“No,” Seth growled. “You need that.”
She did but all of the cyborgs were far bigger than their human counterparts and they needed food for fuel just the same as the humans did—except they needed more. “It doesn’t take as much to keep me going.”
“We have sufficient for our needs.”
Danika studied Seth uncomfortably. She knew it was a lie. The cyborgs had been out on patrol when Master Sgt. Felton had ordered the last of the food stores divided up—among the humans. It had been completely calculated. As soon as the food stores had gotten so low they were counting rations in days rather than weeks, the men had begun to complain about sharing what little was left with the cyborgs. Master Sgt. Felton’s response, although he hadn’t announced it, was to make sure the cyborgs weren’t in camp when rations were passed out.
“Maybe we should try our hand at hunting?” Before they got any weaker.
Seth frowned. “We were not programmed for hunting.”
Danika chuckled. “Fortunately for us, I was.”
Dane stared at her doubtfully. “You were programmed also?”
The question made her uncomfortable for some unfathomable reason. An odd sort of pity welled inside her. For the first time, she ‘stepped into his shoes’ and saw the world through his eyes, or at least imagined that she could to an extent. What was it like for them to have no past, she wondered? Hers wasn’t terribly wonderful, but she had one. She could remember some of the highlights of her childhood. Of course, she also remembered the bad things—maybe more of those than good, but she’d learned from everything that had happened. And she knew from her own experiences that being told wasn’t at all the same as experience.
Case in point—all the battle simulations she’d done. She knew she couldn’t really die with the simulations, though. Once she’d arrived on Xeno-12 she hadn’t thought about a lot else—there wererealbodies all over the field and there wasrealpain when she got shot—except the lack of food.
She managed a smile. “Not the way you’re thinking, no. I’m an off-worlder, though,” she added wryly. “Guess you guys didn’t know I was from one of the ‘backwards, uncivilized’ colonies? Supply ships never arrived when expected and even when they did, they didn’t have half of the things we’d sent for. We had to make do, mostly, with what was available and that meant hunting for food. I never particularly liked it, mind you, but I was the oldest so I had to help Pop with the hunting when I wasn’t helping Mom with the household chores.”
Seth frowned, his gaze flickering over her face speculatively. “You were unhappy? This is why you became a soldier?”
Danika snorted. “Actually, Iwashappy.” She chuckled wryly. “I just didn’t know it until I became a soldier.” She grimaced. “I guess sometimes you don’t know how to appreciate something until it’s gone.” She got up, brushing the snow from her suit, hoping to distract them since she didn’t really want to talk about her life before anymore—or think about it. “But I didn’tdecideto become a soldier. My number came up.”
“I do not understand,” Niles said curiously. “How did your ‘number come up’?”
Danika sighed. “The confederation conscripts outworlders when they need soldiers. I guess they figure that the colonists are more suited since they’re so uncivilized to start with. I don’t know. They just arrived and took me. Pop wasn’t happy about it. He objected, so they knocked him out with a stun gun and took me anyway. I figured I’d jump ship and take off before they could get me off-world but apparently a lot of ‘volunteers’ do that because they locked us in the hold.
“I would’ve tried after we got to training camp except there wasn’t anywhere to go. And they shot deserters when they tracked them down. Sooo, I decided being a soldier beat the hell out of dead.”
She frowned. “Guess I was just putting it off, though.”
“So you had no choice in becoming a soldier either,” Seth said flatly.
The discomfort and sadness wafted through her again. Danika tried to banish it with humor. “I suppose you would have preferred assignment as a pleasure droid?”
Seth reddened and she was immediately sorry she’d said it.
“We have the programming,” Dane announced. “I think that I would have preferred that, yes. I do not care for this soldiering. It is hellish cold and there is no food and I do not particularly like it when the enemy puts holes in me. If I had been assigned as a pleasure droid then I would only be fucking all day or perhaps all night and I am sure that would be better.”
Danika sent Dane a long look, trying to drag her mind from the images that instantly leapt into her mind. She wondered if those images would have danced in her mind if she hadn’t gotten a really good look at his body—no doubt in her mind, unfortunately, that they were designed for a woman’s pleasure! Beautifully sculpted chests, arms, bellies rippling with muscle and a ‘love muscle’ that was damned impressive.
“It’s infectious,” she muttered uncomfortably, trying to dismiss the edgy warmth that had invaded her.
“What is infectious?” Seth asked curiously.
Danika cleared her throat. “Apparently nobody can get their mind off of sex.”
“Youare thinking about sex?” Dane asked, clearly surprised. “Because I have thought a very great deal about sex for a long time now.”
Seth punched him on the shoulder, glaring at him.
Danika rolled her eyes. “Men!” It was already out of her mouth before it dawned on her that they weren’t men. They were cyborgs and they shouldn’t bethinkingat all, let alone being as preoccupied with sex as the human males!
Shewasn’t preoccupied! Granted the conversation had gotten her warm—well, the images her mind had conjured had, but she had other needs that preoccupied her alotmore than thoughts of getting laid!
But maybe she didn’t precisely understand AI? Maybe they’d ‘learned’ their behavior from the men—who were becoming increasingly vocal about their lack of action in that particular area.
