by Eve Langlais
“I wonder if I tried.” Zak held out his hand, and she gladly dropped it into his palm.
He grimaced. “Doesn’t feel as bad as expected.”
“Keep insulting it and see if it’s nice,” Ray taunted.
“Shut up,” Zak grumbled. He squeezed it and closed his eyes tight. Even changed hands. In the end, he shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re hearing because I’ve got nothing. Want to try?” He offered it to Ray, who couldn’t shake his head hard enough.
“Nope.”
“Then I guess we’re going to an empty galaxy.”
“Better ask baby over here. She seems to think she took over my ship.” Zak eyed her with a smirk.
She slid out of the seat. “Don’t try anything, or you’ll be sleeping in that cryo pod before you can apologize. Oh, and don’t bother looking for any guns. Those ones you had stashed in the locker? They’re gone.”
“You’re not allowed on level two,” Ray snapped.
“Baby,” she said with a lilt and purr that brought a twinkle to her eyes, “while you were sleeping, I touched everything on this ship.” She winked, mostly because it was fun to see their faces.
“You want to keep most of the weapons? Go ahead. But at least give me a sword. What if we’re attacked by pirates?” Ray asked.
“If we’re attacked, then I’ll tell you where I hid them. But in the meantime, there will be no more shooting of my person.”
“I suspect that’s a part of our truce,” Ray drawled.
“Can I trust you to keep it?”
Zak snorted. “The lady who was lying accusing others of being untrustworthy. That’s priceless. We’re the ones who should be questioning your integrity.”
For some reason this rebuke brought out a stubborn retort. “I am acting in the best interest of my people.”
“And who cares about anyone else. Nice,” was Ray’s sarcastic rejoinder.
Even Zak appeared disgusted. “And you call us the perverted ones.”
“Your mecha parts are tainted. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with you at the core.”
“How magnanimous of you,” Ray snarled before he stalked from the bridge, leaving her with Zak.
“He’s angry,” she observed.
“Can you blame him? He let down his guard for you, and you caught him by surprise.”
“I never told him he could trust me.”
“Yet it happened. Because we believed you. We won’t make that mistake again.”
For some reason the rebuke stung. Mostly because she understood it. She just didn’t like it. “You might not believe this, but I won’t hurt you unless I have no choice.”
“I don’t think you’re as cutthroat as you claim.”
Then he didn’t know her very well. “I will save my people.”
“At the expense of killing others?”
“If I have to.”
“And here I thought we were friends.”
She frowned. “I never made any promises.”
“Would you keep them if you did?”
“Yes.”
“Then make one right now and prove it. Promise you won’t destroy the next planet until we’ve at least explored the temple.”
“I didn’t destroy the last planet. It still exists.”
“And is now completely uninhabitable. The temple lost forever.”
“Did it ever occur to you that maybe I didn’t actually destroy it? After all, your friend claimed he broke the giant machine under the temple.”
“How did you know about that? You were sleeping.”
“You didn’t answer. How do you know that the clock being broken wasn’t what destroyed that planet?”
“It’s possible,” he admitted. “All the planets upon which we’ve found temples possess some kind of ticking calamity. The mighty machines appear to tick in time to the turning of the world and are linked to an inevitable catastrophe. The question that plagues our scholars is, does the clock hold back the disaster or simply mark the passage of time until it comes to pass?”
“Do you think the original builders linked the temples to a time bomb because they’re dangerous and worried about them getting into the wrong hands?” she asked.
“I’d say they left the fuse too long.”
“They were right to try and destroy them. They’re evil.”
“Says the woman who’s never stepped foot in one,” Zak pointed out.
“I don’t believe in raiding the tombs of the dead.”
“The dead can’t take it with them. Recycling is a way of life.”
She cast an incredulous gaze on him. “Are you implying you take the metal out of the corpses of your people to re-use?”
“Given how you’re looking at me suddenly like I bite the heads off babies, I’m going to say no.”
“That’s sick.”
“It’s no worse than leaving behind jewelry or a keepsake.”
“It’s attached to their bodies.”
“So are earrings and piercings. Or do you claim your dead are buried with those, too?”
She clamped her lips.
Zak reached out and grabbed her hand. More surprising, she allowed it. “Let’s not fight. We started talking about the temples and the fact you need to see one. Check it out, see one for yourself before you get trigger-happy again.”
“Fine.” The word emerged begrudgingly. Mostly because she didn’t want to seem eager. The Lake within her agitated at the thought of a temple. Of perhaps dozens of gears like the one she’d tamed. It remained quiet, but it took a lot to subdue.
Even now, she could sense the echo of its anger.
“We should seal the deal.”
Before she could gauge Zak’s intent, he leaned forward and kissed her.
Startled, she reeled back, and almost lost her balance. He caught her, his hands on her hips, pulling her close.
She glanced at his face. His eyes were hooded, his expression revealing nothing.
“You kissed me!” she exclaimed.
“I did.”
“You shouldn’t have done that.”
“Because of Ray.” He sighed.
“What does Ray have to do with anything?”
“You kissed him first. Which means you belong to him.”
She frowned. “I don’t belong to anyone.”
“That’s what he says, too, but he’s been stomping around, being a noisy cog and trying way too hard to not speak of you. It’s obvious how he feels. Which is why my kissing you is wrong.”
“It was wrong.” A lie because, on the contrary, it felt right. But she couldn’t allow it. “You only did it because you wanted to beat Ray into seducing me first.”
“So you admit it’s possible to seduce you?”
“No.” Said most vehemently despite the blood heating in her body.
“Sounds like a challenge to me.” Zak returned to his chair and leaned back, giving her a lazy smile. “May the best male win.”
“I am not a prize.”
“On the contrary. I think being with you might just be the biggest win of all.”
Words to confuse and arouse and send her fleeing. But there was nowhere to hide because everywhere she turned, she ran into them.
Bumped into their bodies. Found herself face to face and almost kissed.
Teased.
Flirted.
Spoiled with treats that didn’t come out of a replicator.
Given clothes softer than anything she’d imagined.
They played a game with her, one meant to seduce. Ray still treated her with a brusqueness that made her feisty—and hot. Zak with a playfulness and ability to listen and act in a way that made her feel valued—and hot.
The choice of who she’d finally have sex with was getting harder with each passing moment instead of easier.
She needed a plan to handle them.
A way to get back control.
13
Zak cornered Ray and whispered, “We need to mak
e a decision about Nema.”
“I told you to dump her. Now we’re stuck. And why are you whispering?”
“In case she’s listening.”
Ray arched a brow. “If she’s listening, then it doesn’t matter how low you pitch your voice.”
Good point. Zak moved away from Ray and chose to stare at the flashing passing stars. “It occurs to me that we have a dilemma in regard to her affections.”
“Easy solution. Let her choose.”
“I thought that was what we were doing, but it’s not working. She continues to flirt with us both but commits to neither. I can’t take it anymore.” Zak raked his fingers through his hair.
“Is this your less than subtle way of demanding I bow out?” Ray asked.
“No. I would never ask you to step aside when she so obviously likes you.”
“Are you sure? Because she seems quite taken with you as well.”
“Which puts us at a stalemate.” His lips turned down.
“Your point being?”
“What if…” Zak paused and cleared his throat even though he didn’t need to. “What if instead of making a choice, we shared?”
Ray took a moment to stare at him. “Share her like what, a shirt? You wear it today, I wear it tomorrow? That sounds…”
“Awful!” Zak exclaimed. “No. That wasn’t what I meant. I was reading about polygamy.”
Zak waited while Ray filtered the word and understood the concept.
“A threesome?” He shook his head. “I mean I love you and all, but us together, with a woman, at the same time…”
“We wouldn’t be dealing with each other, but her. Think of it. Of watching while I take her. Touch her.”
Ray opened his mouth as if to protest then frowned and dropped his gaze as he blushed. Zak didn’t need to read his mind to perceive he’d just thought about it. And it shocked him.
He’d not had time yet to get used to the idea like Zak had since he’d begun wondering if it could be done.
Zak softened his next words. “We’ve been best friends our entire lives. And I don’t know if you’ve thought about it, but I have, about one of us meeting a woman and being split apart.”
“I’d survive on my own.”
“So would I, but that’s not the point. What if we didn’t have to? What if we found another a way to keep this team”—“he swung a finger back and forth between them—“together, with someone who wants us both?”
“Siyborghs don’t take multiple mates.”
“It’s an accepted practice in many societies.”
“Your sister will mock us.”
“My sister is marrying the one male she declared she wouldn’t piss on if he caught on fire. I don’t think she can talk.”
That brought a chuckle to Ray’s lips. “Us being in agreement is one thing. How will we convince Nema? For all her flirting and kisses, she never lets things go any further.”
“Then perhaps it’s time we attempted to seduce her together.”
Later that same day, Zak found himself alone on the bridge, monitoring their progress, the screens flashing various parts of the ship. Including the atrium.
He saw when Nema entered it. Saw her glance at the camera. A camera she surely didn’t actually see, as it was well hidden.
She commanded a jungle, lush and bright, and, inside it, a waterfall with a basin. Nema stripped down to the skin and bathed under it, head back, luxuriating. The hologram, while unable to reproduce actual water, could provide the sensation of something pouring over her. She arched and wiggled.
By all his gears, he squirmed and waggled. He shouldn’t watch. He really. Really. Shouldn’t.
He flipped it off.
And yet the tension inside him didn’t diminish. He throbbed, his need over the past turns of the cog only increasing. There was something about Nema that drove him a little crazy. Made him brash.
Aroused him to the point that he didn’t care if he sat on the bridge. He shoved his hand in his pants and grabbed his cock, already thick. Hard.
He popped it free of his pants and stroked it, up and down, gripping it in a loose fist, moving in an even cadence.
He couldn’t help but imagine Nema as he touched himself. He’d appear at the edge of that basin of water, and she’d see him, her body slick and her smile inviting.
She’d drag him close for a kiss. Rub her slick flesh against his. Drop to her knees, her silver-hued eyes peering up at him as she licked his cock.
Mmmm. He groaned at the thought.
Her head would bounce as she sucked him, her lips stretched around his shaft, her cheeks hollowing when she suctioned.
He vaguely heard someone entering the bridge and opened heavy eyes to see the object of his fantasy staring at him. His hand and cock more specifically.
He never stopped stroking. Rather got thicker the more she stared. She licked her lips, and his hips jerked. There was something infinitely erotic about her watching. Even hotter was the fact that she was breathing hard and fast, too.
It put him over the edge, his hips thrusting, his cock pointing, creaming as he uttered a hot gasp. “Baby.”
Was it any wonder when he opened his eyes she was gone?
14
Nema couldn’t believe she’d caught him doing that.
Worse, she’d watched. Watched until he came, calling out her nickname.
What did that mean? Was he masturbating because of her?
When she’d entered the bridge, the first thing she checked was the cameras. Not that Zak looked at any screen. He had his eyes closed and his hand working his cock.
And a nice cock it was. Nema wasn’t a novice when it came to sex.
While the settling down and procreation aspect of it required a bit of thought, the pleasure part didn’t have to be complicated.
So why wasn’t she taking advantage of Zak or Ray? They both showed interest. Both aroused her. What was stopping her?
Had she still not come to grips with the fact they were Siyborgh? It seemed petty now that she’d gotten to know them a bit better. No sign of anything wrong with them. Even the metal inside them was no longer repugnant. Rather she warmed when they entered a room. Flushed at the slightest touch. Ached—
An announcement broke her chain of thought. “Oh, baby,” Zak sang, “thought you might want to know we’re entering the star system for the planet that no longer exists, in case you’re interested.”
She most certainly was. Anything to distract her. She really needed to make a choice soon. Her body needed relief.
She met Ray on the way to the elevator, and she couldn’t help but stare at his hands, wondering if he, too, had masturbated. Was it wrong she wanted to watch? Did he think of her when he touched himself?
“Stop looking at me like that,” he murmured as the elevator moved.
“Like what?”
He shot her a pointed glare rather than reply.
It appeared she might have been too obvious. She really needed to do something about it.
Do them.
The voice inside her had gotten more vocal of late. The Lake with a solution to her hemming and hawing? Or just her inner libido tired of her playing around? She had to wonder.
“Are we there yet?” she asked, entering the bridge a step ahead of Ray. When she stopped short, he bumped into her and steadied himself with his hands on her waist. He stayed close against her for a moment, the hardness of him melting the spot between her thighs.
He moved away before she could truly enjoy it.
Zak pointed. “Welcome to the Kamlott galaxy. Once the home for a planet with an orbiting star. Now, empty. Probably some kind of spontaneous combustion.”
“Could be a test of a world-destroying weapon, too,” Ray surmised. “Every so often some power-hungry empire builds one and plays with it a few times before some rebels disable it.”
“I don’t see signs of a black hole, but it could have been a temporal imbalance that straightened itself out,”
Zak offered.
Not to be outdone, Ray suggested, “Planet-eating wormbeast.”
“Alternate dimension.”
The boys traded barbs as she stared. The viewscreen showed nothing but pure darkness. Not even a star in this barren excuse for a galaxy.
Kind of eerie. How did such a thing come to pass? “I don’t understand.”
“I told you the planet was gone.”
“But there used to be one?” she queried, turning to look at Zak.
“Yes. A long time ago, according to the older star charts. But one day, a vessel that happened to pass through noticed it was gone. Not even a hint of debris left behind, which kind of freaked out the captains after that. Anything that can completely eradicate a planet isn’t something any ship wants to encounter.”
“It can’t have disappeared. Maybe we’re in the wrong place. Could it have moved?” she asked.
“Moved?” Ray snorted. “Do they really teach you so little of galactic possibilities on your world? Galaxies move. Universes shift. But planets usually just explode if you try to get them to go somewhere else. Sensitive little frukxers.”
“But you mentioned an alternate universe,” she pressed.
“That might have crushed it if it moved too close.”
She pursed her lips. “Are you sure a black hole didn’t swallow it?”
“That would have left a multitude of energy signatures behind.”
“And an explosion would have left debris behind.” She placed a finger on her lips as she stared thoughtfully at the empty screen. How desolate. And wrong.
Yet right.
She couldn’t help but feel as if they were in the right place.
“Maybe now that you see the planet is gone, holding the cog will show you somewhere different,” Zak suggested.
The metal piece came sailing from Zak, and she caught it, resisting the urge to fling it away as it emitted a sharp burst of annoyance. For a second, she saw nothing, and then she palmed the wall and clung tight, head hung, eyes shut. A tingle went through her.
Only a single image appeared in her mind.
She shook her head. “The gear is stuck on that missing planet. I’m afraid this is a dead end.”
Her shoulders slumped, and Zak placed a hand on her, his voice soothing as he said, “You tried. Maybe if we find a new cog, you’ll get another vision.”