The Abyss of Time

Chapter Thirty Seven

     "Leave her alone!" shouted Simon furiously.

     Rolf looked around in surprise, still holding the struggling Lucy by the shoulders. "What?" he said in confusion.

     "I said leave her alone." Simon came striding over, past the unconscious and manacled security men that had been guarding him just minutes before. "Get your hands off her."

     "What do you care?" asked Rolf, genuinely puzzled. "You're the one who let them aboard the Lucina. You were happy for the entire crew to be turned into zombies, including her."

     "Conversion is one thing. Rape is another. That's not who we are. Let her go."

     "You idiot. Conversion is a million times worse than rape. You rape a women, she's just fine afterwards. All she's got is a few bad memories, but conversion, the total erasure of everything you are, forever..."

     "I said let her go." Simon was standing directly in front of Rolf now, close enough for the two men to stare directly into each others' eyes. Beside them Lucy stared in astonishment as if only just remembering Simon existed. A little way away the two cyborgs watched the interplay with apparent amusement. Occasionally they glanced at each other as if exchanging electronic comments that only they could hear.

     "What do you care?" Rolf repeated. "She's going to be converted soon. She won't remember what I do to her."

     Simon hesitated uncertainly, suddenly looking embarrassed. "She was kind to me," he said at last."

     Rolf laughed in disbelief. "What?" he said.

     "The others hated me. They made me feel terrible, like killing myself..."

     "Of course they did. You tried to give them to the cyborgs."

     "She was kind," said Simon, pointing at Lucy. "She talked to me. Tried to make me feel better. I won't let you hurt her."

     "And how are you going to stop me?" Rolf took a step closer to Simon. He was half a head taller than the other man and bulkier. More muscular. He suddenly looked like the school bully trying to take the little kid's dinner money. Lucy glanced back and forth between them, then cast a glance at the darkness of the desert around them. She shifted her weight on her foot as if thinking of running for it, but then one of the cyborgs caught her eye and smiled mockingly. Lucy slumped in despair.

     "Maybe she doesn't have to be converted," said Simon, trying to sound reasonable. "They're not going to convert you and me. Maybe we can persuade them to spare her as well."

     "You don't get it," said Rolf, laughing. "I want her to be converted. Docile and obedient. Pandering to my every whim. I just want to enjoy her once the way she is right now, so I'll know what it's like. So that she'll know she's mine, forever." He waved a hand at the other women lying handcuffed and unconscious around the camp. "Look, go help yourself to whoever you want. Zanele, Cindy. Maybe even little Alicia if that's what floats your boat..."

     Simon have a roar of fury and swung his first at Rolf's head. Rolf blocked it easily and threw a punch of his own that sent the smaller man flying back to lie sprawled on the desert floor. "Stay down," Rolf warned him. "And don't meddle in my affairs. I do what I want, to who I want. Best you remember that."

     Simon stared up at him, blood leaking from a torn lip, tears of shame and anger leaking from his eyes. Rolf turned away from him in contempt, took Lucy by the arm again and resumed pulling her towards the tent.

     Simon pushed himself back to his feet, and as he did so his outstretched hand bumped into something hard. A Carmichael, dropped by one of the Orchid crew during the drone attack. He snatched it up and jumped back to his feet, aiming the weapon at the other man. "Rolf!" he roared.