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CORINNE

Corinne woke up slowly and was surprised to find she wasn’t shivering. Usually she was freezing every morning because the station’s internal temperature dropped so low during the night. But this morning, she was toasty warm—almost hot, in fact. Why was that?

“Good morning, Mistress ,” a deep voice said.

Frowning, Corinne opened her eyes and looked up to see who was speaking. A man’s face was looking down at her—pale blue eyes that looked sleepy but affectionate.

She frowned—who in the world…?

Then it came back to her. The Rogue Cyborg …the way she had Linked with him in the Lab and then showered with him and slept with him. She really was breaking every rule in the book with this new Unit …yet it seemed to be exactly what he needed.

And speaking of the rulebook, she wanted to get up and read more of the ancient manual she’d found online the night before. Only she hated to leave the warmth of the bed.

It was surprising how comfortable she felt with him, she thought. Even back when she’d been with her ex, it had taken some time to get used to sharing a bed. But with K -lx it just felt…right.

“Good morning,” she murmured, cuddling closer to the big Cyborg’s side for a moment. God , he was so warm. And he smelled so good too. That spicy, masculine scent seemed to invade her senses and make her want to do more than just cuddle—which would be completely inappropriate, of course.

But as nice as it felt to snuggle with her new Cyborg , Corinne knew she had a full day today—lying around in bed wasn’t going to make a dent in her workload. Reluctantly , she sat up and went to pull on some clothes.

K-lx lay there, watching her with half-lidded eyes.

“You’re beautiful today, Mistress ,” he rumbled.

For some silly reason, Corinne felt herself blushing.

“Thank you, K -lx but you don’t have to say that,” she said, as she pulled on a new undershirt and panties and then grabbed a coverall to go over them. “ I realize one of your programmers must have put a flattery protocol somewhere in your programming but?—”

“There’s no ‘flattery protocol.’” K -lx frowned. “ I just like the way you look. I love your shape and the way your hair falls over your shoulders and the way you move. You’re fucking gorgeous, Mistress — I can’t help noticing.”

“Oh, well…”

Corinne cleared her throat. She had never been looked at or spoken to the way the big K - Unit was looking and speaking her—not by another Cyborg and not by a human male—not even one she was dating.

She found herself flustered all over again…

but it was a good kind of flustered. Her heart was pounding and her cheeks were hot with another blush.

“K-lx really, you shouldn’t talk like that. It’s inappropriate,” she said.

“You’re beautiful,” he rumbled again. “ I might be a Cyborg but I’m a male first— I can’t help looking at you and seeing what I see.”

“All right, K -lx. Thank you,” she said firmly, trying to cover the way his comments flustered her.

“ But for now, we need to get some work done. Er , you can put back on your uniform trousers and boots and I guess I can replicate you a shirt.” Her little replicator was getting quite a work-out lately.

“All right, Mistress .”

He got up and then—to her surprise—neatly made the bed. That was certainly something no male she’d ever slept with had done voluntarily.

Not that I actually slept with him, she reminded herself. We just slept in the same bed.

She would never actually have sex with a Cyborg —even if one was sexually functional like K -lx. It would be going so far outside the bounds of professional propriety, the very idea was unthinkable.

Yet, she couldn’t help returning in her mind to the way he had come so hard for her in the shower and the pleasure she took in touching his big, hard, muscular body.

Also , the comfort of sleeping in his arms. For some reason even the metal overlays on his big body were warm to the touch—not cold as they were with any other Cyborg .

My, my—for someone who would never, ever sleep with a Cyborg , you certainly are thinking of your new K - Unit a lot…and not in a scientific way, a critical little voice whispered in her head. And you didn’t mind jerking him off last night or sleeping in his arms either.

I had to do that—the manual said to! Corinne argued with the voice. Then she pushed it away. She was too busy to deal with this silly, misplaced guilt right now. She was doing what she had to in order to keep her new Cyborg in line—she refused to feel bad about that.

To take her mind off the events of yesterday, Corinne quickly replicated a shirt in her new Cyborg’s size and ordered K -lx to do some silent, internal reviews to set his responses in order.

Then , since they still had thirty minutes until it was time to assemble for breakfast in the canteen, she sat down to read more of the manual.

She scrolled through it until she found a section called Necessary Care and Maintenance of your Cyborg and began to read.

Please be aware that while all your Cyborg’s memories have been wiped, there is the possibility of some of the more troubling or traumatic reminisces bleeding back into his consciousness, most often in the form of dreams while he sleeps, the manual warned.

If this begins to happen or if he complains of a dry throat or feeling thirsty all the time, you must take action at once.

Allowing these “bad memory dreams” to continue can lead to aggressive or deadly outbursts and degradation of his programming.

Essentially , he will lose himself in his own past and may become violent and dangerous.

Corinne’s eyes widened as she read. Crap ! She hoped it wasn’t too late to reverse this process—she ought to have read the whole manual before. Quickly , she read on.

Luckily, there is an easy fix for this problem. When your Cyborg has a bad memory dream, he simply needs a dose of DEE or Dream Elimination Elixir which you can produce yourself.

Oh good! Corinne felt a rush of relief. There was an easy fix—the manual even said so!

“Okay, how do I make it?” she muttered, scrolling down some more.

She was looking for a list of chemicals or ingredients, and soon enough she found them.

There were four or five easily sourced or replicated herbs and compounds.

Soon she saw that the DDE drink should be no problem to make.

She sent the list from her interface to the replicator at once and a moment later, she had a small cup of milky, pale blue liquid in her hand.

Corinne almost called K -lx—who was standing quietly in the corner of her room—out of his internal review to drink the liquid at once.

But then she realized she hadn’t read the dosing instructions yet.

What if he had to drink some in the morning and some at night?

Or what if the stuff was meant to be injected instead of taken internally?

She went back to her monitor and continued reading the manual. What she saw, made her turn as pale as the liquid in the small metal cup.

As soon as you have synthesized the DEE , you must drink it immediately, the manual read.

“What—me? I have to drink it?” Corinne muttered, her brow furrowing. “ That can’t be right—can it?”

She read on.

Roughly ten to twelve hours after you ingest the Dream Elimination Elixir , your breasts will fill with Nectar , the manual continued.

DO NOT simply give the DEE liquid to your Cyborg to drink—it will not help and may do actual harm.

The DEE must be processed through the Handler’s body in order to work as it should.

Corinne stared at the screen blankly. Well , it was a good thing she hadn’t given K -lx the liquid to drink right away, but she still couldn’t believe what she was supposed to do.

What could the early Cybernetics scientists have been thinking?

What if she didn’t want to fill her breasts with “nectar” and let her new K - Unit suck it out of her?

Feeling blindsided by the whole thing, she read more of the manual.

Some Handlers may object to this method of treating their Cyborg , it read.

“Yeah—no shit,” Corinne muttered.

“But do not fear—the DEE will only cause nectar production as long as you keep drinking it every morning or every night. It will take only a week for your breasts to cease production after you stop drinking the formula,” the manual assured her.

The DEE is harmless to you and extremely beneficial to your new Cyborg .

We considered other ways of helping to suppress traumatic memories, but ultimately settled on this method for two reasons.

First , when the Handler’s body processes the compounds her Cyborg needs, he becomes more physically attuned and mentally attentive to her.

And second, allowing your Cyborg to suck the Dream Elimination Nectar from your breasts deepens the emotional connection essential between Cyborg and Handler .

Once a Kindred male is attuned to you and he sees you as his Mistress , he will be much more likely to obey commands.

There was more, but none of it looked important. It was mostly the writer’s justification for this odd and inexplicable method of memory control—which in Modern Cyborgs was regulated by partial mind-wipes if a Unit started showing signs of distress.

However, Corinne didn’t want to wipe her new Cyborg’s mind—not even on a limited basis.

She didn’t know enough about his circuitry and internal mechanisms to be sure she wouldn’t break something beyond repair.

K -lx was unique—a treasure to be slowly unpacked—not a random piece of space trash to rip apart so she could see what made him tick.

Reluctantly, she decided she would have to drink the DEE .

It made sense now—the way he’d complained of being thirsty and his request to suck her nipples.

At the time, she’d thought he was just horny.

She had noticed how he didn’t get soft, even after she had jerked him off.

Apparently the Kindred didn’t have a refractory period or at least his kind of Kindred didn’t.

She wondered what kind of Kindred he was.

The huge Aliens had left Earth hundreds of years ago, taking most of their knowledge with them after a world war had erupted.

They had tried to mediate the conflict but when the nations of the Earth started bombing each other, they had decided that humanity was a lost cause.

Later she might ask K -lx about his branch of the Kindred family tree or try to look up his characteristics, but for now it was almost time for breakfast.

She rose from her desk chair…and saw the small metal cup of milky, pale blue DEE sitting by her interface. She had almost forgotten to drink it. Well , crap—she was just going to have to do it. At least none of the ingredients were harmful so she didn’t have to worry about getting poisoned.

No, all you have to worry about is your breasts swelling up with that “nectar” stuff—whatever it is, she thought to herself. But there was no help for it—she was now the Handler to a massive, incredibly deadly, seven-foot-tall Cyborg . She absolutely could not neglect him.

K-lx had already caused massive damage and killed two people—it was her job to keep him in control so nothing like that ever happened again. Corinne knew she would do whatever she had to in order to rein her new K - Unit in.

Even this.

Closing her eyes, she tossed back the milky liquid, expecting it to be bitter and disgusting. Instead , a sweet, slightly fruity flavor filled her mouth. The taste wasn’t bad at all. In fact, if she’d been offered a drink at a party that tasted like the DEE , she would have asked for seconds.

Corinne drained every last drop and then put the cup into the recycling bin, where it was whisked away to be used in further replicator requests.

“Well—that’s that,” she muttered to herself. She waited to see if she felt any different…was there a faint tingling in her nipples? Then she looked at the chronometer on the wall. Damn it—they were going to be late for breakfast if she didn’t hurry!

Going to K -lx, she touched him on the arm to wake him from his internal review.

“Come, K -lx—we need to get going,” she told him.

His pale blue eyes fluttered open and he looked down at her. A flow of deep emotion—mostly caring and devotion—suddenly came through their Link . But Corinne also felt possessiveness, protectiveness, and sheer lust as the huge K - Unit knelt before her.

“Mistress, I am yours,” he growled softly, his eyes half-lidded as he looked at her. “ Do what you want with me. Use me in any way you see fit.”

“Oh, um…” Corinne frowned. “ Are you all right, K -lx?”

He blinked rapidly and seemed to come back to himself.

“Yes, sorry. My subroutines were rerouting themselves with you as the focus,” he replied. “ You are my Handler …my Mistress . I am attuned to you now.”

“That’s good, I guess, but it’s time to go now,” Corinne told him. “ Aren’t you hungry? We don’t want to miss breakfast.”

“I am hungry.” He rose to tower over her again. “ But do you think the other humans will be happy to have me eat with them after the death and destruction I caused last night?”

Corinne lifted her chin.

“You’re Linked to me now— I’m your Handler and I’ll vouch for you. I don’t feel any fear or anger or any of the other emotions you were having last night coming through our Link , so I’d say you’re safe to go out among the general population of the station.”

In fact what she did feel through the Link was more lust and desire—which was ridiculous. She had on a baggy coverall and no make-up at all—there was nothing about her that would inspire the emotions she felt coming from K -lx.

She tried to ignore his desire for her, even though it made her feel slightly hot and bothered just as his comments had earlier.

At least he was obeying her order to keep his hands to himself.

She would have to consult the manual and see if it was normal for a Kindred Cyborg to have such strong sexual feelings for his Handler .

But for now, they both needed breakfast.

“Come on,” she said and led the way out of her room.