Chapter Nine:

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Kat was silent as the medical tube ran over her body with lights and a series of mists that dried instantly on her skin. Dr. Cagley had had her change into a thin, tied back gown, as the full-body physical took place. She couldn’t wait for the results or for her heart to stop racing.

She had told the doctor all about her parents, her upbringing, and her grandmother. Before the conversation had come to a close, she was half-way through a body exam. Being poked and prodded and asked numerous health questions.

‘How long have you been in space?’

‘Are you on any medications?’

‘Have you had sex recently?’ She had thought about sex recently but she didn’t say that. In fact, she thought about it a lot. The dangerous appeal of her boss left her panting in bed at night.

There was something dark and fulfilling about being trapped in her small section of the ship, being denied access to nearly everything, and being visited by him on occasion.

It brought back the weird nostalgia of her childhood with eroticism. He was a becoming a bruise that wouldn’t heal and she couldn’t stop pressing her finger into it to test the pain.

Her eyes wandered around the medical room, it was pristine, and symmetrical in everything except the sparsely placed decorations and mundane prints on the walls. It warped her reality and she had to keep reminding herself that she wasn’t on Earth. There was one oddity to the room and that was a picture of a young girl with long light brown hair. Her daughter. Kat returned her attention to the doctor.

The Cyborg woman, who didn’t look a day over twenty, stood at her side reading a screen Kat couldn’t see.

Shivers ran up her body. She blinked hard once and tried to relax only to be pulled from the stasis immediately.

“You’re perfectly healthy.”

Kat’s eyes sprang open and the tube lifted up to release her. “I am?”

“Yep, I don’t see any abnormalities or any sign of the parasite showing itself,” Cagley answered.

She leaned forward and dropped her feet off the table. “So, you can’t tell me whether or not I have it?”

Cagley sat down and faced her. “No, I can’t, and while the machine was running I was looking up this parasite. What I can tell you is that it has never remained dormant for this long and every case associated with it had one thing in common, each subject had eaten the Nargeo plant, a species of plant that relies on outside life to grow. A parasite in its own right, a weed. It no longer exists on Gliese but it remains in private collections for researchers and scientists. If your grandmother had this parasite, she would be the first case since your parent’s generation. Which, to be honest, is highly unlikely.”

“What are you saying? That I made it up?”

“Not necessarily. I think the experiences you had undergone during your childhood traumatized you, and when you saw another loved one succumb to illness, it opened up those wounds. You may have projected on your grandmother and saw similarities in her symptoms,” Cagley explained.

Kat wrapped her arms around herself. “So you’re saying I’m crazy?” Am I crazy? It scared her. She was suddenly ecstatic she hadn’t eaten anything yet today.

“You’re not crazy, Katalina, you just need to let yourself heal.” The doctor handed over her folded clothes. “Go get dressed and we’ll continue.”

She took them warily. “So there was nothing? My grandmother had blisters like my parents…”

Cagley smiled at her in that way a mother smiles at onlookers when her child is throwing a tantrum. “There was nothing and the blisters could have been caused by an allergic reaction.” The doctor folded her hands. “You mentioned your grandmother had a garden? It could be from numerous outside sources.”

Kat frowned and looked at her limp clothes. “What if I show symptoms of the parasite? And I’m not making all of this up?”

“If you got the vaccine, it won’t happen–”

“My grandmother got the vaccine…”

“You’re fine Kat.” Cagley got up and wrapped her in a warm hug. Kat stood up stiffly in her embrace. “You need to grieve. Let it leave you,” she whispered. Tears started to form in her eyes. Cagley smiled and added, “And Cyborgs can’t get sick.”

She gripped her clothes and pulled away. “Thank you,” she murmured and headed into the attached bathroom. Memories flooded her as she tried to analyze everything that her grandmother had gone through, every occurrence and precaution they took. The way her voice grew guttural with saliva at the end, her wrinkled skin splotched in some areas while other areas were sunken and cold, and the faded look on her face.

Those last days had been filled with grief and every conversation had the urgency of being their last. Maybe she did need to move on.

Cyborgs can’t get sick.

How can I move on when I’m only here because of her?

Kat looked around the bathroom, reaching behind and untying her gown, letting it fall, only to kick it away and dress. She tabbed on the sink and washed the stress off her face. A thunderous racket of a door slamming open and a familiar voice sounded outside in the medlab. Quickly followed by a high-pitched giggle and Bin-Three’s monotonous voice.

“Where is she!?”

Kat dried her face and reached for the handle. It whipped open, just missing her, to a very upset, very tense Cyborg.

They stared at each other, his eyes narrowed toward her startled wide ones.

“Hi?”

“How may I be of service, Master?” Bin-Three chirped up.

Dommik dropped his arms. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” she smiled and threw her arms around him. “There you are.” Burrowing her face into his hard chest, hot and stiff; her fingers threaded through his long hair. He remained tense in her arms but she didn’t care. She only cared that he finally showed up and that he found her, cementing her back into reality, and forcing her to confront another issue. She wanted him. She wanted the Cyborg with the long blue-black hair and ebony eyes.

His hands cupped her shoulders and just as she settled in for comfort, he pushed her away. Kat retrieved her arms and looked up at him.

She expected fury, compassion, something to show on his face, she would have settled for confusion to match her own but his face was blank and his body was stiff and even the heat of his hands dimmed.

“You should stay on Ghost.” His fingers peeled off her.

“What? Why?”

“Because I don’t want you on my ship.” He turned to leave and strode to the crushed open door.

Kat was taken aback. Was it because I touched him? Am I that horrible to be around? Bile crawled up her throat, burning with acidic shock.

Cagley took her hand and smiled. “You should stay with me, Kat. My daughter will love spending time with another human.”

She glanced at the pretty doctor as Dommik rounded the corner. Leaving a very upset Netto and an unresponsive Bin-Three behind. “Thank you for everything, Cagley. I can’t stay with you.” The tea stand.

Kat rushed after her Cyborg, running down the hall to his retreating back in the distance, catching up to him with a strangled breath. She reached out to clutch him but jerked her hand away, letting her fingers twitch against her palm.

“Dommik, please, you never showed up in the hull and Bin-Three said this place wasn’t restricted.” She hastened to keep up with him.

“Because it isn’t. You’re fired, go back to Cagley.” His voice deepened. “Or Netto.”

“I’m not fired and you’re not leaving me stranded here, dammit, just tell me what’s wrong. I won’t leave your ship again,” she rushed out.

“Get Netto to take you back to Earth.”

“I don’t want Netto, Dommik, I want you.” He stopped and turned to face her. “Please don’t leave me here. Everyone I care about leaves me…”

He studied her, she could feel his eyes burning through her, and she wasn’t courageous enough to meet them.

“You, Katalina, don’t know what you want.”

Kat looked up. “I’m not a child or a liar.” The sound of Bin-Three’s metallic footsteps caught up within the tension between them. “I really want you.” To prove it she balanced on her toes and placed a soft kiss on his jaw.

Dommik’s hand clutched her hair and jerked her up within a hairsbreadth of his lips. She felt the thrill of his mouth moving a whisper above hers. “Think really hard, Katalina, because I don’t believe you,” he said softly, a warning on the edge of his words.

“Dommik, please.”

“We’re going into Trentian air-space.”

“Okay.” Please kiss me.

Kat was lost in him before she realized it, she swallowed and relaxed, letting him hold her up, torturing her with an almost kiss. Her neck strained as he held her in place, as her toes barely kept her standing.

Her eyes drifted from his to take in his face, the white pearly look to his skin, the thick black eyelashes that blotched his equally black irises. She caressed him with her gaze, tracing his jawline, to his hair that fell in waves to frame it. The crux between her legs ached. Her hands stayed at her side.

He stood there, doing nothing, staring at her as if he had turned himself off as if he was nothing more than a statue. A machine with nothing to power it.

“Dommik?”

He released her and she fell back onto her heels. The cold air of the ship breezed over her heated skin, cooling her desire down.

“You’ll do exactly as I say from here on out. If you don’t, I’ll drop you off at the nearest port and leave you. You have one last chance to stay here on Ghost.” His fingers swept a strand of hair from her face. “Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“I won’t have you burden me. If you step on my ship…”

He turned and brushed her off, like a speck of dirt, and left her where she stood. Kat flushed speechless, choking down her embarrassment and didn’t watch him leave. His retreating steps roared in her ears. She leaned against the wall.

There was a warning and she heard it loud and clear. Could she do it? She bared her feelings to him, she had told him she wanted him. There was nothing left to armor herself with and whether he chose to take her or not, Dommik would always have that power over her.

Kat pushed away from the wall and wetted her lips.

When she was ready, Bin-Three led her back to the ship.

The Cyborg with the silver hair and piercings nodded as she walked past.

She knew she was being watched, tracked, and monitored. It was like the devil himself was feasting on her mortification. When she walked into the hull, the hatch closed behind her, and the ship rumbled to life.

“Katalina Jones, we are taking off, please watch your balance.” The clang of detaching metal muffled through the barrier. It settled a moment later.

Tight, large hands grabbed her from behind, she shrieked not because she was startled, but because there were four of them.