Rougneck

"Maybe I do?"

"No way, you don't."

"How can you know if you don't share them with me?"

Synthia stared at the cyborg and then felt her heat rising in her cheeks as she considered it. Finally she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and said, "I was wondering if it would be weird if I told that I wanted to kiss you."

Alex's prolonged silence became unbearable. Synthia opened one eye just enough to squint and saw Alex staring at her with a smile on her face. She opened her other eye and said, "See, I shouldn't have said anything."

"I would like that very much, Synthia."

"What?"

"Please, can I kiss you?"

"You... you want to kiss me?"

"Very much."

"Oh! Um... okay... really? You're not j--mmmph!"

For two hundred kilos of metal and flesh, Alex could move fast. Fast enough, anyhow, to capture the surprised woman in her arms and bring their lips together.

The metal of Alex's helmet bumped Synthia's cheek and chin, then the bottom portion of Alex's visor scraped against her nose. She was able to ignore most of that though and focus on how the mechanized woman's lips were rough but warm. They were very alive too, alive and filled with need.

Synthia gave herself to the women then. She could feel how lonely and empty Alex must be through her kiss and she did everything she could to let her know she wasn't alone anymore. They kissed and then kissed harder. Tongue slipped against each other. Only the occasional gasp of air or grunt of Synthia bumping up against a piece of metal interrupted the near-silent action of their mouths moving and sliding together.

Alexis pulled back at last and left Synthia with her eyes closed and her lips slightly parted. The flush in her face had spread to her chest, at least as far as Alex could see before the woman's tank top cover her skin.

Synthia's eyes fluttered open. "Oh my... I haven't... it's been a long time. That was wonderful, thank you!"

Alex reached up to her helmet and used her fingers to insert them into special ports on her helmet and then twist them to unlock them. She pulled her fingers out and carefully placed her hands on her helmet and lifted the top portion of it off of her head. Her eyes were blue when the visor cleared them. She blinked in the light and then smiled and set the helmet down.

Synthia opened her mouth but Alex hushed her and returned to unlock the lower portion of her helmet that ran along her jaw. She removed that section of armor and then stared at Synthia with just her eyes and no visor or augmented reality to help her.

"Wow," Synthia breathed as she stared at the hairless woman. She had indentations in her skin from the metal and a few obvious metal interfaces on the side and top of her skull that connected her to the helmet. Synthia couldn't see the back of her head but she could tell from the places Alex had touched to unlock the helmet and the way the armor on her neck was designed that there was probably a lot of machine back there still.

"You don't look upset, that's good," Alex said.

"You're pretty," Synthia said. "Who knew under all that metal was a pretty girl? Genedocs turned off all your hair growth, I take it?"

"Yes, I assume the same for you since we've been here a while and I noticed you don't have any, um, body hair."

Synthia blushed and nodded. "It's an optional free service when you join a New Horizons Expedition ship as crew. Saves upkeep and resources and they do it at the same time they m ake sure your body is tuned to not produce whatever bacteria or proteins or whatever it is that causes body odor. So, yeah, you saw all of me."

Alex smiled. "Well, you make me wish there was more of me to uncover for you."

Synthia lifted her hand to trace the white flesh of Alex's cheek. "I don't need any more, this-- you-- is more than enough."

"Is it?" Alex asked. "I will protect you and care for you. I will feed you and keep you safe. There are some things I cannot do though. My body... it is designed to endure and to cause hurt, not to be soft and gentle and loving."

Synthia's eyes flicked the metal fingers and she winced. "Yeah, um, those fingers are... well... I'm gonna pass on that."

"Even with my control of them, I would not use them like that. It wouldn't be comfortable."

"So don't worry," Synthia said. "Just... be here for me, okay? I'll be here for you. We'll get through this, whatever this is and however long it takes."

"Even if it's forever?"

Synthia was silent a moment and then nodded. "So what if it is? I will figure out how to help you out and, well, I can take care of myself if I need to. This eating like a cavewoman is turning me into a sexy bitch, after all."

"You already were to me," Alex said. "I've been fascinated with you for a long time now, but I was never able to approach you. I... I didn't understand myself and I didn't think I could give you what you wanted."

"You let me worry about what I want," Synthia told her. "Right now, without that helmet in the way, I want another kiss."

Alex smiled and obliged her. Without the metal getting in the way it was much easier and more passionate. They could hear themselves kissing over the sounds of the waterfall and both broke away smiling and blushing.

"You're a good kisser," Synthia said. "You really know how to use that tongue."

Alex laughed. "It's coming back to me," she said. "Maybe you can't help me-- yet-- but I know how I can help you."

Synthia's lip twisted up in a curious smile. "What?"

Alex pushed her back until Synthia was lying on a mat of grasses and gave her another kiss. She slid down her body and gently slipped her metal fingers between the waistband of her pants and her skin. The cool metal raised bumps on Synthia's skin and sent jolts of electricity straight to her nipples.

"I just remembered a few more tricks I can do with my tongue... let me show you."

* * * *

Alex pulled the primitive door shut behind her, blocking the cold wind that blew in eddies and made sparks and ash jump from the hearth they'd carved in the stone wall. She walked stiffly over to the fire and placed three more split logs on top of it and the rest of the bundle on the floor beside it.

"Good morning," Synthia greeted her as Alex turned away from the fire.

"I think spring is here to stay at last," Alex said while she unlocked and removed her helmet. "Last night was the fourth night in a row it stayed above zero. The snow is nearly melted and the ice in the middle of the pond looks wet."

"Finally," Synthia groaned. "I don't know how much longer I could stay cooped up in here."

"You spent months in a room on a starship smaller than this," Alex pointed out.

"I could get out and walk around. Talk to people. Work on... things."

"We talked," Alex said, her voice calm and level but Synthia knew the women well enough to know she's hurt her.

"Oh, I know, and if it weren't for you I wouldn't be able to survive... and I don't just mean because you can climb down to get food and firewood and all that," Synthia said. "And I work on you too. I've enhanced just about everything that can be enhanced you've got."

Alexis smiled. "Yes, you have. You've helped me prevent a few breakdowns and fixed some concerns as well. I worry though, we have no spare parts. What happens when something wears out and even you can't fix it?"

"We'll adjust and make do," Synthia said. "If it's really getting warm out, I want to go out with you more too."

"What, like dancing or something?"

Synthia stared at her a moment and then laughed. "I wish! Well, I'm not a great dancer, but still. A little civilization would be amazing."

"Would it?" Alex asked. "What happens if we get rescued? To us, I mean?"

Synthia threw back her crudely stitched fur blankets. She slept nude on the feather stuffed fur sleeping pad to preserve her worn clothing. She stood up and walked across the hard packed dirt floor to Alexis and reached up to grab her by her chest armor so she could pull her down. Synthia kissed her, morning breath be damned, and backed away to say, "I would be able to brag about how amazing my girlfriend is and if anybody gave me any shit, I know you could beat them up for me."

Alex laughed and shook her head. "You're too much."

"Baby, if you and I can thrive in isolation like this for... ugh, how long has it even been? Seven or eight months, I think, than we can make it through anything. I miss modern plumbing and... well, everything. But one thing I am grateful for is the chance for us to get to know each other."

"A little over eight local months, using the universal standard of six day weeks. Then again, if we converted the thirty two hour day here into twenty hour standard days it would be closer to thirteen months."

"Holy shit... that's more than two thirds of a standard year," Synthia realized. "I can't believe... has it really been that long?"

"It has," Alex said. "My distress signal has been on the entire time, except for when I must recharge. I'm starting to think it might not be strong enough to reach very far."

"I can take a look again and see if I can find a way to boost it that won't be too draining?"

Alex smiled. "Of course. Would you like some breakfast? You should eat up the rest of the food we preserved before it gets too warm and spoils."

"Ugh, what I'd give for proper refrigeration," Synthia said.

"I was thinking about that," Alex said. "We could dig out another section of the pond and have water run through it, but make sure we don't allow any of the snakefish in. Even at the hottest of summer it stayed barely above freezing."

"It would be wet though... can we build something airtight with the resources we have?"

Alex nodded. "I think so."

"Maybe some wood treated with a resin," Synthia mused.

"I knew you could figure it out," Alex said. "You're the brains, after all. Tell me what you need and I'll get it for you."

"How about you let me go with you this time? I love our home, don't get me wrong, but after a winter spent braiding ropes out of grass and animal hides, I need to stretch my legs."

Alex lifted one hairless eyebrow. "Do you remember the trip up here?"

"It sucked," Synthia agreed. "But I've down a good ten kilos since then, if not more, and I'm stronger than I've ever been."

"Sexier too," Alexis agreed.

Synthia stroke a pose with her but thrust out to the side and her breasts cupped in her hands. She pushed her lips together and blew her lover a kiss.

"We should wait a few more days, at least, to make sure the weather holds and to be sure the cliffs are solid and dry before we go," Synthia said. "The route I took to the east isn't as much climbing but it is a longer hike to get out of the mountains."

"I'm all for it!" Synthia said. She turned and looked at where her boots were kept with her clothes. "My boots are still in good shape, I only wear them when I have to."

"Yes, you'll be fine," Alex said. "Just wait a little longer."

Synthia sighed. "I can do that. Whatever will I do for a few more days? I could look into your distress signal... or I could reward you in other ways."

Alex laughed. "Reward me? You hacked my reward system so that when I make you cum, I'm rewarded with an orgasm."

"You said you wanted it that way," Synthia pouted. "You wanted to be rewarded for making me feel good."

The mechanized woman smiled. "I did, and I do. I enjoyed pleasing you before you figured it out. Now it's even more, ahem, rewarding."

Synthia grinned and hopped up on a makeshift table they'd built out of split logs. She spread her legs and tickled her bare skin with her fingertips. "Then I think it's time you were rewarded..."

Alex smiled and took a step toward her. She lowered herself to one knee and then the other before reaching out and gently running her cool metal fingers down the inside of Synthia's thighs. The weapon's tech shivered and let out a gasp. The cold was exciting in the warmth from the fire that crackled in the hearth. It was even more exciting knowing when the goose pimpled flesh Alex left behind was warmed back up with the woman's lips and breath a moment later.

Synthia closed her eyes and leaned her head back, teasing herself. She focused on the crackle of the fire and the muted roar of the waterfall outside. It seemed louder than ever with her eyes closed. Louder by the second in fact.

Synthia gasped as Alex's tongue slipped between her folds and touched her most sensitive flesh. She tried to lose herself in it but the roar of the waterfall was starting to become obnoxiously distracting. She growled and opened her eyes. It was still there. Still loud. Still distracting.

"Alex, baby, stop," Synthia said.

"Why? What's-- what is that?" Alexis said as she picked up on the sound.

A laser carved stone cup fell off the table and hit the ground with a dull thud. Synthia yelped and closed her legs before hopping off the table. Alexis was already backing away and turning to grab her helmet.

"Are the bugs back?" Synthia yelped. "The ground did this when the Roughneck was buried."

Alexis fixed her jaw piece and then pulled her helmet on. She rushed to the door of their humble cabin while locking it in place. Before she opened the door she activate her weapon systems and sprouted barrels from both arms, as well as two now-worn blades. Panels opened in both thighs exposing hand-held weapons as secondary weapons.

Armored and armed, Alexis opened the door and stepped into it. Wind blasted her and swirled through the hut, spiraling the smoke out of the hearth before it could escape up the blackened stone and wood half pipe they'd installed to maximize the heat before the smoke went out a covered opening in the roof.

Synthia ran to a shelf and grabbed her pistol off of it before the vibration made it fall off. She looked to her clothes and then her blanket, trying to decide which made more sense to put on. Or if either did -- naked and cold but alive was better than warm and dead.

Alexis took a step out and then stopped. She turned. "Synthia... you need to see this."

Synthia hesitated and asked, "See what?" She ignored her own question and stepped forward, nudity forgotten. The cold wind made her suck her breath. She shivered but kept both hands on her pistol. Her nipples were aching they were so hard. Alexis was going to have to warm them up later.

Synthia stepped into the doorway and looked around. She squinted against the wind that blasted her and then sniffed. There was a smell in the air... a familiar smell. It wasn't cinnamon, like those terrible bugs, but something else Something... synthetic. She looked to Alex and saw the woman had her head tilted and was staring up.

Synthia followed her gaze and gasped. It wasn't overcast out but the entire plateau was covered in the shadow of a spaceship. It hovered a few dozen meters above them and to the east, blocking the sun.

"Holy shit!" Synthia gasped.

"I don't recognize the ship. It's not a company ship," Alexis said. "Utility class... The Rebexa?"

"It's a ship!" Synthia shouted. "Alex, we're saved!"

The cargo bay doors on the bottom of the Rebexa dropped open, rotating out until they locked in place. A moment later a crate lowered with two figures on top of it, each grabbing on to the sides. It was buffeted by the winds from the ship's thrusters and the strong spring cross-wind, but stayed on course as it floated over and landed on the ground between their cabin and their small fruit orchard.

This close they could see both of the figures were women. They climbed over the edges of the floating crate and approached, one with her hands empty at her sides and the other with a rifle clutched in them. The armed woman also had a pistol on each hip. What stood out more than her weapons was her blue-green skin, large eyes, and brown mohawk that was braided in the back. She was a Likchan, but the unarmed woman was human like Synthia, but she had something in common with Alex too -- a gleaming silver prosthetic arm.

"Hello, I'm Nyx Bloom, this is Domina," the human called loudly to greet them. "This planet doesn't register as inhabited... I'm sorry, did we catch you at a bad time?"

Synthia stepped forward, her excitement helping her ignore the frigid ground under her feet. "Bad time? Why... oh my-- shit!"

Alexis didn't turn around but she did say, "Why don't you get dressed? I'll talk to them."

Synthia blushed and started to back away before she started to wonder how Alexis had known. "How did you know I was naked?"

"My... oh... uh, I guessed."

"Bullshit... you've got rear cameras, don't you?"

"Umm maybe?"

Synthia gasped and then shook her head and laughed. "That time when I made you turn around, you watched me anyhow!"

"I'm sorry? Well, not really..."

Synthia laughed again. "You're lucky I love you... but you're definitely going to be making that up to me later."

"I will," Alex agreed.

Synthia shook her head again and called to Nyx, "One minute... sorry... we weren't expecting you."

"Then why broadcast a distress signal?" Domina asked.

Nyx grinned and shook her head. "Bad timing, I bet."

"Are you with the company? New Horizons Expeditions?" Alexis asked.

"What? No. Just an independent," Nyx said. "I've been looking for something from one system to the next. My long range scans told me there might be something here I've been looking for, so I came and once we got close we picked up your distress signal."

"What are you looking for?" Alexis asked.

"Mind telling me who you are, first?"

"Oh, of course. My name is Alexis Murray and my... partner is Synthia Zhao," Alexis said. "You may call me Alex, but please call her Synthia."

Nyx frowned and glanced at Domina. "Um, okay. Well, Alex, there's an extraordinarily rare metal I've been looking for and I think I found it here, but it's to the southwest some. We came to your distress signal first."

"The southwest? How far?"

"Twenty or thirty kilometers I think. It's underground."

Alexis frowned. "I suggest you leave it where it is then. Our ship landed near there and all crew were lost save for us."

Nyx frowned again. "My scans didn't pick up any signs of a derelict ship."

"It was torn apart and... well, we don't know what they did with it, exactly."

Nyx stiffened. "They? Who is they?"

"Bugs. A colony of thousands of giant, man-- and ship-- eating bugs. They destroyed four walkers, three mechanized operators like myself, and our entire ship and its entire crew."

"Except for yourselves," Domina said.

"Yes, we escaped and ran until we left their hunting range. We've been up here for nine local months."

"That's the better part of a standard year," Nyx said without missing a beat.

Alexis focused on her, impressed at the quick calculation. "Yes. We feared no one would ever find us."

"Hey!" Synthia said as she trotted out wearing her utility overalls. Her pistol was holstered at her side this time. "Sorry about that, we'd just woken up. Not much to do in the winter up here. I'm Synthia, this is Alex. Boy, are you two a welcome sight!"

"They want to investigate what's under the bug hive," Alex told her.

Synthia's grin went from sunshine to cloudy faster than the winter storms that came on them in the mountains. "No... no you don't," she said. "They'll destroy you, your ship, and everything. I watched them eat the ship that brought us here!"

Nyx nodded. "All right. Why don't you two come on board and tell us more about these... bugs. I've got room for you and I'm happy to save you. I promise I won't risk the Rebexa or any of us dealing with them either."

Alex and Synthia shared a look. Alex gave her a tiny nod and Synthia said, "Are you the captain?"

"Captain and owner of the Rebexa," Nyx said. "She may not look like much, but trust me, you won't find another ship like her in the universe."