by Dawn Chapman
Yeah, there’s also no room for Saskia to bring her pet, and she wouldn’t be happy about giving her away after only just acquiring her.
You think so?
She screwed our brains out as a thank you. What do you think?
Yeah, I guess it wasn’t for the denti’s good looks. It was a slight dig at Xirob, but he just laughed.
No, Hiroto said. Though I think she might come back for more, gauging on the way she still looks at you.
This delighted me, and as uncomfortable as I now was, I relished the chance to be with her again.
Hiroto laughed in my head. You’re blind and stupid when it comes to the opposite sex.
Oh, you know women well, huh? I asked him.
Xirob snorted. I wondered what they really felt and saw inside me.
That really weirded me out. I pushed the thoughts aside quick.
Saskia was the one who sought me out first. I was with Dylan in the mess, tucking into the pie of the day. Some kind of game and veg, it almost reminded me of one my dad used to make. That thought had me remembering a lot more than that again, and just like that, the memories were pushed aside and the emotions curbed.
Thanks, Hiroto, I said, chewing and swallowing a chunk of the pie. I tried not to tear up.
Dylan kicked me under the table.
“Incoming,” he said, and when I looked up and over my shoulder, I could see Saskia heading over. “I’m out, I’ll see you back in the stands.”
The stands were nothing more than their nickname for the spaceport. We’d been going there more and more often as the days stretched into a week and more. Getting the parts we wanted for our ship was harder than they’d thought, and hacking in was also proving much more difficult. I needed to do more than I was, but as soon as I seemed to get somewhere with the main system on board our ship, their mains shut me out.
The more I was doing the more I was learning, and the guys were all practicing what they were going to need to do, air control, rigging, and maintenance. They needed to know all the things that would keep us alive that at present also meant that I needed to as well. So the time I spent honing my computing skills was put even further on the back seat as I had to level up my mech skills and the new ones I’d need in space flight and more.
Taking some actual time out now would be great to see where I was at. I’d been studying and going for seven full days without much of a break. All the notifications and more were piling up, and I had to see what they’d changed to and spend the new stat points, ten of them again. I was now a level 20. Yes! I still had that floating Quick Point, though, but my ranks were stacking up in skills as well. I was thrilled.
So, I assigned one to strength, and three points each to Intelligence, Constitution and Wisdom.
Name - Kyle Ranz
Species - Human/Denti
Year of Death - 2629
Class = Fighter/Sorcerer
Age 18
Level = 20
Respawns = 2
Memories = 94%
Health = 98%
Mana = 24
Kenosi Activated
Nanites x 105,311
Body Type = Unknown
Structural Integrity = Tungsten and Alumi
Internal AI Chip = X Class
Skin Strength = 18
Blood Capacity = 22
Healing Speed = 28
Strength = 18
Dexterity = 16
Constitution = 23
Intelligence = 34
Wisdom = 18
Charisma = 6
Luck = 6
Quick Points = 1
Skills =
Foot Soldier - Rank 14
Battle Mage - Rank 16
Merc - Rank 9
Sniper - Rank 13
Gun Smith - Rank 12
Nanite Engineer - Rank 17
Mech pilot - Rank 15
Human/Machine Interface - Rank 19
Shadow Awareness - Rank 12
Shuttle Operator - Rank 10
Deception - Rank 8
Sword Play - Rank 12
Vrolsh Coding Learned
Mech Merge - Rank 10
Animal Handling - Rank 2
Special Traits Awarded x 4 – Any extras here do not show on your Stat Sheet Totals.
Healer = Internal AI Chip X Class – Crystalline and Silver metal chip with integrated healer nanites led by Xe Aria.
Intelligence = Internal prototype AI Chip, inserted on 17th birthday, with consciousness of Hiroto.
Knowledge = direct from Xirob if he freely gives it. Extra skills and training available.
Shade Brain – One in a million, you managed to not only keep your memories, but you can also hide them. Your character sheet is elusive to even the strongest of will.
UPGRADED - No one can penetrate your Shade now!
Spell - Active - Minor Healing = Requires BATTLE MAGE RANK of 2 and x 1 Mana per second.
Spell - Active - Medium Healing = Requires BATTLE MAGE RANK of 7 and x 10 Mana per second.
Spell - Active - Intensive Healing = Requires BATTLE MAGE RANK of 14 and x 100 Mana per second.
Spell - Active - Lightning Fury – Cost: 10 mana per second – Damage increased by 30%
I’d asked Hiroto to deal with it, but he’d pulled a blank.
I can’t do all your jobs, he’d whined like the brat he was now and then. I mean, put him in any combat or mech and he was on the ball. He loved to take over and do what he knew he could. But the everyday stuff he pulled his face up at every time.
Shower = boring
Eat = boring
Sleep = he spent most of his day sleeping
Stat sheet study = boring
But I was getting to know more and more about how this system worked, and I was gaining what I needed to move forward with my plan. If he didn’t need it, fine. I did. So there were a good few days I pissed him off and he pissed me off. Having someone in your head 24/7 was frustrating.
The only person I could get decent conversation out of now was actually Xirob, and that was because he wanted to learn about our tech as I was doing it, so starting at the bottom with some of the flight training skills was good for us both. We learned together.
Saskia waited till Dylan moved away from me, and then she sat down, taking the pudding from my tray. I watched her with a raised eyebrow as her tongue flicked out and licked the top off.
“I wanted to eat that,” I said.
“Oh. I am sorry.” She pouted and my heart melted.
Damn. I’d give her anything, Xirob piped up.
I wasn’t happy that he’d hardly spoke to me in a few days and now because there was a smoking-hot woman in front of me, he’d decided to come back.
He didn’t know that I’d still been quietly working on locking them both out. I had needed it, and now was another nail in their coffin. I wanted some fucking privacy. Heck, I felt like I couldn’t eat without them, let alone take a shit or screw someone’s brain out. And that was exactly what she had on her mind. I could see it. But I wasn’t going there again, not without knowing more of what she had inside that head of hers. I needed another hack, and this one I’d been planning alongside the main one. Xe was ready to go. Once back to leading my internal teams, she was easy to draft for this next mission too.
An eager little machine ready to please her master. I liked the sound of that.
All I had to do was get Saskia in a vulnerable position and walk away for a while. I needed her frustrated so she wouldn’t detect what I’d done; if she were fully aware of things going on around her, I was sure she’d spot it. At a minimum, her own nites would warn her. This had taken some severe flirting on my part all week. Like staying in the showers too long, making sure I was training harder than anything, and eating more like a horse. My body was bulking up finally to match the status I was showing. Tanking and shielding with some weapons training were my focus outside of ship skills.
She eyed me as I took the pudding back and flicked my to
ngue across the top.
“Nice?” she asked.
I swallowed and licked my lips. “Sure is.”
“Training session in the yard,” she said. Without another word, she pushed off and I watched her ass again as she walked away. The sway of her hips and remembering how it fit perfectly in my hands made my dick hard.
I was frustrated at being so close to her, knowing that I could fuck her but I also didn’t want to. Tyto had been very hands-on showing who she belonged to, and she knew she was playing with fire seeking me out on any occasion.
Tyto wanted one thing, I wanted another. My sly revenge for his killing me the first time had nothing to do with Saskia. She was good at seduction, but she had an agenda, as did I. I just didn’t know what hers was yet, and if it involved me, I needed to know. If Xirob was at risk…
I finished the pudding and stood up, returning my tray to follow where she had gone.
Entering the yard was a much different experience now than back in the beginning. I wasn’t noticed. Up ahead of me, most people saw Saskia and not only moved out of her way, but out of mine now as I trailed behind. There was a fear that was more than genuine.
Saskia stopped by a pit at the far end, and she threw a privacy shield up. It still had Tyto’s colours flying.
I walked to the side of the shield and sent a message for Tyto. I wanted to train with him too, so no better time. I asked him to meet us in the yard. He said he would. My small plot would be to get Xe over to Saskia and leave them together. I would have to get her back another way. Ideally, it would be much later with much more skin contact than I wanted today.
I swallowed. This was the first time I’d been alone with Saskia since we’d fucked. I didn’t know if I was capable of standing up to her and not walking away.
With some determination, not to let her intimidate me, I pulled the shield codes up and entered.
Instantly I knew something was wrong, and I pulled my sword out before I did anything else. She was already sweating, and her stats were low, and so was everything about her. What the hell?
I rushed to her side and could see what had happened. There was a drone in there.
“It’s fast!” she said, and I spun quickly to try and get it. I pushed her to the shield wall, but she turned, still breathing heavy. “We have to kill it. Neither of us will get out now. It’s locked us both in. This was a trap and a well-set one. I don’t even know who would have authority to get something like this made, let alone programmed.”
“Seems Tyto has some enemies.” I took a swing at the drone as it tried to get in to take a swipe at me.
I missed. Of course I would. If Saskia couldn’t get to it, then there was no way I could.
This would take the both of us working together to take it out, and while I had fought against her, I had never fought with her. That wasn’t the best move I’d ever done. I laughed, and it was silly, but if I hadn’t I think I would have gone into a blind rage instead, and I don’t think right then was a good place to unlock a classic berserker state.
I cast Medium Healing for her, and Saskia’s strength was coming back, and she wasn’t breathing as hard.
She looked at me and said three words: “One. Two. Three.”
Then she ran towards the drone, and I waited. As it saw her move, it came in for the kill. I stood there, bouncing on the balls of my feet, waiting for my opportunity. It couldn’t avoid us both. Watching it while she calmed down gave me time to determine which way it would react to her attack and moves.
It did exactly as I hoped it would, and when she evaded its pass, I turned into the attack and sliced it in two.
Saskia turned to me, a whir of emotions and tears in her eyes. I almost dropped the sword to go to her. I sheathed it and wrapped her in my arms. She wrapped hers around me and melted into my perceived safety. I tried not to let her tears upset me, but this was the most vulnerable I’d ever seen her before. She had this massive front, and now she was trembling in fear.
She looked up at me, her eyes and cheeks puffed, lips wet. I wanted to kiss her. knowing that Xe was waiting ready to infiltrate her as my spy.
But I hesitated. She pulled me down into her kiss instead, and the deed was done. I knew Xe was on her way into the core system of her internal.
Saskia wrapped her legs around me, and I was just about to lay her down when the shield dropped and she righted herself. There stood Tyto. He noticed the state of Saskia, wrapped around me, and so did a few other onlookers. Then he noticed her tears and the drone. He was pulling her from me a second later.
“What happened?”
“I was locked in,” she said, tears coming again.
I started to back off, but he glared at me.
“How did you know what to do to defeat it?”
“These things take much more than strength. She needed to get some strength back, and then we could work together to kill it.”
“You’re smart. I like that. Thank you.” Tyto turned her away from looking at me and made to walk away with her. I let him.
I looked around for someone, anyone to spar with. A few were working out in one of the other pits. I walked over.
“Mind if I join you?” I asked.
The two that were fighting looked at me. One smiled. The other backed down.
“Sure, we could do with someone with different skills. Might be nice to help us level a little more. Just go easy on us, okay?”
I felt myself frown, but I stepped into their ring. One of them threw me a sword, and I snatched it out of the air.
I wanted the two of them to fight. I wanted to be hurt, to be honest. I felt awful for a lot of things in my life, and I didn’t go easy on them.
When they came for me, I made sure I gave and fought well. I still let them get the hits in. A few broken bones and bruises would heal fast enough.
When I had finished and we were all panting, sweating and done, the older of the two grinned at me.
“You really needed that, Kyle, but you were too soft on us. Even if you didn’t think you were. Sorry. You’ll have a few sore spots after your nites have cleaned you up.”
The other guy limped away. I’d almost broken his leg in the last defence, which is why they’d called it. As the older one helped his friend walk, I watched the two of them link hands. I hadn’t expected it. I am not going to judge them—whatever makes you happy, right? I just can’t get my own head around anything other than touching a woman.
I sat down and let the exhaustion and strain of the day take me. I also finally let Hiroto and Xirob back in.
What did you do? Hiroto said, that was…
I could hear the frustration and the panic in his voice.
I did what I had to. You’ve been impossible the last week. I need to have some space and time to myself. Now I can.
You locked me out? How? It’s not supposed to be possible!
Well, it is, because I made it so. There are some things that need to be kept private. And you watching my every move, especially around Saskia, is just weird.
I knew he was sulking. I could feel it.
Xirob just stayed quiet for a while, and then he eventually spoke up. Please give me warning when you do that. I had thought it was my time and that it was what death was going to be like.
I hadn’t thought of that, and it was actually pretty mean of me. I’m sorry. But you actually need to understand what it’s like for me. I have two other people in my head. I didn’t choose this. It’s just what it is.
Hiroto sighed. No, I am sorry too, he said. I was shocked. I hadn’t expected him to do that. You’re right—I’ve been more than obnoxious. I admit it. I have been struggling.
Struggling? I said. With what?
I hadn’t expected this to be so—
Full-on? To experience everything as you do, Xirob answered for him.
I ran my hand over the top of my head. My hair was growing back now, nice and fuzzy. I think we’re all sorry, correct.
They both
replied with a yes.
Then let’s move forward with this as an understanding. We talk more. Hiro, if you’re struggling, please let me know. And the same goes for you too, Xirob. I don’t understand your species any more than I do the women in my own.
He laughed at that, and so did Hiroto.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
I’d taken the afternoon off a week later to walk around the base. Saskia hadn’t been anywhere near me, but that was a good thing. She was the biggest distraction around, and I was focussed on what I needed. Tyto had been just as impossible as she had. He ordered me into training every morning with the two other guys, and they didn’t go easy on me. But it was doing one thing—it was building up my stamina a lot more. I was fighting and moving a lot better with the two of them making sure I was never out of step. Dylan joined us each day. We’d both improved in leaps and bounds in those few short weeks, but things had settled and I was still a level below him.
Which was better than when I started out many levels below him.
When he’d showed me almost his full sheet I was pleasantly surprised. He was skilled in a lot of things I wasn’t. Some I really wanted as well. But then again, he also wasn’t as high a rank in some things I was. I guess that’s what team building was for.
Name - Dylan Brale
Species - Human/Denti
Year of Death - 2620
Class - Druid
Age = 24 +9
Level = 20 Basic
Respawns = 1
Mech Warrior
Memories = 99%
Health = 100%
Mana = 19
Nanites x 1,189,919
Body Type = Model 480A
Structural Integrity = Camite Silver
Internal AI Chip = X Class
Skin Strength = 32
Blood Capacity = 21
Healing Speed = 36
Strength = 8
Dexterity = 21
Constitution = 19
Intelligence = 7
Wisdom = 23