Talia’s Cyborg Excerpt Preview

 

Prologue: Previously in Cyborg Awakenings 2

Jolt Somber guided the hover-flyer in a circle over the mountain homestead below. It was isolated on a plateau with the next nearest dwelling miles away. The others appeared to be abandoned, but this one looked well kept with animals in the pasture and dog in the yard. The cyborg circled back and picked a spot a dozen yards from an entrance to the house.

Slowing to a stop midair he switched to hover mode and set the flyer down in the grass near what was once along driveway from the what was once a paved road about one hundred yards away. The house was a large, traditional log cabin.

“I read only one person in the house,” Jolt said to his mate, Iris. “This will be our last stop today.”

“Should I get out with you or do you want me to wait until we see if they are friendly or not.”

“It should be okay. I believe the person in the house is female. She might feel more receptive if you come with me,” he said. He used his cyber connection to the flyer’s computer to shut down the engines and open the doors on both sides. They both climbed out and met at the front of it, where Jolt took Iris’s hand as they walked slowly toward the entrance.

A gunshot rang out just as Jolt noticed movement at the window beside the door. He immediately shoved Iris behind him. Another sounded after the pump action of action of a shotgun clicked. No projectiles hit Jolt. The shot harmlessly disturbed the dirt in the driveway to his left. Either the shooter had lousy aim, or they were meant to be a warning.

“You in the house,” Jolt called out. “We are not here to harm you. I’m from the Federation. The war is over, and I stopped to see if you need any assistance with food, medicine, or a medic.” He waited with Iris pressed tightly to his back.

A young woman with flame red hair stepped out the front door, her shotgun under her arm pointed groundward. Beside her was a big, longhaired multicolored dog. The blacks and browns were mixed together. He was as big as a wolf, but his muzzle was too blunt, and his ears were semi-erect. He stood quietly at the woman’s side. It was the same dog he’d seen from the air.

“You’re a cyborg,” she said. “My father told me about cyborgs. I never thought I would ever see one. He said they made you to fight the war.”

“Yes, that’s true. Why did you shoot at us?”

“If I were shooting at you, I would have hit you. I thought you were Nick Jester trying to worm his way back into my life again.”

“I don’t know who that is,” Jolt said.

“Just the jerk down the road that wants to screw me. Edson here doesn’t like him.” She nodded at the dog. “That’s good enough for me.”

As Jolt looked at her, he found it understandable that a man wanted her. He suspected one of his brethren would be thrilled to discover she was his female.

“I am Jolt Somber, and this is Iris Bloom,” he said. “We came on behalf of the Enclave near New Chicago to offer assistance if you need it.”

“I get by on my own, but I wouldn’t mind finding the right mate,” she said. “Jester comes around every so often to offer his services, but that lazy bastard just wants me to keep him for the winter. He knows I got food stored up in the root cellar and wood for the stove.”

Iris laughed.

“Next time he comes around I just might shoot the fucker,” she asserted. “Anyway, I’m pleased to meet you. Nice to meet someone who wants to help rather than trying to take what I got. I’m Talia Cannon. Does the Federation have any more like you?” She was looking at Jolt hopefully. He was one of the best-looking males she had ever seen.

“We have hundreds of cyborgs working to rebuild the Farringay Starport. One of them could be your male, but they would likely not know until they met you.” Jolt explained.

“Could you arrange such a meeting?” Talia asked.

“You could come with us to Farringay. But we cannot offer any private quarters at our base,” Jolt said. “We have women camping out in a separate wing waiting to be transported to the Enclave at New Chicago.”

“Can I bring Edson? He must approve any mate I would take.”

Jolt eyed the dog sitting calmly at her side. “I see no harm. We are on our way to Farringay, now. You will not need your weapon.”

“I believe you, but I’d rather not leave it behind to get stolen,” Talia said. “I can unload it before we get into your flyer. I just need to get a change of clothes.”

Jolt nodded his ascent.

“Edson put the goats and chickens in the barn.” The dog barked and ran to the barnyard, barking as he rounded up the animals and herded them to the barn opening.”

“My ancestors, are from Farringay, and my cabin was their vacation home before the war. They fled to the mountains when the aliens started bombing the city,” said Talia. “I am the last of my line unless I find a mate to make a child with.”

As she spoke, she unloaded the weapon and put the bullets in the shoulder bag she carried. “I just need to grab a change of clothes and lock up.”

While they were speaking, Jolt had confirmed the plan with Commander Dark in case one of the Farringay cyborgs was her male. He would release that male if he wished to return to Talia’s mountain home with her. Both he and Jolt believed the best way to help Talia was to help find her a mate.

There were only a few cyborgs that would be hard to replace. Building families was a key factor of rebuilding civilization on Earth. Finding Talia’s male would be a small step.

Talia returned just a few minutes later with a larger cross the body cloth bag. Jolt showed her where to put her things behind the rear passenger seats. She stowed them and went back to the barn to close the door.

Jolt and Iris waited by the flyer while Talia closed and latched the barn door, then walked to the flyer with Edson. He seemed to know without being told to get in the flyer after his mistress and sit in the rear passenger seat beside her. If she was nervous about flying, she didn’t show it. They arrived at the complex about twenty minutes later. Typically, it would have taken Talia four to five days to walk it.

The building wasn’t much to look at, but it was a stable structure with more than enough room for the 500 cyborgs it housed. Jolt had notified them that Talia was coming to meet with them to learn if any of them were her male. He and Iris stood with her at the doorway while cyborgs passed by to determine if Talia were their female.

Talia had never seen so many people in one place in her life, nor so many handsome men, living her isolated life on her mountain homestead. They all looked so young, not that she was so old. Even Jolt who was getting close to ninety only looked about twenty-five.

Many cyborgs passed with no sign of awareness, and Talia was starting to give up hope that any of them would be her mate. Then a few stragglers strode in, and Edson’s nostrils flared, and he gave a soft bark.

The one in the middle looked up and zeroed in on Talia immediately, and his usually stoic expression converted into an elated grin. He was a classic tall dark and handsome, broad-shouldered and solid muscle as all the cyborgs. His ordinarily intense green eyes were lit in delight. He looked at least as young as Jolt, maybe even a couple years younger.

The tall cyborg strode across the room to stand in front of Talia and offered his hands to her. She looked up into his eyes and knew he was the one by the attraction she felt for him. She put her hands in his.

“This is Talia Cannon,” Jolt told him. The other cyborg never took his eyes from hers.

“Talia Cannon, I am your male, Bodee Flint. I would be honored for you to be my female,” he said and inclined his head as a sign of respect as he gently gripped her hands.

She was tall, about 5’10” to his 6’8”, and they made a striking couple. But this was only a beginning.

“I’m pleased to meet you, Bodee,” Talia told him.
“Shall we go for a walk outside and talk. I’ve been expecting you.” With that, he took her hand, and they left the building for some privacy.

Talia was both nervous and excited at the same time. All of the cyborgs she’d seen that day were gorgeous, but she hadn’t felt the attraction for any of them that she felt for this young man.

“You look so young,” Talia said as they walked. “How old are you?”

“Eighty years, six months, three weeks, two days, twelve hours and fifty-seven minutes…” Bodee replied. “Is that relevant?”

“You just look so damn young, like I might be at least ten years older than you.”

“How old are you?” he asked.

“Well, I guess that’s fair. I’m thirty-one.”

“Your age and my age are not relevant. We are adults and you are my female,” he said. “Will you decline to be my mate because you think I look younger than you?”

“I didn’t say that. I was just thinking out loud.” She glanced up at him giving him a tentative smile. “I doubt I would get a better offer in these parts. All the men that are any good already got a woman. I prefer not to share.”

They walked a long the crumbled old access road that surrounded the old industrial building until they were alone. They stopped under the shade of an old tree with its leaves ablaze with shades of yellow, orange and red.

“Cyborgs don’t share either.” He smiled down at her like he couldn’t get enough of looking at her. “I always dreamed of finding my female. You are as beautiful as I could have imagined. I will be a good mate to you. I know how to pleasure a woman. I learned in my virtual life.”

“Virtual life? What’s that?”

“It’s a complex AI simulation that runs through our internal computer that simulates life experiences and training to stimulate our minds while we are in stasis.”

“Okay, but how do you know that I am the woman for you, that we will get along together. I’m not always that easy to be with. I can’t sense it the way you can, but I feel an attraction between us. You seem nice and are real easy on the eyes.” She smiled up at him.

“You are even more beautiful than I imagined, all those years I was in stasis living my virtual life. But I know that attraction is only the beginning of bonding with our genetic mate.” Bodee took her hand, his eyes full of wonder. “Will you accept me as your male?”

Talia looked up into his green eyes, taking in the features of his handsome face. Her gaze lingered on his full lips. She wanted to know it they would feel as good as they looked.

“Please kiss me.” She pointed to her lips with her free hand.

“Okay.” He lowered his mouth to hers in what started as a light touch of their lips. She opened for him and slid the tip of her tongue between his lips. That was all the invitation he needed to swirl his tongue around hers and stake his claim inside her mouth. Passion flared and Bodee pressed her against him so her breasts squeezed against his firm chest and his erection pressed against her belly.

When the kiss finally ended, they were both breathless with arousal. “Oh, yeah, Bodee you can be my male,” she assured him. “I just had to be sure we had some sparks. Jolt said that if one of you were my male that you could come back to the mountains to my homestead. Is that agreeable to you?”

“Then we will breed and make offspring?” Bodee asked hopefully, still holding her.

“After we get better acquainted,” she told him. “To make sure you don’t want to change your mind about being my male”

“That will never happen. I know you are my one female.”

 

Copyright©2019 by Clarissa Lake