Her mouth dropped open as she stared at him. She heard a loud, short, fast pulse of an alarm sound. “I’m not a
cyborg
.”
“Hang on, Mira.”
His body tensed and she wanted to curse a blue streak but instead she buried her face in his chest. She felt a sharp jerk like something bumped the
Rally
right before they
fell,
making her stomach feel like it hit her throat. If Flint hadn’t held her around her waist she knew she would have been thrown to the floor when the falling sensation suddenly changed to a sharp jerk that sent vibrations shock-waving up her legs from the floor.
“The atmosphere,” Flint said softly. “It will be over soon.”
Mira whimpered in pain. The deck was vibrating hard enough that she could feel each painful jolt in her bones. The ache grew worse, more powerful, into sheer agony.
“What’s wrong?”
“It hurts. My legs…” She whimpered as the floor vibrated harder.
The hold on her waist tightened as Flint lifted her up his body with one arm so her feet left the floor. She released him around his waist to reach up. She gripped his shoulders, climbing higher up his large frame. The relief was instant when her feet left the floor, the pain radiating up her legs gone. Mira ended up with her arms wrapped around his neck and her knees gripping his hips. She couldn’t wrap her legs around Flint’s waist because his back was braced against the wall. She knew he couldn’t release the bar above his head. His hold on it was keeping them both from being thrown to the floor.
“Better?”
“Yes. Isn’t that hurting your legs? It felt like my bones were going to shake apart.”
Flint met her eyes. “I’m sorry. Your bone density isn’t as strong as ours and you don’t have enough muscle mass. I didn’t think it would hurt you. Is my body absorbing enough of the vibrations so you aren’t in pain?”
She nodded. “Yes. Am I holding up enough of my own weight?”
“You’re doing great.”
When the
Rally
stopped shaking a minute later, Flint had her ease back down his body. She was glad the floor wasn’t a big, painful vibrator anymore. She turned her head to study the cargo area, spotting three
cyborgs
in the cargo area that she hadn’t noticed before. They were braced against the bulkheads like Flint, gripping onto the ship to keep them in place. They had to have watched everything that happened between her and Flint. She jerked her attention back to Flint, who was watching her silently.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “We’re in public and I was just literally on you.”
His lips twitched with amusement. “This was acceptable.”
She grinned back. “I see. So you can touch me and I can climb up your body if we’re hurtling toward a planet surface?”
“Exactly.”
The
Rally
landed with a light bump. The strong engines powered down as Flint released his grip above his head, gently releasing his tight hold on Mira too. “Are you all right to walk? Do your legs hurt still?”
“I’m good.”
He reached down to grip his bag. She heard the cargo doors open as a loud motor sounded. Warm air whooshed into the cargo area. Mira breathed in fresh air, instantly enjoying the luxury. It had been weeks since she’d smelled anything so wonderful. A huge difference separated artificial oxygen from natural air. The scent of life came with the real thing and she smelled it in the woodsy and terrific scent drifting into the shuttle.
Mira followed Flint out of the cargo area to a metal ramp that ran from the
Rally
to the ground below. She stared in open-mouthed wonder at the sight before her. Large trees decorated the sides of the landing site. She looked up in wonder at the sun. She thought Flint had told her it was smaller but it looked bigger than the one on Earth. Flint was halfway down the ramp before he paused, turning his head to study her.
“Let’s go.”
She nodded, forcing her legs to move. “I was just looking.”
“I want to get home, Mira. You can look your fill for the rest of your life. We have a great view from our home.”
It hit her suddenly that this was her new home and it was a stunning feeling to not call Earth home anymore. She shoved her thoughts back though to follow Flint to a large open vehicle that waited for them. Flint walked up the ramp into it and turned, holding out his hand to assist her since the ramp was steep. Mira gripped his hand gratefully as he helped her walk up into the open space of the bed of the vehicle. It wasn’t like any kind of vehicle she’d ever seen before, just a box on wheels with no cab in the front and from what she could see, it had no driver either.
“What is this thing?”
“This is a completely automated transport designed for hauling cargo. When the ramp is lifted it will carry us to the intake center gate.”
He moved to the side and dropped his bag, motioning her to move closer to his side. “Hang on.”
She gripped the side of the vehicle and looked toward the
Rally
—from the
outside,
she realized it was a huge ship by shuttle standards—before returning her full attention to her new surroundings.
“Is the entire planet like this?” She motioned to the trees. Thick woods surrounded everything but the landing. “It looks like a thick forest with the exception of that wall I see peeking over the trees.”
“No. Garden is mostly water. We’re inland on one of the few land masses. This is the largest land mass on the planet.”
“So there are large oceans?”
“Fresh water oceans.
This isn’t like Earth. We don’t have saltwater oceans. You could drink the water anywhere on the planet.”
“Cool.”
He nodded. “You seem to be breathing fine.”
“The air feels a little different but it’s great. It could just feel different because it’s fresh.”
“If you have problems let me know. I can take you to Medical and they can implant you with something to help you while you adjust.”
“I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
The three men from the cargo area climbed in, along with about nine men she recognized from the
Star
. When the ramp lifted the vehicle jerked into motion instantly. Mira tightened her grip, watching raptly as it moved along the road.
“How large is the city?”
“There are just over fifty buildings. Building has been slow.”
“What about housing?”
“We live in the cities. We found it is safer.”
That statement made Mira jerk her head in his direction and meet his eyes.
“Safer from what?”
He hesitated. “The planet’s inhabitants aren’t friendly. We’re the superior life on the planet but other life exists here. We would never harm existing life on a planet so we surrounded the city with a security wall to keep them out.”
“What kind of life exists here?”
He hesitated again. “There are amphibian-humanoid life forms. They are not as civilized as we would wish but they haven’t tried to war with us. They stay near the oceans so we took the inland areas, which they mostly avoid. There is a lot of small animal wildlife and some large species that are dangerous, like Earth’s bears and tigers. The only intelligent humanoid life forms are the amphibians though. We try to keep the peace with them.”
“Wow. What exactly do they look like?”
He hesitated. “You will see.”
“Some of them are in the city?”
He shook his head. “No. They avoid us and we avoid them. We’ve found that we get along better that way. They have attacked some of our scouting parties in the past. There are
vids
of them that I can show you if you are curious.”
She nodded. They approached the
huge wall that ran as far as the eye could see. “Wow. That’s some damn wall.”
“Yes. It is a seventy-five-foot-high defensive line. No Garden resident life forms can breach it except harmless bird species and bugs. You will be safe inside the wall. Just never leave the city, Mira. This is not a world you want to explore. You’d end up being captured by the amphibians and I have no idea what they would do in that situation. When we catch them we just release them unharmed but they have never captured any of our people so we are unsure of their intentions.”
The gate in the wall automatically opened as the transport vehicle approached.
Cyborg
City came into view, showing Mira dark blue buildings that were all uniform—same height, color, and shape. The streets were perfect, as if someone had taken the time to exactly measure everything. There was no litter, making it the cleanest place she’d ever seen.
Cyborgs
walked from one building to another, mostly wearing loose blue clothing like jumpsuits, while fewer of them wore black pants with different-colored shirts. She saw some women and she couldn’t help but stare. The
cyborg
women were tall, well-muscled, with athletic proportions. She didn’t see a single white-skinned person like her. She saw
cyborgs
in all shades of gray, from a very light, almost dolphin-blue shade to a color much darker than Flint. A few were almost charcoal gray.
When the transport stopped in front of a building, the ramp automatically slid out. Flint leaned down, gripped his bag and nodded at Mira. “Stick close to me.”
Flint didn’t even have to tell her that. Mira was afraid. She was the only human she could see. She saw heads turning, some
cyborgs
halted, giving their full attention to Mira. She even noticed some of them were coming out of buildings to stare openly at her as she reached the top of the ramp. Flint braced his legs halfway down, reaching back to offer his hand to Mira.
“Ignore them,” he said softly. “Some of them haven’t seen a real human woman before. We have a few elderly human females who left Earth when we did, sympathizers, but they stay inside for the most part. They are just curious about you.”
He helped her down the steep ramp but released her hand at the bottom. He turned on his heel, heading for the nearest building. Mira glanced around nervously, seeing that there had to be a hundred
cyborgs
staring at her and it looked like more were walking their way to get a better look at her. She almost ran behind Flint, not wanting to let more than a few feet get between them. She was betting, with human/
cyborg
history, that humans probably weren’t real popular in the
cyborg
world.
A male dressed in a black uniform nodded at Flint as they entered the building. When he saw Mira he lunged into her path, getting between Flint and Mira. She gasped, jerking to a halt to avoid slamming into the huge, muscular
cyborg
. He scared the shit out of her. His eyes were black to match his hair and his skin was startling in contrast—a light blue-tinted gray. He looked furious as he glared down at her.
“What are you doing?”
Flint was there all of the sudden, moving around the man, shoving the other
cyborg
away from Mira as Flint gripped her arm. He jerked her farther back, stepping in front of her to block her body from the
cyborg
in black.
“She’s human!” The
cyborg
sounded furious. “You can’t bring one of them in here.”
“She’s my property. Are you blind to her markings? She goes where I go.” Flint snarled the words. “Is your training so inept that a little thing like her is something you consider a threat? I’ll protect you from her, guard.”
The two
cyborgs
glared at each other as Mira’s fear mounted. The guard seemed to hate her and she was shocked that he considered her a threat. She swallowed hard before finding her voice. She was terrified Flint and the other
cyborg
were going to come to blows over her and she wanted to avoid that.
“I’m just a sales representative from
Firmaline
.”
The guard moved a little so he could see her better. A slow frown formed on the man’s lips.
“
Firmaline
?
Is that the Earth
company
that sells beauty products to females to keep them from aging?”
She nodded. “We call them health enhancers. We sell a lot of products to men too. They aren’t just for enhancing looks. They literally slow the aging process.”
The guard actually chuckled and his black gaze slid to Flint. “You enslaved a beauty consultant?”
“I’m a sales representative, not a beauty consultant.” Mira was irritated.
Flint sighed. “May we pass now? She’s not a threat.”
The guard nodded. “Proceed. I can’t wait for
Arrion
to meet her. Did you bring her as a present to
Arrion
?”
“No.” Flint sounded pissed. “Don’t purposely aggravate me. You can see from her markings that she’s mine and no gift.”
“That’s a shame.” The guard chuckled. “I would have escorted you to
Arrion’s
office myself, just to see the reaction of being gifted with a beauty consultant, if you had grown tired of owning a human.”
Flint looked annoyed. “Follow me,
Mirasia
Carver.”
She had noticed that Flint addressed her by her full name when other
cyborgs
were around. She followed him into a lift. When the doors swished shut Mira realized that Flint still looked furious as he shot her a grim look.
“I apologize. Are you all right?”
“I can’t believe he thought I was dangerous.”
A grin split Flint’s lips. “It was amusing. You’re not secretly a trained human assassin, are you, Mira?”
“If I were, I would have kicked mutant pirate ass when they boarded the pod.”
His smile instantly died, looking pissed off in a heartbeat, making Mira want to kick herself for reminding him that she’d run away from him. She swallowed as the lift stopped. Flint didn’t look at her as he stepped out of the small space so she just followed him closely. She saw glass doors leading into a large office with a male
cyborg
in a blue jumpsuit sitting behind a desk. The
cyborg
looked up and nodded at Flint as they walked into the room.
“You’re back,” the
cyborg
grinned. “How was deep space?”