How farcouldthey progress?
This did not have the feel of the basic animal instinct to attempt to procreate. If that was the case, then it should not matter to them what female they fucked so long as she was physically appealing and seemed a reasonably good candidate for bearing offspring. Was there biological significance in their choice and their aggressive determination? Or was it an emotional attachment? Or both?
Up until the brawl the day before, he had thought it nothing more than the basic animal instinct—and a primitive underdeveloped one at that. They had had very little actual experience of pleasure of any kind, let alone sexual, and had little more than their programmed responses to even have an inkling of what it was. His own first experience was in the cessation of pain. He had known far more pain than anything else and had not known what to do beyond endure and hope that it would stop or he would die and he would no longer have awareness of it. The cessation of pain had been the most wonderful thing he had ever felt when he had first experienced it.
Warmth after being half frozen had been more torture than pleasure, but it had reached pleasure after a while. The feeling of a full belly or even any food to stop the gnawing hunger had brought a sense of pleasure, and then taste.
He could fully appreciate a desperation to feel and enjoy anything of pleasure after so much suffering and pain and he had considered that that might actually be more of a motivation to fuck than an instinct to try to procreate. After all, they all knew it wassupposedto be pleasurable.
If that was the case, though, it seemed they would have chosen from among their own kind. Their females had been programmed as pleasure droids. Three had actual experience in utilizing their programming and would have had AI to assist them in learning more.
Why the determination to have a human, especially when they had to be aware that she not only did not have the programming, but she had had little opportunity to learn as humans did?
And it was not merely her own crew that seemed grimly determined to get hold of her. Far too many of his own crewmen had their eye on her for his comfort.
Hewas drawn to her and he did not quite understand that.
Unless it was because they all sensed that she was the only female among them capable of reproducing?
He hardly dared even to allow his mind to formulate a theory as to the possible biological significance of it and yet Chloe, herself, had voiced the question he hadn’t dared ask himself.
Couldthey procreate? Or was it possible that they were evolving to that point, at least? Or was it nothing more than urges that they had developed that they would never see to fruition? It was the last that disturbed him the most. It would be the cruelest twist of fate if they were to have awareness only to realize that they were still little more than machines—with no true purpose and no real future. A species that could not perpetuate itself might as well be nothing more than rock. It was certainly not a true species. It only mimicked life.
Realizing finally that the men were still waiting for an answer, he flicked another look at them, stern, daring them to breach military protocol whether they were under his command or not. “I will give your request consideration,” he responded finally. “The objective of this exercise is to quell unrest and boost morale. You are not the only ones who have an interest in Chloe—and she agreed to join the pool. It would not suit my needs, or the good of all, to make a swift decision that could potentially create more disharmony.”
The men glanced at one another after they had saluted and left. “Plan B,” Jared said grimly.
* * * *
Chloe supposed she should just be glad that they had tables to set their trays on and chairs to sit in to eat their meals. She’d been pretty convinced when she’d surveyed the disaster area that it couldn’t be put back together again. The chairs hadn’t been particularly comfortable to start with, though, and they were even more uncomfortable now besides being wobbly and out of whack so that they didn’t sit flat on the floor anymore.
Of course some of that might have been due to dents in the floor. She’d noticed a number of them—and the walls. They were fortunate that the mess hall wasn’t near the hull or they might have had a hull breach!
She wasn’t particularly interested in lingering in the mess hall anyway—especially not that night. She’d managed to get herself all worked up, or at least bolstered to deal with the situation, only to discover that her first night had been put off until further notice—that being until the cyborgs repaired all the damage from the brawl.
She thought, if she could just make it through her first, she wouldn’t be as jittery. It was the waiting that was grinding her nerves down to nothing. Well, that and a complete lack of confidence—and fear of the unknown.
It was all very well for them to claim pleasure droid programming, but none of them had ever actually accessed it that she knew of. When would they have had the chance? And it was going to be hell if one of them arrived that didn’t know any more about it than she did—awkward, embarrassing, and probably not the least bit satisfying to either party! Not that she was worried about being satisfied herself. She thought she was going to be too scared shitless to actually enjoy it, but it would’ve been less worrisome if she could’ve convinced herself that her partner would at least get some satisfaction out of it.
She’d been convinced from what Reuel had told her that she’d mistaken the reason Damon had behaved the way he had the morning after they’d had sex together. If she hadn’t had so much time to dwell on it, she might not have been able to make the circuit all the way around to her initial concern. Unfortunately, she had and she was more convinced the second time around that she’d been right to start with. Reuel could only have been speaking in generalization. He didn’t know what had happened, so he wasn’t in any position to actually judge it for himself. That still might have been alright except that she remembered Damon had fallen asleep after their first time, or at least feigned sleep. So maybe he’d just been tired afterward?
She hadn’t actually gotten the chance to be around him enough since then to form any other impressions. Even though Damon hadn’t taken part in the actual brawl, at least not after he’d dragged her out of it, he’d been expected to help with the clean up and repairs.
She was almost relieved that it prevented her from asking, or trying to subtly pry the information out of him. She wasn’t certain that she really wanted to know the truth, especially if the truth hurt.
She’d studied up, though. Despite the time she’d spent with Reuel searching for the perfect place to stock the ship and pouring over star charts in an effort to figure out the location of their target colony planet, she’d had enough free time to take a crash course on sex education. She wassureshe was prepared to make a much better impression the next time around even if she had flunked the first time.
It was just unnerving as hell having to wait! If she could’ve just jumped right in, she knew she would’ve been able to remember everything and then she wouldn’t have had time for doubts to begin to shake her confidence in her prowess again.
Reuel rose from his chair. Even as he opened his mouth to speak, Kane bolted from his own seat and headed toward the exit at a brisk walk. “Halt!” Reuel growled.
Kane tensed, started to take another step and apparently thought better of it. He turned to look at Reuel questioningly.
Reuel’s eyes narrowed. “Where are you headed in such a hurry, soldier?”
Kane saluted. “The latrine, Sir!”
Reuel’s lips twitched but it would’ve been hard to say whether it was an angry tick or a flicker of amusement. “I suggest you hold it for a bit. I intend to address the crew—the entire crew.”
