Precipice of Darkness Read online

  A person wouldn’t appear completely undamaged after major surgery like this. Not in under five minutes, at least.

  She slowly bent and flexed, unable to feel anything different at all.

  “Good work, drone,” she muttered.

  As Roxy spoke, the new section of systems on her HUD flashed, and an alert indicator appeared, showing a high-bandwidth Link connection to another person.

  she asked hesitantly.

  Her voice was far more melodious than the case’s small speaker had allowed it to be.

 

  The AI chuckled softly.

  Roxy didn’t quite know how to voice her concern.

 

  she admitted.

  Carmen’s voice carried absolute certainty.

  Roxy wondered about that. Justin had access to more resources than Carmen knew. It could be that he was capable of ferreting out the workings of the stasis shields.

  She put that concern aside as she instructed the drone to return to its charging station, and slid the AI case behind some equipment on a lower shelf.

  Carmen informed her.

  Roxy replied as she walked to the door, listening for any footfalls outside.

  She considered deploying drones, but if someone detected those, it would be even more suspicious.

  Determining that the coast was clear, Roxy opened the door and walked out into the passageway as though she had every right to be there—which she supposed she did. She’d secured the ship, after all.

  Luckily for her, Justin was neither the jealous nor overbearing type. She wondered if that was because the man believed he had thorough control over her.

  The thought triggered another wave of Justin-endorsing imagery in her mind, and she noted once more that it was far milder than it had been in the past, more subjective and less mind-numbingly overt.

  Carmen said a moment later, her voice sounding cautious.

  Roxy asked as she reached the lift and stepped inside, passing her destination as the next level up.

 

  Roxy pulled up the reference.

 

  The question that had been burning in Roxy’s mind since Carmen had first planted the seed of doubt reared up.

 

  Carmen said with a soft laugh.

  Roxy hesitated, not wanting to share what she considered to be her deepest shame with the AI.

  Oh, screw it, she thought. I can’t hide it from her forever.

  The lift doors opened, and Roxy squared her shoulders and strode out into the passageway. She said the words as tonelessly as possible.

  Carmen asked.

  Roxy replied.

  The AI’s voice grew even more serious.

  Roxy reached the entrance to the docking bay and paused at the threshold, staring at Justin’s pinnace that would take her to Justin’s ship, the Greensward. There, she would do her part to keep Andrea in line, bolster the woman’s ego, and give succor to the belief that she was well on her way to being proclaimed the president of the Transcend.

  Roxy admitted as she stepped into the bay, marching toward the pinnace’s lowered ramp.

  A dock worker nodded to her as she passed. “All fueled up, ma’am. Jane’s aboard, ready to fly you over. Find your lightwand?”

  “No. Stupid thing,” Roxy groused. “How far is the Greensward?”

  “Ten thousand klicks under us,” the man said. “Shouldn’t take but a few minutes.”

  “Thanks,” Roxy replied over her shoulder as she walked up the ramp. “Looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight.”

  The man only nodded in response, giving Roxy a wave as she turned to close the airlock.

  Once inside the pinnace, Roxy walked to the cockpit, sliding into the seat next to Jane, as was her custom.

  “How’s Her Majesty been?” Roxy asked. “Tolerable?”

  Jane glanced over at Roxy as she flipped through the pre-flight checks on her console. “Is that the best she gets? Doesn’t matter. No, not tolerable. More like ‘not quite bad enough for me to slit my wrists…but close’.”

  “So normal, then,” Roxy said with a soft laugh.

  Jane nodded absently as she lifted the pinnace off its cradle and eased out of the Damon Silas.

  Carmen said privately as they drifted to a safe distance from the cruiser.

  Roxy asked.

 

  Roxy supplied.

 

  Roxy watched the Damon Silas grow smaller on the port optical feeds, wondering if leaving the ship was the right move—not that she had much choice. Justin had ordered her back to the Greensward, and so back she went. It was a miracle he hadn’t checked in on her while she was having Carmen installed.

  Probably too busy checking over his new toy.

  “You OK?” Jane asked, glancing over at Roxy.

  “Sure, why?” she replied.

  “Uhhh…” Jane drew the word out, sounding nervous. “Well, usually you give me a little tip for the ride, you know?”

  Roxy glanced at the woman, whose long blue and purple Ombré hair shifted side to side as it cascaded down her shoulders to brush against her breasts—breasts that looked fantastic in the overly tight shipsuit Jane wore.

  Roxy did often give her a ‘tip’ of some sort, but for some reason, seeing the beautiful woman didn’t translate into a need for lascivious behavior like it usually did.

  What’s wrong with me? she wondered.

  The change was perplexing, because she knew that she liked a little mid-flight action, but was it something she wanted to have, or was it a side effect of whatever Justin had done to her?

  At the thought of Justin, a warmth flooded through Roxy, and Jane’s body took on a sheen that it hadn’t possessed before. Roxy needed to touch every part of it, more than she could stand.

  “Oh yeah,” Jane murmured as Roxy pulled down the slider on the front of the pilot’s shipsuit. “That’s right, pay your fare, Roxy.”

  * * * * *

  Halfway thr
ough the flight, Roxy’s burning need to pleasure Jane completely dissipated, but she forced herself to continue until the pinnace settled onto the cradle, not wanting to arouse suspicion that anything was wrong.

  Jane threw her head back and moaned in ecstasy, as the pinnace settled on the Greensward’s cradle.

  “Stars, Rox, good thing these ships can pilot themselves in a pinch, or we’d be dead a dozen times over.”

  Roxy didn’t reply as she finished the job and then slowly did up the fastener on Jane’s shipsuit.

  “That’s a good girl,” Jane whispered before letting out a long sigh. “I can see why you’re Justin’s favorite toy.”

  “Just fulfilling my purpose,” she replied with a coy wink, reciting the line she so often gave—only this time she nearly choked on the words.

  Is that what I am? Just the crew’s fuck toy? How did I not see this before?

  She rose and hurried off the ship, ignoring Jane’s final salutation and the waves from the dock crew as she raced down the pinnace’s ramp.

  Carmen said, once Roxy had reached the passageway—which was blessedly empty.

 

  Carmen began, and then stopped, her tone trailing off in hesitation.

  Roxy did her best not to snap the question.

 

  Roxy paused at the first intersection, placing a hand on the bulkhead.

 

  Roxy asked as she turned right, heading for the lift that would take her to the crew’s quarters.

 

 

  Carmen chuckled.

 

  “Roxy!” a voice boomed from behind her, and Roxy turned to see Andrea standing in the intersection she’d just passed, hands on her hips. “Where are you going? You were supposed to report to me when you arrived!”

  “Of course, of course,” Roxy said, ducking her head. “I was just on my way to…uh…”

  “Idiot,” Andrea muttered, gesturing for Roxy to approach. “Tell me about my new ship. Did you secure it with the stasis shields intact?”

  “Of course, President Tomlinson,” Roxy replied. “It will make an excellent flagship for you.”

  “That scow?” Andrea rolled her eyes. “No, I won’t be transported about in that. You and Justin will have to find a way to move the stasis shields to a more suitable craft.”

  Every day, Roxy regretted her suggestion that they play to Andrea’s deep-seated desires. The woman had gone from being an entitled, but somewhat useful asshole, to a preening, debutant, queen bitch.

  She barely listened as Andrea berated her for a number of imagined slights, and then proceeded to list a bevy of demands, outlining her ideal ship.

  The more Andrea talked, the more Roxy realized that the woman wasn’t describing a ship, she was describing the Airthan ring.

  Carmen commented at one point.

 

  Andrea made a particularly onerous demand of her future flagship, and Carmen groaned.

  Roxy continued to nod and agree with everything Andrea said, cataloguing each request—the woman would remember what she’d asked for and follow up—and finally managed to beg leave to begin dealing with the mounting demands.

  With an efficiency borne of long practice, Roxy sent the requests off to various crew and departments on the Greensward, funneling the rest off to Justin’s queues.

  Let him deal with the bitch. He’s the one who wanted to rescue her in the first place.

  Once in her small quarters—barely larger than a closet, and containing almost no personal effects—Roxy flopped down on her bed and breathed a long sigh of relief.

  Carmen asked.

 

 

  Roxy furrowed her brow. She remembered the conversation with Carmen, but for some reason, it had never lodged in her consciousness as a thing she would actually do once she reached her cabin.

 

 

  Roxy nodded and closed her eyes, asking aloud, “Will it feel odd?”

 

 

  Carmen didn’t respond for a few seconds, and Roxy was about to tell her she was ready again, when her mind was assaulted by a thousand conflicting reactions to nonexistent stimuli.

  She felt rage, sadness, joy, lust, and hunger all at once. She wanted to kill and she wanted to love. Euphoric anger and anguished joy clashed in her mind, and she felt her body tense and spasm.

  Then it passed, and Carmen’s voice entered her mind, speaking words that took Roxy several moments to parse.

 

  Roxy asked, opening her eyes to see her room swimming with a kaleidoscope of colors.

  Carmen sent the words across their shared Link one by one.

  Roxy decided to breathe, and stared at a single point on the overhead, drawing in air, letting her artificial lungs process it for useful molecules, and then expelling the volume.

  After ten cycles, the room settled back into its normal coloring, and Roxy no longer felt the urge to hate, love, destroy, and fuck everything in it.

  Carmen said after a few more moments, and Roxy breathed a sigh of relief that the words all made sense.

 

 

  Roxy waited for Carmen to say more, but the AI didn’t continue until Roxy prompted her.

 

  Carmen snorted, and the tension dissipated.

 

 

  Roxy bolted upright on her bed. <’Not really’? For fucksakes, Carmen, spill it!>

 

  Roxy flopped back onto her bed, clenching her jaw and taking slow breaths once more, only dimly aware that she was performing the action involuntarily.

  After a minute, Carmen said,

 

  Carmen sent a feeling of reassurance before she spoke. is organic.>

  Roxy felt the information wash over her like a cool breeze. She had expected to become enraged or suicidal, should that nagging fear have ever come true, but now that Carmen had said it, her reaction was more one of curiosity than concern.

 

 

 

 

  Roxy said, trying to process what the information meant.

 

  “An accident?” Roxy whispered.

  She had clear memories back to when Justin brought her out of stasis nearly two years ago. She also had memories from before she had been put in stasis—memories of being a Hand agent, working with Justin.

  Then something had happened, and he had secreted her away. Hidden her from someone….

  “Justin did this to me,” Roxy whispered.

 

  Roxy sat up and ran a hand through her silky—and entirely artificial—hair.

  A wave of calm washed over Roxy, and her shoulders drooped.

  “Oh, that feels nice,” she whispered, as euphoria settled into her, making her feel light as a feather and sending a tingling down her limbs and into her nethers.

  Carmen exclaimed, and the feeling disappeared.

  “Why’d you do that?” Roxy whispered. “It felt. So. Good.”