A Snippet from Cyborg Security

Cyborg Security is a short story set in the Diaspora Worlds on a distant observation space station. It will be out in a multi author antho this spring or summer.

Two hardworking adults mixed with the chaos of children results in a dire situation.

Aerria left her pod after an early breakfast. She didn’t know how early Domingo ate, but normally Blevin was out the door by seven thirty. Today though, he was wearing pajamas in the lounge watching vids with the little ones, she’d messaged the tutor he was ill. Janna and Olvar were awake but sleepy so the three were on the couches with blankets. Elodi the servobot was in the lounge with them, and communications all were to go through her.

Aerria rushed through the early morning corridors to Domingo’s pod.  Few people were about in the residential area since shift change wasn’t for another hour or so. She’d never been to Domingo’s place. Of course not. There was no reason for her to visit him. They were childhood friends, but they weren’t close now. He’d been her late husband’s best friend, not hers. For  number of years she’d heard from him, brief messages, until he alerted her to the position she now held on the Fair Discovery.

Domingo opened the door and by the set of his jaw she knew he was still furious.  “Do you know how complicated this is going to be?”

That set her off. “Look, I didn’t expect or anticipate that anything like this could happen. Would you have? Janna’s eight years old. And a lot of it was luck! Timing! She didn’t calculate a date, she just aimed the ship and the timing was right. Everything lined up!”

She shoved past him and he grabbed her arms. And then his mouth was on hers, not like the gentle, tentative kiss they had shared in the past, but a hard, hot press of tongue and teeth. Their tongues battled, revving her heart rate ever higher. Aerria threaded hands into his wiry hair, not gentle, and he hoisted her up against the wall, his breathing through his nose as loud as hers was, but she refused to break the kiss. This was better than yelling at each other. So much better. She moved her arms to his neck and  flung her legs about his hips, letting his weight pressing her against the wall keep her in line for the kiss.