by T. J. Quinn
Jarcor
Returns
The Cyborns Reborn Series
T.J. Quinn
GTQ LLC
Orlando, Florida
Copyright © 2017 by T.J. Quinn
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.
GTQ LLC
PO Box 540375
Orlando, FL 32854
www.gtq.com
Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.
Jarcor Retunrs/T.J. Quinn -- 1st ed.
ISBN
CONTENTS
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
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Chapter One
Jarcor received the news with relief. They had finally been able to establish contact with the cyborgs that had been escaping during the past months.
The army had found the location of one of their rendezvous points a few months back, without their knowledge and the cyborgs that had escaped hadn’t been able to get in touch with them. Bretdon was one of them and knowing the cyborgs were safe and sound, had been great news.
“Jarcor, I heard Bretdon finally managed to contact us,” Rafaroy said, as he entered Jarcor’s office.
“Yes, it’s true. He only had the coordinates you had given him, and as you know, the army took control of that meeting point a few months ago,” he explained.
“How did he manage to get in touch with Arcadia?”
“They found some damaged Taucet communication devices and they worked on them until they were able to make them work,” he replied, pleased. “Apparently, they found some underground organization, dedicated to taking people out of the freedom camps, and they have been working with them.”
Rafaroy frowned, “Isn’t that a bit dangerous?”
“As it seems, no. Once they heard of the cyborgs’ situation, they decided to include them on their rescue lists and so far they’ve managed to free a few. They’re all living with these people, waiting for us to pick them up.”
“That is great news indeed. When do we leave?”
Jarcor ran his fingers through his dark hair and got up. “We’re waiting for them to give us the coordinates for landing,” he explained. “Join me in the communication room. We’ll see what news we have.”
Rafaroy nodded as he asked skeptically, “Can we trust this information?” They had spent too many months with no news from Bretdon and the other cyborgs.
“We can’t know for sure, at least not until we get there and see things for ourselves,” Jarcor admitted. “I’m aware this could be a trap, but we can’t simply ignore it.”
“What are your plans?”
“We’ll go back to Earth, and we’ll check these people before we make contact with them. With the new vessel we acquired, we’ll be able to scan their coordinates a lot better than before.”
“Yes, of course, we’ll know if it’s a trap,” Rafaroy nodded. “When do you think we’ll be leaving?”
“Are you coming along?” Jarcor asked a bit surprised. His friend was a family man, and he didn’t usually leave Arcadia. He didn’t seem to enjoy being away from his wife.
“Yes, Elena is expecting another baby, and she has been craving a particular chocolate bar she used to eat when she was back on Earth,” he explained, with a scowl. “She only talks about the damn thing, so, if you don’t mind, I’ll take the opportunity to get it for her.”
A hint of a smile appeared on Jarcor’s face, but it was so brief, Rafaroy was sure he had imagined it. Jarcor never smiled.
“You are welcome. I’ll go too since I think it’s time we get someone to investigate those ruins for us,” Jarcor said, walking towards the door.
“Ah, yes, you’ve mentioned before you knew someone that could help us with that.”
“It might take me some time to find her, so, I will stay there and ask these people to help me find her if we decided we can trust them,” he explained, as he left the office, accompanied by Rafaroy.
“That sounds like a good plan to me. I can bring the other cyborgs back here, while you look for her,” he suggested. “But I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to stay alone.”
“We’ll worry about that once we’re there,” Jarcor dismissed his friend’s concerns.
Like most of the cyborgs living in Arcadia, Jarcor was alone. He had no family to worry about, and he had lost hope he would ever have one. Finding a woman or even one of the rare female cyborgs, willing to come live on Arcadia, wasn’t an easy task.
But after they discovered it was possible for a cyborg to breed naturally and form a real family, finding that special woman had become most of his men’s dreams. They all wanted what Rafaroy and a few others had: a loving wife and children.
Jarcor let out a silent sigh as they walked through the hallways of the government building.
He knew it was insane going after Sabrina. After all those years, he was sure she didn’t even remember him, and if she did, it wouldn’t be on good terms. But for some reason, he couldn’t stop thinking of her. He had to see her, be with her for at least, one last time, before he could leave their past behind him and move on.
Not that he had something to move on to, but perhaps, meeting with her, would give him the peace of mind he needed so much.
His plans were simple. He would find Sabrina, convince her to come to Arcadia to study their ruins and then she could go back to her life on Earth, and he would finally close that chapter of his life.
He knew it wouldn’t be as simple as it sounded, but he had to try.
“Any news?” he asked the men gathered in the room.
“Yes. Bretdon just sent the coordinates of the meeting point. He chose someplace in the Rocky Mountains,” one of the men replied.
“Perfect. We can leave in the morning, then,” Jarcor decided. “Will you be ready, Rafaroy?”
“Yes, of course. That place mustn’t be far from the abandoned village you established as a meeting point.”
“Not necessarily. Those mountains are huge. But I guess they aren’t that far. Bretdon was heading there when he came across these people,” Jarcor replied.
“Will you leave Khajal in charge?” he asked, with a wicked smile.
“Yes, I know he won’t be very pleased, but he’s the best man for the job,” Jarcor confirmed, scowling.
He only trusted a few men, and since Rafaroy would be joining him on the journey back to Earth, Khajal was the best choice to leave in charge.
Not that they really needed a leader or someone to make sure things stayed in order, but after living a whole life following orders, cyborgs loved to live under specific rules, with a clear leader.
Jarcor had been chosen for the job by the
other cyborgs, and though he didn’t mind filling the role, it wasn’t something he had pursued.
Chapter Two
It took them three days to get to the Earth’s orbit. Though Arcadia now felt a lot more like home than Earth, Jarcor couldn’t help feeling some nostalgia for the life, when he was still a human, oblivious of the government's cruelty towards the cyborgs and anyone that threatened their way of doing things.
“Where are you planning on landing?” Rafaroy asked when he met him on the ship’s command deck.
“A few miles away from the given coordinates. I want to check the whole area before we announce our presence,” he explained.
“If Bretdon is around, he will know we’re there,” Rafaroy pointed out.
“I’m aware of that. If he’s really around, there won’t be a problem. We will be able to trust the information we’ve been given,” he replied, shrugging.
“Right. So, you don’t think it’s possible to turn a cyborg into a traitor?” he asked. The question had bothered him a lot, especially now that he had a family to take care of.
“Of course, it is. Cyborgs are basically humans, and though they have been originally programmed to be always honest, I’m sure they can be corrupted, like any human being,” Jarcor replied, with a stern tone. “With luck, we won’t see that for a while longer, but I’m sure the time will come.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“What I do believe is that humans won’t program cyborgs to make them ruthless or dishonest. That would quickly turn against them, and they aren’t that stupid,” he added, with a scowl. “They would have no control over the cyborgs.”
“What about the ones we’ve been freeing from the humans’ control?” Rafaroy asked, frowning.
“Those have higher chances to be corrupted. They still have their main programming running inside them. But they also have the power to override that programming,” he explained.
“So, we’re sitting on a time bomb.”
“I wouldn’t say that. People don’t just turn bad. Multiple factors lead to that. I’m not saying we won’t have problems in Arcadia, but I’m sure we’ll be able to handle them when the time comes.”
Rafaroy nodded and turned to look out the huge window that allowed them to see the blue planet right underneath them.
“Do you think we’ll ever be able to come here openly?” Rafaroy asked, curiously.
“Yes, I do. This war won’t last forever, and when it ends, people will know the truth and things will change. Nothing lasts forever.”
Rafaroy sighed. “I have to admit I thought I would miss Earth more than I actually do.”
“Never heard the sentence ‘home is where your heart is’?” Jarcor asked, with an ironic tone. “Your heart is no longer there, my dear friend.”
His friend chuckled. “You’re right.”
“Jarcor, we’re ready to send the pod whenever you’re ready,” Koltra, one of his men announced.
“Thank you. Let’s go down.”
Rafaroy nodded, and both men prepared to board the landing pod, a small vessel that would fly unnoticed through the planet’s atmosphere and all over it.
By the time they landed at the chosen location, it was around midday. They abandoned the pod, making sure to camouflage it before they left. Using their GPS devices, they set course to the coordinates they were given by the people who had contacted them.
They were somewhere up in the Montana mountains, where some large ranches still existed, despite the war and the threat of the Taucets.
“Do you think they are hiding on one of the ranches around this place?”
“I guess it’s possible. It would be a bit dangerous, but sometimes, the best thing to do is hide in plain sight,” Jarcor said, shrugging.
“It makes sense,” Rafaroy nodded. “What else do you know about these people?”
“According to the message we received, they organized themselves when the government created the freedom camps. They were outraged by their decision to keep the people rescued from the Taucets’ colonies in that were little more than concentration camps Germans used in the World War II,” Jarcor replied. “Most of the people that started these groups had family members abducted by the Taucets and then by the government. They wanted freedom for their relatives and decided to fight for it.”
“It’s good to see there are still people willing to fight for their rights on this planet,” Rafaroy said, with a scowl. His wife’s sister had been made prisoner in one of those so-called freedom camps.
“So, after they met Bretdon, they decided to help us free all the cyborgs they could.”
“Have they succeeded?”
“Yes, there are at least a dozen cyborgs with Bretdon, all rescued by these people, with Bretdon’s help,” Jarcor replied, somehow pleased with the initiative, at least, until he could confirm all was true.
“You’ve done a pretty good job helping cyborgs to get their freedom. These people are only continuing what you started.”
“Either way, something is failing. For what I was able to conclude from the message they sent us, cyborgs haven’t received the latest updates on our meeting points nor the upgrades I’ve done to our systems,” he pointed out in a stern tone.
“Yes, you’re right. At least not the ones on this continent. We’ve received a lot of rescue messages from other places on the planet.”
“Correct. You know Americans never shared the full information about cyborgs with the rest of the world,” he recalled. “This makes me think they installed upgrades on cyborgs I know nothing about, and they are blocking my hacking.”
“What do you plan on doing?” Rafaroy asked, worried.
“I’ll have to stay here long enough until I manage to hack into the government's systems and find out what they have been doing lately. With that knowledge, I’ll be able to make my own upgrades to the cyborg's main systems and transmit the information they require to escape,” he explained.
“That will take some time.”
“Yes, I’m aware of that.”
“Are you aware there’s a high price on your head as well?” Rafaroy asked, with a deep frown.
Jarcor scowled with scorn. “They won’t capture me.”
“Even so, I would be a lot happier if you did this from the main vessel.”
“It’s too far. I’ve already tried to hack into /0
.0 44their systems when we entered the planet orbit, and it was impossible,” he explained. “I have to be here, preferably connected to one of their landlines. It will be a lot easier for me to hack their system that way.”
“Won’t they know where you are?”
“Not with the technology I bought last time I met the Slythonians,” he replied, mentioning an alien race that traveled across the universe trading all they got their hands on, including slaves. “That will give me the kind of access I’ll need to do the job.”
“Very well. I just want you to be careful.”
“I always am. They won’t get me in their clutches again, trust me.”
“Last time they did, it was because you allowed them to,” Rafaroy pointed out, with a scowl.
A hint of a smile crossed Jarcor’s face. “Right,” he agreed.
Rafaroy sighed. “So far, I haven’t detected the presence of any cyborgs in the area.”
“Me neither, but we’re still quite far from the position they gave us,” Jarcor said, stopping at the top of a hill and looking around. “We should get to their position in a few hours.”
They had been walking ever since they left the pod.
“Good. I’m really looking forward to seeing who is here with Bretdon.”
“Me too.”
Chapter Three
They made the rest of their journey discussing Jarcor’s plans for his stay on the planet, and before they knew it, they were reaching the meeting point. There was no cyborg in sight, only a couple of armed men.
“What are we going to do?” Rafaroy asked.
“Talk to them. They are alone here, and even with their weapons, they are no threat to us,” Jarcor said, stepping closer to the men.
They were sitting on some rocks and seemed to be camping out there. “Good afternoon, gentlemen.”
The men jumped to their feet, but when they realized they were looking at two cyborgs, they didn’t even try to get their guns.
“Good afternoon. Are you lost?” one of them asked.
“I’m not sure. A friend of ours was supposed to be waiting for us here. Have you seen him?” Jarcor asked, regretting not having established a password to identify the people who would be waiting for them. For some reason, he had been sure Bretdon would be there.
“What’s the name of your friend?” the man asked, cautiously.
“His name is Bret. Have you seen him?”
The men smiled. “Yes, welcome. We were told you would be coming,” the other man said, with a smile.
“I was expecting to find Bretdon here, waiting for us,” Jarcor replied, getting even closer, followed by Rafaroy.
“He’s not in the Rocky Mountains. Ever since his woman had a baby, they moved out to a refuge in Montana,” the man explained.
“A baby? His baby?” Jarcor asked, eager to know if one more cyborg had been able to breed naturally.
“Yes, his baby,” the man confirmed.
“This is great news. Is his baby the only one born amongst the cyborgs stationed here?” Jarcor asked, intrigued. They still hadn’t discovered the common factor between the women that had been able to get pregnant from their cyborg lovers.
“Born? Yes, but there are two more expecting babies,” one of the men explained.
“Why aren’t we in Montana, with Bretdon?” Rafaroy asked, with a frown, more concerned with Bretdon’s absence.
“Almost all of the liberated cyborgs are here. Bretdon and the other two cyborgs living in Montana are waiting for you there. He also wanted you to meet Sandra, one of our leaders.”
“I see, and where do we find this woman?” Jarcor asked, with a frown.
