A Pilgrim to Mecha

A Pilgrim to Mecha

by Shawn Jackson

     He took one last drag on the stim stik then tossed it off the balcony edge and into the serene silver water lapping at the edge of the beach below.  And, as he watched the glowing ember slowly flicker out, swallowed by the cerulean maw of the sea, he immediately fumbled in a breast pocket for another.  A simple creation, stim stiks were the rage amongst organics, consisting of a slow burning powdered aerosol stuffed efficiently into a degradable plastic tube and ignited with a disposable micropulse IR hot tab.

Twisting the tab activated it, sending an IR pulse into the powder, igniting it.  The resulting smoke was then inhaled where, if one was lucky, the lungs absorbed it, sending a rush seething through the body.  Which, as he leaned back after his first pull on the stik, he let happen, savoring the rush as it spread from his lungs outward.

  "Those things are bad for you, you know."  A soft, feminine voice said from inside the room.  It spoke terran, the human language, with the slightest of accents.  Lazily looking over his shoulder, he grinned at what greeted his eyes.

She was sculpted perfection, every flawless, synthetic curve formed from bio-silicate to please the organic eye.  And, as she walked sinuously towards him, she was quite pleasing indeed as she was very much naked.  That nudity allowed him to once again see how every detail has been attended to, from the dimples in her cheeks, to the fake navel in the center of her abdomen.  Although naked with regards to a mechanoid was relative.  Even as his eyes fell on her, her native silver exterior shimmered as the liquid crystal sheath that served as her skin, came alive with light.

Muted colors were first: soft blues and indigos, burnt orange and char black, rippling across the skin as she fed power from her central cell to her epidermal chromaphores.  For a brief moment her native silver was a tight corset, pinning down her generous breasts while cinching in her waist before flaring into a pair of gartered stockings, complete with a sexy thong.  At the wrist the orange and black became long gloves which hid her slender, almost delicate fingers.  And, with a surge of movement and color, her bald head was covered with long, indigo holographic hair that tumbled to her shoulders in a wild mop.  All offset by the reddish cream tones of caucasian skin.

  "Nice."  He murmured as the image hung in his eyes for a tantalizing moment.  Then the silver was being washed aside by more skin tones as she stepped in close to press against him, the sheath generating more than enough heat to mimic an organic's body temperature.  The thin fabric of his light, button up shirt and slacks did nothing to keep that heat back.  A heart beat later all talk ceased as she pressed bio-silicate lips, softer and more yielding than even the real thing, against his.

The kiss was long, sensuous and tender, her arms looping around his body to pull him even closer to make the embrace that much more delicious.  Then, almost reluctantly, he stepped back.

  "Wish I had time for that, luv.  But you know the vote's today.  I need to be there."  He said, his voice husky with barely repressed desire.

  "I know."  She replied with a sad smile.  Somehow she managed to get the stim stik out of his hand and, with an almost casual gesture, she flicked it off the balcony.

  "You've only been talking about it for weeks.  Why political maneuvering would interest you, Kaz, is a mystery.  Even to me.  And I've known you for a very long time."  The smile became mischievous. 

"Then again, you've always been odd, even for an organic."

If he was insulted by her comment, Kaz didn't say.  Or rather, he couldn't.  His eyes were sightless as he found his mind tumbling back nearly twenty years into the chaos of his memories.  Memories triggered by her words.