The probability of success was twenty percent. Too low. Much too low.
She pulled her sweater down for exposure. She would assess the situation as she
received data. The automated door, announced her arrival. She adjusted her crimson
tights and took a deep breath.
The door opened.
One point two seconds passed. To
him it was only a second. After all, he was a cyborg. His processing speed only
increased during combat. She however was a female Nu Droid, a gynoid. One point
two seconds was an eternity.
Her six-inch stilettos needed another three centimeters to achieve
optimal height. His one-piece suit, was loose enough for comfort, but
accentuated his broad shoulders and thick pectorals. She became self-conscious.
She was wearing casual wear, while he was wearing the standard issued uniform
for all covert teams. His skin was too dark to recognize any flush, but he
glanced down at her body and looked approvingly. “Vira. You look good.”
A compliment. Probability of success, forty-nine percent. “You look
outstanding, too…. Free, I don’t wish to rush, but the transport will leave in
twenty minutes.”
“Yes, of course,” Free said. He didn’t reach for her hand. Why? Was it
because she wasn’t human? Was he afraid that her hand was cold as death? If he
would just touch her, he would know that her body operated just as a human
would…and her skin was warm to the touch. Three dates and he hadn’t touched
her. Probability of success, thirty-seven percent.
“So what do you have planned for us?”
“A trip to the Snow Mountains of Fenris-7,” Vira said.
“Sounds good,” Free said. At the
external transport, Vira’s heart sank. Across the board cancellation. She
cursed. Success rate dropped to zero.
“It’s not a problem,” Free said. “It’s only forty-five light minutes away.”
“We can’t just take a covert sanctioned ship.”
“Meet me on the surface in ten minutes.”
“But why?”
“Trust me.”
***
Ten minutes later, she was on the surface of the space station. Free was
wearing an armless space suit. Like her, he didn’t need it, but it was standard
issue. His bronze arms turned to a metallic gold. He was in combat mode. Vira
hesitated. “What are you going to do?” she asked via wireless communication.
“We have a window that lasts maybe thirty seconds.” He held out his
arms. “Come on.”
An embrace? She stepped toward him and placed her arms around his neck.
She leaned in.
“Hold on tight.” He stretched out his hand and energy emitted from his
palms. They lifted up and away from the space station. A red energy field
surrounded them and their speed increased.
“You can fly?”
“Yes,” Free said. “If I go all out, I could probably get us there in a
little over an hour.”
Vira squealed. “This…this is amazing.”
“I can’t tell if you are in awe or disappointed.”
“A little of both, in awe because you are you. And disappointed because
I was supposed to plan our third date and we are depending on you to make
things right.”
“Do you regret travelling this way?”
“No.”
“Maybe some things happen for a reason. This is one more thing that I
have shared with you that I have only shared with Agent Stryker. If I wasn’t
making sure he wasn’t blowing himself up with a crazy experiment, we could have
optioned for an earlier flight.”
“It amazes me, how much you care for him.”
“Eh, like a little brother.”
“Now that I have been ordered into your squad, will you see me as a
little sister?”
“Do you ask all your dates questions like that?” Free asked.
Vira processed her words. She wished that she could hide under a small
rock. “I didn’t mean to sound so creepy.” She saw a cosmic cloud and thanked
the Universe; this was an opportunity to change the subject. “Look at the
colors in that cloud. It’s like a cloudy rainbow.”
You can buy my adult scifi novel Hearteless: A Journey to Second Earth @amazon or here.
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