Now it’s a matter of the rest of it. Like crows circling a dead body, they will caw and pick away until the carcass is clean.
“Stella?” C’vest’s hand lightly covers mine on my thighs and I jerk away like he’s burned me. “Your hands are like ice,” he declares, his voice rising slightly, almost sounding concerned. “Stella,” he says, his tone becoming imploring when I don’t respond. “Listen to me. This is the most logical option.”
Logical. I want to snarl at him, but C’vest has always been this way. Either it’s his cyborg side or it's the alienness of him, but Baron has always said C’vest approaches the whole world differently. He’s analytical to the point of seeming cold sometimes.
Calmly, unaware of the depth of my turmoil, he continues, “If I could afford to buy you out, I would. But my money is tied up in my own ventures.”
“I could sell to someone else,” I offer faintly. Because I know it’s unlikely. Not many around here have the kind of capital to buy me out. And if they do, why would they? Why pay me when they could take me and then get everything for free?
“This is horrible,” I choke out.
C’vest looks like he genuinely agrees with me. “You are correct. And it isn’t right. But we can make the best of your options.”
Hollowly, I share, “I loved him.”
“I… know.” And C’vest does look sorry. He looks as sorry as an aquatic species of alien-turned-man can.
“I don’t love you,” I protest.
“I know that too.”
“I can’t do this!” I cry, boiling to my feet.
C’vest surges up too. To my shock, he takes me by my upper arms. His face is more animated than I’ve ever seen it. He’s scowling but not angry. He’s determined and everything in his face and posture is urgency. “Stella, you have to. You need to make a definitive decision, and you’re out of time to decide what that decision will be. Do you want to return to your home planet?”
“To my parents?” I’ve never been this close to C’vest before. For some reason, I always expected to catch the scent of fish on him, but it’s fresh ocean waves that hit me instead. He smells almost as good as sunning in the ocean breeze, feeling cool damp sand squeeze between my toes as I bury my feet to keep them from burning.
“If you like.”
I blink, thinking of my parents, who are back on Earth. Overcrowded, rioting Earth. Things have gone to hell there, making this place look like—if not paradise, then at least freer. I don’t want to go back—I tried to get my parents here. Where there’s space and quiet and opportunities to change yourself. No matter what my parents think, it’s not so bad here… as long as you aren’t a woman, that is. Maybe I should go home. But it’s going to cost a small fortune for the transport fare. Unfortunately, Baron never kept that sort of credit cache sitting around. Most of our money is on four hooves and moos. And sadly, I can’t just drive a herd of cattle up to the gate of the shuttleport and trade them for a ticket home. “I could try to sell what I have here, liquidate what I can.”
“Yes.”
And I would face the same problem: who here is going to pay me for anything when they can just take it?
“Damn it,” I whimper raggedly. I don’t want to go back to Earth, and even if I did, it’s doubtful I can make it happen. Nobody is going to help me when I’m the ticket for giving them what they want. My eyes pin C’vest’s. “I’m beginning to hate men.”
“I’ve never been so grateful not to have been born female,” he agrees, I think. His gaze plays over me in a way I’ve never seen before. It tightens the hairs on the back of my neck. It makes me wary.
I start to pull away from him. His grip slides from my arms… to my wrists. “Choose.”
I try to yank free of him, and can’t. He’s too strong. My heart begins to beat faster. “No.”
“No, what?”
“Just…” I can’t think!
C’vest’s eyes darken to full black. “I’ve decided for you. Don’t fight me and I’ll do my best to make this good for you, Stella.”
CHAPTER 2
C’VEST
Stella’s wild eyes widen further, and her breath gasps from her parted lips. She thrashes to free herself, but I keep her pinned at her wrists, transferring both of hers to one of my hands so I can work the tongue free of my belt.
Being that my belt holds my multi-chambered revolving cylinder pistol, which is six pounds of steel and carbon fiber, it’s swift in hitting the floor. The way Stella growls, I know that if she escapes now, it will be a race to stop her from wielding those six pounds and shooting me.
“NO!” Stella begins to shout. Blistering curses follow.
While she vents her displeasure and attempts to escape the upcoming event, I manage to loosen the row of button fastenings that free my organ enough for the purpose it’s about to be used for.
I’ve never partaken in coital relations before. Prior to this marriage-sealing encounter, I’ve never needed to, and never felt compelled to explore any interest.
As a Yonderin, I’m a species who rears the next generation in underwater laboratories. My kind doesn’t breed; we reproduce through samples of genetic material being combined in petri dishes. I don’t know any of my kind who copulate like humans. At one time we must have though. And for Stella, I’m going to have to rely on whatever early-ancestral instincts I possess.
So far, my organ is not responding, which I expected. It has never responded, not to any stimuli. Which has always been fine by me. However, circumstances have changed, and I must needs adapt.
I possess electroreceptors, a throwback characteristic for capturing prey in my natural environment. I can detect electrical fields, and find, say, starfish hidden in the sand.
I can also look at a wall and see the energy field of another man on the other side.
I can see into a man’s brain, and watch his segments activate. It’s a useful tool, for hunting men, for avoiding men. And as far as brain-viewing goes, it’s particularly advantageous to watch a skull’s activity. There’s been more than one deal Baron and I walked away from when a man would make one statement, but the lobe for the opposite function in his brain fired up.
Stella’s skull is alight with panic. But I believe I can access the chamber of her brain responsible for excitatory neural activity. By accident and some trial and much error, I’ve learned I can use a sort of extrasensory force to tap parts of the human cerebrum and beyond. I’m hoping to tap the right spot on hers, to trigger her switch, if you will. I want to engineer the most palatable outcome: I want her to orgasm. Although there is no simple one-step press of a button to make that happen, I am certain I can affect her in positive ways to best accomplish our goals. And although she’s not in the right mindset at the moment, they are our goals. What I’m proposing is the best solution for her circumstances.
Regrettably, I can’t rely on her to see these things with sound reasoning at the moment.
Despite this, I want her to experience the rush of chemicals that will make her body most receptive to invasion, and I want to soften her feelings of intense fear. I don’t want to change what she’s thinking; I simply don’t want her to suffer as this is happening.