by Lisa Lace
“Mine aren’t anything like that,” came a deep voice from the other side of the room. A cyborg leaned forward, bringing his face out of the shadows. He had a sloping forehead, heavy eyebrows, and a blocky jaw with graying stubble. A jagged scar ran down the center of his face, bisecting his nose. “I see men at war. Like PD-4, I thought these were images from my training. But the things I see don’t match up with anything in my command history database.”
The cyborgs recorded every command, even if it was something as small as following one of the scientists to the lab to perform tests. It served as both a safety check and a learning mechanism. Nobody would ever give a cyborg an unlawful command. It would be stored permanently in their database and was valid in a court of law. The logs could also be compared to the actions of the cyborgs to make sure they were performing their tasks correctly.
“My command history shows that I served my country in a large town during an uprising. But the images I see are from the jungle. The air is hot and full of moisture, and the trees are so dense that I can barely see a few yards in front of me. I can hear gunshots and men dying, but I don’t have any commands to follow. I’m on my own.”
“Thank you,” Amanda said, not sure what else she could say. These men were sharing the deepest parts of their minds with her, telling her the kinds of special memories they wouldn’t be willing to share if they understood what or who they truly were. They were opening up their hearts to her.
Looking around at the group of cyborgs, she realized that they were misfits in the world, just like she had always been. They were not entirely men, yet they were more than machines. They could never go back to Cyborg Sector and be 'asleep' again, nor could they assimilate into the general populace. They were a different and more extreme version of her, a person who had never quite fit into any crowd.
Amanda was fascinated by them and needed to help them, although she wasn’t sure what she could do. She could explain to them who they used to be and who they were now, and why they remembered their time as human beings, but she didn’t know if they could or wanted to understand.
Amanda glanced at AD-214 out of the corner of her eye. The cyborg captain intrigued her most of all. He had told her about his memories, about fighting in the war and becoming injured. But she had a feeling that there was more to his story that he was still keeping secret. Perhaps he didn’t know, but maybe he was holding it back. That would mean he was far more human than she had realized.
Chapter Eleven
Though Amanda usually would have stayed up well past sunset, she felt the excitement and danger of the day catching up with her and knew she needed to rest. AD-214 wanted her to sleep in the seclusion of the office, but Amanda disagreed. If something peculiar happened, she wanted to see it in front of her.
Instead, she made herself as comfortable as possible, dragging the canvas tarp out of the office and folding it twice to make a pallet. She noticed the cyborgs made no effort at such comforts, only stretching out on the concrete and falling swiftly to sleep like they were in luxurious beds. She supposed it might feel good for a cyborg to lie down. ND-45, relinquishing his guard duty to another soldier, had also shut his eyes for the night, but he did so in the corner furthest from AD-214.
As the droning of cyborg breathing surrounded her, Amanda fell into a deep sleep full of vivid images. She dreamed of the random things that often haunted her sleep, such as the house she had lived in as a little girl with its winding driveway and big bay windows. So many of her dreams had taken place here, so it was no surprise to find herself there again.
This time, however, the cyborgs had turned against her simultaneously. Every one of them, including AD-214, was chasing her. They broke the windows, sending shards of glass all over the hardwood floors. Hands clawed at the doorknobs. Their replacement parts were stripped back to the steel mechanics underneath them. Terrified, Amanda tried to run up the old, narrow stairway to the second floor, but her feet felt heavy. She ascended the stairwell in slow motion, making a great effort to lift each leg and escape her assailants. When she reached the landing at the top of the stairs, the cyborgs had already arrived ahead of her.
Waking with a start, Amanda surveyed the warehouse. The soldiers were all asleep, looking identical to ordinary men. Only the lone soldier near the door was awake. AD-214 lay asleep next to her, only a few feet away. She could barely make out his features, but she could tell that he was in a deeper sleep than he had ever been at Cyborg Sector. His brow and jaw were relaxed, making him look more human than ever.
Confident that he wouldn’t turn against her like in her dream, Amanda rolled over and quickly fell back to sleep. She soon started dreaming again, but they were of a different nature this time. She was in a bed in a dark room. A man was with her, a handsome man that made the area between her thighs feel hot and wet. He lay naked next to her as he ran his hands slowly over her body.
“I remember,” he whispered in her ear. “I remember the pleasurable things. I remember what it’s like to make love to a beautiful woman, to feel her soft body pressed into mine.”
The man squeezed her breast softly, and Amanda gasped with pleasure at his boldness. She didn’t know who this dream man was and didn’t care.
“I have visions of women, and they’re like you. They’re strong but curvy. They’re sweet and bold. And I think they liked sex as much as I did.”
He let his hand creep further down her body until it reached between her legs. His fingers were knowledgeable, slowly circling her center of pleasure. Amanda’s body responded against her will. She was hungry for this kind of attention. Her back arched instinctively, allowing the man complete access to her.
“I thought so,” he whispered. “You like it. You want me to shove my cock inside you, don’t you? Do you want me to come all over you?”
Amanda’s couldn’t seem to form the words, but she smiled as she undulated against him. Yes, she was ready for a good, hard fuck. It had been too long, and if he wanted to come on her face and breasts, she was ready for it.
As her bliss mounted, becoming more and more concentrated in her core until it threatened to explode, Amanda was slowly roused from her sleep. It always seemed to happen. Every time she had a hot dream, it was too much for her subconscious to handle without waking up and finishing the job herself.
But when she opened her eyes, she realized she was not alone on the canvas pallet. A cyborg, one who hadn’t shared his memories during their meeting earlier, lay next to her. She recognized him as MD-69, a former Marine. She knew every member of Blue Squad, though she had not spent much time with this cyborg. His hand was between her thighs, performing the actions of the man in her dreams. With his other hand, he laid a finger across her lips.
“Shhh,” he whispered. It was the same voice from her dream, but now it sounded terrifying instead of seductive. “Nobody has to know.”
Amanda recoiled. The gentle finger on her lips swiftly turned to a hard hand that clamped down on her mouth as he shifted his weight on top of her. She fought against him, pushing at his shoulder and trying to squirm out from beneath him.
“That’s all right. I don’t mind working for it.” MD-69 started to open his pants with his free hand.
She was powerful for a human, but all of the time spent in her home gym wasn’t enough to deter a cyborg. Amanda couldn’t shove him off of her, but she had to do something. She didn’t want to have spent the last four years programming cyborgs and end up being raped by one of them.
She relaxed her body. Her muscles fought against her, wanting to fight or run away instead of relenting. But she knew it was her only chance. She had to let him think he had won.
“There you go. You know you want it.”
Amanda lifted her hand, gently touching the side of his face and running her fingers through his hair. She looked into his eyes and smiled as she extended her hand into the air, balled it into a fist, and slammed it into the side of his head over his biochip.
The cyborg immediately c
urled up and rolled off of her, cradling his head in his hands. Amanda knew where her punches would cause the most damage. She hadn’t put in her years at Cyborg Sector for nothing. With a little luck, his interface had blacked out. If he could hear anything, it was probably nothing more than a high-pitched squeal.
All these facts were at the back of her mind, shoved aside by her rage and indignation. How dare he do such a thing to her? “You fucking asshole!” she screamed as she dealt a swift kick between his legs. “Do you have a robot dick? I bet you’ll feel that!”
MD-69 screeched in pain, and the rest of the squad started to wake up. They jumped to their feet, rushing to see if there was a battle. AD-214 was by her side in an instant.
“What’s wrong with him?” AD-214 asked as he studied the injured soldier. MD-69 couldn’t decide if his balls or head hurt more. He writhed in pain on the hard floor.
“The motherfucker tried to rape me!” Amanda shouted. She shook with anger and adrenaline. There was no way she would be able to go back to sleep now, and from the looks of it, the rest of the cyborgs wouldn’t either.
“I am unfamiliar with the word rape.”
Amanda looked at AD-214 in frustration. Any other time, she would be willing to explain things to him, but she didn’t have much patience for it right now. “He tried to stick his dick in me!”
“Contain him,” AD-214 ordered quietly. The other cyborgs responded quickly. Several of them started helping MD-69 to his feet, but the injured soldier angrily brushed them aside. In the end, they grabbed him by his arms and legs and carried him to the office, where they unceremoniously tossed him inside and shut the door. Two of the soldiers remained by the door to guard it.
“I’m sorry.” AD-214 turned back to Amanda after watching the show. “That never should have happened.”
“It isn’t your fault,” Amanda replied. She could hear the rain pounding against the metal roof of the warehouse, and she climbed up on a crate to look out one of the small windows. Maybe watching the rain would make her feel clean again.
“It is my fault,” the cyborg captain corrected her. “I should be able to keep my men under control, and I should have been able to keep you safe.”
Amanda shook her head. It was nice that AD-214 to want to protect her, but his line of thinking was flawed. He commanded a cyborg unit, but they were more than mindless automatons now.
“It’s my fault more than anybody’s, AD-214. I was the one that woke you up. MD-69 wouldn’t ever have thought to force himself on me if I hadn’t been reconfiguring your operating systems, facial recognition, and artificial intelligence. It isn’t his fault, or your fault, or even Dr. Feldman’s fault. It’s mine.”
She looked at him. If she didn’t personally know that he had a chip implanted in his brain, and his hand and leg were biomechanical, she could have mistaken him for a regular human. He looked human, but now he and the others were starting to act human again. Amanda would have to remember that these cyborgs were both more and less than men.
Chapter Twelve
The day passed slowly. Cyborgs eagerly tucked into their stash of food from the night before, still barely able to eat anything before they became full. They gaped in astonishment as Amanda tucked away three times as much breakfast as they did. AD-214 had seen it the day before, but the rest of them were surprised. They began to ask her questions about extra stomachs before AD-214 cut them off.
“We have a lot of work to do today,” AD-214 said as he paced up and down between the ranks. His voice echoed in the cavernous room, reverberating off the corrugated metal walls. “We can’t stay here. The danger of remaining in one location is too high. We need to find the next safe place. You each have specialties, and I expect you to employ them. Our systems aren’t working correctly, so we’ll need to work together. I’ll be checking in with each of you individually today.”
Blue Squad reacted with alacrity. Most didn’t appear to be doing anything but staring off into space, but Amanda knew they were looking through their systems and doing what they could without being connected to Cyborg Sector. Their leader moved among them, quietly asking what they had discovered.
Feeling so useless, Amanda jumped down from the crate she was sitting on and began circulating among the cyborgs as well. She was no military strategist, but she knew a lot about cyborgs. They seemed to be doing well, controlling their flashbacks or at least ignoring them.
“Sir,” called out one of the soldiers. It was PD-4, the young blonde soldier who always looked worried. “I have something you ought to see. You too, ma’am.”
As they approached, he unbuttoned the front of his camouflage shirt to reveal a small LCD screen embedded in his chest. As the surveillance specialist, he could easily share information with his team by transmitting files into the shared part of his system. But the scientists at Cyborg Sector decided he would be most useful if he could share his knowledge with humans or cyborgs that weren’t in his squad. The small screen was the compromise. AD-214 and Amanda watched it intently.
It showed a news reporter sitting behind a large desk with a solemn look on his face. “Good evening,” the anchorman began. “You’ve heard of the outbreak of rogue cyborgs from Cyborg Sector headquarters downtown. Here at Channel 3, it is our goal to keep you well-informed about this event to help ensure the safety of your families.”
Amanda looked at AD-214 to gauge his reaction, but he hadn’t torn his eyes away from the screen. “You didn’t link with headquarters to obtain this, did you?” the cyborg leader asked PD-4.
“No, sir. This footage comes from local television signals, sir.”
AD-214 nodded and looked back to the screen again.
“We take you now to a live press conference at Cyborg Sector for more information.” The scene changed, showing a podium on the front steps of the Cyborg Sector building with microphones surrounding it. The din of a crowd of news reporters was audible in the background, but it fell to a hush when a man slowly hobbled up to the lectern.
Amanda’s stomach jumped into her throat as she took in the blonde, slicked-back hair and green eyes of Dr. Feldman. He looked a little worse for wear as he leaned heavily on the podium. His face was pale, but it was definitely him.
“I thought he was dead,” Amanda whispered.
“That was my intention.”
“Ladies and gentlemen of the United States,” Dr. Feldman began, acting like he were the president. “You know I find the actions of Blue Squad reprehensible. It was only by luck that the cyborg who meant to kill me malfunctioned, and his aim was inaccurate. Otherwise, I would not be able to stand here today and speak to you.” There was another roar from the reporters, and Dr. Feldman waited for it to die down.
“I apologize for the entire incident. It was never our goal to make Americans worry about cyborgs that were supposed to be programmed with our best interests. Unfortunately, I am the bearer of bad news that is even worse. It appears that one of our most respected scientists, Amanda Conrad, is missing. We believe the rogue cyborgs have kidnapped her. We are going to use the full resources of our government to get her back.”
Amanda’s stomach went down again and felt like it was going to keep going until it hit her feet. It was bad enough that the cyborgs were out of containment, but spinning the story like this was going to start a lynch mob. The general public had always expressed concerns about using the cyborgs in a military capacity. The military rarely used them in engagements within the country. If the media portrayed them as kidnappers, the situation was going to escalate.
“Today we are asking the public to help us. Please provide any information that might assist in apprehending these misbehaving cyborgs. We want to assure you that we are also taking measures to bring them back into custody ourselves. Though there are errors in Blue Squad’s programming, not all cyborgs are infected. Red Squad is still functioning normally.”
The front doors of Cyborg Sector opened again. A large squad of cyborgs marched out, each of their s
teps in perfectly timed synchronization. Even over the airwaves, the heavy tread of their boots sent a shiver up Amanda’s spine.
“These are C-class cyborgs,” Dr. Feldman explained to the audience. “They are created from clones instead of donors, making them more reliable and stable. The small glitches we eliminate from each donor don’t exist in these soldiers.”
The cloned cyborgs had lined up on the steps behind Dr. Feldman. True to their name, each one of them looked exactly identical. Short blonde hair covered their heads and hard blue eyes stared out over the crowd.
“We plan to send Red Squad out to search for the rogue cyborgs and make your communities safe again. Do not be afraid if you see a member of the Red Squad in your neighborhood. It does not mean that danger is close. On the contrary, they are keeping danger far away. You’ll know a soldier is a member of Red Squad because they all look just like that.” He gestured over his shoulder with a laugh, which was echoed by the audience.
Dr. Feldman went on to take questions from the crowd, but Amanda had seen enough. “We’re in trouble.” Turning to AD-214, she saw that the rest of Blue Squad was watching as well.
“We have a lot of work to do.”
But they were out of time. When they woke the next morning, PD-4 informed them Red Squad was on its way to the warehouse.
Chapter Thirteen
As the C-class cyborgs began their approach on the warehouse, AD-214 was already fighting a battle to stay rooted in reality. On one level, he knew where he was, what was happening, and what he needed to do. However, his vision continued to malfunction. Scenes from his past continued to appear before his eyes. His squad stood at attention and ready to fight, but he wondered if they were having the same problems. Combat wasn’t going to be easy when he couldn’t trust what he saw in front of him.
“The enemy is closing in on our location, and cutting off our escape routes…” AD-214 blinked rapidly in a futile attempt to dispel the image of soldiers trudging through hot sand, beads of sweat running down their faces until it soaked into their uniforms. “I’m not going back to Cyborg Sector.” His squad looked at one another and nodded their heads. “To put it plainly, we will have to fight like never before.”
