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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Fluke

  Copyright ã 2005 Lynn Crain

  ISBN: 1-55410-576-5

  Cover art and design by Sara Creasy

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by eXtasy Books, a division of Zumaya Publications, 2005

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  The bulkhead opened with a pneumatic hiss.

  I jerked myself to an upright position, which was no easy task, being tall, and banged my head on the main computer in the process. “What the hell do you want now?” I glared at the intruder, brushing an errant strand of blonde hair from my face while rubbing the hurt spot. “It better be good, or it’s your neck. I’ll never get this ship in perfect order if I answer questions all the time,” I ended, more loudly than I intended.

  Charles, the ship’s chief petty officer, leaned idly on the doorframe. With his blond hair, bright blue eyes and muscled body, he reminded me of a Viking, ready to conquer anything in his sight. Yet his gaze mocked me, a light smile playing around the corners of his mouth like a secret itching to get out.

  “I just thought you’d like to be informed. We spotted another one of those life pods.” He lifted his eyebrows quizzically. “You remember? Just like last time.”

  I just stared at him. This statement was obviously meant to goad me into something I’d later regret.

  He laughed brutally then, smacking his head as if he just made a great discovery. “Of course you don’t remember. You’ve been mindswiped. And by my very own hand, too. In any case, I’m sure this will not end like last time.”

  He turned and walked away. I could hear his laughter recede down the hall. Absently, I rubbed my head and wondered why the statement even bothered me at all. Charles had always been jealous of my superior abilities. Besides that, there was the fact I was not interested in him sexually at all.

  Mindswiped. Now why would they want to mindswipe the most brilliant mechanical and AI engineer in the galaxy? I pondered this vaguely, taking stock of myself. I replayed my memories, pulling each one out and savoring them like cherished passages in a book: my humble beginnings as an orphan with only a doting aunt to take care of me, the struggle to get into the academy, what I had for breakfast the day before, and even our last battle, which required this unscheduled repair in space.

  I smiled as I remembered making love to Aidan this very morning upon waking. But still I groped quietly in my mind, surprised I really didn’t remember the exact details of the battle. Or what my aunt even looked like. I definitely didn’t like what that might indicate nor was I even sure what the problem might be. Mindswiped. I shuddered just thinking about it.

  I examined the fate of those memories and finally shrugged my shoulders. It really bothered me to forget my only living relative even though I hadn’t seen her in over ten years. But I rarely remembered any battles; why should this last one make any difference? Still, I remembered making love to Aidan in exact detail—and what a pleasant memory—as it came from my very recent past. After all, it was my understanding they only mindswiped people who rebelled against the Interstellar Universal Alliance. It also had to be determined in a court of law that they meant to try and overthrow the ruling junta. On that score, I could be counted with the masses since it was difficult for me to rebel against anything, let alone anything as big as IUA.

  Struggling to get up, I finally managed to pull my tall frame completely out from under the laser console I had been trying to repair. It took me three hours to get this far, and I didn’t want to start all over again.

  “I need a break,” I muttered, stretching like a cat.

  “Did you want something?” came the monotone question.

  “No, Henrietta, I didn’t,” I replied to the ship’s computer, frowning at the intonation of Henrietta’s voice. “Why are you sounding so strange?”

  “Why did you call me Henrietta?” The machine obviously ignored my second question.

  “That’s what I always call you. Is something wrong?” I stared at the console, very puzzled at the strange reply my normally obstinate ship’s AI gave.

  “Oh, no,” came the cheery female reply, as if gaining a personality just by stating its given name. “Just no one has thought to name me yet.”

  “What?”

  I personally named the computer myself when I boarded the Lanko five years ago. If Henrietta couldn’t remember her name, what happened to all the special procedures I had programmed into her over the years? All the special maneuvers meant to save us in battle? I wanted to make sure in the heat of battle, all anyone—with a special clearance—had to do was talk directly to the machine like it were another crew member. Those special procedures were meant to do what a human incapacitated by a battle wound couldn’t: protect the other humans aboard and the ship herself.

  “Henrietta, do you know who I am?’

  “How on earth would I know? I can’t even see you!”

  At least that hadn’t changed, I thought wryly. Same dry sense of humor. “Here, try this.” I placed my hand on the specialized plate on the main control panel.

  “You’re Lieutenant Fallon Montgomery.”

  “That’s correct. But just who am I? What is my major function on this ship?” I knew my next actions would be dictated by this response.

  “Lieutenant Montgomery, I don’t have time for fun and games. A derelict pod just entered our subspace and must be taken care of accordingly.”

  Shaking my head, I continued. “Henrietta, forget about the damn pod for a moment and answer my question. It won’t take much of your precious CPU time.”

  “All right. You’re Lieutenant Fallon Montgomery. You went to the Stellar University to learn about space computers and mechanical engineering. After that, you joined the InterStellar Marines and attained the rank of First Lieutenant. You’ve been here all of five years and in all that time, you never addressed me as anything else but Computer.” Henrietta made a sound that could only be described as a sniff. “Even if you are the ship’s chief engineer, you could be more friendly. I do have feelings, you know.”

  I shook my head in disbelief. I fully expected her to burst into tears. Damn, someone had really done a number on my ship’s AI. Pursing my lips, I sat heavily in the nearest chair. What had happened? I needed to find out exactly what Charles meant.

  Mindswiped. If I had been mindswiped as he said, what had they done to poor old Henrietta, who was only there for our comfort, our pleasure and most importantly, our safety?

  “Well?”

  “Well, what?” I grumbled at the machine.

  “Do you require any more information, Lt. Montgomery?”

  “No. You were quite thorough.”

  There had to be a way of finding out exactly what happened to make them want to wipe out sections of my and the ship’s computer’s memory. What could have been so drastic that they wanted to prevent two of their greatest minds from ever remembering certain events? Or even from
being the best those assets could be? I knew of only one way to find out the exact events of the past that affected my future, and that was to go in through a backdoor. Henrietta’s.

  The klaxon made me jump when it sounded. It was as if I’d been caught in the act of treason. Maybe I would be. Where had that thought come from? I certainly couldn’t prevent the future from happening, whatever it may or may not bring. Henrietta’s soothing voice came over the loudspeaker. At least that hadn’t changed.

  “This is a proximity alert. The alien vessel will be within tractor range in one minute.”

  The soothing calm of Henrietta’s voice settled around me. Rousing myself from my stupor, I stood tall once again. Being depressed about things I couldn’t understand wasn’t going to solve the problem. I was still the chief mechanic and AI engineer of this ship. I had to conduct myself as such. Standing orders required I had to be in the bay when the other ship came on board. It’s called the ’just-in-case’ scenario. And rightly so; there might be anything, mechanical or not, set to explode.

  As I walked down the corridor I suddenly had an overwhelming sense of tragedy, of having walked this way before, of committing the same crimes as were about to be committed. I tried to shake the feelings. The closer to the bay I walked, the worse they became. I leaned against the side of the corridor, bathed in sweat. Other crewmembers passed me, looking at me strangely.

  I pushed myself away from the wall, my determination hardening around me like a shell. I needed to know what lay behind these feelings, and also what lay behind the bay door. There was an obvious connection; it was as if my feelings were centered inside there.

  I nearly jumped out of my skin when I was dragged through a side access into a supply closet.

  “What the…” I began as two able hands began to grope me through my blue government uniform. I knew those hands. “What do you think you are doing?” I breathed to the only man I had made love to in five years. While we had an on-again, off-again relationship, I could always say it was interesting. Aidan Chapel was one gorgeous hunk of a man with curly shoulder-length dark hair, aqua eyes, and a muscle-toned body that many of my shipmates wanted for themselves.

  He told me once that the reason people perceived him as handsome were his eyes, in combination with his olive complexion. Add in his hair and he looked like Adonis. I smiled. He was all mine…not once in five years had he looked at anyone else. And I never tried to second-guess fate on this issue.

  “What does it feel like I’m doing?” Aidan spun me around, looking me over while holding me against the wall. “You are one beautiful woman.”

  I gazed into his amazing aqua eyes and smiled. I met Aidan when we first boarded the Lanko together as ship’s engineers over five years ago. While I rose steadily through the ranks, Aidan contented himself with being the chief communications engineer. The first thing that I remember seeing were his legs. He wore shorts, which were very non-regulation then and now. And I liked his ass…it happened to be one of his most admirable traits, along with those aqua eyes.

  His mouth swooped to mine, nuzzling and nibbling my lips, moving across my cheek to my ear. Delicately, he blew warm air into that sensitive part of my anatomy, making me shiver with delight before coming back to my lips. He traced their fullness with his tongue, finally slipping inside the warm recesses of my mouth, allowing the passion to build slowly within my groin and other sensitive parts. It took everything I had to pull away.

  “We really should go,” I whispered as he licked my neck. “You know I’m supposed to be there.”

  “We have time for a quickie,” he murmured, slowly unzipping my uniform. Unzipping the crisp fabric apart all the way down the front of my body allowed him access to the microfiber undershirt covering my breasts and stomach. Gently, his large hands moved under the material to tweak first one, then the other nipple of my very sensitive breasts. This man knew all my erogenous zones.

  “We really shouldn’t,” I breathed as his mouth moved down to continue his assault on my body.

  “Who says that I ever do what I’m supposed to?” he murmured against my skin.

  Breathing in my scent, his mouth blazed a hot wet trail to my nipple, working it smoothly, teasing it into a hard nub that made my groin clench in response. Quickly, he switched to the other breast while his hand moved still lower. In short order, he had made me into a quivering, moaning piece of flesh ready for him to ram his long, thick cock into me.

  “That door better damn well be locked,” I muttered in irritation. The last thing I needed was the Captain barging into the middle of my tryst.

  “It is.” He looked up from my breast with the most devastating grin I had ever seen on his handsome face. “You have too many clothes on.”

  Slowly, he began pulling my uniform down from my shoulders, making each tug a sensual gesture. Aidan followed his hands down my body and knelt in front of me, his tongue doing things to my belly button that he had never done to me before while I stood.

  “I want you to spread your legs,” he murmured, looking at me from his crouched position, his eyes turning an even darker shade of aqua.

  Helpless to resist him, I moved them apart as I leaned even more against the bulkhead, my hands in his thick hair. Licking the flesh on my lower abdomen, he stopped to breathe in my scent again.

  “Sweet,” he murmured, “like a ripe peach.”

  “We don’t have those anymore,” I moaned, trying to be a smart-ass.

  “I still know what they taste like.” He grinned up at me, nibbling and laving my abdomen with that sensual, wet tongue, moving even lower.

  His hands managed to pull one leg out of my uniform and lifted it, resting it on his shoulder as I arched closer to him. His unshaven cheek brushed against my sensitive inner thigh, a feeling that I thought strange. I had never felt it in all my years with him. That errant thought was quickly replaced with an intense feeling as he licked my clit, making me groan with pleasure. He pulled his tongue from front to back in such an erotic motion that I felt I would fall without his support.

  “My,” I said, breathing hard, “we aim to please today, now, don’t we?”

  “You have no idea,” he muttered and continued his gentle tongue-fuck of my body.

  Any coherent thought that I might have had went straight out the window when he gently bit, then blew air across that most sensitive part of my crotch. I sharply pulled air into my lungs.

  “God,” I groaned, “that feels so good.”

  Soon hands as well as tongue helped him to bring me to a dizzying peak. His fingers dipped inside me to brush against the one place that would burst me wide open. Slamming my head against the hard wall, all I could think about were his hands on me and the array of colors dancing in my mind, each competing for the highest honor. My climax started deep in my belly and before I could stop it or think about anything, it broke over me like a nova bursting in the dark sky of deep space. I almost screamed in pleasure but held myself back, knowing that just ten feet from us the whole crew waited with only a door to separate us.

  Frantically, I pulled on Aidan’s hair. “I need you to kiss me,” I whispered and pulled him to me. Our tongues met in the most sensual kiss I had felt in…well…in forever. And suddenly, I just as frantically started pulling on his uniform. “This needs to be off and you need to be inside me.”

  “Easy. You don’t need to rip it.”

  My hands made short work of his clothes, and I reached for his hard cock. The head was dark, purple and huge, with a spot of white fluid on the tip. Gently grazing the underneath part of his cock, I thumbed the liquid over the large surface. Reaching down with my head, I gently sucked on the ruddy mushroom, taking it slowly into my mouth and pulling it back out with a seductive lick. I gently squeezed his balls and again put my lips to the large head before releasing it from my grasp.

  “Nice,” I purred, knowing that this huge thing would fit inside me snugly.

  Groaning, Aidan pushed me up and lifting my body t
o meet his, fiercely pushed all ten inches into me. His penis stretched and filled me completely as my hips undulated of their own accord, making us both feel more satisfaction at our joining. My hands clenched at his shoulders while the rest of me exhilarated in the penetration. I could hardly contain the pleasurable sounds coming from my throat.

  “Tight,” he said. “Do you know how nice and tight you are?” He didn’t move, staying still as if soaking up my essence.

  Chuckling, I answered, “That’s amazing, since this is the second time today.”

  “Quiet,” he said and looked into my eyes, smile lines wrinkled their edges. “I need to concentrate on what I’m doing. You don’t want a sore head, do you?”

  “No,” I breathed and let the motion take me to that place only two lovers can go.

  He held me confidently in his arms, hands snug against my ass. Continuing to kiss my neck and face, Aidan ended back on my mouth with such a mind-blowing sensation that I nearly fainted from the desire it aroused. Slowly, his tongue dueled with mine. His body began to move with the rhythm of the ancient beat buried in each person. Each push was excruciating torture, but a torture I desired more and more. Each movement rubbed that inner core and for the second time in less than ten minutes, made me feel as if my life were taking a crazy spill.

  I could feel Aidan straining toward his climax with each movement. I wanted to melt and merge into this person totally with such an intense feeling that I had previously questioned its existence. Reaching around his body, I gripped his butt, alternating between a firm grip and a tender stroke. Our breath became more and more labored, coming in short gasps as our strokes became quicker and quicker. Suddenly, I burst open like a flower in a spring that I had never known. Having been born on Earth but reared in space, I never once knew the feel of the seasons.

  “God…that was good,” Aidan murmured, cupping my face. “Now tell me that wasn’t the most intense thing that you have ever felt.”

  “I can’t,” I said with difficulty, watching his eyebrow arch. “I can’t, because that was the best orgasm that I’ve ever felt in my whole life.” I kissed his mouth tenderly, savoring the feel of his lips upon mine.