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Cinq
Every cell in my body urges me to get up. To find Jessica.
I can’t.
Not because I don’t want to but because the guard outside has orders to wrap me if I’m unruly.
Plessing tunsa, I never knew how dull my own mind was without tech until now. The time since she’s been gone feels like hours even though I’m certain it’s been minutes.
I’m not weak.
I’m not lonely.
I’m not pathetic.
I just need to know my mate is safe and nearby.
Logically, I’m aware of how inadequate I’m being at the moment. I roll over to my side and face the door so I don’t miss when she comes in. Some protector I turned out to be in keeping Jessica safe from the Gharian empire. S’Tou swept us both up like some empire-loving sycophant.
No, I’m not being fair to him or our solid friendship, but his intrusive charity has now left me deserted. I sit up, pinching the bridge of my nose, sending out a “Come here, come back to me,” signal to Jessica as if I had anything tech in my body.
I don’t have even the smallest of microbes that aren’t my own, but I need to try. The door whooshing open jerks me to attention and I’m rewarded with Jessica sweeping into the room.
“Hey, you look rough. Is everything okay?” She sits beside me, putting an arm around me.
“Better, now that you’re here.” I take her into a hug. “Felt like you were gone for days.”
Laughing, she snuggles into me. “I’ll bet. You had nothing to entertain yourself with but your own thoughts. I’m used to Kostan nanos enough now that I can see why you’d be bored.”
I sigh, enjoying the feel, her unique smell, even how her breath rises and falls. “About your nanos. I programmed the Kostans to not have access to anything but their own datalinks. You might want to sweep them and gain Gharian ones eventually. Quin, too, wherever he is.”
She’s still for a moment. “Quin is in his quarters asleep and Nilt is merely offline.” She pulls away. “Huh. I thought you fixed the Gharians.”
“I did. Nilt might just want the privacy.” I pull her to me again and she settles against me. “I’d block access before my exile sometimes when needing to concentrate or sleep.”
Jessica looks up and gives me a brief kiss. “Would you ever block me?”
I return her kiss. “Probably never but maybe. Not unless I needed to. Life or death.” I’m suddenly hungry and thirsty, since I’m certain she’s safe with me. I go to the crude replicator. “Even then, I’d send a message to you first and let you know.” I stare at the buttons, barely remembering how these things work. I punch in a request for juiced rill. “Do you want anything?”
“No. I had something at Stacie’s. She and I talked about S’Tou and the empire’s dragging you back to Ghar.” Jessica leans against me when I sit next to her. “She talked more about him than what they’d do to you.”
“She most likely doesn’t know what plans the empire has for me.” I take a drink, pleased by the better quality of this replicator. “I’m sure I don’t know, either.”
“Has anyone received the death penalty for hacking before now?”
“Several decades ago, yes. Back then, I would have been forcibly exiled to somewhere harsh enough to be a true death sentence but now?” I shake my head before draining my glass. “No. The empire has gone soft in its compassion.”
“Worse than where we were, though? Is that possible?” she asks, taking my empty glass to the recycler.
I smile at her teasing expression. “X-113 is a paradise compared to some worlds.”
“Sheesh. If that’s soft, what’s tough?” She flops down beside me on the bed and leans on me.
“Their mercy for me isn’t a bad thing, but they’re lenient nonetheless.” I put my arm around her. “I’m glad they allowed me my own terms for my exile.”
“You can’t complain, no. If you didn’t like X-113, you could have fixed up the place. Add a mountain range, a sunny beach, or even luxury resort.” Jessica presses her lips against my neck when I chuckle over her good but improbable ideas. “Do you think they have cameras in here or only on the outside?” she asks against my skin, her lip movements hardening my cock.
My woman has an excellent point because I’m ready to be her man. I switch on my absent enhanced vision and look around out of habit, seeing nothing because I’ve forgot yet again my bionans are gone. “If I were them, I’d have surveillance everywhere.”
