Cyborg

by Kaitlyn O'Connor

  Amaryllis was instantly completely alert. “No! I don't have a concussion. I'm fine."

  Dante rose to his full height and looked around and Amaryllis realized that she was lying on her bunk in her quarters. She frowned, but she couldn't remember getting from the corridor to the room. One of them must have carried her in after she'd blacked out.

  "I'll stay with her and make certain she's alright,” Dante announced.

  Reese and Cain exchanged a challenging glance. “I'll stay, too,” Cain said tightly.

  Reese balled his hands into fists. “Over my dead body,” he growled.

  Cain's lips curled upward. “Gladly."

  Amaryllis struggled up onto her elbows. “OUT! All of you! Don't youdare even think about starting again!"

  "You could be hurt. I need to stay,” Dante said tightly.

  "Someone needs to stay anyway. The barbarian over there broke the door down,” Cain pointed out accusingly.

  "Fine!” Amaryllis growled. “The three of you stay. I'll leave."

  Dante pushed her back against the bunk, holding her down. “Be reasonable. You need to rest."

  "Me? Why should I be the only one that's reasonable?"

  "You can't stay here alone. The door's broken,” Cain snapped.

  "I'll stay and guard the door—outside,” Reese growled.

  "And who'll guard the door when the MP's show up to haul the two of you off to jail?” Dante asked tightly.

  Cain and Reese exchanged an uncomfortable glance. “I've got enough credits to pay the fine.” He studied Amaryllis assessingly for a moment. “—For both of us,” he added belatedly.

  Amaryllis sighed. “I'm tired, but I'm not hurt. Just go away, please, all of you, before they come."

  The three men exchanged silent communication and finally moved to the door. When they'd left, Amaryllis got off the bunk and shoved the chair across the floor, wedging it against the door. It wasn't likely to keep anyone out who wanted to come in, not if Reese could break the door down when it had been locked, but it would serve as a delay and an alarm if anyone tried to come in.

  Not that she thought anyone would.

  She found she was too exhausted to consider trying to fix something to eat. Instead, she grabbed a piece of fruit and nibbled on it on her way to the shower.

  When she'd bathed, she felt even more drained, not rejuvenated. Instead of dressing once more, she climbed into the bunk and closed her eyes. Rest didn't come. Instead, she found herself idly stroking her rounded belly, wondering about the infant growing inside of her. There was no comfort in the fact that she hadn't miscarried. That only meant it wasn't too defective to live, not that it wasn't defective.

  She was afraid to allow herself to think it might not be. If she convinced herself that it would be alright and carried it to term, then discovered it was horribly malformed, she wouldn't be able to live with herself. It was cruel to inflict that kind of suffering on an innocent when it need not suffer at all, but she was afraid she'd already passed the point where it could be terminated painlessly. It was no longer merely a collection of multiplying cells, without a developed nervous system and brain to register pain. She hadn't wanted to have to make the choice between giving it a life time of suffering or a quick death.

  She was useless, powerless. She'd already failed the poor little thing and, one way or another, it was going to suffer for her incompetence.

  Unable to come up with any solution or to bear thinking about it anymore when her head was aching fit to split from her endless quest for a solution, she turned her mind to trying to think what to do about Reese, Dante, and Cain. The competition between them had already erupted into violence several times. She didn't want their lives destroyed by it.

  She had to convince them, somehow, to stop. Choosing one didn't seem a very good solution, even if she could, even if she didn't feel that it was wrong to allow them to think she could provide them with a family. Somehow, she didn't think that would end the fighting. Cain had suggested they could end up killing to get what they wanted and she didn't think it was at all farfetched that they might, especially after tonight.

  Chapter Twenty Two

  Hammering on the door woke Amaryllis late the following morning. She sat up groggily just as Dante shoved the chair out of the way and looked in at her. Glaring at him, she grabbed her pillow and flung it at his head.

  He ducked it, but a faint smile curled his lips. “You are feeling better today, I see."

  "I was,” she said crossly. “Go away."

  He frowned. “There is a town meeting today. You need to go. I will walk with you."

  "I'm not going,” Amaryllis muttered, falling back against the mattress and curling onto her side with her back to him.

  Reese and Cain were standing in her living area when she came out of the shower sometime later. She checked, staring at them in outrage. Both men looked her over with keen interest.

  "Is there a sign on that door that says ‘come right in'?” she demanded, pointing at the broken door.

  Cain and Reese exchanged a sheepish look.

  "Did Isay you could come in?” she demanded when neither man answered.

  Reese's face hardened. “I came to escort you to the meeting."

  "Well, you can leave again, because I'm not going."

  "Everyone has to go,” Cain said. “I will escort you."

  "No, you won't. You can both leave."

  They looked as if they wanted to argue the point, but after glaring back at her for several moments, both men stalked angrily from the room.

  Amaryllis slammed the door and pushed the chair against it again. When she couldn't hear them any longer and was certain they'd both left, she got dressed, then paced the living area until she decided the meeting had probably already started.

  For once, luck seemed to be on her side. The meeting hall was filled to overflowing. When she arrived, everyone seemed to be in the grips of almost hysterical excitement and no one noticed when she entered and found a place to stand and listen among those late comers standing in the back of the room.

  She saw once things had quieted down once more that the reason for all the shouting and clapping seemed to be an infant. Reuel and Dalia were standing on the platform at the front of the room, proudly displaying the first child born to cyborg parents.

  Amaryllis thought for several awful moments that she would burst into tears. She tamped the urge with an effort as the head of the council stood and began to speak.

  He welcomed the hunters as full citizens. He told them they were free to come and go within the colony as they pleased and encouraged to become a part of it.

  Amaryllis was waiting for the ‘but'. It came. They would be expected to make an effort to join the colony. If, after a full year, they still wanted to return, they would be taken to one of the colonies of man and left.

  A year.

  She didn't have a year to spare. She didn't even have months.

  She was still reeling from that news when the president made an announcement that was even more stunning. In order to try to keep peace among themselves, and because the males outnumbered the females by five or six to one, each female was expected to contract with at least two, and no more than four, males to form a family unit.

  Amaryllis was so stunned she couldn't seem to take it in. Two? Four? What kind of family unit was he talking about for God's sake? The men would kill each other!

  Minutes passed before Amaryllis realized the roaring in her ears wasn't the rush of blood pounding in her veins. The entire auditorium was in an uproar and rioting seemed imminent.

  Unnerved, Amaryllis began trying to work her way toward the exit. She'd almost reached it when a hand clamped around either arm. She looked up to discover Reese and Dante standing on either side of her. Without a word, they plowed through the crowd and through a pair of double doors that led outside, ignoring Amaryllis’ efforts to pull free.

  They released her once they were outside.

  "
You said you weren't coming,” Reese said tightly.

  She glared at him sullenly. “I changed my mind."

  "You should not have come alone. It is not safe, especially not now."

  "And exactly how was I supposed to know they were going to make such an insane announcement?"

  Reese and Dante exchanged a look. “No one knew. Nevertheless, it is the law. The situation has already been debated to exhaustion and no better plan was set forth. No one is completely satisfied, but they could not be, given the situation ... and the law has merit."

  "It has merit?” Amaryllis echoed, staring at Dante as if he'd lost his mind.

  "There will be two to protect you."

  "Three."

  Everyone froze as Cain strolled up to the group.

  "She need only choose two,” Reese growled threateningly.

  "But I've no intention of leaving her at your tender mercies,” Reese retorted coldly.

  Amaryllis felt a little faint as she stared up at the three men towering over her, all of them scowling at each other. Insanely, she remembered something her mother was prone to say. ‘Be careful what you wish for.’ She'd wavered between them, unable to decide which she cared for the most. She hadn't wanted to have to make a choice.

  Now, she wouldn't have to, but it would not make things easier, for any of them, and it certainly wouldn't change the most important reason she had for not wishing to form a contract without anyone. “I can't,” she said a little weakly.

  That effectively claimed their attention and all three looked down at her assessingly. “You heard the proclamation. You do not have a choice,” Dante pointed out. “We will not allow you to choose someone else."

  Amaryllis tried to summon anger, but failed to ignite more than a spark. The truth was, she wasn't about to choose anyone else and she didn't particularly like the idea of appearing to be free for the taking. It was far more frightening to imagine what her life might become without them than with them. “This won't work,” she said a little desperately. “You will do nothing but fight."

  Reese, Dante, and Cain exchanged speculative looks. “We'll work it out,” Cain said finally. “Right now, I think it'll be best just to get you away from here. The barracks is out. Neanderthal took that door out like it was made of cloth. Even if we barricaded it, you wouldn't be safe."

  For several moments, Amaryllis thought a fight would erupt between Cain and Reese again. “You said you'd work it out,” she said accusingly. “Quit calling him that."

  Cain studied her a moment. “Fine. What's his name?"

  She gave him a look. She didn't believe for a moment that he didn't know, or had forgotten.

  "Reese,” Reese growled. “We'll take her to our home. She'll be safe there."

  "But who'll protect her from you? I'm coming, or she isn't going there."

  "Nobody asked me!” Amaryllis said indignantly.

  "Your vote doesn't count,” Cain said coolly. “You'd demand to stay at the barracks and there are at least twenty unattached males living there. We can't protect you if we're going to have to stand guard over your door every night like we did last night."

  No wonder they'd been so Johnny on the spot this morning, she thought, and lapsed into silence. Arguing with them obviously wasn't going to change anyone's mind.

  Since that seemed to settle the matter, the four of them left the municipal building and turned north along the main thoroughfare. Gallen boasted very few motorized vehicles, their objective being to minimize pollution of the planet's atmosphere. Most walked wherever they went—no great hardship since the city wasn't huge—and Amaryllis wasn't surprised when they set out on foot. It was further than she'd anticipated however, for the plantation Reese and Dante had established was a goodly distance beyond the city, and she developed a hitch in her side long before they reached it.

  She caught Dante assessing her when she massaged the ache, though, and tried thereafter to ignore it, but she was glad when they finally reached the tall gates that surrounded the property.

  Despite her weariness and her uneasiness about her situation, the house was such a complete surprise that it dragged her from her abstraction. Reese had said it was small. She wondered what he'd used to measure it, because it looked enormous to her. She discovered once they were inside that it was certainly no illusion. Just beyond the double front doors was a spacious foyer. A wide winding stair led up from the foyer to the second floor. On the first floor, several doors led off the foyer on either side, but she caught no more than a glimpse of the rooms as Reese led her up the stairs.

  At the top of the stairs, a wide hallway bisected the house. Five doors opened off of it, two on either side, and one at the end of the hallway opposite the stairs. Dante nudged Cain, pointed to the nearest door and headed down the stairs once more. Reese led her to the room at the end of the hall, opened the wide double doors and gestured for her to enter.

  Amaryllis stopped on the threshold, staring around the room in wonder as the artificial lights winked on at Reese's command. The round bed, easily large enough to sleep a half a dozen people comfortably, dominated the center of the room. The comforter and pillows that covered it were thick, fluffy and of a deep, dusky rose color. Above the bed, yards of fabric in a like shade were gathered to form a canopy, draped through loops at what would have been the four corners of the bed if it had been rectangular and allowed to fall unhindered from there to pool on the carpeted dais on which the bed was perched.

  Amaryllis took a couple of steps inside and looked around. The carpet beneath her feet was so thick she felt as if she were walking through water. It was patterned in a floral design, the dominating color slightly paler than the color of the bed cover and hangings.

  Several comfortably padded chairs and tables were grouped to one side of the bed. On the other was a mirrored dressing table and tall chest with drawers. A wide, arched door stood open between the dressing table and chest. She moved closer and peered inside. Stone covered the floor and the walls of the huge bath. In the center, sunken into the floor, was a tub large enough to be called a pool.

  "This must be your room,” she said uncomfortably.

  His brows rose, then descended, drawn together in a faint frown. “It is a duplication of one from a magazine. It is supposed to be a room pleasing to a woman. You do not like it?"

  "It's ... a little overwhelming,” Amaryllis managed. “You didn't do this for yourself, then?"

  "I did it for you. If you do not like it, you can change it to suit you."

  Amaryllis’ heart fluttered. Finally, she managed a smile. “It's beautiful. I don't know if I can get used to so much room. Our entire family quarters on the colony weren't this big and I've not even had that much room since."

  He studied her doubtfully. “You can be happy here?"

  Under other circumstances, she could've been deliriously happy here. She managed a tremulous smile, nodding. “Thank you, Reese, for your thoughtfulness."

  He looked uncomfortable and merely nodded. “We share kitchen duties. It is Dante's night to cook. Tomorrow mine. You and Cain may choose the nights you wish to cook and then we will rotate."

  Amaryllis bit her lip. “I can't cook."

  "We have programming.... “He stopped abruptly, flushing faintly when he suddenly recalled that she couldn't jack in and download. “We will teach you."

  "That'll be fun for all,” Amaryllis said dryly. “Is the kitchen fire proof?"

  He looked at her questioningly.

  "Never mind."

  She remained where she was for some time after he'd left, her mind curiously blank. After a time, though, the shock began to wear off and, like a roaring tide, everything began to flood back with a vengeance.

  Theoretically, she supposed the council members were correct and their idea was both practical, given the circumstances, and calculated to produce optimal harmony within the colony. A man sharing his woman might not be terribly happy, but five men alone, watching one man with, was a recipe
for war.

  How were the women supposed todeal with a house full of men though? How could she?

  And what was she to do about her personal situation? With three virile males, even if she managed to find a way to terminate her pregnancy, she would be facing the same situation again.

  Somehow, under the circumstances, she doubted there had been any interest in procuring birth control.

  She might as well have been living in the dark ages.

  Cain had been right. Theywere barbarians!

  Chapter Twenty Three

  By the time Amaryllis woke the following morning, she'd concluded protest was useless. Reese, Dante, and Cain had made up their minds and it wasn't likely she was going to change them, given the situation. As scary as the thought was of having to deal with all three, she wasn't even certain she would've wanted to if it hadn't been for her fears that she could make them happy by giving them the children they wanted and deserved. She was in love with Reese, but she cared very much for all three of them—it was impossible not to when they loved her—and if she'd had to choose, she wouldn't have been able to, not and be completely happy.

  It was still nerve wracking to be escorted to the municipal building by all three. She might even have been embarrassed except that when they arrived, there were already several other groups waiting. Others arrived behind them.

  The signing and ceremony were short once they were allowed to enter the chambers held by the council president.

  A sense of unreality descended over Amaryllis as they left the building and paused at the main street to decide what to do next as it began to sink into her that she was contracted—with all of them. After a little discussion, they followed Reese's suggestion to celebrate their contract by dining at the city's finest, and only, restaurant. Amaryllis didn't know whether to be relieved or not that their celebration dragged on through the remainder of the afternoon. On the one hand, it had been a very long, very nerve wracking day.

  On the other, it was traditional to seal the family contractual agreement by devoting a full week to sharing their physical affection for one another and she wondered if they knew that. Reese had mentioned before that he wanted to follow her customs.