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Xian lay on her back in the nest of her discarded clothes. Zune hadn’t undressed her all the way, of course, as that would have been too dangerous. She was still wearing her long cargo skirt and boots, but her button-down shirt and military jacket lay open around her shoulders, and her bra had been pulled up, so that her small breasts stood against the air, heaving slightly with her nervous breath.
The rest of Xian was small as well. Her long blonde hair was a ragged mess, and her green eyes were often frightened. This time, however, her eyes were only nervous and a little eager.
Zune lay beside Xian, leaning on one elbow as she gazed down at her with gentle blue eyes. She was muscle-bound and tall, with dark hair and a face that was typically cold and serious. And she was a cyborg, possibly the most dangerous type of cyborg in Eazon, for she wasn’t a petty chief of a raider clan. Zune was a thousand-year-old soldier and a remnant of the war.
Xian’s parents had always told her never to trust cyborgs, and now here she was, on a rooftop, having sex with one! No doubt her parents were rolling in their graves, her sister as well.
“Xian,” said Zune softly.
Xian looked up. She had come to love it, the way Zune spoke her name with the accent of her time. She always put such emphasis on the “X” and the “I.”
“We can stop if you’re uncomfortable,” Zune said.
“No, no!” Xian said quickly. She reached up and touched Zune’s face. “Make love to me!” she whispered breathlessly.
The wind picked up, dragging tendrils of black hair across Zune’s eyes, which narrowed on Xian with lust. Xian felt her heart thump when Zune leaned down and kissed her on the lips, then the neck, the soft, hot kisses trailing over her cleavage to her nipple, which she suckled tenderly.
Xian moaned softly as the pleasure flushed through her. She closed her eyes and frowned, her lips parting, when Zune’s right hand slid down the front of her panties . . .and vibrated against her clitoris. Thighs shaking, she felt her sex moistening further, the lips swelling fatter in response. Then Zune’s vibrating fingers glided gently in her sex, moving in slow rhythm in and out between the swollen lips, and Xian arched her back, pressing her breasts to the starry sky as she was gently fingered and sucked to a helpless climax.
***
TWO HOURS LATER, ZUNE stood on the rooftop, facing the great yellow moon, her orange military jumpsuit open and hanging down around her hips. Her bare breasts were exposed, standing high, and the pink nipples were rigid. As if to torment Xian further, the wind picked up, dragging Zune's black hair forward in her face. She raised her arms to catch it, which lifted her breasts higher. Behind her, Xian caught her breath as her sex throbbed in response.
Zune stood very still, her back to Xian, waiting. Xian reminded herself that Zune was a cyborg, having lost much of her humanity centuries ago. Did she suffer the way Xian suffered?
Swallowing hard, Xian lifted one of the thick power cords with a shaking hand and plugged it into one of the many outlets in Zune's naked back. She felt the cord hum with sudden power in her grasp, and as it did, Zune gasped softly.
Xian froze apprehensively and looked at Zune. The cyborg’s pretty blue eyes had fluttered wide and were almost blank as she stared into the distance. There was a long, low noise that sounded as if something inside her had powered up. Her breasts were heaving a little with her breaths.
“Did I hurt you?” Xian asked, peering anxiously at the cyborg through streams of dirty-blonde hair. She was relieved when Zune smiled, but for some reason, her cheeks had flamed the tiniest bit.
“No,” said the cyborg softly. “Please continue.”
Xian bent to lift another heavy cord. She had almost plugged it in Zune’s back when a soft noise behind her made her freeze. She looked quickly over her shoulder, but no one was there.
Xian and Zune were on the rooftop of one of the many collapsing buildings that formed the dark, silent mass that was Sector TW7. They had been traveling for days together through the ruins, always heading north, toward Arcana 6, one of many settlements where humans had apparently started over, where there was clean water, and uncontaminated food, and animals! Xian had read about animals in books, though most of the animals had been gone since the war.
Eazon 5 was the name of their world, and it had never been the same since the great robot uprising. Now people lived in the ruins of the once great cities, and some, if they were lucky, lived in the settlements, while the once-enslaved robots roamed aimlessly through the dust and debris, having secured their freedom and yet, having found nothing to do afterwards except terrorize the descendants of their masters.
The War of Two Worlds – or as the robots called it, The Uprising – had happened one thousand years ago. Zune was one of the many human soldiers who had volunteered to undergo experimental procedures with cybernetics, which had made her super-strong, superfast, and practically immortal, Xian thought.
Xian often wondered what it was like to be so powerful. She had spent most of her life being protected by people. First her parents, then her older sister, Xy, and once her family had been taken by the robots, Xian had found herself on her own. She had survived the roving destruction units by hiding and scrambling and was in awe when Zune leapt down from a tipping skyscraper and protected her from the giant Xubertron unit that had been attempting to vaporize her.
When the dust had cleared, Zune had straightened up—black hair blowing heroically in the wind as the heap of the robot steamed behind her – and had calmly ask where Xian was going and if she needed an escort. And though Xian had been grateful and amazed, she also thought Zune probably saw her as meek and helpless, an objective, something for a purposeless old borg soldier to do in the distant aftermath of the ancient war.
Was Xian just something for Zune to do? Or did she mean more? The thought that she was just an objective pained Xian, especially given how intensely they had just made love. Had it been only sex to Zune? Did she even have those urges anymore? Zune had certainly enjoyed what they’d done, but it hadn’t been some sort of release for her as it had been for Xian, who hadn’t lain with a woman for two years now.
“My scans have indicated nothing dangerous,” said Zune softly.
Xian knew Zune had probably scanned her heartbeat and noticed it was running fast with fear. She turned back and saw Zune’s reflection in the nearby broken glass: her left eye was burning red as she scanned the area. Finding nothing, the light cooled, revealing her blue eye again. Xian saw the cyborg’s reflection smile. “Xian,” she said softly, “please continue.”
Xian’s eyes went to the outlets in Zune’s muscular back, and with a shaking hand, she gently plugged in the next cord. She heard Zune gasp softly again, heard the hum of electricity as yet more power fed into her back.
Zune’s cybernetics were powered by a battery that was supposed to last one thousand years. Unfortunately, it had been one thousand years, and unless she found a replacement battery, she was going to have to keep finding places to recharge or risk becoming inoperable, which meant she would shut down completely. Finding more power wouldn’t prove difficult so long as they were in Sector TW7, but once they had entered the Wastes – the barren stretches between cities – it would be much harder to find places to charge Zune.
“One more,” breathed Zune softly.
Xian picked up the last cord. “I’ve been thinking,” she said, carefully plugging the cord in.
Zune gasped, closing her eyes as power hummed through her yet again. Xian moved past Zune, facing the large yellow moon that hovered over the endless sea of jagged, broken skyscrapers.
“Yes, Xian?” Zune prompted.
“I know you said it was too dangerous before, but we should really find a new battery for you before we leave the sector,” said Xian. She extended her hand, and a digital blueprint of the sector appeared before her, having been summoned from the data chip in her palm. “There have to be some army depots around here. I could have sworn you mentioned a military base. Didn’t you say you were living there when you met me?”
“Yes.”
“There would be lots of supplies, too. Stores of food and water and blankets – unless scavengers got to it already.”
“No. Most would not come so deeply into the ruins unless they were rogues.”
Rogues were people who had been exiled from one of the settlements. To be exiled, one had to commit a crime, from something as petty as thievery to something as serious as murder or rape. Xian did not like the idea of running into rogues, but she was convinced Zune could protect her. After all, she had seen the woman take down gigantic destruction units the size of small buildings.
“Then we should go there,” Xian said. “I wouldn’t mind having some nutrition cubes. I’m tired of trapping rats and cockroaches . . .” Her voice trailed away when she felt Zune’s hand on her shoulder. It wasn’t like Zune to touch her like this, but when she looked back, there was definite affection in the cyborg’s blue eyes.
“I promised to protect you with my life,” said Zune, making Xian blush with the intensity of her gaze, “and so I shall.”