Aramus (10 page)

Alone in his quarters, Aramus clenched his fists as he spied on Riley.
I am no better than a scummy human.
A perverted one, who watched as a woman bathed. Knowing what he did was wrong, that he was acting like a voyeur, didn’t stop him. He could no more shut off the live feed than he could close his eyes. The one thing he did do, though, was block any others from watching.

What that said about him, he preferred not to think of. The fact he’d not blocked any of the cameras in the other prisoner rooms didn’t sway his decision. The fact he’d not bothered checking in on any of the other humans didn’t stop him
or have him questioning his actions. The fact his hand cupped his aching cock and squeezed it only made him stare more ardently at the unfolding scene.

So innocent. Just a woman washing herself, and yet, he’d never seen anything so sensually decadent. The water g
ave Riley’s skin a shiny sheen. The water rolled down the plentiful curves of her body, their roundness so temptingly different than his previous experiences. How he envied her hands as they stroked across her slick flesh. How he longed to lap at the droplets of moisture that dripped from the tips of her nipples. What he wouldn’t give to slide his hand…

With a harsh cry, he came, his cock jerking in his grip
, and yet, he didn’t feel sated. As a matter of fact, his ardor seemed worse than before.

Forcing his eyes shut, he turned from the screen and breathed deep
, even if he didn’t require the oxygen, in and out. He needed to do something to quell his tumultuous heart.

What is wrong with me?

Why did he stalk this female? Why could he not put her from his mind? Why did she cause him to lose control over his own body—and mind?

With a growl, he stood and entered his washroom, quickly rinsing the evidence of his shame and changing into a clean pair of pants.
He then summoned MJ.

The cyborg arrived at Aramus’s quarters, and the door had barely shut before Aramus said, “I need you to reset me.”

“Excuse me?”

“
My BCI. I need a full reboot.”

“Why don’t you do it yourself?”

“I have. But I must not be doing it right because I’m still not functioning correctly.”

“You’re going to have to explain better.”

Explain? Explain how he lusted after a human female and have MJ mock him and know his shame? “I’d rather jam a screwdriver in my ear and see if it works.”

MJ snorted, thinking he jested, but his expression soon turned more serious. “Holy shit. You mean that?
”

“Yes. Something is wrong with me
, and I think it’s affecting my judgment.”

“Do you need to relinquish control of the ship?”

“No. That part of my mind is functioning correctly. It’s another part that’s not.” He gave a pointed look down.

MJ appeared confused for a moment then understanding dawned
. “Ah, having a penile problem. It happens.”

“I am not impotent.” Aramus couldn’t clarify fast enough.

“Then what’s wrong with your cock? Burning sensation? Unusual growth? Leakage?”

“Try unwanted erection.”

MJ snickered. “So?”

“So, it’s pissing me off. It won’t go away.”

Laughter boomed from the onboard doctor. “It’s not that big of a deal. You’re horny. Happens to all of us and it’s easy to fix. No need to fetch a screwdriver and go to extremes, just masturbate.”

“I’ve tried that. Numerous times, but my cock refuses to stand down.”

“What’s triggering it? Wait, I’ll bet I know what, or should I say who? One of the females we picked up. Is it the cyborg female?”

Aramus shuddered.
While he’d not spoken to her yet, he’d seen her file and image. “Fuck no. The only thing differentiating her from a man is her tits. No, it’s not the cyborg female. It’s a…human.” Saying it aloud brought an odd heat to his cheeks, an uncontrollable change in temperature.
Oh for fucks sake, don’t tell me I’m goddamn blushing.
Could his sickness get any worse?

“Which one?”

Wasn’t it obvious? “The attractive one.”

“Carmen?”

Aramus frowned. “No. I meant the doctor. Riley.”

“Oh.
The chubby one.” MJ disparaged her, and Aramus almost punched him out. Yes, the doctor had a curvy physique, but Aramus found the curves suited her, gave her a sensual appeal. MJ shrugged. “So you find her cute. I don’t see the problem.”

Was MJ truly that dense? Aramus spelled it out for him.
“The problem is I desire her.”

“Easy solution then; s
crew her.”

“Screw her? That’s your
remedy? Screw her?”

“Well
, you said masturbating didn’t work.”

“It didn’t.”

“So, do what your body wants and get back to normal. Have sex.”

“But I don’t want to have sex with her.”
He was such a liar.

“But you just said—
”

“
I know what I fucking said. However, I don’t want to. I hate humans.”

“Not that one.”

“All of them.”

MJ rolled his eyes in a manner not befitting a proper cyborg. “Oh
, would you stop fucking arguing? You like her. You want to bang her. So do it. Do it twice. Three times. This will clear your system without the need for a lobotomy or a screwdriver.”

“There’s no other way?” Aramus tamped down his body’s excited response as he asked in a morose tone.

“No. As your chief medical officer, I command you to obey. Fuck the human.”

Well, when he put it that way
, how could he disobey? It seemed a little extreme as a medical treatment, but it wouldn’t be the first time Aramus had sacrificed himself, this time for his own good instead of for others.

A day went by. One long, freaking day of boredom as Riley paced her room, and when she got tired of those four walls, she walked the hall. At mealtime, she ate cardboard rations. She tried to sit and watch a movie with the other prisoners, but the only videos on board were documentaries. She even visited Avion, but he slept, so she left and returned to the lounge area where she attempted to engage the others in conversation. Percy proved too hard to converse with, and the mute women had disappeared, apparently refusing to leave the safety of the room they shared. Carmen left claiming she had a date, and David was still in a coma.

Of cyborgs, she saw none, not even
Aramus, who had made himself scarce, in person at least, but she had the sensation he kept tabs on her. She couldn’t have exactly explained why, other than a vague sense of being watched. It prickled at her skin, made her jumpy, and left her vaguely disappointed when, at the end of her first full day of freedom, she’d not run into him.

It occurred to her the next day, after a night spent dreaming of the big cyborg—him wearing nothing but trousers while doing pushups as she straddled his back counting—that she could ask to speak to him. Perhaps claim she’d remembered something important, but that smacked too much of desperation, especially considering the only thing of
import she could think to tell him was that the food sucked.

So she languished, rousing only a little when the engines stirred to life
, signaling a change in speed and departure from the galaxy that had held her prisoner. About time. Wondering if the others had any news, she headed to the common room.

“We’re leaving
this galaxy?” she asked, entering to find Carmen filing her nails.

“Yes.
They didn’t find any signs of pursuit, so we’re off.”

Riley didn’t question Carmen’s sources. She was too afraid she’d find out Aramus
had told her—while naked in bed. “Where are we heading?”

“
Their home planet once they make sure we’re not being followed and that none of us are harboring tracking devices.”

“Their what? You mean we’re not going home
to earth?”

Carmen paused in her manicure
long enough to shoot her a look of disdain. “No, not earth. Don’t tell me you were foolish enough to ever think that would happen.”

Actually, she was. “But what about our families? And friends?
We need to tell them we’re safe.”

A snort blew past Carmen’s full lips.
“Holy shit. Are you truly that stupid?”

Bristling at the insult,
Riley pursed her lips as she replied, “What do you mean?”

“You’re dead.”

Riley looked down at herself then back at Carmen. “Um, I hate to point out the obvious, but, no, I’m not.”

“You are to everyone back on earth. Or did you really think the company that took us would leave any loose ends? All of us
, me, Percy, David, those women, yourself, all of us had tragic accidents back on earth, not long after we came to work for them.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You poor naïve thing. I thought you knew. In order to ensure our families wouldn’t look into our disappearance, the company arranged to fake our deaths.”

“I don’t believe it.”

“Don’t then. I don’t really care. But I saw the reports. We all had the kind of accident that doesn’t leave a body. I heard from a guard I bribed that my funeral was nice.”

Funeral?
No. It couldn’t be. One of the things Riley had held on to, hoped for once they got rescued, was eventually reuniting with her family. She shook her head. “I refuse to be dead. I’ll find a way to get back home and show my family that I’m still alive. Then, we’ll—”

“You’ll what?” Carmen
scoffed. “Stupid girl. You were never meant to return. The company covered its tracks well. If you try and go back, they’ll just kill you, for real this time. And if you contact anyone you knew, they’ll kill them too.”

“But that’s insane. They can’t get away with this. I’m a civilian
. I have rights.”

“Not anymore
, and they’ve already gotten away with it. So deal with it.”

Incredulous, it took Riley a moment to sputter,
“Deal with it? I’m just supposed to forget I had a life and a family? Just start over wherever it is we’re going?” Doing who knew what. Living who knew how.

“We’ve been given a second chance. You want to fuck it up pining after something you can never have again, go ahead. I
, for one, am thankful to be alive.”

“For now. We’re not free though. We’re at the mercy of the cyborgs.”

Carmen rolled her shoulders. “I’ll admit the situation is not ideal. These cyborgs are a cold lot, some of them at least. But they’re a heck of a lot better than the company. Better lovers too.”

Riley’s jaw dropped. “You’ve
…you’ve had sex with one?”

“
Sex is too mild a word. The man’s a machine, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. I’ve never had so many orgasms in a row. Smith is a master when it comes to playing my body, and even better, he can go at it for hours.”

“Sounds chafing.”

Husky laughter bubbled from Carmen. “Don’t knock it until you try it.”

Much as Riley wanted to deny she’d have sex with their cyborg captors, she couldn’t help but recall how she’d pictured it with a certain big fellow.
“I’ve got to go.” Go find Aramus and ask him if it was true she could never go home. Find her room before she did something stupid such as seduce Aramus and see if Carmen spoke the truth about cyborgs being masters of the climax.

Caught up in her thoughts, she didn’t look before stepping into the hall and only narrowly avoided colliding with a stranger.

Riley caught herself and mumbled, “Sorry. I wasn’t paying attention.”

“
Stupid cunt.”

What? Casting her gaze up, she met the angry glare of a woman with short
, spiked hair and a sneer on her lips. Recognizing the expression on the stranger as one stewing for a fight, Riley quickly determined that another apology seemed the wisest choice. “I’m sorry.”

“Fe-fucking-fi-fucking-
fo-fucking-fum. I smell me a human who needs to meet my fist.”

While a part of Riley wanted to point out how poorly the last bit rhymed, self
-preservation kicked in and told her to move her ass lest the punch aimed her way put a serious dent in her skull. With a squeak, she ducked. The deadly projectile narrowly missed her face and smashed into the wall behind her with enough force to leave a pockmark in the panel.
Ooh, that would have hurt.

W
hirling, she went to duck back into the common room, but the woman gripped the back of her jumpsuit and threw her sideways. Riley hit the wall with a cry and winced. Staggering from the impact, she didn’t wait to see if the woman was done but pivoted on her heel, only to run into Aramus, who’d suddenly appeared.

His big,
brawny arm curled around her as he snapped, “What the hell is going on? Why are you attacking my prisoner?”

“She’s human,” said the tough
-looking female with a glare in her direction. “Isn’t that enough reason? Of all the cyborgs on board, I’d expect you to understand.”

“She’s under our protection.”

“She worked for them, which makes her a threat.”

“Threat of what? Stomping on our toes? It’s the only thing she can reach.”

Another time, Riley might have taken offense and spoken up, but given the vicious-looking woman in front of her, whose orb-like eyes and words pegged her as a cyborg, she thought it prudent to stay silent. She also thought it best to take cover, and the best spot was behind Aramus. It would take more than one cyborg girl to get past him. She hoped.

“
Why do you defend her?”

“
I’m not. I thought I made myself clear in the last ship-wide memo that no one was to harm them.”

He did? Riley relaxed a bit at the revelation.

It seemed, though, the other woman wasn’t as crazy about his decree. “That was before you set them free to roam. Are you defective? All cyborgs know humans can’t be trusted. Even the little ones.”

Someone had anger issues. Then again, so did Riley
. The only difference was she didn’t blame a whole race for them. “I won’t hurt you,” she ventured. “Heck, I’m the person who can’t even kill a fly.”

“No one gave you permission to speak,” yelled the female with a lunge.

Riley squeaked and dug deeper into Aramus’s back, his big body a solid presence she trusted. How ironic, given the situation.

*

Aramus felt the little human press herself against his back. At least she had the common sense to seek shelter from the visibly pissed unit before him. “You’re frightening her.” And for some reason, he didn’t like it.

“So what? She should be frightened. She should tremble and beg my forgiveness.”

“Why? Did she harm you personally?” he asked.

“
Not yet, but who the fuck knows what weapons she might hide? Or what codes she has stored in her head, waiting to be unleashed to turn us into her little fucking puppets?”

Shit, is this how I sound?
Paranoid and irrational?
Aramus might own arrogance in spades, but even he could hear echoes of himself in the hate-filled speech of the cyborg bristling before him. It was like looking in a mirror, if the mirror reflected attitude. On the one hand, it sounded badass; on the other, he could see the inanity, especially with the so-called vicious human cowering against his spine, the sharp scent of her fear displeasing him.

“You’re safe now,
Unit D802.”

“
Don’t call me that. I have a name. Deidre.”

“
I’m sorry. I was not aware you’d chosen one.”

“I didn’t. Aphelion found it in my files. It is the name my mother chose for me before the humans stole me and changed me.”

“When we return to our home world, Einstein will rid your BCI of the memory blocks.”

“I am not sure I want to recall my human years.”

“That is your choice. And, it should be noted, not all of us are capable of remembering. I, for example, know only what I’ve read in my file.” Along with random snippets, most from the time when he was apprehended and the rage and injustice. Of his former family and life…only a blank spot remained.

“
How long until we get to the cyborg home planet?”

“That is classified information.” He changed the subject. “
Are you in this part of the ship for a purpose?”

“Yes. I volunteered to aid with the injured cyborg. As I am not cleared yet for shipboard duties
, I am good for little else.”

“You know why we can’t allow you access to our command center or engines.”

“Yes,” Deidre bit out through gritted teeth. “Because you fear a hidden bomb in my programming. And you wonder why I think the human should die.”

He got tired of arguing with
the female because cyborg or not, his sympathy only went so far. “It won’t be long before you are cleared for duty and your mind set free. But, in the meantime, I am commander of this ship, which means you obey my fucking rules, and my rules state no killing of humans unless I sanction it.” Especially not the little one at his back. If anyone got to kill her for getting under cyborg skin, it should be him, right after he figured out what it was about her that disturbed his usually well-balanced equilibrium.

With a growled, “Watch your back, human,” Deidre stalked off.

Riley stepped away as he turned to glare down at her.

“Thank you,” she murmured.

“Don’t. I can understand where she’s coming from. If it weren’t for orders, you probably wouldn’t be standing here.”

He could tell his words startled her as her gaze flew upward to meet his. “You’re not like her. You wouldn’t just kill me.”

“I would and could.”  He had in the past.

“I don’t believe you.” She stepped closer, into his personal space, close enough
that an invisible current passed between them, rousing his cock. Why was he not surprised it disobeyed his order to stand down?

“Why the fuck do you persist in thinking I’m some nice guy? I’m not.”

“No, you’re not, but you’re not completely without a heart like you’d make everyone believe.” She placed a small hand on his arms, which he’d crossed over his chest. The simple touch burned him.

“I am
worse than you can imagine. I’ve done things, bad things, and enjoyed it.”

“Revenge is often like that.
”

How dare she seem understanding
? “I’d wipe your planet out if someone gave me a nuke.”

“Would you really?”

“In a second.”

“That
seems extreme.”