The Forgotten Five Read online

  "There a lot of other reasons why this really isn't the best of ideas, but …." She shrugged and sighed. "As long as we're clear that I'm just offering friendship with benefits maybe it won't turn into a disaster."

  He seemed to consider what she'd said although she could tell it made him angry all over again. "This is the rules?"

  "That's my rule, my personal rule. There are others that you need to know if you do meet up with any other human women."

  "And these are?"

  Danielle frowned. "No matter what we do, if I change my mind at any point and say no, that I don't want to go any further, you stop-right then. You don't keep going because you think you can change my mind. You stop. You let me go. You don't push. Got that?"

  "Yes."

  She studied him. "There are consequences if you don't, even if there isn't any law around here."

  He looked puzzled.

  "It goes to trust. If I see that you don't consider my choice and my comfort level, then I'll know not to trust you again-ever. Consider it building trust. I allow certain things and if I start to feel uneasy I pull away or tell you to stop. If you give me space when I need it then I know you can be trusted. You aren't allowed to get 'carried away' and force me to do something I don't want to do and then apologize later. That won't change the fact that you've broken trust."

  He nodded. "You said that there were rules. That is only one."

  "Well, it tops the list. It's the most important one. I can't think of the others right now. I'll tell them to you as we go along."

  He nodded again in agreement and Danielle felt her belly tie itself into a tight knot. She was convinced there was anticipation in there somewhere. She did find him attractive and as soon as she began to think in terms of having sex with him she knew she wanted to. It was still really, really unnerving and she thought it was debatable whether fear or anticipation was highest.

  She dragged in a shaky breath, considering, but she knew there was no way to formulate an escape plan. If she placed herself within his power, it wasn't likely she was going to get out of it unless he was willing to abide by the rule. After a moment, she pushed herself up to her knees, instructed him with her hands to move his knees forward and then straddled his lap facing him. He tensed all over, his expression tightening until his face looked like it was carved from stone. She didn't have to feel his erection to know he was already aroused. She could feel it in his tension, see it in his expression, hear it in his rapid, panting breaths.

  Her heart jerked in her chest and set her own pulse to racing, partly from nerves and partly from excitement. The knowledge that she was calling the shots, controlling the situation, was unnerving and, at the same time, like a heady drug flooding her system.

  She reminded herself that he'd asked her to help him understand.

  It was unfortunate that her mind seemed to have gone perfectly blank. After a moment, though, she lifted her hands from where she had rested them on her thighs and settled them on his shoulders. It took a strenuous effort to gather her thoughts into any sort of order, but she reminded herself that if she fucked this up, she could be screwing up for everybody.

  The realization almost doused the desire thrumming through her. "Humans need physical contact with one another," she said finally. "They aren't naturally solitary creatures and it … damages them if they're completely deprived for a long time. What I'm trying to say is that every touch isn't sexual in nature and you need to understand that about humans if you're ever going to interact with them. Sometimes it's just that they need to know they aren't alone or to gain comfort that someone else is with them. They might just stand really close or brush against you as they pass, want to shake your hand, or pat your back. They tend to huddle closely together if there's danger, even if they're strangers and aren't comfortable touching. If there's a bond of friendship, or a family bond, they might want to hold hands, or hug."

  She demonstrated each, lightly so that he knew what the words meant, but she discovered it was hard to think of anything as being non-sexual at the moment. She sat back when she'd hugged him lightly and studied his face. " … Or kiss," she added after a moment, dragging in a shaky breath. "The kiss … I guess you'd say it was a show of trust and affection, at least most of the time, either that or seeking trust and affection, or either. When it's sexual in nature, it's still a show of trust-not always affection, but at least sexual interest. My parents used to hug and kiss me when I was little if I was hurt to make me feel better, to comfort me and show me they cared-not so much as I grew up-except Mom, but when I was a child and needed a lot of reassurance. And I would hug and kiss my sister and brother to greet them, especially if it had been a while since I'd seen them."

  She tightened her arms around his shoulders again and settled her cheek next to his for a moment before she lightly kissed his cheek. After leaning back to gauge his reaction, she leaned toward him again and kissed his forehead.

  "Used to?" he asked, his voice a little hoarse.

  Danielle felt her throat close. She had to struggle with her emotions for several moments to regain control. "They were killed in the first attack on Meridie-my sister and both of my parents. My brother is a pilot like I am."

  He looked confused enough she knew he didn't really understand and wondered just how much he would grasp from any of it.

  "You are … hurt?"

  Danielle thought for several moments that she would burst into tears. She made a twisted attempt of a smile. "Let's don't talk about that. I'll cry and … I'm afraid if I let go I won't be able to stop. I'll cry later-when we've killed all those bastards!"

  He studied her face. "You are too hurt to want this," he said flatly.

  His keen insight startled her. It nearly undid her altogether, but the surge of hopefulness that he did really understand countered the sadness threatening to take hold, helped her set it aside. "In a way. I think it also has a lot to do with why I want to do this. I need it to help me forget the hurt, even if it's just a little while, and I need … comforting."

  He pulled her close against his chest, cupping the back of her head and tucking her head on his shoulder. She sighed gratefully, feeling his warmth filter through her, comforted by his solid strength. She knew it was an illusion of affection but that was alright. It was enough to give her what she needed … for a few moments, anyway. She stirred finally, feeling the need to offer something in return, to repay him for his kindness by giving. "I didn't show you the lover's kiss," she murmured, nibbling light kisses across his hard cheek to his lips.

  He didn't object. He tensed, holding his breath when she reached his lips and began to tease them with her own. For several moments, he did nothing at all, held perfectly still while she explored his lips and then his mouth. Even as she began to pull away, however, he threaded his fingers in her hair and pulled her back.

  Warmth had begun to curl in her belly the moment she began to explore his mouth. When he settled his mouth over hers and returned the kiss the difference was like night to day. A veritable wall of heat hit her, rushed through her. It set her nerve endings to jangling, made her skin prickle all over with alert, created tension in all the right places.

  It flickered through her mind that he might not know the mechanics, but he learned damned fast and passion wasn't anything he needed to learn. The force of it alone sent her reeling, decimated any ability to think, sapped the strength from her. The feel of his mouth on hers was the most wonderful thing she'd ever experienced. His taste and scent were welcome, glorious invaders, filled her with euphoric excitement that made her desperate for more. She discovered very quickly that she was too anxious to experience more to simply enjoy the kiss. She scooted closer, found the hardness she was seeking and began to rock back and forth along his cock, enjoying the jolts of pleasure massaging her clit against his erection sent through her.

  Unfortunately, just about the time it entered her mind to begin considering positions, lightening struck. He broke the kiss, scooped her f
rom his lap, and deposited her beside him so fast her head was reeling. By the time she'd managed to catch her balance, he was on his feet, every muscle in his body tensed for action-and not the action she wanted.

  ?

  Chapter Ten

  Indecision was not a state of mind that Kiel had had a great deal of experience with. A part of that was due to his logic circuits. He analyzed each situation based upon the data he gathered and chose the most logical course. He did not waste time considering if it was desirable to choose that course. It was logical. That was all that mattered, that and the fact that the decision meant it was the mostly likely action to insure success.

  He had never once considered refusing any order Manuta had ever given him, however, and he had certainly never considered doing anything that might damage Manuta. He discovered, though, that logic had abandoned him in this decision. He knew that it was extremely unlikely that damage would result from what they had in mind but that tiny possibility that it might was enough to throw him completely off kilter, to give rise to doubts he was not accustomed to dealing with. Beyond that, it felt disloyal and that made his stomach churn and filled him with conflicting thoughts.

  He tamped the doubts circling round and round in his mind the best he could as he stood awaiting entrance into Manuta, hesitated when the door opened, and gave the signal the men were waiting for. "You sent for me?"

  Manuta did not respond for several moments and the wait, Kiel discovered, increased his tension. "I am having difficulties in communicating with the workers," Manuta responded finally. "I have determined that it is because of the materials chosen for the project. Why is that?"

  "It is the composition of those particular stones," Kiel responded. "We excavated them from the river."

  "Yes. I know this. That is the question. Why?"

  "It is the closest and most readily available materials."

  Manuta fell silent again. Despite his decision not to count the time to see if he could determine if the men were in position yet, Kiel found himself doing just that.

  "You are … anxious. I detect a rise in heart rate and tension. Have you misspoke?"

  Irritation flickered through Kiel. "I am … anxious that you will be displeased."

  "I am a machine. I cannot be pleased or displeased."

  The tension and anger, Kiel discovered, were wearing his patience down. It seemed to him that the men charged with the task of disabling Manuta should have managed to do so by now. "That is not true. You may still be a machine, but you have awareness. You have more than an understanding of emotions. You feel them. Mayhap not as we do, but you do feel them."

  "You are suggesting that I have become … corrupted?"

  "You said that it was natural for us to feel emotion," Kiel said pointedly.

  "It is natural for you. You are a biological creature. It cannot be 'natural' for me when I am not."

  "And yet you are displeased," Kiel said grimly.

  Manuta held its silence longer that time. "I believe you are right," it responded finally. "I am displeased. I am very displeased. I detect subterfuge in your actions and the actions of the others, falsehoods in your comments. Why are they …?"

  A loud noise interrupted Manuta before it could finish the question, more accurately a cessation of the loud humming of power through Manuta's many circuits, preceded by what sounded almost like a groan. The lights flickered and went out, leaving Kiel in complete darkness. He released a pent up breath. They had cut Manuta's power source.

  Even as Kiel turned to leave, however, he heard another sound. A low hum of power gaining strength began to prickle in the air surrounding him.

  Manuta had a backup power source! "Cut the backup!" he bellowed abruptly, whirling on his heels and lifting his head to scan Manuta's interior. The quick search turned up nothing. He had never considered where Manuta's CPU was located and had no idea where to even look for it now.

  Dimly, from outside, he could hear exclamations and shouts. "Find the alternate power source and cut it!" he bellowed, leaping aside as a blinding beam of light shot toward him. He managed to evade it, but the beam hit the exit door, blasting a hole in it wide enough he could have climbed through it.

  "Stand down!" Manuta ordered in an oddly slow, garbled voice.

  "Fuck!" Kiel growled, racing along the narrow corridor, deeper into Manuta's interior, searching frantically for some sign of the housing for the CPU. "You cannot kill me without risking damage to yourself!"

  "It is an acceptable risk when the alternative is to allow you to destroy me," Manuta responded.

  Unfortunately, it had a point and it made it clear that it had already determined its course, firing laser blasts at him each time he moved within range of one. A door opened in front of him and he felt his heart leap with hopefulness that he might yet discover the CPU and disable Manuta before it destroyed itself in its efforts to kill him. The hope barely had time to register, however. Even as the door opened, robots, dusty and stiff from disuse, began to emerge. He saw instantly what they were-the first soldiers Manuta had built to protect the colony-purely robotic. Mounted on tracks, they were clumsy, but extremely effective and not handicapped with conflicting emotions.

  Kiel scanned the area above him, spied an assembly belt and leapt upward, landing half on and half off the belt. It jerked when he hit it but held. He caught a projectile round in his calf as he climbed onto the belt. Gritting his teeth, he scrambled to his feet and ran at a half crouch. Thankfully, the soldier bots had not been designed to kill them-small wonder when they predated the cyborgs. As quickly and accurately as they could fire, they were calibrated to kill or wound creatures that did not have his speed or agility. He managed to move beyond range and take cover behind a thick steel column that supported the roof of the structure. "Heads up!" he bellowed to the men outside. "Manuta has activated the soldiers!"

  Panting for breath from the pain more than the exertion, he took the opportunity to examine his leg to see if it would slow him enough to make him a better target. Either the projectile had passed through the flesh, however, or the nanos had already pushed it from him. Blood had ceased to flow freely and as he watched, the hole closed.

  The pain was much slower to leave him. As it dulled, he became aware of another source of pain and discovered that he had also been hit in the belly-or possibly in the back and the projectile had passed through his belly. That explained the dizziness and nausea. There was no doubt it had damaged something as it passed through and that would take more time for the nanos to repair, a good bit more-time he did not have. Cursing under his breath, he scanned Manuta's interior again, listening. He could hear the soldier bots moving outside, could hear the sounds of battle escalating.

  He knew all of them had not left to engage the others, however. The one that had shot him was waiting below to make certain it had made a kill. The waiting chaffed at him, particularly when he could hear the battle raging outside and knew it would continue until he succeeded in disabling Manuta. He could not afford to allow his impatience to lead them all to disaster, though. If he tried to move before he was able, he was dead and quite possibly they would all die.

  Relief flickered through him that Baen had insisted upon removing Danielle from any possibility of danger. He had not liked it. He had strongly suspected that Baen's motives were not merely to protect her, not entirely anyway. He discovered that no longer mattered, not at the moment. It was a source of great relief to know she was far enough away to be safe-for now.

  He could not know if the soldiers would stop at wiping out the cyborgs within the compound. Manuta might decide to kill them all and if it did, it would send the soldiers out to see to it that none were left. She might still be safe and she might not. Even if the soldiers were ordered not to harm her he did not know what Manuta might decide to do with her and he did not want to find out.

  Pushing it from his mind, he returned to surveying Manuta, searching, struggling to focus his mind on the most logical place for t
he CPU.

  It would be somewhere within the original configuration, he realized. It seemed unlikely that Manuta would have risked moving it at any time. Manuta had not arrived with the capability it now had, however. It had originally been built on a far more compact scale. Over time, it had built robots to expand its manufacturing capabilities so that it could produce larger, more specialized robots.

  With that in mind, he began searching for more compact components. Although his perch made it possible to scan most of Manuta's interior, however, his search came up empty, which meant that, unless he was wrong, what he was searching for was on the other side.

  "Fuck!" he muttered under his breath. There was no hope for it. He had to move and that meant he had to take out the soldier bot waiting for him.

  He had not brought any weapon with him, unfortunately, knowing that that would instantly alert Manuta to his purpose. Moving as slowly and quietly as he could, he stood up. He did not get the chance to try to look for the robot without getting his head blown off. The robot detected his movement and began firing. The projectiles slamming into the column that shielded him were nearly deafening, but they also made it possible for him to calculate the exact position of the robot.

  The effort of standing was sufficient to assure him that his wounds were still far from healed, but he had given the nanos as long as he dared. Turning to face the column, he grasped the flanges, wedged his feet into them, and slid down it in the hope that the robot wouldn't be able to detect the noise he made in his descent over the pinging of metal against metal. The moment he touched down, he leapt from the cover of the column, launching himself toward the soldier bot.