The Edge of Darkness

Chapter Four: The Gathering (Part II)

On the deck below, I looked for a place where I could kiss him without being caught. And the deck below that. I led him into the garden. He paused at the entrance, sniffing deeply.

"Ethan?" I asked quietly.

"It smells wonderful, doesn't it?"

"Yes. Come on." I tilted my head and we walked deeper into the garden, devoid of borgs apart from us. Past the berry plantations and all their scented wonderfulness. Past the vegetable patches, waving merry green fronds at us. Past the orange trees and lemon trees and lime trees. To the golden corn that waved when I brushed against it.

I hesitated for just a moment before hooking my leg over the small barrier.

Ethan grabbed my hand.

"What are you doing?" he hissed, worry and anxiety visible on the half a human face he still possessed.

"No one will see us," I replied, tugging him in with me. He stumbled a little and I put my arms around him to help him keep his balance.

"What?" he asked, catching on. "Not like this."

"Yes, like this," I breathed, letting my tongue run over his earlobe. He shuddered in pleasure.

"No, Maxy, not like this. This is open. This isn't private."

I hesitated. He put his hands on my shoulders.

"It's your first time and I want it to be special. How special can it be when we're both biting our lips, trying to stay silent?"

I had rather hoped the lip biting would be different in origin, and I let disappointment sag my shoulders.

"Maxy, I still want you." He held me close to him and I breathed in his scent – slightly musky, with a hint of the metallic that was prevalent on all cyborgs. "Just not here. Somewhere more private. Your bunk?"

My bunk?

Was my bunk safe?

I mentally racked through the morning's preparations. Had I hidden the paintings, and thus my evidence of deviance? I recalled placing the paintings, flat, under my mattress.

"But my bed isn't very big," I whispered, tangling my fingers in his hair. "We won't both fit."

"If it's exactly like my bunk, then I only expect it to take up the room of one of us," he responded, breathing in my ear and tickling my neck, my hair stirring and my skin standing on edge. That familiar yet forgotten thrill coursed from my shoulder, down my back, over my buttocks and down my thighs.

"OK," I heard myself agreeing, and brushed his hand with my fingers again. I stepped out of the corn field, and as I passed the raspberries, I plucked two of them and set them into the alcove in my arm attachment for later.

Ethan followed my lead nonchalantly; as if I had simply wanted to show him something interesting (what I had planned was more interesting than a stupid garden). We caught the elevator with several other borgs with different tags on their designation plates, and finally reached my sleeping deck.

As I led the way to my bunk I grew more and more nervous. I had waited for so long for this moment I knew was coming, but I had no idea what it would be like. Would it hurt? Would I enjoy it? Would he think I was a stupid little naïve virgin and laugh at me, never want to see me again? My anxiety levels spiked and adrenalin flooded my system. My heart hammered in my chest. I tried to keep my breathing even: who knows what judgement would pass if he knew just how nervous I was?

I slid open my door, glanced around to see the corridor was empty, and entered my bunk. Ethan checked the corridor as well – as a male in the female dorms, he'd be punished severely if he was caught – and slipped in behind me. The lights flickered on automatically, on low shine.