“Why would she not believe? She does not know that we are different now and that wecouldlie if we wished to!”
Kane lifted his head and stared at the door to the bridge, pondering the problem. “Mayhap we should show her? I have been thinking about it for some time now.”
“You also?” Jared asked, clearly surprised. “How long?”
Kane frowned. “Why does that matter?”
“I was only wondering if you had completed the change.”
Kane narrowed his eyes at him. “You are suggesting that I have not? Or that you are more advanced?”
Jared shrugged. “This is not the time to concern ourselves with such things! We should focus on thinking of an argument to convince her she does not need this god damned sexdroid! There is nothing that he is capable of that we are not also capable of. Mayhap we should ask her to detail what he did to please her and then convince her to allow us to demonstrate so that she can see we are as proficient in performing the same acts as he?”
“We could override the main computer and then show her that we are fully functional and capable of all the things the pleasure droids are,” Kane said somewhat hopefully.
“She willknow, then, that we are also rogues and she will turn us over to the company!”
“Well! I am not keen on collecting this gods damned sexdroid!Thenshe will fuck him and not us!”
“I do not believe I care for that possibility!” Jared said decisively. Turning, he stalked back onto the bridge, waiting until he had caught Chloe’s attention. “Captain Chloe,” he said, saluting her. “I would like to volunteer for the duty.”
Chloe stared at him blankly. “What duty?”
“I will access my pleasure droid programming and fuck you when ever you feel the need for sexual relief.”
Chloe’s jaw slid downward until her mouth had formed an O of surprise. She blinked at him a few times and finally smiled. Jared had just begun to relax fractionally when she chuckled. “Oh, that’s so sweet! I don’t really need to fuck right now, ok? We’ll talk about it later. Run along and secure the load, now.”
Jared frowned but, try as he might, he could not think of another argument likely to sway her. Saluting again, he returned to the corridor where Kane was waiting.
“You convinced her?”
“I do not think so,” Jared said slowly.
“Well! What did she say?”
“That she did not need to fuck right now.”
Kane considered that. “But she is considering it?”
“She did not seem to be against the idea,” Jared said finally. “She said we could talk about it later.”
“But she did not cancel the jump?” Kane said tightly.
Jared shrugged. “Short of taking over the ship—which might alert the very people we wish to avoid—I see no hope for it since it seems we cannot persuade her. We will pick up the sexdroid and then we will dispose of the fucking bastard.”
Chapter Two
Chloe’s nerves were totally frazzled by the time they’d made the third jump. The computer had announced that the ship had sustained damage after the second and suggested that it would be dangerous to take the third without waiting for repairs. She would’ve been willing to if Jared and Kane hadn’t informed her that repairs might take several days, but the sense of urgency riding her had decided the matter.
Relieved when they came through the third jump to discover she was still alive and the ship in one piece, she’d put Jared and Kane to work taking care of the repairs and advised the ship’s navigation computer that they would ‘limp’ onward while the repairs were made. They were moving at an agonizing snail’s pace, though, and she had the awful feeling that they were going to arrive too late to rescue Damon.
It gave her time to consider whether it was the smartest thing she’d ever thought to do—and she knew it wasn’t. It wasn’t actually rational if it came to that. If Damon had actually been arealman, it still would’ve been crazy. It had been years since she’d been with him and he’d been a paid lover—or at least, she’d paid the proprietor for his services.
It wasn’t as if it had been any sort of relationship at all.
And, of course, he was a cyborg.
He might even be defective and need to be returned.
