“One of the waterships turned up last week between my settlement and Crestalview. It was one of Charlene's. There wasn't much left and there was no body, but we suspect the worker came upon a storm and wasn't able to close up the ship or...”
“Or?” Netto prompted.
“Or that he was attacked. It has nothing to do with the crops. It’s tragic but unrelated and I trust Charlene has reported it to the authorities outside our jurisdiction.”
“Take me to it.”
“Why?” Her father frowned and his eyes narrowed.
“I want to see it for myself,” Netto said.
“Da's right. I shouldn’t have mentioned it, it doesn’t have anything to do with—” Rylie interjected but stopped. Netto looked at her and it was the first time his eyes had gone stone cold. It drew her back, and even the heat that he released couldn't stop the shiver that chilled her soul. She licked her lips and tasted salt.
“I promised I would protect you.”
She waited for him to say more but he didn't. Da nodded and changed the direction of the ship. No one spoke after that, the quiet anger coming off of Netto enough to intimidate her into silence. It wasn't long before the other Cyborg joined them.
When she saw Zeph, she took that as her cue to get ready for the day. Rylie sidestepped him and fled below, intent to wash the brine from her lips.
***
NETTO HAD NO CONTROLover his emotions. The tension he had felt the day before only continued throughout the night and into the morning. Although the wounds incurred from his partner were healed, it had taken longer than it usually did. His muscles were tense, his back rigid, and his hands kept clenching and unclenching.
He had slept, but stayed on the top deck for the duration of the night. Netto didn't trust himself down below, knowing that Rylie was mere feet away from him and that he wouldn't be able to follow where she went.
The soft brush of her lips against his cheek had been the most affectionate experience of his life; the willing touch of the female, given freely and tenderly. Where Rylie’s sister faked her desires, Rylie came before him genuine...sincere.
Netto had fought alongside women during the war, spoken with them as well, and even been desired once or twice by a woman but that desire abated when he opened his mouth. Back then, he was more of a shark, and his creators—his parents—had let his human and shark DNA grow into the man he was, which included his unusual blue-grey skin and a double set of razor-sharp teeth.
In those days, he didn't yet have a tongue. He had been a land shark in every sense of the word, and humans —even Cyborgs— were taken aback when he opened his mouth. When the war ended, he had chosen to have a tongue attached to his body. Using the funds he had accrued as a soldier, he paid the cybernetics doctors to build the appendage and include the sense of taste.
He knew he was attractive, having been told that his face was strong, his eyes intriguing, and his dimples when he smiled endearing. He was built with the strength to lift three times his size and the height to look down upon those he deemed enemies, but he wasn't built with a personality that encouraged companionship.
Rylie didn't seem to care about his demeanor and it made him want to claim her all the more for it.
He wanted to have her in front of him, beneath him, on top of him. Netto wanted her in his hands, over his face, he wanted his nose buried in her hair. He wanted to get high off of her scent. He wanted her to kiss him again.
He lifted his hand and rubbed his cheek.
“We’re almost there,” Montihan said.
Several hours had gone by since they left the agri-lot this morning. Netto looked up and over the water, seeing the mainland come into view and the long strips of beach. It was disjointed by bluffs and rocks and, as they approached, he saw the trees or something like them sprout out from the water, as if parts of the beach were nothing more than a drowned forest. The air reeked of fish, sweat, and the manufactured scent of recycled energy.
Lavender lingered as well but he filtered it out. The flowers were for Zeph and he didn't want the smell of the younger sister in his nose.
The thought of Zeph brought the man into view and Netto approached him from the bow.
“What do you think we’ll learn here?” Zeph asked. “I'm just as curious as you are but Montihan is right. One downed boat can't be what is making the nuggets not grow.”
Netto looked away from him and back at the incoming land. “There’s something off. The water doesn't feel right.”
Zeph nodded. “Spoiled.”
“Yes,” Netto agreed. “Spoiled.”
“Was it different when you were here last?” Zeph rubbed the back of his neck. Janet was sitting by her dad and Zeph kept looking toward her, but the girl didn't notice.
“Yes.”
