Some warriors would never find their females, the unique beings genetically compatible with them.
Zip wouldn’t be one of those warriors.
His female was out there, waiting for him somewhere in the universe. He would locate her, claim her, protect her.
Earth Minor’s solitary sun warmed Zip’s body armor-clad shoulders as he marched along a well-beaten path, patrolling the area he had been assigned to protect. Stones crunched under his big boots. Insects hummed. Leaves rustled.
Being a cyborg and a systems deity, capable of performing multiple tasks at once, Zip scanned Rebel and Humanoid Alliance systems as he walked, listening to snippets of conversations, hoping to hear the one voice that would make his body react.
His female’s.
He had searched the databases for four hundred and fifty-one planet rotations, operating at inhumanly fast speed, never slowing, never stopping.
He was determined to track her down.
Ahead of him, Vapor battled Green in a makeshift dirt ring. Vapor was a more advanced model, smaller, quicker, more strategic in his fighting. Green, a fellow D Model, relied on his brute strength.
He charged Vapor. Their bodies smacked together. Vapor flew across the ring, skidding along his back in the dirt. The K Model jumped to his feet and surged forward. His right fist plowed into Green’s face, shattering his nose. The warrior spat blood and counterattacked.
Vapor’s female, Green’s female, and their offspring, some natural, some war orphans, cheered and winced and hollered advice. They sat on rows of fallen tree trunks, the audience divided into teams.
When Zip found his female, he too, would have someone to cheer for him. He would have a being in the audience.
“You can fight me next, D Model.” Vapor called out to him as he passed the ring. The warrior continued to block Green’s punches, not missing a beat, the slap of fists against skin reverberating across the space.
“I’ll defeat you later, K Model.” Zip laughed. He had a female to find.
Both of the warriors paused in their fighting to frown at him.
They were worried about him. Zip heard their transmissions, saw their shared glances. He had been spending too much of each planet rotation alone and that was unlike cyborgs.
They didn’t know about his search. Uncertain of its success, he hadn’t shared that information with them.
Ka-Na is asking about you, Barrel transmitted mere moments later. Join us by the river.
His friend had planned that outing for his female and the offspring they’d claimed as theirs. It was a family event.
Zip didn’t belong at the river and he preferred to concentrate on the database scanning. I’ll see Ka-Na before she starts her rest cycle.
Zip stomped along the path. Butterflies flew upward, a cloud of brilliant yellow coloring the breeze. Vegetation swayed, bending walls of green positioned around him. Bees buzzed from flower to flower.
The planet was an oasis in a war-torn universe. He was free, was no longer under the Humanoid Alliance’s harsh control. His brethren, their females, offspring surrounded him, cared for him.
That should be all any warrior needed.
It wasn’t sufficient for him. He craved the type of love, the connection only his female could give him, yearned for offspring of his own, longed for a future shared with another being.
Having completed his perimeter check, Zip sat under a tree, leaned against the trunk, gazed unseeingly at the nature before him.
He wasn’t an aberration. There were other female-less warriors on Earth Minor. They were transient visitors, however, leaving for assignments on the Homeland and in the vast expanse of space.
Barrel and Green were his close friends. He’d miss them if he left. They were a part of him, his left and right hands, and Earth Minor was his home.
He had to locate his female. That was his number-one mission. Zip shut down all non-vital operations, redirecting that energy toward his search. The voices sped through his processors, racing faster and faster, a stream of chatter.
Vapor is boasting he can battle both of us at the same time and be victorious, Green transmitted. Shall we show the K Model he’s wrong?
Zip stifled his sigh. They were determined to include him in activities. I’m—
Planet rotation. Those two words caressed his processors, that snippet of a conversation stopping his words and hardening his cock.
You’re—what? Green prompted.
Zip’s circuits surged with excitement. Had he located his female? I can’t communicate at the moment.
You’re a cyborg. You can complete multiple tasks at—
He ended the transmission, severing his friend’s protest. Green, having found his female, would understand.
Zip backtracked the conversations he’d been monitoring, recovered the communication.
Had his female sent it? His heart pounded.
Battle had never scared him. He had been manufactured to fight, had confronted the specter of death again and again, always with a grin on his face. He loved it.
The possibility he was wrong about tracking down his female terrified him. It was everything he’d ever desired—love, companionship, a future.
Zip closed his eyes and played the footage. The image of a human female filled his processors, her beautiful countenance hitting him like a punch to his gut.
Her eyes were as blue as a clear Earth Minor sky. Her curly brown hair was streaked with blonde, like sun rays streaming over the bark of a tree. Her full cheeks and upturned nose were speckled with flicks of brown pigment, he believed the humans called the spots freckles. He wanted to kiss each one.
There wasn’t a sharp angle on this gorgeous being; her chin was rounded, her curves clad in a plain brown flight suit, generous. She was the perfect female for a large D Model cyborg like himself.
He wanted her more than he wanted anyone or anything else.
“Hi, Leesa.” Her voice coiled around him, intensifying his need. “Sorry about missing your communication. Don’t worry about my birthing planet rotation. You’re constructing domiciles for needy families, making your new world habitable. You can’t trek across galaxies for an event that happens every solar cycle.”
Her smile didn’t reach her eyes. There was a sadness in their depths Zip yearned to dissipate.
“I’ll likely go out for a fermented beverage with the females at work.” She summoned a more cheerful tone. “And hope for that abduction we always joked about.” Her laugh was shaky. “I’m still waiting for a big strong warrior to take me away from all this.” She spread her arms. “I don’t think he’s ever coming for me, but a female can dream, can’t she?”
Zip’s eyes widened. He was a big strong warrior. His female had been waiting for him to retrieve her.
“I love you, my friend.” His female touched the recording device. “I hope to see you soon…or not.” Her lips twitched. “If you don’t hear from me, you know the warrior came for me.” The communication ended.
Her warrior would come for her. Zip was determined to make her dream a reality.
The message had been sent the previous planet rotation from Ryssa Athy on Erinome V. His female’s name was Ryssa. He rolled it on his tongue. It suited her, beautiful with an underlying strength.
She was a credit processor at a beverage outlet. Those credits would soon be processed by someone else. Unable to stop gazing at her, Zip displayed her image, along with her specs.
According to the Humanoid Alliance databases, she would celebrate another solar cycle of living in twenty-three planet rotations. He could arrive within that duration.
Zip jumped to his booted feet. Some of the warriors had been manufactured on Erinome V. Vapor’s female had called that planet home for a duration. He would contact them, compile data on the terrain, culture, landing procedures, other information.
I require use of our ship, he transmitted to Barrel and Green.
Are we under attack? Alarm edged Barrel’s question.
I’ll start the engines. Green didn’t wait for a response. Vapor will ready his ship. Did you notify the other warriors?
There’s no need to notify the other warriors. Zip tried to calm the males. We’re not under attack. He stalked toward the ships. I require the ship for a personal mission.
You have undertaken a personal mission? Vapor joined the transmission. One that urgently requires one of our ships?
You’ve found your female. Barrel guessed correctly. You’re retrieving her.
The three males waited by the warship. Green and Vapor were covered with blood, their faces bruised, their noses flattened, their lips split open. Barrel was suspiciously wet, a puddle of water forming around him.
“She’s on Erinome V.” Zip shared, not attempting to conceal his joy.
He was now one of them. A big smile stretched across his face. He had a female to love, to protect.
“Erinome V is a Humanoid Alliance planet, a former site of a cyborg manufacturing compound.” Vapor grimaced. “That will make it a challenging retrieval.”
His female’s friend’s planet would have been easier to land upon. It was sparsely populated and not heavily monitored by the Humanoid Alliance.
Abducting Ryssa from Erinome V would be more complex.
But that mission was still achievable.
“When you contact the cyborg council, requesting authorization for the mission, request additional warriors.” Barrel advised.
“I must retrieve her immediately.” Zip wasn’t waiting for authorization or additional warriors. He opened their warship, lowering the ramp.
“Ask her to meet you on a less-monitored planet.” Green suggested.
“That isn’t possible.”
“Why isn’t it possible?” Vapor stepped in front of him, blocking his access to the ramp.
They wouldn’t like his answer. Zip dropped his gaze, his smile wavering. “She doesn’t know I’m retrieving her.”
“What?” The warriors stared at him.
They were cyborgs with a cyborg’s enhanced auditory system. They heard him. “I haven’t communicated with her.”
Their mouths dropped open.
“You’re retrieving her and you haven’t communicated with her.” Barrel was the first to recover. “Females don’t like to be surprised like that.”
“My female will like it.” She dreamed of being abducted. “Your female didn’t know you were retrieving her.”
“I had spoken with her.” His friend straightened. “She wanted to be retrieved.”
“My female wants to be retrieved also.” Zip didn’t perceive any significant difference between the two situations.
“You’ve found your female?”
He turned. Barrel’s and Green’s females stood behind him, their faces flushed, their heaving chests clad in body armor.
He would have to craft a protective garment for his female also.
That thought gave him pleasure.
“You are supposed to be guarding the offspring.” Barrel moved to his female’s side.
“Mira, Gap, Red, and the other warriors are doing that.” She lifted her chin. “We came to help you.”
“This is our home also.” Green’s female declared, her tone daring the warriors to argue with her. “We have the right to defend it.”
“Defending our home isn’t necessary.” Zip stopped any rebuke from the males. “Yes, I’ve found my female. I plan to retrieve her.”
“What’s her name?”
“Does she have any plants?”
“What is she like?”
“Has she ever eaten ancient Earth nourishment?”
The two females peppered him with questions, their faces bright with curiosity. They thought he had all the answers and he didn’t.
“He doesn’t know.” Barrel’s voice was dry. “He has never spoken with her.”
Barrel’s female blinked once, twice. “You should speak with her.”
“That’s what we told him.” Barrel’s expression was smug.
“You’re changing her entire lifespan.” Green’s female nodded. “You have to at least give her the illusion of choice.”
Fraggin’ hole. Zip clenched his jaw. All five of them disagreed with his plan. His friends wouldn’t allow him to leave the planet if he didn’t convince them the mission was viable. “She dreams of being abducted by a big, strong warrior.”
“And you plan to make her dreams come true.” Green’s female’s lips rounded. “That’s very romantic.”
“Very.” Barrel’s female’s head dipped. “Then you can’t communicate with her.”
“What about the illusion of choice?” Barrel frowned.
“She’s made this choice.” Barrel’s female patted the warrior’s chest.
“But he should give her control over the other decisions.” Green’s female added. “He should capitulate to her wishes, if at all possible.”
“And if she wants to leave me?” Zip’s jaw jutted. He wouldn’t agree to that.
“She won’t.” Green’s female reassured him. “You’re a wonderful being, so careful with all of our plants.”
“You’re a systems deity.” Barrel’s female chimed in. “And she’s your female. She’ll feel your connection.”
“We felt the connection to our males.” Green’s female gazed at her warrior, her face soft with caring. “It will be the same for her.”
Zip had felt the connection. His shoulders lowered. His female would also.
“And we’ll make her feel welcome.” Barrel’s female added. “We’ll stock the ship with an assortment of nourishment bars and beverages.”
“A couple of flowering plants to brighten your chambers.” Green’s female wrinkled her forehead. “Ixora coccinea or perhaps Pelargonium peltatum.”
“Mira will choose garments for her. The offspring will create images for the walls and—”
“I’m leaving this planet rotation.” He curbed the flow of ideas.
The females gazed at him, then at each other. Green’s female looked up at the sky. “The sun is still low on the horizon. We can make the preparations in a planet rotation.”
“I’m leaving right now.” Zip amended, not wanting to wait one more moment to see his female.
Barrel’s female pressed her lips together the way she always did when one of the offspring gave her the wrong answer. “She knows nothing about you, Zip, and she might not know anything about cyborgs, other than you’re manufactured to kill beings and the faulty view that you’re a machine. She’ll be scared. Any intelligent female will be. A decorated chamber will ease her fears.”
“Bad beings don’t grow plants.” Green’s female added, her tone certain.
Zip gritted his teeth. He questioned the logic about bad beings and plants and he saw no need for the preparations they proposed.
Ryssa was his female. She would sense their link, wouldn’t fear him.
But denying his friends’ females this task would damage them emotionally and he would never do that. “Make the preparations quickly.”
“Yay.” The females cheered. “We’ll recruit Mira.” They hooked their arms and rushed away to find Vapor’s female, leaving the males gazing after them.
Vapor shook his head as though to clear his processors. “You’ll require weapons.”
That, Zip agreed on. A warrior could never have too many weapons.
***
The sun rose the next planet rotation and Zip still hadn’t left Earth Minor. His ship was fully stocked, his databases were crammed with information about Erinome V and he had a plan to secure his female. With the assistance of his brethren, he had plotted his mission, increasing its probability of success.
Arsenal, one of the visiting K Models, had volunteered to accompany him. The warrior would stay with the ship while Zip retrieved his female. Arse was already inside the vessel, completing systems checks.
“We left a variety of garments in your chamber.” Vapor’s female held her warrior’s hand. “She should like one of them.”
She should. Zip’s lips twisted. He’d seen the stack of garments. It was high.
“The plants require very little care.” Green’s female had exchanged her body armor for a sundress, an ancient Earth garment. Green gazed at her as though she was the only being in the clearing.
“There’s an image from every offspring hanging on the walls.” Barrel’s female informed him. The offspring, in various stages of undress, bounced around them, chattering excitedly.
“Ka-Na.” The young Tau Cetian female, perched on Barrel’s shoulders, waved her hands in the air. Her name was the only word she was capable of saying.
But Zip heard the caring in her voice, saw the same emotion on all of their faces. They wanted him to be happy, were excited about welcoming Ryssa to their family.
“I’ll return soon.” His voice was gruff. “With my female.”
“We’ll be waiting here for you.” Vapor’s female’s eyes sported a suspicious sheen.
Fraggin’ hole. Once one female cried, they all would, and then the offspring would follow.
Zip stomped up the ramp, seeking to leave before that happened. Start the engines, he transmitted to Arse as he closed the ship’s doors.
Starting the engines, the warrior confirmed.
The floor tiles vibrated under Zip’s booted feet. He moved through the ship, entered the bridge. The K Model was at the helm.
“You want control of the ship?” Arse asked.
“You can have it.” Zip claimed one of the other seats.
“Because D Models can’t fly.” The warrior’s eyes glittered with emotion.
If he were any other male, Zip would label that emotion as humor but this was Arse. The male was one of the grimmest beings he had ever met.
“This D Model has a female to retrieve.” Zip grinned. His flying skills were adequate and his systems skills were unmatched.
“You’re a lucky bag of bolts.” Arse muttered. “You might want to wipe the goofy smile off your face when you retrieve her. Your teeth will reflect the light.”
“Frag you.” Zip noted that piece of advice.
The ship lifted off the ground. The trees around them bowed in the manufactured wind, the leaves fluttering wildly.
Arse was right. He was a lucky bag of bolts. In mere planet rotations, he’d meet his female, see her, touch her, speak with her.
While they traveled to Erinome V, he would help Arse search for his female. If there was a being for Zip, there might be a being for every warrior.
Silence stretched in the bridge. There was chatter over the transmission lines. Zip participated in some of the conversations, but none of them came from the K Model.
Zip knew very little about the warrior. “Why did you volunteer for this mission?”
“Because I’m disposable.” He shrugged. “And you’re not. You have beings who would miss you if you were killed.”
“Beings would miss you.” No cyborg was truly alone. “The warriors in your manufacturing batch—”
“The warriors I was closest to didn’t survive training.”
The Humanoid Alliance training had been brutal. Warriors were forced to kill the weak, the defective. Some of the inferior fighters were decommissioned by the humans, sliced and diced, ravaged for parts. “Since you’ve been freed—”
“I’ve moved from ship to ship.” Arse’s expression was blank, revealing nothing. “I add value but I’m interchangeable. If I died, I would be immediately replaced.” He met Zip’s gaze. There was emptiness in his humanlike eyes. “Even on this mission, I’m merely a being to stay with the ship. Anyone could do that.”
Zip had felt lonely but the K Model was truly emotionally isolated. He had no home, no close brethren, no offspring to decorate his chamber. “I’m relying on you to protect my female’s lifespan. Not Green, not Barrel, not any of the other warriors. You. And she isn’t interchangeable. I’ve searched for her for hundreds of planet rotations. She’s my future, my everything, and her safety is in your hands.”
Arse stared ahead of him at the main viewscreen. The ship was now in open space, the image of glittering stars against a backdrop of stars.
“I won’t fail you, D Model,” he finally said.
Zip wouldn’t allow Arse to fail him. He’d safeguard Ryssa with his lifespan.
His female merely didn’t know that yet.