The Mammoth Book of Futuristic Romance

One

Delta Quadrant 2948, on board Expedition Vessel Rhea Olivia Blu punched the last sequence of coordinates into the ship’s control panel. She double-checked her course, waiting for the display screen to give her a visual of the destination of her choosing. As her destination appeared, a level of enthusiasm that couldn’t be tempered rushed through her. Olivia’s gaze went to one of the many cameras mounted throughout the huge transport vessel. The camera made a tiny noise and zoomed in on her. She smiled, obviously pleased. “That’s it. Twelve is less than a week away.

We did it.”

“No,” a deep, totally masculine voice said from the communication unit in the bridge. “You did it, Livia.”

She snorted, pushing her long dark hair back from her face. She tied it in a loose bun and ran her fingers over the display screen showing the planet they were approaching. As a Goldilocks planet, it was situated among the stars in such a way that it could possibly support human life. Its atmospheric pressure was within the necessary range to be able to hold water, and by all accounts and probe readings, it had breathable air and everything needed for survival. The only thing they didn’t have were clear images of the entire surface. The series of probes they’d launched over the course of the journey had malfunctioned mysteriously, giving only half the data required. Like the recon team sent over thirty years ago, the probes had vanished.

It wasn’t the first planet humans had tried to colonize. She doubted it would be the last. The first eleven tries had been met with one failure or another. Sickness. War. Alien races that were unwelcoming. The list went on and on. The twelfth try would be different. She was sure of it. It had felt like this day might never come. But there it was on her screen – planet Twelve.

“I was thirteen when I woke up. I think we both know that without your guidance and help I’d have been put out an airlock long ago,” she said casually.

The man controlling the cameras was quiet for a moment. “I wouldn’t have allowed that to happen.”

“Cam,” she said respectfully, her attention still pulled to the sight of Twelve. “Let’s be honest here.

Quincy would have found a way to override your control of the vessel, and he’d have ejected me out an airlock had you not been there to walk me through what to do, and had you not activated all the androids on board to assist.”

“I wasn’t there, Livia,” he said, sounding overwrought. She wondered if he had as much remorse as it sounded like he did. “I’ve never been able to actually be there.”

“In physical form, no,” she agreed. It was true. He’d been a voice for the past ten years of her journey – a guiding voice, but a voice all the same. “Cameron, you’ve been there in all the other ways that matter.”

She touched the image of Twelve on the screen. She didn’t want to dwell on the negative, on all that couldn’t be altered. She wanted to try her best to focus on their future, even though it meant changes on the horizon. “We did it. In less than a week we’ll be in Twelve’s orbit. A lot of things will be different, won’t they?”

He fell silent for a moment. “You know, my pre-set orders for pod release have started. I’ll be able to be there physically very soon, Livia.”

Olivia bent her head. Emotions welled in her. She should be elated by the news he’d be up and about soon. She wasn’t. She liked having his undivided attention, and that would end the minute he woke from stasis. She knew it was selfish, but she couldn’t stop the way she felt.

“I take it you’re not happy about having me there physically,” he said, a certain sadness to his voice.

She lifted her head and wiped her cheeks quickly, coming away with tears. She hated how easily she broke down over seemingly nothing. “No. I’m happy. I am. It’s just, well, everyone else is going to wake up, too, and Oli is going to be so upset. So many people will be.”

“Your brother will adjust fine.”

She wasn’t so sure. Oliver was stubborn and fiercely protective of her. Eleven years ago he’d tucked her safely into the pod next to his, kissed her forehead and told her it would feel like a dream and before she knew it – they’d be awake and on Twelve. That hadn’t been the case. One year into the journey, all hell had broken loose and everything for her had changed. It hadn’t been a quick dream. It had been ten long years. She’d aged. Her brother hadn’t. “He went into suspended animation next to me when I was thirteen and he was twenty-six. He’s going to wake up still twenty-six only to find I’m no longer thirteen.

Ten years have passed for me.”

“He’ll come to terms with that,” Cameron soothed. “The alternative isn’t something he’d have wanted.”

“You mean the lot of us ‘pod-rejects’ dead?”

“Pod-rejects?” Cameron questioned, laughing slightly. He’d never been fond of what the children of the ordeal had taken to calling themselves years ago. It had sort of stuck.

“Beats ‘pod-kids’. You vetoed that one long ago.”

“You’re not kids anymore, Livia,” he reminded. “You haven’t been for a long time.”

“I know, but the name fits,” she returned. She sniffled again, her cheeks flushing quickly, flooded with shame. She shouldn’t want him all to herself. She should be happy he could wake and, in turn, wake the rest of the passengers on board Rhea. “And everyone is going to get up, and they’re going to demand your attention and your time. I think we’ve all got used to getting your undivided attention all these years.”

“We?” a perky, short blonde asked from the doorway to the bridge. She wore tan fatigue pants and a light-pink tank top, showing off her curves. “Try you.”

“Cara,” Olivia said, wiping her face again to remove the signs she’d let her emotions get the better of her once more. “Stop. Cameron has been there as a guiding voice and interface with the ship’s computer for years.”

“I know,” Cara supplied, still grinning. “But have you ever noticed he goes by ‘Doctor Cameron’ to the rest of us, but to you he answers to ‘Cam’?”

Olivia hadn’t really ever thought about it. She and Cameron had grown close over the years. Even though he wasn’t physically there, she considered him her closest friend.

She shrugged. “I’m not sure I’m following you.”

“Livia, I’ve sat with you next to his stasis pod before. I’m very aware he’s a good-looking guy.” Cara entered the bridge. She had a mischievous grin on her face. “Tall, ripped, dark hair, tanned, and . . .”

Olivia’s eyes widened as her gaze whipped to the cameras and then back to Cara. “He can hear you.”

“I know,” Cara said, laughing. “Do you disagree? Do you think he’s ugly? Think he’s as hideous as a skankerous slug during its skin shedding?”

Olivia gasped. “No!”

Cara pointed at her, still laughing. “Your face is beet red. Almost as red as the time I hit the visor button and retracted the privacy shield on his pod.”

Olivia thought back to the day. They’d been nineteen when Cara had done it. Most of the crew and the passengers aboard the vessel had gone into stasis wearing medical gowns, or even tank tops and pajama bottoms. A select few had gone in wearing nothing but what they were born in. Doctor Hoyt Cameron was one of those daring, bold ones.

Cara glanced up at the camera. “Do you remember what she did?”

“She nearly broke her neck to cover my pod until you put the privacy screen back up,” Cameron said, his voice echoing through the bridge, carrying an amused tone.

Olivia closed her eyes a second, allowing them their time to tease her before looking at Cara. “Are we going to make fun of me for affording him privacy?”

“Yes,” Cara said smugly. “Now, tell me you’re excited he’ll be up and about soon.”

Olivia averted her gaze, shame nearly choking her. “Yes. I’m excited.”

“Could that have lacked any more enthusiasm?” Cara tapped a hand on her hip.

“My thoughts exactly,” Cameron inserted.

Cara came to a stop next to her. “Livia, do you really think he’s going to wake up and totally ignore you?”

Yes, that was exactly what Olivia feared. Cam was a powerful member of the expedition team. As chief medical officer he’d be consulted on all matters. Plus, he was a member of the Founder’s Council.

They’d be the provisional government on Twelve. Meaning, Cameron would be so busy with everything there, he wouldn’t have time for her anymore. “Everyone will demand his attention. He’s very important.”

“So are you.”

“No,” she said. “I’m not. And I fully understand everything changes when the rest of the ship wakes.”

Cara sighed and touched Olivia’s shoulder lightly. “Hon, you really think Doc is going to pretend he hasn’t been there for you for the past ten years?”

“He’s been there for all of us.”

The camera lens drew back and stopped panning the room. Cameron often did this when he was checking other areas of the ship, or when he knew she needed privacy.

Cara smiled. “For us, sure. But, Livia, the rest of us don’t act like a married couple. You two do.”

Olivia’s nose crinkled as confusion set in. “What are you talking about?”

“You know what I mean. Those couples who have been married a while. They have that way about them – they finish each other’s sentences, seem to guess what the other wants, and know each other’s habits.”

“He’s been our interface to the ship for ten years. We know him. He’s watched us every day for all those years. Of course he knows us well.”

“It’s not my sleeping quarters that he’s been monitoring all night as of late. It’s not me he has long conversations with until the wee hours of the morning.” Cara laughed and waved a hand in the air flippantly. “I’m not complaining. I’m just pointing out that there are dozens of us, but you’re who he focuses on. I’m in charge of accessing the ship’s camera logs each morning. So, uh, yeah, he does.”

Olivia glanced at the camera. “Are you worried something will happen to me when I sleep? I promised to get this ship to Twelve in one piece. I’ve kept my word so far.”

Cameron didn’t respond.

Cara snickered. “Livia, you’re one of the smartest people I know, but really, are you so thick when it comes to men that you don’t get why he’d be watching you all night?”

Cara and Olivia were the same age, but Cara had a much different upbringing. Her mother had been a prostitute on Three. Cara had been raised in brothels on the edges of the galaxy. She knew things – things Olivia hadn’t been exposed to growing up under the watchful eye of her brother, who had raised her since their parents’ death when she was only six.

Olivia squared her shoulders. “Well, I’ve watched him sleeping, too.”

Cara rolled her eyes. “That’s different. He’s in stasis. Anytime you go near his pod he looks like he’s out cold.” She glanced back to the camera. “If you don’t come right out and tell the girl that you have a thing for her, she’ll never catch on. She’s socially stunted in the male department, if you know what I mean.”

Olivia burst into a fit of giggles. “Right. Yeah. One of the greatest minds mankind has ever known has a thing for me. Okay. Sure. Why not? Can we stop with the teasing now and focus on the wakening? We still on schedule? Cameron is first in line, and then Oliver since he’s head of security. Then . . .”

Cara put her hand up. “We’re all set. And why wouldn’t Doctor Cameron have a thing for you? You’re brilliant too, Livia.”

“Would you please stop?” Olivia asked. “He’s friends with my brother, and older than Oli. He’s who fixed my arm when I fell off that racer when I was nine.”

“And he’s been locked at his same age for eleven years now, while you’ve grown into a young woman,” Cara reminded. “So stop using the age difference as an excuse. There is a gap, but not a huge one. He’s also part-Vanesier, so he ages at a slower rate than a human. Meaning, he may be thirty-five but he doesn’t look a day older than twenty-five.” Cara smirked. “Of course, there is the drawback of his sight. Without the ship’s interface or his special custom glasses he’s practically blind. I remember meeting him when we boarded, and he was standing there, next to your brother. His glasses gave him feedback problems that day and he had to take them off. His eyes – they’re silver. Freaky.”

Olivia’s temper flared. “His eyes are not freaky. How dare you say that? And because he has a neuro-

mechanical implant he can interface with nearly any technology, so seeing isn’t really an issue for him.

And he’s not blind. No, he doesn’t see like we do, but who is to say our way is better? Plus, he’s very capable of functioning without any technology to aid him. Oli told me once when I was younger that Cam would often shut off his implant and function without its help absolutely brilliantly.”

Cara smacked her lips. “You talked to your brother about the doctor when you were younger?”

“They’re best friends.”

“And Oli just offered this info up to you?” Cara gave a questioning look. “You didn’t ask him?”

Olivia blushed more. “I might have been worried about Cam once. His opti-spectrum glasses were damaged, and his backup pair hadn’t been calibrated yet, so they hurt him more than they helped. I could sense how much pain he was in with them on. I suggested he take them off, and he cocked his head and stared at me for the longest time. He took them off and then kept looking in my direction no matter where I moved, or how quietly I did so.”

“Hon, he was waiting for you to freak out about his eyes. It’s what most people do when they see them.”

Olivia tipped her head. “Freak out? Why? They’re gorgeous.”

Cara laughed.

Olivia groaned. “You know what I mean. They’re not freaky. I like them. And without his opti-spectrum glasses on he sees the way the Vanesier race does. He sees with his mind – he gets impressions, and his senses compensate, going into overdrive, helping him get a clear idea of what is happening around him.

Honestly, he probably sees more than we ever will.”

Cara crossed her arms under her chest. “You’re very defensive of your husband.”

“He’s not my . . .” Olivia groaned. “I’m done having this conversation with you.”

She looked up at the camera, wondering how much Cameron had overheard. He didn’t say anything, and she tilted her head to the side. “Cam?”

Still he didn’t answer. Something was wrong.

Cara glanced at her. “The wakening? Already?”

Two

Olivia rushed out of the bridge, down the corridor and then into the lift to the pod levels. She knew the way to his pod by heart. She punched the button for Level 4 and waited for what felt like forever for the lift to get there. When it finally did, she pounded on the sliding doors, wanting them to open faster.

Horrific thoughts of Cameron’s pod malfunctioning during his wakening flooded her mind and hit her hard. The tears came fast, and she did nothing to stop them. She ran full force towards his pod. She came to a grinding halt when she spotted Cameron’s pod hatch unopened and completely intact.

She eased up alongside it, letting her fingers skim over the hard, yet clear, shelled lid. The body inside lay perfectly motionless. Olivia pressed her palm to the lid, lining up with the side of Cameron’s scruffy jawline. He was incredibly handsome. There was no denying it. “Cam?”

The nearest mounted camera zoomed in on her. “I’m here,” Cameron said through the pod sector’s sound system. “Sounded like you and Cara could use some privacy.”

She stiffened. “How much did you hear?”

He was quiet for a fraction of a second. “Enough to know my eyes don’t bother you.”

Exhaling slowly, she nodded as the hollow pit in her stomach eased somewhat. “True. They don’t.”

“Livia,” he said. “My body is slowly starting the wakening process.”

She’d seen others undergo it. The process wasn’t always pretty to see. “I’ll give you privacy and activate one of the medical droids to oversee it.”

“No. Stay with me for a bit. Please.”

She reached under the pod and pulled out the sliding bench seat. All pods had one. They were used as bedside tables or seats for the use of the medical droids who oversaw the crew-members in stasis. She sat and kept her hand on the pod lid. Cameron looked so peaceful. Locked in a state of slumber, so close yet so very far away from her. She bowed her head, putting her forehead to the polycarbonate-blended lid.

She wanted to touch him. For too long she’d known only the feeling of cold unforgiving surfaces instead of the touch of the man she longed for.

“Do you know what I want to do the second I wake?” Cameron asked.

She kept her head against the lid. “Shower. Oli told me once that’s what most crew-members want after coming out of a long stasis sleep. Some throw up. A few of Quincy’s men did that.”

Cameron grunted. “When I get my hands on Quincy I’m going to rip him apart. His men, too.”

She looked to the camera. “You’ve done a fine enough job locking them in the brig for all these years. I can’t believe you overrode the codes so we couldn’t let anyone out.”

“Quincy and his faction of followers wanted all the females dead,” Cameron said, his voice hard. “Had things gone his way that is exactly what you and the other girls would be – dead. He and his men sabotaged your pods.”

“I know. This isn’t news to me.” She sighed. “After what happened on Ten, I can’t exactly fault his logic. The Omethus virus strain nearly wiped out all the women and children. And it opened the door to a war that cost us how many more lives?”

The overhead lighting flashed. A sure sign Cameron was upset. “Bloody stars, Livia. I don’t care what his reasoning was. He tried and nearly succeeded in ending the lives of all the females under the age of sixteen aboard this vessel.”

“Cam,” she said. “That was ten years ago. We’re not children anymore. We all managed to survive despite Quincy’s best efforts. I know you hate him. We’re not exactly fond of him either, but we don’t hold the same rage you do.”

“Livia.”

She took a long, deep breath. “Tell me what you want to do first thing upon waking. Let me guess: wring Quincy’s neck.”

“No,” he responded. “I want to hold your hand. I want to hold you.”

She wasn’t sure how to reply, so she just did her best to hide her smile. She wanted to hold him, too.

Three years back her feelings for him had started to change – to morph into something more. Cara had told her again and again that Cameron’s feelings for her had changed around that point too, but Olivia couldn’t believe it. A man as powerful and brilliant as Cameron couldn’t possibly feel anything more than friendship for her – for a pod-reject.

Doctor Hoyt Cameron watched through the surveillance cameras as Olivia stroked the lid of the pod containing his body. He could see the edges of her smile and knew she was pleased. He wanted more than anything to be free from the stasis sleep and to wrap his arms around her.

Her long brown hair fell forward, cascading over a section of his pod. He wished his body was alert enough that he could reach up and push her hair from her face, so he could see her blue eyes. They were the same color as the waters on Vanesier. When he looked into her eyes he thought of home – of the planet he could never return to but had loved deeply. Sickness and war had ravaged his homeland before his own people had turned on themselves and their planet. When they’d come across the human race, a race so closely resembling them physically, but far inferior in terms of intelligence and technology, the surviving Vanesier had latched onto them, wanting desperately to aid them in finding a suitable home world.

Livia ran her hand over the pod lid slowly. Absentmindedly, she scanned the consul screen affixed to the side of his pod. It gave a continuous readout of his vitals. Each pod had one. “I’d like it if you held me.”

His state of awareness slipped quickly before returning, and he knew then that the wakening was moving ahead as planned. Soon he’d lose his sync with the ship’s computer interface. His consciousness would return to his body, and he’d then fight through the chills, the shaking and the nausea that accompanied most awakenings. None of it mattered. All that mattered was getting to actually touch Olivia.

He’d wanted to come out of stasis the very second he’d realized her pod, like so many of the others, had been sabotaged. He’d wanted to help but he hadn’t been able to. He was the one crew-member who had to remain under at all costs, because he was the one mentally linked to the computer systems of the ship. For ten years he’d been forced to watch the girls learn to survive on their own. They’d had to deal with Quincy’s men systematically waking early from stasis sleep, and they’d been forced to take action accordingly. Their childhoods had been stolen from them. Granted, they’d all grown into fine young women, but they’d deserved so much more.

Cameron zoomed in on Oliver’s pod. As Olivia’s brother, and head of security on Rhea, Oli would not take kindly to the knowledge that there were traitors among them. Cameron had considered waking Oli years back, but Oli’s kidneys had been damaged in the wars of Eleven, and he’d needed to remain hooked into the pod’s regenerative healing matrix.

Cameron paused, his mind wandering to Oli. They’d been close friends since Ten, and had been through much together. Cameron had been there when Oli’s mother had succumbed to the Omethus virus strain that had swept through Ten, taking most of the females. He’d been there when the wars of Eleven had taken Oli’s father, leaving Oli as Olivia’s guardian. Now, he would have to be there to tell him that an attempt had been made on his sister’s life, that she was no longer the thirteen-year-old girl he remembered placing in the pod – but rather, a beautiful young woman now. And last, but not least, that Cameron was totally and completely in love with Olivia.

She looked up at the camera, her blue gaze moist and her dreamy, pale skin flawless. “How much longer?”

“At least thirty minutes or so,” he lied. He’d held her up longer than he should. Her presence dulled the burn of loneliness he felt. “Go activate a medical droid.”

She nodded and stood. As she walked away Cameron felt his consciousness slipping. It was time for him to wake. He just didn’t want her witnessing it first-hand.

Three

Olivia activated one of the medical droids, and smiled as he nodded his head. From all outward appearances he looked human. Very big, but very human. It was the case with all the androids. They’d been made with synthetic genetic material, and some had even been spliced with actual human DNA. The ones on Rhea had some human DNA in them, making them even more lifelike than others. They had designated call numbers, but Olivia and the other pod-rejects had given them names. Granted, the names were ones thought up by a bunch of young girls nearly ten years ago, but they were names all the same.

“Hi, Rainbow,” she said, using the full version of the name they’d given him, even though they’d taken to calling him Rain for short.

“Miss Olivia,” he responded, very polished with his pronunciation. He was about as far from a rainbow as one could get, with his tawny skin, oversized muscular body and closely clipped hair. He looked more like the bouncers she remembered working at the drinking holes on Ten than a medical man, but that was what he was programmed to be. “Have you need of me?”

“Doctor Cameron’s wakening has started.”

Rain cocked his head to one side and his left eye went totally black. It was a sign he was accessing the computer interface. “Correction. His wakening is complete.”

“What?” she asked, her breath squeezing out of her lungs in a fast swoosh.

“His pod emergency-exit cord was pulled.” Rain continued to look out of one green and one fully black eye. “My scanners are unable to determine if the cord was pulled externally or internally.”

“Quincy!” she yelled and turned, running back in the direction of the pod row that Cameron was in.

She slammed into the bay doors. They were set to open automatically when they sensed a presence.

She’d never tested them at a full run before today. Clearly, they could stand to be tweaked. When they opened, she visually scanned the row of pods, her gaze locking onto Cameron’s.

It was empty.

Wires hung loosely from the pod’s lid. The white bed portion looked untouched save for the smallest of fading depressions. The privacy visor was drawn back. That was something that happened automatically once the wakening sequence was nearly complete. Cameron had told her he had thirty minutes yet.

Spinning, Olivia stared around the pod bay. Machines beeped, scanners blipped and everything seemed normal, except for the fact that Cameron was missing. Her mind continued to reel. In her head, Quincy and his faction of followers had sabotaged Cameron’s pod, or had even abducted him upon waking. Reason said Quincy was safely locked away in the brig with the thirteen followers they’d identified to date. No one else had come out of stasis in nearly nine months. Still, she worried.

Olivia scanned the room. “Cameron?”

She found his naked form huddled on the floor on the other side of his pod. He shouldn’t have tried to stand already. He wasn’t scheduled for a full wakening for another hour. She rushed to his side and knelt.

Rain pushed in alongside her. “Doctor Cameron?”

Cameron grunted. “I’m fine, 17390.”

Rain’s expression said otherwise. “‘Fine’ would not leave one on the floor, Doctor.”

Cameron pushed onto his elbows and glared at Rain. “You’re going to make me lie here because I used your call number, not your name, aren’t you?”

“I will admit I am considering it,” Rain replied, with deadpan delivery.

Olivia pushed his arm. “Rain!”

He shrugged, seeming so human it made her grin despite the situation. She then focused on Cameron.

“What are you doing on the floor?”

He lifted his head, his silver gaze greeting her.

“I was hoping to wake ahead of time, get cleaned up and surprise you,” Cameron said, his voice tight and his body tense.

She sighed. “Cam.”

“Didn’t go as planned.”

She shook her head and tugged on him. It was obvious she wouldn’t be able to budge him. Rain stepped in and assisted, lifting Cameron with ease.

“Everything okay in here?” Cara asked, appearing at the bay doors. “Want to tell me why Doc is being held up like a naked rag doll?”

Rain stared at Cameron. “What explanation would you like me to give?”

“Go with . . . ‘Because he was stupid,’” Olivia snapped. “Get him to an exam room.”

Cameron shook his head. “No. I’m fine. Put me down.”

Rain did, and Olivia was shocked Cameron managed to stay upright all on his own. She glanced at Cara. “You can go now.”

“And miss the hot guy show?”

Olivia groaned. Cara tossed her hands up and went.

Rain followed behind Cara, leaving Olivia alone with Cameron. He was still solid muscle, just the way he’d been when he’d entered suspended animation eleven years ago. Of course, back then, he hadn’t made her heart race the way he did now. She eased him to his feet and kept her gaze lifted to his face, ignoring his nakedness.

She smiled up at him. “I’ll help you to the cleansing chamber.”

“Thanks,” he said, his hand moving over hers.

“Cam,” she said softly, surprised at how much taller than her he was. “I’ll miss our talks.”

“They aren’t ending, Livia,” he returned. He nodded towards the cleansing chamber.

She helped him to it and stepped back, letting him enter. She closed the door behind him and the cleansing unit automatically kicked on. Sanitizing particles immediately filled the unit. She waited, fearful he’d fall due to his wakening weakness. Finally, the door opened and Cameron stepped out. She raked her gaze over his glistening form. Every part of him rippled with perfection. As she lowered her eyes to take in more of his body, she gulped and looked at the floor fast, embarrassed by her lack of self-control.

Cameron chuckled, appearing right before her. “Grab me some standard-issue clothing and I’ll run a diagnostic on myself.”

She did as she was told and handed him the clothes while looking away. After a moment, he touched her chin and she was relieved to see he had pants on – but nothing more yet. Her gaze met his, and the next thing she knew Cameron had jerked her against his powerful frame. He dipped his head and his lips crashed onto hers. She’d never been kissed before, and was too stunned to do anything other than allow him to lead. And lead he did. He thrust his tongue into her mouth and drew tiny moans from her. Her hands instantly went to his bare chest. She found herself pushing on him gently as if she wanted him to step away, yet her mouth said otherwise. Her tongue laced around his and she fell against his body.

Cameron wrapped his arms around her and drew their kiss to a sensual end. Breathless, Olivia stared up at him. She wasn’t sure what to say.

He kissed her forehead gently. “Gather the other pod-rejects.”

She touched her swollen lower lip, blinking up at him as if she didn’t have a single functioning brain cell left in her head. “Huh?”

A certain calmness settled over him as he stared down at her from silver eyes. “The others. Gather them in the ready room. I’d like to talk to them.”

“But you just underwent the wakening. You need food, rest and to be monitored for signs of the shakes,” she protested, concerned for him.

He touched her cheek lightly. “Livia, do as I asked. I’ll be fine. My diagnostic scan came back clean.

No sign of the shakes.”

“But . . .”

He swatted her backside playfully and she yelped with surprise. “Go.”

She stood there watching him before she grew bold and went to her tiptoes, pressing her mouth to his.

One second she was standing before him and the next he had her yanked tightly against his naked chest.

There was an air of authority in his actions that excited her to her very core. She ran her hands over him, touching anywhere and everywhere she could. He, in turn, did the same to her.

“Go,” Cameron whispered. “If you don’t, I’m going to take you right here and right now.”

Olivia steeled her nerves. She licked her lower lip. “I’m not going anywhere.”

A sexy grin slid over Cameron’s mouth. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

Four

Cameron walked with distinct purpose down the long, dimly lit corridor as he headed to the brig. He’d waited ten years to get his hands on Quincy for what he’d done. He’d thought finding release in Olivia might curb his need to kill the man. It hadn’t. As he’d held Olivia after losing himself in her for the third time, his thoughts had drifted to Quincy, and to the man’s traitorous actions. Actions that had nearly cost Olivia and the other girls their lives.

For ten long, torturous years, he’d plotted his revenge against Quincy. He’d fantasized about the ways he’d destroy him and his followers. They were a faction of people who believed the new world would be better off without females, and especially without children. These were considered a burden to provide for if resources were lower than expected on Twelve. Over the many different colonization attempts, women had been an issue more than once. Alien races wanted to abduct them for breeding purposes, sicknesses affected only them, affairs and adultery left men launching wars over them. Still, none of it meant they should be wiped out. Already their numbers were lower than the males’. Women were to be cherished and protected at all costs. It was simple. Quincy had broken that rule.

Cameron tapped the side of his opti-spectrum glasses, calibrating them further. They’d been acting up prior to him going into stasis eleven years ago, and only seemed to have gotten worse with non-use and time. He’d been without them for so long his body had grown unaccustomed. Under normal circumstances, after a long stasis sleep he’d have given his body at least half an hour to get used to the glasses once more. Instead, he’d used the time to bed the woman he loved, and after that he could no longer wait to deal with Quincy.

The glasses glitched and – for a split second – everything around Cameron went dark. His natural-born abilities kicked in, giving him impressions of the surrounding area. He could function fully without the glasses, but he was rusty and not at full strength just yet. Putting a hand out, he steadied himself by using the smooth wall face until his glasses stopped acting up.

He continued onward, his boots echoing off the floor of the corridor. The boots were standard military issue and went up to just under his knees. The grays he wore were also standard issue, indicating his rank.

There wasn’t an officer on board who outranked him since the commander of Rhea had turned on them all, thus losing his rank. Quincy was a bastard and needed to pay for his actions.

Cameron stormed to the end of the hall, to the cell in the brig holding Quincy. He punched in the override codes to gain entrance to the cell. He’d been careful to keep the codes hidden from Olivia and the others. The women continued to falsely believe that each of Quincy’s men could be redeemed. They wanted to see the good in their fellow man, but Cameron knew better. He knew Quincy and his followers were capable of great evil.

The door slid open and he stepped into the dark, dank cell. Scratch marks lined the walls where Quincy had used his fingers to carve images and sayings all over the place. They were the ramblings of a lunatic.

Cameron had seen nearly all of them because of the built-in security cameras in each cell. Quincy’s mind had deteriorated the most, by far. Stepping into the cell, Cameron glanced around, his sole purpose to end the life of the monster for good.

His opti-spectrum glasses started to glitch again. When they cut off his vision, pain exploded in the side of his head. Cameron went down hard and fast, already sensing another presence close. He kicked out, scoring a direct hit with flesh.

“Bastard!” shouted Quincy, his hot, rank breath filling the room. Cameron’s heightened senses reacted violently to the smell, costing him in reaction time as Quincy struck him again.

He reached out, grabbing hold of Quincy’s ankle and twisting it. The man screamed in pain and the sound of it gave Cameron great satisfaction. As his glasses continued to glitch, Cameron yanked them off and tossed them aside.

Quincy laughed. The sound was chilling and void of real emotion. “Problems seeing, Doctor? Yes, I made sure to tamper with your opti-spectrum glasses before you went into stasis sleep. I thought the droids might attempt to wake you when they sensed me sabotaging the pods. I didn’t want you to be a burden. Too bad you managed to still be one.”

Cameron relied on his natural gifts. He sprang up and off the floor with a speed that no doubt shocked Quincy, and punched the man directly in the face. Each sound Quincy made only increased Cameron’s ability to draw upon all his senses and get a clear mental image. It was a lot like echolocation, yet more.

He struck Quincy again and then grabbed him by his ratty shirt lapels. “You sick son of a bitch,” he snarled, his lips curling with disgust.

“Cameron!” Olivia’s voice cut through the cell, distracting him.

He was worried. “Livia, go!”

Quincy attacked then, gaining the upper hand and rushing at Olivia. He threw her across the room with a strength he shouldn’t possess, then ran from the cell. Cameron’s focus changed from wanting to kill Quincy to wanting to assure himself that Olivia was safe.

He moved to her side quickly, accessing her slumped body. Without his glasses he couldn’t run a diagnostic on her. “Computer, send medical droid 17390 to us at once. Seal off the bay doors to the women’s chamber. Report on Quincy’s location.”

“All bay doors sealed. One female unable to be contained. She is currently with medical droid 17390 and headed in this direction. Ex-commander Quincy is currently entering escape pod four.”

Cameron held Olivia against him, kissing her temple as she groaned.

“Ouch, what happened?” she asked.

“You took a header into a wall,” he replied. “What hurts?”

She sat up on her own and rubbed her neck. “Right now, my pride. Did Quincy escape because of me?”

“He escaped because I was foolish and couldn’t control my temper. I should have waited until I was a hundred per cent. Had I waited, I’d have noticed my glasses weren’t functioning properly.” Cameron sighed. “Instead, I let my temper guide my actions. I just wanted him to pay for hurting the woman I love.”

She gasped.

He paused. “Livia?”

“You love me?”

With a shaky breath he nodded and pulled her into his embrace. “Of course I do.”

She wrapped her arms around him. “I love you, too.”

The computer beeped. “Doctor Cameron, ex-commander Quincy has successfully detached pod four.

His course, New Earth Twelve.”

Olivia tightened her hold on him. He kissed the top of her head. “It will be all right. We’ll find him once we reach Twelve.”

“Is everything all right?” Rain asked, appearing in the doorway with Cara at his side.

“Holy stellar remains,” Cara whispered. “Quincy’s gone?”

“Yes,” Olivia said softly.

Cara made an odd noise. “Darn. I was hoping to get to see Doc there beat the living heck out of him.”

Olivia laughed nervously. “Somehow, I think you still might get to see that. I have a sneaky suspicion we haven’t seen the last of Quincy.”

Rain approached. “With respect, Doctor. I am sensing injuries on you. Odd, they seem to be caused by a short in something electronic.”

“Quincy sabotaged my glasses,” Cameron offered.

“All of them?” questioned Rain.

“All of them?” echoed Cameron, unsure what Rain meant.

“According to inventory logs, there are five additional pairs, all calibrated for you, in the lower storage deck. It will take some time to retrieve them but it can be done in transit, if you wish.”

“17390,” Cameron said with a wink, knowing the android didn’t appreciate being called by his number. “You’re all right, for an android.”

“So are you . . . for a Vanesier,” replied Rain. “You do tend to grow on a person.”

Androids weren’t known for their ability to joke. It meant the adjustments Cameron had done prior to launching the Rhea expedition were working, slowly, but working all the same. He grinned. “I’m the only Vanesier you know personally.”

“True.”

Cameron helped Olivia to her feet and hugged her again. He couldn’t stop touching her. She didn’t seem to mind. She laid her head against his shoulder. “Computer, open the bay doors to the rest of the women.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

Cameron took Olivia’s hand in his. “It’s time to start the wakening for Oli.”

She groaned. “Do we have to?”

Cara laughed. “He’s your brother.”

“I know. Picture me explaining how I lost my virginity to his best friend.”

Cara leaned in slightly. “Is that before or after you explain how it is you’re not a little girl anymore?”

Cameron cringed. She had a point. He cleared his throat. “New plan. We let him sleep a bit longer. At least until I’m back in fighting shape and can move fast enough to duck his right upper cut.”

Everyone laughed.