Her Cyborg Awakes (Diaspora Worlds) (5 page)

“What do you mean?”

“He was probably heading toward a Puregen world,
where he could sell the information.”

“You think it might be Sirn’s? Military
information?”

“Yes. And if anyone knows he had it, they might
try hard to find it.” Kaistril tapped orders on his com. Then he ejected the
films from the ship’s com and slipped them one by one into a small opening on
his thigh implant.

“The ship may not be able to read the encryption
on some of these. They’ll be recorded in my appliance. Always good to have a
back up. And maybe my appliances have a key for decryption.”

When the films were put away in their little
cubes, Kaistril asked, “You ready to get to work?”

Sabralia looked at him blankly. She hadn’t worked
on anything since her school years. “What should I do?”

“I’m going to show you what to do while I’m fixing
the tracer.” He tapped keys on the command panel and soon a view of the hull
showed. “See this red dot? This toggle switch moves it around.” He demonstrated
the device.

“I’m going to be out there, so your job is to keep
this dot trained on me. It is set to track me. If I send a distress signal”—he
pressed a button and a loud whistle filled the ship—“or if you see something
happen, like my cord comes loose, or a piece of equipment cracks me in the
head, or if I am unresponsive, you press this red button. There’s a smart line
that will grab me before I float out. My other tethers will detach and I will
be drawn into the lower level hold. It’s a failsafe to keep me from drifting
out into space.”

“You have to go out in the vacuum?” The thought
horrified her. Space work was so dangerous, hardly anyone did it. They used
sucker ships that attached to the area of the hull needing work, for the safety
of the technicians. Space suits were only used in emergencies.

“Well, yes. The tracer is under the hull. They
don’t make them easy to get rid of. Now follow me down to the hold so I can
show you how to open the hatches. I have Life support running while we are
working on this.”

She followed him down to the lower level.

The hold level had a low ceiling, so Kaistril had
to duck his head through all the hatches. It was one long hallway, with small
cramped workstations along the sides, some with shallow com stations and
utilitarian stools. Nothing luxurious about the crew quarters. One area held
four narrow bunks. She followed him through a small door outlined in red.

“This is the med station. Emergency sleep tubes
are in here. I’m going to show you that, too. If anything happens to me, you’ll
be stranded. You’ll have to get into a tube. If I’m alive, but gravely injured,
you’ll want to get me into one, too.”

“O-Of course.” Horror gripped her at the thought.

“I’ve set a beacon on these that is an emergency
frequency for the New Prague military. It has a special signature that
identifies me. I believe we would be picked up in less than a year. These
particular tubes only have energy for two years, so I made the beacon urgent.”

Sabralia couldn’t help the involuntary shiver.
“After that, they are coffins! It’s dangerous—this ship, the tracer. This is
all very dangerous.”

She’d known safety as a girl, before Sirn. And
even as a wife in the harem, she had felt safe. The war was fought far away, or
so she’d thought.

Kaistril turned and looked at her. “Here, do you
need to sit down? Your face is a little white.”

She sat on a small examination chair. “I’m sorry.
You probably think I’m very weak. Useless. You are very brave about all this.”

“No! That’s not what I think at all. It’s
different for me.” He paused for a moment, then knelt down in front of her and
took her hand. “I’ve been on small spacecrafts half my life. In the military,
in battles. I’ve been in a sleep tube, for training. Drills were routine, part
of ship life. I’ve been trained in hull repair, in a vacuum, too.” He wiped a
tear from the corner of her eye. “Take a few deep breaths, Sabra. I truly
believe we will be fine.”

She breathed and tried to calm herself. “You
learned this in the military?”

“I went into a military academy at age twelve, as
did all my brothers. My parents wanted us prepared for the life we would have
to live on New Prague, with Sirn’s Forces so near. So none of this is new to
me, like it is to you. Now come look at these tubes so you’ll know what to do.”

The tube access panels were on the floor.
Automated audio explained how to undress and pull on the cover and face mask
that would mold to the body. It really wasn’t complicated. She climbed inside
and performed the drill so she could do it if necessary.

“Sabra, if something does happen to me, and you
have to put me in a tube, don’t wait to get in one yourself. Not even a moment.
Don’t go get anything, just get into the tube and launch.”

“All right.”

“Here’s a float.” He indicated a padded board
attached to the wall. “You just press these pads, then pull it by hand, easy.
You pull me into the hold, pressurize it, float me to the tubes, get me out of
my suit, and stuff me in a tube. Don’t try to do anything medical. I’ll be all
right in the tube until we’re found. Then get into one yourself and tell the
com to launch us.”

“And later we’ll be rescued by New Prague forces?”
She wanted the reassurance.

“Yes, we’ll be rescued.”

Kaistril showed her how to pressurize the small
hold he would enter and exit from, and how to close everything up properly. He
had her repeat the lesson, then showed her a key on the panel that would walk
her through if she forgot.

“I won’t forget,” Sabralia said, somewhat
indignantly.

“I know. But if something bad happened, you might
forget for a moment.”

“You think something bad might happen?” Her voice
was high-pitched.

“No. But it is best to know what to do in a worst
case scenario.”

As nice as the chameleon hull was to use, it was
hell getting through the circuitry. The only thing keeping Kaistril from
sweating hard was the sophisticated temperature system of his space suit. He
appreciated well-made equipment, and the small cruiser had the best of the best
for a ship of its size.

But even with this great equipment, the removal of
the tracer was taking far too long. He’d have to recalculate fuel, since
getting through this hull was so time consuming and ate up an amazing amount of
energy.

His sensors hadn’t alerted him even once to space
debris, which was good. He didn’t need that kind of distraction.

“Are you all right?” Sabralia checked on him every
few minutes, even though she could see him moving, and knew he was definitely
not unconscious. She still sounded nervous.

He grinned. “Yes, I’m well. This is just taking
much longer than I thought.”

“Do you think you should quit?”

“Can’t quit. This is vital.” They needed to be
lost to Sirn’s equipment.

There was a pause. “I’ll check on you in five.”

Sabralia was a good woman. The kind who should
settle down on some calm world far from Sirn and raise a family. Bake sweet
buns for her children.

Not his type at all. The women he chose were hard
military women, athletic, ready for robust sex, and then to go off to their
next command duty. No ties, just good sex, jokes, stimulating conversation, a
few drinks in a cantina. They would hook up while on leave, consume food,
intoxicants, and each other, then return to the responsibilities of their
command after a relaxing, pleasant interlude.

A vision of Sabralia, naked in her bath at the
palace, came to him. Big, round, pink-tipped breasts, silky skin, those dimples
above the round globes of ass he’d like to squeeze…He wanted her. The years
spent as her cyborg were part of him now, and when he looked back on that time
it was with a man’s passion. All those months in the bath teased him,
ratcheting up his desire. He had the memories of the times she had asked for
his touch…of kissing, cupping those heavy breasts while washing her.

What he needed was a good pounding fuck, but he
wouldn’t get that here. More than likely he would say or do something crude and
terrify her. She was already half afraid of him, and he couldn’t blame her
since she so narrowly avoided being raped by Sirn’s Best.  Plus, she’d been
married to Sirn, who was known to be a real pig.

He wondered when she’d notice his frequent
hard-ons. And if they did fall into bed together…it would feel great, but she
was not the type who would move on to her next lover with no regrets. She might
get hurt, thinking he was the man who would give her those babies.

He sighed. They would be alone on the small ship
for a long time. A healthy man and a woman alone…things could happen. But would
it be a good idea to have sex with her?

Not that he would have the will power to resist if
the opportunity came.

And were they fertile? Hell, he should try and
find that out.

 The sooner they got to New Prague and he
deposited her into safe hands, the better. His mother would know what to do
with her. Sabralia deserved a chance at having a good life.

Finally, he reached the tracer and severed it from
the power supply. Yes!

Sabralia pressurized the loading dock and opened
the hatch when it was ready. “Are you all right? You were out there seven
hours.” Her dark blue eyes were huge. He grinned. It was kind of nice to have
someone worry about him.

“I’m fine. Tired. Help me out of this, all right?”
In the light grav of the ship, the suit had a crushing weight.

She helped him out of the gear, and helped him
stash it in its diagnostic chamber. No flashing lights, the suit was undamaged.

“I cooked a meal.”

He followed her up the stairs. Sabralia wasn’t
wearing Alfyt’s jacket and her round bottom was only a hand’s breath from his
face. He wanted to sink his teeth into a round globe, run a finger down that
sweet crack…

“Food sounds good.” His voice sounded funny, so he
cleared his throat.

She turned around, eyes round with concern. “Are
you all right? You sound like you’re getting sick.”

Her breasts, covered in the thin knit, were right
in his face, nipples clearly outlined. He knew he was staring and it was crude,
but he couldn’t stop. It was all he could do to keep his hands from cupping
those lush breasts.

“I don’t get sick,” he croaked out. “Puregen
immune system.”

“Oh. You probably need something to drink.” She
turned and went onto the main deck.

He didn’t tell her the suit had a hydration and
glucose system. Kaistril took a steadying breath and followed her. He sat down
quickly at the table so she wouldn’t see his erection.

This was going to be one long journey.

Chapter Five

 “So we have a hundred and twenty days of this?
Nothing?” Sabralia said the morning of their fourth day in transit. Kaistril
checked ship’s systems while Sabralia followed him around, bored.

He glanced at her, amused. “You have traveled in
space before.”

She shrugged. “I was on a sleep transport.”

He raised his eyebrows. “And how did that work
out?”

She wrinkled her nose. “I was sick for a week when
I woke up. That was on Sirn’s jump ship that I met at Katherine Hub. And then I
got to have my wedding night. But at least by then I was over the nausea.”

“Hardly anyone uses those sleep transports
anymore. They must be almost a century old.”

“Coloun isn’t a tech world. Mostly we shipped
grains and farm produce.”

“So Sirn made a treaty with your world for
produce?”

“Yes. All of our crops, minus what we needed, went
to his supply chain. I think there was more to it, though.”

Kaistril raised an eyebrow.

“I think he planned to bring farmers from Coloun
to his Jewel. It has a climate that would work well for agriculture. There are
even a few farms on the outskirts of the Palace complex. I think having me
there as a token queen would make the farmers come more willingly.”

Kaistril nodded. “It is easier to have a workforce
that is willing to work. And a military force requires huge amounts of food.”
He walked to a display panel and tapped on his com. Sabralia followed him like
a puppy.

“What are you doing now?”

He sighed, then grinned at her. “Would you like me
to teach you how to do a systems check?”

“Really? You think I could learn that?” Her eyes
widened and she fairly glowed.

He couldn’t help smiling at her. “Without a
doubt.”

Sabra was delighted to learn the system’s checks.
Some involved mathematics that she had no background in, but Kaistril patiently
taught her on printouts from the com. She spent several days learning the
formulas, and how to double check and triple check the input on the com.

“You always triple check. One mistake could leave
a ship off-mark, stranded. This ship gets lost, and we’re in the tubes when the
fuel burns up.”

Kaistril was thorough and exacting. She worked
hard. A few days later, she did a complete systems check by herself, correctly.

“Now I want to learn how to pilot!”

Kaistril laughed. “Why not? We’ll start tomorrow.”

Flying actually came easier to her than system’s
checks. The checks involved formulas and calculations, flying involved reflexes
and vision.

Since they were in deep space with nothing around
them, Kaistril set probes out, which she maneuvered through. It was fun, like a
game, and there was no danger she’d crash into anything.

She learned how to use the focal device, which
told her the amounts of clearance she had, fuel burn ratios, all types of
things.

“How come you don’t use the focal?” she asked
Kaistril.

“My com.” He tapped the silver device on his
thigh. “It is connected to the ship’s system, and tells me all that info.”