in any way. Her stomach roiled a little, realizing she was like that card collection to Flint.

“Please put me down.” Mira lifted off him, forcing his semi-erect c**k out of her as he set her down on her feet. She backed away from him then turned to hide the tears that threatened. She didn’t want him to see. “I’m going to get clean.”

She had nowhere to flee and the corner wasn’t far enough away. She pushed the button for the cleaning unit walls to slide up. In seconds foam doused her. She grabbed a cloth to scrub at her body as the foam melted into liquid, trying to clean off every trace of Flint that she could reach, avoiding her brand because the skin was still a little red and puffy near the markings. She hit the button and shut her eyes as foam doused her again to rinse her body one last time.

The cleaning unit walls collapsed when she was done. She grabbed a towel and started to dry her body.

She knew eyes were on her and quickly glanced back and saw Flint, na**d still, standing where she had left him, a frown on his face. He appeared to have shut himself down from the way he stood statue-still but his eyes followed her every movement.

“How have I upset you?” His voice was soft.

She turned on him. “You wanted me to think more of you than you being just a computer with a humanoid body.” Her pain turned to anger quickly. “And I believed you had feelings and real emotions. I was wrong.”

Anger sparked in his eyes. Those dark blue depths looked even darker as he glared at her. “I do have feelings and emotions.”

“So do I !” She shook her head. “I was being stupid. I thought you had real feelings and emotions for me.”

“I do.”

“No. You have ownership. That’s all I am to you. I’m property, like the damn shirt you dropped on the floor. You don’t want other men to wear your clothing either, I bet. There’s no difference to you between me and that damn shirt.”

His lips twisted. “That isn’t true in the least.”

“Right.Your shirt might wrap around you but it doesn’t get you off, does it? Yeah. I’m different because you can f**k me.”

Flint watched her warily. “You are very upset and that shirt analogy is not even something I’m willing to debate. It is too irrational. Do I need to take you to Doc to check your chemical levels?”

“I’m a human and I don’t need my levels checked. I’m upset, I’m pissed off, and worse, I’m hurt. You go on about how you don’t want me hurt but you’ve hurt me with your words. I’m more than property, damn it. I’m a person with feelings. I…” She threw up her arms. “I don’t even think I can make you understand just what is so wrong about you treating me this way.”

“You are tired and you have had a lot of distress in a small amount of time. I’ll leave you to rest.” He dressed quickly in fresh clothing. In less than a minute he sailed out of the small living quarters, leaving her alone to simmer and stew.

Mira walked to his bed and collapsed on it as hot tears fell down her face. What if he thought another cyborg wouldn’t hurt her? Would he trade the use of her body then? Terror hit her. She’d rather die than be passed around for bartering. The idea of other men touching her made her sick. She wasn’t a pleasure worker. She had mistakenly thought Flint was so possessive of her because the idea of someone touching her would make him jealous. She thought he gave a damn about her and had real, fond feelings for her.

Instead she was just property he was securing from possible damage. She didn’t even bother wiping at her tears as they fell.

She sat there for a good twenty minutes before she moved, putting on one of his shirts to pace the room thinking. She needed to escape from Flint. The Star was a large ship, and they all had escape pods. Its pods were probably outfitted for at least ten persons. Survivors could live for weeks in a pod designed to accommodate a lot of passengers.

An escape plan comforted her. The Star had been an Earth ship according to Doc so the pods would be preprogrammed to head for Earth. Hopefully the cyborgs had not changed the programming since they