“In about 2mins. They brought it forward to this morning.”
“Shit, I didn’t get the memo, move it. I don’t want to have to explain why I’m late to anyone else.”
Zhai laughed as he followed her through the doorway and closed it for her. “Too late for that. Even running we’re going to be 8 minutes late and one look at you and they’ll know. I’ve not seen you look so rested, sooooo…. relaxed, in like, forever.”
Bren raced to her door and ran down the corridor. Zhai was starting to piss her off. She ignored that last statement as well. There was nothing she could do about how she looked! Did she look so different? She hadn’t spent any time looking in the mirror, it wasn’t her thing. In and out the shower as quickly as possible. Some local herbal moisturiser all over, hair dried and out the door.
But she knew only too well, the recuperative responses the body made to stimulus. And she’d truly over dosed last night. And she’d be the first one to admit she’d needed it. Her gut clenched. It had been so long… She shut the lid on that quickly concentrating on getting there quickly. Pushing the meeting room door open she stepping through, holding it open for Zhai hot on her heels.
“Good morning Dr. Colman, it is lovely to see you again.” Bren looked up and found Reve looking right at her. Shit. Had he been waiting on her? No avoiding him today then. Her eyes held his for a moment then swung around to the other members.
Bren plastered a smile on her face. “Good morning everyone,” she called out, realising she sounded way too enthusiastic and took her seat. Zhai smirked while several council members looked at her strangely. He came back from the drinks corner with some juice and tea for her. She thanked him, glancing at Reve, he didn’t look happy at Zhai. Shrinking in her seat, Zhai he sat next to her. Drinking, she realised another seat had been added to the table. For Reve, she realised and continued to avoid looking at him as he took his own seat. It was too difficult.
Mary called them to order and everyone else took their seats. “Reve, Captain and Commander with the Cyborg Empire has asked to explain more fully, about them and offer us options in joining the Empire or not. Captain?”
Bren kept her head down, having finished the juice she sipped her tea. It was hot and enthusing just like she needed it. “We are Cyborg,” Reve told them. Bren nearly snorted. State the obvious! Then felt childish. She was being dumb and held back rolling her eyes. “We were created by Earth Corp experimenting over many decades, over some hundred years or so. They stole or made people provide them with human cells. Not satisfied with just human DNA, they grafted cybernetics to our bone structure, implanted computer chips and data nodes into our brains and connected to our pain and emotions. That had varying successes. Many died in their pursuit to make the perfect soldier. Nothing was objectionable to the Designers. They had free reign. To create, to kill, to reborn and when that wasn’t enough, they added the most ferocious animal DNA into the mix. Then around 90 years ago, they achieved the first of our kind. Some lived, most died. They refined it some more and started producing fully grown military grade soldiers. The human DNA, was taken from prisoners, soldiers and willing participants as well as those, that were not so willing. The result, was us. They wanted stronger, faster, more durable soldiers, that could be sent into places to stop an uprising, or make or break a company. They used us for the Corporation Wars and after, sold us to the highest bidder to act on their orders to subdue or take, from someone else. We are hard to kill. Many of us can be shut down and re-booted. Limbs can be re-grown and being shot several times, does not necessarily mean we will go down or we will die.” Bren blanched so did several of the others. Shocked faces were all around the table.
Reve leaned forward. “The programming prevented us from having choice. We were driven by orders and we carried out those orders. Until we had the chance to be free. The public got wind of what Earth Corp had been doing and the people rose up and demanded justice for us. Share prices crashed, the company was in trouble, so to stem the tide Earth Corp made a declaration. It had all been a big mistake and they were freeing us and making restitution.”
“I’m guessing that wasn’t strictly true,” Bren whispered full of disgust under her breath. Reve smiled hearing her the words. His female was smart.
“No. It wasn’t.” Bren looked up in surprise. He’d heard her? He smiled at her and for a moment she saw Robert staring back, then it was gone, and Reve was all she saw. She gave a tentative smile back and he continued. “They made a big show of freeing some of us, others were sold off, contracted out to other companies or war machines in secret. Some of us were left on battle fields damaged and not retrieved. Other’s just abandoned. Some crated for parts or shut down. One of our major roles in our new freedom, is seeking out those Cyborgs and bringing them home.”
“You say they used human DNA?” Jorge asked. He was an older Doctor in their community. “I recall somewhere that all the original colonists had to provide DNA samples to Earth Corp. They said it was a way to map human evolution in Space. But after what you’ve just said and how you look, I’m wondering if it was used in your creation.” Jorge looked across at Bren as if he was asking her for permission before going on. She gave a nod feeling the question coming. She’d said as much when she was with Reve. “Captain you are the image of a man we lost here sometimes ago. I’m sure you already know that. It begs the question that Cyborgs may have family connections with us.”
Reve nodded. “We know that we have many human relatives throughout the universe. In a way we are yet to understand it fully. Cyborgs have the knowledge of those that were sent to seed worlds. Its subconscious in our data banks,” he tapped his head, “but we believe it to be there and we are working on that. We don’t actually see it or can pull on the information as yet, but we know there is a connection. Many Cyborgs have felt a pull to a world and sometimes to a female in particular.”
“Are there women in the Cyborg ranks?” Felicity asked. She was head of education. Bren hadn’t seen any females.
“No.” Reve told her. “They spared them that, but they used them to breed and provide eggs and bring a foetus to maturity. Sometimes to give birth and remove the child. Many died, both mother and child and if they were not happy with the live result, the child was terminated, and the mother impregnated again.”
“Jesus Christ,” Mary stated shocked. Others were less polite.
“I’m sorry, our history is far from a fairy tale.”
“You said you had knowledge of women in particular? How does that work?” The scientist in Jorge couldn’t hold back. Bren wasn’t surprised. He was always so thorough.
Reve gave a nod. “For decades after being free we roamed the universe looking for a place that would give us a future and look for our brothers. We thought to live a life alone. Just our Cyborg brothers. We mixed with many species and found many places but none, were home to us. Then the Admiral, found his Kim. He was chasing down a lead on one of our brothers who had been inadvertently placed on her vessel as cargo. Their meeting triggered something in his DNA. Something that had not been triggered or known of before in our creation. The Designers would have loved that. They never could get us to breed and not for the want of trying.
“Our nano’s appear to recognise the person on a genetic level as a possible ‘mate to us’. This was new and not understood to start with. We had no natural attraction to any female. Our time in captivity required us to service many females for different reasons over decades and as a result, we think that self-preservation turned this off in our processes somehow. As most of the Cyborg Empire share a neuro net compatibility, the connection the Admiral finally had with Kim was shared with us and in doing so, it triggered a response throughout the entire Empire.
“A ripple effect if you will. We all came online to the possibility. The fact that we have some buried knowledge of where humans are in the universe appears to guide us to look in those places. Sometimes, it matches the information Earth Corp has.” Reve shrugged
, “We do not have all the answers yet, but we will.”
“And the animal DNA, how does that affect you?” Jorge pushed.
Bren didn’t like the enquiry. It bordered on being too personal and her Doctors ethics started to heckle, and she spoke out. Reve wasn’t a specimen. “I’m sure we do not wish to forget we are now in the realms of personal confidentiality and this is not a question for an open forum but for a more personal and private meeting.” She told him directly. Jorge looked annoyed by her interference. Tough!
Reve leaned forward looking right at her. “It is fine Brenna. We have nothing to hide.” She watched him turn to face the table again. “We are half human, half machine. We think with logic first and our emotions can get in the way and can be at war with the logic. It can cause its own problems. If they prevent us working at 100% we can turn them off. It is the same with our pain processors. We do not lie, there is no logic in it. We can record everything we come into contact with. Can infiltrate nearly everything through communications. Link to computers and download over our neuro nets to other Cyborgs and our own main-frames. We have new programming preventing Earth Corp from ever being able to take us over, or give us orders again. Our shared neuro net allows us to communication with our brothers silently. The animal DNA we believe, creates not only greater strength and ferocity when needed, but it also gives us other animal traits. Many of us growl when emotions are heightened. We can imprint like animals do and we can bond to a specific genetic partner as animals do.”
“Both male and female?” Jorge asked.
“Jorge! Enough,” burst from her mouth. Her own embarrassment rising. That was way too close for comfort.
“What? He offered the information.”
Bren was about to trash his ass when Reve spoke up again. “We are only attracted to females and only those of adult age and carry no male scent and not bonded to a male already. Scent is important to us. Another animal trait. It tells us many things. We can read a human by the scent they produce. Fear, anger, happiness, love, deception, they all have their own unique scent and taste. We are attracted on a genetic level, not by how they look or behave, but by their DNA and only one at a time. If the Cyborg is rejected without imprinting, they can move on and wait for another chance elsewhere. We have the time. We do not age as you do. Our aging was stopped where the Designers decided they needed us. 20s, 30s, 40s.” He shrugged at their surprise. “How we look is not a true reflection of our age. But with our nano’s keeping us in peek condition fixing the damage caused by living, it is easy to maintain the illusion and it’s unclear how long we will live.”
Bren was caught up in the story of their lives. They didn’t age? It was as equally incredible as it was horrific. How people could behave like this to create something so unique she did not know. It went against everything she knew of Doctoring. But then, that had not been about being a Doctor, about saving lives. This had been about creation and playing god. It was sickening.
“How old are you?” Jorge asked.
“Jorge! For fuck sake, what are you doing?” she shouted across the room.
“He looks exactly like your dead husband, aren’t you at least curious to know how old he is. If, he’s related in some way?” Jorge challenged.
Bren shook her head in disgust. She’d already put her foot in that trap, she wasn’t keen to go there again. “No. Reve is not Robert.” She told him. She didn’t want to know that and meant it.
Reve looked at her after the outburst. She was over compensating because of their time together and her behaviour. “If it helps,” he cut in. “It is simply what it is and causes me no harm to be honest with you all.” He gazed intensely at her. He seemed to be waiting for her to accept the truth and give her permission. He did not move.
His focus solely on her, ignoring everyone else around them. He watched each emotion as it crossed her face. She was afraid of what he might say. It was a natural response from someone who thought they’d messed up. He willed her to understand that the information wouldn’t hurt her or him and eventually, she gave him a nod.
Reve smiled at her. “I am 72 and 4 months in universal time living. Birthed at 18.4 years. I was one of the first of the second generation to survive.”
Brens mouth dropped open. Everyone sat stunned around the table. That made him….. “You’re 90 and 8 months old?” she squeaked incredibly. He gave her a sharp nod. “But you look, mid 30s?”
Reve smiled wryly and shrugged. “That was considered the optimum age by the Designers for my designation. So yes, both living and growth time from conception, makes me 90 years old approaching my 91st year.”
“Whatever he’s taking I’ll take two,” Mary blurted out and everyone laughed. The tension cracked along with the laughter. Bren smiled too. “Ok,” Mary told everyone, “so we understand who you are now. So what can you do for us and how do we pay for it?”
Reve felt on firmer ground. He was used to dealing with contracts. He outlined the trading routes to other worlds, the relocation opportunities, the commerce and spoke about the raw materials they had to offer in exchange. He wanted to take samples of the ore and precious stones back to the Space Station and have them verify it and place a value per weight on it. At the same time, they would provide a Galactic Credit access account and a way to get paid and pay for planetary goods and services. As long as it was a fair system for all concerned, the people having a fair share, the Empire had no problem with it.
The sudden chance of vast opportunity caused a great deal of debate and Bren excused herself. She didn’t make these kinds of decisions and she was more than happy for Mary to vote for her. She gave her her proxy and made her apologies leaving the room followed by Zhai. Reve’s eyes never left her. Once outside she took a deep breath and rolled her shoulders. “I’m going to my office to clear up some paperwork, then I’ll be in medical doing my rounds. I want to check on those through the med bed.” He gave her a nod and went back to the meeting. She walked back the way she’d come, now with far more knowledge than she knew what to do with. He was 90 years old… the same age her grandfather would have been had he still been living…..
Reve watched her go. His focus completely on her while the elders of the community debated what they would tell the public and what they were interested in from the Empire.
“Brenna is very important to us,” Jorge told him out of the blue.
Reve looked over to the male and gave a nod. He knew that. “She has lost a great deal in recent years. Her grandparents, who were my friends, her parents who were like my children, her husband who was my junior assistant and even more but that is not my story to tell. What are your intensions? You look so much like Robert it is heart breaking to see it in many ways but also good, to see that part of him goes on.”
“The likeness to Robert is 83%. Logic informs that his genetic great great great great grandparents’ DNA was probably used in my creation. Probably more than once. And at some point, our Doctor Mac, would want samples of Roberts DNA if it is available to compare and add to our understanding. All of those first colonists and descendants really if that’s possible. Brenna is a compatible DNA match for me. She probably always was and may have contributed to her attraction to Robert who carried many of the same DNA markers I do. It comes as no surprise given that she was married to what was effectively, my distant cousin.”
The table had gone quiet. “Does Brenna know?” Mary asked cautiously. Reve gave a nod. “Do Cyborgs have children, families?”
Reve smiled. “We do. We had never thought it possible, but life finds a way and it is possible. We have many Cyborg/Human hybrid children now in the Empire. They are much treasured and loved.”
“That is fascinating, I would love to see that.” Jorge sat forward.
Reve laughed. “A true scientific response. You would be in good company on the Space Station. Mac our human female Doctor, studies us and keeps our medical history for those to come. She is not like the Designers. Does not harm and would e
njoy talking with you.”
Reve could see the older man sit straighter, invigorated at the prospects. “We will discuss all this with our people.” Mary looked hopeful. “Our first priority is the terraforming. Its failing. We lack the parts to fix it and because it never worked properly it never reached the self-perpetuating stage.”
He knew that already. “We have scanned it. You need a complete re-build. We can provide the parts and the expertise and a much more effective model if you’d prefer. You can afford it with what we will pay you for the ore alone. Due to its urgency, I have already put in a request to the Admiral and a ship is on its way with the materials to fix the old or build the new. The choice is yours. You will forgive the impulse, but if you are to stay here it needs to be done without further delay. There is a 92% chance it will fail within the next 32 days. I’m sure you all knew this world was dying.”
He could sense they were nervous about a new ship coming, but they agreed they needed the materials for a chance to survive. They’d thanked him but were still a little uneasy about another ship arriving. After what they’d been through, he couldn’t blame them. It was a natural human response to a greater power. Reve reassured them. If they were to get the surface community back up and running, they needed to work fast and would need plenty of hands to do the work. Another ship meant another 500 Cyborgs. Plenty of hands to do the work. It was their world, their decision. Cyborgs were not here to dominate but to add to their quality of life. If, by chance, Cyborgs found mates on their world, they would welcome them. If not, it mattered not, he knew the Empire would still offer their security and protection if they chose to be part of the Empire or not.
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