0103

by Jessie Rose Case

  Now he had to inject the nano’s themselves. Biting down again, he removed the biotic vile and replaced it with the nanos. Thanking those fucked up Designers that he didn’t need his eyes to see.

  Punching it around the wound he injected himself. His pain soared once more, as he told his sensor to turn off. His body was now shaking beyond functioning. Down to 16%. He was out of time… Nothing happened. He tried again as unbearable pain fried his nerves in that part of his body. Nothing. Picking up the healing nutrient supplement he injected straight into his leg several times. Throwing the injector away he grabbed a nano vile and poured them into the wound directly while he still could. His head was light, his focus was dimming. Grasping the nano bridges he slapped the entire patch over the wound, there was no time for finesse. Down to 8%. It was all or nothing. 0103 Crashed onto the bed where he lay. System shutting down….

  He was dreaming again. Or he was dead. He wasn’t sure which possibility he welcomed the most. The snow was gone, and he was standing in a meadow that was in Springs full bloom. He recognised it. He knew the place. It was to the west of the ship. Spring, it was spring again…. Only he knew that couldn’t be right. It had been the end of winter when he’d been attacked and shut down in medical. He remembered that all too clearly. The pain……

  Looking down he checked his body for the wounds. They were gone. So were the dressings. How long had he been out? His data gave him no answer. No response. In fact, it did nothing at all. That wasn’t right…. His data was always working, even in his sleep. Always in the background, always working on something. He was dead then…. It was the only logical answer, and this was some residue left over from the software keeping his brain active after the body was done. He’d heard it was possible and guessed the poison had done its job after all.

  Only….. the cool breeze on his face, seemed real enough. This was the time of year he liked most on this world. The start of life coming back to it. The world waking from the slumber of winter. The sounds appeared real too. Surrounded by moving grasses in the breeze, the trees gently swaying. He could almost hear the leaves bursting into life on the branches. The sun warming, as the land started another year. Why his brain chose this moment for his last memories he did not know. The sound of a song bird reached his ears. He turned towards it enjoying the melody, the sweeping notes different to the other birds. This one was unusual. He’d not heard it before. But the scent in the air was familiar. He felt drawn to it. He knew that scent. The melody became stronger as if it was coming towards him somehow and then stopped. Curious, 0103 walked towards it. Could it be possible?

  Rounding a small coppice, he stopped. There sitting in the middle of a grassy area was the female. She was …… singing. Now he knew for sure he was dead or dying. There was no other explanation for it. It wasn’t logical for her to be here now. Had she come to him to take him to the next life?

  As if she sensed him, she turned her head to look at him, stopped singing and smiled. He thought she looked relieved, glad to see him. “There you are. I was getting worried but didn’t want to leave until I’d see you. I’ve been searching for a while, wasn’t sure if I’d reach you in time. You cannot stay here any longer. You must hurry, it’s time to wake up. You’ve slept long enough, I can’t give you more time. I’m sorry. Troubles coming and you need to be ready. Wake. NOW.” She snapped her fingers.

  0103 Sat up with a start and cringed as his wound complained. Shit. What the hell was that… She’d told him to wake up and…. he had. He was still in medical. Disorientated for a moment, he looked down at his wound and pulled the nano bridge pad away. It was pink and healing. No sign of infection. He’d been lucky. He looked around then. There was no female, no meadow. His system fired up with disappointment. 0103 Frowned. It wasn’t real. He had no right to be disappointed. Logic told him it was just a dream probably triggered by the poison in his system. He ran a diagnostic and it told him he needed hydration, supplements, nourishment and more nano’s but his functionality was up.

  Standing he picked up the items that had fallen to the floor in his urgency to get on the bed and injected more nano’s. Then put the dispensers back and pick up the supplement and nourishment injectors and gave himself the required dosage. He felt better almost immediately. Going to the replicator he ordered 3 ltrs of water in a bottle and took a quick healthy swallow.

  “Computer, time lapse since I was last conscious?”

  “3.7.4.7 Universal days.” Shit. He’d been out for nearly four days! That explained his condition.

  “Systems check,” he called out as he made his way back to the Bridge.

  “All systems within agreed parameters.”

  He couldn’t shake off what the female had told him. Troubles coming…. Walking onto the Bridge he checked all the cameras and sensors. Nothing significant showed. No more attacks.

  “Computer, increase all search parameters. Bring all guns online, test run all diagnostics and simulations, hold in standby. Run routine checks daily.”

  “That will compromise the output of the ships power supply.”

  “I’m aware of that. I want regular updates from our relay in orbit.”

  “That action will also compromise the ships capabilities.”

  0103 gritted his teeth. He knew that too and didn’t need reminder. But the message from the female persisted in his mind. He couldn’t shift the feeling that the warning was real. It made no logic and he couldn’t explain it. He had to be ready. Something was coming…

  “Do it anyway.”

  “Affirmative.”

  He gingerly took the seat at the display and went over all data from the past four days. If he’d missed something……

  “Orbital sensor is picking up a ship coming into range.”

  What?... 0103 Sat stunned for a moment. He’d woken less than 27minutes ago. Just enough time to check the logs and give orders. After all this time…….. The female had been right?…. His emotions peaked. “Is it ……. ours?” he asked tentatively. Had they come at last….

  “No signature recognition.”

  “Do they know we are here?”

  “If they have scanning capabilities our beacon will be picked up.” Leading them straight in…. It was the chance they’d decided on all that time ago when looking for options of communicating beyond this world. Only then, he had an entire crew to defend the ship if needed.

  “Monitor all actions and communications. Time to arrival?”

  “At current speed 2.4 universal days.”

  “I want to know the minute it comes in to land.”

  “Affirmative.”

  “All ASAC (Automated Senor Activated Cannons) to be deployed around the ship and brought online.” There was nothing better than the rail guns in a battle.

  “That will reduce ships capabilities further.”

  “Acknowledged. We are facing a possible enemy, defence is paramount.”

  “On what data are you making that decision?” That was a good question. He couldn’t exactly say a dream. That wasn’t logical. The computer wouldn’t understand it. He wasn’t sure he did.

  “My own.” If they weren’t friendlies, he’d be ready. Utilising more power and resources than was wise, would mean nothing, if he couldn’t hold them off. He’d be dead anyway.

  ***

  Donna woke. That was the weirdest dream of all. She’d been scared. The image of the Cyborg was front and centre in her mind. He looked different. Harder, something was wrong with him. He’d always been less refined as those she knew, but this time, his movements were not as smooth. Almost like he was compromised in some way. The uniform looked the same but held four ripped claw marks on it. He’d been injured. There was no doubt of it in her mind. And the dream felt different. That had an edge to it too. A darkness around the edges she didn’t understand. But it was his eyes that held her. Cool grey. Piercing. She could get lost in them. He had a hunger. For her. Her own interest rising the moment she saw him.

  She’d
been waiting with some urgency on that world, finally sitting in that meadow trying to reach him and had almost given up. He’d seemed lost to her for a long time. No matter how much she’d tried, she couldn’t find him. She’d started to worry. That had never happened before. She could feel him sleeping but couldn’t reach him and somehow, she knew time was running out. She could feel it.

  Singing to focus her energy away from her panic, she feared something bad had happened. Her own anxiety and fear sweeping through her and then he’d come to her. Her relief at seeing him finally was huge. But time was running out, she could feel it. He was in danger and had to warn him.

  Now awake. The scene played out again. Not wanting to lose a moment of it, she recalled, a beautiful meadow. A breeze floating around her as did the sounds of birds. It was calming and peaceful but did little to alleviate her fears. She’d sensed she was waiting for him, the urgency growing on her. She knew they were not truly there but that didn’t diminish the pull or her need to warn him.

  Two souls meeting in the ether, drawn together. One trying to save the other.

  She had an urgent message to give him. Danger was coming, she was sure of it. An intense need to make him wake overcame her at the precise moment she saw him at last. He needed to wake and prepare, and she knew instinctively that he wouldn’t be able to do it all alone. She held out her hand to him drawing the connection closer to her and spoke to him quickly. He’d looked at her in surprise and….. Had he expected something else? There was no time for whatever it was. He had to wake. Now. She’d snapped her fingers and ……… woke.

  She didn’t really know how that had happened. But she’d felt that sense of urgency before. And she’d learnt to listen to it. There was something coming for him. She was sure of it. That meant he had to be real. She was sure of it.

  Throwing back the flow blanket, she strode into the bathroom quickly removing her PJ top and shorts and stepping into the shower. Images of the Cyborg from her dream crossed her mind as she cleansed. Barely noticing that she was lingering in her erogenous zones, enjoying the touch and sensation. Only the moment her own emotional hunger hit her, did it register. She liked this male.

  Ghost, mirage, real or not, her body and mind liked him. Donna frowned and swallowed. Rinsing off with cold water to dampen her hot skin. She had more pressing things to deal with. Lusting after an imaginary male wasn’t right.

  She wasn’t totally sure he was even real, she reminded herself. But in those dreams…… he seemed real enough…

  Had her gift sent her to him? To warn him something was coming? Had it something to do with that other ship? Drying off, she wondered how that connection had been made. It was different from the others. This was new in her gift. Donna sat down. She’d only ever dreamed of him. No one else and only since joining this ship. Did that mean something?

  She’d never seen a meadow like that either in any other dreams. It was peaceful and beautiful. The cool breeze reminded her of early spring back in the old country. Was this the future? A premonition of some kind? Had her ‘gift’ evolved again? Donna rubbed at her forehead. Too many questions and not enough answers. But that feeling…. Trepidation. Not for her, for him. Had she known something bad was about to happen to him? She couldn’t think how she’d even know that.

  And if it was the future, how did she know that too? Her mind struggled to make sense of it all. No, the long-term future didn’t fit. To many variables affected it. The feeling was immediate, there was urgency about it, like now, she realised. The need to wake him had been overwhelming. Like life and death strong. Her anxiety crept in. Maybe it was spring where ever he was, and trouble was about to arrive? But Cyborgs didn’t sleep long. Maybe four hours max and only every few days. She knew that the slightest change in things around them were picked up even in sleep mode and they would wake immediately no matter what…..

  Why had he been sleeping for so long that she couldn’t find him? She thought she knew. He was in a healing sleep. Those were injury wounds…he’d been attacked by something…

  Was he damaged, malfunctioning? Something had happened to him…. It hit her then. She would have sensed if anyone else was around him. He was alone. He had no one to help him.

  Intense fear swam through her. Donna dressed quickly. She had a fierce need to get to the Bridge. To do something. Anything to help anyway she could.

  ***

  The female had saved him... He’d no doubt about that now. She’d given him time to be prepared. His data reminded him his system was still compromised and would have kept him under for another 29.1 hours. Had she somehow known that? Knew the danger was close and he had to be woken. Giving him enough time to prepare for battle and complete his healing. 0103 Had no logical answer for those questions.

  He watched as the ship deployed its ground automatic sensor rail guns. If anything moved, they would fire on it. He also checked the perimeter fencing guns. Finding the one where he’d been attacked was down, made sense. Somehow the predator had known it, or it had been luck. 0103 Didn’t believe in luck. The predator beast would have expected the gun to have gone off way before he came close enough to the security fence to cause damage and it hadn’t. It was logical therefore, that the beast had tried it and found it not working and taken his chances.

  He’d have known to avoid the laser lines from post to post. They would have cut his arm off. So he’d had the intelligence to take a swipe between the lines. Even so, 0103 knew he’d probably lost some arm in the process. The lasers weren’t that wide apart exactly for that reason. The beasts appeared to become more intelligent with each new generation.

  The connector wasn’t receiving. He wasn’t surprised. The equipment was degrading like everything else around him. He checked the rest and found a couple more on the perimeter on the blink. They’d fail soon too…. It was logical to replace them now while he could.

  Making his way to the storage bay, he checked for parts. Not so many left now. Many of the storage shelves were empty. Pulling the crate for connectors, he took four leaving five, just in case one of those no longer worked and made his way back outside grabbing the riffle at the doorway. He really didn’t have time for this. If that ship was as close as it was for the beacon to pick it up, they could be on the ground in a day or less if their engines were faster than the intel they had.

  His data told him that was a very real possibility. In the time they’d been gone, advancements in technology were predictable. As he thought it, his data gave him several possible outcomes across his optics. Nothing stands still. Everything evolves. Just how much exactly, he couldn’t tell. So much depended on leaps in genius. But statistics on human evolution with the world around them, gave good odds that the current ships were up to 100 times faster and better equipped than his.

  It made for poor odds on winning a battle. 0103 Thought he’d like to see one of those new ships as he approached the failed post. A ship beyond what he’d endured. A masterpiece of space technology. A ship, that would leave him at a great disadvantage in terms of both technology and man power if it came to a battle. Knowing that, he’d still like to see it. See how the world had evolved without him.

  Disconnecting the shielding, he changed out the connector and tested it, then moved on to the others. Recommendations flowed across his optic. He could wake a number of his brothers and have them in strategic positions, but their abilities were limited. Some wouldn’t be able to retreat. Others not fight well if it came to hand to hand. Compromised, they were in danger but knowing his troop leader, if he were awake, he’d have every able-bodied Cyborg, compromised or not, at his station fighting head on. As they were designed to do. And probably dying in the process…..

  No. He couldn’t allow that. They had all worked beyond their own endurance not wanting to give up, and it had pushed their systems to the max. Waking them now, he knew would be an inevitable death sentence. At least in stasis and locked down. They had a chance.

  Changing out the last connector, he t
ested the circuit and found it held, the signal strong. He re-engaged the posts shielding. Noting it was now running at 100% capacity. Good, in a fight, they would need to be at 100% if they were to last as long as possible. If it came to a ground fight, he couldn’t be sure any of it would hold.

  0103 Stood. It was what it was. He’d either stand or fall. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d faced such odds. A wry smile creased his lips. He was Cyborg. If they wanted a fight, he’d give them one. Turning he walked the rest of the perimeter.

  His comms bleeped. He engaged the mechanism. “The ship is slowing to remain in orbit. It is likely they will arrive as predicted.”

  “Can our ships rail guns reach them?”

  “Negative.”

  “Is it possible they can reach us?”

  “Affirmative. The ships technology appears to be far superior to ours as is their landing craft.”

  “Have they communicated?”

  “Negative.”

  0103 Took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. They could probably blow him away from space then. If they weren’t landing, then they’d send landing craft… A chance to see what was going on? Lure him in. Crush him while saving the ship taking what they wanted?