Once through the Eron Forest, she’d then have to pass through the Fields of Flor. And then on to Anate, where the tribal inhabitants, natural predators and poisonous creatures made even the most dangerous criminals turn away in favour of a prison sentence. But not Erin.
She smiled and settled back in the bench seat, confident in the rover’s ability to guide itself. What would Ryen and Anin think of this mad ride through Mardu?
Thinking about her brother and sister took her focus from Cheltam, for which she was grateful. Ryen and Anin had been created within days of one another, a few short months after Erin. Like Erin, all three bore the same genetic construct, with emphasis placed on developing different characteristics within each of them. Ryen looked almost Ragga, and he had been trained as a warrior, the ultimate fighting machine. Unfortunately, Canunn must have missed something important in her brother’s creation because Ryen had a hard time turning off his aggression once wound up. Anin, on the other hand, was the ultimate in subservience. Her attitude pleased everyone she came into contact with, and even Synster considered her a triumph in the field of genetic research. Of course, Synster valued docility, not to mention her sister’s skill in all things sexual.
Erin sighed, feeling for her family. Though they’d been created independently of one another, Canunn had impressed upon each of them that they were in fact related genetically, and as such should consider themselves family. One of his sociology experiments Erin had never quite understood yet appreciated all the same. The many lessons and courses of instruction throughout their accelerated growth only exacerbated their need and dependence on one another. In time, Erin experienced what Canunn insisted was love. And from that emotional foundation, Canunn had taught them all about respect, gratitude and loyalty.
Then he’d given them over to Synster for handling—tests and experiments that would drive the sanest individual crazy.
Canunn hadn’t counted on his teachings being so well-received, however. Because it wasn’t long before Erin and her siblings realised they were not being given the same respect, gratitude and loyalty that they doled out to others. They were, in fact, treated as no better than lab specimens.
For days at a time they experienced sensory deprivation, then overstimulation, pain and pleasure, a mix of the two and then extremes of both. Erin had slowly learned what it meant to dislike, disdain, and even hate. Unlike Anin, Erin didn’t like giving her complete obedience, and she struggled daily, wishing to bestow her service to someone who’d truly earned it. Though deemed imperfect, Erin still held real value. According to Canunn, she was the first viable, intelligent, decisive-yet-trainable humanoid ever created by Blue Rim. Not a clone or an android, but a carbon-based being who’d undergone artificial maturation and survived without completely losing her mind, unlike the Creations before her.
Synster, however, dwelled on her defects, and not to be outdone by his colleagues, her Handler endeavoured to perfect her ‘flaws’.
Synster didn’t like to call them punishments, but the beatings, abuse and tests he’d inflicted, to see ‘how she responded’, had been beyond cruel. Or so Erin had heard several female lab techs whisper, though they never did anything to help her. And because others questioned, Erin found herself able to acknowledge the wrongness she’d always felt in the labs. She began to pay attention to the others around Canunn and Synster. Other scientists subtly disagreed with Canunn, and many of them vocally disliked Synster. They disapproved of his sexual liaisons with Anin especially, as well as his brutal pleasure in disciplining Ryen. Ryen hated Synster and said so openly, whereas Anin appreciated Synster for allowing her to fulfil his needs. She’d been created to serve, and she did so with pleasure.
When Erin questioned her about it privately, however, Anin admitted to liking the idea of servitude, but she didn’t much care for Synster or the sexual act itself.
As the years passed and their handling grew more intense, Erin, Ryen and Anin became closer and more affectionate with one another. Erin felt real love for her brother and sister.
And she knew they wouldn’t be able to tolerate much more of Blue Rim’s abuse, what certainly wasn’t right or fair according to the “System Inhabitant’s Rights” vids she’d secretly confiscated and watched.
So Erin devised a plan to escape. With the help of the captured prisoners also used as experimental test subjects, she’d learned of Cheltam and the System beyond Eyra. That there was a life outside of Blue Rim where people had the freedom to do and say what they wanted when they wanted. That it was in fact illegal to kidnap and genetically interfere with life’s inception. Erin and her siblings shouldn’t have been allowed to exist, and if found out by the wrong people, would be terminated on sight. And if word got out about Blue Rim’s method of acquiring test subjects, i.e. by stealing prison contingents, Blue Rim would effectively end.
Unfortunately, Blue Rim had contacts in high places, most especially with System Law, which Erin had found out the hard way. She rubbed her side and stared at Cheltam, wondering how he would have handled a half dozen peacemakers with stunners in hand.
Probably would have paid them off, or charmed them with a crook of his lips.
She frowned, wondering why she experienced so much curiosity about the male lying soundlessly next to her. Perhaps it was because Cheltam, to her dismay, didn’t fit the picture she’d initially formed of him. His appeal struck her as odd. She’d always assumed that those without conscience would look the part. Both her Creator and her Handler had shifty, untrustworthy eyes and slim, weak frames, as did most of the other scientists at the labs. Evil men, they wanted nothing more than to propel themselves forward in the spotlight, no matter the cost to those they sacrificed in their bid for fame and fortune.
Cheltam, on the other hand, appealed to her sense of what a male should look and act like. Though he hadn’t smiled, his lips were both firm and full, and she knew they would curl invitingly should he grin. His eyes held power. Strength and control, two traits Erin prized. And that body. Erin narrowed her gaze on her prisoner as she noticed his clothing.
Though he wore the same dark pants he’d worn in his study, his shirt looked different, as did his boots, which puzzled her.
She leaned closer and inhaled. He had the same sultry scent as before, but it was richer, maybe because they shared a smaller space. And that dark brown hair, those sculpted cheekbones and predatory eyes now closed, those looked the same. But his black shirt bothered her. Erin toyed with the collar of it and accidentally brushed the warm flesh of his throat. The touch of his skin against the sensitive pads of her fingers froze her still.
A burst of pleasure filled her, a warmth unlike anything she’d ever experienced with another, centred in her belly. Curious, she watched for any sign he might be awake, and seeing his steady, even breathing, she touched him again.
His smooth skin felt warmer than her own, and the spark of energy flickering between them told her he was more than he seemed. Many in the System possessed psychic or enhanced abilities that made them special. Erin herself had been constructed to sense the energy around her in all things. But staring at Cheltam, she wondered where his talents lay.
Perhaps he was a telepath. Or a Ragga’s descendant, considering how quickly and easily he’d met her attacks in his dwelling. Yet he didn’t have the domineering build of a Ragga. He was tall and lean, muscled much like an assassin, she thought as she studied him. The feel of him under her fingers, however, made her wonder if he might have some Nebite in him. Because the more she touched him, the more she wanted to touch him. And that odd desire told her to be wary of the seemingly vulnerable male.