His Mate to Keep by Ivy Sparks

5

Merrit

I bombardedthe sentinel with questions—not that I expected to get an answer. Xavier said the experimenters sometimes talked to the subjects through these robotic things, but they clearly had no interest in conversing with me at the moment.

I did realize one thing: It seemed these sentinels didn’t really react to speech. They only shocked me when I didn’t physically do as they demanded. Did they even understand me at all?

“Hey, you know what I think of you and your masters?” Then I let out a string of insults in a bunch of different languages that I picked up on the rim of inhabited space. Maybe if I offended it, or whoever was controlling it, I might finally get a response.

And to my surprise, a metallic voice crackled from a speaker on the sentinel’s housing. “Note Number 578, Subject Human Female acquired stardate 17490. Exceptional vocabulary intermixed with gutter slang adapted with a high level of English grammar proficiency. Suggest advanced education for further study.”

I spun around. “What?”

The thing didn’t answer, but the truth sank in quickly enough. These things were definitely intelligent—either from advanced AI or a remote operator.

The sentinel’s metal claws clacked through a pair of sliding doors as we entered what could only be a medical suite. Beds in different positions occupied strategic places around the area. Trays of sterilized tools and equipment waited next to each station.

The sentinel set my glass box in the middle of the floor. This time, it stood the case upright so I could stand up and see everything that was about to happen. I shuddered when I scanned the equipment. Shiny metal frames, needles on extendable arms, blades sharpened to a gleaming edge—everywhere I turned, I saw objects that looked like torture devices.

The sentinel clacked around the room and halted next to my right elbow. Something clicked on its arm, and the glass case around me vaporized out of existence.

“You will enter the atomizer,” the metallic voice chirped. “Failure to cooperate will result in punishment.”

I froze. “Atomizer?” I didn’t like the sound of that. What were they going to do—atomize my entire body and put me back together again?

“Turn one hundred and eighty degrees and step into the atomizer,” the sentinel ordered.

I trembled all over, but with the prospect of some punishment looming in my future, I turned around. I came face to face with the terrifying machine. It covered half the wall, with two giant doors swung open to reveal a body-shaped compartment inside. Spikes protruded from the sides like some space-aged iron maiden.

“Step into the atomizer,” the sentinel repeated.

My knees wobbled and my resolve failed. I couldn’t go in there. I couldn’t be pulled apart. Just when I thought I would have to take my punishment after all, the sentinel clacked up behind me, and I thought of its metal claws shoving me into it.

“Turn one hundred and eighty degrees,” the sentinel instructed.

Cooperate, Merrit, I thought. Listen to Xavier. He hasn’t led you astray yet.

I stepped in and turned back the other way, facing out into the room. I watched the great doors pivot closed around me. Lights flashed from every needle-sharp point. The machine clicked and whirred, but nothing happened.

A second later, the doors rotated outward again. I stared at the sentinel. “What happened?”

“Note Number 579, Subject Human Female acquired stardate 17490. Atomizer chamber too large for the subject. Requires adequate facility to complete atomizer test.”

I almost collapsed in relief. I dodged that bullet, but for how long?

“Recline on the examination table,” the sentinel told me.

I crossed to the nearest table, expecting some horrible examination procedure that might leave me disemboweled or worse. Instead, the sentinel revolved around the table, measuring every part of my body with calipers that extended from the end of its mechanical arm.

It read out the measurements to no one in particular, then other tools appeared, swabbing my mouth and pricking my finger to collect a drop of blood.

Please tell me that’s all, please tell me that’s all.

But of course it wasn’t. Two clamp arms extended out from the examination table and latched onto my legs. A more delicate robotic arm then crawled up from between my knees and started unfastening my pants.

“Oh, hell no!” I snapped, but another arm restrained my neck back. I couldn’t see what was happening now, but I felt it as my pants were pulled down and my legs were spread open, revealing my nether regions.

It’d been so long since any of that had been exposed to another, and I had never expected the next time would be with a cold robot, examining every inch of me.

I gasped as I felt something cold prod around inside me, but as I held my breath, I realized it was already over. Whatever readings they were gathering, they got them with merciful efficiency.

But that left me with the question of why they’d be interested in my lady bits.

According to Xavier, all they did here were fighting experiments…

At long last, the arms let go, and the sentinel moved back. “Stand.”

I got to my feet and shakily buttoned up my pants again. Almost instantly, the glass case reappeared around me. I didn’t fight it this time. I was too relieved to get the hell out of here without enduring the atomizer. The other prisoners probably weren’t so lucky.