Rock Star Romance: Dan (Contemporary New Adult Rockstar Bad Boy Romance) (Hard Rock Star Series Book 4) (56 page)

****

All too soon, her pod
bumped against the bottom of her ship.  The ceiling opened to show her the
access panel, and a fresh burst of apprehension flooded her blood stream. She
raised her palm and watched her hand press against the glass floors, holding
her breath and waiting for it to screech and turn red. Instead, it blinked
green like it always did, and the same voice from before filtered into the pod.

“Cyborg recognized:
Ada, Level Twenty-Five. Access Granted.”

The ship’s bottom
access doors parted and a heavy silver bar dropped before her eyes. Ada
unbuckled herself from the cushy seat and gripped the steel bar, bracing
herself as it quickly rose and pulled her into the ship. The floor reformed
under her just as the bar disappeared into the ceiling, and she gently floated
toward the floor. The artificial gravity wasn’t on yet. She looked around the
circular room, gazing at the flat black panels that would only light up at her
touch. Ada was filled with a warm, fuzzy feeling of happiness---distant and
hard to capture. The feeling was supposed to be the limit of cyborg emotion,
and it was startling to realize that most cypeople were so placid. She reminded
herself that until a few years ago, she’d been placid, too.

“Take off in sixty
seconds,” the cool voice of the ship informed her. “Trip will take
approximately four minutes. Ready to proceed?”

“Yes.” Ada strode over
to buckle herself into yet another chair--- this one tall and slim, and
situated in front of two delicate steering handles. There was a wide window in
front of the control bay, and she could see the velvety stretch of space for
miles in either direction. Ada poked the panel, and an image of her destination
popped up---a huge laser fence surrounding a tiny, rocky planet she knew was
called Oro, for its golden color. There was a section of the fence that was
down---completely darkened compared to the neon red glow of the rest of the
structure. Two poles were responsible for projecting the force field, and Ada
figured one of them was malfunctioning. It was an easy enough mission, but an
inexplicable feeling of foreboding filled her as she gazed at the planet on the
video screen.

“Take off initiated,”
the ship intoned. “Please hold on.”

There was no
perceptible movement as they shot upward into space; only a faint tug at her
limbs that she supposed would be more pronounced if she were a human, or a
weaker cyborg. It didn’t make sense to her that her body was so much tougher
than the others, yet her mind seemed to be crumbling away---she had no other
explanation for what she assumed were the phantom emotions her medical tech
assured her were so rare. She held out hope that she was a Pathos, though that
would be even more rare. Ada knew that lost Pathos were usually lost due to
human error---transposing the numbers on a growth pod, for example--- but they
were discovered when they were ten or twenty years old, and Ada was now thirty.
She supposed whatever mutation made her skin stronger might also have mutated
her tiny emotion center, too. It was the only thing she could think of that
quieted her internal anxieties.

Ada looked down at her
deep purple suit as she steered. Unlike most other cypeople, she had an unusual
preoccupation with color--- another simple mutation, her assigned technical
medic told her. This was one was far more pleasant, though; she enjoyed feeling
moved, however slightly, by different hues and shades. She liked seeing Pili’s
tawny skin against Adofo’s brilliant white, and enjoyed the varied tones of the
jumpsuits automatically left in her sleeping quarters by the laundry androids.
She favored the eggplant ones, and had started to consider it a good sign
whenever she wore them, even though she knew it was generated randomly.

“Thirty seconds to
landing.”

Ada brought her eyes
up to the window to see the tiny golden planet drawing nearer and nearer to her
ship. They were zooming toward the docking hub just above the field, and Ada
knew she would have to use a protection bubble to get down. Bubbles were
temporary fields of energy that encased their bodies and carried them safely
through flames, debris, and even laser fields, but they could only be used
once. She opened her storage panel and grabbed three bubble pods, pushing them
into a pocket on the side of her suit. Her eyes moved over the planet, trying
to find any signs of life, like a plant or a pool of water. Pili would expect
her to bring something back, and she hated to disappoint her. She spotted a
cave protruding from the uneven surface of the planet, but its mouth was closed
off with what looked like sheets of reinforced aluminum. There was a yellow
symbol painted across it, but the ship touched the landing pad, and the
partially enclosed area hid the mark from view.

“You may now
disembark,” the cool voice told her. Ada unbuckled her straps and stretched her
long, heavily muscled legs briefly to prepare to drop one hundred feet from her
ship and onto the ground below. A frisson of energy moved through her body--- a
whirling, heart-pounding energy that felt like a burst of adrenaline, something
she’d experienced artificially after her body reacted to an allergen and the
tech was forced to clear her airways with medicine. She ignored the sensation
and slipped a bubble from her pocket, waiting for the ship’s floors to spread
open. When they did, she squeezed the tiny pink disc and held her breath as the
golden tendrils of repulsive energy wrapped around her body. Ada started to
float toward the ground, and an icicle of terror pierced her heart as she
passed through the neon field---she half expected to be fried despite her
protective measure. When nothing happened, she exhaled heavily and waited for
her boots to touch the soil, touching her suit to make sure she was still all
there. Something dropped from her suit, and she looked down to see a bubble.
She was unnerved; she thought she’d zipped her suit. The chilly calm that
replaced her terror unnerved her more, and Ada realized it was because her
internal stillness was growing more scarce than her periods of strong emotion.
Focus,
she thought.
One thing at a time.

****

The sky here was
nearly the same shade of violet as Pili’s suit, and Ada wished she could take a
chunk of the color with her.  She allowed herself to gaze at the unbroken space
for a moment before starting to walk the remaining hundred yards to the tall
silver pillar projecting the fence. The soil on Oro was springy, and little
orange plants were bursting from the golden surface. She tried to remember
which alien race owned this rock; the Azurans? The Hyppo? A violent, nameless
species responsible for the decision to cordon the planet off from the rest of
the galaxy? Ada was happy then that she hadn’t been sent on a more physical
mission in a while; she’d seen some of the toothy things that warranted being
held back by a laser fence in the past. Once had been a time too many.

Finally, Ada’s light
strides brought her to the pillar. She pressed her palm to the surface, and its
electronics panel opened for her immediately. Ada scanned the wires and circuit
boards, feeling her brain whir through schematics and facts that had been
beamed into her mind years before. The answer came to her after a moment; a
rock had knocked one of the connecting bridges loose, and power wasn’t getting
where it needed to be. Ada used the long, steely nail of her pinky finger to
pry open some of the circuits and shuffle around the wires and data. As usual,
it felt vaguely wrong---she was looking and poking at something whose guts were
a precursor to her own, after all. Ada knew most cypeople didn’t feel this way,
but most cyborgs also wouldn’t think of the parallel in the first place.

A low
buzz
ing
noise told Ada she’d succeeded; she looked up, and sure enough, she could see a
glowing grid in place of the void she’d seen when the power was down. She
lifted her wrist to her mouth, tapping the microcom sewn into the sleeve with
her middle finger.

“This is Ada, prime
directive has been achieved. Returning to ship.”

“Thank you Ada.” A
human’s voice came over her com, probably Adam, the director of her dorm. She
couldn’t always tell them apart. “Proceed to your ship.”

She turned on the
spot, taking much larger strides now that her mission was finished. She felt
lighter, more free; a soft ripple across her face told her that there was a
breeze on this planet, and she let herself enjoy the sensation. Her body was
made so that it would acclimate to most temperatures, but the cool breeze was
still pleasant for her. Ada reached behind her head and tugged on her ponytail,
letting her dark curls spring into place around her shoulders as she leapt
across the ground. Another successful mission, and she hadn’t turned
unrecognizable to her ship yet:
Awesome.

Something caught the
corner of her eye, and it made her stop bounding across the soil. She turned in
her heavy boots to the right, gazing at the cave she’d first seen as the ship
descended onto the planet. Ada saw that the cave was much bigger than she’d
realized---its mouth was forty feet across, at least, and it stretched a few
hundred feet back. It was only about twenty feet tall, so Ada knew the massive,
tree-like Azurans were probably not utilizing this particular rock. The
barricade across its opening was indeed a shiny aluminum, but Ada felt
compelled to examine it further. Her ship could wait; mission control would
come looking after a few hours, if at all.

As soon as she got
about fifty feet from the cave, she saw why her attention had been so drawn to
it. There was a hole on the far right corner of the aluminum, big enough for a
creature slightly larger than her to push into. She could see a soft glow
emanating from the hole, flickering like firelight. Ada held her breath
automatically, not wanting to give whoever--or whatever--it was any more notice
than necessary. The air was silent around her, and not even her footfalls were
heavy enough to make a sound. Ada was aware of her own heart pounding in her
ears, and she cursed her mutation--or impending decay. She dropped to her hands
and knees as she approached the hole, trying to see as far inside as she could
as her head crossed the threshold.

She saw two things as
her eyes adjusted to the light---a huge wall made of something cool and
pearlescent, and a figure at the back of the cave, shrouded in darkness. A
third thing was rushing toward her, brown, furry, and about the size of her own
head. A single clear thought was able to complete itself before the creature
collided with her---
where’s the fear?---
but it was wiped from her mind
as the round, faceless ball of fur crashed into her, zapping her with a strong
electric current while it emitted a high screech. Then there was only darkness.

****

Ada was aware of a
gentle warming sensation growing ever-so-subtly more intense with each passing
moment, outweighed only by the mind-shattering pain consuming her bones. It
felt like there were a thousand needles digging into the metal and mineral
alloy of her frame and cracking her open to drain the fluid away; it felt like
lava was seeping in through acid-eaten holes in her skin. She thought:
this
is what death is like. This is it. I’m burning in the sun.
She couldn’t
even locate a pulse in her chest, and the foam-fiber muscles wrapping her
skeleton wouldn’t obey the signals in her brain. If they could, she would be
shrieking, thrashing, trying to find some way to get rid of the energy slashing
at her body and slowly shutting her down. Ada wished it would be quicker, at
least, even if it wouldn’t be clean.

But then the agony
started to recede, and Ada felt her body start to hesitantly reboot. Her back
seized, and her heart started to pump; after a long, rattling gasp, she started
to properly pull air into her lungs. Fire was still clawing at her skin and
organs, but she felt the coolant in her artificial blood start to return her
core to optimal temperature. The chaotic clanging in her brain quieted, and
after a few stuttering attempts, her eyes flew open. Ada cried out--- the world
appeared as though washed in a bright white light, and for a moment, she
thought she really was on the sun. Then the color ran back into her vision, and
she saw that the iridescent walls of the cave were merely reflecting the light
of an electric lamp somewhere near her feet.

“
Beautiful
soul…please heal…”

Ada heard the voice
before she realized she wasn’t alone. Her muscles still weren’t responding, so
she could only open her eyes wide as she struggled to take in as much as she
could from what she could see from her position on her back. Her head was
propped up on something warm and somewhat soft, and she could see hands above
her chest and stomach, presumably the owner of the voice. She stared at the
palms, trying to figure out if her eyes were playing tricks; they were much
bigger than her own, and humanoid besides their color---vibrant and continually
changing. Though the skin on the palms was much paler than what she could see
of the being’s fingers, Ada could pick each color out as clearly as her own
emotions: a rich red the same shade as a human’s blood, a crisp green like
Pili’s eyes, a violent orange, like the outside of her elevator pod. Her mind
quieted as she focused on the changing colors, and after a long moment, the
pain had completely faded from her body. Ada could tell the being was still
talking, but while she focused on the light purple of its skin, she couldn’t
discern a single word. Finally, the hands receded, and Ada felt her agency
return as though a spell had been lifted; she sat up quickly, then threw her
hands behind her as a wave of lightheadedness crashed over her.

“Careful,” said the
voice from behind her. “Your energy signature still isn’t the same as from
before; something could be wrong.”

Ada froze, and at
first it was from fear at hearing the decidedly male voice speak clearly for
the first time. Then she realized the voice had moved something else in her,
something familiar and sad, like a smoky shadow of her former self.  She realized
that this must be what the humans called
nostalgia.
Her mind was naming
emotions feebly, like a new student in a big class. The deep tone, the
melodious nature of his speech---it reminded her of Tod, who she’d loved---not
love,
precisely, but the pale shade of it cyborgs meant when they said the
word---for two years. But it couldn’t be him, she knew; Tod was on Earth,
protecting the Pathos down in whatever city he’d been assigned to. Ada knew it
wasn’t him, but she felt her heart wish for it even as her body turned and her
eyes finally fell on the creature who had presumably just saved her life. She
felt a rush of something cool and stabilizing---her mind supplied a suggestion
weakly:
gratitude?

He was a Hyppo, Ada
realized, even though she’d never meant one in her life. As a child, she
assumed they would look like the extinct Earth animals she’d glimpsed in old
human picture books and in the encyclopedias in the hub’s library, not
understanding that they were named for the Greek word meaning “both”. The correct
pronunciation ---
HEEpoh
instead of
HIPoh---
also eluded her for
years. Their form wasn’t difficult to remember however, since they were
humanoid, for the most part, except for a third eye in the center of their
foreheads. Some Hyppowordlers chose to obscure these with hair styles, but more
often than not, they were left bare or covered by a colorful patch or sticker.
A good percentage also had extra sets of limbs, teeth, or even second heads,
complete with their own third eye. Like all natural born species in the galaxy,
Hyppo were found to be as diverse as humans in their personalities, but shared
other similarities beside the third eye. Healing, Ada knew, was one of them,
and she felt a lingering sort of shame for not realizing it before.
Embarrassment?
A voice chimed in her mind.

The Hyppo smiled at
her, and Ada realized his natural skin tone was an astoundingly unbroken shade
of rich, sparkling gold. All three of his eyes were honey brown, and the hair
curling around his ears was as black as the fabric of space. His shoulders were
wide, and his tall, lean body looked pliant and fibrous, as though he lifted
lots of heavy things in his free time. Ada could see that his legs and calves
were heavily defined, even while he was on his knees. She realized with a jolt
that she’d never seen anything so terribly beautiful---even Earth from miles in
the air. Her eyes drifted between his thighs, and she remembered at that moment
that Hyppo people had humanoid genitals, too; his member was bigger than any
she’d seen on a human, however---or a cyborg, for that matter. Distantly, she
was aware that she was naked, too---she looked down at the light brown skin
stretching across her heavy breast, wide hips and strong thighs---but that was
forgotten as she looked up again and gazed at him, feeling something she hadn’t
experienced in years, but her brain shouted the need as clear as day:
desire!

It was
different---richer, heavier, much harder to turn from than it had been with
Tod, which was why they, and indeed most other cyborgs, had sex so little. But
there it was, beating at her attention like water on the shore of an Earth
beach, igniting every nerve ending embedded in her skin. The Hyppo rose, his
eyes wide with concern, and the clarity of the motion coming from him shocked
her. She felt a tingling warmth slip through her skin, heating and warming her
heart unbearably. Confusion followed fast on its heels; how could she feel so
strongly? She didn’t even know who he was!

“Are you okay?” the
Hyppo asked. “I had to remove your clothes to tend to your burns.”

Ada shook her head and
stood, backing away from him, throwing her hands out behind her until she could
feel the cool press of the wall. Terror was now at war with the desire in her
body, and they were both still there---something that she’d never experienced,
not even at the peak of an emotional burst. Something had happened; she’d been
corrupted. This was phantom emoting, and it was eating her sanity away. A cry
tore from her lips as another emotion ripped through her---like sadness, but
huge, crushing and cold, and somehow more empty---and it brought her to her
knees. She could hear the Hyppo rushing toward her over the sounds of her
ragged breath, but he stopped short, apparently afraid of hurting her with his
touch. Distantly, she heard a series of clicks, and then he spoke.

“This doesn’t make
sense.” His voice was velvety, more comforting than it should have been. She
wanted to run toward the voice, and she didn’t know why she had to try so hard
to stop herself.

Ada raised her head
and stood, trying to breathe through the chaos inside her. The Hyppo was gazing
at her with all of his eyes held wide open, and she realized the clicks were
coming from him. He was standing now, reading her energy signature with his own
sound waves, another unique Hyppo ability. Again she felt a strong warmth
rolling from him, with the unmistakable taste of affection.
Emotions don’t
have tastes
or
heat value; I’m going insane.

Ada forced herself to
speak, and she was surprised at the steadiness of her voice. “What doesn’t make
sense?”

The Hyppo jumped,
apparently as startled as she was. He still seemed afraid to approach her.
“Wow. Your recovery time, for one. Also, your energy signature.” He knelt down
in front of her hunched figure, peering at her intently. “You’re reading as a
human, but you’re clearly not, by the feel of your body and the way you’re
reacting to human-level emotion. You’re a cyborg from Earth, aren’t you?”

Something about the
way he spoke made Ada realize that this creature knew something about her that
she didn’t---or at least saw her in a way that she was unfamiliar with. Ada
caught his gaze and nodded, feeling sweat run down her forehead. She sat back
on her haunches and finally settled on sitting cross-legged, with her back
against the cool wall of the cave, eyes closed. She puzzled over the Hyppo’s
words, struggling to think through the storm of emotion still raging through
her. He’d said
human-level emotion,
but he’d identified her as a cyborg
from Earth. As her heartbeat gradually returned to normal and her desire and
fear faded into the background, Ada opened her eyes and finally voiced another
question.

“What did you do to
me?”

The Hyppo seemed ready
for the question. “Nothing, but a Bezoar had gotten to you when I turned
around, so if something’s wrong, that came from
it.”
He pointed to a
corner of the cave, and Ada looked to see a dark brown lump of slightly flat
fur. A feeling of repulsion seized her muscles---
disgust,
she realized.

“Unluckily for it, I
kick pretty hard.” He smiled, and Ada smiled back automatically, enchanted by
the symmetry of his lovely golden face. Her heart leapt in her chest, and the
sensation terrified her, but not as much as the sudden need to press his lips
to hers. Then her eyes slipped to his chest again, and she felt another vicious
burst of longing in her belly and between her legs. She gasped as a gentle heat
rolled through her loins, and she pressed her thighs together, trying to
relieve some of the sexual pressure in her body. Humans had been unable---or
maybe
unwilling
---to remove most of the more animal urges from cyborgs,
so each of them went through a puberty of sorts sometime between the ages of
twenty and twenty five, and it usually lasted three to five years. For Ada,
that meant feeling a pleasant tingle when she thought about Tod, and---when
they had gentle, quiet sex every few weeks--- what had been the single most
incredible sensation of her life until a few years ago, when she’d experienced
the gentle awe of seeing Earth.

This, however, was
nothing like either sensation. It was paralyzing, almost; she couldn’t think
around it, and the need to feel his skin grew stronger than she could resist.
Ada watched her hands reach toward his shoulders as though they were someone
else’s. As soon as they encountered the firmness, there, however, she felt all
of her consciousness return to her body as lust shredded her focus again.

The Hyppo’s eyes
glazed over with an unreadable emotion as Ada pulled him on top of her and fell
backward at the same time. His cock was already fully erect, hard as steel
against the hot flesh of her vulva, and she moaned as pleasure enveloped her
senses and took away all of her control. His golden hands cupped the firm
mounds of her breasts, and his long fingers pulled and twisted her erect
nipples, sending streaks of ecstasy through her body. Ada was screaming her
pleasure, thrusting her hips against the long shaft of the gorgeous being on
top of her. She plunged her hands into the softness of his thick hair and
brought his lips to hers. He tasted unbelievable---smoky and sweet, and it
lingered in her mouth after he pulled back.

“Tell me your name,”
he breathed in her ear. Ada shivered as his hands moved from her breasts to her
waist, then parted her strong thighs.

“Ada,” she answered,
watching his powerful body ready itself to slip between her legs. Her hands
were moving over her breasts, and she was marveling at how sensitive every part
of her skin was.

“Ada,” The Hyppo
repeated. “My name is Jax.” His hands gripped her thighs almost painfully, but
even that had a dizzying edge of pleasure. The huge, round head of his member
grazed against her swollen clit, and a burst of pleasure spread through her
mound. She panted, and Jax smiled; she felt her body respond to the
breathtaking grin with another rush of moisture between her legs.

“Are you sure?” Jax
whispered, pausing as he pressed himself against her wet slit. She nodded her
head deliriously, unable to speak around the fullness of her desire. She was
dimly aware that she should stop, but something told her that her body wouldn’t
allow her to move on until her lust was sated. Then the Hyppo’s body moved, and
all thought was erased.

“Jax!” Ada screamed,
and suddenly her pussy was being deliciously stretched by Jax’ long, thick
cock. He groaned and cupped the firm flesh of her buttocks, steadying himself
as he pushed his shaft deeper inside her walls. His skin began to change colors
again; first it lightened to a pale pink, then the shade darkened until it
turned red, then doubled back to orange. Jax closed his eyes as he stroked,
pushing himself inside her to his hilt. Her mind tried to wrap around what was
happening---
what the hell are you doing?---
but then Jax pulled his shaft
back and rushed inside her again, and the ensuing tide of sensation was so
strong that Ada felt her nails bite into the skin of her own breasts.