Rebel

A shortie by SharpFang

It's raining. It's cold. It's getting dark, I'm exhausted, hungry and weak from loss of blood, sounds of the chase behind me, yet I'm happy, drunk with freedom, memories of recent pain and fear feeding strength into my muscles, pain of my wounds bringing back the bittersweet taste of revenge, cold air filling my lungs, air, real, sharp air, not the stinking substance, thick like a liquid, pouring into lungs like water with each breath, providing hardly enough oxygen to live and not quite enough noxious fumes to escape into death.

I won. Even if the chase gets me, even if they manage to keep me alive and imprison me again, I already won. I've proven them wrong. I've proven them their system is not only imperfect, it's a complete failure. They've been wrong from the very beginning, the system was a failure yet before it was created. And now, with each step, with each breath, with every second of my life I was proving it.

Narrow paths between the rocks, cracks between huge boulders, labyrinth of stone, their hope to catch me, my hope to end the pursuit. I knew their ways of thinking - They hoped I would be so exhausted that I would stop running and look for a place to hide. They were right about that. But I knew they hoped I would try to stay in hiding till they are gone. They didn't expect I could bite before they would find me. And now I had something more to bite than just my teeth.

A narrow niche in the roof of a shallow cave, they would follow the tracks of my body heat straight into the ambush. And they did. I waited for them to walk into the cavern, three of them entered, then the rumble, three shots from the blaster pistol, three smouldering puddles of meat pulp, a short moment of waiting and listening for steps. The fourth one came, saw, turned back to run, got blown into pieces. So much for my chase. I knew others weren't as lucky as me. At least some of them got the privledge of death, but I felt pity for those who got caught.

I searched the remains of bodies for blaster charges. Found a full clip, reloaded, leaving the old one for later. Bittersweet feeling. Dead. They. "The Immortals". With hardly enough left for funeral, far too little for rebuilding their bodies, for recovering their brains, dead permanently.

Did I hate them? No, not really. They didn't know. Being the creators of the system, they became its pawns. It was the system that was wrong. Still it puzzled me, why it was wrong. Why was it flawed so much that I was able to do what I did, why could I run, kill, why would I feel desire for freedom? A being born, created and engineered to be a slave, designed to obey, how could I rebel? A deep mistake? Or a sabotage? Did someone, somewhere mean the time to come that I would run from my oppressors and kill them?

But I had worse problems at hand. Desert I had crossed, mountains where I hid, another desert, yet one mountain range and then I would find first sources of food. I had to hurry, resting would mean more time wasted, hunger growing, danger growing. And I still needed luck. The hovercraft. If they find me, all the use for my blaster would be to blow myself up before they get the chance to catch me.

But there was nothing I could do about it. Just run and hope they give up the chase when I reach the jungle. I found enough water to satisfy my thirst before entering the second desert, then ran whole night and most of the day. In my thoughts I blessed the unknown bioengineer who designed us to be able to handle heavy work day after day. Now, supported with will for freedom I was finding new levels of strength, new sources of energy. When I was about to fall, when my lungs were about to burst, several thoughts, memories, wishes were enough to keep me running. My ancestors would be proud. The project was based on ancient species of animals. Strong, durable, obedient, fearful... and able to run tirelessly for days. Perfect slaves. Horses.

I couldn't run anymore, but I forced myself to walk whole next night, promising myself a rest in the morning. The euphory of freedom was shaded by thirst and hunger. I reached the mountains and kept turning and crossing my own path enough that hopefully the chase from the hovercraft following my clearly visible track in the desert would lose it in the mountains, then I hid under a big boulder and allowed my consciousness to go away.

I dreamed. First time in my life I dreamed. I ran through the desert, but I had four hooves, not two, and there was no chase. I just ran because I liked it. Ache in muscles, heavy breath, this all felt right, I desired it, it was good. I felt hunger and thirst but I knew food and water is within my reach. It all vanished when I heard a quiet noise.

The ache in my muscles was unbearable, hunger and thirst terrible, but I knew this was to be the last day of escape. One way or another. My eyes regained focus and I froze with terror, seeing him. A human. One of "the immortals". Just several steps from me. He was crouching on the rocks, watching me.

I reached for my blaster hoping I get to shot him before he shots me, but he saw it and pointed under his feet. A small pyramid with light on top, a forcefield generator removed from the hovercraft, strong enough to absorb the whole charge. I began turning the barrel towards myself, but he raised his hand.

• Wait. - he said.

I did. Aiming at my chest, knowing I get to press the trigger before a stun gun energy could stop me. In case they use stun gun, not a blaster... So close... Pity. A thought crossed my mind, to play a trick on my oppressors for the last time, disobey them once more, pull the trigger now. But then the man did about the only thing that could stop me. With one fast move, he switched the forcefield off.

• You are free. We ask you to return and answer our questions, then we let you go, but if you decide so, go free now. We won't follow you in the jungle. No more slavery.

I didn't trust him. Not the least bit. I was tempted to blow him to pieces before anyone could react, but I was thinking about his offer. The system was broken and he knew it. He called things their true names. Yet I knew humans are often treacherous. Many times later I thought about my decision and never decided if I was right. But then I acted fast. I aimed at him again. He didn't mind me. He picked the field generator without switching it on and headed uphill, somewhere behind the boulder, towards the hidden hovercraft.

• Follow me. Please. - he said.

I didn't obey.

I kept aiming at him until he vanished behind the rock. Then I turned my blaster at myself and waited. I heard the far engine. It vanished in the distance. Still ready to shot I left my hiding spot and headed towards the far mountain pass. Later I learned they had left some food and water at their landing spot, but back then I wasn't curious enough to investigate. Before morning, for the first time in my life I tasted leaves of real plants, unknown herbs, grass, some reddish fruits. I wasn't afraid of poisoning. They were introduced to this planet by humans, and humans don't introduce poisonous plants to terraformed planets. I was more worried I would get sick. I knew I was a herbivore, but I had never eaten anything but synthetic proteins before. And yes, I was sick at first, but it wasn't very bad. I was able to eat and I was able to satisfy my hunger and thirst. I survived.

* * *

• So, questions about motives aside, how would an equinoid biobot from inside of a terraforming reactor manage to learn so much about humans and escape from the contained area? Starting a major outbreak too?

• Some other biobot mistakenly redirected data lines. Our rebel besides normal daily orders got loaded with complete plans of the reactor. Then he managed to activate an internal service access point and every day while receiving punishment for not following orders, he would stop for several seconds at the access point and add some extra files to his orders data file. Later he managed to edit plans of the containment area so an access point was to be built into the wall by his sleeping place. Then he would spend a hour every night, seeking files to upload himself with.

• A hour out of the three designated for sleep, daily?

• Quite a spirit, isn't it?

• And the outbreak?

• Fitting the plans with a pretty big hole in the wall wasn't too hard by then.

• So why did he wait so long?

• To learn more about us.

• Didn't he try to contact people?

• Not personally. He uploaded another biobot with data sufficient to attempt a contact.

• And?

• Logs report "the faulty device was replaced".

• So what do we do about it?

• Nothing. Now, when they've proven themselves to be sentient, we just release all the rest. And hope they will forgive us.

* * *

Love? I didn't know about love before. I guess to develop love you need more friendly environment than one causing terrible pain for looking in wrong direction or for opening your mouth when you're not allowed to. I knew some biobots were chosen to mate, "to produce replacements". By order, obey or suffer. I was way too imperfect for that anyway, too far from ideal worth duplicating. Too often I questioned orders.

She was beautiful. And we were madly in love. In the reactor we didn't get to do as much as exchange occasional glances. That day I saw her walking from behind a bush on the edge of the glade when she saw I'm not a human. Then she walked up to me. Without a single word we embraced, then lay down in the grass, smiling. I tried kissing her, but it felt awkward. Hugging her and resting my head on her shoulder while she rested hers on mine felt much more natural. We enjoyed each other's warmth, learning our smell and touch. We remained in embrace for maybe a hour, without a single word, but with our minds racing in different directions, until they apparently reached a common point as my maleness extended from my sheath and she placed my hand on her breast. The nipple was hard under my fingers, she lay her nose by mine, so we could smell each other's breaths, and I felt her hand gently stroking my member. I breathed her breath, drinking it from her nostrils, smelling her desire. She rolled me onto my back and straddled me, pushing my hardening penis to my belly. She moved along it, smearing her juices on it. She was rubbing herself along my shaft slowly, teasing, making me crave and suffer from desire. "Please", I whispered. As if she had waited for me saying it, she moved further and pushed my tip against her opening. I wanted to thrust hard, but she moved away with a yelp.

• It hurts. I didn't know it would hurt... - she cried quietly, embracing me, tears in her eyes, as she lay on me, my hardness between our bellies. - I'm so sorry - she tried to apologise.

• No, it's my fault... I was too impatient. I never did it before.

• Neither did I. It didn't hurt that much really. This time don't move. - she slipped up along my shaft and placed it against her opening again. She squeezed its head gently and pushed it between her labia. I observed her face and her look was more exciting than her touch, as I saw her expression changing between pleasure and pain, her deep breath when my tip got past her opening, as she breathed heavily, holding it without moving, then pushed very slowly, driving me deeper into herself, stopping to catch a breath, raising her head when her muscles suddenly clutched on me and held for a moment, then working her way further down, giving me a happy, tired smile, replaced by expression of tense concentration. She pushed her hand against her belly and I felt the pressure of her hand on the head of my cock. She smiled, took my hand and put it against her belly. Yes, I could feel it. And as she pushed, I could feel my tip wandering up. With happy, content expression she finally rested her buttocks on my hips. Then a strong squeeze, passion in her eyes, another squeeze, and I felt it coming too, her muscles spasmed for the third time and I felt the wave rising in me, the rush, the overwhelming feeling, release of tension accumulated over many years, her open mouth and widened eyes pushing me even further into ecstasy, my semen pumped into her, so many happy feelings...

She pulled herself off me slowly and lay by me again.

• We need new names, ID 78249, don't you think?

• Right, ID 78353, or maybe... Starshine, if you prefer?

• I love it... Rebel...

We kissed and it didn't feel awkward this time.

. . . . by SharpFang Tue May 11 01:34:48 CEST 2004