Vyken Dark: Cyborg Awakenings Book One

by Christine Myers

  “How can he do that? Would he rather have them fraternizing with the thugs like the ones Vyken rescued us from?” she said with a touch of irony. “I don’t know about you, but I was more than happy to be rescued. They would have killed you and probably me too.”

  “Do you think some of your feelings for Vyken are gratitude?”

  “I am grateful, but I also am completely attracted to him, and we care about each other,” she told him. “We have a unique bond that I’ve never felt with anyone else.”

  “Jacob thinks I should make you come live here in the Enclave.”

  “Of course, he does,” Danya sneered. “Did he also tell you he has been approaching the women we brought here to breed with him?”

  “What?”

  “Yes, some of them have told me, and they’re none too happy about it. He told them it was their duty to procreate with natural males of substance. A few actually did,” she told him.

  “That’s disgusting!” James exclaimed. “I know he is adamantly against the women here taking cyborgs lovers, but this is even worse. I can’t believe the Federation could support his leadership if they knew this.”

  “They won’t. Vyken has already contacted them. Only his friendship with Admiral Gregor got Jacob Black this position. Vyken is sure the admiral didn’t know these things about him,” Danya asserted. “He never would have supported this kind of behavior. I sure hope you don’t either.”

  “No, of course not. I’ve been hearing things that made me suspicious. I understand better than anyone how important it is to protect and help the women and children. With more women than men here, a man could easily have more than one lover, but to coerce them to have sex with him…”

  “What about you, Dad? Have you met anyone special?” Danya asked with a hopeful smile.

  “Kind of---Maree and I connected a few years back, and I lost track of her, but she is here now. I want her to be my wife, to marry her the way people used to.”

  “That’s great, Dad! If you’re happy, I am happy,” Danya smiled rubbed his upper arm affectionately. “I don’t remember meeting her.”

  “You were pretty young when you met her the last time. Your mother had been gone about two years. I wanted her to stay with us but she was looking for her sister who was taken but one of the overlords.”

  “Did she ever find her?”

  “She did, but when Maree found her, she wouldn’t leave the overlord because he took care of her,” James said. “Maree said she looked healthy and seemed happy, so she left her. If she tried to force her to leave, the overlord would have taken her as well. The cyborgs brought Maree in two days ago.”

  “How is she?” Danya asked.

  “She’s underweight and exhausted from being on the run. She went to see her sister. Maree’s sister’s overlord wanted her to stay but Maree refused, She escaped and he sent runners after her. The cyborgs drove them off. She’s resting now, but when she’s feeling up to it I will com if I don’t see you and we’ll get together.”

  “That’ll be great, Dad. I’m so glad you have someone too…and don’t worry about me, Vyken is very good to me,” Danya assured him. “How are things going otherwise?”

  “The reading classes are going slow with the adults, but the kids are taking to it,” he said. “There are only about half a dozen adults who can read and do simple arithmetic. It’s going to take years to get back to the educational and technological level that Earth was at before the war.”

  “It’s like the whole world is in ruins. Last week we flew over many cities, and they were just as bad as Chicago. Even small towns were in ruins. That so many people survived is incredible…and partly thanks to the cyborgs.”

  “The war’s been over on Earth for thirty years, but things haven’t improved,” James said. “We need all the help the cyborgs can give us.”

  “Tell Jacob that. He seems to like you and respect you. Maybe he will listen to you, where he won’t listen to Vyken or me,” Danya said.

  “I will work on that, sweetie.” He hugged her and kissed her cheek. “See you soon.”

  Danya left her father to head back to the Starfire to find Vyken to tell him what she had just learned from her friends at the Enclave. She had made the rounds on level one and two to see how her friends liked their new home. The things they had told her about Jacob Black had greatly disturbed her. It wasn’t the fact that he approached multiple women for sex; it was how he did it. A couple of them told Danya that he implied that they would be evicted from the Enclave if they didn’t accept his advances.

  Of course, as Danya was striding toward the elevator alcove just past Jacob’s office, he popped out and asked Danya if he could talk to her in his office. Only because his office had a glass wall front so anyone could see what was happening in there, did she agree. After the things she had learned, she didn’t want to be in close quarters with him.

  Jacob Black was classically handsome with dark hair, amber eyes and a square jaw, full mouth, but the calculating way he was looking at her made her suspicious of his motives.

  “It’s good to see you, Danya,” he said with an appreciative smile. The look in his eyes made her feel that he was mentally undressing her.

  “What can I do for you, Jacob? I was just leaving.”

  “To go back to your cyborg?”

  “That’s right,” she admitted, not liking the way he said it.

  “Is that why you won’t join us because you are with him?”

  “I am where I want to be,” Danya said without elaborating.

  “About that… I need to ask you not to encourage the other women to pair off with any of the cyborgs here,” he said. “I understand that you may feel grateful to the commander for rescuing you and your father, but it is not appropriate for the women of the Enclave to be mating with the cyborgs.”

  “That sounds like you are biased against them when they are here to help us recover our humanity from the chaos left by the war. We wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for the cyborgs fighting for us.”

  “Cyborgs are genetically modified humans, and they will pollute the natural gene pool in ways we can’t even predict. We have to keep the human race pure and natural.” He insisted.

  “Is that why you are trying to spread your genes around among the women we brought here for sanctuary from the gangs? Did you think they wouldn’t tell me? Some of them have been my friends my whole life,” she said, unable to completely hide her disdain.

  “If you haven’t noticed, there is a shortage of men in the community here. How else are we going to increase the population? Each man will need more than one wife.”

  “That will only further narrow the gene pool. There won’t be enough diversity because too many of the children will be half-siblings,” Danya pointed out. “The scientists used only the best genetic material for the cyborgs. They have already proven their superiority. Allowing them to mate with the women here---if they so choose---would only improve the gene pool.”

  “I don’t know how you can let that half machine fuck you!” Jacob hissed. “He should stick to his own kind. They have females in stasis right here in this building. Commander Dark and the rest of those machines can fuck them.”

  “That’s it! I won’t listen to you insult Vyken. That man has more humanity in his little finger than half the men I know. Who I fuck is none of your business. It sure as hell won’t be you!”

  Danya did an immediate about face and stalked out of his office, barely missing walking into the door before it automatically slid open. She went straight to the elevator and pressed the button for the surface. She lunged through the elevator door and shoved the door of the concrete open and ran straight into Vyken.

  He caught her upper arms a split second before she smacked into him. Dany gasped, startled then looked up at him. Vyken looked down at her with a touch of humor glinting in his eyes. Danya smiled and shook her head.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  “Were you looking for me? Or comi
ng to see someone else?” Danya asked

  “I was coming to find you. You seem upset, what’s happened?” Vyken rubbed her upper arms and looked at her, concerned.

  “It’s Jacob Black. That man is unbelievable!” It was about midday in early spring. The sun was shining, and the temperature was warm enough for the light jacket she had worn. “Let’s take a walk, and I’ll tell you everything.”

  As they walked, some of the newbie cyborgs were in the field staking out a large section for planting vegetables that would feed the residents of the Enclave through the next winter. They walked toward the ancient remnant of a farmhouse that had all the windows broken out of it, and part of the roof caved in. The nearby barn’s walls had buckled, and the all that was left was the upper portion and the roof.

  Danya went through the entire story from what the women and her father had told her and her disturbing conversation with Jacob. They stopped by a large spreading maple tree next to the rundown dwelling with its bare branches just starting to bud with the makings of new leaves. As they faced each other, Danya finished the story. She could see that it made Vyken furious as she related the last details.

  “I had a feeling Black was not what he seemed,” Vyken remarked. “I knew he didn’t want cyborgs mating with the women in the Enclave, but not about him coercing them to breed with him. I can’t believe the Enclave Council condones this behavior, which means they probably don’t know about it.”

  “What makes this even worse is that so many of us were coerced and forced to have sex just to survive. And before for you ask, yes, I was too---but that was a long time ago. I learned how to run fast and hide well.”

  Vyken swore and wrapped her in his arms and hugged her to him. He would kill anyone who tried to hurt her again with his bare hands. Danya was his female, and only his.

  They didn’t speak for a while because no words were really necessary. Danya looked up into his eyes, and he lowered his mouth to hers in a long, deep kiss. The passion of their kiss left them both aroused and breathing faster when their lips parted, but they both willed it back under control to revisit later when they were alone in their quarters.

  Eventually, they walked back to the ship hand in hand. Meanwhile, Vyken used his cybernetics to tap into the enclave network and find out when the Enclave was holding its next council meeting and put himself on the agenda. It was set for three days later. Then he hacked into their internal email system to gauge the council members’ relationships with Jacob Black and each other.

  At least two of the seven members were particularly concerned with some of Jacob’s actions. They all knew about his prejudice against the cyborgs. Combined with rumors about his liaisons with various women brought into the Enclave for protection, three of the Council wanted to remove him as administrator and as a member of the council. Next, he did a full review of their by-laws and discovered there were harsh rules on sexual misconduct by anyone in the Enclave. Coercing women for sex was major misconduct. Jacob Black was going to be removed. Vyken’s plan was coming together.

  The monthly meeting of the Civil Restoration Enclave began routinely at 10:00 a.m. three days later. Vyken arrived promptly before the meeting was called to order. Jacob Black looked somewhat disconcerted when he noted the cyborg commander arrive. Looking at his virtual screen in front of him at the table, he quickly confirmed that Vyken was indeed on the agenda. He frowned, clearly displeased with Dark’s presence.

  Vyken could hear the council members murmuring to each other from the back of the room. The three men and three women were urging Administrator Black to move him to the head of the agenda. Unlike Jacob Black, the rest of the council seemed to respect Commander Dark and appreciate his efforts in helping them build the Enclave and bringing order to old Chicago.

  Although he approached the committee respectfully, Vyken Dark was pretty intimidating with his size and powerful, muscular body, stark midnight blue eyes and close-cropped platinum hair. He started his report with their excursions into the city and rescue of distressed women, children, and men with women and children as their primary emphasis in their rescue efforts.

  He explained about the cyborgs in stasis on levels three and four and clearing level three for residential use. He talked about awakening cyborgs from stasis and training them to take over the building and protecting the Enclave and bringing order to old Chicago and other cities in North America. He did not, however, divulge any information about the Peruvian compound cyborgs.

  Then, of course, there was the layout for the vegetable garden and starting plants in the makeshift greenhouse the cyborgs created from salvaged materials and plastic sheeting from the ship’s storeroom. He did this to first show the progress the cyborgs had made in building the support structure for the Enclave and to lull Jacob Black into a false sense of security in his position.

  “Thank you, Commander Dark,” Jacob said when Vyken paused. “We certainly appreciate your efforts on our behalf.”

  “I have one more thing before I go,” Vyken said. “I have had some disturbing reports about you, Mr. Black. First, is that you have forbidden the women under the protection of the Enclave to fraternize with cyborgs. Also, you have attempted to coerce women into having sex with you to help increase the population in the Enclave of the ‘proper genetic’ makeup.”

  To the board Vyken said:

  “He is entitled to his personal beliefs, but he is not entitled to dictate who these men and women consort with. Nor does he have authority to use his position as administrator to pressure and bully women to have sex with him, let alone bear his children. Many of these women have been either raped multiple times or coerced into having unwanted sex just to survive. They came here for protection, not more of the same.”

  By then Jacob Black was growing increasingly agitated and red-faced.

  “Mr. Black even berated my own female for becoming my mate because I am a cyborg.”

  “Your female, Commander Dark?” one of the women asked with a hint of disapproval.

  “It’s a figure of speech. She is my female, and I am her male. We are bondmates---which is not the point.

  “Mr. Black’s actions have seriously undermined the Enclave’s integrity. I take no pleasure in relaying this information to you. I volunteered for this assignment at the request of Admiral Carson Gregor, who has since died. I know he would find Mr. Black’s behavior reprehensible, as do I.

  “I formally request this council to remove Jacob Black from his position as administrator and as a member of this council. As I said, this assignment is voluntary. I will not continue my assistance unless he is removed.”

  “Thank you, Commander Dark for your service here and during the war.”

  Vyken bowed his head briefly in acknowledgment and left the room to allow them to handle the matter. Even with the door of the small conference room closed, he could hear everything that was said.

  The woman who addressed Vyken demanded that Jacob explain himself. Initially, Jacob tried to say the women were lying, then he asserted that Vyken was lying. Cyborgs were programmed incapable of lying both cybernetically and genetically. It would have been laughable if it weren’t so disgusting.

  His back peddling got Black nowhere. The rest of the council was well aware of Vyken’s stellar record of service and his integrity. It took them about twenty minutes to remove Jacob Black as administrator and evict him from the Enclave altogether. He was first enraged and then he was begging because he said eviction was a death sentence.

  His eviction would be carried out in three days, and he would be confined to his quarters until that day. He would be given enough supplies for a month along with seeds and assistance finding shelter at least thirty miles from the enclave.

  As soon as he heard their verdict, Vyken called AFJ-081 to come into the Enclave to escort Jacob Black to his quarters and stand guard to make sure the remained there. Vyken waited outside the conference room door until Agare Jax (AFJ-081) arrived and gave him a visual of Jacob Black
and the information he needed to do his job.

  Then he went to find Danya who was visiting her father and hanging out in case the Council requested further verification of Vyken’s report. He wouldn’t feel comfortable having Danya in the building without him until Jacob Black was gone. The ex-administrator had been a reluctant ally and never a friend. Now he was an enemy.

  The man was no match for Vyken Dark. He was sure that Black didn’t have the guts to come after him. Black would only go after those he considered weaker than him to take his revenge. He’d either go after the women who revealed his activities or go after Danya to get even with Vyken. The very thought tempted the cyborg to just take him out.

  But this wasn’t a wartime situation. He couldn’t preemptively kill Jacob Black without facing murder charges and stasis, although they would have to catch him first. Vyken could never subject Danya to a life on the run, not when he had dreams of making a family with her one day. So, he would concentrate his efforts on preventing Black from contact with anyone he might see as a means to get revenge.

  He ran the data through his processers to assess the possible outcomes and the probability of Black harming someone was high enough that Vyken believed he should kill him as soon as Black emerged from the conference room.

  Only his hope for a future with Danya stopped him.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  After the distasteful task of bringing down Jacob Black, Vyken wanted nothing more than to take Danya back to their quarters and make love to her for hours. But he needed to meet with primary team leaders Matix, Jolt, and Brekar. Each of them had taken charge of one of the three companies they were preparing to sweep through old Chicago in the coming days to root out the overlords and their gangs to bring back order and make it safe for repopulation.

  The armor was ready, and the recently activated cyborgs had been uploaded with the records of their excursions into the city. They’d spent a week familiarizing them with their weapons and equipment hands on. For naturals, a week would not have been near enough, but the cyborgs came preprogrammed with military protocols, strategy and weapons functions. Their databanks were upgraded, and they trained physically to build their strength after being in stasis for so many years.