EVEN THOUGH THE air was warm, Jenny felt wonderful tucked into Jesse’s deep embrace as they made way for the cave. Lobo had just said goodnight, walking with his slight limp back down to the base of the mountain to let the other raiders know what was decided.
Slipping beneath the rocky canopy, Jesse let go of Jenny and removed a tan canvas bedroll from the alcove, spreading it out fully on the ground. Jenny then added a thin blanket and even thinner pillow to the arrangement, Jesse looking down as he put his hands squarely on his hips.
“I don’t think I could live in the wastes for my back alone,” he said, stretching. There was a painful strain, then a relieving pop in his spine. “These two weeks have nearly done me in and just looking at that bed makes me uncomfortable.”
“Maybe we can make it a little more comfortable,” Jenny said while her hands were lowered, then slid around to massage his lower back.
“Ah! That’s the spot, right there,” he said jubilantly. “I would like to request that you never stop, please.”
“I don’t plan to,” she said, resting her chin on his shoulder, “though you can be quite a handful at times.”
“I think you like that about me, though you have yet to see the best part,” he said, one of his eyebrows arched high though hidden from her view.
“Maybe I do like it, maybe I don’t,” she said playfully.
She increased the pressure she was applying and Jesse rolled his eyes until they were merely thin lines of fluttering white. The satisfaction he was getting from the massage, even through his clothes, was grand.
“You know, I have said it before, but I’ve never met a woman quite like you. Most are coy, obedient, and proper…”
He winced, that last rub she gave deep.
“While I’m just brash, rebellious, and improper, right?”
As much as he wanted to keep getting massaged, Jesse turned around. Looking Jenny right in her eyes, his weren’t the only part of him straining.
“Exactly,” he replied, “and that makes you the perfect woman for me.”
“I see what you mean by handful,” she said, her gaze having drifted down to the rise in his trousers.
“My eyes are up here,” he said with a gentle laugh.
She ignored him, still staring.
“In all earnestness,” Jesse muttered, taking a hand to her chin. As he lifted it, her smile rose too. “If you’ll have me, Jenny, going forward I plan on being there and providing for you, no matter what life tries to throw our way.”
She looked to the side ever so slightly, humming pensively before replying, “I think that I can live with that.”
Those words sent a surge of powerful desire through Jesse like a great river, full of life and hope and…
“Love,” he said. “What a strange and remarkable thing. This time a month ago, I was walking the streets of Diablo an empty man with nothing but my work as company. Yet here we both stand today and I feel fully alive with you beside me. In my greatest moments of invention and within my wildest dreams, I never thought something like love could be as grand as it seems.”
Jenny moved in closer, placing her head on his chest where she found his powerful heart beating. Closing her eyes and lifting her hand to caress his bearded cheek, she said, “Me either. It’s as if life before was dull and pallid, now bursting with color and life. I do not wish to go back to the way it was before, so full of sorrow and strife.”
“Promise me that won’t happen; just the thought of you being away turns my heart to ice.”
“I promise!”
That was enough to send their lips crashing into each other, melting away any lingering thoughts of cold and the past.
Hands alive with exploration, Jenny pressed herself against Jesse, her fingers roving all over his back and shoulders while his worked feverishly to remove her clothes. They were no match for his determination and once the last slip of fabric fell to the ground, Jenny was standing before him, a smooth vision so glorious in the desert that it had to be a mirage.
He groaned as she pinched her fingers on the topmost button of his shirt. Though he might have been efficient, she was going to savor her turn. Twisting, she released the button from its hold and down the line she went, first exposing his furry, heaving chest and then his flat stomach, rippling with muscle and heavy breaths. Flinging the shirt apart, Jenny kissed Jesse’s exposed neck and took in his scent, thrilling as his soft beard touched her skin like a thousand tickling feathers. She pulled the shirt taunt as her kissing strengthened, slowly dragging it over his shoulders until, at last, it rolled down his back and was off.
He leaned in to nuzzle her ear then breathed softly into it, “I want you.” Her hands left his back, launching straight for his belt, immediately undone and gone. Then, just as she did with his shirt, her fingers found themselves poised on the button of his trousers.
Jesse was aching below her grasp, tight against the textile prison, begging to be released.
She could sense all the want, wrapped in his musk. Knowing that she had the control, it took an eternity to unclasp his pants before slowly plunging the zipper toward the base. With the cage door open, she reached inside and gasped, for he might have had ample in length, yet his girth was overwhelming.
“Go on,” he whispered as Jenny pulled it out, a glistening strand dangling from the tip, mesmerizing. “I know you’ve been wanting to.”
Without a word, Jenny slid onto her knees, making sure to bring his trousers all the way down with her. She bit her lip as she grabbed hold of him and squeezed tightly hands unable to close. He moaned as she started to move them back and forth along his now slick shaft, her tongue like a match to kindling, striking a fire that surged from his groin all the way down to his feet and up to his head, riding high in the sky.
Weaving his fingers through her hair, Jesse wrapped those gossamer strands of brown up and over as he drew them into a fist. He used it to guide her lips up and down, watching her strain with his dark eyes in both sinful pain and pleasure.
“Take it,” he said forebodingly, stretching her lips as she went down, providing her with fleeting relief on the upstroke before forcing her down again. “More… yeah… all of it…”
The feeling was incredible; bursts of passion rolling in ever mounting waves of heat. The sensation grew with each tantalizing suck and lick, rising like steam from boiling water until it all neared the point of bubbling over.
Yanking her up while he could, still drooling from the end, they kissed again. Jesse turned so Jenny’s back was pointed toward the bedroll, and he guided her down to the canvas in one graceful swoop, their bodies folding atop each other until she was laying safely on the ground.
Jesse grabbed each of her thighs and spread those silken legs wide as she leaned her head against the pillow, arching as he loomed over her in admiration. Smiling, he positioned himself with the tip of his shaft teasing her, right up to the point he pushed inside.
It was tight, wet, and warm. She winced as he went deeper, then moaned as she struggled for the snaps that lined the sides of the roll. She clutched them tightly as Jesse filled her, spread her apart, and made her feel like she was on the top of the world.
Jesse had bottomed out, pulling back before grinding forward again with a low growl riding each thrust. He was being gentle yet his size was not, Jenny breathing in tiny puffs of air as she whimpered.
“Damn,” Jesse muttered as Jenny started to clamp around him, a wetness flowing that made his motion easier. Lifting her legs, dove in and ground himself rhythmically against her skin.
She cried in bliss; he felt so good all the way inside her. Forcing her eyes open she watched… and felt… as Jesse moved, now writhing in chaotic thrusts.
Jesse’s balls were tightening, an orgasm building inside him as their bodies splashed together like the salty sea upon the shore.
“Oh God… that’s it…” he bellowed as his body exploded, Jenny’s buckling beneath his.
They both sighed, and smiled, Jesse coming to rest beside Jenny. He didn’t want to move at first; perhaps he couldn’t with how drained he felt. Eventually propping himself up on an elbow, he looked over at her, panting and covered with faint drops of sweat. They glistened against her curves in what light was coming in from outside and within him, something stirred again.
“Do you think he heard us?” Jenny asked with a giggle.
“Who? Aftershock?
“Yes,” she replied with a tinge of embarrassment, stretching calmly. “At least we’re done.”
“What are you talking about?” Jesse said, a stern look in his eyes as he slid beneath her and urged her on top. “That was just the start… now the real ride begins.”
The two locked lips again, hands tangled in each other’s hair as their passion continued in darkness of the cave, the stars and moon shining brightly outside.
THE CAMP WAS quiet, the fire dying down to its last few remaining embers. Aero had relocated off to the edge of the overlook, sitting on a rock while looking out across the wide-open spaces. Even though he had seen maps and globes adorning Frost Enterprises, he found that the world was far larger and more impressive in person than he imagined. All he had ever seen until the day they soared over the walls of the city were the dreary walls of Diablo, the lavish luxury that saturated Frost’s home, or the stark cold of the laboratory. That was his entire world, and it was smaller than a single grain of sand in the vast desert below.
Speaking of sand, Aero’s leg joints were beginning to stick again – a hazard of being out in the wastes – so, grabbing hold of his right leg at the knee, he pushed it in then twisted counterclockwise. There was a gentle hiss and a pop, then the unit disconnected. Holding it up in the moonlight, shaking, fine grit worked loose and the motes glinted as they fell back to the ground like falling stars.
“Fascinating,” said Aftershock approaching from behind.
“Ah, hello there Mr. Aftershock. I thought that you would be sleeping, considering you were the one to suggest that to the rest.”
“You can just call me Aftershock, Aero and trust me, I definitely want to be asleep right now, but let’s just say Jesse and Jenny are making quiet a lot of noise.”
It took Aero a moment to register what he was talking about.
“Ah! Well, that is too bad. For you. Not them.”
Aftershock chuckled, a rare and full smile appearing in his beard.
“May I join you here for a little while?” he asked, noticing how Aero’s eyes were like sparkling sapphires in the light. “At least until they’re business is concluded.”
“Of course,” Aero replied with a grin as he continued to shake out his leg. “The pleasure would be mine.”
Aftershock crouched then plopped himself down on the dirt, watching the odd sight up close. Reaching into his pocket, he removed a rolled smoke and a single match, lighting the latter with a firm strike off his thumb nail.
Aero replaced his right leg, moving on to the left one, which came off with the same oddly satisfying pop.
“How often do you have to do that?”
“The cleaning?” Aero asked continuing once Aftershock nodded. “I could get them once a week in the laboratory, but being out here it has been a daily, sometimes twice, part of my routine.”
The raider took a substantial draw of his smoke, then held out a hand, beckoning with his fingers while asking, “May I?”
Aero pondered the request and didn’t see a problem, so after shaking his leg a couple more times as a courtesy, he placed the thing into Aftershock’s waiting palm.
Expecting it to be heavy, Aftershock lowered his hand marginally as it made contact, but the leg was surprisingly lightweight, around the same as one of his longer rifles.
“That is amazing,” he said, flipping it over and admiring it from all angles. “You really have to get right up close to tell it’s not real skin, though these dark channels give it away. What’re they for?”
“They serve multiple purposes, the top three being flexibility, thermodynamics, and separating the limb into easily replaceable panels.”
“As me how to make a rifle out of junk and I can have you one in half an hour… I have no idea how one even begins to make such a thing, but that doesn’t diminish its wonder.”
“Your words are very flattering, Aftershock,” Aero replied, taking possession of his leg again and sliding it back into place. “I can’t say I’m used to that.”
“Flattering maybe,” he said, “but no less true.”
“So, tell me, are there any other complements your otherwise gruff exterior has locked up inside?”
Aftershock jerked his head away.
What the hell are you doing Seth? That THING isn’t a person.
He ignored his thoughts, wanting to know more.
“You’re not a run-of-the-mill bot, are you?” Aftershock asked, trying his best not to make that observation sound offensive. “Ones I’ve seen over the years and long miles are made of entirely metal; often nothing more than fancy tools that hardly look approachable. You on the other hand look…”
“Different,” Aero replied. “Indeed, I am unique. While the other bots such as myself are made with generic faces, I was crafted in the image of a person that Frost once loved, designed for the sole purpose of delivering him pleasure.” Aero seemed to shudder as he spoke, the words cold and uninviting. “I suspect that he wished to relive the feelings of his past, long dimmed. Who wouldn’t? Yet, this path could never be more than a substitute; I am not the one he lost nor could I ever hope to be. It was a doomed the moment it was first conceived.”
“Aero, if Frost wanted to relive those happy times, why would he abuse you?”
“Because for some, no matter how happy things are for them or those they are with, control reigns supreme, manifesting in all sorts of chilling, and painful, ways. Both physically and emotionally as well, a toll is paid.”
“Hell, if I could afford something like you, I would take care of that thing like my life depended on it.”
Seth! You’re being no better than Jenny and her giddy infatuations with you! Do you remember what you told her?
“That it was an impossibility…” he answered himself in the faintest whisper.
“What was that, Aftershock?” Aero asked.
The same applies here, Aftershock’s thoughts reeled. It may look like a man, but it is nothing more than a machine! A MACHINE!
“Is he though?” Aftershock said under his breath before raising his voice. “Can you tell me more? The other models I’ve seen are run by steam, or clockwork mechanics. I haven’t seen you do a single refill or be wound since you arrived. Not… not that I have been watching you too intensely.”
“Of course,” he answered happily, pointing to his chest. “It’s in here, the reason those things are not needed. It’s an energy cell that powers me, another thing that does not exist anywhere but here.”
“So, this battery thing mentioned in Lobo’s report, the one Frost is trying to mass produce, is this same device?”
“Yes, though Jesse’s metals are being used as a more efficient and lightweight version,” Aero said. “Ultimately though, mass produced items are cheaper, aren’t they? Still making me the better edition.”
“Was that a joke?” Aftershock asked, agog.
“No, it was just the truth,” Aero answered with the gentlest of smiles, Aftershock returning the gesture with a couple awkward coughs.
This is beyond simple preplanned replies! he thought. There is one more thing I must know.
Aero had long finished with cleaning out the joints in his legs and had moved on during their discussion to his arms.
“One last question, Aero, if you would entertain an uneducated raider.”
“I would say inquisitive rather than uneducated,” Aero replied, spinning his arm around rapidly. There came more dust like a cloud of falling starlight. “In other words: feel free.”
“Do you have wants? Or even dreams?”
Aero admitted to having both, his wants focused on doing more with his life, beyond his allotted role as a sex-bot.
“I think I’ve taken a pretty good leap along that path, getting Mr. Winthrope and Miss Boone out of harm’s way. As far as dreams, I dream of the day humanity can put aside its petty differences in mutual support of each other. Sad to say bots are better at it than their own creators.”
Aftershock is taken aback.
“Forgive me, but that is the same thing I feel daily. For myself, I would give anything to be a better part of society, but it’s impossible since I wasn’t born into it and this life as a raider would follow me to the grave.”
“Perhaps one day the world can change.”
“I don’t think I’ll have as long to wait for it as you do, Aero, but hopefully it’ll come sooner rather than later. From what I hear about Jesse, he’s making a great effort to that end.”
“Agreed, which is partly why I am so willing to help him.”
“As am I,” Aftershock replied before thinking, Change begins at home, doesn’t it?
Then, he yawned, unable to hold it in any longer.
“It seems that fatigue is catching up to you,” Aero observed. “You really should try to get some sleep, as we have much to discuss in the morning, then to do in the coming days. Good things are on the horizon and the night is warm. Sleep out here if need be, under the watchful eyes of the stars… and me.”