“Don’t worry. My cybernetics were made to do this. True, I haven’t had to use this stuff in a while, but I’ll try not to fall on him before I’m ready to.”
Eric pressed a switch in his cybernetic arm. His wrist opened on a hinge until his hand folded down his arm. With his human hand, he pulled a cable and grappling hook from its storage. Then he lifted his wrist and clicked it back into place, leaving one end of the triple strength cable secured inside the storage area through a notch meant just for that purpose. It had been designed to support not only his weight, but also two other soldier’s when necessary.
Swinging the hook end lightly, Eric threw it to the ceiling just over the entry. It stuck solidly in the metal infused mortar. Slowly retracting it back inside the storage area, the cable lifted his weight as he backed up the wall. Eventually, he was clinging to the ceiling by just his heel spikes and his cybernetic hand wrapped around the embedded grappling hook.
He raised his human hand to his mouth and placed one finger over his lips as he smiled down at Lucy. He watched her nod once before dropping her gaze back to the stairs.
Another five minutes passed before Eric heard Brad approaching. Brad’s gait seemed a little slow and heavy, like he was maybe dragging one of his legs. Unlike he and Lucy, Brad had no cybernetic appendages. Once damaged, he would require the same amount of healing time all unconverted humans did.
Of course, whoever had worked on Brad could have given him any number of prosthetics, but not enough time had passed for such enhancements to have healed enough to be used. No, it was far more likely, even as a cyborg, that Brad would be packing some kind of elite weaponry. Eric sincerely hoped Lucy wasn’t susceptible to whatever it was.
Hanging from the ceiling and hoping to get a drop on Brad was not the best plan he’d ever had, but it was the only one that gave him a chance at keeping the man alive.
He also hoped Brad’s purpose was to capture Evelyn 489. He hoped it wasn’t just to make sure no one ever had a chance to restore Captain Lucille Evelyn Pennington’s humanity.
Chapter 16
Lucy watched the stairs closely as their would-be attacker came into view. He peered at her through the bars before taking a tiny device from his pocket. When it ignited, she saw it was a miniature laser-based cutting tool. He knelt and swiftly cut across three of the bars at the bottom. Rising, he cut across the same three at the top. Then he very carefully leaned two of the bars against the wall. The third bar he kept in his hand, no doubt intending to use it as a weapon when he had to engage her.
Unworried, Lucy watched him step down into the room, but instead of advancing he merely stopped and stared at her. There was not enough room behind him for Eric to drop into yet. Their attacker needed to come forward just a little more
“Greetings, Evelyn 489. Or should I just say New World Companion? You’re far too docile right now to be any form of Captain Pennington. That military bitch was feral. Good riddance to her, I say. You’re so much more useful now.”
“Captain Pennington?” Lucy repeated the title and name, looking at a point over his shoulder. She recorded the confirmation of her rank and title. “Is that my human identity?”
She already knew, but her task was to keep him talking until Eric could make his move.
“It was your human label before we programmed you. Creator Omega removed the part of your organic brain that would recall who you were outside of the programming. He’s just about isolated that now. Our success rate has dramatically increased in the last few months.”
Lucy stared and allowed her mind to play out scenarios of how she could pull his head from his body—an act which took a great feat of strength. Was she up to it? She thought she probably was.
“The human mind has proven itself to be unstoppable, Bradley 360. I have heard Creator Omega say that himself.”
Brad snorted at her claim. “That’s because even the most intelligent minds are wrong occasionally. Your human side can never be resurrected entirely. This means you could never be anything more than just a summary of data at best, even if some restoration attempt was possible. We know for certain because you weren’t the first to receive that particular brain surgery. You were just the first to come out of it with more brain cells than a vegetable.”
Lucy dropped her hands and stared at the intruder. “Regardless of what was done to me, I will always be far more than a summary of data.”
She knew it was true because that statement was reiterated over and over in the hundreds of files she had found stored in her mind. Nearly a decade’s worth of history was available about who she once was, beginning just before her second cybernetic conversion. She knew her real name as well, but she also knew they had been working to make it a neural trigger.
The video recordings stored with the detailed stories were traumatic, but also very useful in the information they contained. She had access to the names and faces of many who had been involved in what was done to her. And the more she learned—the more she realized why her death was so desired. She had caught herself wondering how much Eric knew. She had also wondered how much bothered him.
Despite the many stops her mind had made to relocate the video recorded tortures her body had suffered, she had been able to read and assimilate most of the stored information while her organic body slept. Part of her had meant to tell her contract what she’d been doing. There just hadn’t been time.
“You are…” She perused her files, checking to make sure she got his name right. “Your human name was Dr. Bradley Smith. You are now a cyborg. You are now Bradley 360.”
“No. Do not call me that again. I am still Dr. Bradley Smith—a new and improved version of that desperate geek. My mind now exceeds its previous capacity by a factor of more than ten.”
Lucy lowered her gaze, then lifted it demurely as she had been taught. “Forgive me—Dr. Smith. My protocol allows for a certain amount of questions. I did not mean to offend you. Would you like me to prepare you a refreshment?”
Brad laughed at the polite offer. She was far more clever than she looked. No wonder she had killed for him so easily.
“Damn, I’m better at my work than I thought. Listen to how polite you sound. What I would really like is time enough to see if you would still drop to your knees on command, but it took me too long to get here. I don’t know how she did it, but Kyra managed to turn off your location tracker. Not that it mattered because I knew they’d bring you back here. That bomb you’re carrying isn’t safe anywhere else.”
Lucy looked around. Bomb shelter? This was a bomb shelter? Eric had called it their residence. Her gaze fell to the bed, the couch, and took in the wall com. Perhaps it was both. It certainly looked like both. If she carried a bomb, an underground residence would be a necessity.
She looked at Bradley 360 with the best pitiful expression as she could muster. “Forgive me for correcting you, but this is my residence. I live here.”
“Live? You’re a prisoner here so you don’t blow up the surrounding town. Those who put you here are nothing more than bleeding heart cyborg lovers who still think they can put my Humpity Dumpity experiment back together again. Well, they are wrong. You’re nothing more than a long-running mistake.”
Lucy tilted her head, looked at him blankly. “The nuance contained in your vocal tone indicates you feel derision towards those of whom you speak. However, you are a cyborg just like I am. Your negative attitude about cyborg lovers is illogical.”
“I am capable of a higher logic than you have the capacity for ever having… and I am not a cyborg. I am mankind redefined into a better version of itself. Cyborgs were just the learning curve. They were useful weapons when we needed them. You were a useful weapon. Then I tried to fix you… to make you into something better. It didn’t work. You’re a cyborg basket case.”
Lucy kept herself from shrugging, but barely. She did not want him to know how much in touch with her human side she was becoming. “Again I must direct you to the inconsistenc
ies of your logic. You once were completely human—as I was completely human. Even as cyborgs, we remain partially human. What is your prime directive?”
“One you could never understand,” Brad answered.
Lucy tilted her head. “I am damaged, but I believe I could attempt that kind of logic. My recall of you is of a man in a white coat working on cyborgs like me. Were you a creator?”
She set her processor spinning rapidly as she looked through data that instantly came forward. “No. I see you were not. The creator was another man… an elite cyber scientist much higher than you in rank… and more advanced in skills. But you adjusted code for him. You broke my original programming trying to find a way to make me compliant.”
Brad snorted. “No. You broke your own programming by being a hormonal woman. What a waste of energy converting females into soldiers turned out to be. Every time you got your monthly cycle, you managed to free a bit more of yourself from following your codes. And I still don’t know how you managed to survive your head injuries. That self-destruct program was flawless. I sold it to the UCN for a fortune. They used it on countless Cyber Soldiers—whole groups killed themselves without a single failure. I used to think the program failed on you because of your double-wiring. The failure points of those efforts is still seventy-eight point three percent. Which reminds me—I have a few other mistakes to fix after I deal with you. I need a moment to make a note.”
“I see.” While he was mentally occupied, Lucy raised both hands to her head and ran fingers through her hair. Was she double-wired? She felt two panels and knew what he said was the truth. It aligned with her stories even though they hadn’t specifically covered double-wiring.
She wanted to tell him some of what she’d learned. She wanted to shock him out of his complacency.
“After I discovered the real purpose of your experiments on me, I wrote myself long, detailed stories about what was done. I stored those records in multiple places where scientists never bothered to look. Then I put a trail to them that I could programmatically follow after each experiment was done to me. You never hid any truth from me—not permanently.”
“I know. You are a botched cyber job I should have finished long ago. But according to my human memories, I let your pleasurable body distract me from my higher goals.”
Lucy found it harder to ask for a confirmation than it should have been given what she’d learned. “You mean you personally availed yourself of me often… and without my consent.”
Brad snorted. “Me and just about anyone else that wanted to. You were on the destruction list, so we figured we might as well enjoy you while we could. One good thing about being a cyborg though is that sex is optional… well except in your case. We installed code that causes your body to pump out pheromones on demand. Dr. Jackson gave me a huge bonus for discovering such a clever work around to your resistance. I hand-crafted my own New World Companion with fairly good results using a similar technique. Unfortunately, someone else is reaping the benefits. But I don’t want to talk about her. My human side gets angry every time I focus on one of my failures.”
Lucy shook her head, her mind struggling. She was programmed to lust? Why had this been done to her? Her conversion and its programming was supposed to be focused on the war—winning the war. The reason she had been converted to a cyborg had been in her files.
But what had actually been done to her? Her stories had only contained facts and recordings, not conclusions or summations. If all Bradley 360’s explanations were true, they filled many of the gaps.
She felt an unfamiliar heat rising in her body. Her face soon flushed with it. There was strong emotion behind her reaction—emotion just out of reach of her processor. Lucy closed her eyes and ordered herself to resume her calm. Logic said she could not let that powerful emotion gain control of her actions. The response she made would be too unpredictable.
When she finally spoke, it pleased her that her words came out so matter-of-factly.
“Killing me is illogical. My weapon would detonate before you managed to climb topside.”
Brad snorted softly and pulled an injector from his pocket. “Exactly. That’s why we’re going to take our time and do your execution right. This drug I brought will slow your heart but not stop it completely—at least not for several hours. Plus there’s a little virus contained in here that will find its way to your cybernetics. It will eat away at the New World Companion code to make sure you’re not able to pull out of this death spiral like you have other attempts in the past.”
“To warn me of your plan is also illogical. I was trained to be a protector. Your skills are no match for mine… and you do not have the necessary cybernetics.”
“Because claiming my achievements is something that no amount of code will ever take from me. But also I know something about our situation that you don’t…”
Lucy watched as Bradley 360 pulled a small piece of metal from his pocket and put it to his mouth. He blew through it like a whistle. The sound it made caused excruciating pain in her head. Her ears rang and pressure filled her head.
As her body contorted, she risked a small glance at the ceiling and saw Eric writhing silently. The nearly undetectable frequency was affecting him as well. So long as he didn’t call out, he remained hidden, but that wouldn’t last if Bradley 360 kept emitting that horrible frequency. She needed a plan to get him to come after her so Eric could drop down.
Instead of charging their attacker, Lucy called out loudly and dropped to her knees. She was already making adjustments to her hearing. She needed another thirty-four point six seconds to get to where the frequency wouldn’t affect her. It was nice to have her math abilities back.
Bradley 360 hesitantly advanced toward her. He held the injector in one hand and the security bar in the other. Lucy looked up at him when he stopped several feet from her. She decided it was time to tell him he hadn’t been the only one with a secret.
“My New World Companion side was programmed with a copy of my military training. I am fully capable of doing you harm regardless of what attempts you make to hurt me. If necessary, I will kill you to save myself. I have been ordered by my contract to do so. If that happens, I will destroy your organics and put your cybernetic parts in the recycler.”
He laughed around the metal between his lips. Blood poured from one of her ears. “Or you will finally die and I will clear the black mark of your continued existence from my service record.”
“Service record? You were never a soldier,” Lucy said through gritted teeth.
“I never said I was. But then I never said I wasn’t either. Hear that? Do you think a regular cyborg could think cleverly enough to retort that way? No. They couldn’t.”
She easily caught the metal bar he swung at her head. It took little to wrench it from his grip. The man had no cybernetic enhanced strength, just a lot of bravado. He was no doubt running some kind of macho confidence program. Either that or he was just delusional. Lucy was betting whoever had sent him wanted to make sure he wouldn’t panic and flee.
In retaliation for her taking the bar from him, Bradley 360 blew harder on the frequency whistle. With a screaming yell echoing in her bleeding ears, Lucy watched Eric drop to the floor, and then struggle to get to his knees. Blood was pouring from both his ears too.
When Bradley 360 looked over his shoulder in stunned surprise, Lucy knew it was the best chance she was going to get to take him down. She snatched the injector from his fingers and flipped it adeptly in her hand before pressing it hard into his thigh.
She looked up at his startled face as she depressed it completely with her thumb.
The whistle fell from his open mouth.
Lucy released a ragged breath. “This outcome was not optimal. I was supposed to keep you completely alive. Is there any antidote to the poison? Speak quickly before the code virus hits your cybernetics.”
“No I… I don’t know any. I was not programmed to fail. No, I must succeed,” he said.
Lucy pulled the empty injector away and climbed to her feet as Bradley 360 fell to his knees. “I will keep the injector for identification of it contents. Without communication, a remedy may not be timely. Perhaps you too can be used for research. Perhaps they can use you for experiments like you did me. Isn’t that what you think cyborgs are good for?”
“I… am… not… a… cy…”
He never finished the denial. Lucy watched his eyes close as the poison’s effects caught up with his human body. Hopefully whoever had sent him here had made Bradley 360 immune to the poison… and the virus… before both had been given to him as weapons. Doing so was standard military protocol.
And if he really had been a soldier of some sort… no, she still didn’t believe it. No evidence pointed to that as any sort of conclusion. Nothing about him was military. Nothing at all. Perhaps his words had not been meant to be literal. Maybe he was just talking about his service to Creator Omega.
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