The Virgin’s Cyborg by Candice Gilmer

10

Eleanor stared into the intense white eyes of Jedriek.

He absolutely intended to make sure this intimacy they shared was, in fact, the most pleasurable experience she could have.

Once again, this giant cyborg amazed her. His attention to her was unrelenting, and he never seemed to want to stop assisting her in some way. While this wasn't how she would have expected to get assistance from him, it did startle her that he was concerned about her enjoyment and well-being.

She certainly did not get this from Colt.

She tried very hard to savor and appreciate this now with him because she was pragmatic enough to know that all good things must end. She had to be cautious, though, because feelings were growing for him.

Love?

No, of course not. She was too pragmatic to fall in love instantly with anyone. That was just foolish.

But she could see how easily these feelings she felt for him could develop into more.

She stroked his shoulders and along his back. How strong and safe he felt.

Her own personal shield from the evils of the universe.

He glanced at her like he knew what she was thinking.

"So beautiful," he whispered as he kissed her rib.

She blushed, feeling it burn down through her body. So rarely did anyone call her beautiful. Her impulse to fight him was strong, but not because he said it, but because so many others said she wasn't.

She stroked his dark hair, and her hand slid down his face. He turned to it and kissed her fingers, sucking one of the digits in his mouth. The sensation hit her and made her squirm under him.

He slowly let her finger pop out of his mouth, all the while maintaining eye contact. A wicked grin spread over his face.

"Princess, do I have things for you."

She let out a shuddered breath.

He kissed down her stomach and reached her hip. His hands roamed over her sides, the hips that were always too wide, she thought.

He, however, loved them. He kept nibbling and kissing them. She tingled and pulsed with energy from whatever it was he was doing. Because anything he did seemed to create a reaction in her.

He blew on her skin, she shivered. He touched some part of her, she wiggled.

As his hands moved down in between her legs, she opened to him.

Because it felt good. Her entire self felt it, and she throbbed with need for, well, what, she wasn't quite sure, but the sensations built with every little thing he did.

Her previous experience had been so clinical, she had not expected much from the act at all from anyone.

The way Jedriek took his time, stroking her.

Making her feel all these things was so intense!

She didn't know what to think of it.

Maybe that was the problem. She was thinking far too much.

A habit she couldn't seem to get away from--the thinking.

Let go, she told herself.

Enjoy this. You may not get many chances like this. Relax and let this happen.

His hand slid along her center, and she started rocking her hips. Where that came from, she wasn't sure, but it was just a natural reaction to his touch. His finger slid along the edge of her entrance, up the folds, and she sighed as he started stroking her area with all these slight movements.

She pushed herself up onto her elbows.

"From here, it doesn't look like you're doing anything at all."

He smiled and leaned down. "But I am. I can tell by your reactions." His breath was warm against her, and even that was an erotic feeling.

So that was the game he was playing. Well, two can play.

She kept her face neutral. She'd been trained all her life to not show her emotions in certain situations. She could fake it through this.

Even though, really, she wanted to scream with delight as he continued to stroke her.

"I did--didn't-- I didn't say anything."

Did she pant?

Surely she wasn't really panting.

Though it sounded like a pant.

"I didn't measure your face," he said as he blew on her center.

She groaned.

She was not winning this at all.

He stroked along her flesh, and she felt the tip of his finger enter her center.

"You're getting there," he said. "Not quite yet."

He pulled his finger back and licked the moisture off it.

"Exquisite."

She wanted to say something, but the words left her. The sight of him savoring the taste of her was so intense, she didn't know how to react.

And then he leaned down.

His tongue ran over her intimate parts, and she cried out.

"Do I get to get you back for this?" she asked.

"For what?"

"For this... this game you're playing."

And if she didn't know better, she'd swear he just chuckled against her center and instead went back to his ministrations. She couldn't see what he was doing, only feel, well, and hear him groaning against her. His hip rested by her one leg, and she felt his cock by her shin.

She got an idea.

And started moving her leg up and down his member.

He groaned. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing."

He shifted his hips so she had more access. She continued teasing his cock with her leg and foot. It really was large and impressive. She didn't really know what she was doing, other than rubbing against it, but from his occasional groans, it seemed like it was doing something for him.

She kept wiggling around on the bed, and her touches on him fell by the wayside because she just couldn't keep up with it and what he was doing to her. It was creating such a powerful physical and emotional explosion inside her that it felt like she would erupt like she was going to tumble off into oblivion. No one would be able to catch her this time when she fell.

"I--"

"Let it out," he said.

"I-- I don't--" She could feel the burning inside her, and the intensity grew with every passing moment. Like she was building an incredible explosion inside her body. "I am going to explode, I think."

"You're not. Let the sensation out. You will not be sorry."

She shook her head again, but as it built, she had little choice. Like leaping off a cliff, she jumped into her explosion.

There were no bombs. Not real ones anyway. However, the ones inside her sent her flying into the stars and back, or so it seemed. It took a few breaths for her to finally come back to herself, and she patted the bed to make sure she was still there.

Eleanor finally understood what it meant when others spoke of orgasming. For this was far more than she'd expected or prepared for. Her previous experience was nothing compared to this.

Her whole body quaked and shook.

"Wow, if that's what everyone spoke of--"

"It's not," he said.

"Wait," she said, panting. "There's more?"

"Oh yes. There's more." He stroked her channel a few times before he slipped his finger inside.

She moaned. Another new sensation, this one even more intense than the others he'd done.

He growled. In the most erotic way she'd ever heard. She'd never thought a growl could be erotic, but he was. She put her hand on his head, and he glanced at her.

"Do you like this?" he asked as he slid his finger in and out.

She nodded because, oh how she did. It was intense, but it was not as uncomfortable as she'd expected. Of course, it was his finger, not his, well, his giant maleness. That was going to feel different. He pumped one, then two fingers into her.

That same orgasmic sensation started to build inside again, like a spike of intensity. Faster than before.

He kept up with what he was doing.

She tightened her grip on his hair, and when the orgasm hit her this time, she yanked on his hair.

Jedriek locked gazes with her. "Like pulling hair?"

She blinked. "I'm sorry, I didn't--"

He came back, so he was eye to eye with her. "Never apologize for enjoying yourself."

"Well, I don't want to hurt you."

He smiled. "I promise, if you are, I will tell you."

She nodded. "And I will do the same to you."

"Good," he said. "Because this next part may be more than you're used to. So it might hurt a little bit."

She nodded. "I think I'm ready."

"Good," he said and slid off the edge of the bed.

She blinked. "Where are you going?"

"Right here," he said and made an adjustment on the bed's height, so it was just below his hips.

"Jedriek?"

"Trust me," he said. He grabbed her hips and pulled her to the edge of the bed. Her legs dangled off the bed, and he took one and stepped into her center. His big cock slid against her as he picked up her other leg. It took her a second to realize that he wanted her to wrap her legs around him. She felt kind of silly that she didn't get it right away, but oh, the feeling, once she did, was potent.

He adjusted himself and started to enter her. Automatically, she arched her back into him, and he put one hand under her hips. The positioning took a moment to get them both connected right. Still, once they did, she truly did begin to understand that this was not like the last time she'd had intercourse.

The total size of him must not have registered to her until he started to enter her. Her body moved and adjusted to accept his entrance.

He had primed her well, though it was still a tight fit. She felt stretched to the brink of fullness.

He pushed, and she felt herself trying to fight it at first, her body pressing back against him.

"Relax," he whispered. "We'll go as slow as you need." He rubbed her legs and caressed her as he did.

She nodded. "Keep it slow...."

"I am," he said, though he sounded strained. He pulled out and slid back in, a little farther than before.

She moaned.

He groaned.

The feeling was so powerful! She had never experienced such a feeling of fullness. Of completeness. This was so intense. So primal and natural. There was a bond forming with her for him as she experienced this joining.

She stroked his chest, his arms, whatever part of him she could reach just to continue the connection between them and expand it.

He went in and out in a slow, meticulous fashion, each time going a little deeper and a touch faster. With every thrust, he made a soft noise of pleasure.

Of course, so did she. Her body relaxed, and he continued to increase his tempo.

She would have thought the faster would not be as pleasurable, but she was so, very wrong. The faster he went, the better it got.

"Yes, more," she whispered.

"As you like."

That crazed sensation that she would be falling from a cliff returned.

It built hard and fast, and before she realized it, she was falling, crying out as she did, her body going limp.

Jedriek cried out as well, his explosion consuming her for a few moments. He leaned forward, resting his head on her stomach. She ran her hands over his hair again, and neither one spoke. They just breathed. The universe coming back into focus again, and the reality of their situation coming back to her.

Eleanor didn't want to think about that right now. She was exhausted--in the best way possible, of course, but still finished. They had to figure out what they were going to do and how they would get back to the others.

She rubbed her eyes as Jedriek crawled back onto the bed, his body moving slow and weak. He laid down next to her and pulled her to him. They spooned together, and he wrapped his arms around her.

It was the most secure place she'd been in her whole life that she could remember.

"I hope that was better than your initial experience," he said, his voice a sexy timber in her ear.

"Well, it'll do," she said and smiled.

He swatted her. "You are ornery, princess."

"You seem to bring it out of me," she replied.

He smirked. "Fair." He kissed her shoulder. "Get some sleep. We need to be rested when we figure out what our next steps are."

"If you say so," she said.

"I do."

She yawned. "Fine, Mister Bossy."

Though really, a nap sounded like the most brilliant idea in the world.

And with this giant cyborg by her side, who would mess with them?

* * *

A little boy played with his toy spaceship on his front porch.

Eleanor walked up to him.

"Hello."

"Hi," he said, but he didn't look at her. He kept playing with his spaceship, flying it around and making laser-shooting noises.

"Do you want to play?" she asked.

The boy shook his head as he adjusted the guns on his toy.

Eleanor looked around. There were other ships and toy planets all around him. "I can play. I can be some of the other things." She reached for one of the toy planets. It was a pretty one with stripes, huge, like a gas giant.

There were cracks in it, lines that crisscrossed the painted stripes like someone tried to break it open once.

But it held itself together.

It had soul...

"No, give that back," the boy cried out.

"What? It's just a planet."

"It's supposed to be mine!"

A beam of light came from the sky, and it flashed in her eye.

She dropped the toy planet.

The sphere shattered into pieces. The ray of light shined on the broken pieces.

"I'm sorry," Eleanor said. "I broke your planet."

The boy shrugged. "I was going to destroy it anyway."

This time he did look at her.

It was her father's eyes.

Eleanor awoke with a gasp.

She started to sit up, but she felt restraint across her. Almost immediately, she tried to fight against the weight of the bonds. Her eyes didn't want to focus at first. She resisted because she had to get up. She had to--

"Shh, Princess," Jedriek whispered. "Shh."

Her heart raced, and her eyes finally were able to focus in the dark room. She realized she was in the medical unit with Jedriek. The lights were low, but there was a faint glow around the room that kept just enough illuminated so she could make out the silhouettes

Jedriek held her and kept her safe. His big arm was the restraint.

He stroked her head. "Shh. It is well. It was a dream. You are safe."

She wasn't so sure about that last part. She shook her head. "It was a dream, but there was a message in it that I needed to hear," she said. Why she knew that, she didn't understand, but it was just the way she was. Ever since her mother had died, the ability got stronger. She never really talked about how her dreams could tell her things. The older she got, the more intense the answers were. Many times, she'd been able to make critical decisions because of them.

"Your dreams tell you information?"

"They unlock things that linger right beyond our consciousness and put the pieces together when we sleep." She yawned. "This one seemed to have a lot to tell me."

"About?"

She twisted so she could see his face. "About everything. But specifically, about the war."

"Your dream told you about the war?"

The dream, still fresh in her mind, painted a dark picture of what the Emperor likely wanted to do. "If I'm right, my father doesn't want peace. He plans on destroying your people."

"There may not be a lot of us Rhimodians, but we cannot be wiped out. There are too many for that."

"I know. I can't imagine how he would do it. The war alone isn't enough. He doesn't have the firepower. No one does. Not for an entire system."

"No one has a weapon like that," he said.

She sighed. "I wouldn't put it past my father to try." A memory came to mind--a few days before they left. Freya said that she'd found something big in the Terran computer system. No details, but it was a large and very secret project the Emperor had active.

"Fallon," she whispered, remembering what it was called.

"What is Fallon?" Jedriek asked.

"It was my mother's name. But it was also the name of something that was found in the Imperial archival files, not long before we came."

"A code name?"

She nodded. "We could not find out what it was, only that it was something that was actively being worked on, and the Terran Empire was financing it."

"Do you think it is a weapon?"

"What else would the Emperor be making? I doubt it's a big peace celebration."

Her head started to ache, and she rubbed her temples.

"Are you well?"

"My head is just hurting. It seems to be doing that more lately."

"Do you know why?"

"Nope."

She closed her eyes. "And don't ask me if I took any medicine. I didn't. We don't seem to have a medicine doser here."

"I can give you more nanites."

"Whatever, I don't care." She held up her arm. "Go for it."

The tiny tubes came out of his gauntlets, and a needle formed, She watched it pierce her skin with hardly any pain, and then in a moment, she was injected with more nanites.

She didn't realize he was scanning her as he injected her. "Do you get a lot of headaches?" he asked.

"Off and on, yes."

"I don't doubt it."

She raised her eyebrow. "Why? What does your scanner say?"

"Your brain has been worked on a lot." He thumbed through digital displays she couldn't quite make out because they were inverted for her.

She ran her hand over her hair--what was left of the formal pinned up hairstyle she'd had, what, a day ago? How so much could change in a day. "You said that before."

"More scans show more details."

"And what do your details say? That I am missing some files?"

"In a way. Your brain has been altered."

She raised her eyebrow. She didn't like the direction this was going. What did he mean, altered? How so? He piqued her curiosity, and not in a good way. "So I'm not the same person I was?"

"I do not know. Only that your memories have been medically adjusted."

She rubbed her head and sort of giggled. Because she realized what he was looking at now. And it wasn't nearly what he thought. "Well, not hard to believe, since I can't remember much before my mom died. It was too painful for me as a kid, so they wiped many of my memories."

"Is that standard practice for the Terran Empire?"

"Not typically, no. It is considered a last resort if a person has a need. But the process can be done to wipe trauma from patients. Some people do not handle trauma well, so they have it removed."

"Handy trick," Jedriek said.

She shrugged. "I was never a fan of the idea. One of my big charities was against removing memories of the self. Even trauma. Since I have had the same procedure done to me, I can speak about what it does to the mind when those thoughts are removed. It can seem like a great idea at the time. Remove the trauma, the pain, and life goes on. But it doesn't. It becomes a kind of void where there should be emotions, and it can be difficult to refill them."

"Do you still have this hole?"

"In a way, yes. I'll always miss my mother and my memories of her. I have other people's stories of her and what I've seen in holograms and such. When I was a toddler at the Terran Summit, there's this famous footage of me where I just started picking the flowers off my mother's dress and giving them to all the dignitaries. Prancing around like I had not a care in the world. I probably didn't. I was just a child."

"Was your mother angry?"

"No. She thought it was hilarious. Supposedly, Caoimhe told me that my father was furious that I wasn't a perfectly still little girl like I was supposed to be. But my mother didn't care. She used to say that I saved the Summit that year."

"Do you remember that?"

"No. Just what others tell me."

"Does that make you sad?"

"I stopped crying over my lost memories a long time ago. Now I just fight to have the procedure removed from medical facilities in the Terran Empire. I hope to have it removed from all Galactic Alliance worlds someday. May take my whole life to get there, though."

"It is a noble goal. You would shine for that."

She smiled. "Shine?"

"It is like an honor. To have your shine means you are doing well. You follow protocol and appreciate Master System."

"Can you lose your shine?"

"Yes. One can be Tarnished. We have a Tarnished member of our squad."

"How did he become Tarnished?"

"In short, he did not follow protocol, and we wound up losing several Rhimodians that day because of his choices."

"Oh no," she said. She didn't want to imagine what that kind of guilt felt like and then to lose his shine as well. If it was like having honor, she could only imagine what it would do to society. "Does everyone have shine?"

"We all have it. It is understood that we have shine until one loses it."

"And it was in war that your teammate lost his shine?"

"It was."

She sighed. She'd seen plenty of war veterans in the Terran Empire. It was a subject that made both her and Caoimhe very upset. "War can do strange things to humanoids."

"Unpredictable results," he said.

"Exactly." She glanced around the little medical room. "So, what are we going to do today?"

"I have not decided."

She grinned. "So you get to decide what we do?"

"You just asked me to."

"No, I asked if we had anything we needed to do. There's a difference."

"Finding you some nourishment would be the first on my list, I think." He patted her hip. "Do a sweep of this station and make sure that all is secure."

"I would hope that you did that before when you first brought me here," she said.

"I brought you here because it is an unknown facility. I didn't say it was secure. However, the fact that it is unknown, and very few are aware of how to access it, makes it the most secure location on this moon that is available."

"How many bases like this are on this moon?"

"None like this. This place is a relic. Built long before I was born. One of the first stations we built here while terraforming the moon."

"This was a terraforming station?" she looked around again. "It's too clean."

"We like to keep things tidy," he replied.

"I like to keep things tidy, but this place looks pristine. And you were terraforming from here?"

"Yes, this was a major location."

"I don't know what kind of terraforming you do, but I've been to some terraforming plants on different worlds just in the Empire. They're never clean. There's always this grit in the air, and the floors can never be swept enough. When we went, I remember having to put on pants and heavy work shoes to protect my feet, but even through them, I could feel the floor grit."

"The filmo," he said.

"The what?"

"The grit you spoke of. Filmo."

"What is it?"

"A by-product of life."

She was about to ask for more, but he continued before she could.

"Reprocessing atmospheres and building up the biolife on a world requires nutrients on the cellular levels. So those kinds of processes take time, and they take fuel. But what does all fuel expel?"

"Gas?"

"A byproduct of the chemical reaction, yes. In many cases, it is a gas. For the level of reprocessing a planet, it creates filmo. That grit you felt."

"Why isn't it everywhere here?"

"We found a use for it."

"Doing what?"

He pressed on that bed. "This amazing bed? It's filmo. Compressed and molded filmo, turned into mattresses for the medical beds in all the facilities."

"But isn't it flammable? That's what they told us at the terraforming locations--that we couldn't wear our long dresses because it could make the grit-the filmo-spark."

He shrugged. "I think if it was exposed to a great deal of heat, then yes, it could spark and possibly explode."

"You think?"

"Well, it might happen. Not sure."

She shook her head. "You're funny."

"Why?"

She giggled. "I don't really know. You just are." She leaned into him and hugged him. "I'm glad you're here with me, Jedriek."

He stroked her hair. "I am glad to be here with you as well, Eleanor."

He patted her back, and it felt so safe to be wrapped up in his arms.

It wouldn't stay like this, but at least for now, it was something.

So she was going to savor it.

She rocked her hips into his.

He growled. "You are starting things, princess."

"Think I need to," she replied.

He kissed her neck, and his breath was warm on her ear. "And I thought I had a strong Craving."

"Never underestimate a female."

"I will not," he replied as he pulled her on top of him, and they started to make love again.