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  That was a choice he now had, and she was happy for him. A choice to choose. His manner didn’t bother her anyway, she could brush it off. It was more of an annoying older brother thing and the banter reflected the easy relationship they shared.

  She remembered their first meeting had been interesting. She’d been escorted to the Admiral’s office on arrival at the Space Station and given the ‘we are Cyborg’ speech as she now knew it. Then Brok came in and gave her a cheeky grin and winked, as the Admiral told her he was to be her Cyborg liaison/bodyguard, and would be going everywhere she did. She must have looked surprised, next thing she knew, the Cyborg had moved in and squeezed her shoulders telling her she was safe with him and he’d look after her.

  She couldn’t have been more surprised standing there open-mouthed staring up at him, she didn’t doubt it. He had that same edge to him they all did. The fact that he was trying to sooth her anxiety didn’t fit at all. She could sense he was being genuine in his response, with no deception but she wasn’t his mate and he was touching her. That was weird but she got no weird vibe and realised it was simply who he was. He wasn’t acting or lying. Cyborgs didn’t lie. It was a known fact. The action just a little weird and unexpected for Cyborgs. A little too human. “Let go of the human,” the Admiral had told him and Brok smiled wider.

  “The sister I never had Admiral that is all. I’ll protect her with my life,” he told him squeezing her a little harder. Donna looked between one and the other and she would swear the Admiral looked pained, mumbled something about ‘jock’s having a lot to answer for’ before sending them on their way. She was hustled out the room before she knew what was happening.

  Brok had picked up her bag and taken her to her rooms. Then left her saying he’d be back for her later, they needed some ‘get to know me’ time. And true as he word, he was back after dinner dragging her to the bar on the Gallerea he liked so much. And the interrogation started along with the drinks. Who were her parents, what was school like, did she have any friends, how did her gift work and on and on and in between, snarling at anyone who came too close. Cyborg or human. They got the message, back the fuck off.

  She should have been annoyed but actually, it was endearing and fun and sealed their friendship. He was like an annoying older brother. She’d teased him right back and he’d taken it in good humour. Way into the early hours he’d escorted her home a bit worse for ware, telling her to ‘suck it up buttercup’ classes started early.

  He hadn’t been joking. Starting the very next day, between an assessment by Mac, the lead Doctor on her empathic abilities, a medical check, keep fit, self-defence, Tai Chi and meditation, she had genuine classes. Cyborg 101. They were very keen that you knew as much as there was to know about Cyborgs. Their history and abilities, the dangers and concerns over possible mates. Donna was glad she wasn’t one of them. It was all way too complicated for her taste. She didn’t need it.

  And as the weeks went on, Brok would be there like an over bearing brother hanging around giving her shit. Taking her to dinner or lunch. Then putting her through her paces and dragging her off to check out a new bar every now and then to let off steam. And she came to love that about him. He worked hard to put her at ease. Helped her where he could, pushed her when she needed it and reminded her, life wasn’t fixed. Shit happens and you just had to roll with it.

  She couldn’t deny their history made for interesting reading or should that be hearing. They’d been brutally honest talking to her and the others going through the training. They were all female and had their own Cyborg liaison. They simply saw no value in telling half-truths or outright lying. It was a waste of energy and not logical to them. And Cyborgs were all about logic. A lot of it unpleasant to hear. But if she were to be useful, she had to know what made them tick. It was shocking and disturbing and made her realise just what they’d been through to be free. Not that they wanted sympathy. No. It was just facts. Facts she needed to understand, and she wasn’t the only one. They all needed to understand it. It was why the training was so thorough. They couldn’t afford mistakes.

  Weeks of learning and understanding that had led to this moment, she reflected.

  Brok stopped at a door and opened it. “There you go cuteness. This is all yours.” Donna stepped through as he put her bag on the bed and turned to go. “You’ll be needed on the Bridge prior to departure. You have 20 minutes to get stowed away. I’ll be back then.” She gave him a nod and he closed her door behind him.

  This was it then. Donna looked around. It was basic but spacious and functional. This was a fleet ship after all. It carried troops and did missions. Went to new areas of space looking for new worlds and new contacts. Folding space capabilities meant that distance held no obstacle as long as they had the coordinates. The Admirals mate Kim was a master engineer and gave her best work to the Cyborg Empire.

  It kept them ahead of the game where time and power meant live or die.

  There was no getting away from it. The universe was a cold hard place. She’d known that long before accepting the post. Even with her empathic abilities, she’d had her doubts. Information coming out of the new Cyborg Empire had been mainly positive. A PR campaign made sure negative propaganda was dealt with quickly and only the facts were out there, but mud stuck, and a lot of the old guard didn’t believe it and plenty of others, thought these new Cyborgs were the same as the old ones so it had to be a smoke screen. And of course, there were plenty of humans that had lost people to the Cyborg Corporation Wars generations back.

  People who didn’t believe they acted on orders they couldn’t say no to.

  Human feelings on the subject were naturally high. Donna wasn’t sure what she thought about it all. Had it been in her family, she knew it was likely she’d think like that too. But it hadn’t and she didn’t. She’d been well screened before getting the job. Tests to ascertain her personality and ability. She understood the need to do that. The last thing the Cyborgs needed was a vigilante coming after them or a rogue amongst those living with them. Cyborgs appeared to take human life seriously once they’d had a choice in the matter and they’d chosen to protect them now and embraced some into their fold. In some ways, it was both a precious and precarious position to be in.

  They might all be over six-foot-tall and broad with it, with the most unbelievable good looks and a deadly edge that left nothing to the imagination, but she never felt intimidated or scared. They were careful around her. Took their time and gave her space. No one but Brok, crowded her and that was nothing more than an annoying fly at times and his way. There was no intimation or shows of superior power. She only ever felt protected being with them. Cared for. They might not openly declare their allegiance to her, but she was in no doubt she was one of them now. They took her at face value and accepted her. It was surprisingly refreshing and impowering.

  For an empath that was nectar. Her gift came through the lightest of touches or projection. The Cyborgs generally avoided all contact particularly skin to skin That helped her to not be overloaded but she still had to guard against unwanted feelings filtering through her walls. She’d found that most Cyborgs had turned their emotions off a long time ago. That made things easier. Mac had explained to her that to survive what they’d done, or what had been done to them, many Cyborgs had turned off both their emotions and their pain receptors. It was a coping mechanism and as long as the status quo existed in their minds, it worked for them. Bring another emotional element into that equation and the barriers started to break down and Cyborgs could fall off the rails.

  One of those events was the introduction of a mate. If a Cyborg found a compatible female and it was still rare, the animal DNA could result in them bonding and imprinting on the female of choice possibly before she’d agreed or understood it. After if she wasn’t on board with that, and it had gone so far as the imprinting stage, the Cyborg would not be able to shut off his emotions again, he could effectively pine away for her. It was a delicate situation. Walki
ng a tightrope every time a new pairing might be possible. The Admiral and Mac had every safeguard they could think of in place.

  And even with that, it had happened. Several Cyborgs in the early days had thought they’d met their mate only for it to be rejected. Emotionally unbalanced, the Cyborgs had been put in stasis in the hope that later, they’d understand what was going on and the Doctors would be able to fix it. Sadly, a few, died before they knew the cause, ordinary medical treatment had no affect at all.

  It was one of the few times a Cyborg could outright die. Most got injured but that was fixable. Their nano’s were made to deal with that. Even with what would be considered a fatal injury they could fight on and be fixed with time and nano’s. Even losing a limb didn’t mean the end, they could be re-grown, and it was even possible to shut a Cyborg down, replace organs and re-boot him. Death didn’t always mean death to a Cyborg. They cost billions of credits and Earth Corp made sure they got their monies worth. But mates, they weren’t prepared for or known about. And that was a blessing too in many ways. What Earth Corp would have done with that knowledge, made her shudder.

  For her, it helped if they had no emotions. Her gift couldn’t feed off it if they weren’t there. It would have been impossible to do her job with over 300 Cyborgs on board feeding her all their emotions. It was like radio static and interfered with her abilities. If they needed her, that was a different matter. They now understood that emotional bleeds, tended to mean mental barriers were breaking down and they would need help. That’s what she was there for and to help with any humans that were found in distress or worse. There were plenty of humans seeded throughout the universe, left to fate. Far more than they’d first thought possible.

  Earth Corp and the other corporations had moved into space exploration for the rights to minerals on new worlds. Having mined the moon and surrounding planets to dangerous levels affecting their stability, they’d looked to new horizons. Taking chances on building ships poorly made, they’d sent out probes to new worlds not sure what they’d find. Then when the data came back, they geared up for exploration and colonisation with the proviso that Earth Corp owned any minerals identified in the probes. Trillions upon trillions in precious metals and stones were identified, and suddenly the space race was on, funding a colony after colony.

  Investment flooded in on the prospects and there were plenty of people queueing up for the opportunity to go, looking for a new start on a new world. Earth Corp and the other Corporations did a good job in taking all their money in return for a contract to colonise a new world. Only Earth Corp went further. For their secret research, they made it a requirement to take blood, semen, eggs, bone marrow and stem cells. It provided more basic material for their Cyborg programme and became the foundation of the generations to come.

  Eventually the first colonists were ready and sent out to the best prospects. Year after year for decades, a new colony ship would be sent to a new world and supply ships followed them according to the contract they’d signed. Those first ships having been poorly constructed to cope with the travel, stasis and the unexpected during their journeys. It was a miracle any of them had made it at all, but they did. It reminded her of the stories of the early pioneers working their way across the America’s with little more than a cart and hope.

  In some ways it was very heartening that the pioneering spirit still lived on. And the ones that they knew of, made new lives on new worlds. Earth Corp took their cut and supplies turned up to feed those new worlds. The colonists had seed and stock in stasis that helped to colonise those new worlds and with each supply visit, Earth Corp took back a ship load of material the colonists were contracted to supply in return. And for a while that all seemed to work well. Then over a 10 year period there was a hostile takeover, followed by vast unauthorised spending, followed by forged accounts, follow by a crash in Earth Corp value and the supply ships stopped.

  And over time or hidden from the public, knowledge of some of those worlds were lost, others forgotten, or deliberately misplaced for fear of repercussions. Who knew just how many they’d been? The result was the same. The colonists were on their own. Some made it, some didn’t. It was yet another crime Earth Corp were paying for through the Intergalactic Courts of Justice.

  Along with paying for the crime of playing god and creating Cyborgs in the first place. It hadn’t been sanctioned by any government legally or by any law, mainly because no one had considered it even possible. And no one was going to get permission for human experimentation. Not that that stopped Earth Corp from using that to their advantage. Behind closed doors they had scientists working to perfect the perfect soldier. They used the material available to them. Steeling it from unwilling prisoners, soldiers and people they considered their enemies who they had locked away.

  Decades of abuse trying to create something new. Something better than human that could win wars and battles for them. Along the way discarding what didn’t meet their expectations like rubbish and starting again until they got it right.

  It was hardly surprising some Cyborgs had issues with that. Hell, she had issues with that and it wasn’t about her!

  She’d accessed the colony notes from the other found worlds. Humans were far more….. delicate than Cyborgs. That was a given. They had their frailties and it could be seen in every report she had. Humans under duress tended to become run down. Fall back on primal basic survival instincts. Some became more aggressive in trying to survive, with a multitude of emotions. Self-preservation at any cost. For others, giving everything to those that needed it more was how they coped. Some were predators, some were pray. It turned family against each other. Made neighbours enemies. Many becoming weak through illnesses and poor nutrition on those worlds. Illness’s they weren’t prepared for or simply couldn’t fix with their limited supplies. There were plenty of victims. Having been through plenty of trauma generation after generation. It naturally had a knock-on effect both physically and mentally to each new generation. The problems cascaded down the biological line.

  Plenty closed down in their own way, to survive. She had the skills to reach them. To offer some comfort and peace. The skills that Cyborgs simply weren’t geared up to do. They did their best, but you couldn’t deal with other emotions, when you were unable to access your own. There was no empathy when you couldn’t grasp its role. It wasn’t their job too it was hers. Theirs, was to find them.

  And find them they were. More and more information about colony ships being sent out were coming to the Empire. Far more than anyone imagined. It was scary to read just how many humans had been so desperate to try it and Earth Corp had used that to their advantage time and time again.

  Old Earth had gone to shit, she couldn’t argue with that. But to take such a leap of faith with your life? She wasn’t sure she could have done it. Even with all the protection of the Empire around her right now, she was still struggling with it.

  And the reason, no one was more surprised than her to find her here. She wasn’t one of life’s risk takers. Her gift had been a burden when younger. Once people knew what she could do, they would come after her asking for the impossible. She couldn’t tell them what the next lottery ticket would be or how to cure someone. But they didn’t understand it and asked anyway. As a child it had scared her. Her first memories were of her mother and taking her feelings into her. Neither understood what was happening. Just that she always seemed to know how her mother was feeling and she would try to comfort her. The child, mothering the mother.

  And as she got bigger and the contact reactions more obvious, her mother had realised and kept her distance. Once she could explain to her mother what happened when she touched her skin, her mother started to wrap up and limit the physical contact between them. For a child who loved her mother dearly, it hurt. She would admit she never really got over it. There was a distinct line in her history. Before revealing her gift and ……. After it.

  They say ignorance is bliss…… Donna would say in her case,
it was true.

  Not that she would want to argue that her life had anything but good. It had. She knew she was loved by her parents and family. They in turn knew she needed protection from outsiders and the family had closed in around her. She felt loved. But they never forgot to cover up. No one wanted to pass on their feelings to a child. Her mother had tried to help her with it. That they were concerned they’d pass on emotions she wasn’t ready for or should have as a child, that no one should be burdened by so much so young. Even then, she understood it and learnt quickly. Her ‘gift’ wasn’t much of a gift at all, if she was treated differently to other children.

  So she started to take more ownership of her ‘gift’. Covering up herself as early as she could remember dressing. Making her mother buy her long sleeves and gloves.

  Her friends grew up with it and for the most part it was good. And for anyone who got shitty with her, she only had to whisper she’d know everything about them if she touched them just once. It was enough to have them move on. No one wanted their secrets known and she was no one’s victim.

  College had been more of a challenge. At a time when girls were showing off, she was covering up. Her ‘gift’ suddenly went into over drive and she was reading emotions from a distance. She could sense people in a wide radius and just passing by someone could be its own problem. She’d started giving people a wide berth but in a community that fed on emotion it wasn’t easy. She was unable to share a room, be in halls or residences where lots of emotional turmoil would be after classes. Joining clubs became too difficult. Until she learned to block her gift.