AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That I’d like to try that again, as soon as possible.”
She turned scandalized eyes to him, the color in her cheeks high.“Me too.”
“I didn’t know what I was missing until now.I’m glad I could share that with you.”
“You said before that your crew would sometimes go off your ship to meet others,” she said, voice a little halting.“You never told me why you didn’t do the same.”
“I preferred the ship.”The ship had meant safety and familiarity, long denied to his previous iterations.
“Can I ask you a weird question?”
“Of course.You can ask me anything,” he replied.
“Did any old memories return from the first Rhys?”A pensive look he couldn’t read crossed her features, as if she was afraid of the answer.
“Back at the waterfall?No, that was all me.”He stopped in his tracks.Hannah did likewise.He tucked a damp lock of hair behind her ear and thought she’d never looked more beautiful as she did now, in the deepening twilight.“I’d rather make memories with you on New Eden.”He hoped his words didn’t sound too mechanical, that he’d finally mastered a more human style.
A genuine smile bloomed on her face, and he knew he’d said the right thing.“I’m really glad to hear that.”
They continued on their walk, the pleasant feel of her hand in his a balm to his soul he hadn’t known he needed.His sensors picked up her calm and steady heartbeat, and in that instant, he wished her body could do the same.That she could know at an instinctual level that he was content.I’m happy,he thought.For the first time in my life.
“I’m glad to hear that too,” she said.
He stopped again.“What?How?”Alarm threaded through him.Had what they shared at the waterfall resulted in the same kind of broadcast connection like the one he shared with his brethren?Had...
“You just said it out loud,” Hannah replied, as if he was insane.
“I did?”Quickly, Rhys brought up his brain’s central processing unit’s reports to verify her claim.He had, indeed, said the words aloud.“Huh.”
“Is something wrong?”
“No, I don’t think so.I believe I just had a very human response for the first time since I’ve been in this iteration.”
She lightly poked him in the ribs, drawing a smile from him.Who would’ve guessed he was ticklish?“I think what happened back there also counts as a very human response.”
“I meant that I’ve never said aloud what I was thinking.I believe it’s more common among strictly organic beings.”His body tightened when he thought of the waterfall, his processor replaying images of Hannah in the water, his face between her thighs, then her body beneath his.He bit back a groan.
“Enjoy being human, then,” Hannah said.“It can get messy, but it’s a lot of fun.”
That she could say such things when she’d grown up in an increasingly decaying colony floored him.She had a flinty exterior that Rhys and the other cyborgs admired—Hannah Forsyth could get things done in a way none of them had expected from an organic human who had so little to work with—but there was optimism beneath her hardness.She truly believed that New Eden could improve, that Rhys and his brethren could thrive with them.He was honored that she wanted them to stay, that she had given herself to him.That she liked him as much as he did her.
He’d never experienced this kind of affection for another person.He liked it.
“I’d still like it if you could take me off-world sometime,” she continued.“New Eden’s always going to be home, but I want to see the rest of the galaxy.”
“It’s enormous.”
“Yeah, I know.But what about just beyond New Eden?”
“Your planet is very isolated.The closest point to inhabited space is the waystation I told you about that’s a two-to-three-day voyage away at our ship’s top speeds, which is faster than most other vessels.Your ancestors certainly chose a very isolated place to settle.”
“No shit.”The words were tinged with bitterness.“At least we’ll be able to communicate with other people soon enough, won’t we?”
Work had yet to begin on the communication center’s reconstruction, although Rhys had every faith it would be an efficient job.“Yes.You also have my word that I will take you off-planet sooner rather than later.”
“I just want to see what’s out there,” she said softly.As if to emphasize her point, she looked up at the twilight sky.A few stars had already appeared.
“Not all of it is good,” Rhys said.“At least the bad parts are far enough away that you won’t have to worry about them.”
