Beyond the Circuits: A Sci-Fi Romance Flash Fiction
A short little piece of flash fiction, inspired by a pre-cruise meet-up last night. I hope you enjoy!
Can upgrades change who you really are? When two ex-lovers meet again - now more machine than human - they discover what truly lies beyond the circuits
Author Note: This story sparked to life during a fun, pre-adventure get-together with some fellow cruisers. We’d gathered to bond a little before a big trans-Atlantic sailing and the conversation took a turn—everyone started swapping tales of knee replacements, titanium hips, and every kind of bionic upgrade you could imagine! Each scar had its own adventure, each titanium joint a badge of…
Cass leaned into Kou, rubbing against his organic arm as they surveyed the newly cleaned room. “Well, that was the last of them.” She smiled. God, the last little while had been torture, though she hoped it wasn’t just her experiencing it. She’d done her very best to rub or grind herself against him every chance she got. When they weren’t close, she made sure to bend in provocative ways, accentuating her ass or exposing cleavage.
Kou wrapped his arms around her, his strength pleasing her. He looked around. “Are you sure?” He glanced down, a cheeky grin on his face. “I wouldn’t want to trip and hurt myself.”
She looked around, but she hadn’t seen this much of the floor since they moved into this ship years ago. Hell, she’d forgotten entirely that she’d added padded floor-plates, which had been installed for exercise but suddenly had all new possibilities. She smirked up at Kou and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Don’t worry. I’ll break your fall.”
His smile grew. “You will, will you?”
“Oh, yes. I’d be happy to be under you.”
He tipped his head back and laughed. “You’re too much, Cass.”
“And horny,” she said, smacking his shoulder. “Don’t forget horny.” She dropped her hands and ran one over the front of his pants. “And you promised.”
He gripped her chin and kissed her hard on the lips. “That I did.” Pulling back slightly, his words breathed over her lips, sending a shiver down her spine.
She ground her hand against his length, determined to get him as revved up as she was.
Damn, but right now, she was so wet she could put out a fucking fire.
So I was tagged in both of these in the last week or so by @cinlat and @swtorpadawan and while I haven’t written much lately as luck would have it I had worked on an original story this week (while sitting in a warehouse full of school supplies and furniture waiting for people to drive up for a covid test actually. My job is weird but it gives me time to do this when the inspiration hits).
In this my cyborg security officer, who still hasn’t reclaimed his name and is going by his designation of SEC765, has a problem with his taste receptors, cannot stomach the bland rations supplied for his team and has gone to the kitchen to get something better from the cook Wynter (who of course has a crush on the hunky cyborg). Not a lot is going on here but they are both being ardorable dorks so I like it.
It only took Wynter a few moments to heat up a generous bowl of curry, and serve up a side of rice fresh out of the cooker. As she was plating his meal she grabbed a few pieces of flatbread she had set on the hob to warm up. Looking over the tray she had put together Wynter tried to imagine it was her first meal in years, had she done enough? Chosen the right dish? It was so important that she got this right.
He wanted spicy, she reminded herself, and this curry was spicy and savory. It was a perfect blend of heat and taste. Of what she had available at short notice it was the best possible offering. She was normally so confident about her food, why was she so worried about this?
Because he was gorgeous and more muscular than any man she had ever laid eyes on before. Wynter sighed, it seemed the small crush she’d developed on the cyborg security officer had only grown since she first came on board.
Steeling her nerves, she lifted the tray and made her way into the galley. She would not show him how nervous she was. When she spotted him she had to smother a giggle. He had set himself at the table closest to the kitchen but it was what was spread out on the table before him that made her have to bite the inside of her cheek. He had gotten at least one set, in some cases more, of every eating utensil on the self service table. Forks, spoons, knives, Umagi eating sticks, Dravani sipper sticks, if it could be used by any sentient being to eat, he had grabbed one.
SEC876 looked up as she approached and she could have sworn she saw a hint of embarrassment in his stoic expression. “I was not sure what your choice of dish would require,” he explained, moving the utensil collection so she had room to set the tray down.
“Of course you didn’t,” she said, hoping to soothe his embarrassment away. “I didn’t tell you what was for dinner. The spoon should be good, the meat and vegetables in the curry are all bite sized.” SEC765 took a moment to choose a spoon, apparently seeing some difference between the identical utensils she couldn’t see.
I’m working on writing. I’ve just finished a BIG story - (nearly 300K words of Hobbit fanfic and I’m really proud of it) - but I want to work on paying writing. To this end, I’ve looked at what’s selling; I have no trouble writing to sales rather than Writing For Art.
There’s a thriving erotic romance market and I’m pretty sure I can write that, so I’m trying to plot stories for it. The problem is that apparently I’m not naturally a PWP writer. I’ve read several in a variety of the subgenres, to get a feel for the tropes and standards.
Uh.
The standards are low. Some of the well-thought-of stuff is, well, riddled with poor writing and bad grammar, not to mention odd flirtations with misogyny and a strange belief that sexual attraction is the main part of romance.
I must fuck you =/= I am in love with you.
And ‘female’ is not a loving and kind way of referring to women. (One series has the male main characters say that calling their wives/female partners ‘females’ is the highest accolade they can confer. Seriously, ‘women’ is condescending and ‘females’ is loving and respectful.)
I don’t get it, but it doesn’t have to be my kink for me to write it.
So, I thought I’d work on a cyborg romance. Easypeasy, right? *facepalm*
Not so much. First I ended up making up my own type of cyborg, because the current standards are boring - cyborgs aren’t all grey skinned with identifying tattoos on their cheekbones. Then I had to come up with a reason for the society to have cyborgs at all, which led to the political machinations of the group in power. All of that led to the thrilling mystery plot about how the cyborgs and those who rescue (?) them work to free the rest of the cyborgs and bring down the evil people in charge of the government.
Uh, yeah. Where in there is the fun, sexy, explicitly porny romp I was supposed to be writing?
Given that this is the amazon blurb for a book in the genre, I appear to have gone wildly astray.
Half Man. Half Machine. All Hers.
Rage, the Humanoid Alliance's most primitive cyborg, has two goals--kill all of the humans on his battle station and escape to the Homeland. The warrior has seen the darkness in others and in himself. He believes that's all he's been programmed to experience.
Until he meets Joan.
Joan, the battle station's first female engineer, has one goal--survive long enough to help the big sexy cyborg plotting to kill her. Rage might not trust her but he wants her. She sees the passion in his eyes, the caring in his battle-worn hands, the gruff emotion in his voice.
When Joan survives the unthinkable, Rage's priorities are tested. Is there enough room in this cyborg's heart for both love and revenge?
Releasing Rage is a dark BBW Cyborg SciFi Romance.
(Mind the warnings, by the way. There’s rape and magical penis in this story.)
Many other stories come complete with gender stereotypes and frustrations: “I’m fine.” said by any woman is sure to mean that she’s hiding what she’s really upset about. She can’t possibly just say what she wants/needs/thinks without playing that sort of emotional tug of war...
Maybe this isn’t the genre for me.
I have figured out why all the novels in this genre are so short and read so quickly; they’ve got no subplots. That does save time.
This was a page turner I had trouble putting down. I wanted to stay awake to finish it but when 3am rolled around I and my e-reader needed to shut down for a recharge…kind of like the cyborgs in the book.
A cyborg (short for "cybernetic organism") is a being with both organic and biomechatronic body parts. That is just what many of the characters in this series are…part human with additional components that they were not born with. They have been used and abused and seek a better future for themselves and others like them and that is what the team at Norton are doing their best to achieve.
The story of Eric and Lucy is compelling and drew me in from the beginning. Eric has been driven to help Evelyn 489 since first meeting her. Once he retrieves her name he heads out to inform her of it and in so doing triggers something unexpected. The programming she begins to follow causes Eric some trouble at first but because he has grown to care for her, does not want to take advantage of her and wants what is ultimately in her best interest he does all he can to see that she will have a better future.
Marcus, Peyton and King make an appearance or two with their significant others, Will Talon shows up for a bit, Nero-a new male cyborg scientist is introduced, two female cyborgs-Aja and Meara-make an appearance, one of the bad guys is dealt with while Master Omega is perhaps hinted at more clearly…at least I have a feeling *I* know who it might be…and hints are made for potential future books in the series.
I just downloaded Peyton 313, first in the series - currently free on some sites, and having read books two and three look forward to reading it before book five is released.
This is a series with a world of its own that makes sense in ways that many sci-fi futuristic books sometimes do not. I applaud Ms McDonald for the world and characters she has created. My hope is that at some point all the cyborgs will get their HEA and the world they live in will become a better safer place than it seems to have been and continues to be for many of them.
Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
In science fiction romance these days, I have a pretty good feeling what the next “hot” thing might be – cyborgs. Generally the term is used to refer to a human with robotic or bionic implants. (“Six Million Dollar Man” anyone? Which was based on the novel Cyborg by Martin Caidin by the way.) In SFR the cyborgs are often deliberate creations rather than humans who have been altered or became…
