by Tamsin Ley
Doug watched helplessly from the floor as Dollard touched the biometric panel to open the door. He knew Dollard would start termination the moment he was out of the lab. The cyborgs had less than a minute to live. Unless Twerp’s code works.
In a surge, he sent the code to the other cyborgs. Install this and reboot. Quickly. Rebooting would take them offline for precious seconds and render them helpless, but they were out of options.
The moment he initiated a reboot, his cybernetic eye, both legs, one arm, and his heart froze. Unable to move, he watched the guards back toward the door, guns out as they protected Dollard and the retreating techs. Three of the four men reached the exit, but the fourth had backed into one of the desks.
Dollard didn’t wait. He hit the biometric panel on the other side.
“Sir!” the guard shouted, reaching the door just as it shut. He spun to face the incoming cyborgs.
The other cyborgs had all frozen in mid-stride, but Doug recognized they were installing Twerp’s programming. All of them except Rust.
He barreled forward, absorbing two pulse blasts like they were mere inconveniences. He ripped the weapon from the guard’s grip and snapped the guy’s neck in one decisive motion. With a roar, he attacked the closed door, pounding it with both fists hard enough to dent the metal.
One by one, Doug’s cybernetics began coming back online. His renewed heartbeat made his chest ache, and the air burned his lungs, but he was alive. He couldn’t be certain Twerp’s program would protect them, but at this point, they had nothing to lose. He shouted, “Rust, do the install!”
Giving a final punch to the door, Rust shouted, “Fuuuck!” before his enormous frame went motionless.
Doug let out a relieved breath as the other cyborgs resumed animation, stumbling forward or collapsing against nearby desks and walls. Esben was near Rust and reached forward to touch the door. “The door code isn’t working.” He looked over his shoulder at Doug. “Can you open it?”
Doug attempted to access the door code and found he couldn’t. His entire system felt sluggish, his nanites less responsive than he was used to. “No. I probably need to upgrade the algorithm for our new programming.”
The cyborgs exchanged uncertain glances. “What did we just do to ourselves?” Benjy asked.
“The termination code can’t kill us now.” Doug was becoming more and more certain Twerp’s code had actually worked as the seconds ticked by.
Emilryde moved to the Consort Chamber door and tried to pry it open. “A lot of good that does us if we’re trapped in here.”
Twobit grinned and opened a cabinet. “Oh, we’re not trapped.” He pulled out a surgical laser. “We have all the weapons we need to take over the ship right here.”
While Twobit and Esben pulled more equipment from the cabinets, Doug chased a fix for the door code. But a functional algorithm was proving elusive. It was as if his nanites had lost all logic. They just have a few bugs, he reassured himself. That’s normal for an untested program. But he was getting worried that he couldn’t nail down the code. How were they going to get out of here? And what was Dollard planning now?
Pausing his work on the door, he tried to access the security cameras. The dampening field felt impossibly strong. He couldn’t get through. What had Twerp done to them? Dollard would come up with something to destroy the cyborgs eventually, and he needed to know what was coming to mount a defense.
What if Dollard is going after Attie? Dread settled in the pit of his stomach. The doctor had seen Twerp’s transmission. He could trace it back to Attie. Bringing up every algorithm he could think of, Doug tried to access the systems in the shuttle bay. He needed to make sure Attie was safely off the ship. The damn dampening field was impervious.
He moved to the nearest computer and placed both hands on it, hoping proximity would bolster his connection. The lab computers had been disconnected from the mainframe. There was no way to hack out of the lab.
Is Twerp still connected to the heart chip? She’d stopped communicating after sending the new program.
Closing his eyes, Doug felt for the familiar signature. He felt like a blind man, but eventually, he sensed it. It still had the old version of the nanites, but he could connect. Twerp, are you there?
Yes, Doug?
A wave of agony lanced through Doug’s body, followed quickly by more.
The other cyborgs collapsed around him, filling the lab with groans.
He crashed to the floor as well, vision wavering out of focus. He couldn’t think. Couldn’t act. His nanites were on fire. And there could only be one cause.
Dollard had pushed the button.
Chapter 18
A lightning storm had descended on Twerp’s circuits, sizzling with agonizing swiftness through her sensors. For a millisecond, she thought Doug might be trying to destroy her again. Then she realized the pain was affecting him, too.
It was coming from the heart chip.
“Twerp, what’s wrong?” Attie asked.
But Twerp was unable to answer. The only explanation for the excruciating pain arching through every byte of her existence was that someone had used the termination code. And she was vulnerable. But why? It had to be because the heart chip still had the original nanites encoded. As long as she and Doug were connected, would act like a transmitter.
“Remove the chip,” Twerp attempted to say. But all that came out was a horrible crackling sound.
The connection to the chip had trapped her into a synchronous loop, transmitting the termination code like an infection. The code created a resonance like the technology used in a ship’s burn drive to travel faster than light. Twerp knew this frequency. She’d studied it before, when Marlis had decided to accept the nanites.
It was a version of the Denaidan mating frequency.
“I will not let it kill me,” Twerp said, although the words emerged as garbled nonsense.
Following the thread of data, she tunneled into the heart chip and beyond, to the source of the transmission. She had to do something. Anything. If she didn’t, she and the cyborgs would all die. With a subtle change to the sine wave, she changed the frequency.
The pain stopped.
“Twerp?” Attie removed the heart chip, the terror in her voice apparent even without Twerp’s biometric sensors to translate emotion. “Are you okay?”
Twerp wasn’t sure. She felt as if a weight had lifted, but it still hovered, ready to flatten her. “Someone activated the termination code.”
Attie gasped. “What about Doug? Did you reach him? Is he okay?”
“I was able to share my information, but I do not know his fate.” Twerp wasn’t about to suggest Attie reattach the heart chip so she could find out. “We have to go.”
“But Doug—”
“If he is able to join us, he knows our plan,” said Twerp. Her circuits still echoed in the aftermath of the attack, but at least she was alive. And she wanted to stay that way.
Much as Attie yearned to drag Doug out of that horrible lab, everything they’d gone through would be for nothing if she went back. All it would accomplish would be handing herself and Twerp over to the people Doug wanted them to avoid. She had to head for the shuttle and accept that Doug would meet them if he could.
Shoving Twerp and the heart chip into her rucksack, Attie hurried out of her cabin toward the lift. She looked at a hallway security camera as she passed under it. Was Doug watching?
She got into the lift with a few other people, adjusting her bag to make room as two black-uniformed security officers pushed in at the last moment. As the lift began to move, both guards remained facing her instead of turning toward the doors like most people did.
Her stomach flip-flopped. She couldn’t see the guards’ features past their reflective helmets. They’re not after me, she assured herself.
The other two crewmen glanced awkwardly over their shoulders, and when the doors opened again, they exited in a hurry. One guard turned and held up a hand at a w
oman waiting to board. “Please wait for the next car.”
Attie edged forward, nerves crackling. “I’d like to get off here, too.”
The guard still facing her raised an arm to bar her way. “We need you to come with us, Private Swan.”
Nebulas, they are after me. The doors slid closed, and she gulped as the lift continued its descent. “Why? Is there something wrong?”
The silence hung so heavily, she was sure they could hear her pounding heart. It’s going to be all right. She’d been to the brig before. It wasn’t pleasant, but she could ask for counsel before answering any questions. The car stopped, and the doors slid open.
Dread clamped around her chest like a vice.
They weren’t at the brig. This was level three.
The guard facing her said, “Come with us.”
The hall to the lab’s security office stretched before her like a gauntlet. She couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak. The guard took her arm, forcing her to stumble forward from the car. She clutched the rucksack against her side, following along like a fish on a line. “Where are we going?”
The guards didn’t answer. The taller one passed his hands over the biometric scanner to open the door at the end of the hall. Inside stood the man who’d given her the Consort clothing, arms crossed over his all-black uniform and chin down. In the chair at his desk sat the same doctor who’d come upon her and Doug kissing, shiny black hair and pristine white lab coat making him appear more artificial than any of the cyborgs. He raised his gaze from the computer monitors to assess her with dark, cold eyes that reminded her of a lizard’s.
Nebulas. This must be the man Doug said ran the lab. The scientist who would dissect Twerp. The monster who experimented on human test subjects in Syndicorp’s name.
A guard shoved her toward a chair and forced her to sit before wresting her bag from her grip. He set it on the desk beside the doctor.
Attie licked her lips, trying to look innocent and praying Twerp remained silent. The last thing she needed was the mouthy AI to try to help right now. “If I’m under arrest, I’d like to speak with my counsel.”
The doctor stared at her with his fingers steepled under his chin. “Syndicorp’s laws don’t apply here. You’d do best by cooperating.”
“This is a Syndicorp ship, and I’m a Syndicorp citizen. I have rights. What you’re doing is reprehensible and it needs to stop.” She snapped her jaw shut, realizing she may’ve said too much. “I want to talk to the admiral.” She attempted to rise, but a guard placed a heavy hand on her shoulder, keeping her down.
The doctor tapped his fingers against his mouth. “We traced a transmission coming from your quarters. You’ve been on quite an adventure in corporate espionage, haven’t you, little private?”
She swallowed, mouth dry as desert air. It hadn’t occurred to her that someone might trace the heart chip transmission back to her and Twerp. But all she could do was continue to deny what he was saying and hope he had no concrete evidence to hold her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, I think you do.” He let his gaze travel down her body and back up again, lips twisted into a mirthless smile. “Gaining access as a Consort was a bold move. It took us a bit of digging to recover your original files. Excellent cover-up, by the way. I can appreciate that type of thoroughness. If we hadn’t terminated the nanite project, I might’ve considered you for a test subject.”
Her heart leapt into her throat. She couldn’t take a full breath as what he’d said sunk in. Terminated the nanite project. Doug was dead? She’d been so certain Twerp’s code would save him.
He waved a hand. “That phase of the project is over, however. You have what I want.” With a dismissive sneer, he opened her rucksack. “Jinson, search her.”
The guards yanked her back to her feet as the man who must be Jinson moved forward with a scanner.
“I demand you bring my counsel in this moment.” Attie squirmed in the guards’ grip. “You have no right to search me or my belongings.”
The doctor pulled everything from her bag, piece by piece, while Jinson ran the scanner along her body. Prodding her obscenely between her legs until she spread them, he muttered, “I knew there was something strange about you the first time you came through my office.”
She wanted to spit in his face, but her mouth was too dry to summon any moisture. This was the man who’d drugged her and stuffed her in a room to be raped. “This is all a mistake. I’m not supposed to be here—which I tried to tell you the first time, if you recall.”
Suddenly, the doctor exclaimed, “Ah!” and held the wristband holding Twerp up to the light as if regarding a precious gem. “What have we here?”
Shit. The very thing she was supposed to keep safe. It had obviously been a mistake to use the heart chip. But what else could she have done? Please stay quiet, Twerp, she thought as she forced herself to laugh. “That’s what you’re after? A broken service AI?”
“Do you think I’m a fool?” The doctor released an offended breath. “This thing is a trojan horse in reverse, uploaded with all my hard-earned research. Well, let me assure you, it’s not that easy to steal what I’ve worked so hard to accomplish. Jinson, scanner.”
The guards shoved Attie back down onto the chair as Jinson leveled the scanner toward the disk.
The scanner beeped, and a grin split Jinson’s lips. “As you thought, sir. It has the nanites.”
Twerp erupted, “Please don’t hurt me.”
“Fascinating.” He turned the wristband over, examining it from all angles. “I never thought the nanites could become compatible with an AI, especially one with no cybernetic parts. I can’t wait to replicate these results.”
“Put me down,” Twerp said. “Attie, this is exactly why I need to be installed in a mobile unit. I would like to punch this man in the face.”
Surprise washed over the doctor’s features, then a gleam filled his eyes. “An AI that talks back. Interesting. I was furious about losing all my data with the cyborgs, but this little discovery will make everything I’ve worked for worth my sacrifice.”
“Your sacrifice?” Attie spluttered. It was pointless to pretend she knew nothing any longer. “What about the lives of those poor cyborgs? You kept them enslaved! You’re a disgrace to everything Syndicorp stands for. What you’re doing will get out eventually, then you’ll pay.”
“Oh, I think not,” he said smugly. “No man left behind has a different meaning in my line of work. The ship’s auto-destruct sequence has already begun. In fact, we’re running a bit behind.”
Attie’s blood turned to ice. Had he said auto-destruct? Her gaze flew to the ceiling where the emergency lights should be flashing. Why weren’t the sirens blaring? “There are innocent people on board!” she said. “They know nothing of your lab. At least give them a chance to escape!”
But the doctor had turned away, blocking out her words as if she no longer existed. He strapped the band onto his wrist and looked at the guards. “Is my daughter in place?”
“En route to the shuttle bay, sir,” replied the taller one.
“Good. Finish up here, then meet me.” The doctor picked up what looked like a small computer module and moved to the door.
Attie couldn’t believe a monster like the doctor had a daughter, but maybe it meant he could have empathy. “There are lot’s of people’s daughters on board. Think of them.”
But the exit had already closed behind him.
She tried pleading with the guards. “You can’t just allow everyone to die!”
The guards were just as impervious to her pleas, shoving her through one of the nearby unmarked doors.
She landed hard on her hands and knees in a tiny room with nothing in it except a medical chair with dangling restraints. The door shushed closed behind her as she scrambled to her feet and turned. She was alone. She glanced at the chair, then back to the door, which had no visible way to open from the inside. Panic clutched her heart.
No one knew she was here, and even if they did, they’d never reach her in time.
She was going down with the ship.
Chapter 19
Doug picked himself up off the lab floor, the room still spinning around him. He couldn’t recall ever having felt this much pain in his life. Or ever feeling quite as giddy. With the threat of nanite termination gone, Dollard had no more power over him. He had a chance to be with Attie. To be human. If I can escape.
The other cyborgs were stirring and cursing around him. Rust groaned, “What just happened?”
Twobit let out a low whistle, shaking his head in amazement. “I think the doctor tried to terminate us.”
Esben’s veins glowed brightly through his skin as he sat up, rubbing the side of his head. “But we’re still here. Doug’s blocking code worked!”
“Still knocked us on our asses.” Brix was bleeding again, this time from a gash on his chin he must’ve gotten from falling.
Doug might be euphoric about their success, but he also knew the reprieve wouldn’t last. Troopers were undoubtedly mobilizing now. How soon would they get here? He tried checking on Dollard’s activity.
The dampening field might as well have been a steel wall.
What the hell? He pinched the bridge of his nose, telling himself he just needed a few minutes to overcome his dizziness.
Rust picked up the surgical laser Esben had located earlier. “We need weapons if we’re going to fight our way out. How many of these are there?”
While the two cyborgs began pulling everything from the cabinets, Doug put a hand on a nearby computer, hoping direct contact would let him reach the web. “Weapons will be useless if we don’t get out of here.” The ship’s systems pulsed beneath his palm, but he couldn’t push through to touch the heart. “Can anyone get that door open?”
Emilryde and Brix pried at the door. But it was designed to keep even the strongest cyborgs contained. “No.”
