by Juno Wells
“Can I tell you something, in confidence? I mean, I know you’re leaving shortly, but if you happen to run into anyone else…” she said, a little glint in her eyes.
“Of course,” I said. Who was I going to tell? I wouldn’t send thieves to an innocent place like this, nor anyone else for that matter. “Won’t tell a soul.”
“I plan to run away,” she whispered, leaning in.
I stared at her, a little disbelievingly. How could she? “Uh…”
“I am! I swear, I am an excellent programmer, and I’ve been working machinery and building droids and drones and all sorts of things for ages now! I’ve built my own little ship, and plan to run away after my birthday.” She smiled excitedly. I wanted to be happy for her, but I was more worried than anything. Not to mention, if she built her own ship…
“Wow! Nice. I’m, er, happy for you. I wonder, though, if you’re leaving in a few days, and it’d take a few days to repair my ship, I wonder if we shouldn’t leave together?” I said. I wouldn’t force the point on her, but I also wasn’t going to accept no for an answer. This girl, with her starry-eyed expression and heart kind enough you could feel the warmth from space, had no idea what the rest of the galaxy was like. I wasn’t going to let her waltz right into pirates or a slave planet or some other foul place. No.
She bit her lip. “Together?” she said shyly.
“Yes, together. I would be able to help navigate you through space, help keep you safe,” I said, eager now at the prospect. Not to mention…she was exceedingly beautiful…perhaps…but no. We’d only just met.
She thought it over, staring into the glittering water.
“I suppose that would be smart. I mean, I’ve never been off-moon. And you have…hang on a minute.” She looked at me suspiciously. “What about your life? You offer to parade around and protect a stranger you’ve never met?”
It was my turn to look away, my face blushing. “I am taking a break from my home,” I said flatly.
“Which is a nice way of saying ‘ran away’,” she said, quick as a whip. I was startled by this, more so that I hadn’t expected her to be a sharp and witty girl. The doe eyes fooled me.
“All right, yes. I ran away,” I said, sizing her up. My face was growing hot, and with it, a feeling in my chest and in my pants.
She laughed. “So, we’ll be two runaways. Where will we go?” She leaned back, resting on her elbows.
I looked back at her, her bosom rising and falling rhythmically. I cleared my throat. “Er, anywhere, I guess.”
“Anywhere?” she said.
“Well, what was your idea?” I said back.
“I wanted to find my parents,” she said.
A sobriety fell. “Oh…Did you ever know them?”
She shook her head. “Not really. I have only a couple memories of them, hazy, from when I was a toddler, but nothing really clear.”
I nodded, “Then…how’d you end up here?”
“They sent me here,” she said, looking away.
I could tell this was a sore subject, but I needed to know. “Did they say why?”
“For my protection,” she said, mocking formality.
“Protection? From what, the universe?” I asked, turning to face her more. Our bodies were very close; I was practically touching her.
She shrugged and lay back fully. “They never said why.”
I felt the sudden strong urge to lay beside her, but I looked away.
“Tell you what,” she said, sitting up. Now we were very close, our arms side by side. “I’m going to go to breakfast. I’ll bring you something to eat. You stay here and work on your ship. If you see anyone other than me, hide. I don’t know what my godmothers will do if they find you, but I’d rather not find out.”
I nodded. My mouth was very dry now. She was so close, and her scent, a flowery and warm inviting smell, drew me in like a magnetic pull. We stared at each other for a moment, a long lingering moment, my eyes staring into hers. Her lips parted.
“Uh…yes. I think that sounds agreeable,” I whispered. She nodded in return. The moment continued, and I felt the pull to lean in. I could tell she felt it too. However, we only met minutes ago. I couldn’t go kissing doe-eyed sheltered beauties who’d probably never seen a man before on our first meeting. She looked away and stood up, gave me a little curtsy and left. I watched her go and lay back in the grass, hands over my face.
When she returned a little while later, I was working on the repairs to my ship, and along with some very delicious warm breakfast, she had brought me tools. Very high-tech tools I was unfamiliar with. But she showed me how to use each of them on the different parts of my ship and how they repaired the metals and the wiring and electromagnetic power. She was very smart, smarter than anyone I’d ever met. I felt constantly surprised by her. At every point when I thought I was getting to know her better and better, something else would change that. It was also growing harder and harder to not be next to her. I brushed up against her when I turned to move to another part of the ship, and my heart did a pirouette.
The days following continued in this fashion, her sneaking me food and helping me with the ship. She brought me to her little pod one day, showing me how she’d fixed it up with shields and an invisibility barrier and warp speed, which was quite impressive for one person to do. She called it “the bullet.”
On the third night, her birthday, she brought me some cake that her godmothers had made for her. It was strange and sweet and amazing. Like her. I hadn’t felt both this comfortable and uncomfortable around any one person in my life. She sat across from me, both of us cross-legged by the little brook again. There were little lightning bugs floating around us, giving us the feeling that that trillions of stars above had descended in honor of her birthday.
“Happy Birthday, Aurora,” I said softly, my whole body feeling warm. She smiled at me.
Chapter 3- Aurora
I smiled back at him. My chest felt all fluttery as those beautiful warm brown eyes, one glinting emerald, gazed into mine. We’d finished our cake and sat near each other, cross-legged, our knees touching.
“This feels like a dream,” I whispered. My head was both dizzy and elated.
Earlier today, I’d walked over to give him his breakfast, and he was working in the engine of his ship, shirtless. The memory of it made my mouth water. His perfectly sculpted chest, with hair trailing down to his navel, his figure like a work of hot sexy art. And on his sweaty, muscled back were more metal plates, three circles going down his spine. I was caught off guard, and I had nearly dropped my tray.
Now, lightly illuminated by the starlight and fireflies, he was a dream. His character was strong but very considerate. I wasn’t sure if I had imagined it, but there was a tenderness in his gaze that made me wonder…if he was as in love with me as I was with him.
I looked at the brook, the soft sound of the water adding to the gentle ambiance of the night. But the pounding in my chest and the tension made the air thick and loud.
“Aurora…” he breathed. He reached a hand over to my chin and directed my face to face his.
We were very close, and his eyes glittered in the lights. My lips parted, and his perfectly shaped lips, lightly ruddy, were very close to mine. I nudged my nose forward lightly, touching his. Sparks went off in my chest and fizzled to the ends of each limb. Could I have imagined a better guy? I didn’t know. And if I didn’t leave this rock for another ten years, I would certainly build myself one. But no way he could be as amazing as the man in front of me, who was real, not imaginary, and was so close I could practically taste him on my breath.
He gazed down at my lips and back up again into my eyes with a tenderness that surrendered any resistance in my body, down to my soul.
He moved in, and our lips met. Soft and sweet, we held for a long moment, pressing passion into each other, before he drew away and looked at me again, in a hesitant way as though searching my face for a sign if he could continue, his electric g
reen iris expanding and contracting. He seemed to perceive that it was okay and pressed on, devouring my lips more passionately, holding the back of my neck.
I’d never kissed anyone before, not to mention used tongue, but wow, it was perfect. My heart was pounding in my chest as our lips danced in perfect harmony with each other, our tongues like two ocean waves falling again and again into sweet bliss.
His hand moved to my face, and he inched his body closer. We lay back on the grass, and he moved his body on top, though he held himself up with one elbow while the other hand was at my waist. Unlike most women—the godmothers, at least—I wore a wireless corset, more of a cloth bodice, and the fabric between our skin felt like nothing. I could feel the cold metal of his arm growing warmer through the heat of our closeness.
I wrapped an arm around his neck, putting more fire between our tongues, and felt his hard buff back with my other hand, running the tips of my fingers along the metal circles. A shiver ran down his spine.
He broke away from me and stared deeply, his electric green eye dazzling me while the warm brown seemed to make me feel like soft putty underneath him.
“I have to tell you…” he said, pausing while he gazed, seemingly bypassing the body and hitting my soul. “You’re all I’ve ever wanted in a woman. You’re a familiar soul; I feel like I’ve known longer than all my life. That’s the best way I can explain it.”
I stared up into his eyes as they stared at me, directly, through the window of my eyes. “I know what you mean. And you’re all I’ve ever dreamed of—in a man, in a companion. I feel the same way,” I said, my chest swelling, a lake of love that was now overflowing.
He smiled radiantly, the silver of his canine teeth glinting lightly. He was kissing me again, deeply, passionately, better than any daydream or fantasy I’ve ever imagined before, better than anything. He was the most real thing in the world at this moment. The starry night around me felt like a dream.
The future would be nothing if he was not in it with me, and knowing we would be running away tomorrow, that I would have my freedom, brought tears to my eyes.
He parted his lips, breathing heavily, our noses touching affectionately. “We leave tomorrow?”
I nodded. “Yes.” My heart was bursting with happiness, the butterflies swarming to erupt out through my chest.
I didn’t know what customs were like on other planets—I only knew from what I’d read in books—but I could marry this man if he asked me, here and now. And from the look in his eyes, it seemed as though he knew and felt that way, too.
“I…I should go to bed,” I said, blushing under his steady gaze.
“And not stay up all night on your birthday?” he said, smiling.
“Stay up all night? What would we do?! It’s too dark to play any games,” I said.
He laughed, and then a thought occurred to him, and he seemed to retreat away in his mind. He moved off and lay himself beside me in the grass.
“Well?” I said. “What did you think of?”
A little smile, a very sexy little smile, played around his lips.
“What?” I urged him, curiosity gripping me.
I got off my back and lay across his muscly chest.
“Nothing,” he said, and he looked at me again with that penetrating and electric-hot gaze.
I melted on top of him, my lips devouring his like they were the breath of life.
We kissed for a long while, and he seemed to be restraining himself at times, until he broke away panting.
Then it hit me what he had thought of earlier and why he had pulled away. He wanted me. He couldn’t handle it. He was restraining himself from taking control, from taking me fully. Well, that was very sweet of him. But the little cheeky and vindictive part of my mind smiled in an evil fashion. I reached down and kissed the underside of his jaw, just above his neck. He took a sharp intake of breath, and I could feel his heart beating heavily under my palm on his chest.
I moved my lips across his jawline and kissed the other side. Then I moved them up to his ear and kissed his neck below it.
“Goodnight,” I whispered, and sprang up off the ground. I walked away without looking back, back to my little collection of domes, grinning.
Then I felt a hand on my wrist, twisting, the motion whipping me around. August wasn’t going to let me get away with that little tease.
He kissed me with a fiery passion, picking me up off the ground. I threw my arms around him, and the air was electric. I wrapped my legs around his waist, one of his hands clutching my rear and the other bulging bicep around my waist. I felt so small in his arms.
We were the only two beings in the universe, floating in a starry night separate from time and space, enwrapped in each other.
When we finally broke apart, he kissed me on the cheek sweetly and looked into my eyes with a new tenderness that seemed so raw and unfiltered.
“Goodnight.” And with that, he went back to his ship, leaving me weak in the knees, my mind filled with him and passion and explosions.
When I finally came to my senses, I turned and walked back home, legs feeling like jelly. There was an aching, a longing, a need filling my body.
The next morning I packed furiously and quietly. My little dome was separated from the guardians’ personal bedroom domes, but nonetheless, I had to be careful.
I programmed one of my pods with a few phrases of mine, requesting to stay in bed and not leave my room and “no, I’m fine” and a few others.
My little suitcase was ready to go, along with an entire toolbox.
I programmed two drones to wait ten minutes before flying them to the ships. I had to distract my godmothers first. I went into the kitchen where Lusan and Aimsir Shona were in an argument, and Karratha sat staring into a cookbook looking confused. My godmothers, each with large pointed ears, were very sweet ladies. Aimsir Shona was a shade of opalescent blue and white, her skin as marbled as a precious gem, Lusan was a very vibrant pink color with kind eyes, and Karratha was jade, her hair like the strands of leaves on a willow tree. They claimed to be cousins, however, I didn’t see how that was possible with such, uh, varying genetics. They were eccentric at times, but sweet, and they raised me, taught me and kept me entertained when needed.
I felt a little stab of guilt at having to leave them, but they would never let me go. I longed to see anything other than this little moon. I longed for adventure, more kisses, other planets, to boldly go where no man has gone before, to never give up, never surrender, and I would never get any of those things should I stay here.
I took down some cups and bowls from the cupboard and walked over to where the dining table was set into the circular wall of the dome. “Need some help?” I offered Karratha.
“Oh, no dear,” she said kindly, but I could tell she was smiling through distress. “I am determined to get this myself. After years and years on this planet, I would expect myself to be able to bake something decent by now!” She huffed. “Why don’t you run along, and I’ll be done with this shortly, hmm?”
“All right.” I smiled at her and left the dome.
Outside, the sky was bright. The planet beside our moon was bright and orange and grey in the sky, very visible. Though to them, this was nothing more than a flat grey moon, dead and lifeless. No reason for anyone to come up here. Apparently some of the best programmers had been used to construct this little safehold for me.
I scurried over to the ship, excited to see August and kiss him and fly away with him.
His ship looked all ready to go, shiny and unblemished.
“August!” I called softly. “August, let’s go!”
The little crow that sometimes came to see me cawed from up on high. I looked up, smiling at it, and the world faded to blackness.
Chapter 3
Aurora Intelligence aka A.I.
Definition: “Abstraction”. noun. “The process of removing physical, spatial, or temporal details.” This was the definition read out to me, once upon
a time, upon my programing and my uploading into the interstellar system. They didn’t need a human controlling their communications, their shipments, their secrets. They needed a brain. An intelligence. And that was all I was. A shapeless ghost, temporal, that they could trust.
“Replay feedback.” Ben Crow, his croaky voice low, came through voice command. I rewound the video, and Ben leaned in towards the screen, his face right up close to mine. He watched again as the man in black had stolen aboard one of their ships, disarmed their alarms and booby traps, and closed most of the doors to the main corridor. He ran along the corridor to the motherboard of the control system, disappeared inside the sliding door, hacked into the ships systems and took several of the CPUs that were hooked up, and then left without meeting a single guard while the rest of the ship was in chaos.
“Again,” he requested, his hand stroking his dark five o’clock shadow, eyes narrowed.
“With respect, I have scanned through the video several times already, and if I am unable to detect a DNA sample or eyeball or fingerprint or, or, or, I don’t think you will be able to,” I said, my voice coming through the speakers on his end.
Ben scrunched up his face and then slapped his hands down on his knees. He took his head in his hands, scratching his little black horns, then stood up, pacing the room. “Well, what are we supposed to do then?” he said exasperatedly. Ben had a very thick Cockney accent, so even when he was mad, it was kind of hot. “I can’t report this, and neither can you!”
“I know, I know, and we won’t have to,” I said in my calm voice. Calm was just about the only voice pattern I could make. I had tried others, sexy, angry, grieving, and I could do them, to be sure, but there was something so…tai chi about the calm tone that I stuck with it. Not to mention, it seemed appropriate to my job. You know, being an AI and all that fun stuff.
Ben stopped pacing and folded his arms, looking at the camera with obvious confusion. “Whatchu mean, ‘we won’t have to’? O’course we’ll have to. We can’t hide something like this! ’Rora, she probably already knows!”