by Naomi Lucas
A quick gut-wrenching shock of queasiness punched her in the stomach. She all at once, felt heavy and lightweight. Kat moved away from the door and grabbed the bars of the desk, not knowing what to expect during takeoff. She held on as if her life depended on it, with her palms slick with sweat and her eyes wrenched closed.
It was over quickly. At least she thought so, never having experienced leaving the atmosphere, nor being able to see what’s happening outside her room. She only assumed.
All she knew was that she had made it onto the Cyborg’s ship. That she now had a job and that she didn’t know how to get out of her room.
Kat lifted to her feet and opened her bag, taking out her network device once again. She sat on the ground where her hand still held onto the bar and opened her console.
Network error.
I don’t have access? It was unheard of on Earth.
Kat tried to link to the ship but was denied. The lights flickered above. She glanced back at the door, got to her feet, and kicked her bag under the desk. She stepped up onto a ladder that led to her bed. It had no coverings or no mattress. Her hand slid across the rails.
She made a mental checklist as her eyes drifted across the room.
I need bedding. I need network access. I need a way to tell time. But first…Her eyes landed on the shut panel. I need to figure out how to open the door.
***
Dommik steered his ship out of Earth’s commercial airways, overriding the planetary defense system to allow himself off the world. The EPED had nullified his shield access until their demands were met. But it really couldn’t stop him, nor could it stop others’ from entering. It just marked the disturbance. Regardless, the defense satellites would trail him.
If he was a threat they would shoot him down. He could feel the link of dozens of them coming to life.
He ignored the hails as the reps from the EPED tried to contact him. Mia and her insipid begging came to mind.
His help with procuring the wild plants and animals from across the universe was contingent on one thing: he worked alone. He worked alone and unhindered. That was why he had a staff of androids on his ship.
Dommik peeled off his black vest and straps–the tiny weapons hidden within–all while kicking off his boots until he was wearing nothing but his worn leather pants.
The chilly, nearly scentless air of his ship breezed past his muscles and filled his nose, cleansing the pungent rot of industry and sweat still there.
He fixated on one scent in particular. The unidentifiable smell of the pixie that had hounded him just an hour before. The smell could only be described as something new, something fresh, much like many of the scents on the barely habitable planets he visited. He bunched his muscles, feeling the strain of his warped body tighten around him.
His mind wandered to the wild tendrils around her cute face and the piercing green eyes that matched his threatening stare. The dusting of freckles across her pale features. He hardened as he pictured his very own fairy trapped behind a glass cage.
Dommik looked down at his skin, almost perfect and so very much human. But beneath the outer layer was something wrong and monstrous. He grabbed his cock through his pants and yanked it, annoyed with the ever-insistent need to mate.
Because he was a fiend.
And it had nothing to do with him being a Cyborg. He was one of a handful of later addition Cyborgs that could shift. That had dozens of animalistic instincts from countless places and times coded into them. The shifter Cyborgs were different from his fellow brethren. Normal Cyborgs couldn’t shift, they always retained their humanoid shape.
The shifters remained in close contact with each other, designed with a pack mentality, but still kept each other at an arm's length distance.
Even now, as he watched the stars zip past, his ship on autopilot to the winter-world of the Molucs, he wanted to darken the mechanical lights of his bridge until he was covered in a blanket of darkness. Where he was the most alive.
His heavy hand still gripped his shaft between his legs, his fingers applying pressure, squeezing it through the thick material but his cock had a mind of its own. The thick mushroom head of it squeezed through the buckles at his pelvis.
A tiny bead of precum wetted the tip of his bulge. His animal instincts began to take over. His humanity faded away as he pictured the copper-haired girl stripped naked and waiting for him in his menagerie, panting and doey-eyed in her cage. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t function, moaning in heat and waiting for him to mount her hard from behind.
His little sprite, losing the ability to fly as he held her trapped under his body, pinned to the floor with his cock.
Dommik squeezed the head of his shaft, refusing to free it, losing himself in the fantasy. A terrible need to subdue came over him. His little fairy with the long legs cried helplessly for release.
His little fairy that was stripped of her wings.
The door swished open behind him. Dommik grunted and squeezed his crotch, mentally saying farewell to the girl in his mind, leaving her unfulfilled and breathless.
Bin-Two stepped into his stark bridge. He swiveled his seat and faced the robot.
“Dommik-One, the creatures in the lab have settled into their habitats. Moluc’s 1-8456 and 1-8457 melted the snow particles upon takeoff but have since fallen asleep with tranquilizers distributed by Bin-One. We have received numerous acquisitions from the Earthian Planetary Exploration Division. What is your request?” Bin-Two stood erect and uncaring that Dommik had his dick half out of his pants.
He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees.
“Keep the Molucs fed and euphoric. We’re headed for their homeworld before we stop off at Ghost City, access has been granted to you with the current coordinates. Ignore the Exploration Division, I’ll take care of them.” Dommik turned back toward his console to deal with the hails and defense satellites. He opened up his most insistent communication. Mia appeared flustered and angry on the screen. Anger looked good on her.
“Accepted. What should Bin-One do about the new hire?” Bin-Two asked.
Dommik stopped. Mia opened her mouth. He had opened a communication to soon.
“What the hell, Cyborg? You take a nobody over me!? She’s not even an EPED employee.” Mia’s sing-song voice raged through the channel. He didn’t hear it. “Why don’t you have a shirt on?”
He swiveled his seat to face the android. “What did you say?” His still-hard cock twitched.
“Dommik! Face me, dammit–” Mia’s voice disappeared as he cut their connection off.
“Accepted. What should Bin-One do about the new hire?” the robot repeated.
“New hire?” he asked slowly.
“Katalina Jones. Resume integrated. Placed in quarters room one. Needs to be integrated. The Earthian Planetary Exploration Division is requesting her credentials and network access for contact, verification, and onboarding.”
Dommik got to his feet and stormed out of the bridge, leaving the hails and Bin-Two behind.
He knew he couldn’t trust fairies.
Chapter Four:
---
Kat couldn’t disassemble the metal furniture in the room, not without tools, and try as she might, she could not pull the stool away from the desk. It was anchored to the floor.
She huffed and crossed her arms over her torso as she eyed her room for the hundredth time. Her stomach growled from hunger. She knew her limitations and with her limited resources–a bag filled with only personal effects–she had no real chance to get out.
Not even to use the lavatory.
A noise sounded outside her door, distant but getting closer. The android? Footsteps. Heavy footsteps...the Cyborg.
Kat stiffened and faced the inevitable.
The door slipped open without a sound, and for a moment, she resented it with every fiber of her being.
The Cyborg stood on the other side, quick-fire rage crossed his features. Kat took a step back.
>
He dominated the doorway, and was big enough to be the door itself. Her pulse quickened as her eyes left his face and trailed down to his half-naked body. Dark pants hugged him but that was it. Even his feet were bare.
A sliver of fear coursed through her as he took a heavy step into her room. It was much too small for the both of them. He stared her down with dark eyes that had a gleam of evil in them.
Kat finally looked at him for what he was, a hunter, a malformation, a predator. Before he was just a mysterious and intriguing entity, now he was a man that looked like he wanted to strangle her.
Kat swallowed. “You opened the door.” He continued to stare at her, the muscles of his arms twitching as if he was trying to restrain himself. She continued, “I need network allowance.”
Her face twisted. I should’ve asked for his name.
Please don’t kill me.
His hand reached out and closed around her throat. Tight, menacing, but gentle. And big. She knew he could crush her but hoped that he wouldn’t.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he growled.
“I’m your new assistant, Katalina. Kat for short,” she blustered. The body heat radiating off his chest enveloped her.
“Did you think it was smart? Lying your way into my ship and past my androids? One that is often filled with beasts and dangerous pathogens? There’s a reason I work alone. I could kill you, I could do anything to you, and there is no one who could save you.”
His hand gradually loosened and fell back, his fist clenched at his side. Kat took a deep breath.
“I needed the job,” she said slowly. “I heard what you do–”
“Hunt,” he interrupted. “Stalk. Sometimes kill.”
“You help colonization efforts and you help find cures.”
The rage on the man’s face lifted just enough to show a twinge of curiosity in his eyes. She crossed her arms over her chest again, feeling like she needed armor against his gaze.
“Pretty words for what I actually do, what I like to do.”
“You still do it, though. I want to help…” Her eyes kept drifting down his body to take in his sculpted chest. Kat wanted to look lower, take the entire Cyborg in, but she didn’t.
“You’re an idiot. There’s no way you can help.” He turned to leave.
“I’m a nurse. Wait! I’ve been around death my whole life. I help people die. I’ve helped so many people die. I want to be around life for awhile, and I want to help people live now. Please.” She grabbed his arm. A charge of static electricity zapped her hand. Kat jumped back as the shock coursed through her. She looked at her palm, expecting to see a burn, a blister, or pink skin, but there was nothing.
The Cyborg shuddered as if he was shaking the feel of her off of him. The muscles on his arms flexed, her eyes were drawn to them, her stinging palm forgotten.
“You shouldn’t touch me.”
“Why? Because you’ll shock me?”
“I’m not used to it. I may react badly.”
He walked out of the room.
Kat gaped as he disappeared around the corner. His looming presence was missed immediately and for some reason his words made her pity him.
He makes a better door than this stupid metal panel. At least I could get through him if I tried hard enough. And with that thought, she quickly stepped out of her room. The door zipped closed behind her. She looked back at it and then around at the empty, dark passageway of the ship. She had no idea where to go. The Cyborg was gone.
She brushed her tingling palm against her pants and started walking down the direction he had gone.
Why is it so damn dark? The shadows thickened around her, only lifting away every several yards by a dim red light.
Kat called out, “Hello?”
She turned the corner and ran right into him. He wasn’t a door this time but a wall. Once again, she found herself jerking back, her heart pounding.
“Follow me,” he said roughly.
Kat nodded and stayed on his heels. He led her down a short path until they faced a ladder that went up into a closed hatch. They hadn’t walked far.
The Cyborg continued, “This level houses the living areas of the operations crew and if you turn around and go back the way you entered, you’ll find where we keep the specimens. This ladder and everything above is off-limits. If I catch you on one of the upper levels, you’ll be thrown in one of the habitats until we reach the next planet. And, Katalina, most of these planets you don’t want to be stranded on.”
“What’s up there?” she asked. He turned to face her. Darkness cloaked his naked chest from her view. The glint of black eyes appeared wider and more hollow in the darkness; like the pits of a human skull, the sockets wide and empty.
“The bridge and the living quarters of the main crew.”
“So you have a crew?” She scooted to the side as he walked by. She didn’t want them to touch again, his warning still clear as day in her head. But the heat that he gave off was an invisible beacon to her within the cold confines of the ship.
“I have androids.”
“And me.” Kat had to add for good measure. She was met with silence.
He led her back past her room and into an empty lavatory station with multiple shower pods. The Cyborg didn’t say anything as he led her through the short, dark hallways, past many doors that she assumed were more living units until they reached the end of their short trek. The area opened up abruptly and she recognized it as the entryway the android from earlier had led her through.
The thick metal slipped silently into the walls as multiple laser shields deactivated. Kat cringed away from the sudden light.
It glowed ruby red before it turned green. Just beyond was another laser barrier and beyond that was the menagerie. She could see the giant glass enclosures through the lights.
When the Cyborg stepped up to the second blockade, it too went green and vanished.
Kat followed him into the giant, multi-level facility. It was as bright as the ship was dark.
Her companion walked further into the cavernous space to an open door. He grunted, “Are you coming?”
She tried to catch a glimpse of the fluffy dragon-like creatures from earlier. One of the androids was next to its enclosure, working at a projected console.
Kat scurried across the space and into the open room. It was filled with computers and holographic screens, wires and buttons, and blinking lights. Some of the screens were turned on to show empty glass cages. Some had creatures on it while others were blacked out.
The Cyborg held out a chair for her. “Sit,” he demanded.
She sat.
A blush crept up her neck, over her beating pulse, until it flooded her cheeks. Kat was embarrassed by how easily his commands worked on her, even his unspoken ones. Her hands twitched against her thighs, unsure on what to do, as he leaned over her and typed something onto the screen. The heat of his bare chest made it hard for her to breathe.
I won’t look. I won’t look. I really want to look. His solid, glorious, white-as-a-spirit chest was directly behind her. His arm was over her shoulder. The Cyborg jailed her between him and the desk. The smell of metal and heat filled her senses as he continued to type, unaffected.
The heat coming off of his body was enough to make her sweat. His long blue-black hair fell over his arm and tickled her cheek.
“You’re added to the system.” His arms stayed like pillars on either side of her head.
Kat tried to ignore them as she turned to face him. “Thank you.” His dark eyes filled her vision and his nostrils flared.
“Are you sniffing me?”
“You smell good.” The Cyborg leaned in and smelled her again. Kat veered back alarmed. His eyes never left hers.
Her stomach growled. He unpinned her and glanced down at her belly before he lifted away. One of his fingers whispered over a wayward curl of her hair, a slight tug, indiscernible but for the trail of goosebumps down her arms.
Kat swall
owed. “So what do I do now?”
“You do your job and stay out of my way. You’ll respond to the EPED and tell them that I hired you. They may give you hell. You deserve it.” He stepped away and the warmth went with him. “I don’t like liars, I don’t like people in general, but you’re here now and so I will use you as I see fit.” He turned to leave.
Kat called after him, “What’s your name?”
The Cyborg paused, his back once again turned toward her. “Monster,” he said eventually. “Since that’s what I am.”
He left her there, shivering and uncertain at the computer; confused about the tense exchanges they shared. She had never dealt with a Cyborg before and wondered if they all acted the same way. Kat lifted her still tingling palm to her nose and sniffed.
I wonder what I smell like.
An android walked in holding a protein bar and a bottle of water. She drew her hand away from her nose as it placed the nourishment on the desk.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Katalina Jones.”
Kat studied the silver and bronze machine, taking it in, only to look past it at the open door, questioning where the Cyborg had gone off to. It didn’t sit well with her.
She looked back at the android. “What is your master’s name?”
“Dommik-One. Please eat, Katalina Jones, he demands it.”
Hmm…
“Call me Kat. Does he demand a lot?” she asked, opening up the protein bar. She still had to pee but her need for food outweighed her need to relieve herself.
“We are androids. We’re programmed to follow all orders by the Master.”
She eyed the machine. “Would you follow my orders?”
“We will follow Katalina Jones’s orders only if they do not impede Dommik-One, if they are humanly reasonable based on our programmed standards, and that they do not require us to abandon or jeopardize previously assigned tasks,” it stated monotonously.
Kat gulped down her water while the android stood beside her. The silver and bronze robot was shaped like a human with two arms and two legs but was otherwise androgynous. It had no other discerning features and it had no face. The machine was just a simulated human with a screen where its eyes and nose should be.