I’m sharing scenes from the first chapter of Under Strain as we wait for its release on May 11th.
You can read the first scene from the first chapter of Under Strain:
This week I’m sharing the second scene of that first chapter.
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“Take one more step and I’ll stun you, D Model.” A C Model cyborg issued that warning.
The voice was familiar. Strain searched his damaged processors for a name.
Gain. No, Grudge.
He was one of his brethren, part of the cyborg retrieval team.
“Human.” Strain’s gaze remained fixed on his target, on the couple approaching the transport ship. Surely the male behind him could see the danger.
“She’s a human female.” Grudge didn’t lower his gun. “She isn’t a threat to us.”
Many cyborgs believed human females didn’t pose a danger to them.
Strain knew that assumption was incorrect…and dangerous. The commander’s female had shown him they could be as evil as their male counterparts.
The female had reveled in her power over him and his brethren. She had once whipped him down to his frame, had done the same to many of his fellow cyborgs. Warriors had been decommissioned, suffering the most painful death available, for the mere infraction of looking at her.
Human females weren’t to be underestimated.
Strain held his position, didn’t look away from the black-haired female.
“She is also that cyborg’s female.” Grudge pushed the muzzle of the gun harder into the back of Strain’s neck, that tinge of pain planting him more thoroughly in the present. “Malice had his nanocybotics boosted. You do not want to challenge him a second time. He’ll beat you into the ground.”
Strain wasn’t interested in challenging the warrior. The female was his focus.
“And there is no reason to attack them. Smell her.” That was a command, not a request. “She’s ours.”
Ours. Strain turned his head, looked at the female cyborg standing in the distance with a male cyborg and a blonde-haired human female.
Cadet. That was her name. She was their leader.
The female C Model wouldn’t approve of him attacking the black-haired human female…though he couldn’t process why she wouldn’t endorse that response.
He kept his gaze on the cyborg, using her presence as a diversion, and he scanned his databases for the reason.
Some humans were genetic matches for cyborg warriors. They were…ours. That was the term Cadet utilized for them.
And when those humans bonded with their warriors, they hosted their nanocybotics, became different, not cyborg but no longer human.
Strain breathed deeply. The scent of the male cyborg, Ghost, Cadet’s dad, clung to the blonde-haired human female, Cadet’s mom.
She was…ours, was no longer human, no longer a threat.
His organic brain cleared a bit more. The footage continued to replay again and again in his processors, but the screams were now a mere hum in the background. The images had dimmed and the bombardment on his senses was manageable.
He had regained control. Tautness eased from his form.
He permitted himself to look at the black-haired female, inhaled once more.
The female smelled of her warrior.
She was ours also.
“She’s not human.” His fingers flattened.
“She’s no longer human.” Grudge lowered his weapon. “I can’t 100.0000 percent process the damage you’ve endured. As you can’t 100.0000 percent process mine. But if you want to stay on the team, you have to repair yourself. Cadet won’t tolerate many more errors.”
Strain nodded, signaling his understanding. The Humanoid Alliance, their manufacturers, had tolerated zero errors. Cyborgs would be decommissioned, sliced apart, and stripped of parts, killed in the most painful method possible, if they made any mistakes.
He and his brethren were free now. But he didn’t expect their leader to accept less than perfection from the warriors under her command. It was an elite team. He was fortunate to be part of it.
And he would do anything to remain one of its members.
His jaw jutted. He had to repair himself.
“There are thousands of cyborgs unable to free themselves from the Humanoid Alliance’s clutches. Cadet will want to rescue those warriors as soon as possible.” The C Model slammed his purely mechanical hand down on Strain’s shoulder.
The impact would have flattened a human. Strain merely grimaced.
“We have to prepare the modified freighter for the next mission.” Grudge assigned that task to him.
Strain looked at the warrior. According to his calculations, there was only a 35.2563 percent probability he’d participate in that next mission.
“Utilizing tasks as a distraction assisted in my repairs.” Grudge shrugged. “That technique might work for you. And the modified freighter has to be readied.” He stomped up the ramp. “If you choose to remain part of this team, you would be wise to assist me.”
Strain’s gaze slid back to the black-haired human female.
She smiled up at her C Model, chattered about medic bays and offspring manufacturing humanoids. The weapons strapped to the cyborg’s body armor were too accessible to her.
Tension stretched across Strain’s shoulders. The screaming in his auditory system grew louder.
He hurried up the ramp, following Grudge before he lost control. Again.
***
Read the next scene (available April 26th) here:
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Under Strain
A damaged cyborg warrior is hunted by a peace-loving human female.
***
Strain is severely malfunctioning. The D Model cyborg was the sole survivor after a horrific decision was made by his cruel manufacturers. He hates all humans, and when he attacks one who is under his cyborg leader’s protection, he is reprimanded, stripped of his weapons, and told to watch and not actively participate in the next mission.
That mission takes place on a small remote planet. Its lush terrain should only be inhabited by the cyborgs they were sent to rescue, but Strain senses another presence on the surface. She is watching him, tracking him, hunting him.
A fully operational cyborg would end her lifespan.
Strain wants to claim her. Forever.
Kamyelle is the only one left of her kind. Warriors have killed the other nonviolent human inhabitants of her planet. She survived…barely…by hiding in the trees, observing her enemies, and covering herself with lifeform scan-concealing mud.
When a handsome, gray-skinned, brilliant-blue-eyed male arrives, surrounded by weapon-carrying warriors, she has to save him. Warriors harm and they kill. That is what they do.
She won’t allow them to hurt Strain.
***
Under Strain is a STANDALONE Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.
It features a broken warrior, a human female who thinks he’s perfect, and velociraptor-like dinosaurs who view them both as light, tasty snacks.
Pre-order Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08R322L7S
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08R322L7S
Amazon AUS:
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B08R322L7S
Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/under-strain/id1545957749
B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/under-strain-cynthia-sax/1138505613
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/under-strain
Smashwords:
