Richard Returns to the Nautiloid

Richard began to feel better during his trip back to the yacht. The pains faded a little and his vision cleared. Now that he was able to rest and breathe, he realised that he hadn’t been hurt quite as badly as he had thought.

But it had still been close…

Memories of being chased, of being stalked. Being so close to **** filled his mind and Richard knew he’d be back here again and again in his dreams for a good while yet.

But right now, he had survived.

“Richard!”

Kara was waiting for him on the ship. Her eyes widened as she saw the state of his body. “What happened?”

“Pump happened,” he grimaced. “Why are you out of your box?”

“There was another woman,” Kara scrambled, dragging him into the ship and ordering him to sit at the captain’s chair. “Isabel. She was working with Pump. They guessed we’d come here. They were waiting for both of us.”

“I figured,” Richard groaned, resting his aching body. “You okay? Did she cause you trouble?”

“You could say that,” a strange look came over Kara’s face. Resignation, misery. A depth that he had not noticed before. “But it’s for later. She left before you arrived.”

“She just left?”

“Not exactly…” Kara’s lips pressed tight. Her face was pale. “She told me some things… about Pump and about, well, me…”

“You know who you are?”

“I can’t say… but Isabel left when Pump went down.”

“How did she know?”

She had a device, like a little remote strapped to her leg. It started to beep when he got into trouble. She left then.”

“Probably gone to try and bail him out,” Richard said. “A distress signal, I guess. Smart, but by the time she gets there it’ll be over. I left him with two Conquerors set to kill. Let’s see him get out of that!”

Kara said nothing. Her eyes were heavy, and she looked away.

“What is it?”

“It’s nothing…”

“No, it’s not. Something she told you?”

“I don’t wanna talk about it. Let’s just go.”

“All right, all right,” Richard held up a hand. “Go and set the docking mechanism to release, would you? Give us five minutes. I’m not totally used to these controls, but they’re familiar enough. I’m not gonna crash us.”

“Good,” the ghost of a smile played across her lips. “And Richard?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m really glad you’re still alive.”

He set the controls as Kara primed the lock for release, and exactly five minutes later, the bullet-shaped Nautiloid was expelled from the Pentecost. It fell straight down. After all, it was a pointed lump of metal. Falling was among its specialities.

But once it reached an appropriate altitude, the touch of a button triggered its second stage. Panels across its body blew out with explosions of steam. A sail was extended, and a ballast began to fill. The ship’s frenzied descent grew more controlled, gradually straightening out into a controlled flight.

Richard grinned to himself. It had been years since he’d flown a skyship, but it was a knack you never lost.

Meanwhile, Kara busied herself around his body. She’d broken out the medical supplies, using bandages to bind the worst of his injuries. Salves and tonics were used to dull the pain and promote healing. She pressed her finger against his body hard until he jumped.

“Kara! The hell? That hurts you know? I’ve got a broken rib!”

“No, you don’t,” there was a glimmer of mischief in her eye. “I just checked. Bruised, but not broken. You’re such a big baby, Richard.”

“Baby?” he scoffed. “You try saying that after you see that giant bastard bearing down on you! I damn well thought he could crush my skull with one fist!”

“He probably could have…” Kara’s face fell. “Richard, I…”

She stopped, hesitating. Her emerald eyes were big, sorrowful. She was still naked, but for once he didn’t really notice that. With the press of a button, he set the autopilot - it wasn’t like they were going to crash in the sky - and turned to regard her.

“Kara, what did Isabel say to you?”

“I can’t say.”

“Your training prevents it?”

She hesitated and that was enough.

“You don’t want to.”

“It’s a bit of both…” she admitted. “Richard, I… I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! It’s my fault that you got hurt! It’s my fault that so many people got hurt!”

“What do you mean?”

“Pump… I… I made him. He’s mine. My creation. Isabel has taken him and twisted him, but I’m the one who put him together!”

“You remember that?”

“Isabel told me…”

“And you don’t think she was lying to hurt you?”

“Of course I thought of that! But…but it feels right, Richard. Some part of me thinks that it fits! Like I know without knowing! I did this! I did this all!”

She was crying now. The tears rolled down her face and before either of them had realised what was happening, Richard swept her up in a loving embrace.

“I don’t know if that’s true or not,” he said. “I don’t care. I do know this. You’re a warm, loving girl. You wouldn’t make a monster like that on purpose. If you did make him - and that’s a big if - then whatever he originally was is long gone.”

“I made him to fight,” Kara’s voice was trembling. “To kill. That’s why he’s so good at it. He was my masterpiece. I made him, Richard! I gave him all that power! And then Isabel cut him loose.”

“Cut him loose? Kara, you don’t mean what I think you mean?”

“Of course I do!” She looked up at him through teary eyes. “Automatons are locked out of higher cognitive thought. They get dangerous. They’re smarter than people. No one sane would allow one to think for itself. You don’t know what it would do!”

“But Pump can?”

Slowly, Kara nodded.

“Pump can. Isabel unlocked his higher functions. Freed him from all the codes, the laws, the conditions that govern automatons. He can fight and kill and plot and plunder! He can **** or cause pain, he can turn all of his power and intelligence to the worst causes possible and it’s all because of me. I made him a monster. An unstoppable, murdering monster.”

She was crying again. Holding him tightly, her body shuddering and shivering.

“I killed him,” Richard said. “Two Conquerors will do for anyone, man or machine. He won’t hurt anyone else.”

“But he still hurt people before! Dozens of people! Hundreds of people! He’s killed and tortured! My fault! All my fault! I should have let Isabel take me! I deserve whatever sick fate she has in store for making him! And not only that… I’ve been a bad girl. A bad ****.”

“Kara…” Richard’s voice was firm, not hostile but warning. “You know that’s not how I see you.”

“How you see me doesn’t matter,” her eyes were full of tears as she looked up at him. “It’s how I see myself. Richard, she almost had me! She told me to eat her pussy out while Pump killed you and I…I almost did it!”

“It’s the programming, not you.”

“I should have fought harder. I was disloyal. I don’t deserve to have a master like you. Even with everything we did last night, even with the graduation, I almost crumpled to her. I wanted to do what I was told so much, Richard. I wanted it with every fibre of my being! I’m such a slut. I’m a wanton whore who wants to submit and be used more than I want you to live…”

“Don’t say that,” Richard growled. “Don’t even start that. You know it’s not true. Not even slightly. Your coding and programming makes you do things that you’re told, but that’s not who you are. And nearly isn’t enough for a victory. Maybe she almost had you. But she didn’t. You fought her off.”

“Barely,” Kara sniffed. “If it happens again I don’t know if I can a second time. I wanted it so much, Richard. Like I never have wanted anything else in my life. I knew she was going to humiliate me, **** me. I knew she was going to torment but I still wanted it so much! What kind of slut acts like that? I’m a terrible **** girl who can’t even control herself when her master’s life is threatened!”

She turned to him suddenly, her voice was trembling, low.

“Please…” She sobbed. “Richard, I want you to do me a favour.”

“A favour?”

“Yes. As my m-master. I want you to promise me you’ll do something for me.”

“Anything.”

“Punish me.”

“What?”

“Punish me for what I did. I d-deserve it. I want to be punished. Please?”

He wanted to refuse, turn aside. To tell her that all she needed was time. But the look in her eyes was **** and longing. He realised that there really was no other way.

“Okay,” he sighed. “I’ll do it.”