“Holy shit. You know all this about her and still want to try and save her life?” Seetha demanded.
“Yes,” Kyra declared, letting the one word carry her sincerity.
“Dr. Winters…have you ever considered you might need counseling?”
“Why would you say that, Seetha? King was wired with explosives. We didn’t get rid of him. During his restoration, I found them. I called in a ballistics specialist and we removed all the parts that could explode. He’s benign now, but it took some work.”
Seetha’s mouth dropped open. “Are you telling me my husband was once a walking bomb?”
Kyra nodded. “Yes. Didn’t King tell you?”
Seetha shook her head, too stunned to say more. King had been wired to explode. He could have been killed. They could have detonated him any time during the war. She might never have known him. A shiver of realization crawled up her spine.
“Seetha? Are you alright?” Kyra asked.
Seetha shook her head. “No…but my shock isn’t going to stop the world from spinning.”
Kyra reached out and rubbed her arm. “The military provided their own chip for each soldier when we created the cyborgs. It functioned alongside the processor. Until we found the anomalies in William, I didn’t understand how much control the military chip exercised over the individual. They obviously put this woman into the Cyber Wife program to hide her. I don’t know how or why Jackson picked her for his experiment. Shortly before Jackson was killed, it was discovered that the radiation from the cybernetics nullifies a female’s reproductive system by overheating her eggs. The Cyber Wife program was publicly declared a failure, put on hold, and all further female conversions were forbidden.”
“But they were done anyway,” Seetha concluded.
Kyra nodded to confirm. “Yes. They were. We’ve found three records so far and I doubt that was all. Two of the women are still missing. Imagine what the street value is for a totally controllable, but still mostly human woman. I’m convinced Brad was following in his footsteps when he tinkered on Rachel.”
Seetha shook her head in dismay. “A person’s humanity will always break through. Look at William. I don’t know what makes it happen, but I’m convinced of it. I think given the opportunity he would have killed his creator without a thought.”
“Exactly. But what if there are more women wired as dangerously? What if they are programmed with mental triggers to make them kill on command or risk being killed themselves? William is still dealing with his past and all he was forced to do. He’s a living reminder to me about what happens when people take their manipulation too far.”
“Okay,” Seetha said, walking away. “I have to stop thinking about this now, or you’ll find me in the corner sucking my thumb in full regression. Send me some arms and legs to fix today. I need to feel like we’re beating this shit.”
“I will try. Will you think about what I asked, Seetha? Just make it a medium priority…for times when your waitlist is low.”
Seetha nodded. What could she say? Somehow she didn’t think hearing “hell no” would faze Kyra Winters. She’d just come back and ask again after the shock had worn off. Wasn’t that how she’d ended up working on William—a cyborg who’d tried to kill her? Kyra never seemed to be as emotionally affected by things as she was. The woman didn’t realize not everyone could be so stoic about people trying to take their life.
“I’ll think about what I can do. But what you’re asking…I doubt it’s ever been done. I’m not sure it’s safe either. If the settings aren’t right…” Seetha drifted off.
She felt Kyra rubbing her arm again.
Moments later she was alone with her vague promise and troubling doubts.
***
After escaping the lab, Rachel walked at a rapid clip down the hallway. Her mind was on how much she hated being treated like a broken machine when she ran headlong into a solid surface and bounced off hard.
When her thoughts returned to the present she was surprised to find herself in an ungraceful heap on the floor staring at a man near her age. He was crawling around on his knees looking for something. Following his movements, she saw his missing glasses peeking out from beneath a heap of electronics. She rolled to her knees and reached out to lift them from the pile of things knocked from his arms during their collision.
“Here,” she said, her tinny voice working smoothly on the one syllable word.
She heard him mumble thanks as he slid the glasses back onto his face. Few people wore vision correction devices over their eyes. They looked strange to her, but beneath the dark frames his turquoise eyes were intensely attractive and thoughtful looking. He was all that was geek—and therefore off limits—but his tight clothing revealed muscles he was obviously proud to show off. He was not classically handsome nor did he possess a chiseled six-pack like the soldiers, but he was not a weak intellectual either.
Her interest was piqued despite the promises she’d made to herself.
“I know I should have my eyes repaired, but I’m allergic to anesthesia…” He stopped and stared at her. “Does it hurt?”
Rachel climbed to her feet and rubbed her butt. She snorted when his gaze followed her hand. “No. Just…bruised…ego,” she replied, dipping her head and smiling when he laughed.
He pointed at her throat. “I meant your implant…does it hurt…when you talk?”
“How…did…this…hap…pen,” Rachel said as she touched her neck and pretended shock when she felt the implant.
A second laugh from him lifted her spirits more than anything had in days. Their crazy conversation was a lot like flirting.
“Did you have to get it because of an accident?” he asked.
“Yes.” The simple one-word answer rolled easily off her tongue. Even if she had wanted to rant about the truth to a random handsome stranger she’d knocked down, explaining would have taken more capability than she had today.
“I’m sorry. It was rude of me to ask. I tend to get too curious, and…”
“Want…to get…cof…fee…after…work?”
Rachel watched him rub his face, and then he grinned wide.
“Yes, I’d like that very much,” he said, nodding. “What’s the number of your handheld?”
“Have none,” Rachel answered, shaking her head.
“Okay. No problem.” He smiled and pulled a card from his pocket to give to her. This is me…and you can reach me at this com number. I’m new here at Norton. I’m a programmer. Where do you work?”
Rachel sighed and pointed back down the hall to the lab. “Cy…borg rest…or…a…tion.”
“Wow. Impressive. Are you an engineer or scientist?”
Rachel shook her head. When he stooped to pick up his electronics, she knelt down to help. “I am…a lab…tech.”
“I thought you looked a little young. Plus, you’re dressed way too cute to be a scientist.”
Rachel smiled at the compliment, but didn’t respond.
“So are you a student? Is that why you’re working as a lab grunt?”
“No. Just…poor,” Rachel chuckled—or tried to—no sound came out. It was flattering to think she still looked young enough to be in school. She put a hand to her throat when she felt the buzzing vibration in her chords.
His sympathetic smile was like a hug. She put a hand to her chest. “I…am…Ra…chel.”
“I’m Nathan,” he said, shuffling the load in his arms. “I’d pat my chest if my arms weren’t full.”
Rachel snorted. It was odd to be laughing every other sentence. Nathan was a funny guy.
“It was nice running into you…well mostly nice. At least we met. Now I’d better get back to work. Where should I meet you later?”
Rachel smiled. “Scan…ner? 5…ish?”
Nathan nodded. “Sure. Perfect timing. See you then.”
She watched Nathan walk away and then turned in the same direction to go back to the lab.
Meeting Nathan for coffee would at lea
st cover the lie she’d told to Marcus.
Now all she had to do was find a better way to make money and a fairy godmother to undo her past.
“Ha…ha…ha...” she murmured as she trudged back.
Chapter 3
Still in shock that some guy had actually been waiting for Rachel at the scanners, Marcus followed them to a coffee shop four blocks from the Norton building. He hesitated about going inside because he didn’t want to risk Rachel catching him. Through the door, he frowned when he saw her laughing at something the geeky guy had said.
To be fair, her date’s gaze hadn’t left Rachel’s face the whole time she was talking, unlike his which after this morning had been on her legs the whole time he’d followed discreetly behind her. His growing physical obsession with her was probably because he hadn’t had sex since he’d left the Cyber Husband program. It didn’t bode well for his chances of rectifying his celibate state when the only woman he wanted was now on a date and smiling at another man.
Maybe Rachel hadn’t been lying. The geeky guy did look young enough to have been a college friend of hers. Yet there was something not quite right about him…and not just the fact he was making Rachel smile at nearly everything he said.
Marcus felt his cybernetically boosted mind scramble as it tried to find the real reasons for the churning in his gut. Maybe it was him and not the guy. He was no longer sure. Concern for Rachel had made his processor spin madly all day.
Ordering himself to enter a calmer state, Marcus focused on his competition more closely. What was bothering him? Maybe he needed to make a list.
First, geeky guys didn’t normally have weightlifting pecs pushing against their shirts.
Second, muscle guys didn’t usually carry enough technology on their person to conduct a military level maneuver. His old team hadn’t taken half the geeky guy’s electronics when they went to bust King’s wife out of the UCN work camp. Still…having technology didn’t necessarily mean the man was not to be trusted. Sometimes Eric carried that much equipment when he wasn’t working.
There was just no getting around the inevitable. To make a real determination of the situation, he needed to get closer and see if he could figure what the guy was really trying to get from Rachel.
A large group of what appeared to be genuine students was headed his way. Marcus took a lightweight jacket and knit hat out of his backpack. He pulled both on to cover as much of himself as possible. Popping a large pair of sunglasses on over his eyes, he tucked his chin down and followed the group inside, lingering on their edges until he saw a much better surveillance location.
There was an unclaimed table just behind a revolving advertiser. Its constantly changing landscape of rotating commercials was the perfect cover. The attention of anyone looking in that direction would be drawn to the revolving panorama first. This included the geeky guy he didn’t trust and the woman he was protecting who just happened to be sitting with her back to it. He calculated that in most cases, his presence would be totally overlooked, especially if he kept his head down.
Pulling out a small portable, Marcus lit it up and pretended an interest in something on the screen. What he really did was tune instantly into Rachel’s conversation with her date, his cybernetics easily filtering out the rest of the vocal chaos going on around him.
***
Rachel sipped her coffee and looked over the rim of the cup at the attractive man sitting across from her. He was very good looking. So why wasn’t she enjoying this more? Maybe her lie to Marcus was tainting her enjoyment. She certainly felt guilty for no damn good reason.
“So you’re helping the legendary Dr. Winters restore cyborgs.”
Rachel nodded as she drew in a breath before attempting to speak. “Yes.”
“That must be interesting work. I can always tell one when I pass them in the hall. They’re a bit like the sophisticated AI units manning the security scanners for most UCN buildings. They nod, but rarely speak unless you speak to them first. I have just two words to describe that behavior—very creepy.”
Rachel shrugged. “You get…used…to…them.”
“Maybe,” Nathan replied, shrugging himself. “Have you run across any rogues yet?”
“Rogues?” Rachel spoke the one word question even though Captain William Talon came immediately to mind.
“Yes. You know—what they talk about on the news. Rogues. Cyborgs you can’t control or help. They’re the ones who are more machine than human.”
Nathan’s inference wasn’t lost on her even though she’d certainly seen evidence of what could happen when a cyborg’s cybernetics weren’t programmed right. However, that wasn’t the average guy Seetha calibrated and fixed. What she and Seetha mostly repaired were non-working cybernetic arms and legs.
The brains of most cyborgs were only mildly advanced and not really threatening to her. It was the mega-intelligent human brain she had learned to fear. Evil Brad’s genius had been her downfall. Kyra Winters might not be evil, but she was more intimidating.
Yet for all her own reservations, Rachel thought Nathan’s uneducated attitude was unfair considering the sacrifices the Cyber Soldiers had made for the global war effort. Whether you supported cybernetics or not, they were the only reason the world had found peace.
She lifted her chin and met Nathan’s questioning stare. “No…rogues. All…norm…al…so…far,” Rachel reported, articulating each syllable carefully, so he couldn’t misunderstand. Looking into his disbelieving gaze, she had the realization she wouldn’t have told him more, even if she could have talked freely. His negative comments had significantly dampened her pleasure to have run into him today.
“Normal is a strange descriptor for people who’ve had themselves converted into robots. I even heard there’s a female cyborg in Norton’s top-secret detainment center who went rogue. Rumors are that she tears up her holding cell all the time. They can’t shut her down or destroy her because of some high level technology she carries. They also say she tried to kill several of her caretakers. I don’t see why they don’t just gut her cybernetic compartment and start over with her programming. I’ve studied cyborg conversion extensively. Before he died, Dr. Channing worked out several different ways to override a cyborg’s tendency toward violence. I don’t see why they aren’t using them on her.”
Rachel’s eyes widened. Shock at his fanatic outburst must have shown on her face because Nathan stopped ranting and backpedaled as fast as he could.
“God, I’m sorry, Rachel. I’m talking work…your work…and all I know are rumors about it. You probably get enough day-to-day cyborg drama without me going on and on. I’m just fascinated with the whole reversing program. It’s seems so high risk…and so unnecessary…given how successfully they were being managed.”
“But…they…are…hum…an.”
Rachel watched Nathan nod at her comment, but his gaze darting away from hers revealed he was not in agreement. She wondered what in Nathan’s background had caused him to be so anti-cyborg restoration, especially when he was so young. She was just a teenager when the soldiers were converted. Nathan was probably a few years younger than her.
“I guess you would have to think that in order to keep doing what you do, Rachel. Frankly, I felt better when the government was in control of the cyborgs. I hope you don’t think badly of me for holding that view.”
Rachel sighed a little, but shrugged. And then she wondered how Nathan would view her mechanized condition. Would he think she should be controlled and monitored by the government too?
“By…def…i…ni…tion…I…am…cy…borg,” Rachel confessed boldly, just to see what he would say.
When he looked shocked at her revelation, Rachel thought better of her direct questioning and patted her throat. Nathan would probably run screaming from the table if she reached up and popped open her cybernetic compartment. To her genuine surprise, he immediately shook his head. She almost rolled her eyes. Nathan was the hottest looking male she’d spent t
ime with in a long time, but her impromptu date was turning out to be as disappointing as everything else in her life.
“An implant is not the same thing…not the same at all,” Nathan argued. “You have a single prosthetic that you can’t help having. Your brain hasn’t been totally rewired. You haven’t been programmed to be an unfeeling killing machine. Therefore, you are not by definition a cyborg.”
“Hope…not,” Rachel said. Inside, she was thinking that it was a good thing her wistfulness wasn’t reflected in her monotone response.
Marcus 582: Book Three of Cyborgs: Mankind Redefined Page 3
