This time Skye knew she was dreaming of a conversation she’d had with Rader while still on her journey to Glasica. She thought it was likely that seeing his friends and their children made her remember:
“Hi, Rader. How was your day?” Skye asked as his image filled her tablet screen.
“It was a routine patrol except for helping a family find their missing child,” he said. “I had no trouble because I could hear him crying in the forest. As I got closer, I could detect his heat signature.”
“How old was he?”
“Five. He was looking for his pet canid.”
“It’s good that you found him. Did you ever get lost when you were a child?” Skye wondered as she feasted her eye on his handsome face.
“I was never a child,” he said evenly.
“What?”
Rader gave her a patient smile. “Cyborgs are bred in vitro, and their growth is accelerated by nanocybots, so they are born as adults in five years.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, I guess I missed that in the literature.”
“Is it important?” Rader frowned.
“If you were never a child, how were you educated?”
“Knowledge was fed into our brains through the bioelectric computers the creators put into us. Once we emerged from our nurturing tanks, we started our warrior training.”
“Did you have a mentor or a parental guide?”
“We had a commanding officer---and each other. Like brothers.”
“Didn’t anyone love you when you were young?”
“They didn’t make us for love, they made us for killing their enemies,” Rader stated.
“But you don’t do that anymore,” Skye asked.
“There are no Drayids to kill on Glasica. Killing other humans is only a last resort if they pose an imminent danger. In law enforcement, we use stun weapons or drone nets for capture.”
“That’s good.”
“Yet, you look troubled,” Rader observed.
“I wonder if you will grow to love me as your mate if you had no parents to set an example for you.”
“I already feel affection for you, Skye. I desire to couple with you. I have observed others’ relationships and learned the emotional impact of pair bonding of mates,” he explained. “Between the times we talk like this, I long for our next talk. You are constantly looping through my mind.”
“That’s how I feel about you.”
“I used the matching service because it was the only way I could find the female meant for me. If I met you by chance, I would know, but the odds of meeting you by chance were small.
“I understand that perfectly. Finding the right life mate by chance is successful in only one of three if you actually find one. I don’t even know the odds of finding one that will be a life mate. If I just wanted a child, I could have an embryo implanted from in vitro fertilization or receive sperm from a donor. But like you, I want a family where the father of my children will love them and help raise them.”
“That is what I want also. My friend Makus is a natural human with a family. Sometimes I share meals at their home, and I see how they share affection with each other and their children. In them, I see what it’s like to have a family. The children are fascinating and likable.” Rader said. “Watching the children grow and how Makus cares for Jhenre, has always made me long for a female to care for and make a family with.”
“That is what I want with you, Rader,” she told him. “What kinds of things do you do when you’re not working?”
“I monitor news services while I explore uninhabited areas and monitor the bots taking care of my land. I often take extra shifts for officers to have more time with their families. There is not much social life on Glasica for an unattached male. Most people who settle here have families or at least mates and are planning to start families,” Rader said. “Those who don’t bring mates with them mainly rely on the Narovian Interstellar Matchmaking Service.”
“The exploring sounds like fun. I used to work a lot, too. Sometimes seven days a week. There’are always things to do when you have your own business.”
Skye opened her eyes to the daylight shining in through the window. She was alone in the room. Rader only required about a third of the sleep an natural human did. He’d let her sleep since they’d had sex far into the night---not that she would complain. Sex with Rader was always satisfying.
While his energy level in that regard was much higher than hers, he was attentive to her needs. He always seemed to know when they had reached the end of her endurance.
However in the weeks, since she had arrived and mated physically with Rader, she had noticed that she was gradually feeling stronger. When she said as much, Rader said it was the nanites. It was those same nanites that would allow them the have children together when Skye’s birth control implant expired.
Skye got up and walked into the bathroom naked. With Rader there was no use putting on any of the sexy lingerie she’d brought with her. She always ended up naked anyway. She smiled to herself as she took care of her needs and then stepped into the shower. As if by magic, Rader appeared in their bedroom when Skye was coming out of the bathroom clean and dry.
He grinned appreciatively at her, his eyes blatantly perusing her naked body. Rader was wearing his standard off-duty outfit of cargo pants and a tan t-shirt that hugged his well-defined muscles.
Skye never got tired of looking at her mate’s flawless form. She knew it was risky, but she walked straight into his arms and turned her face up for a ‘good morning’ kiss. It was risky because it was so easy for Rader to tempt her back into their bed for sex.
Even as he wrapped his arms around her and pressed her against him, she felt her body respond as he thoroughly kissed her. She made a little moaning sound in her throat as he did. His hands went to her buttocks and pressed her and pressed her belly against his erection. Oh, yeah, he was so tempting.
But Skye finally broke the kiss and pushed back from him. “Not, now sweetheart. You promised to take me hiking in the forest today. We’ve barely been out of here since I got here.”
Rader sighed and reluctantly let her go. “I did.”
Skye turned and went to the closet to pull out some clothes to put on. She had brought her own cargo pants to wear since they were comfortable as well as convenient. She quickly put on her clothes along with a pair of comfortable hiking boots.
“It’s time for second meal,” he said, “but would you like to start with first meal.”
“First,” she said.
“It will be ready when we get downstairs,” he said.
They walked downstairs together, not touching. Their first mating was still so fresh, even an innocent touch could ignite their passion. Skye thought it was almost like what Jenna Be’Kal had described to her and the other women on the journey. When Jenna was exposed to Captain Zeke’s pheromones her desire to mate with him was driving her mad with lust.
It hadn’t been quite that urgent with Skye, but she’d thought they would take more time to get personally acquainted before things got physical. Then Rader kissed her, and she suddenly felt like she was in heat. That she hadn’t had a lover in a couple years could have had something to do with it, but Skye had never been a sex-on-the-first-date kind of girl.
On the other hand, she and Rader had waited months for their first kiss. The attraction between them had been strong from the beginning. Unable to be together physically, they had talked and gotten to know each other mentally first.
The house bot had set out two plates of food on the table in the kitchen along with two steamy cups of fruited tea. Instead of eggs, there was a plant-based soft protein cake covered with a yellow sauce, a small kind of biscuit and some cut fresh fruit.
“This is very good---reminds me a bit of tofu, but the flavor is more like mushrooms,” she told him then she smiled at his puzzled look. “It doesn’t translate exactly. They are edible fungi with many strains. The problem is that some of them are deadly poison and you have to know which kinds are safe to eat.”
“We also have fungi growing here as well as other plants that are dangerous to eat and even touch,” Rader told her. “I will show some of them to you while we are hiking so you’ll know to avoid them.”
“Good, I read about plantlife here and looked at the pictures, but there is no substitute for seeing them up close in their natural environment.”
“The processor will prepare second meal for us to take with us,” he said. “We can eat on the trail.”
“A picnic,” Skye said brightly. “I haven’t had one in ages. Come to think of it, never had much time for hiking either.”
“I never had much reason to recreate until you came,” Rader said. “I’ve decided to heed Makus’s suggestion and take some of that time to recreate with you. It sounds like we could both benefit from more time to recreate.”
“Yes,” she agreed and reached to put her hand in his.