Chapter Eight:

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The ship was flying into port and Kat was awake for it. She felt the tell-tale signs in her belly but she was also told by Bin-Three, her almost-constant creeper.

Kat rubbed her arms and entered the roach room, spending her time feeding and cleaning the filters of the critters. She was nervous and excited.

It had to be one of two places, Ghost City, where Gunner had mentioned, or the moon Dommik had been upset about the previous day. Either way, she was going to see it. She was awake. It’s going to happen.

The last of the enclosures closed, the alien bugs scattered around the strange, spiked sprout she fed it each day. It took the Gliese roaches hours to consume it even when every inch of the plant was covered up by hundreds of them. Until the green foliage was nothing but a stick of twitching critters. They made her sick.

She looked away and thrust the debris into sanitation.

Her muscles spasmed. And she knew the ship had landed, a hum released around her and the sound of the hatch opening filled the sterile room. Kat wiped her sweaty palms on her pants and walked into the facility.

She looked around but didn’t see Dommik.

Her steps faltered as a metal passageway opened up to a closed quarantine room. That’s not what I expected. Her eyes ran across the space again, looking for her Cyborg.

My Cyborg? Kat wiped her palms on her pants again. Ever since their conversation the day before, she felt a change, not only was Bin-Three with her like a shadow but a tension in the air. It wasn’t real but it felt like it was going to pop regardless.

There were no footsteps again last night. She had been waiting for them, wanting them and dreading them at the same time. Uncertain about the need to be with him. Kat bounced on her feet and continued to wait. A consuming, breathless, wanting had taken over her and it was dangerous.

What if he did approach my door? Could I risk sleeping with him?

She had never shown signs of having the parasite. She also knew that sexual intercourse could be a possibility of transferring it, although all studies on the illness suggested that it was neither an STD nor was it airborne. It was likely that it had to be ingested.

But how had my grandmother contract it? It doesn’t make sense. Kat still wasn’t willing to notify the medical branch. She was an expert on it and her grandmother never gave any indication, never told her anything about her time in the hospital visiting and waiting on her parents, on her.

She had chosen to give her nana the death she deserved, the death she had begged her for, in the comfort of her own home. It wasn’t smart.

Not by a long shot. She sighed.

Her love, her first love deserved the dangerous. Her grandmother had been her world.

It was what her grandma wanted. She had taken every precaution necessary to keep the house sanitized and insular with the help of her in-laws. They knew as much as she did and followed her grandmother’s wishes. Although she now knew why. The sooner she died, the sooner their inheritance would come.

Hah. Kat spent the money on a beautiful funeral for her, a deep cleansing of the house, and she had made a hefty donation towards research.

There was a fair amount left.

Kat touched the key-chip in her pocket. There was also the money from the house. The salary she made from the EPED, and all of it was collecting dust. Stale and unused. Even the amount she left for herself to buy a ticket off-world remained.

The money wasn’t the issue that plagued her though, it was the parasite, it was her attraction to a man who was half-machine. Can Cyborgs get sick? The idea that she would have opened her door to him last night and offered him a place in her bed; her tiny bed that would probably collapse with the two of them on it.

The door opposite the hatch opened up and she could now see a large, industrial space beyond. Dommik was still nowhere to be seen. Minutes went by in quiet. People walked in the distance. Her eyes followed them with envy.

Kat wiped her hands again and went toward the exit. The click of Bin-Three followed her. She stepped through the hatch and it didn’t stop her, it didn’t stop her when she went through it to the other side and stepped onto the port. It joined her on the deck.

“What is this place?”

“This is Ghost City, Katalina Jones. It’s ruled by cybernetic beings.”

Oh. They were in a giant docking station with a large opening at one end that led farther into the city and the rest was filled with small flyers static in the middle and dozens of passageways that resembled the one she had just come through. Each one, she assumed, led to a docked ship.

“I’ve never heard of it.”

“It doesn’t exist.”

She turned to the android. “How is that possible?”

“It's a city based inside a giant planetary colonization ship, one of the originals, bought, salvaged and upgraded by its owner. It’s constantly traveling through uncharted space and only Cyborgs, with some exceptions, are privy to its coordinates. They are revoked if it’s compromised.”

“And this is its port?” She moved deeper into the cavernous space. Her body was a speck in comparison to the docked ships. There were more vessels than people and as she took in the high, arched walls and chrome interior her mouth went slack.

“This is part of the city. Each ship must remain open as decreed from the leader, it is a merchant hub where Cyborgs can buy and trade with one another and not be under the jurisdiction of any government.”

Kat walked with Bin-Three along the railway, peering into open passageways that led to other docked ships, most remained empty. There were a handful of beings around but none were close enough to talk to or discern their humanity. It was also quiet and made her want to whisper.

The lack of people reminded her of the New American Port at home. Half shut down, unused, and barricaded off; John and the tea stand.

After some distance, Kat stopped and looked back. No one followed them, no one had left Dommik’s ship. Where is he? She cared about that, she told herself it was because she would’ve liked a guide, something or someone better than her android.

My android?

She told herself that he wouldn’t mind that she left. He may leave without me. Her eyes widened in horror. But was it because she craved his company? Kat cleared her throat and kept walking toward the bowed entrance to the main ship. She looked at Bin-Three. He won't leave without one of his Bin’s.

“Will your Master be upset we left the ship?” she asked.

“He did not state the exterior as a restricted zone.”

“And you?”

“I am to ensure your safety and report to him if you try and enter a restricted zone or if you are in distress. Are you in distress, Katalina Jones?” It flashed.

Kat looked around. “Kat. No.” She kept walking, it kept following. They passed through the landing deck and...into another landing deck. She glanced between them, they were exact replicas. Lights and music streamed out from one of the passageways, on the opposite side from her. She saw a couple beings standing outside that area.

“Who runs this place?”

“I do not have that knowledge.”

“You don’t know?”

“I do not have that knowledge.”

Kat headed toward the music. Someone must have noticed them because they were headed toward her. She had met one Cyborg and had talked to another. She hadn’t offended a killing machine yet and three times were a charm, right? She eyed the man coming closer with every step and met him halfway. He blocked her path.

“Who are you?” he asked.

She looked up at the Cyborg.

He was different and so unlike any being she had ever encountered. The Cyborg had a blue-grey tint to his skin and it appeared waxen and rounded with smooth lines. No creases, no body markings, nothing. Strong features. Not handsome, not cute, but huge and encased with muscle.

“My name’s Kat and this is Bin-Three.” She introduced them.

“You’re a human.” Rude.

“I am.”

“Who are you with?” His voice rough with a warning.

Um… “I’m with...Dommik.”

“He let you wander here without his guard?”

Kat licked her lips. “Yes? And I’m with Bin-Three.” She indicated the android again. “It’s deadly impressive when it wields a knife and spews fire.”

The Cyborg looked at the android, sizing him up. Bin-Three’s face had code coursing over it. Kat looked at the man and saw the same code in his eyes.

Oh, fuck no.

“What are you doing to it?” She gripped her androids arm, clutching it.

“Leave her alone, Netto. It’s obvious that’s Dommik’s bot.” Another man appeared. Another Cyborg. Can four times be a charm? This one had spiked silver hair and piercings. “You must not be important.” He looked down at her.

Kat narrowed her eyes and stood in front of Bin-Three. “I work for him. Why am I being stopped?”

“We’re just curious. It’s not every day an unknown human is wandering around Ghost, let alone a girl, and one being without an escort.”

Netto came to her side and visibly sniffed her. “I don’t smell Dommik on her.”

Kat backed up a step. “What is with you guys and smelling?” She stood up straighter. “Nevermind, I get it, you have enhanced senses, well, do one of you know a doctor on this ship?”

“Are you ill? Hurt? I don’t smell blood,” Spike asked. She nick-named him, Spike. He went up to her and took her hand, his eyes went silver as he studied it. She didn’t have a chance to tug it back before he released her.

“Katalina Jones, are you in distress?” Bin-Three asked at her side.

No. Am I? No. She looked at the Cyborgs before her. “I’m fine.”

“Your vitals are average, little one, your readings are standard but if you need a doctor, we have several on the main ship,” Spike said. “I would be honored to escort you to the medical unit. It’s not far.”

Netto grumbled next to him, “I will come too.”

Kat looked behind her back toward where Dommik’s ship was docked, hoping he was walking toward her, but there was nobody. She turned to Bin-Three. “Is it alright that I go with them to see their doctor, Bin?”

“Are you ill, Katalina Jones?”

“No.” She didn’t know.

“It is unrestricted. I will follow you as ordered.”

The Cyborgs eyed her, curiosity in their gaze, Spike reached out his hand for her to take it and Netto growled.

“If Dommik looks for me, tell him I am conversing with Ghost’s doctor.”

“Yes, Katalina Jones.” She followed the two men into the ship without touching them. One walked at her side and the other a step in front of her. Kat kept looking behind her hoping for her Cyborg but he was not around. She began to worry about him.

“What brings you the Ghost?” One of the Cyborgs asked her.

“I don’t know. Something with Dommik and Gunner,” she mumbled.

They both tensed up and stopped, looking at her. “Gunner is here?”

“I don’t know.”

Spike checked her out, she noticed–it was deliberate and slow. “You’ve met him?”

“I’ve talked to him, why?” They started walking again, but tension filled the air. Netto and Spike both had their hands on their guns. Netto moved to walk behind her.

“Nothing, just a surprise, that’s all. Nothing for you to be worried about.”

Kat narrowed her eyes at Spike’s back. They went up a lift that had her clutching the rail as it shot up. Netto tried to stabilize her by taking her arm. She shrugged him away. Beings stared at them as they went past and deeper into the city-ship. She assumed most of them were ‘borgs, based on their obvious lethality, but she swore she saw several humans.

They stopped at an open door and a woman appeared. The first one she had seen. Beautiful and perfect, wearing a lab coat, with long light-brown hair clipped back. She grabbed her in a big hug.

“Hi?”

“I’m so glad they brought you to me! It’s all over the city that a human girl was walking around. Walking around and unattended!” The woman held her arms and looked at her. “You’re adorable and young, and so cute. I have a young daughter and she has curly hair too.” The woman ushered her into the medical lab. “Come in, sit on the cot over there, do you need a drink?”

Kat was trailed by her three escorts. “Water would be nice.”

“Out, all of you, out! Our matters are confidential.” The woman shooed them through the door, the android didn’t move. And she knew, in that instant that the doctor was also a Cyborg when numbers flashed over her eyes and Bin-Three left to stand outside. The door shut behind them.

A glass of water appeared in the doctor’s hand, Kat took it warily.

“So what’s the matter, beautiful? If you don’t want bed play, I can warn the mech off. Netto is a good guy. Jayce though,” the doctor waved her hands, “well, Jayce is Jayce.”

Kat took a tentative sip and smiled. The silver Cyborg had a name. “So this will be confidential?”

“Of course, sweetheart. Doctor-patient confidentiality. I rarely see humans anymore.” The woman swiveled over to her on a stool. “I was created as a battlefield medic and well, once the war ended, I came here. I specialize in my kind but I know human anatomy as well. But if you’re here for a cybernetic implant...”

“I just had a couple questions. I have money.”

“It’s okay, no money needed. You have Dommik’s android following you. I sent a message to his ship to tell him you’re here.”

Kat looked at the door and wondered if he would be mad. He doesn’t own me. I’m not his captive. If he would leave her behind.

She raked her fingers through her curls and adjusted her clothes. She wasn’t sure why she was feeling anxious. Although everything about this was risky. At least she could have a second opinion here without alerting medical back home.

She took a deep breath. “Alright. I never planned for this but recent events brought me here. Do you know anything about the Gliese parasite?”

***

A hand gripped his shoulder and the force of it turned his bridge chair around.

Silver hair and silver piercings filled his vision. Dommik rubbed his eyes. “Get off my ship, Jayce.”

“Your assistant is wandering Ghost with one of your android’s, Spider-Man, thought you should know before someone tries to claim her.”

Dommik already knew. He had tracked her signature since they landed. “She can do what she pleases. If someone claims her, good riddance.”

Jayce stepped back and allowed Dommik to rise. He walked over to his weapon cabinet and strapped a single gun to his hip.

He felt like shit, like rusted metal, his body was depleted of poison and his thoughts were weighed down by the inevitable. Kat kept sneaking into his head and it didn’t help that the inside of his suit jacket smelled like her. He had buried his nose into it more times than he would care to admit. Or that he tugged on his cock at the same time.

If she had the mark of someone else, maybe she would stop haunting him.

“Well, I’ll let Netto know then,” Jayce snickered.

“The fucking bull shark?”

“The one and only. He approached her first, sadly, I was second.”

The thought of Kat under Netto filled him with jealous rage. He stormed out of his bridge with Jayce laughing behind.

He stopped. What the fuck am I doing? He closed his eyes and cooled his ardor.

Dommik checked on his creatures before he walked out onto Ghost.

“What kind of monsters are these?”

“Get off my ship, Jayce.”

“Shit man, what’s up?”

So many things. He turned to address the Cyborg. “Is Stryker here?”

“Not that I know of. Gunner isn’t here either.” Jayce stretched out his arms and threaded his fingers.

“What did you say?”

“Kat mentioned him.”

So now they’re on a first-name basis. And she’s talking to them. Dommik scanned the facility, eying the shell he was currently standing in, registering all who were on board. Stryker and Gunner were perfectly and completely absent.

“Where the fuck is he?” he gritted. He turned to Jayce. “Can you locate Stryker’s signal?” They all had their abilities, many of those abilities crossed, but his radar abilities were limited to his general area.

“Already did, he’s not within orbit or the perimeter beyond.”

Dommik turned full circle.

“What’s eating at you, man?”

Stryker must have answered the distress call.

He powered on his console and sent him a message. He sent one to Gunner too. Dommik then returned his attention to Jayce. “Let me ask you something.” He leveled the Cyborg, connecting with him, reading his stats. Jayce did the same. It was an electrical bonding, but more intimate and more thorough, and often needed to encourage trust amongst themselves in all things. If a Cyborg went deeper than an initial stat reading without allowance, it was permitted by their unspoken law to kill the perpetrator. “Have you heard of Xan’Mara?”

Jayce stiffened as he read his database. “It’s a moon,” he responded after a moment. “Trentian controlled. Why?”

“My next mission takes me there, to retrieve a plant, of all things. A flower.” He began to walk down the railway, following Kat’s weak scent. “There’s a colony of aliens on the planet, a religious colony.”

“Okay. Land your ship away from them.”

“They inhabit most of the moon. But that’s not the issue, they’re protected under their Space Lords...and the EPED mentioned that the flower is sacred to them. A rarity. A myth. It’s what got them involved I assume.” Dommik left her trail, restraining his impulses, and headed toward the music. A ship converted into a lounge for Cyborgs that offered a place for leisure. A place to meet on neutral territory. It was a permanent addition to the main vessel.

His feet, all four of them, wanted to get his assistant back, he wanted Bin-Three to signal him. Instead, he stormed into the bar and found himself a seat in a dense corner where the smoke was heavy. Jayce sat across from him. His piercings twinkled in the neon lights that flashed in sync to the music.

“Why do they want this flower?”

“Supposedly it only appears to the worthy. That when crushed and eaten, it gives the being vitality and communion with the elements. It’s also worn on the bride’s dress during a bonding ceremony and, they say, helps with vitality and fertility. Maybe I’ll bring you some back, Jayce, I’ve heard rumors you lack in that department.” Jayce’s only response was a scowl, but he knew better than to pick a fight with Dommik.

Dommik knew Mia had a hand in this, a retaliation of sorts. He hadn’t helped the situation by denying her the job and then forcing all contact with Kat.

“I don’t think your biggest problem is the flower, Dommik, I’m not a rusty, outdated shell yet so if you want advice, just come out with it. You can’t take Kat to the other side of the galaxy.”

“I have a lot of problems right now…” he split his jaw off and bared his metal fangs, retracting them a moment later. “And yes, that is a problem.”

“Claim her, then she’ll be safe.” Jayce waved his silver-studded hand in annoyance. A twitch on his lips. “Or leave her here and let Netto take her swimming. It’s all the same, except for the biting.”

His muscles tensed as he pictured her with the shark. Her legs spread as a bald, bluish head bobbed between them underwater. Dommik hissed out a breath between his teeth, “No.”

“Then claim her, wrap her up in your webs, put a ring on her finger, spread your cum over her body. Just do it in a way that the Trentians understand the bond. She isn’t safe without it. Or put your damned jealousy in a jar and your cock in a sex-bot and leave her on Ghost.” Jayce sighed. “Unless you don’t like her.”

“The flower doesn’t fucking do anything, dammit.” He didn’t want to leave her here, he didn’t want to take her into Space Lord territory, he sure as hell didn’t want her to encounter a Knight, and he definitely didn’t want to burden himself with keeping a girl who would one day find him revolting. He had so much insectoid DNA in his blood that sometimes he questioned his overall make-up.

It was easier for someone like Gunner, who had an exorbitant amount of canine in his system. Although Gunner couldn’t be trusted because he let his jackal run rampant.

“Then refuse the mission,” Jayce laughed, enjoying this.

“Can’t. They’ll blame Kat and fine her life, they’ll place stop-gates at every turn for her. There is too much money involved.”

“You don’t know that for certain, I think your decision is easier than you realize.”

Jayce produced a cigar from a nearby wall receptacle, lighting it with an electrical fuse from his finger. The musty scent of honey and barnyard filled the vicinity. The smoke created a thicker haze between them, capturing the two of them in an amorphous circle until it was breathed in. Honey remained.

Dommik changed the subject. “Stryker encountered a distress signal.”

Jayce took a puff. “Oh?”

“A woman. I don’t know the rest.”

“Eh. It’s probably a trap.” Jayce shrugged.

Dommik leaned back and checked his wrist-con. No response from his friend or Gunner. Watch your bloody, rusted asses, he thought to himself as he breathed in the second-hand aroma. Jayce offered a suck of his cigar, Dommik took it and breathed the fumes in. His mouth filled with its heat, but his body began to destroy the carcinogens. Once the tingles started, he let it out. He handed the cigar back to Jayce.

“I should check on him.”

“Eh.”

Cyborgs filtered in and out of the lounge, most sat alone, some were in pairs, talking. There were less than a dozen total. Dommik surveyed the scene and nodded at those who surveyed back. His console buzzed and a message appeared. It was from Bin-One saying his ship received a message.

He connected his wrist-con back up to his ship’s servers and scanned the database and comm files, thinking Stryker or Gunner was blocked from his personal, internal server.

It wasn’t them. Dommik felt his metal pieces pull apart, demanding he shift. Calm down.

Kat was in medical.

He teeth descended again and he was at Jayce’s throat in the next instant. The sharp points like needles waiting to plunge into flesh and bone;. through metal and electricity. He tore his head back, pulling on the man’s spiked hair.

“You didn’t tell me Kat was in medical,” he growled from his throat, venom at the ready, wanting release.

“Thought you knew,” Jayce said calmly, smoke escaping his lips. “Doctor sent the message before I found you.” The poison dripped from several of Dommik’s teeth and trickled down the other Cyborg’s neck. Jayce held inhumanly still as he was locked within a centimeter of agonizing pain. No one stopped the scene from happening.

What’s wrong with me? Dommik thought.

He released the Cyborg and stormed out of the lounge.