Download My Love (6 page)

He took a step closer. Another. One more and she could feel the warmth emanating from his body.
Gulp. His mechanoid body
. Trouble was, her body didn’t seem to know or care about the difference. Her pussy clenched, responding to his nearness and his overall hotness as though Everett was fully human. The memory of clinging to him for all those long minutes came flooding back and her panties drenched.
I want him. Oh hell
.

She raised her head and did the only thing that seemed right. She put her hands behind his neck, pulled his head down and pressed her mouth to his.

His small cry of surprise tingled her lips.
Oh yes, Everett
, she wanted to say.
All this and more
. Instead she slid her tongue into his mouth to touch his.

Immediately Everett’s arms came around her, crushing her body to his, pressing her back against the wall. He crowded into her as though he’d try to go all the way through her. Down below, his wonderful cock hardened and buzzed against her clit sending pre-orgasmic tingles up her spine. Above, he kissed her so urgently her lips would be swollen for hours.

She moaned into his mouth and returned his kiss, abandoning all pretenses. He growled back and the sound made her body tremble with its force. In a few more seconds she would have come right there—with his cock notched and whirring against her aching nub—if he hadn’t torn his mouth from hers and said, panting, “Yes. I love you, Sam. I love you.”

She inhaled, shocked at his admission. She hadn’t expected him to have
those
feelings, but now that he did, the notion made her head swim. Everett was a mechanoid, and he loved her.
Loved her!

“Very touching. Now, give me the code.”

She turned to see Everett—no, not Everett. A shorter version of Everett. A similar one, but definitely not
her
Everett, holding a phase pistol to Alex’s head. Fear froze the blood in her veins making her feel cold and heavy.

Everett stepped in front of her, pushing her behind him. “Let him go, Blackler.”

“I know you have the code Gold created. Give it to me or he dies.” He clicked the pistol on and shoved it against Alex’s temple to prove his point. Alex paled, sweat dotting his brow.

She could see the concern on Everett’s face, see him warring with his sense of duty. Hell, maybe even with his conscience. For all she knew, he had one of those, too. Somewhere in the back of her mind she remembered her father saying mechanoids were always programmed to protect humans. How awful for Everett—he had to choose which human to protect, at his own expense. Her heart ached for him. She had to do something. “I have the code. I’ll give it to you.”

“No, Samantha!” The gaze Everett turned on her was wounded and pained. As though she’d utterly betrayed his trust.

She stood her ground. “It’s the only way, Everett. He’ll only leave us alone when he has it, and until then more innocent people will die.”

Blackler nodded. “She’s a smart girl, a lot like her father. Too bad her father didn’t want to play by my rules.” He sighed dramatically. “Can’t say I’ll miss the doddering old do-gooder.” He stared at her, his gaze burning a hole behind her eyes. “He wouldn’t give me the code even to save your life, Samantha. Too bad, too, you turned out to be such a lovely girl.”

She gritted her teeth and refused to take the bait about her father. Whatever he had felt for her, it didn’t matter now. What mattered now was saving Everett and Alex. But if she gave him the code, would he use it to annihilate Everett? Did she even have a choice? With a lift of her chin she indicated Alex. “Let him go.”

“Code first.”

She crossed her arms. “No. I can’t access it by myself.” She tapped her head with a forefinger. “It’s locked deep in here.”

Blackler shoved Alex toward the monitor screen and aimed the pistol at her. She saw Everett tense beside her. She had no doubt he’d protect her from harm.

“But if I die, it erases.”

Blackler rolled his eyes and sighed. “Of course it does.”

“So, let’s do this. I’ll get on the table….” She hoisted herself on the table and lay down slowly, making sure the gun remained pointed only at her. “And you can run the program and extract the code again,” she said to Alex. “Since you didn’t keep the information the first time and we might not remember it correctly.”

Alex’s eyes lit up as he caught her drift. He moved to the monitor and began hitting keys.

Everett, faithful as a loyal dog stayed right by her side, but the light had gone out of his eyes. She felt bad about deceiving him and decided it might be better mechanoids didn’t know how to lie. But if she tipped her hand now, they’d all be sunk.

The computer beeped and Blackler walked around to view the monitor. He shoved Alex aside and read the screen. “Romeo Delta 29 Alpha Alpha 30. That’s it?”

Alex nodded and looked defeated. The man was a natural actor.

Being a mechanoid, Everett couldn’t quite hide his surprised reaction. His eyebrows raised, but he said nothing. He remained poised by her side on high alert.

A wide, evil grin spread across Blackler’s face. “Finally. I always suspected Gold had created a failsafe. Thank you for giving it to me,” he said to Sam, lowering the pistol. He glared at Everett. “Prepare to experience death as only a mechanoid can know it. Prepare to enter mechanoid hell.”

Everett shot her a confused look. Was he worried Blackler would spot the error in the code, or that the code wouldn’t work at all?

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Alex’s focus shift to Blackler’s gun. If he could grab it, the three of them might have a chance at overpowering the evil mechanoid. She caught Everett’s gaze and directed it toward Alex. He stiffened, but whether he understood or not, she couldn’t tell. She hoped his mega-tech brain included a subtlety interpretation routine.

Blackler opened a flap in his arm, took out a tiny keypad and punched in the code. A terrible sizzle and crack of electricity sounded and billowy grey smoke blew out his eye and ear sockets. Dark, thick blood flowed out his nose. Blackler let out a guttural scream and grabbed for the desk. The gun fell to the floor and Alex scooped it up, training the weapon on their mutual enemy.

Sam took a step back from the horrific scene in front of her. In all her years living with her father, she’d never, ever, witnessed a mechanoid death before and Blackler’s scream of pain had cut right through her soul. Good God, did they all have feelings? Did they all feel pain? How had she not known this? Suddenly the mechanoids around her seemed all too human.
Father was right. I should have believed him
.

Blackler reared back and hissed as his skin took on a blotchy, purplish-red tint and bubbled as though the human elements inside him were warring to fight their way out. His fingers turned white and he opened his mouth again. Instead of a scream, his body seized. He went rigid from head to toe, then tipped backward and landed flat on the floor on his back with a crash. His remaining circuits blew simultaneously sending acrid electrical smoke out his mouth and alarms pealing. After a few more seconds he went limp, his system warning alarms shut off and only a smoking corpse was left. He was dead. Gone. On a one way trip to mechanoid hell

Everett turned sorrow-filled eyes on her. “I guess the code does work after all. Goodbye, Sam. I love you.”

“No!” she rushed forward and threw her arms around his middle and sobbed. “Everett, I won’t let you go.” How could she have been so careless? So foolish? Now Everett would die and it would be all her fault. Her heart tore.
I can’t do it. I can’t part with him. Not like this
.

For several long seconds she held him tight. It seemed an eternity. To her relief, Everett remained standing. He pushed her gently to a safe distance and checked and re-checked his body functioning. “I don’t understand. I’m still here. I’m not dead. But...how?”

“I don’t know.” She and Alex stood over Blackler’s body, gaping at the self-destructed burning mass.

Alex rubbed a hand over his head and groped for an explanation. “The only reasonable explanation was the code was faulty. Unless the code was the sum of its parts and any variation of the code would be viable.”

“But why did it only work on him?” Everett’s face blanched. “Wait. We don’t know that for sure. Are all other units still online?”

Alex punched up the roster. “Yep, all active and accounted for.” He studied the man on the floor. “Maybe the code was meant for him alone.”

She stared at the lifeless mechanoid on the floor. “But why would my father do such a thing?”
This made no sense. None of it
.

The monitor beeped again. “An incoming message,” Alex said. “It’s broadcasting directly to you, Sam.”

Her head did buzz a little, but it didn’t hurt. After a few more seconds the vibrations stopped. “Wow. That must have been a long one. Let’s see what it is.”

Everett put a hand on her arm. Concern was back in his eyes and her heart tripped a beat. “Are you sure you want to do this? What if this is some kind of trick?”

She laid her hand over his, savoring his touch. To be honest, her world had screeched to a halt when Blackler hit the floor. She feared she’d done the wrong thing and would lose Everett, too. Relief he was still alive saturated her, radiating out her smile. “I don’t know. But if you’re here with me, I know I’ll be safe.”

Everett’s eyes warmed and her heart shouted a hurray. She still needed to talk to him. “Everett, I want to tell you….”

“I know. I’ve confused you. Believe me, I’m confused, too.” He squeezed her hand. “But we’ll get through this. Play the message, Alex.”

“Okay, here it comes.”

A video appeared. The visage of her father looked older and greyer than she’d remembered. She held her breath and drew closer to the screen. This was probably the last image of him she’d ever see.

“Samantha. If you’re receiving this it means I am dead, and so hopefully is my worst enemy, Ilious Blackler.” He shook his head. “Ilious was my best pupil, my brightest protégé. But he was too intelligent for his own good. He wanted to live forever. He thought by implanting my work in his body he could achieve the perfect human-technological hybrid.”

Sam looked at Everett and saw him frown.

“So he turned himself into a mechanoid bit by bit, until he had very little humanity left. Then the technology began to take him over. He played with the rules, Samantha. He thought he could outsmart Mother Nature.” He sighed heavily. “I learned too late what you already knew from a young age–technology and mankind don’t readily mix.”

Sam gasped and Everett hugged her tight to his side.

“Ilious was furious when he found he couldn’t control the process. When it was too late to turn back, he wanted to destroy the mechanoid parts of himself but found it impossible. During this time he became convinced I’d created a failsafe code and implanted it into all my creations, but in reality I had not.” Her father sighed and gazed into the camera. “I never saw my inventions as merely tech. To me, they were as real and alive as humans, and I feared that if the code ever fell into the wrong hands millions of mechanoids would needlessly die.”

Everett sucked in a breath and nodded. “Yes.”

“But I knew Blackler would never stop searching. Against my better judgment I created a code but designed it to destroy only him.” He looked down at his hands. “I’m sorry, but I did it to protect you and the world from his perverse ideas. But I do have good news, my dear.” His face brightened as he talked into the camera again. “I’m sure you’ve met special agent 696683 by now. His name is Everett, and he’s different from the other Security Core agents I designed. I created him especially for you.”

Her mouth fell open.

“What?” Everett scrunched his brow and leaned closer to the screen although with his superior hearing and sight, he ought to be able see it from a mile or so away.

“He is a mechanoid, Sam, but I took the liberty of installing certain bonus features in him. For one, I programmed him with a human heart. Emotions, Sam. I gave him emotions because I figured you might like that.” His lips twisted into a sad smile.

Everett’s hand clutched his chest as though he might go into cardiac arrest. “He did what to me?”

Her father shook his head. “I know, I know, I’m as guilty of playing with the monkey’s paw as Ilious, but this was to be my lasting gift to you—a protector to take over when I was gone and a man who’d always be by your side and who could really love you like you deserve.” He choked up, his face filling with emotion.

Tears sprang to her eyes. “Oh, Dad.” She sniffed and dabbed her leaking eyes with her sleeve.

“And I want you to know I’ve always loved you, Sam. Your cows, too. Everything you did. You never disappointed me. I know I was a terrible disappointment to you as a father, choosing to focus on my work instead of raising you, but I hope Everett can make up for some of my worst faults. I think you’ll like him if you give him a chance.” Her father winked. “Have a good life, Sam. I wish you every happiness. I’m sorry I’m not there to tell you in person.”

She lost it, covering her face in her hands and bawling like a baby. Her father had done something special for
her
just like when she was a girl. And he liked her cows. Maybe he’d understood her needs after all. She wished she’d pushed aside her stubbornness and made amends years ago. Maybe she wouldn’t have spent her life so alone. A sudden thought made her pause crying and suck in a breath. If he’d created Everett for her, then he’d also designed Everett’s penis.
Oh. My. God.

Everett chewed his bottom lip as he watched her, looking worried. “Sam? Honey? Are you okay?”

She sank into his arms. “Um, yeah. I’m fine. Just overstimulated.” She rolled her eyes and prayed Everett didn’t understand irony yet.

Everett hugged her tight until she stopped crying, then pushed her gently away and held her at arm’s length. “Alex, I’m leaving. I’m leaving Security Core to continue protecting the woman I love.” He barely glanced at Alex. Most of his attention was on her as he traced a finger down her cheek. “Let’s go get your cows and go home, honey.”