by Eve Langlais
“The metal doesn’t feed.”
“It does something.” She waved the tablet once more. “Before it became a widespread thing, did your people ever test these cogs to see what they were made of?”
He shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know.”
She blinked at him. “Don’t know. Shouldn’t you know? Maybe worry about the fact Siyborghs are inviting a metal imbued of an alien sentience into your bodies?”
“Now you sound like Ursy’s friends.” Ray had come across them once, a bunch of rebels when it came to religion. “You should try reading this.” He snared her tablet and quickly drew up another book for her to try.
She glanced at it as he returned it to her grasp. “The Agnostic’s Guide to the Mecha Gods?” She frowned. “I thought you said no one ever refused the merge.”
“They don’t. I never claimed none regretted it.”
“Do you?” She eyed him.
He flexed, the muscle perfect, the bicep cogs he’d managed to snare giving them a bulky shape. “What do you think?”
“I think you’re not at all as I expected.”
For some reason he took it as a compliment, and warmth spread that needed instant quelling. He reminded himself of Zak, the guy who spent part of the previous day pacing and babbling. “She’s not like anyone I’ve ever met, Ray. She’s confident. But soft, too. And smart, like super intelligent, yet when it comes to other people and technology…”
Ray had seen it firsthand. It was as if she knew nothing, an advanced being while, at the same time, innocent of some of the most basic knowledge. A dichotomy.
He did his best to ignore her as she wandered close to the screen. “We’re almost there,” she remarked, glancing at the planet that now appeared as a speck.
“Excited to see your friends? You shouldn’t be. I’ll have them dusting the galaxy the moment they poke their noses out.”
“There is no ambush.”
“Guess we’ll soon find out.” Ray had been watching for signs of treachery. He had all the scanners searching for energy signatures, listening for space chatter.
“I guess we will.” She suddenly stood before him and blurted out, “Why don’t you like me?”
“Never said I didn’t like you.”
“You don’t trust me.”
“Because you’re still lying. And manipulating.”
“Don’t forget your conviction that I’m planning treachery.” She cocked her head. “Why the negative attitude? Do people disappoint you that often?”
“Some have.” Only Zak and his crew had ever truly had his back. His father never paid him much mind in between gear hunting, especially after his mother’s death. And then he was gone, too. Breaking his last promise to his son; I’ll be back.
“It’s hard to live up to expectations sometimes. I am my mother’s pride, and yet also her curse. I never do as she wants,” she admitted.
“Why not?”
Nema shrugged. “She raised me to follow my own instincts. To do as I pleased, within constraints, of course.”
“Do the Avhallonn have a religion?”
“Yes and no. We don’t believe in gods. Or deities that claimed to be greater than us.”
“Then what do you believe in?”
Before she could answer, a bell sounded, a low chime.
His ease turned into rigid ire. “I knew it.”
“What? What’s wrong?” she asked.
“As if you don’t know.” He tapped and brought up a different screen. “Looks like your friends are finally showing themselves.”
Her lips pulled into a tight line as she regarded the spined craft on screen.
“I have no allies.”
“So this is just a coincidence?” His sarcastic retort as the other craft fired a shot. Given the distance between them, it proved easy to angle and avoid.
“More like bad luck,” she mumbled. “I swear I have nothing to do with this.”
She sounded sincere, but the proof was firing on him again. He tilted the other way and dipped to avoid.
The comm system activated, and Zak barked, “Did you forget how to pilot?”
“We have a visitor.”
“Frukx.” All Zak said but Ray knew his friend cut short his rest to join him on the bridge.
“What can I do to help?” she asked.
“Haven’t you helped enough?” he snarled.
“Don’t you think if they were my friends, they wouldn’t be shooting at us?” she retorted hotly.
“Maybe they don’t like you that much. Now, given they’re not done attacking, I’d recommend you park your butt, buckle up, and shut up.”
Because the Solar Eclipse would protect itself, Zak’s upgrade expenses at work. The shield strengthened before the enemy ship could fire again. The plasma cannons charged themselves and aimed. He enlarged the screen that showed the energy balls streaking through space.
The other vessel dodged.
Zak arrived, looking disheveled and only partially dressed. “Who’s attacking?”
“No idea.” Ray shrugged. “Ask her.” He jabbed a finger.
Nema scowled. “I keep telling him I don’t know who they are.”
Zak leaned over the communication console and slapped a few buttons before barking, “This is the captain of the Solar Eclipse. Cease firing at once.”
Rather than reply, the enemy ship launched spiked spheres.
“What are those?” Nema asked, her eyes wide.
“Hull piercers. Put enough holes in a ship, and you’ll suck out the air, which, in turn, kills the crew, leaving the ship vulnerable to plunder. It’s the preferred takedown method of pirates. Leaves the cargo mostly intact.”
“That’s not good.” Her eyes widened.
“Don’t worry. They’ll never touch us. Even if they manage to make it through the plasma balls, the shields will stop them.”
Ray watched them getting closer and frowned. “Why isn’t the Eclipse shooting them to pieces?”
“Because it can only shoot what it sees.”
“I can see them right there.” Ray pointed.
“But the sensors can’t. The spheres are made of compressed dark matter,” Zak muttered with annoyance.
“How is that possible?” Nema exclaimed.
“With the right amount of credits and knowledge, anything is.” Ray stood.
“Where are you going?” she asked as he moved to leave the bridge.
“To handle these the old-fashioned way. In person.”
9
“What does he mean?” Nema turned to Zak, who took the commander’s seat.
“Watch and you’ll see.” Zak busied himself tapping and sliding his fingers, but her attention was caught by the screen. A smaller, much smaller, vessel appeared onscreen, arrowing from beneath their ship toward the fast approaching spheres.
“He’s going to fight them!”
“Not so much fight as blast them to pieces,” Zak corrected.
“Why not do that from the safety of the ship?”
“Better maneuverability.”
Indeed, Ray managed to fly circles around the spiked menace, firing rapidly at each one, leaving them as debris before he aimed his tiny ship at the larger enemy vessel.
“He destroyed them. What’s he doing?”
“Being a show-off,” Zak grumbled.
Ray weaved to avoid the lightning streaks trying to blow him into space chunks. He fired in return, peppering the other ship’s shield.
“None of his shots are getting through.”
“They weren’t supposed to. He’s just a decoy for this.”
A pulse rolled out of the ship toward the pirate ship. It had no real shape or even color, yet she saw it as a ripple on the screen.
Ray then proceeded to count down. “Three. Two. One.”
The wave hit Ray’s tiny ship first, then the enemy’s.
All the lights on them blinked off.
“What happened?”
“Elect
romagnetic pulse. Shut down their systems. Which means their shields are down until they reboot,” Zak remarked before a plasma ball emerged from the Eclipse.
“You’re going to kill them!” she squeaked.
“It’s what they planned to do to us.”
“But they’re helpless.”
“And what else would you have me do? Let them live to hunt us down another day?” His sarcasm hit her, but his gaze remained locked on the screen.
The plasma ball hit the other ship, and for a moment, it seemed as if nothing happened. The screen zoomed in, and she saw it, a hole in its side, things being sucked out of it into space, and not just loose objects. Bodies.
Understanding the need and reasoning didn’t make it any easier to watch. Her lips flattened. “Congratulations. Mission accomplished. The enemy is dead.”
“You’re mad,” Zak stated.
Not mad, but suddenly reminded of what was expected of her. The cold resolve it would take to succeed.
She pointed to the screen. “What about Ray?”
“He’s fine. His ship will power up in a moment.”
Except it didn’t, and Zak had a note of concern in his voice as he said aloud, “Ray, what’s happening? Why isn’t your system rebooting?”
“I don’t frukxing know,” Ray growled, his voice tiny. “I shut it down a moment before the pulse hit, but nothing is responding. And it’s getting cold.”
“Hold on. I’m coming.” There was a certain franticness about Zak’s actions as he brought the ship around and motored it toward Ray’s dead vessel. “Are you wearing your helmet?”
“How do you think we’re talking?” grumbled Ray. “My ship’s comm system is dead.”
They seemed to crawl, the image on the screen not getting bigger very fast. “Why are we going so slow?” she grumbled.
“Because too quick and we won’t be able to sweep him as we pass by.” Zak’s expression remained grim.
“Hey, for the next maintenance report, we forgot to replace the glove after that incident on Primus Seven. That hole in the thumb is making the whole outfit a little chilly.”
“You mean you forgot,” Zak barked, for a moment having traded roles with Ray. “You idiot.” He called his friend a name, but she heard the concern in his tone.
“It’s cold out here,” Ray slurred. “Make sure you’ve got a hot beverage spiked with something alcoholic for when I’m back on board.”
“The hottest. Hold on, Ray.”
No reply.
“Ray? Ray! Frukx,” Zak cursed. “Nema, get down to the bay and throw on a suit. Be ready to go in the moment the pressure equalizes. You’ll need to pop open the hatch to his ship and do whatever you can to warm him. I’ll be down the moment he’s safe inside.”
“Me? What about you?”
“I’ll be making sure he gets on board then swinging us away from that debris. We don’t want to get any oil or fuel on the hull.”
She ran rather than walked. While forbidden to visit, she knew where the bay was, and a push of the panel by it revealed a compartment with heated suits. She also popped on a helmet just in case. The air would be thin, not to mention chilly, until it had a chance to ventilate properly. She’d learned quite a bit since her abrupt introduction to space. It was a wonder she’d not died already given how little she knew.
There was no window for watching, but the screen alongside the door showed her what happened, from the bay doors opening to the smaller vessel being pulled inside. Then she had to wait for the outer doors to close and the pressure to equalize. An eternity. She popped in the moment she got the clear and ran for the small ship. She struggled with her gloved fingers to open the hatch on it, grunting and huffing in her helmet.
She yanked off the gloves, the air chilly on her skin but not as cold as the metal when she grabbed it and twisted.
The door popped, and the edges hissed. She had to yank hard to peel her hand from the grip, losing a bit of skin in the process. Nema clambered in and saw Ray slumped over in his seat. She crouched by his side and called his name “Ray? Ray?”
The concern for him took her by surprise. She barely knew the man, and what she did know tended to be insulting for her. Yet despite their sparring, his well-being was important.
The comm system in her helmet sounded with Zak’s voice. “Got us heading around the debris field. I’m on my way.”
“He’s not responding,” she huffed in panic.
“Pull off his helmet. Could be he’s not getting any air.”
She fiddled with it, having to release the seal before she could yank it off. “Ray?” She wondered if he could hear her through her own visor.
If it was safe for him… She pulled off her own helmet and leaned close. “Are you even breathing?” she murmured aloud.
“Give him air.” Zak’s voice echoed from the helmet in her lap.
Give him air? How? She saw no mask, nothing but—
She leaned forward and put her lips to his, parted them, and blew. Hot air, from her to him. One, twice, thrice.
He twitched.
She placed her hands on his chest and could have sighed at the slow, very slow thud of his heart.
He lived. He was just cold, and she didn’t know how to warm him. So she stripped off the suit, noticing the chill in the ship, but her body was warm. Unzipping her own outfit, she sat in his lap and wrapped herself around him as best she could. Nuzzling her face between his neck and jaw. Sliding her hands under his shirt and pressing her warm palms against his chilly skin.
Sucking in a breath as the contact caused a hum. Not an audible one. And yet there was something happening between them, a wakening of senses. A recognition. A spark.
Hello there. It was as if their bodies recognized each other.
Ray heaved in a deep breath, deep enough his whole body trembled, and she raised her head to look at him.
As she stared, his eyes opened, locked with hers, and he murmured, “I must have died and gone to Mecha heaven.”
“You believe in Heaven?”
“This is my dream. Shut up.”
Then he kissed her.
Cold lips against her warm ones. Startled, she didn’t move, and the chill quickly disappeared to be replaced with heat. Hot breaths. Heated flesh. A pulse starting between her legs.
His hands, still in thick gloves, spanned her waist then roamed her back even as his mouth devoured hers.
And she did nothing to stop it.
Zak did with his drawled, “Am I interrupting? Or can anyone join?”
That proved reason enough to draw back with a gasp and see the tilt of Ray’s lips.
And did he thank her for possibly saving his miserable life?
“You’re not supposed to be on this level.”
“I just revived you.”
“With a kiss?” He snorted.
“Lucky bastard,” Zak grumbled. “Kind of making me wish I was dying so I could get in on the action, too.”
The remark caused her cheeks to flame, and she shoved herself off Ray’s lap. “I was just trying to warm him up. But now that Zak is here, I’m sure he’d be more than happy to snuggle you,” she retorted. She shoved past Zak in the doorway to hop to the bay floor.
Ray shouted after her. “You’d better be going back to your room!”
Despite knowing he wouldn’t see it, she flashed a rude gesture and stomped back to her room. Her cheeks heated. Confused, and yet understanding completely what was happening.
She was attracted to Ray. Which wouldn’t be a problem if she wasn’t also attracted to Zak. Normally, she would solve that problem having sex with them both—at different times. She knew better than to try and balance the lusts of two males at once. It hadn’t worked out well for her cousin Rommi. Poor Rommi ended up with no one when her lovers found out about each other and got into a deadly fight.
There was only one solution here. Sleep with neither.
Both.
Funny how her inner-self had two
opposing solutions.
Given the turmoil throbbing between her legs, she chose to avoid the males. Which lasted only until the announcement.
“We’re coming up on that planet you found.” Zak’s voice startled her as it emerged from the hidden speaker in her room. “You coming?”
She wished. She’d not dared even touch herself for fear it would make things worse. “Be there in a moment.”
Joining Ray and Zak on the bridge, she noticed the viewscreen focusing on a single planet.
“It looks striped,” she noted.
“Looks like it’s got lava poles, boiling oceans causing mist, which is that white strip you see, and there in the middle, a solid band.” Ray pointed the items out as he mentioned them.
“There is something else that you can’t see,” Zak murmured. “I’m getting a familiar signature.”
“Familiar how?” Ray asked, turning.
“Ursy’s here.” The screen switched to show a layered view of the planet, the different colors all indications of what lay on the surface.
“Ursy, as in your sister?” she asked.
“Yeah. That’s her ship.” Zak zoomed in on a section of the planet, bringing up a pink blob.
“Why would she be here?” Ray asked.
“A better question is if she’s all right,” Zak said in a low voice. “I’m not seeing any biological signatures on board, and the ship itself is dead. She crashed.”
“Oh frukx.” Ray’s voice was somber.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“Don’t be. She’s not dead.” Zak’s expression turned grim. “I’d know it.”
“We’ll scan the surface. Could be she and Wulff abandoned the ship and went looking for help.”
It wasn’t Ursy they found first but signs of a road. It showed as a broken shadow on screen and in a straight line that was not natural by any means.
“Think it leads to a Mecha God temple?” Ray asked, tracing the path with his finger.
“Possible. I’m showing weak signs of latmevilium sprinkled throughout that solid band and one large mass of it at the end of the road.”
The announcement started a whisper inside her. She remained focused on the screen as a solid chunk became more distinct, the outline of it clearly not natural.