Deep (5 page)

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57

Filed Under "Consideration"

She smelled coffee. Lawn opened her eyes.
Coffee?

Turning her head, she spotted a carafe and an empty mug sitting beside the bed. Slowly, she swung her legs over the side, sat up, and reached for the container. At the same time, the lights brightened.

"Good morning. How do you feel?"

"You should know. You monitor my stats constantly." She brought the mug up to her nose and inhaled. On her short list of favorite smells was freshly brewed coffee. Or, in this instance, the smell of synthesized freshly brewed coffee.

"Deep? Do me a favor?"

"What?"

"Anytime you talk to me, I want to see you, okay?"

"Full or partial?"

"I'll leave that up to you."

Before she was finished, he was there in front of her. All of him, and still wearing that same wet body suit. Lawn sighed.

She wished she'd had the presence of mind to remember what the man by the fountain had been wearing that day, so she could program a change in costume as well. But she had been struck mindless by his smile when he'd looked up from what he'd been reading and had seen her. And hadn't flinched.

Unless...

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"Deep, are you able to change outfits?"

He glanced down at himself. "You mean my wardrobe?

Why? Is it important?"

She shrugged. "No. Never mind. I was just wondering."

God, the coffee tasted wonderful, despite the fact that it was conjured from a chemical formula instead of ground beans.

"We got a lot of talking to do," she commented with a slight drawl. She scanned overhead to see if she could pinpoint which of the little nipple thingies his image was being projected from. After a while she gave up with a mental shrug. It didn't matter, anyway, did it?

Be content with the fact that he looks like him.

"How's your hand?" Deep insisted with a scowl.

Oh, so now he was pissed at her? For what? For asking about his taste in clothes?

Lawn looked at the fat bandage. "So far, so good. No twinges holding my cup. By the way, thank you. I didn't know breakfast in bed was a perk."

ignored the comment. "From now on, during all inspections outside the ship, you will have at least one tether always in effect before you leave the airlock."

"Yes, Mom." She watched to see if he could discern sarcasm. Not surprisingly, he did. In fact, the figure rolled its eyes.

"Lay off the mother cracks, please? You know I'm not saying this just to rile you. Yesterday could have ended with disastrous implications."

Geez, if she didn't know any better, she would swear she saw fear in his holo eyes. Greenish-brown eyes. Hazel eyes.

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Lawn felt another shiver go through her. Again, the attention to detail for the ship's human identity surprised her. She took another sip of her coffee to help calm her nerves.

"Have you relayed my report back to base yet?"

"Yes. I uploaded them last night," Deep replied.

"Deep, I've been wondering. Are all the Vogts male?"

"No. Two of us are. Monika and Dara are our female Vogt entities."

"Who is paired with Monika?"

"Tria Bleddis is paired with Monika."

Lawn drained her mug. "That means... Let me see if I got this straight in my head. Ship one is female to female. Ship two is male to male. Ship three is male to female. What's four? Female to male?"

smiled. Lawn found herself drawn to that smile. It looked so sincere and real, it was almost frightening to think it was digitally created.

"Ennis Velderman is paired with Dara, yes."

"What's the importance of those pairings? To see which ones are best suited?"

"Precisely," Deep said.

"What's the verdict so far?"

"So far the Bleddis and Siler missions have been deemed successful."

"That's good to hear." She started to take another swallow when she realized her mug was empty. Lawn reached for the carafe, but it was also empty.

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"You need to eat something. Put something more substantial in your stomach besides coffee. How about an omelet? I make a mean ham and cheese."

"Mmm. Sounds greats. Add some of those pretend onions, and I'll take one. Let me get into the shower first to help me wake up."

"Not a problem," Deep said.

She noticed he remained standing off to the side as she got to her feet and made her way over to the tiny stall.

Dropping her jumpsuit to the floor, she stepped behind the transparent wall and turned on the spigots.

In the middle of cleansing her hair, Lawn realized he was still standing where she'd left him. What's more, she would swear he was watching her bathe.

No. That couldn't be right. It had to be his image was frozen as the ship dealt with cooking her breakfast and whatever other inner workings it had to simultaneously keep track of. Regardless, seeing him there gave her a very naughty sense of voyeurism. She remembered the hard-on she thought she'd seen earlier and debated whether she should try to see if she could have him produce another one, but common sense kept telling her it would be a futile gesture. On the other hand, the little devil sitting on her shoulder asked, "Hell, why not? Consider it an experiment...of sorts. After all, he's a ship, for crying out loud!"

The plexiglass was cool against her skin where she pressed her breasts. Slowly, she moved them around until they squeaked slightly with the moisture. Her nipples flattened and stilled as her breasts rotated around them. She cupped their 61

fullness and played with writing her name on the steam-covered door with the hardening tips. Unfortunately, her play became more erotic as lusty tingles trickled her all the way down to her clit.

Lawn pinched her nipples as she closed her eyes and drifted into her old habit of imagining that she was being pleasured by a man. Turning around, she ducked her head back underneath the spray and let the water run down her back in rivulets. The water tickled sensuously as it drew a path over her butt cheeks, down the valley between them, and dripped off her lower lips.

Pressing her buttocks against the plexiglass wall that faced him, Lawn bent over to wipe down her legs and feet. When she was finished, she slowly washed herself between her legs, using her good hand and fingers to stroke her hardening nub.

Before she was aware of it, Lawn found herself lost in her fantasizing. Her fingers continued to tease her stiffening bud, but in her imagination it wasn't her doing the teasing. It was Deep. Deep as a real man, a solid entity, not some vaporous apparition. He was using his fingers to lightly strum the sensitive button until she could take no more.

She wanted him inside her. She wanted that nice, impressive length she'd seen sprouting from his groin shoving into her, and to keep shoving it in and out...in and out...faster and harder, and with a bit of roughness. But not too rough.

Just enough to dominate her. To make her wish she could cling to those muscular arms and let him ride her into oblivion.

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Lawn dove three fingers into her vagina and lightly scraped the silken inner walls with her nails. Lightly. Provocatively.

Pumping her fingers as deep inside herself as she could to find that elusive g-spot.

Feeling his erection running roughshod over nerve endings that signaled for more wetness. More. More.

It was his thumb flicking over her clit. They were his fingers keeping her lower lips spread. His body keeping her bent over so he could take her repeatedly. His knees keeping her thighs apart. Pounding into her. Escalating the intensity.

She gasped, and in the next instant, she rocketed. Her hand continued to masturbate herself as she gave a little grunt. Her other hand shot out to help steady herself with the wall. Her knees were buckling, but she worked to keep her orgasm from fading away. To keep that seductive dream alive of having Deep screwing her into mindless ecstasy.

It was a beautiful, beautiful fantasy.

Too bad it had to end. At least for now.

Reluctantly, Lawn straightened up and hit the dryer. When the blast struck her breasts, she groaned softly and grabbed them. Her nipples were still aching, still waiting for his caresses. Or better yet, for his mouth, his tongue, his sucking on them. She leaned her forehead against the door.

You are so SOL.

Once the dryer stopped, Lawn opened the door and stepped out. The first thing she noticed was that Deep's image continued to be watching her. The second thing she couldn't miss was the almost pained expression on his face.

The third thing that was unavoidable was the huge tenting 63

between his legs. From where she stood, the dark, flushed head was as clear as day.

"What was that all about, Lawn?"

She started. Was he pissed at her? What for? For that matter, why should it matter?

"What was what all about?" If he wanted pissed, he was going to find out she could give back as good as she got.

"You were masturbating in the shower," he bluntly told her before she had the chance to answer.

"So?" She arched an eyebrow at him. "I'm a healthy young woman, in case my records didn't tell you. I get those urges.

What do you expect me to do? Ignore them? I'm not a machine like you. I can't ignore the fact that I get horny. But unfortunately I don't have a nice fuck buddy around to help me get over them." She paused and turned her back on the image as she reached inside a compartment for a clean jumpsuit. "Even if I did, he'd have to be blind."

Lawn turned around to get dressed. Hell, if he'd seen her do the nasty to herself, what harm would there be in being totally candid about everything else?

What she wasn't prepared for was the look of pure hunger in Deep's hazel eyes. Or for the sight of his hands clenched into fists as they hung by his sides.

"Your records did mention you could be antagonistic and a bit of a smart ass," he said darkly.

"Oh, yeah? Well, excuse me if I missed the paragraph telling me you liked to watch women take showers, you pervert. Or that your holo could get a hard-on!"

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The look of shock on his face was both unexpected and surprising. Before she could make further comment, the image vanished. Lawn waited for the ship to make a retaliatory comment, but after a full minute had passed without one, she shrugged and finished dressing.

All right. So we've had our first lover's quarrel. Big deal.

Big deal? Lover's quarrel?

Staring at her image in the little mirror, Lawn humorously realized how she had compared their arrangement. Which meant that, deep down, that's how she thought of herself and Deep.

As lovers.

Well, maybe not as lovers, but at least as live-ins.

Hello. I'd like for you to meet my significant other, the
ship.

Snorting, she dragged a brush through her hair and finished getting ready.

Communique 5A

To: G.E. Coordinator Millner

Minor personality conflicts, as warned about per Directive Two Sixteen Slash Four, Paragraph D. No major problems.

Addendum: At what point does the need for privacy take precedence within the strict confines of the ship? Are we allowed to "shut off" certain functions?

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65

Filed Under "Admission"

Her omelet and Deep were waiting for her when she got to the bridge. She no longer wondered how her food, or anything else for that matter, could appear in the middle of a room. Obviously the ship was rife with those little prehensile metal arms and fingers, but she could see the sense in having them.

Her stomach clenched in anticipation as she caught her first whiff of breakfast. Lifting the seal covering the whole tray, she first noticed the bowl of sliced fruit. Yes, he would know about her love of fruit.

Lawn glanced over at where Deep appeared to be staring out the viewscreen. The sight of him blatantly ignoring her almost made her laugh, as did his perusal of the galaxy. As if the ship wasn't already aware of what was happening along every millimeter of its surface, inside and out.

"You have a communique from Captain Brune," Deep informed her almost nonchalantly.

"Let's see it." She continued to dig into her omelet, which she had to concur was delicious. The ship could cook.

The viewscreen went opaque, then Brune's face popped into the middle of it. For once there wasn't a scowl on his face, although Lawn knew from personal experience that no one could tell what the man was thinking until words came 66

out of his mouth. The guy probably made millions at a poker table.

"Officer Bascomb, this is simply a preliminary response to let you know that all of your prehyper communications have been received. To remind you, it takes approximately three hundred and thirty-six hours for all signals to travel between Earth and the outpost, so any emergencies will not be dealt with for a minimum of at least fourteen to fifteen days. That is why it is imperative that you use extreme caution and observe all safety procedures while on duty, and off."

"Pause." Lawn glanced over at Deep. "There hasn't been enough time for my report about the buoy incident to reach them?"

"No. But while you were in hypersleep, I relayed reports to them on a regular basis. Want to continue?"

"Yeah." She continued eating while the video resumed.

"I'm also happy to report that the first Vogt mission has been declared a complete success. A full report of that mission is tagged to this message for your personal analysis.

As soon as Vogt ship Nineteen Ninety-eight ROF lands, and both crew and ship have been debriefed, you will be sent a copy of that report as well. But we anticipate another successful completion.

"Good luck, Officer Bascomb. Here's wishing you and Vogt Twenty Twenty-three ACE an equally successful mission. See you in eighteen months. Captain Brune ending transmission."

The man's image was replaced by a field of stars. The ship brought up the lights. Lawn pushed away her tray as Deep finally turned to face her.

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"Lawn, we need to talk."

She paused with her coffee mug halfway to her lips. "What about? The message sounded pretty clear to me."

The image shook his head. There was a funny look on his face she couldn't read. "I don't mean about the message, or even the report attached to it. I mean about...us."

Us?

"What do you mean, 'about us'?"

Concern. There was honest concern in his voice, but the emotion didn't seem to match the look on his face. She lowered her mug as a sign she was giving him her full attention.

"Do you recall what you were told about the process regarding placing a human crew member with each ship?"

She frowned, thinking back. "You mean, what all was involved in the elimination process? Sure."

"Do you remember what was told to you about how the final results would be determined?"

She had no idea where he was going with this, but it didn't matter. Obviously the ship felt that it had to get something off of its proverbial albeit nonexistent chest. The least she could do was let him. It wasn't like she had a more pressing engagement.

"Uhh, okay. Correct me if I'm wrong, which you will anyway whether I want you to or not, but once it got down to the final twenty, the scientists made the call as to which person was most compatible with each ship. Four ships, four human partners."

shook his head. "No. That's not quite the truth."

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"What part? There weren't twenty finalists? Or that there were different compatibility issues that had to be met?"

"The part where the scientists chose who would match with whom."

His voice had dropped until it was almost caressing her, soft and soothing. If she didn't know better, she would say loving, which was totally absurd. Vogts were intelligent, but they couldn't feel true emotion. Yes, they could imitate emotions, but actually feel them?

definitely had her curiosity aroused.

"All right. I give. What are you trying to tell me?"

"Each ship chose its own human companion. I chose you, Lawn. I personally selected you from the final lineup of twenty candidates. I chose you."

She couldn't stop the grin from climbing onto her face.

Neither could she help but feel the tightening of the skin across her left cheek. It wasn't often that she smiled. Or laughed, for that matter.

"You chose me. Okay. I give. What moved me to the head of the class?"

raised a hand to his forehead and rubbed the worry line between his brows as he sighed. "I fell in love with you, Lawn."

She started to laugh when it hit her. He was being honest, painfully honest, and that explained the expression on his face. The ship...the man...was telling her the absolute truth.

"You...what?"

"I'm in love with you, Lawn."

"Are artificially intelligent ships capable of doing that?"

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Now she could read that look on his face. It was pain.

Emotional pain. Real honest-to-God fear glittered in his eyes.

Why was he afraid? That she'd reject him?

"Wow. This whole emotional thing in your programming really has you screwed up, doesn't it?" She didn't mean to sound flippant, but it sounded that way when it came out of her mouth.

rolled his eyes and began pacing in front of her.

Pacing? Maybe she should try again, this time with a bit more compassion. And a different tactic.

"Deep, you're a ship. How would you know about love?"

He halted in mid-stride and stared at her. It was clear he was bothered and worried. And turned on. At this angle Lawn could tell how turned on he was. Between his professed love and the symbolic erection, Lawn didn't know if she should feel grateful, intimidated, or just as horny.

"Lawn, just because I have been given the means to think for myself doesn't exclude me from having emotions."

"So, it's true the Bureau had artificial emotions embedded into your programming as well?"

"It was imperative that they did. Sometimes a correct decision may rest on an emotional reaction, rather than a logical one."

A recent memory surfaced. "That's why you sounded so distraught when the buoy started jetting, and I almost got thrown into space."

"Yes." He gave a slight nod.

"Because you were terrified of losing me?"

"Yes." Another little nod.

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"And the mission would have been deemed a failure if I had floated off into oblivion?"

"No." His sharp retort was harder, darker. Deep's face reddened as he frowned. "I never once thought about the mission. My whole focus was on keeping you safe. On saving you and making sure you stayed with me." He turned to face the viewscreen. He appeared to be weighing what he would say next. "Lawn, I've talked with the other ships. We've discussed our final selections."

This time she couldn't help but laugh. "The ships gossiped among themselves?"

"Why not? We were curious about why we had chosen who we had chosen. What attributes and special qualities had drawn us to our final pick."

"So you told them you were in love with me?"

"No." His tone softened. "I told them how much I admired your courage. I told them how you gave every spare minute you could find to better yourself. To increase your skills. To give yourself a greater edge against your competition."

"You knew about that?"

Again, he turned his head and gave her that little smile that melted her insides. "There is nothing about you I don't know. From the moment you entered the service, I learned everything I could about you. I followed every step you took, every decision you made."

Her eyes widened. "Did you have anything to do with my successes, to guarantee I would become one of the finalists?"

"No, but I hoped you would make it. I kept an intense eye on you, urging you along the way in the only way I could." He 71

took a deep breath. "To me, you are the most headstrong and determined woman I have ever known. You are also the most beautiful woman I have ever seen."

Lawn felt a coldness go through her at those words. Her hand went up to her left cheek as she glared at him. "You don't have to start lying to me."

"I can't lie to you, Lawn."

"Bullshit! You just did!"

strode toward her with strong, deliberate steps. He stopped directly in front of her and reached for the mug still cradled in her hands. At the same time an aluminum arm emerged from the wall beside her, became one with his ghostly hand, and together they plucked the coffee cup from her grasp and lowered it to the floor. She remained stunned when he took her hand and urged her to stand up.

"I can't lie to you," he repeated slowly, softly, emphasizing each word. Insistent.

He cupped the left side of her face, or at least the metallic arm did. Strangely, the apparatus was warm. If she didn't know any better, Lawn would swear he was actually touching her. She gazed up into his hazel eyes. Eyes that were filled with undeniable affection.

"Do you think I planned to fall in love?" he asked her, before giving a little chuckle. "Hell, I didn't even know I was capable of such an emotion. But I should have known. I should have expected it. I mean, I can feel hate. Disgust.

Curiosity. Happiness. Why not love?"

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"Wh-why me?" Damn it, it was hard to speak. Her throat was tightening up. Her eyes were burning, as well as her face.

"Why not you?" he responded.

This wasn't happening to her. This wasn't happening at all.

"I'm asleep."

"No, you're not," Deep argued with that soul-melting smile.

"Then it has to be some kind of drug-induced—"

"Shh! Lawn! Listen to me!"

A thumb stroked her cheek. Her not-normal cheek. She reached up and grabbed the metal fingers. The coldness went through her again, making her shiver.

"I have to check the buoy. I'm probably overdue, and we don't want to have the Bureau breathing down our necks, now do we?"

She quickly broke away from him and stalked out of the bridge, to head down to the corridor and the bay where her suit was located. She couldn't get the hurt expression on Deep's face out of her mind's eye, not that she wouldn't see it again.

This conversation wasn't over with. Not yet, but hopefully it would be. Soon. Because once she explained to him why he shouldn't be in love with her, why he couldn't be, he would understand. And he would believe her. And he would no longer feel the need to profess his attraction to her.

And then she would have a very valid reason for the tears rolling down her cheeks.

Communique 5C

73

To: G.E. Coordinator Millner

Mission back on track. No foreseeable problems.

Addendum: Relationship is evolving. Will keep you informed of any new developments.

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