by Lucas, Naomi
Getting to travel around the universe, seeing exotic faraway places that others couldn’t because of travel restrictions, tasting new food, meeting new people… It was a dream.
Someone else’s dream.
Coming upon the lounge, she peeked in to see if Daniels was within. He wasn’t, which meant he was either in his room, the gym, or in the bridge. She’d have to be careful. Excuses ran through her mind, in case she was caught lurking.
She lingered on the lounge for a moment, eyeing the cleaning bots lasering the floor. There was a round table in the center and two booths to the left. The rest of the room was covered in food replicators of different varieties and activity stations to relieve boredom. It was the far wall that kept her rooted in place, though, where there was a porthole.
Outside, she could see Luxor Port, and the vast wasteland-like moon sprawling beyond. Huge, industrial buildings littered as far as the eye could see. From them, smoke plumed into a hazy pink sky like spiraling pillars. Drones and skiffs flew between them.
Luxor was a dreary place. Most moons were.
Alexa turned from the lounge, glanced at the gym across the way, and kept going. Ahead, she could see the hatch at the end of the hall that opened to the bridge. Before that was a series of closed doors that were more rooms used for housing the crew. Including one filled with dormant androids if the need for them ever arose.
All the doors were closed except one.
Her brow furrowed.
Hysterian’s room was open.
Alexa glanced behind her. She was alone.
I saw Hysterian leave. There’s no way he got past me. Why is his door open? Is it being cleaned?
She heard shuffling within. Instead of turning back and fleeing to the laboratory like she probably should—because it could be Hysterian and then she would have to explain herself again and he probably wouldn’t believe her. Alexa quietly tiptoed to the room.
She heard a bang followed by cursing.
“Fucking hell, where is it?”
Alexa stepped into the doorway to find Daniels rifling through cabinets at the back of the room.
“What are you doing?” she accused.
Daniels jumped, fear exploding in his eyes. When he caught sight of her, he straightened, stepping away from the drawers he’d been digging through. “Dear.”
“What are you doing?” she asked again, looking around the room pointedly. Multiple cabinets and drawers were open. Cabinets and drawers she would die to scrounge through herself to discover the secrets within.
But instead, it was Daniels doing it. Her lips pursed as her curiosity skyrocketed. Straight through the roof and into outer space.
“It’s not what it looks like.” He raised his hands. “Captain asked me to fetch his glock.”
She wasn’t buying it, not at all. “He needs another gun to pick up vaccines?” She’d seen Hysterian leave with a laser pistol.
“Don’t ask me why our captain wants another weapon. It’s not our place to question him.”
Fucker. I caught you red-handed.
“Right,” she agreed. “So he sent you into his quarters to retrieve it.”
Daniels scowled and pushed past her, striding out of the room. The door didn’t close behind him. Alexa turned, not wanting to lose sight of him. He was sneaking, like she was, but she didn’t know why he would be.
And that posed a problem. A big one.
If Daniels had an agenda, then they were bound to tangle. Why did he have an agenda? Was he looking for something of Hysterian’s or was he after the Cyborg like she was?
Alexa’s heart thundered. Were there others Hysterian had wronged? There had to be. She just never thought about it. Did everyone on the ship have an agenda?
Her eyes watered, staring at Daniels, unable to blink. Impossible.
But now Daniels had been caught, and cornered prey was the most likely to strike out. She finally blinked.
Daniels was halfway down the hallway toward the crew quarters when she spoke. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”
He stopped. “I’ll fucking kill you if you tell him,” he said, not turning back.
It wasn’t what she was expecting, but Alexa wasn’t surprised. “Tell me why you were really in his room.”
Shoulders stiff, his empty hands clenched at his sides. “None of your business, Dear. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll keep your mouth shut and stay out of my way. What I’m after doesn’t concern you.” He started walking again and went into his quarters, leaving her alone outside Hysterian’s room.
Alexa stood in the corridor for a few minutes, replaying what had just happened. Was there really someone else who had an ulterior motive? Though whatever Daniels was after, she had no idea whatsoever. If he wants Hysterian dead…then I might have an ally. Alexa shot down the thought the moment it went through her head.
I have no allies.
She couldn’t trust Daniels, not for a second. He could turn on her, use her, offer her up as a scapegoat if things went sour. And if Daniels had no intention of killing the Cyborg, she was practically putting herself naked on a platter if Daniels betrayed her.
For all she knew, her crewmate was just curious, snooping on a being who was viewed as a God to many people. Maybe he was looking for something to steal and sell to the highest bidder.
Maybe he was a Cyborg hater, seeking a way to undermine him.
Whatever Daniels was doing, it was best she kept out of it. Safer if she did so. The last thing Alexa needed was someone out to silence her when there was no possible escape.
Suddenly, the Questor got a little smaller. Alexa shook herself, forcing her body to move. She’d fallen into her head, waiting for Daniels to come out of his room and threaten her again, to see if he did something else. Fight or flight wasn’t something she dealt with often. Now that her curiosity was waning, all she wanted to do was run.
But…
Hysterian’s room’s open. She turned back to the Cyborg’s quarters.
Stepping to the threshold, she peered in, shaking with fear, but unable to let this opportunity go to waste.
Cabinets and drawers remained opened, but from where she stood, she couldn’t get a good look into any of them. And entering the room, with Daniels at her back, wasn’t something she was keen to do anyway.
He’ll know. Hysterian will know if I invade his space.
She wasn’t dumb. She was willing to take risks, but she wasn’t an idiot.
Though her coworker was. Daniels spelled his doom right before her eyes.
Our doom. If she didn’t play it safe.
Her fingers twitched with curiosity. There was a big, unused bed off to the left up the short steps in the back of the room. Up those same steps, in the second half of the room, was Hysterian’s personal lavatory on the right, same with a glass desk devoid of knickknacks, and a metal dresser with drawers attached to the wall.
In the front of the room was a seating area with a glass, oval table positioned before it, and a wall of shelves, also empty.
Nothing. Nothing was incriminating. At least nothing out in the open.
Alexa took a step back and jumped when two cleaning bots moved past her and into Hysterian’s room. One went straight for Hysterian’s drawers and closed them. She didn’t know why but she was relieved when the bots began cleaning the space.
It was time to leave.
She opted to skip the bridge. Every second she meandered was more of a risk than the last. Heart thundering, she darted past Daniels’s door, and once she made it to the lounge, she was breathing easier, wondering if the ship had cameras.
She wondered if Hysterian already knew everything. He could… There was no limit to what Cyborgs could do.
She also feared not knowing what Daniels was up to and if she needed to watch her back.
When she returned to the menagerie, the ship’s hatch opened, and the blast of pressurized air filled the room. Her pulse ratcheted up, and she wrenched her eyes close
d to calm down.
They’d come back much sooner than she expected.
Calm escaped her. Booted feet drew closer. And she knew by the way one of them walked that it was Hysterian and Horace returning, not Pigeon and Raul.
“Thank you for your help, Horace,” Hysterian said.
Horace grunted. “Just doing my job.”
“Are you going to join the others at the bar?”
“And spend money on drinks I could just make for free here? Fuck that.”
Alexa scurried to her desk and sat down just as Horace and Hysterian appeared. His eyes went straight to her, and she looked away, down at the briefcase in his hand. Palms slick with sweat, she twisted her hands in her lap.
“Understandable,” Hysterian murmured. “I’ll see you at the start of the next shift. Get some rest.”
“Have a good evening, Captain,” Horace said. He continued down the hall, leaving her and Hysterian alone.
Her face heating, Alexa wished she hadn’t taken so long upstairs. Still feeling the need to run, she thanked whatever god or devil ruled the spiritual plane that she had turned back when she did.
Hysterian made his way toward her, and she scrambled to her feet and hated that her computer screen was blank behind her, obviously unused. He knows. He has to know.
I didn’t do anything wrong.
If he doesn’t know now, he’s going to know soon that someone was in his room.
He saw me outside it.
He’ll think it was me…
A thousand more thoughts soared through her head as Hysterian came to a stop in front of her.
Keep your mouth shut. Alexa tore her eyes from the briefcase and looked up to meet Hysterian’s. “Captain,” she rasped in greeting.
He cocked his head, and her belly twisted. “Is something wrong, Dear? Your face is flushed. Are you getting sick?”
“No, Captain. I, uh...” She glanced around the room looking for an answer. Why wasn’t there anything when she wanted there to be something? “Just finished feeding the locusts.” It wasn’t quite a lie. She had fed them.
He stared at her.
Much longer than a normal person would.
Alexa hated Daniels more than Hysterian at that moment for putting her in this position.
“Are you sure you’re not sick?” he asked, his eyes narrowing.
She felt like a bug under a magnifying glass. “I’m pretty sure.”
She wasn’t ready to be caught. Or burned. Burned would be worse.
“Your heart is beating rapidly,” he stated as if it was normal for him to know that standing several feet away from her.
“The male locust scares me,” she said quickly. Also not a lie.
He finally took his eyes off her and looked at the creature. “Why?”
“He watches me,” Alexa said before she can stop herself.
Hysterian’s eyes returned to hers and the awkward silence that followed made her feel way worse.
“He can’t hurt you,” he said.
She swallowed. “I know.” Desperate to change the subject, she reached out. “Are those the vaccines? I’ve prepared a freezer slot for them.”
Slowly, far too slowly for Alexa’s comfort, Hysterian handed the briefcase to her. “Yes,” he said, eyeing her curiously.
When she had the briefcase in her hands, she held it to her chest. “I’ll take care of this.”
“You do that.”
Alexa turned and stiffly walked away, her joints suddenly glued together. She made quick work of securing the vaccines into their slot and prayed that when she turned back Hysterian would be gone.
Please be gone.
Please. Be. Gone.
When she turned, he was behind her.
Alexa startled. If today couldn’t get any better…
This was it. He was going to confront her about her snooping. She had to decide now if she was going to tell him about Daniels, lie, or come clean and hope Hysterian didn’t kill her.
To her shock, he didn’t say a word. Instead, for the second time that day, she was left in stunned silence.
Because Hysterian’s eyes weren’t dark, but bright and turquoise, unlike anything she’d ever seen, and his brow was beading with…
Sweat?
“Captain?”
Hysterian straightened, turned, and walked out of the room, and Alexa, once again, was rooted to the spot in confusion.
Five
Hysterian rested his head on the wall, pumping his cock. Warm water dribbled down his skin, washing his secretions away. With every thrust, the water was a little milder, with every pump, the water chilled ever more. His phantom female had jet black dyed hair.
He thrust faster. The water iced.
Fucking Nightheart. The Cyborg knew some of what Hysterian’s problem was, but not the full extent, just enough to pay the cost and develop a way to cure him. Still, it was enough to make sure the Questor had ample hot water. What kind of ship couldn’t keep the hot water going?
With another hard tug, Hysterian jerked away and leaned back against the bathing unit’s wall, glaring at the lack of steam filling the chamber. He turned the faucet off all while fucking his hand. The pressure was too much. Too much. His tongue snapped out of his mouth to hit the far wall. He drew it back in.
Disgusted, he came, spurting seed over the wet floor at his feet. Then it was gone, sucked into the drain. Breathing hard, he glowered. His cock remained hard in his palm.
Already, his systems were replenishing his seed, his secretions, everything. His body absorbed the moisture. He stopped ingesting liquids decades ago for that very reason. He squeezed his shaft as the bathing unit went awash in blue light.
He blinked, and the light diminished.
I need to upgrade the fucking water unit.
Hysterian leaned back again with a sigh, rolling his head to gaze at the ceiling. What I need is a sauna. He had one at his apartment in Oasis City. At the end of every cycle, he used it to sweat the day’s sins away.
The day’s druggies, the day’s vacant eyes of the enviable reaping that followed.
He pumped his cock slowly, thinking about it. The heat. The endless steam. The woman he imagined sucking him off within it, because he couldn’t see her. She swallowed his cock until it was lodged in her velvety throat, and from there she inhaled, squeezing him beautifully. She drank him down as if she were starved, dehydrated, needing only what he could give her.
He had so much to give. Too much.
His phantom female, that woman he craved, was always, always thirsty.
Hysterian closed his eyes, squeezing his shaft again. He could probably keep a woman alive on his body alone if he weren’t poisonous.
Black hair filled his head. Wet and long, plastered to dewy flesh. He pumped faster.
She was on her knees, gripping his root. He couldn’t see her face. He needed to see her face.
“Captain,” she moaned around his length.
Hysterian’s eyes shot open and cut downward. “Alexa?” It was her voice that rang in his ears.
Only his cock and his hand greeted him. Gritting his teeth, he got off one last time and fled from the lavatory.
Naked and dripping, he stood in his quarters, banishing Dear from his mind. He toweled off and dressed before he had a chance to grab his cock for another round. A half-dozen times was enough. It had to be. The day shift was starting soon. He didn’t know how he was going to focus on getting any work done. They weren’t due to land anywhere today, but his next job was only several days away. He was meeting with Titan’s ambassador about a problem with the local wildlife.
Giant bug-like beasts were killing locals who oversaw the mines. Titan requested allowance from the government to eradicate the bugs and clear the mines, but the government wouldn’t allow the locals to kill the creatures without first ensuring killing them wasn’t going to fuck up the ecosystem, or the resources they valued so much.
It was now his problem to assess and decid
e what was to be done. Including capturing and bringing back a female and male of this bug species for Titan’s scientists to study.
Hysterian shoved his collar up over his mouth and strode to the door, needing freedom from his space. But when he got to the barrier, he paused before allowing it to open.
If she’s standing outside my door again, I don’t know what I’ll do.
He already knew she wasn’t, but that initial surprise at seeing her there several weeks ago hadn’t left him. He was rarely surprised, and lately, he’d been surprised a lot.
There were secrets some of his crew were keeping from him.
Daniels had been in his room when Hysterian was picking up the vaccines with Horace.
Hysterian was also aware that Alexa had been here as well.
The ship’s cleaning bots could hide a lot, and if he’d been human, he might have missed the signs. When his door was triggered, he’d known immediately. He’d watched the whole thing from the security camera feed channeled into his head as it happened.
Daniels was a problem.
Hysterian hated problems.
Especially ones he couldn’t deal with adequately because he was stuck in the middle of space with witnesses. He’d planned to let Daniels go and force him to disembark on Luxor but had forgotten, losing himself in what was even worse…
Alexa Dear.
His mundane, worker bee stationed to oversee his living requisitions.
She blushed.
Her pulse had drummed in his ears the moment he’d returned, across the fucking room. He scented her fear, her anxiety.
Worst of all, he’d felt the heat her body gave off from those emotions. She was normally cold. It had stunted his mind long enough to forget about Daniels. His focus had been on Alexa.
Now his phantom woman had black hair.
Hysterian squeezed his brow, allowing the door to finally open. No one stood on the other side. He wasn’t sure if it was disappointment or relief he felt. A mixture of the two perhaps.
The bridge was empty. If he went there now, he could read his correspondence and review his new requisitions without watchful eyes. He could contact Titan and let them know he was several days away.