The Rembrandt Legacy

"Of course. I couldn't even say 'thank you' for helping with the cabling. Alone, I would have never made it in such a short time." Her hand swerved low, fingertips brushing my cock.

I turned to face her. Her eyes gleamed in a soft green luminescence and I could make out faint traces of her circuitry.

"You don't have to-" I took her hand in mine and held it. "I'm satisfied with a simple 'thanks'. Besides, I don't want to come between you and Praecor."

"Praecor and I are not your typical couple," Cosina said, smiling. "To me, sex is more than just penetration. The afterglow is at least as important, and he's the only one on this ship to keep up with me, mentally. Don't get me wrong. Crush is amazing, but afterwards, things get a little ... monosyllabic."

"And I'm even in that same ballpark?"

"I haven't had a chance to download your medical data yet," Cosina said, grinning. "But like Praecor, I like my options. And you, dear Rem, have a special bond with technology I find incredibly fascinating." She leaned in and breathed a quick kiss onto my nose.

"Uh-huh. It all boils down to 'xenobiological studies' then. You know, if I were a cynic, I would say you're just here because I'm a freak."

I instantly regretted that barb. A look of genuine hurt crossed her face. Way to go to behave like a jerk, Rem.

"Sorry," I whispered, pulling her close and kissing her lips. "That was uncalled for."

"It was." She reversed the grip I had her hand in and moved mine atop one of her breasts. "But I forgive you."

"Under the condition I play by your rules?"

"Yes. For the next five minutes, you do as I say. Meanie."

"Only five minutes? For that stupid outburst?"

"Yes. Because in ten minutes, you are expected on the bridge for the final system checks. And I have one favor to ask of you before that."

"Besides this?" I circled my finger around her nipple, which promptly went hard. Cosina inhaled, the glow of her circuitry intensifying. Was that a heartbeat I could feel through her breast?

One of her hands closed around my manhood, more a careful exploration than heated stroking. Her gentle fingers had me hard in moments.

"Yes, besides making me incredibly horny," she whispered. Our lips touched for another electrifying kiss. Her tongue came out and licked me playfully. "Your lips feel differently than Crush's. Or Lily's. Or-"

I cut her off with a kiss of my own, adding a second hand to the proceedings. I caressed down her stomach. She gasped into my mouth and I could feel her abdominal muscles tighten as my hand traveled over them. Cosina rolled onto her back and spread her thighs, allowing my questing hand easy access. My fingers came to a halt on her pelvic mound. Cosina shot me a confused look.

"Why have you stopped?" Her hand closed tighter around me, stroked, once, twice.

"Remember what we're doing?"

"Oh, right. You have to do what I say. Please explore my multi-function opening. With your tongue."

"And what do I get in return?"

"My tongue? Would that be a fair trade?"

I chuckled. "You call the shots, Cosina. You can ask whatever you want for the next..."

"Two minutes, forty-five seconds. Hurry."

"Yes, ma'am." I turned around so my head was resting on her thigh. By now, my eyes had adjusted to the gloom, and the slight glow of her circuitry added just enough brightness to see by. I had never been this close to a Silician, male or female, and the sight of her "multi-function opening" was intriguing. Whoever had created the Silicians had obviously heard about vaginas, but what I had before me looked like an approximation, with soft, malleable labia covering a nearly concentric opening. Wondering what I might taste, I carefully licked. The reaction was immediate and much more forceful than anticipated. Cosina yelped and nearly sat up.

"Hey, that tickles!" she complained.

"Sorry. How do I do it properly then?"

"You may be a bit more forceful. The whole area down there is thickly laced with nerve endings." Without warning, her lips closed around me. Now it was my turn to go rigid. She was determined and eager, her tongue a soft, hot blur along my glans and a quarter of the shaft.

I resumed my exploration of her... fuck it, sex and gave another lick, this time a bit more determined. She tasted sweet, literally, like the cactus flower juice she had given me on my first day. No hint of salt or other 'flesh' tastes, just the gentle sweetness. And the more I licked, the wetter she got. Not only from my saliva. She secreted more of that sweet stuff and it was incredibly hard to wrench my attention away from her.

Cosina released my rod, gasping for air. "Can you put a finger in? Or two? While you lick me?"

"As you wish." I resumed my ministrations and did as she asked. The opening was flexible and easily accepted both my index and middle fingers. It even seemed to tighten around them, massaging and squeezing as I moved them in and out. Cosina moaned around my cock, then released me again. I heard a wet sucking -- I was much too fixated on nibbling and sucking on her to pay any more attention -- and then her lips were back while her hand moved over my behind, zeroing in on my crack.

Her moans became much more urgent and she rolled her crotch against my hand and mouth. I had to wrestle with her to keep my tongue where it was and she reciprocated in kind, clawing my ass. And suddenly her thumb slipped between my butt cheeks, slick and wet, massaging my anus. I went rigid, nearly ramming my rod down her throat. She purred, a low, content sound and sucked as I erupted, the shock of her intrusion enough to push me over the edge. A small torrent of sweet juice squirted from her, drenching my mouth, chin and hand. Breathlessly, I licked it up.

Somewhere, I heard the soft beep-beep-beep of an alarm going off. Groaning, I rested my head on her thigh. "Did you time that?"

Cosina licked my shaft one last time, gulped noisily, then giggled. "Yes. Fun, wasn't it?"

"Are you always this literal?" I found it hard to be mad at her. The radiant smile on her lips (and maybe my cum dribbling down her chin) made it impossible.

"When it suits me," she purred, using a corner of the cover to wipe her face clean. "Would you please take me in your arms again?"

"Do we have time for that?"

"Oh, Lily can wait, considering how hard we worked last shift." Her expression turned serious.

I joined her and pulled her close. "Why so serious all of a sudden?"

"Rem, how old am I?"

"That's a difficult question, especially with you Silicians. Your bodies are fully formed when you are born, right?"

"Yes. So guess."

"Hm. Eighteen?"

She laughed. "Don't worry. I am old enough for what we just did. But you are way off."

"Well, for a thirty-six year old, you look rather young." That earned me a slap on the arm.

"I am five, Rem. And in these five years, I have seen quite a bit. Been through a lot too. But there has always been this constant which I can't shake. Most people treat me like a thing. A machine. Sexbot." A look of infinite sadness crossed her face.

"People can be jerks. Don't pay those idiots any mind. But your kind does send confusing signals, with the whole modular appendages business and the circuitry."

"That's why I want you to use your Legacy on me. Solve the question once and for all. If I am nothing but a sophisticated sexbot, your gift would tell you, right?"

"No clue. I have never used it on people before."

"Just think I'm a high-end sex toy then, if it helps." She closed her eyes and leaned her head against my shoulder. Hot liquid trickled down her cheeks.

Manifesting was surprisingly easy. Catharsis and all that. I ran my hands over her head, my fingertips taking in the data jacks discreetly mounted below and behind her ears, the access panels mounted on the lower part of her skull, the fine contours of her cheeks and nose. Cosina held perfectly still. I could sense the layers of augmentations under her skin, the subdermal data storage, the reinforced muscle fibers and the combat-grade titanium skeleton, the implanted weapons by her wrists and the sensor suite, cameras and recorders buried within the duraplate cage of her ribs. But in contrast to a starship or a robot or a piece of machinery, that was all I could find. As far as my Legacy was concerned, Cosina was a living being, heavily augmented, but alive. I opened my eyes.

She looked at me, a look of intense apprehension on her delicate face. "Tell me."

"As far as my Legacy is concerned, as far as I am concerned, you're a person, not a thing. But even without it, you should never let others tell you what to think."

"It's hard sometimes," Cosina said, a look of immense relief fluttering over her face, "especially when there are no other Silicians within range to keep me from thinking too much. Normally, we connect through the Network with each other, but being with Lily, often far away from civilization, makes that rather difficult."

"I can empathize, believe me." I hugged her close.

My comm picked that precise moment to vibrate like crazy on the nightstand, a harsh racket shredding the mood.

"And that's Lily."

* * * *

A quick ultrasound shower later -- efficient, but very anticlimactic -- Cosina and I joined the rest of the crew in the lounge.

Contrary to her usual habits, Lily paced the floor, fully dressed. When we entered, she turned our way.

"About time you showed up. We need to move, fast."

"What happened? And 'good morning'."

"Well, two things have happened. First, the Nor navy has sent a new flight of ships to the system the seed ship is hiding in. As a result, the Faceless have moved. They're still within our contact's sphere of influence, but they're moving fast. If we want to catch them, we need to intercept them within three jumps. Taking the usual eight hour cool down into account, it will be fucking close. I will join Vaelia in the cockpit. Cosina and you, please make sure the engine room doesn't blow up. I know how hard the two of you worked last shift, so I let you have your rest, but now it's crunch time, people. How fast can we be on the way?"

"One final systems check, then we're off," I said. "I'd rather prefer a serious stress test on the new power grid, but given the circumstances..."

"Noted. How long?"

"Ten minutes, tops."

"Great. Let's roll. Crush, how many combat suits do we have?"

"I got one for each of us, including Vaelia. When I bought them, Padari wasn't on the list though."

"Can't be helped. Make Vael's fit Padari. I'd like Vael to stay behind, a foot on the gas in case we need to beat a hasty retreat."

Cosina and I trotted to the machine room. The smell of warm insulation greeted us.

"Nothing burned out overnight. I love good news." Rubbing my hands, I checked out the console. Green lights across the board.

"Vaelia?"

"Yes, Rem?"

"How are things on your end?"

"I have the shields up, engines on full and all weapons powered up. Still nineteen percent room to spare, which is more than I've seen in the last few months. Good job!"

"Okay, just to be safe, power down the cannons and fire up the jump drive. I want to see how it works."

"Will do." Her voice came over the ship intercom next. "Okay people. Jump in twenty seconds. Grab a seat, everyone."

While she counted down, Cosina and I folded down emergency seats built into the bulkhead and strapped in. The seat belts had just clicked into place when Vaelia reached the mark. Being in the same room, the jump drive's noise was shockingly loud, an ear-splitting whine and roar as it spooled up. This time, the jump went much smoother. The feeling of an uncontrolled tumble was still there, but there was no nausea, no vertigo, no headache when we arrived.

"Um, guys?" came Vaelia's voice over the comms. "Mind checking out the core for me? I'm getting some erratic readings."

Cosina and I checked the console. Vael was right. There were some serious fluctuations in the power core, especially during the jump cycle. Power cores usually could take more load than they were rated for, but on the Lumia, the core regularly was taxed to its redline. To avoid the emergency shutdown protocols kicking in, the engineer who had mated Zuthrian and Nor tech on this ship had employed some creative coding in the control software. There was no room for error, no buffer for unforeseen surges. This jump alone, there had been two instances of the core nearly melting through its housing when the drive had fired up, but the control software had ignored the alarms and injected more coolant instead.

"Cosina, could you scan the power core for me? I need to make sure we can make the next few jumps without it crapping out on us."

"On it, Rem." The Silician connected her scanner with the corresponding ports on the core's outer hull.

"Vaelia, can we run simulations on a few more jumps?"

"Simulations? We can calculate the jump trajectory, but I can't run predictions on how the ship systems will behave. It's been a 'press the button and pray" situation since we've installed the jump drive."

"Rem?" Cosina sounded worried.

"Bad news?"

"Not sure yet. But the integrity ratings of the core are not looking good. I think it's on its last legs, especially the containment shield. It's very brittle."

"Too much coolant?"

"I would presume."

It has worked before. Lily's words. Yeah, it worked until it didn't. And going by the readouts, the core was on its way out. All the tampering, all the extra shots of coolant had eroded the core and it was only a matter of time until the hard-wired safeties, the ones which would permanently disconnect the reaction chamber from the rest of the systems to avoid a meltdown, would kick in.

There was no way to repair it without a dedicated facility. It would have to be completely dismantled, something we didn't have the tools nor the space for, even with my Legacy.

I left the engine room and went to look for Lily. I found her in the lounge, on a sofa. The pool had been closed up with a transparent cover. On the table in front of her, I saw a holographic star chart.

"Keeping an eye out for our target?" I asked her.

"Hm-hm. What is it?"

I sat down next to her. "Lily. The ship is not safe. Even though we have restored the power grid, the core can give out any moment. We should abort and-"

She looked up, her eyes piercing through me. "Rem, failure is not an option. You have made it abundantly clear how bad things are and I understand. The first thing we'll do after the mission is fly to a shipyard and buy a new core. But I can not, under any circumstances, cancel this mission. I have used up the advance -- to, among other things, get you out of jail - and the people who gave me this job don't take kindly to failure. We have to cross our fingers and hope we can make those last two jumps. After all, once we have the seed ship, we can use that to fly back. Our destination system, Hellion-V, happens to have a military-spec refit yard."

Her hand closed around mine. "Let's be optimistic here. This job will be one huge payday. Praecor has assured me he can handle a Brain Queen. All we need to do is get him there. And the last jump-" she indicated the map, "into the B-3072 system is only thirteen light years. That should hardly tax the core, right?"

"You're omitting the forty-seven light years jump before it. That one worries me, especially since the B-3056 system we're about to jump to has a "nebula hazard" warning attached to it."

"We'll jump to the edge of the system, far away from any hazards. We will make it."

I wasn't so sure. With a fluttering stomach, I joined Vaelia in the cockpit.

"What'd she say?" she asked as I ensconced myself into the co-pilot's seat.

"Where to begin? Lily says we'll make it as long as we're careful. And let's make sure not to hit B-3056's nebula."

"Tell you what," Vaelia said. "We'll simply change our course. Instead of jumping to B-3056, we'll make a shorter hop to here," she indicated the Charon system thirty-two light years from our current position, "and then hop to our destination. The last jump will be thirty instead of thirteen light years, but it will be safer overall."

"Sounds good. Let's get going then."

* * * *

"Talk to me, Cosina," I urged the Silician. I was doubly impatient. Not only did we still have to make one final jump, but the heat waves coming off the core and jump drive threatened to burn my eyebrows off. The jump to the Charon system went smoothly, all things considered, even though the machine room had turned into a walk-in oven in the process. I shuddered at the thought of what might have happened if we had hit the nebula instead, charged with high-energy particles as these things usually were. A total core failure might have been the least of our troubles.

Cosina unplugged the scanner cables from the core's housing. "I think we might have one or two more jumps before the hard-wired safeties kick in. The core's integrity is at critical levels."

"Lily will be happy to hear that. In the meantime, let's not all use our hair dryers at the same time."

Cosina looked blankly at me. "I don't get this joke."

"Never mind. How about a cold shower and some food? We have seven hours and-," I checked my communicator, "forty-six minutes to burn."

"I'd like that very much," Cosina said with a lewd grin. "Timer is set."

* * * *

"Did we make it?" I asked. My heart hammered in my ears and I fought a vicious bout of nausea. I thanked the heavens I only had a light breakfast after spending most of the last shift with Cosina.

Vael, in the pilot's seat, coughed and groaned. That jump had been rougher than the last few. Our cockpit had turned into a pretty impressive light show, with all manner of warning lights and status readouts fighting for our attention.

"Oooh, that was fucking unpleasant," she hissed. "Let's see. Power output is at thirty-eight percent, core temperature at one-twenty percent normal and slowly, much too slowly coming down."

"I'll see to it," I snarled, fighting the co-pilot's seat to release me. "The last thing we need is a hardware shutdown. In the meantime, turn off any power drain we can live without. Like Lily's pool heaters."

"I heard that," Lily said, outside. "How are things?"

We brushed past one another in the narrow corridor leading to the cockpit. "Unless I can convince the core to keep running, we might go dark in a few moments."

"Then get a move on," the Aquarian said, slapping my butt as she squeezed past me. "Everybody, battle stations. Vael, talk to me. Where is the seed ship?" I heard the seat whirr and whine as she took my station. Not waiting to hear what Vaelia had to say, I sprinted into the machine room. Cosina was already plugged into the console, her face scrunched up into a mask of fervent concentration. On the screen, I saw that she was fighting the automated shutdown systems. And losing. I saw a countdown timer approaching the twenty second mark. Without thinking, I grabbed an industrial-sized fire extinguisher, prayed it was filled with liquid CO₂ and unloaded it onto the core, hoping that the subfreezing extinguishing agent might cool the tortured energy source down at least a little bit. The console beeped three times, then I heard Cosina unplug the cable connecting to it. I didn't take my eyes off the core housing, or what I could see from it through the cloud of CO₂ smoke.

"Disaster averted," Cosina said. "At least for now. I don't think this core will provide enough energy for another jump. And we shouldn't get involved into a full-on space battle either."

"At least it didn't shut down completely. Let's see how things go on Lily's end."

"I'll go and join Crush in cargo bay two."