by T. J. Quinn
“Are you sure?” the cabin would be perfect for what he had in mind. He had worked from there once, and he was sure he could do it again. With the new technology he had, no one would be able to track him down.
“Of course. I can give you the coordinates, and I’m sure we could find you a Motorstorm for you to use,” she suggested.
“That wouldn’t be necessary. I’m keeping the flying pod here so I can travel with it. It’s a lot faster,” he replied.
“Then, it’s decided. You can leave whenever you want,” she said.
He nodded, pleased and they changed topics. Bretdon and the others updated him on what was going on with the war and the government’s attitude in the face of the increasing number of cyborgs escaping.
“I believe they will try to infiltrate a mole,” Brax, one of the cyborgs stationed at the ranch said.
“Why do you think that?” Jarcor asked. He had thought about that possibility, and he wanted to see what the others thought about it.
“They are trying to trade benefits for information. I was offered a deal like that and I know several others too. Someone might end up accepting,” he explained.
“Yes, it’s a possibility. But it would be insane. That would compromise the cyborg's induced honesty and would quickly turn against them,” he pointed out.
“I truly think they are willing to take the risk,” Brax said, convinced. “They want to stop the exodus of cyborgs at any cost. My guess is they will kill the cyborgs they corrupt.”
Jarcor nodded. He had thought about that possibility as well. “I’ll have to add that warning to the information I send out.”
“That would be a great idea. With all the cyborgs escaping they have tightened the security measures around them, and life is rougher than ever. Some might feel seduced by the promise of a better life,” Bretdon warned him.
“I know.” There was a stern mask on Jarcor’s face. The government didn’t learn. Instead of trying to make cyborgs’ lives better so they wouldn’t want to escape, they made it worse. “I’ll shield all the information I send out to the cyborgs, to protect them, but it won’t be easy.”
“We’re aware of that,” Bretdon nodded.
“From now on, you’ll have to double check everyone you help to escape,” Jarcor warned them. “Perhaps even run a reset program on the cyborg, to deactivate any tracking system hidden in their circuitries. You should also put them in quarantine until you’re sure you can trust them. There are too many things at stake to take risks.”
“Yes, you have a point there,” Brax agreed.
“Those with nothing to hide won’t have a problem following the rules,” Jonas one of the council members at the ranch said, with a stern tone. They couldn’t endanger the life of all the people living at the hideouts.
“Exactly,” Jarcor agreed. “You’ll always find a bad apple in every basket. We just need to spot it in time and prevent any possible disaster.”
They all agreed.
The meeting continued for a couple of hours more, and by the time they walked out of it, it was dinner time.
They headed to the dining room, and Jarcor was surprised to see Luciana was waiting for him. She wanted to have dinner with him.
“Shouldn’t you be in bed by now?” he asked, in a soft tone.
“It’s Friday night. We’re entitled to have dinner with the adults on Fridays and Saturdays since we don’t have classes the following day,” she explained, sliding her hand in his and guiding him to one of the tables after they had chosen their food at the buffet.
“Since mamma isn’t here, you can take her place. She won’t mind,” she said, with a smile.
“Very well,” he accepted, taking a seat where she told him.
She took a seat right next to him, and Sandra joined them at the table, as well as Bretdon and his family. Dinner was a festive time with the incessant chatting of Luciana and the people around her. She was a people magnet, and everybody loved to be around her.
Looking at her, it was hard to believe she wasn’t even four years old, but the math didn’t fit otherwise. He knew Sabrina didn’t have a child when he met her. She didn’t have any siblings either.
Another possibility was the girl wasn’t Sabrina’s biological daughter. But other than the eyes, those two were like mirror images. It didn’t make any sense.
After dinner, he went to the room they had assigned him and took a long shower. The news wasn’t good, and he was worried. The last thing he wanted was to endanger these people when all they were doing was to help cyborgs escape. While he was out at the cabin, he would have to find another meeting point and make sure all enslaved cyborgs received the information.
After spending the night pacing his room, restless, he found a way. He would program all the information related to the meeting points and the way to contact Arcadia to only be available after the cyborg had gained access to his main control and hacked the system. That way, anyone trying to get the information from the cyborgs wouldn’t be able to.
The information wouldn’t even be in their organic memory since it would be sent through their circuitries. He couldn’t wait to get to the cabin to start working on the programming. It would take him some time, but he was sure he would be able to do it.
Bretdon and his family left the planet right after breakfast. Luciana was very quiet, standing next to her granny, with a stern expression on her lovely face.
Ophelia kneeled in front of her. “You know you can come visit us whenever you want, don’t you?” she said, hugging the girl.
“It’s too far away, Ophelia. My mother won’t let me go,” she protested.
“Then, you’ll have to convince her to come along with you, don’t you think? I’m sure you can do it,” she encouraged her.
The little girl nodded, with a shy smile on her face. “I’ll do my best.” She hugged Ophelia tight before she turned to look at Gideon who wobbled in his unsteady legs. “You’ll be all grown up by the time I see you again, so don’t you dare forget me,” she said, hugging the little boy.
“Lucy,” Gideon hugged his friend and allowed her to cover his chubby face with kisses.
After a few more kisses and hugs and even a few tears, the family finally left, accompanied by Jarcor who would fly back in the pod he was keeping during his stay on Earth.
Chapter Eight
When he returned to the ranch, Luciana was nowhere to be seen, and Sandra looked a little worried.
“She knows this place better than anyone, but she still just a baby. We tend to forget that fact too often,” she said, with a stern tone.
“Do you want me to go looking for her?” he asked, with a slight frown.
“I don’t think that would do any good. It’s impossible to find her when she doesn’t want to be found,” Sandra replied, but her words oozed all her worry.
“I’ll give it a try anyway. After all, I’m a soldier and a cyborg,” he offered, with a scowl.
“Of course, you’re right. Thank you. I would hate having to call Sabrina and let her know she’s missing,” she replied, wriggling her hands nervously.
“I’ll find her,” he assured her.
Rapidly, he scanned the main house, though he was sure she wouldn’t be there and right after he had confirmed it, he started looking all over the place. His abilities as cyborg were quite handy when it came to looking for hidden things or people.
But Sandra had been right about Luciana. She knew how to stay hidden. It took him a couple of hours to find the girl, hidden at the top of a tree. She had built some sort of nest with the tree branches, and she was sleeping there. It was obvious she had cried herself to sleep.
Unwilling to wake her up, Jarcor sent a message to Brax, through their private communication channel, asking him to tell Sandra he had found Luciana.
“Where is she?”
“At the top of a tree,” he replied, with a frown. How the hell had she managed to get there was far beyond his knowledge.
“One of this days, she’ll hurt herself,” Brax said, relieved she was fine but worried for her safety.
“She’s too adventurous for her age,” he agreed.
“Yes, I can see that. She’s sleeping now, so I’ll let her be.”
“Very well, I’ll inform Sandra.”
“Thank you.”
The girl slept for another hour, time Jarcor used to check up on her and the nest she had built. It was incredibly safe and secure. Too sophisticated for a child her age to make. But, then again, climbing to the top of that tree was no easy deed, that was for sure.
He wanted to know more about her, but it didn’t seem right to ask other people about Luciana. He had to make his questions directly to Sabrina if she ever allowed him to be in the same room as her.
“Hi, what are you doing up here?” Luciana asked, with a sleepy tone.
“I could ask you the same question. I’m sure you have a much more comfortable bed in your room, so why come here?” he asked, with a scowl.
She shrugged. “I wanted to be alone. Gideon is gone, and I’ll miss him very much,” she said, wiping a tiny tear that escaped her eye.
“You’ll see him again,” he assured her.
“I will? I don’t think so. Mom will never agree to go to Arcadia,” she replied, in a sad tone. “She’s not very fond of cyborgs, you know?” she added as if telling him a secret.
“Why do you say that?”
“Her face always changes when she sees one. She’s always polite, and she even smiles, but I can tell she’s doesn’t like them,” she explained, with a sigh.
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
He knew he was the reason behind Sabrina’s behavior. After all, he had abandoned her without an explanation, and he hadn’t tried to come back. At least, not until now.
The little girl sighed. “That’s why I know she will never want to go to Arcadia. The place is full of cyborgs, right?” she asked, sounding even sadder.
“Perhaps, we can convince her cyborgs aren’t that bad, don’t you think?” he suggested, pulling the girl closer to him, and wiping another tear from her face.
“Yes, that would be wonderful.”
“Now, why don’t we go back home? Your granny was very worried about you,” he suggested, with a hopeful look.
“She’s not used to me, that’s all,” she said, shrugging. “But mamma will be mad if she knows I didn’t behave in her absence,” she added, and before Jarcor was able to react, the girl had climbed down the tree with the ability of a little monkey.
It only took her a few seconds to get to the ground.
Jarcor followed her, astounded. “Where did you learn to climb like that?” he asked when he reached her.
She shrugged again. “I’ve always known.”
More and more intrigued with the little girl, he took her back to the main house, delivering her into the loving arms of Sandra.
“Where was she?” she asked, but before he could answer, she raised her hand and stopped him. “No, I rather not know, all that matters is that she’s safe and sound, right, young lady?”
She chuckled. “Yes, granny.”
“Will I see you at dinner?” Luciana asked.
“Yes, of course. I’m looking forward,” he accepted. He was supposed to leave that same day, but with all that had happened, he would go in the morning.
“I thought you were leaving today,” Sandra said, with a slight frown.
“I was, but now I think I’ll leave it for tomorrow.”
“You’re leaving too?” Luciana asked, with a sad face.
“Yes, but not to Arcadia. I’ll go to a cabin in the mountains to make a few upgrades on the cyborgs’ systems, and when I’m done, I’ll come back here,” he explained, in a soft tone.
“Will you?” she asked, anxious.
“Yes, I will.”
She smiled, turned around, and ran back into the house.
“I’m sorry we delayed you,” Sandra told him.
“It’s alright. I couldn’t have left with her missing.”
“Thank you. I know she’s very independent and more mature than her age, but I still worry when she disappears like this,” she explained.
“How old is she, anyway?” he asked, too curious to hold back the question.
“She’s just four, can you believe it? She looks like she’s at least six, but she’s more mature than a ten-year-old girl. She’s the smartest girl I’ve ever known,” she explained.
“Yes, I’ve noticed that,” he mumbled, trying to make sense of the information she had just given her.
Sabrina had to have met Luciana’s father right after he had left her. It was the only explanation. One thing was quite clear, the girl was really exceptional, and he really enjoyed spending time with her.
Excusing himself from Sandra, he went looking for Brax. If he was staying there a bit longer, he might as well use that time to get more information on the upgrades installed on the cyborgs.
Since Brax had escaped only a couple of weeks ago, he would have a lot of new information he could use.
He found the other cyborg in one of the leisure rooms, and when he explained to him what he wanted, he immediately agreed to allow Jarcor to hack into his system.
A couple of hours later, Jarcor had gathered all the information he needed, and his brain was already working on the way he would use that information to create and send out the upgrades he wanted to give all the cyborgs.
Dinner time arrived, and once more, Luciana invited him to take a seat next to her.
“I talked to mamma this afternoon,” she told him with a wide smile. “I told her all about you,” she added.
“You did?” he scowled, imagining she shouldn’t have been very pleased with it. “What did she say?”
“Not much. But she will be back soon.”
“I’m glad for you.”
“Can’t you stay until she comes back? I want her to meet you,” she asked,
Jarcor almost let out bitter laughter. He could imagine Sabrina’s reaction to that. “I’ll meet her when I come back.”
The girl was disappointed, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. Sabrina wouldn’t return while he was still there.
After dinner, he said goodbye to Luciana and Sandra since he would be leaving very early in the morning.
“How are you going to the cabin?” Luciana asked, clearly not pleased with his departure.
“I’ll use my flying pod. It’s a lot faster than a Motorstorm, so I should be there in just a couple of hours,” he explained.
“That sounds like fun,” she said with a faint smile.
“It can be, yes,”
“I hope you have a safe trip, Jarcor. Has Brax given you the coordinates to get to the cabin?” Sandra asked, with a faint smile. She could tell Luciana wasn’t very happy with Jarcor’s departure.
“Yes, thank you. I have all I need. He has provided me with food as well, so I should be fine for the time I’ll be there,” he replied, thankfully.
People there had proven to be very generous with all cyborgs, and he wanted to repay them somehow.
“Good. I hope to see you again before you leave for Arcadia,” she said, smiling.
“Yes, I’m sure you will. Thank you for all your help.”
“It’s a pleasure.”
He finally went to the room he had been using, and after packing his backpack, he finally went to bed to get some rest.
Chapter Nine
Though cyborgs had a lot more resilience than an ordinary human being, he forced himself to have a normal life as much as possible. He saw no use in forcing his body to endure severe conditions for no reason.
He must have fallen asleep at some point because when he opened his eyes again a few hours later, he felt a bit disoriented. Something had wakened him up. At first, he wasn’t able to determine what it was. It was necessary for the voice to speak again for him to realize what it was.”
“I don’t want him to l
eave,” someone was whimpering. It sounded like a little girl, probably Luciana, but it didn’t make any sense. “Why can’t he stay until mamma gets home?”
Now he was sure it was Luciana, but the sound didn’t seem to come from her room. In fact, it didn’t sound like an external sound, it sounded more like when other cyborgs would talk to him through their private channel. But that was impossible.
“I like him so much, and I know mamma will like him too,” again the whimper came to him, loud and clear, and for a moment he was sure he was dreaming.
There was no way he heard Luciana’s thoughts or dreams. He had never heard that was even possible between a cyborg and a human. And for it to be possible between two cyborgs, you had to establish a private communication channel. Both parts had to agree to it.
He considered talking to the little girl, but then he decided it was a bad idea. He had no idea what to tell her, and he could scare her. But on the other hand, she was sad and in need of comfort. He felt the urge to go to her and make her feel better, but he dismissed those feelings.
It wasn’t his place. He didn’t even know why he felt that way about the girl, but he would have to control himself around her. He knew Sabrina wouldn’t be happy about her daughter’s feelings for him, that was for sure.
He stayed there, hearing her whimpers for a little longer until the girl seemed to fall asleep. He still didn’t understand what had happened there, but he would look into it when he returned to the ranch after he was done hacking into the government’s system.
The following morning, he left his room before the sun came up in the sky and soon he was taking off with his pod.
He was almost getting to his destination when he heard some noise behind him. Puzzled, he activated the autopilot and went looking for the cause of the sound.
For a moment, he wasn’t able to see anything out of place, but when he was about to return to his seat, the same voice from last night flooded his mind.
“Please, don’t let him find me, please, not now,”
Sure his mind was playing tricks on him, he walked carefully to the back of the pod, and there she was.
