Richard's Plan

He made it back to the party in time for the last ten minutes. People were well drunk by then. The good shandy had been broken out, and no one seemed to have missed him much. He mingled, chatting, joking, drinking just enough to seem like everyone else. Not enough to be actually drunk though. The pendant remained in his pocket, and every minute he expected a shout, a cry.

Robbery!

Thievery!

But it never happened. The cargo bay wouldn’t be checked until the end of the flight. By then the trail would be cold.

Had he really gotten away with it? But thoughts of Kara refused to leave his mind, and he knew the answer was ‘’not yet.’’

After the party, he gave over the pendant to his client. An elderly man, dressed severely in a black suit with white trimmings. His hair was curled like a ram, and he had a long moustache which hosted the last defiant embers of his original hair colour - a sort of ruddy brown.

“Excellent,” he said. “Mister Gearheart. You have done me a great service. An expensive service, but a great one. I trust the compensation is more than generous.”

It was, in fact, extremely generous. Enough money to live off for a year, and that was if he didn’t try to save it. Two or three if he was careful.

But right now, he had other uses for it. He smiled, laughed at the man’s jokes. Told him to look him up if he ever needed assistance again.

Then he took the money to the chief engineer. The man was dark-skinned, pot-bellied, and with the look of a person who has worked with their hands all their life. His eyes were gleaming with sharp intelligence.

“You want what?”

“You heard.”

“I heard. I don’t believe. You really think I can do that?”

“You really think you’re fooling me into thinking you can’t?” Richard crossed his arms. “I’ve been on steamships. I know how they run. You’re the chief. Everything goes past you. You approve it or it doesn’t run. Straight up.”

The engineer looked at him.

“You’re right,” he said. “I suppose I could do. But I am not going to. It’s more than my job’s worth. I’d be fired as soon as they found out. And they would find out, don’t even tell me they wouldn’t. There’s nothing you could do to make it worth my while.”

The heavy sound of a bag full of money hit the ground. Rich and deep and above all, tempting.

“Half of that,” Richard said. “More pay than a dozen voyages. Easily enough to set you up with another job. Enough to retire if you want. Still think there’s nothing I can offer?”

For a long moment, nothing was said.

“I won’t ask,” the engineer said carefully, “why you have that sort of money. Or why you are so **** to share it. You want it that much? You know they change every flight, right? It’d only be good until we land.”

“That’s more than long enough.”

The engineer shrugged

“Well, when you’re paying me that much, I am not gonna ask questions. We have a master signet locked away in case of emergencies. The only other one belongs to the captain.”

He reached for a cupboard, unlocking it with a long, silver key. Within, there was a brass ring. Set into the ring, an orange gem with a series of copper shapes picked out across the surface.

“That’s the ring,” the engineer said. “Show it to ‘em and they’ll do what you want. But don’t let any member of the crew see you have it or it's both of our heads.”

Without another word, Richard divided the money and left. He found himself moving at a brisk pace. Back towards the cargo bay.

Back towards Kara.

Thoughts of the naked woman consumed his mind. He knew that he’d done everything he should have already. He’d given her a chance. He’d given her tools. If she used them to break free, then she’d be out of his hair. No obligation. No duty. Just two ships passing in the night. He didn’t have to go back. In fact, it was better that he didn’t. He’d already traded away half of his earnings for this! Three years' pay reduced to one and a half for some ginger-haired girl he didn’t even know!

But even as he chided himself for that, Richard knew he wasn’t going to leave her to her fate. Why? Was it because she turned him on? Oh yes, she got his blood pumping. What guy couldn’t be turned on by a woman so fine? Her body was slender, her legs were long. Her breasts were nice and firm. The sounds she’d made as the machine fucked her had gotten him good.

But that wasn’t it either. At least, not most of it.

As much as he liked to pretend otherwise, Richard had a crippling curse that often proved an inability in his line of work.

He didn’t like to see people suffer.

He didn’t know who had stuffed her into that box, but the idea of her falling back into their hands filled him with anger.

Richard would be the first to admit that maybe he wasn’t always a good guy. He was a sellsword, a man who worked for the highest bidder. He did his best, but his hands were often dirty. He worked with people who sometimes were the worst of the worst.

But there were some things that even a man like him couldn’t allow. Slavery was one of them. Enough of one to halve his big prize just for the chance of sticking it to whoever owned that box.

And as far as he was concerned, that was a good deal!

Richard arrived back in the cargo bay to find that things had not gone to plan. The gate was closed again, but his new signet ring fit into the indent he’d noticed before. It opened without complaint Within, the same blinking lights cast an eerie half-illumination over the hold. The corpse of the automaton lay where he had left it. The create half-open beside it.

Kara was lying on the ground inches from her machine.

Instantly, Richard was moving. She looked still and pale, the gem on the choker she wore had dimmed to almost nothing. His screwdriver had tumbled from her hands, and the broken chains littered the floor around her. She’d managed to shimmy out of the armbinder as well, but that was about as far as she’d gotten.

She was very still.

“Kara?” He was on his knees now, reaching for her. Feeling her naked skin for a pulse. It was there, but so, so weak. “Kara, are you there? Answer me.”

She shivered in his arms, her eyes half opened. A look of incomprehension filled them, but they sharpened.

“Richard?”

“That’s right. I told you I’d come back. What the hell happened?”

“No…no time…”

She reached up weakly, her fingers brushed his face.

“Put me back in the machine.”

For the second time that day, he looked at her as if she were mad.

“Now? You want that? You remember what it was doing before, right?”

“It’s the only way,” she said softly. “I can’t explain… I don’t have…don’t have the energy… put me back in it and turn it on.”

Richard cursed, but he didn’t know what else to do. He lifted her up - she felt so light - and carried her back to the crate. The machine was waiting there. The depression shaped perfectly for her body. He laid her down in it and then hesitated.

She’d said to put her back on the machine…

He hated how his cock stirred at the thought, but he well remembered the state she had been in when he’d arrived. He reached, feeling guilty as he spread her legs to expose her pussy. It was still gleaming and wet, arousal beaded her inner thighs. He touched it, stroking it with his fingers as he reached for the first dildo. The tip pressed her lower lips apart, and she moaned as he pushed it inside of her. His cock strained against his pants, and he couldn’t help but imagine her making those said sounds as she rose up and down on his shaft.

He pushed the dildo all the way inside of her, Kara shivered. Giving little whimpers of pleasure. Next, the one for her ass. This one penetrated her more slowly, inching its way inside of her. Her cries were more strangled, more ****.

He’d expected the machine to start again as soon as she was inside of it. But it didn’t. Desperation clawed at him. Was there some button to press or…?

Of course!

He cast around for the gag and the goggles. Fixing them both around Kara’s head. As soon as the goggles were in place and the gag was secured, the machine gave a mechanical wheeze and struggled to live. The dildos began to inflate and deflate, filling Kara up and stretching her out. She gasped and moaned, trembles of pleasure raced across her body. The machine lowered the shock-pads again, bringing them to rest against her nipples.

They fired and her whole body convulsed.

The choker’s gem began to slow again. Softly. Dimly. But the light was building on itself.

That was probably a good sign.

Looking around, Richard found the roof of the crate that had come loose when it had fallen and with one last look to Kara, secured it in place once again. Her soft cries were muffled now, and he stood back to examine his work. Lastly, he bent down and picked up the armbinders that she’d freed herself from in his absence. He didn’t know if he would need them again, but it was better to have them than now considering how the machine worked.

It looked like a normal crate now, at least as long as you didn’t pay too much attention. Now how to get it back to his room? It was far too big to carry.

At least for a human.

His eyes scanned the walls. Hoping against hope that he would see what he was looking for. He didn’t know for sure it would be there, but if there was one then…

Yes!

There was a charging dock set into the wall. Twisting pipes and clicking, whirring cogs outlined the shape of another automaton. The same class as the one that had tried to kill him.

These things were usually employed in threes, he remembered. But he just needed one. He looked down to the signet ring, hoping that the engineer was good for it. This was the point where he had to risk it, but he took the time to reload the manstopper first.

Then he walked towards the machine, rapping it firmly with one hand. The metal ringing resounded, and the creature’s eyes flickered on. Red light bathed him, the machine regarded him. Steam hissed gently, humming it as it drew itself up to its full height. A dozen insectile legs clicked against the ground.

“Designate task.”

The machine’s voice was gravelly and low. Steam hissed from its joints and pistons.

“That box,” Richard gestured to the crate. “Take it to my room. Tonight. Once the crew is asleep. Tell no one.”

“Regulations dictate that such orders be relayed to an engineering handler before they are carried out,” the machine objected.

Richard flashed the ring.

“Regulations are overruled. My authority is greater. Confirm.”

For several long seconds, nothing was said. The only sound was the hissing of steam and the clicking that came from the automaton.

“Confirmed,” it said at last. “Your authority has been recognised. Previous regulations have been overruled.”

“Good,” Richard said. “Have the box brought to my room - gently. Oh, and also clean up the wreckage.”

He gestured to the body of the last machine.

“Get that out of sight.”

And that was how Richard had Kara brought to his room late one night. It would be nice to say that he had the whole thing figured out from there. That he’d planned it all out, schemed out every route.

Nice, but false.

He was playing it by ear, Figuring it out as he went. He had no plan, no real strategy. All he could really do was react and try to stay above the water which suddenly felt like it was rising.

He was sure he’d just gotten himself into a whole load of trouble.

But that was the life of Richard Gearheart.