“You do not understand, gentlefem, we don’t have a --”
“Oh, World Wide Web!”
“Spare me the disgusting clichés!” His complaining interrupted her timely warnings, making her hide a gratified smile. She wanted him to feel a measure of the exasperation she was going through. “It’s bad enough I have to look at you -- Matrix knows I don’t want to listen to your hashed up, horrible Anglish, too. If you would just speak in standard, recognized --”
“Yeah, Bub, yada, yada, yada. Daylight’s burning and so is my pus --”
Her voice trailed off. Jaw dropping, mouth watering, she shot up out of her chair. Eyes glued to the office window, she gravitated toward the door, absently wiping at a line of drool. “Now that’s what I’m talking about! Holy guacamole, Batman, dinner is served! I want that one!”
Chapter Three
Aresti frowned. “One, what? What one? What are you talking about?”
“Close your lips, Charlie, you look like a fish. You know what one… The one that just passed by here, looking suspiciously like my Denzel unit!”
Ignoring Aresti’s sputtering demands for clarification, Marti hurried to the office door and flung it open. Holstering her laser, she took off down the hall.
“Wait!” she cried, chasing after the tall, broad, dark skinned, handsome male unit just disappearing around the corner. Behind her, the sounds of pursuit echoed. She ignored it, intent on narrowing the gap between her and her target. Sprinting around the corner seconds behind him, she reached out and snagged the flapping coat tails of the M.A.N. just before it passed through a doorway marked “Employees only.”
Locking her fist in the sturdy material, she dragged him back toward her, reeling him in like a giant flounder, all the while muttering and chuckling with glee.
“I just knew they had to have some working specimens running around in here,” she chortled, visually scanning the unit’s assets, prancing about in giddy excitement. “Oh, man, oh, man, oh, man! What lips… what a body… what an ass! And check out the size of that package!”
Heated, silky liquid flooded her womb, coated her pulsing vagina. Oh, she was ready for some hot action and this unit looked to be just the M.A.N. that could give her what she needed.
“Wow, you pretty baby, you look just like Denzel. Say something, anything -- tell me your name,” she demanded, holding her breath in anticipation of hearing Sean Connery’s dulcet tones.
“I look like Denzel because I am Denzel… which you undoubtedly know as you’ve just called me by name. How may I assist you, gentlefem?” The unit gazed down on her from its unusual height, a questioning eyebrow rising above dark brown eyes shadowed with thick lashes.
“Mhmm, shit and shinola! Not quite like Sean’s, but gravelly enough, I guess. I can live with two out of three --” She froze, struck by a horrible thought. “Hey, wait! You can fuck, can’t you?”
“Gentlefem!”
“I mean, for a long time… hard and deep, too. I like it hard and furious and I haven’t had any for so long I can hardly remember what it feels like. So, you’re not gonna like… peter out on me, right?”
“Peter out?” The unit sounded stiff and affronted.
“Gee, I really like how they make you guys respond so realistically. I hope you can give good romance while fucking ‘cause that’s what’s wrong with a dildo, you know. A girl likes to hear the sexy, soft words so she can get off… but only while humping, mind you,” she hastened to clarify, worried anyone listening might think her a girlie-girl. What would the guys in her combat team think of their bad-assed colonel needing softness and candlelight? Hell, if they ever caught wind of that, they’d laugh her out the corps for sure.
Marti relaxed with a heartfelt sigh. Everything was going to be all right. Turning to wink at the huffing Aresti, she flipped him the high five sign. “You’re a damned tease, Aresti. I have to admit you really scored one on me, making me believe that cockamamie story about not filling my order.”
She ran her hands over the android’s wide chest, narrow waist, and tight, firm buns. “With results like this, I can excuse a little lateness.”
Boldly cupping the thick ridge under the thin cloth of dress slacks, measuring the heft and girth of his instantly growing equipment, she chortled. “Oh, hell yeah! This is more than a quarter-pound after grilling. Ooh, I can’t wait to bite into this Big Mac… ouch!”
A hand with the strength of a steel girder clamped over hers, halting her brazen examination, dangerously close to cutting off the flow of blood. “You have not been given permission to handle my sexual organs.”
She looked up into narrowed eyes and smiled widely, pleased with this further evidence of her unit’s A.I. capabilities. “Good job!” she praised, using her free hand to pat his imprisoning hand, nodding in gleeful approbation. “This is exactly the way I want you to respond if another female grabs you. I am the only one who gets to fondle my merchandise. I want you all to myself… I paid entirely too much to share you. By the Matrix, I hope you have one of those new cold fusion batteries installed in you, because I could seriously wear out the Ever-running Battery Bunny doing the featherbed jig with you.”
Her eyes flicked up and down and she licked her lips, scanning the muscular build of the cocoa-tinted M.A.N., excitement building in her as she visualized him… it… bending her over the arm of her lounging couch and thrusting his long dark cock into her hungry sex as she screamed her way through three or four orgasms. “I have a lot of fucking to catch up on.”
Aresti slapped his forehead and exclaimed aloud, “Good grief, I’ve just figured it out! You’re a damned retro-addict!”
Her hand still clamped around her M.A.N.’s thick cock, despite his attempts to remove it, Marti turned to snarl at her nemesis. “Say that with a smile on your face, dude, or you’ll be sucking air between those pearly whites. You just better be glad you were kidding me about not having my M.A.N.”
“Do you think you could possibly conduct a conversation without all the threats and ancient historical lingo? A person could go crazy trying to puzzle out your meaning.”
“Tough. Get a life and get over it. I have a Masters in ancient lingo and I ain’t afraid to use it. You know what they say… use it or lose it.”
“You cannot have him… uh… this unit. He… it… is not available. He, uh, hasn’t been fully programmed yet.”
The unit snapped his head around to glare at the executive. “Aresti, why the fuck are you talking about me like I’m a --”
“Silence, Denzel. Never talk to a human in that tone of voice.”
“Hey, don’t you tell my M.A.N. how he can talk,” Marti protested, frowning, her irritation with Aresti returning with interest.
Soothing her towering hunk with gentle pats of her hand on his massive chest, she gave an encouraging squeeze to his cock with the hand still imprisoned in his iron grasp.
“You have my permission to talk any way you want to, Denzel, honey,” she crooned, ignoring the continued pain to her wrist.
“Please go into the office, Denzel. I wish to speak with your… ahem… gentlefem Colonel Harmon before I decide if we will allow her to take delivery.”
His voice sounded strained. Marti attributed it to his embarrassment over not having yet properly programmed the unit with the correct android/human protocols.
“Allow? You don’t allow me, I allow you!” The unit named Denzel glared at gentlehom Aresti. Its beautiful dark brown eyes squinted in realistic anger, its full, manly lips folded tight in grim disapproval.
Marti shook her head in awe. Damn, but the seamlessness of the unit’s technology is impressive.
“Five minutes,” it snapped. “Then you better come and tell me what the hell you’ve gotten us into this time.”
Chapter Four
Chad Aresti slipped into his office ten minutes later, wiping nervous sweat off his brow.
“I am so very afraid to ask what that was all about,” Denzel Wattana snarled, indicatin
g the hallway and the absent female with a wave of his hand.
Skidding to a halt in front of his friend, Chad began making excuses. “Look, no need to give me that frosty accusing glare. This is as much your fault as it is mine!”
Denzel slowly shook his head. “Not this time. I won’t be taking the blame for whatever you’ve done, Chadwick Leonardo Aresti. Come clean and tell me what the fuck is going on.”
Shamefacedly averting his eyes from his partner’s, Aresti sank down onto his chair, his face chalky with stress.
“That female was… is… Colonel Martini Harmon -- daughter of the Brigadier General Thalassic Harmon. Gentlefem Colonel Harmon is currently the most decorated gung ho war hero since her ancestress, Palmas, who led the Mars resistance. She is also the most stubborn, rude, insistent person I have ever had the misfortune to deal with.”
Denzel folded his arms over his chest and leaned against his business partner’s desk, remembering the electrifying shock of her soft, small hand gripping his hardening penis. “I thought she was kinda cute.” He grinned. “Other than her alarming penchant of latching onto protuberant body parts, she seemed harmless enough.”
Spearing his friend and partner with a penetrating stare, Chad shook his head in disgust. “Granted, she has a killer body, but cute… harmless? A kraken-cub is cute until it morphs and rips your throat out. That female is far from cute, Den, and she is also far from harmless. Take my word for it, buddy…”
The black man sighed. “Then why are we dealing with her?”
At Aresti’s guilty silence, Denzel released a deep groan. “Please tell me you didn’t promise this gentlefem a M.A.N., Chad. I haven’t even finished the new design modifications yet. Besides, you know the government has ordered us to cease all manufacture of any A.I. units until this class-action court case is decided, one way or another.”
“Her order was placed and accepted before the court case, but we don’t have her money to give back.”
“What do you mean, we don’t have her money? I thought we’d already refunded everyone with an unfilled order.”
Chad deflected his gaze by shuffling the papers on his desk, a habit Den knew he’d picked up to avoid meeting his eyes whenever they discussed Den’s physical difficulties.
“We tried, but couldn’t reach her. Turns out, she was off-planet. Since the banks were going to freeze our accounts anyway, I paid for the latest series of modifications to your… um… penile pumping equipment with her money. Now, she’s back, and determined to leave here with a M.A.N., her money, or my head on a platter.”
“How can you blame her? You tell me she’s been out on the fringes fighting these last two years. She probably flitted in straight from the front since she’s still wearing her uniform. That uniform really shows off her body, doesn’t it?”
Licking his lips, he recalled her lush, pert breasts and wide hips -- the only hints of feminine softness visible in the military clothing -- and imagined peeling her out of her formfitting gray tunic and short pants, discovering what sensual delights the severe uniform hid. His gut tightened and a renewed stirring in his cock had his slacks tenting.
“I didn’t notice, pal. Obviously, that kind of hard body floats your boat. It sinks mine!”
“Whatever. I feel sorry for her, wish we could help her,” Den admitted. “Unfortunately, we don’t have a unit under production, let alone ready for her type of, uh, consumption.”
“I know that, Den. She doesn’t know it, though. She thinks you are a M.A.N. unit. When you clamped down on her wrist with your baridiium-enhanced strength, you pretty much cinched the deal in her mind.”
Denzel came upright. “What the hell are you saying?”
Chad opened his mouth and Den flung up a hand. “On second thought -- stop! I think I know what merchandise you’re going to try to sell me and I don’t want any part of it. I won’t go along with you, not this time. The idea is insane as well as being dishonest.”
Aresti came to his feet. “Just hear me out, okay?”
“Hear you out? How many times have I heard you out, Chad? I heard you out when you convinced me to take that hopper to Venus and got us trapped there doing enforced labor for two solar rotations. I heard you out when you convinced me to raid my mother’s -- my priestess mother’s -- sacred historical scrolls for the formula for pancakes, and do you remember the bucket of shit you dropped us in that time? I’m too scared to hear you out on this…”
“Man, if you’d just listen…”
“No, Chad, hell, no!”
“She just needs a good fucking!”
“Then you give her one.” Even as he said it, something within him bristled in jealous reaction.
“She doesn’t want me, she wants you. Don’t try to snow me that you aren’t interested in her. That wasn’t my flagpole rising in the hallway, Den. Speaking of flagpoles, I didn’t see you palm that pump control even once. How’d I miss seeing that?”
Denzel met Chad’s curious eyes, frozen in shock. “Shit! I didn’t press the pump. It rose on its own.” His knees weakened as he recalled how hard her touch had gotten him. “Oh, shit, Chad… my penis rose on its own! Do you know what this means?”
Chad stopped pushing long enough to celebrate with his best and longest known friend. Sporting a warm smile, he said, “Yeah, buddy, I know. Congratulations.”
“She gave me an erection. The first technically-unassisted one I’ve had since the accident,” Den whispered, closing his eyes and breathing deeply. When he opened them, his eyes swam with the threatening moisture of tears.
“I tell you, man, you should explore this. If Martini Harmon makes your dick hard, you should see what else she might do for you. This could be the beginning of your healing process.”
“What are we talking about, here? What do you expect me to do with this female?”
“Anything and everything you and she want. You can fool her easily. She doesn’t know shit about M.A.N. units. With all the Biotec enforcing we’ve done to protect your bones and structural skeleton, you should scan as an android -- human skin over an exoskeleton of baridiium. We both know you find her sexually exciting. Go home with her. All you have to do is give her what she wants for ten days. After that, she has to return to her unit. Once she leaves, we can string her along until the court case is settled. By the time she gets dirtside from her next duty, we should have her money or her M.A.N.”
“It doesn’t seem fair to her. Why not just tell her we don’t have a unit available and explain why?”
“Listen, she doesn’t care about any of that. All she wants is a cock attached to a warm body and a mouth that can spout sweet nothings in her ear as she gets shafted.”
Den grit his teeth. “I don’t like the disdainful way you’re treating her plain speaking, Chad. There’s nothing wrong with her admitting her needs and taking the correct actions to see those needs met. That was why I designed and you produced the M.A.N. units in the first place. The Scarth incursions left too many females mateless.”
“Too true, and I’m not disdainful, Den, just not interested. She’s too hard assed for me. Did I tell you she pulled a laser on me? I don’t mind telling you she scared the hell out of me! Damned female aimed the laser right at my cherry picker and I know she would have used it if she hadn’t been distracted by you passing by. Thank the stars you did!”
A smile tugged at the corner of Den’s lips. “She’s a gutsy little thing. Did you see how she latched onto my cock? A sonic blast wouldn’t have shaken her loose.”
Chad guffawed sarcastically. “Huh! You are the only one I know who could call that female ‘little.’ She towers over me.” He shuddered. “Damn, you have to do this for me, Den. She threatened to fuck me if we couldn’t find her a unit to use while we brought hers up to speed. You know I don’t do alpha females.” Another shudder ripped through him. “If you could see the pictures playing across my mind…”
“I have to admit I liked what I saw. She has a strong, beautiful body
that reminds me of the ancient Amazons my mom used to tell me tales of.”
“The what?”
“The Amazons were an ancient tribe of warrior women capable of fighting as ferociously as men. They took no husbands, but kidnapped and sexually enslaved the strongest males --”
“Yeah, yeah, enough of that, already… See, you would be perfect with gentlefem Harmon. She’s into all that retro shit you’ve been breast-fed by your mother.”
“Yes, it looks like having a mother who is the High Priestess of Historical Sanctity and Cultural Holiness might come in handy. She certainly bailed your sorry rump out of more trouble than we can count on two hands.”
Chad came around the desk and thumped him on the shoulder. “Look, Den, I know how you must feel about this, but couldn’t you consider it research? It will only be ten days before she has to report off-planet. I swear, we’ll tell the colonel the truth when she gets back from the front. By then, we’ll have either her money or her M.A.N.”
“Ten days…” Den caught his bottom lip between strong teeth and worried it thoughtfully. “I don’t know if I can string this out that long. What if I blow it somehow?”
“Man, you won’t. You only have to do whatever she commands and have a wild time indulging in all the sex you can handle.”
“What if I can’t achieve another erection?”
“Then you use the pump thing. That’s why we had it put in. No performance anxieties for you -- just press the side of your thumb and voilà -- instant hard on.”
He landed a sucker punch on Den, his balled fist bouncing off the solid planes of his partner’s fit stomach. “I envy you being able to keep it up as long as you want. Boy, to have that ability… I might undergo the procedure, myself.”
Denzel snorted. “Yeah, I’m sure all this nonexistent sex I’m having is worth all the pain of the last two years of surgeries and rehab. Come on, Chad, cut me some slack, why don’t you? Even with the current shortage of men, where are all the horny females waiting to jump my bones?”
Women of Steel 1: Marti Gets Her M.A.N. Page 2