Criminal Core

by Nick Broad

  “Chirrup, back it up,” Shay said, glancing at the ceiling. “Show them the last few frames before the transmission gave out completely.”

  She did. I leaned forward, studying the few looping frames of video intently.

  “Is that...it’s body?” I asked, running a finger across the viewscreen. The figure - or whatever it was - couldn’t be easily made out. The corridor was dark, and whatever did this had struck fast. There was very little to see besides a large, angry blur. If I squinted, I almost thought I could make out a pale face and body in all that darkness.

  “Whatever it is, I’m in no hurry to meet it.” Shay leaned back in her chair. “We never recovered either of those drones. I wouldn’t recommend going down to the lower levels of Gamma unless we absolutely have to, Noah.”

  “Agreed,” I said, unable to tear my eyes from the screen. The speed, the ferocity - whatever was lurking down there was not something I wanted to mess with. “Shay, I’m not trying to be a jerk. I swear. But I’ve got to ask you something.”

  All eyes in the room turned to Shay.

  She gave her coffee a dainty little sip, the polar opposite of her usual slurps. “Yes?”

  “How did you let this place get this bad?”

  She met each of our eyes in turn, a fierce challenge in them. But by the time she got to mine, the heat had faded from her gaze.

  “I don’t know,” she finally said, looking down at the floor. “Everything seemed fine as long as we had the solar sail. Prisoners break the Beta reactor? Who cares. Something crawling around Gamma spreading black shit all over the walls? I’ll deal with it later!” She batted her eyelashes at me. “Have you never procrastinated over fixing a problem until it became more than you could deal with?”

  As a matter of fact, I had. I could understand that - the impulse to put things off until they could no longer be ignored was only human. But weren’t AI’s supposed to be...I dunno, better?

  “It doesn’t matter,” I said firmly. “We’re gonna get this place back up and running. It might have been too big a job for you, but it’s not too much for all of us working together.”

  Shay’s eyes grew a little watery. “Why, thank you, Noah,” she said, clapping her hands. The viewscreen faded out. “I think that’s a good enough place to stop tonight. You and I will set out for the Beta reactor in the morning?”

  I nodded.

  “Excellent. Then let me show you all to your new chambers. Actually...” She put a finger on her chin. “Meiko, I’ll take you to your room. We have things to discuss...in private.” She flicked her wrist, and the door to the control center opened. A light in the hallway lit up a moment later. “Noah, why don’t you get Ruby settled in? Those lights will lead you to her quarters.”

  I glanced back at Ruby. She was practically jumping up and down in her seat.

  “Sure. Let’s go, Ruby.”

  She gave a little squee and clung to me. “Let’s go, Master! I can’t wait to see my room!”

  I walked out, avoiding Meiko’s gaze. We’re really going to have to have a talk about you calling me ‘Master’...

  Twelve: Ruby

  “Here we are,” I said, flicking on the lights. Dim ambience flooded the smallish room. “Home sweet home. How are you feeling, Ruby?”

  When there wasn’t an answer, I turned around. Ruby stood in the doorway, staring awestruck at her new quarters. She was frozen in her tracks, the slight twitch of her wings the only thing that let me know she hadn’t been completely paralyzed.

  “Uh, Ruby?” I didn’t understand. It certainly wasn’t a palace - it was barely the size of my shitty college apartment back on Earth. “Are you okay?”

  Her bottom lip trembled. A tear formed at the corner of her eye.

  “All this...is mine?” she said. It came out as a hopeful little squeak. “You’re giving this to me, Master?”

  Oh Jesus, I thought, giving her a sympathetic glance. What Hell have you been living in, Ruby?

  “We’re not giving you anything,” I said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “You’ve earned this, Ruby. You’re one of us - one of the crew. And we really have to have a conversation about the M-word-”

  I was cut off - she let out a scream of delight. “All mine!” she said excitedly, practically spinning around the room. “My own replicator! My own books! My own bed - ohmigosh, Master, let me show you my bed!”

  She grabbed me by the hand and led me into her bedroom. It was about as sparse as the rest of the ship, although the bed certainly looked comfy. If someone put a little time and love into the space, it would feel almost cozy.

  “This is my room, Master.” Ruby batted her eyelashes up at me, grinning as if she was hiding a secret. “Do you like it?”

  “It’s, uh, great,” I said, nodding at her. She was acting a little weird, but her enthusiasm was good, right? “Looks pretty much exactly like mine...”

  I froze in my tracks. Ruby’s hand had left mine. And where it had gone was somewhere very, very personal.

  “Do you want to try it out, Master?” Ruby asked, a naughty gleam in her eye. “See if it’s comfy?”

  “Ruby,” I said thickly, looking down at her hand. “What are you doing?”

  She flashed a worried glance up at me, but her hand didn’t stop. “I thought this was what you wanted,” she whispered. “I’ve seen the way you look at me, Master. You stare at my tits and my ass the same way you do with Shay and Meiko. I know you want to fuck me.”

  Holy shit, I thought, getting a grip on myself. I have to stop this before it gets out of hand.

  “There’s a lot of things I want, Ruby,” I groaned, trying to pull away. “It’s not about what I want. This isn’t right.”

  Her hand finally left my junk. She nibbled her bottom lip, giving me a look that was at once irritated and bratty. “I know you’ve had sex with both of them - don’t lie to me,” she said, her voice crackling with anger. “Fae always know. I can smell the connection between the three of you.”

  I had no idea if she was exaggerating or not. For all I knew, the women of her species really could detect things of that nature. If so, it was kinda hot.

  “Shay and I are kind of a thing,” I admitted, holding up my hands. “But what happened with me and Meiko - I’m pretty sure it was just a one-time deal. She wanted to use me to get back at Shay, and she did. Ruby, you know I can’t sleep with you.”

  She looked so hurt that it took everything inside of me not to gather her up in my arms and hug her.

  “Why not, Master?” Her shoulders moved up and down in the beginnings of sobs. “Am I not pretty enough for you? Am I some kind of freak?”

  “No, no!” I sat down on the bed next to her and put an arm around her shoulders. “You’re beautiful, Ruby. You’re tiny, and curvy, and I’ve always had a thing about redheads. Especially ones who look like they actually eat a burger every now and then.”

  Ruby’s eyes shined with hope. “You like my curves? Which part of me do you like best? It’s my breasts, isn’t it?”

  I had been staring at those. To my credit, it was impossible not to. Ruby had been playing with her shipsuit zipper the entire time we spoke, and now it was open almost all the way to her navel. I was seeing cleavage, side-boob, under boob - the works. She was pretty much fucking topless.

  “I owe you my life,” Ruby said in a tiny voice. “I want to take care of you. I need to take care of you, Master. Why won’t you let me?”

  She reached for my shoulders. Fuck, her touch felt amazing. She even smelled good - like that sweet, earthy nectar she’d been drinking earlier. The caveman part of my brain wondered if she smelled like that between her legs, too.

  No. I had to keep my cool.

  “It’s just not right, Ruby,” I protested. “You lost your memory. Neither of us have any idea who you really are. You might even have a husband or a boyfriend back home on Titania - or a wife, if the Fae swing that way-”

  “Sometimes they do,” Ruby said with a titter. “It
’s so strange, Master. Ever since you gave me a name, it’s like I forget that there’s even anything wrong with my memory. I remember so many things - your friends barely had to tell me anything about the Oubliette. I already knew. It’s only...”

  Her face scrunched up. “It’s only what?” I asked.

  “It’s only specific things,” she finally whispered. “Like Shay will say something, and I’ll think ‘that’s just like that television show on Titania...’ but I won’t be able to remember the name. Then I won’t even be sure if there were television shows on Titania!” Her fingers dug deeper into my side. “In moments like that, it feels a little bit like I’m going to go crazy. But other than that, I’m completely fine.”

  I was impressed. “So losing your memory hasn’t slowed you down one bit, has it?”

  She shook her head. “It’s more frustrating than anything. I keep feeling like I should have access to information I don’t, like I should know things but I just can’t touch them. They keep slipping out of my fingers.”

  I cleared my throat. “Shay says you’re always going to be that way when it comes to your old life. She told me that I...I destroyed the old you when I gave you a new name. That I ruined your only chance to become the person you used to be.”

  She grew very, very still. “Is that why you don’t want to have sex with me?” she asked. “Because you blame yourself? You think you hurt me?”

  A wave of emotion welled up inside of me. I hadn’t even realized it was there. “I made a decision,” I said, my voice crackling. “Shay warned me that the human Core would have to do those kinds of things for her. At the time, I thought that was stupid. But now I’m starting to see why. Ruby, I ruined your life.”

  She started to laugh. Her gaze traveled back and forth. “Master, you saved my life.”

  “No I didn’t,” I said, unable to meet her gaze. “I wasn’t even doing it to help you. I needed another crew member, so Meiko would agree to help me. I was selfish - I just wanted to fix the fucking station-”

  “Master,” Ruby snapped, “shut up for a minute.”

  I was so shocked that I did just that. Did Ruby just give ME an order?

  “You’re right that I don’t remember my old life,” she said, her face filled with sympathy. “But I do remember being Nameless. And it was...horrible. It was like living the same twenty seconds over and over again and not even knowing it. Every time I tried to have a thought, to get any kind of a handle on where I was or what I was doing - it all just reset again. I was so scared, Master, and so alone.”

  My heart hammered against my ribs. “Jesus,” I muttered, “it was even worse than it looked.”

  Ruby nodded. “You saved me from all that, Master. And I may not be the woman I used to be. That girl might be gone forever for all I know. But you know who I am? Right at this very minute?” She grinned up at me. “I’m Ruby.”

  I looked at her with a newfound sense of respect. “I think I get it,” I said.

  “And I’m happy to be Ruby,” she said, her gaze meeting mine with quiet intensity. “I like being Ruby. And I like you, Master. I’m your friend - and I want to be more than your friend.” She leaned backwards, letting the shipsuit fall away even more. “Will you let me be more?”

  My resistance crumbled. Shit, was I actually going to do this? My eyes returned to the valley between Ruby’s breasts. She was hot. And I was hot. And both of us were horny as hell.

  Yeah. Yeah, I was definitely going to do this.

  “If...if you’re okay with this,” I said, putting my hands on the shoulders of her shipsuit. They moved apart gently, revealing even more of her tanned, smooth skin.

  “I’ve wanted this since the moment you saved me,” Ruby purred. “Ever since the first time I called you Master...”

  She jumped into my lap, and our lips met. The connection between us sizzled as her tongue entered my mouth, accompanied by some familiar yet alien taste I couldn’t quite recognize. A moment later the room began to blur, my senses sharpening as I tugged her shipsuit down to her waist.

  “Fuck,” I panted, breaking the kiss. “Ruby, you’re doing something to me...”

  She giggled and raised her eyebrows. “Fairy dust,” she purred, running a finger across her lips. “I’m full of it. I’m so glad you’re one of the species that can fully enjoy it, Master...”

  Even after a few moments apart, I already craved more. I smothered Ruby’s mouth with mine, kissing her hard as I drank more of her magic. Instantly my cock throbbed to life, swelling bigger and thicker than I could remember as the whole world shrank to the pure, primal need churning inside of me.

  “You like it? I’m glad you like it,” Ruby whimpered. “It’ll make everything we do feel even better, Master!”

  “I feel...I feel fucking high,” I said, a dumb grin spreading across my face. “Jesus, your mouth is better than a bong, Ruby...”

  She let the shipsuit fall off her frame. Ruby sat before me gloriously topless, her large, sensitive melons swaying gently as she showed them off for my perusal. I’d always been a fan of bigger-chested ladies - not that there was anything Shay and Meiko were lacking in that department - but neither of them could compare with Ruby. I wanted to bury my face between those glorious orbs, to lose myself inside of her while she called me her Master.

  She got onto all fours and nibbled my bottom lip. Her wings were pressed down against the surface of her back, spread out on either side. They were gauzy and see-through and totally beautiful.

  “The effects are even stronger if I sprinkle some fairy dust on a more sensitive part of your anatomy,” she giggled, planting a trail of kisses down my chest. “I can’t wait to taste you, Master...”

  Oh fuck. Her head was in my lap. She was about to blow me.

  “Fucking awesome,” I panted, my back pressed to the headboard of the bed. “Fuck yeah, Ruby. Gimme some more of that magic...”

  With her mouth inches from the head of my cock, she looked up at me expectantly. “Will you do one thing for me while I take you in my mouth, Master?”

  “Anything,” I growled.

  She grinned. “Stroke my wings. It drives me fucking wild...”

  I laughed and nodded. I could do that.

  A moment later, Ruby opened her mouth and took my swollen crown between her lips. Wet, tight heat enveloped my cock. I groaned and thrust my hips upward, unable to stop myself. My cock pushed into the back of her throat, her lips forming a tight seal around the shaft. My head lolled back against the wall as pleasure coursed through me.

  It felt like fucking Heaven.

  As she bobbed up and down in my lap, I reached across her back. “I’m not going to break these, am I?” I asked, running a finger down the side of one gauzy wing. A shiver of pleasure shot through Ruby’s body as I made contact.

  “Not at all,” she gasped, pulling off me with a wet little pop. “They’re much sturdier than they look. What you’re doing to them feels amazing, by the way!”

  “I’m glad to hear it,” I said with a chuckle. “I’m pretty sure what you’re doing feels even better.”

  She pursed her lips, looking thoughtful. “I’m not sure,” she said. “Can humans climax just from oral stimulation?”

  My mouth dropped open. “Uh, yeah,” I said, laughing. “I can definitely cum in your mouth, Ruby, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  She grinned and stroked my cock. “I want you to come in my mouth,” she said in a husky little voice.

  “Wait,” I realized, the pieces clicking together in my brain. “You’re saying I can make you cum just by stroking your wings?”

  Ruby arched an eyebrow. “You’re saying I can make you cum just by stroking your cock.”

  That’s different, I wanted to protest - then decided to shelve my questions for later. There were more fun things to do.

  “I could,” I growled, putting a hand on the back of her head. “But I’d rather do it down your throat, little faerie girl.”

  She gav
e me the most perfect submissive look I’d ever seen. “Yes, Master,” she whispered. Then she took me alllll the way down, going balls-deep around my cock like it was the most natural thing in the world. I let out a groan as I bottomed out inside her throat, the pleasure almost too strong for me to hold back.

  Should give as well as you get, I thought, reaching for her wings. Let’s see just how good this feels for you...

  I ran my hands down the sides of Ruby’s wings, watching her tremble. It took a little experimenting to get the hang of how to do it best. The edges were definitely the most sensitive part, making Ruby’s legs kick out uncontrollably and her eyes roll back in her head as she blew me, but they were almost too sensitive - like concentrating only on the most sensitive spot on my cock. Soon I figured out that a mix of stroking the edges and running my palms down the center like I was trying to press her wings down flat was something she really liked. Her cheeks reddened as I worked, teasing her while she took me down her throat faster and harder in response. It was a race to see which one of us would go over the edge first.

  Right as my pleasure crested, Ruby unraveled in front of me. Her back arched, her wings standing straight up from her body as she trembled with orgasm. She ground her pussy against the bed as her climax coursed through her, her head bouncing up and down like a cork on my cock as she sailed into bliss. A moment later the world went white as I let go, erupting like a geyser in her throat as I shot jet after jet of hot, sticky seed against the back of her throat.

  When I came back to myself, Ruby was slowly working her lips up and down my shaft, bringing me gently down from my peak. My balls tingled with aftershocks as she sucked every last drop of cum out of them, swirling her long tongue all over my rod.

  “Fairy dust,” I moaned, stroking her long red hair. There was a knowing, maniacally-pleased look in her eyes. “Fuck, I believe in fairies, Ruby. That was the best blowjob I’ve ever gotten...”

  She pulled off me, leaving a thin line of seed between the edge of her mouth and the tip of my cock. “I didn’t expect you to be so skilled, Master,” she said, the corners of her eyes crinkling with glee. “I can tell that I’ve gotten off from having my wings stroked before - but something in me says it’s usually much more difficult than that. I feel like...like someone has tried before and failed, growing more and more frustrated every time...”