Chapter Sixteen
Amelagar dressed, not bothering to find privacy. He stepped into his pants and smoothed it over his strong thighs and up. Her ryhov going crazy, Agrippa turned her back to him. She’d seen him mostly naked in the regeneration tube. But this was different. More intimate.
“You find my body repulsive?” he asked directly into her ear.
She screamed, turned and almost fell on her butt. He grabbed hold of her arm and steadied her. She shrugged off his hand, or tried to. The stubborn cyborg wasn’t about to let go until he wanted to. “Don’t scare me like that.”
“Why would me talking to you scare you.”
“You gave me a fright because you came up to me unexpectedly. I didn’t expect you to talk right into my ear all of a sudden. And it isn’t as if I don’t have reason to be scared of you.” She wanted to bite her tongue the moment the last words left her mouth.
“Why do you have reason to be scared of me?” So much for hoping he missed that.
“Well you are bigger than me and uhm kind of scary looking,” she mumbled.
“The truth,” he demanded, no inflection in his voice.
She bit her lip, then blurted, “I saw you kill the captain.”
“You said you are not a clone.”
“I am not.”
“Then why are you afraid of me because you saw me kill the captain?”
“Because I don’t know if you will get mad and turn on me like that.”
He finished dressing and walked out. Her bottom lip quivered, but she ruthlessly pressed them together. She would survive somehow, even if she never saw him again. But she would see him, somehow she had the feeling the goddess had entwined their lives long before they were birthed and in his case brought on line.
Agrippa was tinkering with the regenerating tube when Amelagar strolled in.
“Come Clone.”
“Where to Cyborg 321.”
His eyes narrowed, but he only took her upper arm in a surprising gentle grip and steered her out of the infirmary.
Her heart beat overtime and on the one hand she wanted to drag her heels, but it was a relief to be able to leave the infirmary. Maybe they were going to the mess hall again. She would love to sit next to him again, while they ate. As if they were a couple.
“Where are you taking me?” If he was about to lock her up or something equally sinister, she didn’t know what would be worse. What they did to her, or the fact that Amelagar was doing it.
He motioned to the door opening on their left. “I am taking you to the mess hall. There will be others there. If you do not know how to make conversation, Aurora will teach you. I am considered very proficient in discussion.”
Her heart broke for these proud cyborgs so determined to make their own fate. She might be afraid of them, but she was beginning to see how noble they were. How hard they worked to help earth in the coming war. They could’ve just taken earth for themselves.
They entered the mess hall and took seats close to where Aurora and the general sat. She jumped when a hard whap came out of the galley.
“Don’t worry, that’s just our resident crazy cook,” Aurora said, her eyes twinkling. Today the human female was dressed in faded blue pants and a soft shirt. Her hair was done in the elaborate style she always wore.
Agrippa mostly wore cyborg uniform shirts over pants she’d found in the captains quarters. The pants were so tight she had to wear big shirts over it. Maybe Aurora could help her get some clothes. She didn’t want to ask.
They had lunch with several other cyborgs joining them and she was amazed at how cosy it all felt.
Afterward Amelagar took her arm without explaining where they were going. It definitely wasn’t the infirmary.
A door opened and they stepped inside an opulent cabin. Not as big and filled with luxuries as the Captain’s, but close. The bed was enormous and under her feet the thick carpet shined as if it had been dipped in diamonds.
“This is our quarters.”
She looked around, her mouth hanging open, but she couldn’t help it. Never did she think to live in such a grand place. Then what he’d said registered. “Our place?” Her heart started working overtime again. She got to spend time alone with him in here. What would he want to do? The general and Aurora obviously loved each other. Did Amelagar care for her a bit or was it only lust?
“I have claimed you as my clone. You will share this cabin with me. Do you object to making love with me.” He suddenly looked uncomfortable. “I know about human love making. That is what they call it,” he told her earnestly. “I don’t know anything about clone behaviour and the database only says naturals engage in devious practices.”
She pulled a face. “Propaganda.”
His eyes gleamed. If you are willing, I would like to try everything the clones consider deviant.”
She bit her lip and then walked toward him, until the tips of her breasts almost touched him. “I do not object. I would love to do human lovemaking and also show you deviant practices.” She traced his grey skin, following the folds and he sucked in a breath. His eyes widened and his nostrils flared. “When a Tunrian male and female decide to be together they touch each other like this. If you touch my folds, it will bring me much pleasure.”
He carefully traced the fine folds over her face and she shuddered. “That feels so good.”
Agrippa opened his jacket and pushed it off his shoulders.
He shrugged out of it and swung her up in his arms. “I have an hour free and we will do everything humans and Tunrians do.
Almost an hour later they lay in the big bed, naked, sated and Agrippa suspected he was just as ready for round two as she was. But he had to go to work.
“I don’t know what to do in such a big room.”
Amelagar looked around. “Me neither.” He grinned and it was all teeth. “I have seen files on how to make love on all the furniture. When my shift ends, we will do that.”
She leaned over and kissed him. “I can’t wait.”
***
Exactly a month later they stood in the doorway of the observation desk, star charts flickered on the walls. It was amazing how much had changed. Amelagar rarely left her alone, though when he did, she liked to spend time with Anatu. Amelagar was to attend a meeting and he’d been instructed to bring her with him. “She is with me,” Amelagar said loudly. He gave the other males a pointed look.
Balthazar motioned them inside. “Come, we are only waiting for Anatu. She was held up on earth.”
“She enjoys living on earth?” A cyborg male she didn’t know asked.
The general snorted, another clone like gesture. “She likes living with her human. If he lived on Tundra, she’d be happy.” Agrippa had followed Anatu’s marriage to the human president. It was like a fairytale.
Agrippa stepped closer to Amelagar and kept her distance from the two males.
The space wasn’t big enough for several imposing cyborgs. Especially with one of them glaring at everyone.
Nebuchadnezzar and Arakhu stood to the side. She knew them from their visits to the infirmary. Their awkward concern for Amelagar had soothed her ryhov. A moment later Anatu hurried in, accompanied by the earth president.
Balthazar looked down at the human made tablet in his hand. She’d noticed the clones using more and more of the primitive human technology. She’d love to develop a hybrid. If only she could win their trust she could help them.
“Agrippa and Anatu, you will work on the human cloaking device. The humans cannot make it work.”
The human president pinched the bridge of his nose. Then he looked up and fixed them all in his steely gaze.
“Do not insult my human.” Anatu snarled.
“Thank you Anatu, what my good friend Balthazar is trying to say is that we need fresh eyes on the project. Anatu has been assisting and that made a difference, but we are running out of time.”
He looked around at the people assembled there. “The cloaking device is in the final stages of development. If some of your people join mine, we might speed up the delivery date. I am informed by Anatu that Agrippa is very useful. The two women will continue work on the cloaking device. If we can outfit the scout ship with the cloak, it will give our mission a powerful advantage.”
“Our cloaking device stopped working a year after we arrived. Anatu have tried to get it working again, but it seems to have been experimental work.”
If it was a new invention she wasn’t surprised that it didn’t work. The clones have not managed to invent or build anything new. Nothing of consequence anyway.
“Do you think you can get it to last years, Anatu?” Balthazar asked.
Aurora had been showing her movies and some of them had space ships that could go invisible. The clones didn’t have anything like it, probably because they didn’t have any enemies in outer space. Well, they didn’t use to have enemies. The humans might not be as technologically advanced, but from what she’d seen in their databases, the clones would probably underestimate them.
“The only way we can take them on before they reach earth is to have a cloaked ship.
The President looked at the wall where the clone star system was shown and the map zoomed in on an area where six blips representing space ships was shown in the typical clone flying formation. Three in front, two behind them and another one behind them.
“You told me you and Agrippa have been working on an idea to use the organic compound of the Rising Sun along with earth ships to create a craft that can dock onto the clone ships undetected.” They’d been sitting in the mess hall, bouncing ideas around. She and Anatu and Aurora and Marysol have become friends. It was weird to have more alien friends than Tunrian.
“Yes, we tested a sample from the Rising Sun who is exceptionally resistant to being taken over by the clone ships for the organic feature. It worked but we need to do more tests.”
“Any idea why The Rising Sun is so resistant and how long would this idea of yours take,” the human president asked.
Balthazar glared at him. “I am the general, I ask the questions.”
“Do not speak to my human in such a disrespectful manner,” Anatu snarled at Balthazar.
“He is quite right Anatu, this is his idea, he should ask the questions.” Rubbing his nose, the president nodded and stepped back. His shoulders shook and Agrippa couldn’t be sure, but she thought it might be with laughter.
The general nodded. “He is quite right, please answer his question Anatu.”
“We cannot find the reason for the Rising Sun’s resistance. Its organic component is not as easy to deal with as the machine programmed part of it.”
“How long to design and build a small ship like you planned, but with a cloak?”
Anatu and Agrippa exchanged glances. “A few months,” Anatu said doubtfully. “Maybe three if we have help. Amukkan would be useful.”
The president smirked. “With your permission general.”
“Go ahead, “Balthazar said magnanimously.”
“We now have cloaking technology that we planned to fit to the Rising Sun. Unfortunately, it will take time.”
Anatu tapped her fingers against her thigh. “We would have to integrate all three components into the design.”
Agrippa nodded. “And we would have to make very sure we can have all three working together at optimum level. Also, we need to make sure that when we use the shields that the cloak stay in place.” No one told her to be quiet, or to know her place and a slow warmth threaded through her ryhov.
“The power source will have to be adapted, even though the ship is much smaller,” Anatu added.
Balthazar nodded. “Report to me the moment the ship is close to finished and we will discuss the mission.”
“Yes general,” she and Anatu said together.
The general turned to Arakhu. “We need more programmers. It is even more urgent now that you find Elizabeth.”
“I should have her soon,” Arakhu said with grim promise.
Agrippa would’ve liked to know who Elizabeth was, but she didn’t want to draw attention to herself. She could scarcely belief she was allowed to attend this meeting. That she was given such a big responsibility. That they accepted her.