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| April Fools for Love |
Welcome to the SFR Station April Fools for Love event! I'm super excited to be a part of this blog hop, as fools in love are so fun to read and write. For my entry in this event, I've decided to include an excerpt from my Fracture War series work in progress.
This particular excerpt shows two characters, Ander and Zerra, as they are starting to admit to themselves that they like each other. They are mechanical beings in opposite factions, Gathons vs Skellyds, of a civil war that is tearing their planet, Beryl, apart. They first met after a horrific event both factions have dubbed 'The Vega Massacre.' During the massacre, Zerra lost her core-mate, her lifelong partner. As a result, she is suffering from an imbalance in her systems that could eventually kill her. The events of the following excerpt occur many years after her mate's death.
Both are doctors, but Zerra finds herself as a patient of Ander's. She tries to hide her true ailing condition from him, but he figures it out and does the most extreme procedure a Beryllian doctor could perform on a fellow Beryllian patient. He connects his own systems with hers in order to try and re-write the corrupted coding that is making her severely ill. In doing so, he finds that she is also suffering from extreme energy deprivation and transfers all his energy to her in order to keep her functioning.
She thinks he's a fool for going to such great lengths to help her and he thinks she's a fool for believing she doesn't deserve to live.
Without further ado, on to the excerpt! Check out the posts of all the wonderful authors listed above. My excerpt runs a little long, so if you're in a hurry now, you could come back later. The event lasts all month long! Browse around all the posts at your leisure and enter in the Rafflecopter giveaway below.
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Zerra came out of quiescence with a start. She was disoriented. Someone's hand rested on her chest-plating and she could feel ex-vented air near her audio. The weight of the hand felt nice. The next thing she realized was that she was not in pain. Yet, she knew she wasn't waking from a nightmare and that this wasn't her core-mate, as the intense lonely void of losing Gren was still an abyss in her core. Taking air into her own vents, she turned her head to look at whoever it was.
It was Ander. The events of the previous cycle hit her processor all at once...Ander finding her and, doing nothing less than what would be expected of any doctor, helping her. Not sure if she was grateful or not, her pump raced. She would have died if he hadn't established full integration.
Wouldn't she rather be dead? Though, she did feel better after having been able to get some sleep and the fact that he was blocking the pain was a welcome change.
Still fully connected, she could feel traces of his core through the connection. Without a core bond, she would never be able to feel his core fully, but she could catch a sense of it through a full interface such as the one they had. His core was so different from her core-mate's, yet strangely comforting.
Zerra's next alarming thought was what he might have accessed while she was in such a vulnerable state. She had been entirely too weak to block anything from him. She quickly ran a systems check to see what all he'd done. What she found surprised her.
Other than what he needed to help repair her failing systems, he didn't access anything at all. He didn't try to find any useful information that could be used against the Skellyds. He didn't look at one memory. All he got was what couldn't be avoided, since thoughts always drifted through integrated connections. He hadn't even taken advantage of her. Not one line of pleasure code had been touched.
Most Skellyds she knew would have jumped at the chance. A Skell would have helped her, but he would have taken what he wanted for his trouble. Maybe Gathons were more honorable, maybe they weren't, but she didn't feel at all as violated as she thought she'd feel while integrated with one.
Of course, having been a Skellyd, she didn't feel compelled, as Ander obviously did, not to sneak a peak at a few things. She didn't like the idea of someone snooping around her files, but she wasn't against doing it herself. Like she said to Miaxa, she never said she wasn't a hypocrite.
Zerra just wanted to get a sense of who Ander truly was. She would respect his memories and leave them alone, just as he had done for her, though the temptation was undeniable.
She accessed a directory on his characterization. Ander held a deep seeded love for every Gathon. He became attached to them, breaking every emotional rule of being a battlefield doctor. He possessed a gentle core that few rarely saw. To his patients, he seemed detached from them, but it was all just a facade that hid his true compassionate nature. He had just the right amount of balance between doing whatever it took to save someone as a function of his programming, even if the method was extreme, and caring about that being while he did it.
Ander was good at what he did and he knew it. He possessed a deep sense that he could improve or prolong Beryllian lives immeasurably. All they needed to do was just listen to him and follow his instructions exactly. Therein lied the source of his problems, as nobody ever listens to their doctor. That's why he was so rough with his patients. He had ways to make them listen, or, in the very least, make them wish they had listened.
If Zerra had never bonded, she was certain that she could have come to love this mech. She found that she was comfortable in that admission to herself. She truly loved and held dearly to Gren, but he was now gone, through events that neither one of them had any control over. She would never dishonor his memory and she would probably lose her life because of his loss, but she knew, without a doubt, that if circumstances presented themselves, he would not want her to be forced to die alone.
None of this was what she ever wanted, but this was where she was and she never imagined that she would find herself falling for a Gathon.
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Ander felt...warm. It was a soothing warmth that permeated his entire being. He knew he was recovering from an energy dump, but he never felt this good after having done so before. In fact, he didn't recall ever feeling good at all after a full energy transfer.
He drew the source of the warmth closer to his frame, then felt warm caressing digits on his face-plates.
"Ander, you fool," he heard a voice say. It was cold, biting even, but the presence within it was warm.
The warm presence had a warm frame and he pulled it ever closer to himself, sighing softly, contentedly, as an audio brushed across his mouth-plates.
"You comfortable?" the voice asked next, a twinge of sarcasm behind it.
Ander's optics snapped open in a moment of recognition, his disorientation dissolving in a rush of sobriety.
He released her immediately. "Quantus," he chastised himself before saying, "Zerra, I'm sorry."
He made a motion to sit up and then realized that they were still attached, dizziness threatening him as he hadn't fully recovered from the transfer.
"It's okay," Zerra assured. "Lay back down. You're going to offline yourself."
Extreme embarrassment for snuggling against her so shamelessly poured through the connection.
Zerra raised her optic ridges at him, "Don't be so embarrassed. I was feeding the feeling." A mischievous smile graced her mouth-plates as he ascertained that she had accessed a pleasure center to make him feel nice and warm when he woke up.
"You were what?" Ander wasn't sure whether to be ecstatic that the full integration and energy transfer helped her or angry for the violation.
He immediately disconnected from her central processor to keep any thoughts away from her.
"Damn you and your Gathon honor," she snapped, her central processor connection to him coming free as well.
"It's not about honor, Zerra," Ander replied. "It's about trust."
They glared at each other for a long moment. She didn't regret making him feel good, and he found that he didn't really regret it either. He just didn't know how to handle these feelings he was having towards her, towards a bonded mech. Sure, her core-mate was dead, but she was still bonded. He knew what she couldn't give him.
A spasm wracked her systems and she winced as the pain spiked beyond what Ander was capable of blocking with the current code. The doctor in him kicked in again and he dove through the connection; scanning, analyzing, searching until he found the source to re-write the code.
"Better?" he asked, once her shaking subsided.
She simply nodded, watching him as he struggled with his emotions. He was afraid of losing her, yet he knew the inevitable.
As soon as he was sure that she was stable and he had recovered enough not to feel dizzy every time he sat up, he went to disconnect their data cables.
"I should go check on Bazin and Miaxa," he said softly, though he knew Zerra could see through the connection that it was just an excuse.
She clapped her hand over the integrated cabling, effectively keeping him from breaking the connection.
"No, wait," she said, quickly stamping down a slight sense of panic.
They were too integrated for Ander not to catch it. She really needed to feel someone close, some assurance that she wasn't alone, just to have someone to be there with her, on the inside and outside of her being.
"Please stay," she said, a bit more composed this time. "Just for a little while. I would," she hesitated, "really like the company."
Ander nodded, leaving the connection in place as he pulled her hand to his chest. Laying back down, he didn't say anything and just held her.
Zerra wasn't alone. She wouldn't be alone again for as long as she lived.
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Zerra came out of quiescence with a start. She was disoriented. Someone's hand rested on her chest-plating and she could feel ex-vented air near her audio. The weight of the hand felt nice. The next thing she realized was that she was not in pain. Yet, she knew she wasn't waking from a nightmare and that this wasn't her core-mate, as the intense lonely void of losing Gren was still an abyss in her core. Taking air into her own vents, she turned her head to look at whoever it was.
It was Ander. The events of the previous cycle hit her processor all at once...Ander finding her and, doing nothing less than what would be expected of any doctor, helping her. Not sure if she was grateful or not, her pump raced. She would have died if he hadn't established full integration.
Wouldn't she rather be dead? Though, she did feel better after having been able to get some sleep and the fact that he was blocking the pain was a welcome change.
Still fully connected, she could feel traces of his core through the connection. Without a core bond, she would never be able to feel his core fully, but she could catch a sense of it through a full interface such as the one they had. His core was so different from her core-mate's, yet strangely comforting.
Zerra's next alarming thought was what he might have accessed while she was in such a vulnerable state. She had been entirely too weak to block anything from him. She quickly ran a systems check to see what all he'd done. What she found surprised her.
Other than what he needed to help repair her failing systems, he didn't access anything at all. He didn't try to find any useful information that could be used against the Skellyds. He didn't look at one memory. All he got was what couldn't be avoided, since thoughts always drifted through integrated connections. He hadn't even taken advantage of her. Not one line of pleasure code had been touched.
Most Skellyds she knew would have jumped at the chance. A Skell would have helped her, but he would have taken what he wanted for his trouble. Maybe Gathons were more honorable, maybe they weren't, but she didn't feel at all as violated as she thought she'd feel while integrated with one.
Of course, having been a Skellyd, she didn't feel compelled, as Ander obviously did, not to sneak a peak at a few things. She didn't like the idea of someone snooping around her files, but she wasn't against doing it herself. Like she said to Miaxa, she never said she wasn't a hypocrite.
Zerra just wanted to get a sense of who Ander truly was. She would respect his memories and leave them alone, just as he had done for her, though the temptation was undeniable.
She accessed a directory on his characterization. Ander held a deep seeded love for every Gathon. He became attached to them, breaking every emotional rule of being a battlefield doctor. He possessed a gentle core that few rarely saw. To his patients, he seemed detached from them, but it was all just a facade that hid his true compassionate nature. He had just the right amount of balance between doing whatever it took to save someone as a function of his programming, even if the method was extreme, and caring about that being while he did it.
Ander was good at what he did and he knew it. He possessed a deep sense that he could improve or prolong Beryllian lives immeasurably. All they needed to do was just listen to him and follow his instructions exactly. Therein lied the source of his problems, as nobody ever listens to their doctor. That's why he was so rough with his patients. He had ways to make them listen, or, in the very least, make them wish they had listened.
If Zerra had never bonded, she was certain that she could have come to love this mech. She found that she was comfortable in that admission to herself. She truly loved and held dearly to Gren, but he was now gone, through events that neither one of them had any control over. She would never dishonor his memory and she would probably lose her life because of his loss, but she knew, without a doubt, that if circumstances presented themselves, he would not want her to be forced to die alone.
None of this was what she ever wanted, but this was where she was and she never imagined that she would find herself falling for a Gathon.
88888888888888
Ander felt...warm. It was a soothing warmth that permeated his entire being. He knew he was recovering from an energy dump, but he never felt this good after having done so before. In fact, he didn't recall ever feeling good at all after a full energy transfer.
He drew the source of the warmth closer to his frame, then felt warm caressing digits on his face-plates.
"Ander, you fool," he heard a voice say. It was cold, biting even, but the presence within it was warm.
The warm presence had a warm frame and he pulled it ever closer to himself, sighing softly, contentedly, as an audio brushed across his mouth-plates.
"You comfortable?" the voice asked next, a twinge of sarcasm behind it.
Ander's optics snapped open in a moment of recognition, his disorientation dissolving in a rush of sobriety.
He released her immediately. "Quantus," he chastised himself before saying, "Zerra, I'm sorry."
He made a motion to sit up and then realized that they were still attached, dizziness threatening him as he hadn't fully recovered from the transfer.
"It's okay," Zerra assured. "Lay back down. You're going to offline yourself."
Extreme embarrassment for snuggling against her so shamelessly poured through the connection.
Zerra raised her optic ridges at him, "Don't be so embarrassed. I was feeding the feeling." A mischievous smile graced her mouth-plates as he ascertained that she had accessed a pleasure center to make him feel nice and warm when he woke up.
"You were what?" Ander wasn't sure whether to be ecstatic that the full integration and energy transfer helped her or angry for the violation.
He immediately disconnected from her central processor to keep any thoughts away from her.
"Damn you and your Gathon honor," she snapped, her central processor connection to him coming free as well.
"It's not about honor, Zerra," Ander replied. "It's about trust."
They glared at each other for a long moment. She didn't regret making him feel good, and he found that he didn't really regret it either. He just didn't know how to handle these feelings he was having towards her, towards a bonded mech. Sure, her core-mate was dead, but she was still bonded. He knew what she couldn't give him.
A spasm wracked her systems and she winced as the pain spiked beyond what Ander was capable of blocking with the current code. The doctor in him kicked in again and he dove through the connection; scanning, analyzing, searching until he found the source to re-write the code.
"Better?" he asked, once her shaking subsided.
She simply nodded, watching him as he struggled with his emotions. He was afraid of losing her, yet he knew the inevitable.
As soon as he was sure that she was stable and he had recovered enough not to feel dizzy every time he sat up, he went to disconnect their data cables.
"I should go check on Bazin and Miaxa," he said softly, though he knew Zerra could see through the connection that it was just an excuse.
She clapped her hand over the integrated cabling, effectively keeping him from breaking the connection.
"No, wait," she said, quickly stamping down a slight sense of panic.
They were too integrated for Ander not to catch it. She really needed to feel someone close, some assurance that she wasn't alone, just to have someone to be there with her, on the inside and outside of her being.
"Please stay," she said, a bit more composed this time. "Just for a little while. I would," she hesitated, "really like the company."
Ander nodded, leaving the connection in place as he pulled her hand to his chest. Laying back down, he didn't say anything and just held her.
Zerra wasn't alone. She wouldn't be alone again for as long as she lived.
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Kyndra Hatch is the author of 'The Stranger,' a science fiction romance short story published in "Tales from the SFR Brigade." 'The Stranger' was the 2014 SFR Galaxy Award winner for Outstanding Debut Story.
You can find more short stories by Kyndra Hatch on QuarterReads at:
https://quarterreads.com/writer.php?id=13
Prize details: Grand Prize: $75 gc + 16 ebooks 2nd runner up: $25 gc + 12 ebooks 3rd runner up: $25 gc + 8 ebooks Rafflecopter a Rafflecopter giveaway
Sweet! trust between robots.
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked it. :)
DeleteGreat excerpt!
ReplyDeleteThank you! =D
DeleteMechanical beings falling in love? SOLD! *pulls up a chair and waits impatiently for your publication*
ReplyDeleteSQUEE!!! I'm so glad you like it! Wow, your comment is a real motivator. Thank you! The only problem I'm having with this series is where to start. There is so much going on in it that it's hard to know what part should go where involving who, etc., etc.
DeleteRobots! Androids! Wary but interested. I love it. Imagine the "logical" fights. Tee hee.
ReplyDelete"Wary but interested." I'll take it! So glad you liked the excerpt. And, lol, many are not as logical as it would seem. Thank you for reading and commenting!
DeleteMechanical beings in love. Sounds like a fun story! Great excerpt.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much!
DeleteExcellent excerpt, loved how you took what might be written in a romance about humans and beautifully translated it to how robots might experience the sensations.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I try to make it different, but relatable.
DeleteHey, everyone, even mechanical beings should have the right to love.
ReplyDeleteAnd so fun to write!
DeleteEnjoyed the excerpt. Good luck getting your story finished, Kyndra!
ReplyDeleteSo glad you enjoyed it. :) Thank you!
Delete