Corinne woke up slowly and was surprised to find she wasn’t shivering. Usually she was freezing every morning because the station’s internal temperature dropped so low during the night. But this morning, she was toasty warm—almost hot, in fact. Why was that?
“Good morning, Mistress,” a deep voice said.
Frowning, Corinne opened her eyes and looked up to see who was speaking. A man’s face was looking down at her—pale blue eyes that looked sleepy but affectionate.
She frowned—who in the world…?
Then it came back to her. The Rogue Cyborg…the way she had Linked with him in the Lab and then showered with him and slept with him. She really was breaking every rule in the book with this new Unit…yet it seemed to be exactly what he needed.
And speaking of the rulebook, she wanted to get up and read more of the ancient manual she’d found online the night before. Only she hated to leave the warmth of the bed.
It was surprising how comfortable she felt with him, she thought. Even back when she’d been with her ex, it had taken some time to get used to sharing a bed. But with K-lx it just felt…right.
“Good morning,” she murmured, cuddling closer to the big Cyborg’s side for a moment. God, he was so warm. And he smelled so good too. That spicy, masculine scent seemed to invade her senses and make her want to do more than just cuddle—which would be completely inappropriate, of course.
But as nice as it felt to snuggle with her new Cyborg, Corinne knew she had a full day today—lying around in bed wasn’t going to make a dent in her workload. Reluctantly, she sat up and went to pull on some clothes.
K-lx lay there, watching her with half-lidded eyes.
“You’re beautiful today, Mistress,” he rumbled.
For some silly reason, Corinne felt herself blushing.
“Thank you, K-lx but you don’t have to say that,” she said, as she pulled on a new undershirt and panties and then grabbed a coverall to go over them. “I realize one of your programmers must have put a flattery protocol somewhere in your programming but?—”
“There’s no ‘flattery protocol.’” K-lx frowned. “I just like the way you look. I love your shape and the way your hair falls over your shoulders and the way you move. You’re fucking gorgeous, Mistress—I can’t help noticing.”
“Oh, well…”
Corinne cleared her throat. She had never been looked at or spoken to the way the big K-Unit was looking and speaking her—not by another Cyborg and not by a human male—not even one she was dating. She found herself flustered all over again…but it was a good kind of flustered. Her heart was pounding and her cheeks were hot with another blush.
“K-lx really, you shouldn’t talk like that. It’s inappropriate,” she said.
“You’re beautiful,” he rumbled again. “I might be a Cyborg but I’m a male first—I can’t help looking at you and seeing what I see.”
“All right, K-lx. Thank you,” she said firmly, trying to cover the way his comments flustered her. “But for now, we need to get some work done. Er, you can put back on your uniform trousers and boots and I guess I can replicate you a shirt.” Her little replicator was getting quite a work-out lately.
“All right, Mistress.”
He got up and then—to her surprise—neatly made the bed. That was certainly something no male she’d ever slept with had done voluntarily.
Not that I actually slept with him, she reminded herself. We just slept in the same bed.
She would never actually have sex with a Cyborg—even if one was sexually functional like K-lx. It would be going so far outside the bounds of professional propriety, the very idea was unthinkable.
Yet, she couldn’t help returning in her mind to the way he had come so hard for her in the shower and the pleasure she took in touching his big, hard, muscular body. Also, the comfort of sleeping in his arms. For some reason even the metal overlays on his big body were warm to the touch—not cold as they were with any other Cyborg.
My, my—for someone who would never, ever sleep with a Cyborg, you certainly are thinking of your new K-Unit a lot…and not in a scientific way, a critical little voice whispered in her head. And you didn’t mind jerking him off last night or sleeping in his arms either.
I had to do that—the manual said to! Corinne argued with the voice. Then she pushed it away. She was too busy to deal with this silly, misplaced guilt right now. She was doing what she had to in order to keep her new Cyborg in line—she refused to feel bad about that.
To take her mind off the events of yesterday, Corinne quickly replicated a shirt in her new Cyborg’s size and ordered K-lx to do some silent, internal reviews to set his responses in order. Then, since they still had thirty minutes until it was time to assemble for breakfast in the canteen, she sat down to read more of the manual. She scrolled through it until she found a section called Necessary Care and Maintenance of your Cyborg and began to read.
Please be aware that while all your Cyborg’s memories have been wiped, there is the possibility of some of the more troubling or traumatic reminisces bleeding back into his consciousness, most often in the form of dreams while he sleeps, the manual warned. If this begins to happen or if he complains of a dry throat or feeling thirsty all the time, you must take action at once. Allowing these “bad memory dreams” to continue can lead to aggressive or deadly outbursts and degradation of his programming. Essentially, he will lose himself in his own past and may become violent and dangerous.
Corinne’s eyes widened as she read. Crap! She hoped it wasn’t too late to reverse this process—she ought to have read the whole manual before. Quickly, she read on.
Luckily, there is an easy fix for this problem. When your Cyborg has a bad memory dream, he simply needs a dose of DEE or Dream Elimination Elixir which you can produce yourself.
