Defying Death

by Cynthia Sax

  She had almost been silenced permanently. When the humanoid had pressed his gun against Tifara’s forehead, Death’s vision system had turned red. Her death would have finished him, ending not only any hope of happiness but also his lifespan.

  Because he couldn’t live without her. She had asked him if he cared. Cared? That word was too weak, too flimsy to describe how he felt. She held his beating heart in her small hands.

  If any of their enemies knew that, they’d target her.

  A stone skittered. “We’re being watched.” He raised his guns.

  According to his lifeform scan, the being was tall and slender and had breasts. He didn’t like killing precious females but experience had shown him that they could be fierce fighters, opponents to be wary of.

  “No killing.” Tifara slapped his back. “We know you’re watching us,” she yelled. “Show yourselves.”

  So much for the element of surprise. Death gritted his teeth.

  The being held up her hands and stepped out from behind a rock. “I’m Ada-971. Don’t hurt me.” She was humanoid with white hair, purple eyes and paler purple, almost white, skin. Her body was clad in white animal skins. Her legs and arms were toned, her muscles lean.

  “She’s female.” Tifara cast him a dark glance. “Of course, she’s watching us. You exude aerosols that attract the opposite sex. We’re unable to resist you.”

  Death eyed Ada-971. The clone wasn’t his female. She didn’t interest him.

  “Ummm…I can resist him.” Ada-971 lowered her hands. A gun was tucked into the waistband of her leather ass covering.

  Death twitched his guns and she raised her hands again.

  “You can’t resist him.” Tifara’s lips twisted. “I know. I tried and failed. Look at him.” She waved at him. “He’s all sculpted muscle and dominant male, designed to make you want to touch him, to breed with him.”

  He stood taller. His cock pressed against his body armor, his body wanting to breed with his female right now.

  “That touching spreads the virus inside him,” his little medic continued. “Which would destroy anyone and everyone you care about.”

  Some of his desire deflated. Some but not all. His cock remained as hard as a dagger. His fraggin’ female had that effect on him.

  The clone female’s eyes widened. “You have a virus?”

  “Yes,” Tifara answered. “But don’t concern yourself. It’s transmitted by touch.”

  That didn’t seem to reassure Ada-971. Her gaze flicked from Tifara to him and then back to Tifara. “I’ll have to risk infection. We need a medic.”

  “You need me.” His female’s forehead furrowed with thought lines. “You don’t desire my male?”

  My male. It was a struggle to control the happiness within him. She was verbally claiming him.

  “Physical desire is not permitted on Carinae E.”

  “But you feel it,” Tifara pressed.

  “I recognize his worthiness as a potential mate.” Ada-971 shifted, her gaze darting between them, as though she was weighing the words she shared. “But I feel no desire.”

  “Nothing?” Disbelief lilted his female’s voice.

  “Nothing.”

  His stubborn little medic didn’t trust the other female’s word. She extracted the private viewscreen he’d modified for her and scanned Ada-971. Her forehead furrowed with lines. “There’s no increase in body temperature or genitalia lubrication.”

  Ada-971’s face turned a deeper shade of purple.

  “Stand closer to Ada-971,” Tifara instructed.

  Death complied.

  “Her body isn’t responding, not like mine does. Hmmm…” Her humming curled around his balls as it always did. “You were attracted to me based on my genetic material. It appears my attraction to you has the same base.”

  “You’re my female.” He’d been trying to tell her that since they had met.

  “Yes. Yes.” She waved the private viewscreen. “I’m your female and you’re my male. But now, we better understand the science behind that.”

  “Ummm…” The clone female’s arms shook.

  “She could be an exception, though.” His little medic was her own world, pacing back and forth, kicking up sand, heedless of the danger around her.

  Death kept a close eye on her, ensuring she didn’t go far, and he scanned the area around them, confirming it was clear of lifeforms.

  “If there were more females,” Tifara mused. “We could expand the test.”

  “There’s another female in the cave.” Ada-971 indicated the wall of rock behind her. “You can expand your test while treating Ada-972.”

  “Yes.” Tifara’s eyes glowed. “Let’s do that.” She stepped forward.

  “Stop.” Death flung his arm across her chest. “You aren’t entering a cave filled with unknown beings.”

  “There’s only one female in the cave and she’s injured,” Ada-971 clarified.

  “You’re a big strong warrior. You can protect me from one injured female.” Tifara pushed against his arm.

  Her faith in his abilities pleased him but the situation wasn’t as simple as she believed. “Other beings could enter the cave, trapping us.”

  “They won’t,” Ada-971 assured him. “This territory isn’t inhabited. Very few beings transverse it.”

  “We’ve already met with three males this planet rotation,” Death remarked dryly.

  “They were hunting us.” Anger edged the female’s voice. “They tell themselves it is an act of compassion. Not many exiles survive in this landscape.”

  “Exiles?” Tifara’s eyebrows lifted.

  “Ada-972 was exiled due to her injuries. I chose to join her.”

  “She was exiled because she was injured?” His female appeared shocked.

  Death wasn’t. The Humanoid Alliance decommissioned, killed, any cyborgs who were damaged during training exercises, deeming them defective.

  Exile would have been a kindness.

  “Injuries aren’t allowed. It’s a sign of genetic weakness.” Ada-971’s gaze slid to him. “If you hadn’t killed Ric-954, Ric-955, and Ric-956, they would have been exiled also, and then hunted as we were.”

  Tifara gazed at him also, her expression contemplative. “You saved them from that fate.”

  Death shifted his weight, uncomfortable with the attention. He wasn’t a hero, far from it. He hadn’t killed them out of kindness but out of anger. They’d touched his female, had threatened to end her life.

  “If injuries aren’t allowed, how are you treating her?” His little medic’s attention returned, as it always did, to her area of expertise.

  Ada-971 said nothing.

  “You aren’t treating her. Oh, no.” Tifara slid her hand in his. “Death, we have to help.” Her fingers trembled. “Even a scratch can lead to a lifespan-ending infection.”

  “Helping her doesn’t benefit us.” He planned to return to the three dead males’ camp and raid their supplies. They should have sufficient nutrition bars to nourish Tifara until they reached the next viable planet. “It will also put you in danger.”

  “She must be in so much pain.” His female’s eyes were wide and pleading.

  Death jutted his jaw. He wouldn’t relent. To do so would be a mistake and he’d already made too many of those.

  “She’s a female, Death.” Tifara looked up at him. “She doesn’t have a medic or a big, strong male to protect her. What if that female were me? What if I was in excruciating pain? Wouldn’t you help me?”

  He’d battle the entire Humanoid Alliance to repair her damage.

  “Death?” A sheen of moisture covered her eyes.

  That struck the deciding blow, rendering him helpless to refuse her. He glared at the clone female, blaming her for this complication. “Give me your weapons.”

  Ada-971 disarmed. Death added her gun and three small knives to his collection.

  “Ada-972 will discard her weapons also.” He barked instructions. “You’ll
leave them outside the cave. I’ll enter before my female does.” He’d scan the area around them to ensure no other beings entered the territory. “If you threaten her in any way, I’ll kill you.”

  “Yes, yes, she knows you’ll kill her.” Tifara waved her hands.

  “I saw what you did to the males,” the clone female confirmed. “You tore Ric-954’s limbs off.”

  “He shouldn’t have touched me.” His softhearted medic defended his lethal actions.

  Death looked at her, shocked. Had she accepted the violence, the killing, that dark, hard part of him?

  She ducked under his arm, avoiding his gaze. “I assume you’re a clone, as Ada-972 is.”

  Tifara spoke with the clone female, her voice lilting with interest, warming with friendship.

  She had no sense of caution, trusting every being she met. A male had threatened to kill her and she had pleaded for mercy for him.

  She was now treating this strange female as a close friend.

  Death shook his head and followed them. They chattered. He scanned their surroundings while keeping one eye on Tifara’s swaying ass.

  She talked about cloning and genetics, asking questions about the discovery a being called the original had made. That breakthrough had allowed the genetic code to be boosted, solving the deterioration problem that had plagued scientists for solar cycles.

  His female didn’t attempt to be quiet, the heels of her boots clunking against the sand, her voice carrying over the landscape. Her gun was tucked in her pocket, the metal handle reflecting the sunlight.

  She trusted him to protect her.

  And he would. With his life, if that was needed.

  He smelled the cave before he saw the entrance. His nose twitched. The putrid scent of rotting flesh filled the air.

  Tifara smelled it also. Her top lip curled slightly and her face paled. Her gaze met his, her eyes wide with a silent plea.

  Her lack of words communicated how rattled she was. She needed his help.

  Death squared his shoulders. “We’ll wait here while you instruct the damaged female to disarm,” he said to Ada-971, taking command of the situation.

  The clone female looked at Tifara, then at him, nodded and entered the cave.

  As soon as she disappeared from view, Tifara flung herself into his arms. “Death, the smell.” Her lush form shook. “It reminds me of the outbreak, of my family, the loss. I was alone and, the rotting corpses were all around me, staring at me with wide soulless eyes and—”

  “Hush, my female.” He curved his body protectively around hers, trying to save her from her past. “You’re not that offspring anymore. You’re a grown female and you have me now. You’re not alone. You’ll never be alone.”

  “I know that stench. It’s the scent of death, of rot to the bone,” she whispered into his chest. “What if I’m too late? What if I can’t save her? What if I fail this patient as I’ve failed others—my mother, my brothers, my friends?”

  His female continued to torture herself over past deaths and that yanked at Death’s heart. “You’re the best medic I’ve ever met.” He stroked her wild curls, seeking to comfort her. “If you can’t save this female, I know no being who could.”

  “You believe so?” She peeked up at him.

  “I know so.” He pressed his lips to her forehead.

  “I’m truly the best medic you’ve ever met?”

  “Yes.”

  “You think I can do this?”

  “I know you can,” he assured her, not knowing exactly what ‘this’ she was referring to.

  “I am the best medic you’ve ever met.” Confidence firmed her voice.

  “You are.”

  There was a long pause. Death could almost see his female’s big brain working.

  “Wait a moment.” Lines appeared between her eyebrows. “You’re a cyborg. How many other medics have you met?”

  None. She had been his first.

  Ada-971 exited the cave before he had to answer. She hefted a pack filled with weapons. The females had clearly taken as much as they could carry when they were exiled.

  “This is all of it.” She plunked the pack down by the entrance. “We will be at your mercy completely.”

  “We won’t hurt you,” Tifara spoke for both of them.

  As long as they didn’t threaten her, that would be the truth.

  “Let’s do this.” She clasped his hand.

  Knowing how hard this would be for his female, Death allowed that visible sign of caring, giving her the reassurance of his touch.

  He scanned the interior of the cave. There was only one lifeform—a female humanoid and she was horizontal, unlikely to be a threat to his female.

  Death walked into the cave with his Tifara. He ducked, the overhang at the entrance low.

  His vision system immediately adjusted to the dimly lit space. Tifara, being human, stopped, her vision system requiring more time.

  A female lay flat on the stone. Her face was beaded with sweat, her white hair damp, her lips chapped and bleeding. The rancid smell originated from her.

  “I’m Tifara.” His female snapped her hand coverings, renewing them. “I’m a medic. This is Death.”

  “Death?” Both of the females stared at him.

  “He’s not as scary as his name suggests.” Tifara’s smile didn’t conceal the concern in her eyes.

  Death frowned. He was as scary as his name suggested.

  “He’ll assist me. As I hope you will also, Ada-971.” She moved to the damaged female’s side. “Where is her injury?”

  “No.” The damaged female continued to stare at him. “Males cannot look upon a female’s form.” Her fingers twitched, plucking at her ragged leg coverings. “It is forbidden.”

  “We’re exiled, Ada-972,” the other female reminded her, her voice soft. “The rules no longer apply to us. Even if they did, I doubt your injury will inspire lust in this young male’s heart.”

  Ada-972 gazed at him, her concern palpable.

  “Tifara is my female,” he announced. “She’s the only being I will ever lust after. I want her and only her to suck my cock.”

  The clone females inhaled sharply. Tifara turned bright red.

  Death didn’t know what he had said wrong. They talked of lust. He did also.

  “Fornication is forbidden.” Ada-972 attempted to lift her right hand, winced and set it back down on the rock. “It sullies our genetics and adds impurities to our species.”

  “I don’t think he cares,” the other female informed her. She tugged on the damaged female’s garments. “I should have stripped her before I gave up my dagger.”

  “Males cannot look—”

  “We know, Ada-972.” Ada-971 stopped her clone sister’s protests.

  Tifara looked at him, her gaze dropping pointedly to the dagger strapped to his side. Death hesitated and then handed it to her.

  He would help, but he suspected touching a female’s form was forbidden also.

  Ada-972 continued to watch him, her pain-glazed eyes filled with worry. He understood her fixation on the rules, had seen the same fixation in his brethren doomed to be decommissioned. They’d hoped that adherence to all of the other rules would compensate for the one they’d broken.

  Their hopes had been misplaced. They were always decommissioned, killed in the most painful way imaginable.

  The damaged female’s adherence wouldn’t reverse her exile either. That was malfunctioning logic.

  Death said nothing. He crossed his arms and braced his booted feet apart, guarding the entrance to the cave, as the females worked.

  “I’m assuming that cloning is your sole means of reproduction.” His female chattered as she examined her patient. “How do you decide how many females and how many males will be cloned?”

  “The original decided at the beginning of existence.” The question temporarily distracted Ada-972. “He knows all, sees all.”

  “Three of each line are cloned.” The other fe
male ignored her. “That ensures one of the beings lives a full lifespan.”

  “If that one being didn’t defy the rules and join the other in exile,” Ada-972 grumbled. “I didn’t ask you to make that sacrifice.”

  “You didn’t have to.” Ada-971 bent over and kissed the damaged female’s dirty forehead. “We have always been together. We will always stay together.”

  “That isn’t possible. I’ll die.”

  “You won’t die,” the clone female snapped. “I’ve found you a medic.”

  “Medics are forbidden.”

  “Nothing is forbidden. We’re free of all rules.”

  The two females nattered back and forth, paying no attention to Tifara. They didn’t notice when his little medic uncovered the wound and her face froze. They didn’t hear her whisper his name.

  Death heard her and she didn’t have to ask twice for him. He rushed at cyborg speed to her side, wrapped an arm around her waist, steadying her swaying body.

  He gazed downward. The original damage, a gash deep on the clone female’s upper thigh, might have been reparable several planet rotations ago. Now, the entire leg was rotted, dead.

  Tifara moved more of the female’s garment aside.

  Fraggin’ hole. The rot stretched across her hip, over her stomach.

  There was no repairing that. Even a total relay of his nanocybotics wouldn’t reverse the damage done. They couldn’t reanimate dead flesh.

  The female would die.

  “Can you help her?” Ada-971 gazed at his female, hope in her eyes, expecting Tifara to fix everything, to bring the being she loved back to full functionality.

  Death hadn’t realized the importance of Tifara’s role. Designed for battle, cyborgs were treated like machines by the Humanoid Alliance. No one missed them when they died. No one cried. No one pleaded for one more moment.

  Was that still true? He lowered his face and breathed in the scent of Tifara’s hair. Would his female miss him if he died?

  He wanted to be missed. It wasn’t logical but he did.

  “I’ll help her as much as I can.” His little medic’s voice was low and soothing, her sadness and frustration detectable only to him, who knew her so well. “There’s an injector gun in my pack. The first thing we’ll do is stop her pain.”