by Marie Dry
So far the cyborgs hadn’t shown any great interest in owning things and didn’t seem to understand humans’ attachment to inanimate objects.
“I left some things here, but there are clothes I will need that we have to take now.” She’d stocked up on less cumbersome clothes. And a few sets of underwear she knew Balthazar would appreciate.
Aurora braced and stepped into the flaming doorway that suddenly appeared without Balthazar doing anything that she could see. She’d never get used to going through the dimensional doorway.
Like that first time, they stepped out of the triangle and into a shuttle. Unlike that first time Balthazar held her as they both watched Earth recede.
On the mother ship, she and Balthazar went straight to the mess hall. “I want to show them the blue in my ryhov. It will give them hope,” he said as they walked through the corridors.
She smiled up at him as the doors of the mess hall opened. “You are a great leader, Balthazar. The other cyborgs are lucky to have someone with your good heart in command.”
They sat down at their usual place.
“Being with you makes me happy, Balthazar.”
“I am happy to be with you as well. I love you, Aurora.”
She stared at him and wiped away at the tears that trickled down her cheeks. “Happy tears,” she explained when he seemed alarmed. She’d never thought he’d say the words, that he would be capable of understanding the emotion he felt for her. “I love you too, Balthazar, so much I don’t know how to hold it in my body.” This time, it was easy to say it.
He kissed her and only stopped, with obvious reluctance, when the crew stomped in.
They turned with that precise synchronized movement and went to sit down. Aurora knew the moment that they saw Balthazar’s ryhov. They all froze, as if she’d used the off code on them again.
“My human gave me a soul,” Balthazar said with pride.
“You have my congratulations,” Nebuchadnezzar said.
Very little food was consumed during breakfast. Aurora enjoyed the questions and excitement that flew around the mess hall. The suppressed air of hope energized her. Though it did worry her that most of them talked about the day their humans would give them their souls. She could only pray that, in time, they’d develop ryhov with blue threads.
Balthazar stood. “I have to take my human to the observation deck, and this ship will not run itself.”
Immediately, everyone trooped out. She sighed and went with him to the hated observation deck.
Aurora stopped inside the door of the observation deck. Ever since she came on board, she’d hated this room--the feeling of having nothing underneath her to save her from falling to Earth.
While Balthazar had obsessed about the wasp, she’d silently been obsessing about her inability to face the planet that rejected her. She’d said all the right words, had willingly come to be sacrificed, but all the time, she’d felt that her whole species rejected her. That they should at least have put up some kind of fight before handing her over. Somehow walking onto the glass deck had felt as if the long fall to Earth mirrored the lack of safety she had when Balthazar demanded they hand her over.
Taking a deep breath, she walked out onto the glass floor, her toes curling up. A cold cramping feeling bit into the souls of her feet. For one terrible moment, she thought she’d fall, and the impact would shatter the glass.
“Why are you afraid of this?” Balthazar asked.
She breathed and did what she did all those years ago when she arrived at the foundation. Scared out of her mind, but determined to become the grand master--someone who couldn’t be touched. She snorted at the naivety of her younger self. No one was safe. The trick was to live life, in spite of your fears. Slowly forcing herself to look at the blue planet far beneath her feet, she centered herself and went into the movements of her favorite dance. When she finished, she stood back. A feeling of peace--of earning peace and rest after she’d slain a dragon--settled over her.
“You are beautiful when you move,” Balthazar said from behind her.
She turned and smiled at him. “You and your obsession with the way I move.”
He stepped closer and took her in his arms, and held her close, trying to obscure her view of Earth with his body. Her heart overflowed with the love her lips couldn’t speak before. Except, today, she was determined to speak them as many times as she could manage.
“I love you, Balthazar. More than humans, more than Earth, more than my fear of heights. Without you, I would continue, but I’d be like your wasp--like an automaton going through the motions.”
“I am honored that you feel such love for me. Again I am pleased to report that I love you too.”
She bit her lip, hard. Luckily, he wasn’t finished speaking, and she had time to collect herself.
“I love you. If I had to choose between having you and having a soul, I would choose you.”
She sucked in a breath. “That’s a whole lot of love.”
He continued. “I will protect your planet. If the Tunrians build more ships, we will ensure they cannot attack you. If other war-faring nations come, we will protect your Earth.”
“You would do all that for me?”
“I would do anything for you.”
“Right now, why don’t you take me to our cabin and make love to me.”
He picked her up and, in record time, they were in their cabin, frantically taking off each other’s clothes, kissing and touching and, finally, falling asleep, holding each other.
***
In the next weeks, they settled down into a routine. She called Samantha each morning and went through as much of the foundation business as she could from up here. Afterward, she’d go and read to Amelagar for two hours. Hamurabi told her he expected Amelagar to be out of the medical lung in about a year. Agrippa’s knowledge had made all the difference in his recovery time.
Balthazar didn’t have to force her to go to the observation deck anymore, after that dance the day he brought her back to the ship, her fear had disappeared. Now she was on her way from the infirmary to the observation deck to meet Balthazar. They’d kept up the tradition of going there before meals. With both of them so busy with their duties, sometimes this was the only place they had a moment to just talk and relax together.
A terrible noise sounded, and the ship lurched. She grabbed her ears and fell against the wall. Balthazar came around the corner at a dead run. He grabbed her hand and ran to the command deck.
“What’s happening?” she asked as flashing symbols followed them along the walls.
“The Tunrians have entered space on their way to Earth.”
She nearly fainted with fear. She should’ve known things were going too well. “How long until they get here.”
“Ten years.”
She relaxed slightly. It was bad that they would come to Earth, but in ten years, they could prepare. “Why did the ship jerk like that, and what was that noise?”
“You heard the alarm we set to warn us if the Tunrians came within detecting distance. The ship lurched because the Tunrians were trying to take control of it.”
“How is that possible? How close could they be if it’s going to take them ten years to reach us?”
“They are many millions of miles away. Their technology allows them to try to interface with the ship, once they are close enough to detect it. You do not need to fear. We have locked them out.”
“Do you know how many ships are coming?”
“Only one.”
Abruptly the noise stopped, and she closed her eyes, thankful for the quiet and also relieved that more ships were not on their way.
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m dispatching a ship to intercept them. You do not need to fear. They will never reach your Earth.”
“Thank you. Balthazar?”
“Yes.”
“Do you plan to live on Earth, eventually?” She’d been thinking about this a lot these last
few weeks. They couldn’t spend the rest of their life living in a spaceship.
“No, I do not feel the urge to live on Earth. We will build a space station that will serve as an early warning system for Earth, but it could also be a home for us and a place to trade if other friendly aliens ever come by. You would still be able to go to Earth daily.”
“When will you start building the space station?”
“Work has already begun.”
“I don’t know what the future holds, Balthazar, but I am sure that you will keep me safe. I love you. Together we can face anything.”
He turned her so that she stood with her back against his chest. They stared down at Earth. “I hoped to find my soul here, a home for my cyborgs, but I never thought I would have the love of someone like you. The love I have for you is bigger than several spaceships. I will protect you against the Tunrians, against humans, and even my own cyborgs.”
“I know you will keep me safe, Balthazar.”
Aurora stared down at Earth, so blue and sparkling, the way the future sparkled with possibilities now. She talked to Ter every week and, every now and then, it felt as if she had a sister again. Loving Balthazar, living on this ship with him, was an adventure she wouldn’t exchange for anything in the world.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ever since she can remember Marie Dry wanted to travel. She had had the privilege of living in Zambia, Morocco, and Spain and sees herself as a bit of a gypsy. Every few years she gets restless and has to be some place new.
All her life she has read romances and was fairly young when she decided she would write the perfect story that had all the elements she looked for in a romance. In 1997 she shared a pizza with a friend. She promised her friend to go all out with her writing and get published. With her friends cheering her on ever since, Dry found it a wonderful experience to see the characters in her head coming to life on the page.
There are several wonderful moments in her life that she would never trade for anything. One of them is meeting President Nelson Mandela and the second is being published.
GENRE: ROMANTIC THRILLER/SCIENCE FICTION ROMANCE
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, businesses, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental. All trademarks, service marks, registered trademarks, and registered service marks are the property of their respective owners and are used herein for identification purposes only. The publisher does not have any control over or assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their contents.
DAWN OF THE CYBORG
Copyright © 2018 by Marie Dry
Cover Design by Jackson Cover Designs
All cover art copyright © 2018
All Rights Reserved
EBOOK ISBN: 978-1-626949-88-1
FIRST PUBLICATION: SEPTEMBER 1, 2018
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