather like a child walking into school on the first day, and it was reassuring to have a companion.
Her steps lagged the closer they got to the door. Tom looked around when he realized she was falling behind.
“Are you sure about this—oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t catch your name.”
“Daisy Mullins,” she said automatically and then winced. “I mean, Daisy Harper.”
His eyes sharpened, but he didn’t pursue the matter. “Pleased to meet you, Ms. Daisy.”
Ahead of them, an older woman with dark hair and a brisk stride entered Door A. Daisy caught a quick glimpse of a small white room before the door slid shut again.
“Looks like you’ll have some company,” Tom said encouragingly.
He went to open the door and she found herself putting a restraining hand on his arm. She blushed and drew it back when he turned to look at her.
“Could you… Would you mind coming in with me? Just for a minute,” she added hastily.
“Sure I will.”
He opened the door and put a comforting hand on her arm as they entered.
“Oh, hell no.” The woman they had just seen had her hands on her hips and was staring aggressively at the only man in the room. “I didn’t come here to marry no damn cyborg.”
A cyborg? A shiver ran down Daisy’s spine, and she almost instinctively pressed closer to Tom. She had heard the rumors about the machines on Earth—how they looked like men but no longer had any human emotions, how they couldn’t be trusted except when under government control. She snuck a peek at the cyborg the other woman was confronting. Slim and almost boyish-looking, with short red hair and a deep golden tan, he looked human enough.
“I don’t remember anyone asking you,” he drawled at the woman in a deep, pleasant voice, seemingly unfazed by her attitude.
“Well, I won’t. That’s all,” the woman spluttered, but her aggression seemed to die down.
The cyborg grinned at her, then looked up and saw Daisy. Bright blue eyes sparkled at her and her heart sank. He was ridiculously good-looking and despite the humor seemingly apparent on his face, she didn’t trust him at all.
“Hello there. Are you Daisy?”
He limped over to join them and she realized that his slender build was deceptive. He was as tall as Tom and roped with lean muscle, and she had no doubt he could easily overpower her.
“Are… are you Jonah?”
Her words were barely audible.
“No, I’m Bill—I mean, B-669. I’m here to take you to him.”
“Why the hell couldn’t he come himself?” Tom barked, and she looked up to see him scowling at the cyborg. “Why did he send you?”
B-669 reluctantly dragged his eyes away from the woman he had so meticulously arranged to join them on Mars. Lord, she was a tiny thing, even wrapped up in a ridiculously large coat and already wearing a completely unnecessary breathing mask. All he could really make out was a pair of enormous, scared green eyes set in a face so pale that the small freckles scattered across her delicate features were clearly visible.
The big man next to her had an almost possessive air about him and B-669 didn’t like that one bit. This was his—this was the Sarge’s woman, B-669’s last desperate attempt to bring back the man he had once known, and no oversized human was going to prevent him from carrying out his plan.
“Who are you?” he snapped.
“I’m Big Tom. I’ve heard all about you fucking machines… Begging your pardon, ma’am.”
“Yeah.” The skinny woman who had accosted him as soon as she entered spoke up. “Everyone knows they can’t be trusted.”
Daisy’s eyes flicked over to the woman, then back to him, and his heart sank as she lifted her chin resolutely.
“Where is he? Where’s Jonah?” she asked, surprising him. He had been sure she was going to repudiate the marriage immediately.
“At our claim. He’s my partner. The claim is in the mountains several hours north of town.”
“Away from everyone else?”
He nodded reluctantly, sure that she wouldn’t take the news well. Instead, she surprised him again with a quick, determined bob of her head. Her shoulders almost seemed to relax.
“Very well. We should probably get going.”
“Daisy,” Tom protested. “You don’t have to go with him. You can come with me. Hell, I know I said I was going to wait, but I’ll marry you myself if that’s what it takes.”
“That’s very sweet, Tom,” Daisy said. “But I’m already married to Jonah. I made a
commitment, and I keep my promises.”
She patted Tom’s arm, and a sudden and completely unexpected growl erupted from B-669’s throat. Where the hell had that come from? She wasn’t even his woman, but he hated the sight of her touching the other man. Everyone stared at him and he cleared his throat, hoping they couldn’t see his own shock.
“And you… you’re not Jonah, right?” Daisy asked again, and his heart sank a second time. If she was so unsure about him, when he could mostly pass for human, how was she going to feel about J-817 with his gruff manners and scarred face?
“No, ma’am. I promise that I am not.”
He waited for her to ask the next obvious question—was Jonah also a cyborg?—but she didn’t. Instead, she stepped forward. She was still an arm’s length away but he caught a hint of her sweet fragrance and had to fight back the sudden impulse to tug her closer.
“We should go and get your belongings,” he said, trying to give her his usual easy smile.
“This is all I have.”
She held up a small piece of luggage.
“Didn’t you realize that I—that Jonah—arranged for an additional baggage allowance?”
For the first time, a small smile flickered across the pale face behind the mask.
“Yes, and it was very generous of… him. But I didn’t have much to bring.”
“Do you want to stop in New Arcadia and pick up some more clothes?” he asked doubtfully. Mars was still very short on almost everything and ladies’ clothing was no exception.
“No! No,” she repeated more calmly. “I would just like to leave as soon as possible.”
Big Tom was still scowling, but his face softened as he looked down at Daisy. “I’ll make sure and leave my information at the message center. If things don’t work out, let me know.”
“Everything will be fine,” he growled, stepping forward. He started to reach for Daisy’s arm, but he saw the faint flinch she tried to hide and dropped his hand. Damn, she was skittish. He could only pray that Jonah didn’t terrify her on sight.
“More fool you,” the skinny woman sniffed as she gave the big man an admiring glance. “I’d take this man any time over some damn machine.”
“I wasn’t asking you,” Tom said and for the first time, B-669 felt a hint of appreciation for the big settler. An unwilling grin twisted his lips as the woman scowled.
“Looks like no one’s asking you,” he said cheerfully. “Are you ready to leave, Daisy?”
“Yes.” She turned back to the other man and he had to fight back an instinctive protest. “Thank you, Tom. I hope your homestead prospers and that you find a bride.”
“I’m glad to have met you, Daisy. I meant what I said. If you need me, I’ll be there.”
To his relief, she merely gave the man a soft smile, then turned to him, that stubborn little chin back in the air. “I’m ready.”
Chapter Three
As B-669 led the way out of the meeting room, two men came towards them along the corridor. He instinctively stepped in front of Daisy, but he saw her flinch again at his sudden movement.
“You sure about this, Abe?” one of the men asked his companion. Both of them were dressed in the grubby overalls worn by the power station workers and looked pretty rough.
“Course I am. You’re my brother, ain’t you?”
“I don’t think your bride is expecting two husbands,” the first man said doubtfully.
“She’ll get used to the idea. Twice as much fun, right?” The second elbowed his brother and both men laughed.
Daisy looked up at him, green eyes startled, as the two men disappeared into the meeting room. “They’re going to share her?”
“I can’t say I’m surprised. There aren’t many women on Mars. But somehow I doubt that those two are what Ms. High and Mighty was expecting.”
“They won’t… hurt her, will they?”
“No, sweetheart.” The endearment escaped before he could prevent it and he hurried on. “Women are much too valuable up here. But I’ll let one of the rangers know to check on them.”
“Rangers?”
“Now that all of the preliminary terraforming work has been done, most of the cyborgs have been reassigned as rangers—we represent law and order on this planet.”
“Law and order? But…”
Her voice trailed off and he knew what she was thinking. The propaganda about the cyborgs on Earth had been specifically designed to emphasize them as machines, to remove any indication that they were still human.
“We were all military men before so it’s a good fit. And no matter what they told you, we’re still men.”
“Yes. Yes, of course.” An unexpectedly enchanting tide of pink covered her face.
Taking pity on her embarrassment, he changed the subject, talking cheerfully as he led the way to one of the big six-wheeled rovers that were the primary means of transportation on the planet. As he drove out of the transport shed, Daisy’s eyes went wide with amazement as she got her first glimpse of the planet.
“It’s so big. So empty.”
He followed her gaze. After eleven years on Mars, he no longer paid much attention to the landscape, but he remembered how shocked he had been when they first arrived. Vast, empty deserts of red dust, deep craters, and jagged mountain ranges, all topped by a pale orange sky. Completely different from the overcrowded Earth he left behind.
“You’ll get used to it,” he assured her. “It has a kind of beauty of its own that you learn to appreciate.”
She shot him a quick sideways glance and then went back to watching their surroundings as they trundled past the turnoff to the town and were soon alone in the desert.
He had brought the rover with him assuming that she would have possessions he would need to transport, in addition to the small luxuries he had purchased to try and make life easier for her out on the claim. Unfortunately, there just weren’t that many luxuries available, but perhaps it was just as well. Although he’d had a hefty reserve of credits between his accumulated and mostly untouched salary and the profits from the claim, arranging for a mail order bride and paying for the trip had taken a large portion of his savings. But he wouldn’t regret a single penny if it made the Sarge happy again.
What he hadn’t realized was that riding next to her in the enclosed vehicle would be so difficult. Her sweet scent filled the air, and his enhanced senses could pick up every soft breath and tiny rustle as she shifted her position.
“The cabin is airtight. You can remove the breathing mask,” he suggested, even knowing it would make the situation worse.
“I… Yes, I suppose that would be sensible.”
She lifted the mask away from her face, revealing delicate, pixie-like features with an unexpectedly full pink mouth. He hadn’t expected her to be quite so pretty, or so innocent looking. Why had she chosen to be married to a man she’d never met? To come to Mars? His questions disappeared as she pulled the mask off over her head, catching it in the knit cap and pulling it off as well, sending a cascade of auburn curls tumbling down her back. His mouth went dry. She brushed the glorious mane back with a shy hand.
“Sorry. I know I’m kind of a mess.”
A mess? He had a sudden vision of that wild tangle spread across his pillow, her face flushed not from embarrassment but from pleasure, and his cock jerked. Damn. He didn’t need to be thinking of her that way. No matter how pretty she was and how long it had been since he’d been with a woman. She didn’t belong to him. The knowledge didn’t stop him from making an additional suggestion.
“If you want to take your coat off, I can adjust the temperature.”
“No!” Her face flushed. “I mean, I prefer to leave it on.”
He frowned at the big coat swamping her small figure but decided not to press the matter. They both lapsed into silence.
“How did she know?” she asked suddenly.
“How did who know what?”
“How did that horrible woman know you were
a cyborg?”
“Ah.” He hesitated, not at all sure he wanted to discuss his changes, but in the end, he gave her a rueful grin. “I have a cybernetic leg. It was an… experimental version and it can be uncomfortable. I was rubbing the joint when she walked in and saw me.”
“Is that why you limp?”
Damn. No matter how he tried to hide it, it was still obvious. He didn’t know any other cyborg whose cybernetic parts were so obviously ill-suited for their bodies. Even with his nanites constantly working on the transition area, he was always aware of the seam, of the constant ache and feeling of wrongness where his leg met the rest of his body.
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
For a brief second, a small hand rested on his arm. It was the first time she had touched him of her own accord, and he wanted to demand—beg—that she continue. But even if she hadn’t been so obviously nervous, she wasn’t for him. She was for the Sarge. He only hoped that the stubborn idiot would recognize the value of his gift. Surely this pretty young woman would be enough to drag the man out of the dark pit of despair he had been wallowing in for the past eleven years.
“Nothing to be sorry about. I’m alive and that’s the most important thing.” If only J-817 would believe that.
“When you introduced yourself, you said your name was B-669 but it sounded like you also said… Bill?”
“I was called that once.”
“Why not now?”
“Earth Government assigned us designations instead once we became cyborgs.” He shrugged, trying to appear casual. “Most of us use them as a reminder that they no longer consider us human.”
“Can… can I call you Bill?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I think I’d like that.”
She gave him a small, tentative smile, then returned to watching the landscape.
Daisy stared out the window and tried to focus on her surroundings. Mars was truly awe-inspiring, especially for someone who had spent their entire life in the crowded confines of the New York metro area. With one horrible exception, she had never seen anything close to this expanse of open land. The only sign of human life she could detect was an occasional small dome far in the distance. She decided they must belong to the homesteaders the government was encouraging to settle the planet. As an incentive to the settlers, the government provided both a section of land and a set of initial supplies. All the settlers had to do was to work their claims for five years and the land would belong to them.
A Few Cyborgs More (Cyborgs On Mars Book 3) Page 2