Unit 77

by Mina Carter

  “Oh no, I’m sorry!” The doctor looked horrified. “I must have hit a nerve! I wish I had better anesthetic here.”

  “No,” 77 grated out. He too, felt the pain—another agony wave, coming from the damn CyBRG device. “Not…your fault. Agony…bolts. Punishment for not…coming back to base.”

  “What? That asshat Pike is still sending you remote shocks? I told him pain wasn’t the answer!”

  “Doesn’t seem…like he listened,” 77 groaned. Goddess above but the agony was intense! Like fire rippling down his spine and spreading to every nerve in his body.

  “That son of a bitch!” Tears of anger stood in her eyes. “I never even knew these damn devices were capable of sending out pain like that. I never should have let Pike make me implant them in you—in anyone!”

  “We were dead—corpses,” Unit 80 said quietly, all his previous bravado gone. “The CyBRG device brought us back to life. Maybe some pain is worth that.”

  “What kind of life though?” Angrily, she dashed tears from her eyes with the back of one forearm. “This is no good—you can’t go on like this. You should come in. Pike would stop the pain, at least, if you did.”

  “And let him send us on another mission to butcher the innocent?” 77 asked harshly. “I don’t think so.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry…I…I didn’t think.” She shook her head wearily.

  Glancing at the chronometer built into his metal left arm, 77 realized she had been working for hours without food, water, or rest. No wonder she was exhausted.

  Against his will, the thought…and the weary look on her lovely face…sent a wave of emotions through him.

  He tried to name them as they overcame the device in his neck and flooded him…Pity for her weariness…admiration for her bravery and tenacity in working so hard to save Unit 78…and something else—that feeling, whatever it was, that made the flesh between his thighs harden and swell.

  The emotions made him feel strange…broken inside again. What was it about this little female doctor that affected him so strongly not even the CyBRG device could stop the feelings she gave him?

  “Are you almost done?” he asked roughly, trying to cover the emotions that threatened to drown him. “You’ve been working for hours. You need rest and food.”

  “Almost…” She armed sweat off her brow. “I think he’ll heal cleanly now. I’m going to give him something to help him sleep and a shot of antibiotics for his human system.”

  After suiting actions to words, she sat back wearily and looked at her blood-stained hands.

  “Goddess…any chance of a bath around here?”

  Unit 77 could tell she was joking, but he answered seriously enough.

  “Actually, there is a place I can take you. Do you wish to eat first, though?”

  Doctor Chambers shook her head, her wheat-blonde hair swaying around her shoulders.

  “Bath first. Or whatever it is you have. Probably a cold shower from some collected rain water, I guess.”

  “It is…somewhat more pleasant than that,” 77 told her. “Come.”

  He offered her his hand and she took it, despite the blood on her palm and fingers. But when she came to her feet, she swayed with fatigue and nearly fell.

  77 caught her quickly and gathered her into his arms, a wave of protectiveness washing over him.

  The little female didn’t even try to argue or object—she simply laid her head against his shoulder and relaxed in his arms.

  “Thank you…Drew,” she whispered.

  Drew…The name echoed in the hollow chambers of what had once been his heart and it hurt…hurt to hear her call him that.

  “I am…not Drew any longer,” he told her stiffly. “I am only Unit 77.”

  Claudia—Doctor Chambers—looked up at him, her eyes blinking tiredly.

  “No,” she whispered. “I don’t fully believe that. I think…I think Drew is still in there…somewhere.”

  “You are wrong,” 77 informed her. But inside his head, the unquiet ghost of his past whispered, Really? Are you sure?

  77 hushed it with some difficulty and carried the doctor up the interior of the tree. This was a pathway they had found when they had first holed up—literally—in the mostly hollow trunk. 77 was able to hold her in his arms, tucked against his chest, and climb one-handed since they were on the inside of the tree-cave.

  After a few twists and turns, he came out onto a branch that held a nest. A nest for what kind of creature, he didn’t know—it was old and abandoned but also huge—as large as a small swimming pool from Old Earth.

  Why he could remember what a swimming pool was and had no memory of what a kiss might be, 77 had no idea. The holes in his memory seemed to have no rhyme or reason.

  Rainwater had collected in the vast abandoned nest, just as the petite doctor had predicted. But a glowing, pale blue fungus, which lined the inner walls of it, generated enough heat to make the water steam in the cool night air.

  The fungus also acted as a kind of glue, holding the sticks and branches of the nest together and keeping the water from seeping out. Yet it didn’t cloud the surface. The makeshift pool was so clear it was easy to see straight to the glowing blue bottom, a couple of meters down.

  Doc Chambers had become more wakeful at the sight before them and she half-sat up in his arms.

  “What is this?”

  “We found it when we made this tree our base,” 77 explained. “I have tested the water with my bio-hazard detection sensors. It is clear of any kind of contaminant. The blue, glowing fungus appears to act as a kind of natural decontaminant so the water it grows in is safe for human flesh.”

  “It’s like a natural hot tub,” she said, wonderingly. “That’s amazing!”

  “You can wash your hands here. And…the rest of your body, if you wish,” 77 murmured.

  Even in the pale light of Hast’s binary moons, he could see the pink blush staining her cheeks. But then she seemed to shake herself and lift her chin.

  “Well, I guess since you’re so determined that you’re only Unit 77 and you have no interest in anything…uh, sexual…I shouldn’t be afraid or ashamed to undress in front of you. Should I?”

  The idea of her naked…of seeing her breasts again, completely bare this time…of seeing the warm, soft place between her thighs—her pussy, whispered the little voice—seemed to do something inside him. The images grew in his mind and wouldn’t be pushed aside. The waves of emotion—desire, lust, need—went through him again, stiffening his shaft and making him want to groan.

  But 77 refused to be ruled by these emotions—even if they were so strong the device in his neck couldn’t control them. He set her down carefully on the broad tree branch, as wide as a road, and took a step back from her.

  “You are perfectly safe with me,” he told Doctor Chambers, Claudia—she told you to call her Claudia… “As long as the repairs you made to my comrade, Unit 78, are successful, I will not hurt you.”

  Her face went pale. “And if…if he dies? That was a pretty nasty wound. I did all I could but…” She shook her head. “Look, can’t you just take me back to base now? I swear I won’t say a thing to Pike about you. He might not even have missed me yet. No one even has to know I was gone at all.”

  Unit 77 thought about taking her back…and felt everything inside him rebel at the notion. A wave of possession so deep it threatened to drown him rushed through him.

  Mine, whispered the voice. She’s mine. Now that I’ve got her, I’m never letting her go!

  But of course that was ridiculous—an illogical emotion. The only reason he needed to keep her was so that she could watch over 78’s progress and healing.

  “I’m afraid not,” he said, careful to keep his voice steady and mechanical, refusing to allow any emotion to enter it. “Unit 78 may need aftercare. You must stay at least until we are certain he is well.”

  Claudia frowned and appeared to be thinking.

  “Well then…I guess I have no choice. But if
you’re making me stay, I want to study the CyBRG device. Now that Corporal Hardgraves is patched up, I’ll have nothing else to do except check on him from time to time. I want to see exactly what it was they were making me implant in you guys.”

  77 frowned. Earlier he had been certain that she wanted the device for nefarious purposes. Now, after seeing how deeply she cared and how hard she had worked to save 78 (Rich), he wasn’t so sure.

  “Very well,” he said at last. “You may study the device I brought with us when I acquired you.”

  “Oh, that’s not the only one I want to study,” she objected. “I need to study the way it works in a living subject too. I want to study you.”

  “Me?” 77 frowned. “I do not think—”

  “It’s possible I can find a way to turn off the pain sensors,” Doc Chambers said quickly. “So all of you don’t have to feel it every time that bastard Pike decides he wants to send out the agony waves.”

  That convinced him.

  “Very well—I will allow you to study me. After all, I have already been your study subject once. Why not again?”

  She winced, her face betraying pain and guilt.

  “I’m really sorry about that,” she said in a low voice. “I know it’s no excuse, but Pike threatened to have me court-martialed if I didn’t implant the devices. And since all the…the subjects were already…” She cleared her throat. “Already deceased I thought…”

  “I don’t wish to speak of this,” 77 interrupted her. “Do you want a bath or not?”

  “I…yes. Yes, I do.” Turning away from him, she finished undressing as quickly as possible. Then she stepped into the nest…and promptly slipped on the slick blue algae.

  Unit 77 heard her choked gurgle and saw her go under, and a cold fist gripped his heart. He’d been thinking a moment before that the nest wasn’t that deep—just about two meters deep in the center at its deepest point. But now it occurred to him that Doctor Chambers was less than two meters tall—considerably less—and he wasn’t at all sure she could swim.

  With a low curse, he shucked his combat trousers and boots and jumped in after her. Thankfully the silver metal alloy that comprised his components was fully water proof.

  He got to her quickly and came up holding her in the center of the nest, his own feet planted comfortably on the bottom while his head and shoulders rose above the surface of the water. The diminutive doctor, on the other hand, would have certainly been underwater if he hadn’t been holding her.

  “Oh!” she gasped and shook her hair back. Her eyes were wide, the thick, dark lashes matted to her skin as though she’d been crying.

  Goddamn, she’s beautiful!

  77 couldn’t be certain if the thought came from the little voice in his head…or from deeper, down near the core. Either way, he had to agree with it.

  Claudia Chambers, sleek and wet and naked in his arms was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen and even the CyBRG unit implanted in his neck couldn’t make him immune to her beauty.

  And it wasn’t just the way she looked…it was the way she felt in his arms. So soft and giving, her luscious curves pressed against the hard planes of his bare chest…

  “Drew?” she whispered, looking at him with those wide, gray eyes. “Thank you for saving me but you…you can put me down now. I actually know how to swim—I just slipped.”

  He started to release her and then came to a startling conclusion.

  “I…don’t want to,” he said. “I don’t want to stop touching you, Doc Chambers.”

  “Claudia,” she whispered. “I told you once to call me Claudia…after you saved my life.”

  “Claudia,” he repeated, his voice a rough and low. “When I touch you I can feel…feel…”

  You feel your cock getting hard is what you feel, sneered the little voice in his head.

  “I feel my senses calibrating,” 77 said. It sounded better.

  “Your senses calibrating? That…that’s what you said when you touched my breast out in the forest.” Her eyes were still wide and uncertain. “I thought for a moment you were going to…going to kiss me.”

  “Kiss…” 77 whispered. “What does that mean exactly? I have a memory of the word but not its meaning.”

  Doc Chambers—no, Claudia—cleared her throat.

  “Do…do you want me to tell you? Or show you?” she asked in a low voice.

  The shaft between his legs throbbed and he pulled her closer, liking the feel of her soft, bare breasts with their tight nipples rubbing against his chest.

  “Show me.” His voice was a soft growl of desire. He couldn’t help it.

  “Like this,” she whispered. Cupping his face in her hands, she slanted her mouth over his and pressed her soft lips to his. “And this…” She nibbled his top lip. “And this…” She sucked his bottom lip into her mouth provocatively before once again, claiming his mouth fully with her own.

  For a moment, Unit 77 just stood there, letting her do what she wanted with him. He liked the feeling of her in his arms. She was so fragile, yet so daring. He could break her in half but she dared to be close to him, dared to show him this intimacy that the deep part of him—buried so far down it was almost forgotten—hungered for and needed.

  Drew, whispered voices in his mind, shadows of the past. You were Drew…still are Drew. You loved football and fishing and sad movies, though you would never admit it. You were a damn good soldier and you wanted her—wanted Claudia—so badly it made you crazy sometimes. You would have done anything to hold her like this, to feel her kissing you…to kiss her back…

  Suddenly the feeling of the soft, intimate touch of her lips to his was too much. Somehow, 77 (Drew) found he was kissing her back, his hands sliding over her wet, naked flesh. He tasted her tongue and then drew it between his lips, crushing her to him with one arm wrapped around her waist while he plundered her mouth, wanting more, craving the taste and feel and touch of her like a drug…

  It took him a moment to realize she was struggling from fear instead of pleasure.

  “Drew,” she gasped, pulling away from him, breaking the kiss. “Drew, please…can’t…can’t breathe.”

  With horror, he realized he had been holding her with his metal left arm and squeezing much too tightly.

  He let her go at once but in the pale glow from the phosphorescent algae he could already see a dark marks forming on her pale skin. Goddess, what had he done to her? He’d hurt her—bruised her—when all he’d wanted was to bring her closer…to taste her.

  To love her.

  Well what did you expect? hissed the nasty little voice in his head. Did you really think you could kiss her without hurting her? She’s fragile, Drew—human. And you’re not anymore. You’re hard and cold and nothing like her. You shouldn’t be anywhere near her.

  Pain and shame swamped him and he turned away quickly, feeling sick, feeling wrong.

  “I…I must go and check on Unit 78,” he said in a low voice. “He may…may need me.”

  “Drew? Drew, wait!” she exclaimed. But he was already climbing out of the water and finding his combat trousers to pull on over wet flesh and metal.

  It didn’t matter that the deep part of him yearned for her or that her body seemed to fit to his like she was a missing piece of his heart, 77 told himself.

  For her safety and his own sanity, he needed to leave the little doctor the hell alone.

  Chapter Four

  He was gone before she could stop him. Clinging to the side of the natural hot tub, Claudia closed her eyes and rested her forehead against her arm. Emotions swirled through her in a chaotic jumble. 77… no, Drew, she corrected herself… had kissed her.

  And it had been amazing. Right up to the point his arm had almost crushed the life out of her.

  She bit her lip, shying away from that memory and choosing instead to focus on the good part of it. Being held against his hard, heavily muscled body… The feel of his skin against hers… Heat hit her cheeks as she recalled the
hard sweep of his tongue plundering her mouth as the stiff buds of her nipples rubbed against the warmth of his chest.

  That’s not all you wanted to rub against, the little voice in the back of her head said snidely. And if he hadn’t almost crushed you, you would have.

  Her cheeks burned even hotter. She’d wanted to. Even though she’d told herself she was just showing him, scientifically, so he would understand the definition of the word… yeah, right.

  She’d wanted to kiss him for months. The idea had haunted her dreams and dominated her daydreams… yeah, she’d wanted him. Hell, more than wanted him. She’d been halfway in love with him probably since before he’d rescued her from that hopper, she realized. And seeing him, looking into those brown eyes that had smiled and laughed but finding them cold and emotionless had shattered something deep inside her. Seeing him in cyber-form day after day had been sheer agony. Seeing him, but nothing had been there, nothing left of the man she…

  But the nights were the worst. The dreams where he “woke” up and was Drew again. He smiled down at her, his eyes warm and smiling… and it damn near broke her heart all over again. Especially when she was forced to check him over the next day, calibrating his cybernetics, and he just sat there, staring straight ahead. No recognition on his face.

  She’d taken to using sleeping tablets to ease her into a deep, dreamless slumber so she didn’t have those heartbreaking dreams. The trouble was, she always woke up groggy as hell.

  The water moved around her and she winced, feeling the bruises around her waist and back. Her ribs ached and she realized how close she’d come. If he hadn’t let go when he did… she shuddered, and not in a good way.

  Soaking for a little while longer, she let the heat of the water seep into her tired body. Then used her hands to scrub at her skin, trying to get as clean as she could.

  Finally, she climbed out of the pool, shivering in the suddenly cool air as she pulled her clothes back on over her wet skin. She grimaced at the state of them. The lab coat was splattered with blood and lubricant, and her shirt and skirt hadn’t fared much better.