Page 50 of Bred by the Alien Prince

I smiled when I saw the whimsical glint in his eyes.

“Why did you sneak onboard your colony ship?”

“After my dad died, I felt so guilty, even though everyone told me how silly it was to feel that way.... but I sort of felt that my mom blamed me in a way. Parents think their kids don't know who their favorites are, but we do, and I know that I never was a favorite. Even with Dad alive, Mom used me like I was a prop for her channel, and it made me resent her. So Dad dying only made things worse between us, caused a rift that neither of us knew how to repair.”

“How did your father die?”

“He let me drive his car when he picked me up from a fourth of july party. I was always begging him to let me do it.

While driving on this long stretch of road, I saw something... I don’t know what it was... it looked like something was flying by, but it seemed to flash in front of the car, and I lost control and slammed into a tree. My dad must've unbuckled his seat belt and tried to take control of the wheel. I woke up, my father was dead, and I was in a hospital.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be. It was a long time ago.” He wiped the tears from his eyes. “My Mom started moving us all over the place and worked odd jobs, especially after her social media money dried up. It all came to a head when I dropped out of school. Signing up for the Outer Worlds program was just another trigger for us.”

“Do I make you happy?”

He laughed, "What a question to ask out of nowhere. Yes, even though I don’t like the idea of being in love with a man who wants to kill my people.”

“It’s not your people that need to die if what I heard is true.”

“What do you mean?”

“You have a potential threat to us all. The AI you brought here.”

“AI? How is that a threat? They’re helpful.”

“They can be beneficial until they seek to gain dominion.”

“That is just fear talking... can’t believe that a species as technologically advanced as you would fear machines!” He scoffed, and I knew I would not get through to him. “One of those machines saved your life a few hours ago. Connor is an AI.”

“What?!” I stood from the warmth of the bed. “An AI is here? You brought one onboard this ship?”

“Connor is good! He’s fixing your ship right now!”

I slipped on my underclothes, which was all I had besides my armor, but it would have to do for now. Caspian scrambled out of bed as I marched from the room. I searched the ship but couldn’t find it anywhere until I checked the bridge. It was next to the other human, the two locked in conversation, but I didn’t give a damn. I grabbed the machine and flung it out of the small room and onto the floor.

“Lorvian, stop!” Caspian yelled as he approached.

I looked over what looked like a human being in every way. I couldn’t believe it. His skin felt no different from the skin I’ve caressed and kissed. I marched to the other so-called human, pulled him up, and inspected his face. Before turning to Caspian. My thoughts ran amuck with paranoia and confusion. Were they all? Or did they merely create them in their own image?

“Lorvian.” Caspian approached the fallen machine, pulled up his shirt, and lifted a piece of its skin, which showed a small bluish light pulsing behind a flexible mesh. “You can’t do that to me.” He pulled at his own skin to show me he was different.

The other human, Cormac, did the same.

He helped Connor to his feet, and the demonstration calmed my nerves somewhat. “I can’t believe you created these machines in your own image! Not even we were stupid enough to do that.” I argued, gathering my bearings. “You do not understand how long we've had to recover from fighting their kind.”

“You foughtyourmachines, and judging by how aggressive your people are, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to hear you created them to be killers. Connor is helpful. He repairs tech, he can pilot a ship, and so on.”

“I’m here to help,” the machine said. “I did not mean to offend you.”

I grabbed him by the collar and dragged him to the damn airlock! He didn’t fight back... yet.

“Lorvian, if you destroy him, that is it! That moment of peace we shared will be our last!” He doubled over, clutching his stomach in pain.

“Caspian!” I released him and ran to his side.

“I don’t know what’s going on!” He exclaimed through clenched teeth. “It hurts!”

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