B785 (4 page)

Seeing Aramus speechless truly ranked high on the pleasure meter, as did his bulging eyes and the ticking nerve in his jaw. Of course, the captain of their mission, and king of acerbic comebacks, didn’t let something like a presumed dead sexbot coming to life and taunting him keep him down for long.

“What the fuck is going on?”

“Einstein made out with what he thought was an inanimate droid and with the power of his super tongue—
”

“Actually, he only used his lips,” Bonnie interjected. “And he didn’t even grope.”

“—had a Prince Charming moment and woke the sleeping beauty who happens to be one of the missing cyborg women we’ve been looking for,” Seth summarized with too much glee.

Aramus glared from Bonnie to Seth to Einstein, then back, and grunted. “Un-fucking believable. Why is it I keep ending up on the missions that find these cluster fucks? Why can’t I ever enjoy a peaceful trip where the only excitement is blowing up some military scout ships and raiding some supply depots?”

Seth slapped Aramus on the back. “If you ask me, I think the scientists must have shoved some kind of lucky horseshoe up your tight ass. Adventuring with you is never boring.”

“If you don’t shut up, I’m going to shove something up yours,” Aramus growled.

Seeing Bonnie’s head bob back and forth as she took in the exchange between his two friends, Einstein wondered how it looked to her. Would she recognize the repartee of good friends or mistake it for the violence cyborgs were often accused of?

Using his wireless speech capability, Einstein sent a mental message. “
Hey, you two, would you stop that
?
She just woke up and I don’t need you scaring her back to sleep.
”

Seth immediately replied. “
But he started it.
”

“
And I’m asking you to stop it.
”

“
Or else what?
”
Aramus mentally snarled.

“
Hey, has anyone noticed that like Chloe and Fiona, she doesn’t seem to have any wireless capability?
”

Three pairs of eyes swung her way and Bonnie stiffened. “What? Why are you looking at me like that? Is there an asteroid chunk stuck in my teeth?”

“Did you hear any of that?”

“Any of what?”

“What our resident geek is trying to ask is if you have wireless capability?”

“Nope. None of the female cyborgs I knew did. The general said more than once that we were enough of a menace without giving us the ability to talk silently amongst ourselves.”

“Finally, something a human said that I can agree with,” Aramus replied.

Einstein elbowed him before Seth could, forcing an annoyed, “What? It’s the truth.”

“It is not,” Einstein snapped, coming to the opposite sex’s defense.

“Ha. You wait, boy. You’ll soon come to see I’m right.”

“Says a man who has never had a conversation with a woman that didn’t send her screaming or crying in the other direction.”

“And that’s where you’re wrong, because I don’t bother talking to them in the first place,” Aramus said with smug pride.

“One day…” Seth threatened.

“One day what?”

“One day, I hope a woman makes you eat your words.”

“Never happen.”

“Oh, it will. I’ve been wishing on every shooting star I see for it to happen.”

“I’m going to beat you to a pulp.”

“I’m going to beat you both to a pulp,” Einstein said, annoyed at their constant bickering, and in front of their new guest, no less. “Sorry about that,” he said to Bonnie. “I’d like to say they don’t usually behave this way, but I hate to lie.”

“Oh don’t apologize for them. Anyone can see they argue because they secretly love each other.”

Seth choked. Aramus’ eyes bulged. Both exploded into a litany of denials while Bonnie watched with avid interest and a smirk on her lips. Einstein rubbed his face.

When did his carefully organized world devolve into chaos? Actually, Einstein knew that answer; the moment Bonnie regained her senses and stared at him with beautiful, emerald eyes.

Logical or not, the simple press of flesh against flesh should not have woken her. While he’d felt a strange electrical jolt on contact, he’d done nothing that would account for her suddenly coming to life. As for her comparison of their embrace to a fairy tale, magic didn’t exist. Kisses didn’t wake dead people, not even cyborg ones.
Tell that to Bonnie, though.
Because despite the implausibility, there she stood, antagonizing Aramus with sweet smiles and taunts. There she teased Seth with subtle innuendos that actually flustered the usually unflappable cyborg agent. There she was in bright living color, her skin tone already losing its gray pallor for a rosy hue, her cheeks plumping from all the minerals and fluid she’d imbibed, her flesh filling out rendering her less robot and more human. Womanly. Sexy. Troublesome. Intriguing…

“I think I need to sit down,” Einstein announced to no one in particular. And he did, heavily. Knees weak, his mind caught in a loop as he struggled for logic, Einstein flopped down onto his mattress and tried to process the events. He failed, not something he was accustomed to, and he didn’t appreciate it one bit. Unable to deal with the illogical series of events, he forced all the things that refused to align into neat arrays to a corner of his mind for perusal when he had more time. Mind uncluttered, he focused on the more important matter at hand. Bonnie, and what to do with her.

Kiss her again in the name of science.
And to see what would happen next.
Bzzzt!
Wrong answer. He shoved the inappropriate thought away, and sifted through the remaining ones, most improper—and surprising. They were relegated to a now crowded corner of his mind. Finally, one suggestion popped out that made the most sense—and caused him the least angst.

“Someone needs to let Chloe know her sister isn’t dead after all.”

The silence arrived so abruptly Einstein ran a quick internal check to see if his auditory functions still worked.

Bonnie cleared her throat. “Excuse me? Did you say Chloe? As in, my sister Chloe? As in my sister is still alive, Chloe?” Her voice got progressively louder, but that wasn’t as daunting as the fact she took a step toward him with each query, her vivid eyes pinning him in place.

“If I say yes, are you going to hurt me?” Because she sure appeared ready to do violence, and Einstein doubted he could stop her. Not because he lacked the strength or ability, he just didn’t think he could hurt her, not even in the name of self-defense.

Both her brows arched and she halted. “Hurt you? Only if you don’t answer me. Tell me the truth. Is my sister alive?”

“Yes.”

For a second, Einstein wondered if he’d sent her back into her catatonic state so still did she become. Bonnie took a deep, shuddering, and totally unnecessary breath. Nobody said a word as they waited for her to respond—or freak out.

Joy lit her face for a brief moment before her brows knit together in a fierce frown. “I’m going to kill that fucking bastard,” she finally whispered. Lifting her head, her gaze fixed him, and despite the fact they were bionic, he could still see the pain reflected in her eyes and he disliked the fact he put it there. “He told me she was dead, you know. Gone. Never to be seen again. And he laughed about it. He fucking taunted me. The lying asshole. I should have known better than to believe anything that came out of his filthy fucking mouth. When I get my hands on him, I am going to feed him his balls. No, that’s too nice. I’m going to rip out his entrails and hang him from them. Pour acid down his throat. Skin him alive…”

“Who?” Einstein dared to ask.

“The general, of course, the one in charge of the cyborg program, well, the female one at any rate. Sadistic bastard should have never messed with me.” She paced as she threatened, an incongruous menace dressed only in a shirt with tousled hair and bare feet. If Einstein had a sense of humor, he might have found the image she presented amusing.

“Finally, she speaks a language I can understand,” Aramus crowed.

“Does he have a name?” Seth interrupted.

“Or better yet, do you have a location?” Aramus asked as he slapped a fist into the palm of his hand. “I could use some stress relief.”

“Well, I personally liked to call him asshole, but his actual name was General Vaughn. He was the bastard in charge of the female cyborg program.”

“Never heard of him.”

Einstein frowned. Nothing in his databanks flagged the name either. “What else can you tell us about him?”

“Tell? Well, he’s old, probably in his sixties, but unlike his cronies, he didn’t let himself go soft. The man’s also colder than any machine he or his buddies ever created. I swear, the concept of emotion doesn’t exist to him. And he called us the monsters.”

“Was he a buddy of General Boulder?”

“Probably. Those military bastards are all in cahoots.”

“Do you know where he is?”

“Not anymore, because I doubt he’s still at the base he was using on earth. When I shut myself down, they were in the process of dismantling the location. Their funding got cut off. Apparently, they weren’t working through legal government channels and got caught funneling funds. They had to close up shop and quick. I never did get wind of where they were going next, just the rumors that basically said they were destroying the evidence of our existence and relocating the scientists who worked on the project.”

“Joe is going to want to know about this,” Seth replied.

“Joe? Who’s Joe?” she asked, halting her pacing tracks.

Einstein answered now that he no longer feared her wrath. “Joe’s the leader of the cyborg liberation movement. He’s also the chosen partner of your sister. They live together on the world we’ve commandeered.”

“My sister is married?” The note of incredulity made her seem all too human.

“Of a sorts. Joe and your sister share a deep affection for each other and cohabit.”

“They’re in love,” Seth sang, accompanied by kissing noises.

“I’ll be damned,” Bonnie said in a low tone, not seeming upset at the news, more in awe. “It’s about time she found herself a man. She always was the shy one. You’ll have to tell me about this Joe guy who managed to steal her heart. Actually, I want to know everything you can tell me about her and what’s happened while I was sleeping. Better yet, when do I get to see her and meet her fellow?” A hopeful smile curled her lips, and captivated Einstein.

“Three weeks, seven days, fourteen hours, give or take,” Aramus answered.

“That long!” Crestfallen, Bonnie’s shoulders slumped. Einstein almost reached out to her in comfort, an illogical gesture, especially coming from him. He pulled his hand back before it made contact. She must have caught on to his aborted action, though, and in a surprise move, flopped onto his lap and lay her head on his shoulder. Einstein went still. “Can’t you make it faster, charming?”

“No, he can’t,” growled Aramus. “Protocol must be followed. We have to ensure the military hasn’t tracked us from our last location and we still need to pick up some supplies before heading back.”

“Track you from where? Did you attack a military base? Raid a supply depot? Hit them somewhere it will hurt?”

“Not exactly.” Einstein didn’t elaborate.

Seth did. “We’ve just come from a floating pleasure palace where the troops enjoyed some stress relief. It’s where we found you, princess.”

Bonnie stiffened and tilted her face at Einstein, accusation in her glare. “You found me in a brothel?”

He nodded.

“Pig. And I thought you were different.” She shoved off his lap, leaving Einstein at a loss for her sudden annoyance. He’d done nothing wrong. Actually, if he examined the situation, she should thank him for having attended the brothel because if he hadn’t, she would have soon ended up as space debris. Of course, he didn’t say any of this aloud. He didn’t need to justify his actions. She was the one acting irrational.

As if to make up for his error, Seth spoke up in his defense. “Hey, before you get your circuits in a knot, you should know that Einstein here is the only one who wasn’t partaking of the flesh available. Which is completely unnatural, if you ask me. He spent his entire time in the repair center fixing broken sexbots.”

“Truly?” She turned to him for verification.

All Einstein managed was a nod.

His simple reply made her beam, a bright expression short-lived. A frown soon marked her countenance. “But I don’t understand. How did I end up in a bordello? Please don’t tell me I was being used as some kind of inanimate sex doll. I mean, I’m all for fucking. Heck, I’ve had more than my share of group sex marathons, but I prefer to participate. Or at least keep count of who’s heaving over me.”

The odd warmth in his cheeks returned. Einstein peered at his feet before answering. “As far as I know, you weren’t used in that manner. I found you crated in a box. The owner had you slated to go in the trash because he couldn’t get you activated. He gave you to me in payment for my service.”

She planted her hands on her hips and eyed him sternly. “And what exactly did you plan to use me for?”

“Not for sex,” he hastened to say.

She laughed. “Why not? Aren’t I pretty enough? And before you answer, don’t forget, I already know you kissed me, charming.”

“Oh make me puke bolts,” Aramus grumbled. “I am not listening to this. I’m out of here. I’m sure there’s something more important needing my attention. Like counting the rivets in the repair bay.”

“I’ll tell you what’s more important, getting some decent porn to watch. Did you know all we’ve got onboard are educational videos?” Seth harangued Aramus as he followed him out the door, and Einstein sighed as he heard Aramus growl, “I’m going to rip your leg off and beat you with it.”

“Only if you catch me first, which as you well know, is unlikely given you’re a first generation model. Why that makes you practically my grandfather.”

The door slid shut, cutting off further sound, leaving them alone –something Einstein became only too aware of, especially given he still sat while she stood. Stood in only a thin shirt. A barely there fabric barrier that did nothing to truly conceal the curve of her breasts or the flash of her thighs. He averted his gaze, not sure why her partial dishabille made him so uncomfortably aware. He’d had no problem ignoring her attributes before.
Of course, before, she was just an inanimate object.
Now…now she was one hundred percent woman, and it seemed he was more human and male than he’d suspected.