0103

by Jessie Rose Case

  He scanned the area using both is optic and hearing to maximum for anything that was out of the ordinary. Nothing showed up in his data field. Satisfied, he moved in closer to get the job done. Finding a couple of loose bolts, he fired two more locking bolts into the ground. Checking the relays and moving on working as quickly as possible, making his way around the fencing back to the beginning. He picked up noises in the far distance. The pride was moving. They had seasonal feeding grounds and they were on the move early along with the weather. 0103 Checked the cameras and with one last look around made his way back inside. It was going to be a long winter.

  ***

  Shit. Donna sat up sweat soaked. That dream was….. She couldn’t bring her mind to focus on it. The male in it was magnificent. Was she lusting after a Cyborg? She’d not shown any interest before and not seen anyone to attracted her. Not that she was looking for it. In fact, she was determined not to be noticed! She didn’t need it. The ping went off on her wrist datapad. Damn she was late for her run. Throwing off the flow blanket she ran to the shower drenching herself, drying quickly and dressing.

  She was out the door in eight minutes. Hair wet but ready to run. Brok was standing there tapping his foot. “I know ok. Sleep is killing me,” she mumbled.

  “Problems sleeping?” he asked as they warmed up.

  Donna nodded. “Bloody dreams make no sense.”

  “Want to talk about it?”

  Donna looked up at him. “Seriously? You my BFF now?” She indicated his outfit, all crisp and clean. “Should I blubber all over that?” Brok shuddered and she laughed. “Didn’t think so buddy. Ready?”

  He gave her an ‘after you’ swipe of his arm down the corridor. She sneered as he grinned at her and she set off. Starting slow, she warmed up slowly increasing her pace. Her timing felt good until Brok took over. Then she knew she’d be in a world of pain this time. Twenty minutes later and she checked her lap time. He’d pushed her. It was good. “Up two gears for 20,” he called out then pushed on.

  Donna’s inner body groaned, then picked up the pace. He wasn’t really trying to kill her…. she reminded herself and wiped the sweat from her brow as she paced on. Eventually the pain ended when he called time to wind down and cool off.

  Donna jogged for ten more coming to walking speed for five then stopped shaking out her hands and legs. Brok was barely breaking sweat. Bastard…. She gave him a pained look and he grinned. “Good run sweetness. You’re getting stronger.”

  Donna pulled huge deep breaths into her lungs. She’d need a few more moments before she could speak. She took the water he passed to her. Brok glazed over, then focused on her. “Dropping out of folding space in 15.” She checked her wrist and nodded heading back to her room. “See you there,” he called after her. She gave him the finger chugging down the water. She could hear his laughter long after she’d turned the corner.

  It didn’t take her long to shower and change. The drops from folding space taking their predictable pattern. They continued to drop out early of the fault timeline, sent out sensors for any debris and searched the area. They kept going in a search pattern until they were sure there wasn’t anything, then jumped again to the next one taking note of any viable planets in the area and continuing to place location buoys. If anyone came looking, these worlds if uninhabited and not logged with the Court of Justice, were now in the Cyborg Empire and owned by them. Exploration came with its own rewards.

  Donna walked out her room as the ship’s computer informed, they were about to jump from folding space. Putting her hand on the wall to brace herself for the ship shuddered into normal space. That didn’t affect the Cyborgs. They could adjust their weight to compensate. Mere mortals had to hold on. She jogged down the corridor, turned and jogged down another one, took the lift up four floors and ran towards the Bridge entering and taking her seat.

  “What do we have?” Sord asked as she sat down.

  The vastness of the Bridge always surprised her. The large viewing screen opened to the expanse of space in front of them. It continually blew her away. All that space that went on forever. Literally. She found it amazing. Grabbing her datapad, she looked at the information coming across the pad. Ships sensors were doing their job well.

  “No evidence of debris.” Ops told them.

  Sord turned to her. “Can you sense anything?”

  Donna closed her eyes and reached out. Isolating the bubble of the ship from her senses. She took it slowly, feeling her way as far out as she could go. Nothing stood out. “Nothing.”

  Sord gave her a nod. “Ok gents, follow the breadcrumbs.”

  Their ship moved many times faster than the original ship ever could have in normal space and they didn’t have the technology for folding space. The original ship had worked on old tech engines and crews went in stasis for decades to reach where they wanted to go. Her ship was top of the line and a different animal to the Cyborg craft they were following. From what had been effectively a crash bucket in space, ships now, were flying engineering masterpieces. The engines curtesy of Kim, the Empires Admiral and Head of State. And they could track everything. Mostly everything anyway.

  Donna sieved through the data on her pad. If there was anything to find, they would find it.

  Closing her yes, she filtered out everything else around her and focused on finding organics as the ship moved through space towards their destination.

  For hours she worked through the data looking for anything that triggered her gift. They held position while she slept, then restarted once she’d joined them again. And the dreams kept invading her sleep. Images of the mystery Cyborg would come to her. At first, he was always in the distance. As her ship moved she hadn’t missed that he’d got nearer too. Were they linked somehow? What had started as curiosity soon turned heated once he was in her personal space. The dream depicted her as interested in the Cyborg’s attentions. And on waking her body ached for him once more. She didn’t get it. It wasn’t like her. Cold showers and a nervousness took over her waking routine. Was she creating this dream somehow? Or being pulled into it by someone else? She never heard of Cyborgs being empathic to pull others into their dreams. Actually, when she thought about it. Dreaming really wasn’t a Cyborg trait unless you were…… mated!

  Well that was just wrong! And a hard No. She tried hard to avoid thinking of it and kept to her work. Where she could function and concentrate on what was important. Finding debris at day 5 but no organics was another relief. Every time she found one, it was hard to deal with. The reckless loss of life, seemed criminal. This time projected failure had been off by a day, likely due to a variable they didn’t know about, but no one seemed to have died this time. She turned to Sord and shook her head. “No organics.”

  “Anything else?”

  She calmed her mind and searched. Pushing out her senses. That same trail was caught on the edges of her search. She opened her eyes. “The same ships trail on the far edge.”

  “Affirmative,” ships Ops confirmed.

  “Looks like someone was following them.” Brok’s voice could be heard over the silence.

  “Maybe,” Sord answered. “Or it was the colony ship after all.”

  “There’s no data to support that.” Brok reminded him.

  “True.”

  “The alternative?” Donna couldn’t help but ask.

  “Pirates. Buccaneers. Adventurers.”

  A chill swept over her. “Not originally that wouldn’t be possible. It was too early for them. Space exploration was in its infancy.”

  Sord nodded. “True. But it’s now been a long time since that first exploratory mission. Many things have changed. Humans have gone out in the universe in search of better lives. Be that in a good or bad way. Some made homes, others looked to make empires on the backs of others. There’s no saying who that trail belongs to, if it’s not the original colonists following the ship as they were supposed to do, it could be anyone.”

  Donna frowned. “I get th
at but how would anyone else know about it? We didn’t have much to go on ourselves.”

  Sord shrugged. “Maybe they didn’t either. They might have found some small piece of intel, their degraded trail, the debris, made some educated guesses. Decided to explore where no one had explored before….. we’re pushing them to the fringes. Perhaps someone is looking for an opportunity to stake a claim. Or to find a new source of resources. Become rich. There are many logical answers.”

  She knew all that to be true and Sord wouldn’t have said it otherwise. “That’s a lot of chances to take with no guarantee of a return,” she told him.

  “They’re not known for their logic.”

  Donna shook her head. “Ok but why bother? Death is more likely and there are a lot of nearer options.” she queried.

  “They’re human.” He told her simply.

  “They’re not like most of us.” She told him indignantly.

  Sord nodded. “Exactly. That’s what makes them dangerous.” It bothered her that a small portion of the human race was targeting others. Their reputation tainting all humans. Sord hadn’t meant it to be a sweeping statement or an indication of what he thought of humans in general. It was simply how it looked. She didn’t like it but she couldn’t ignore the truth of it. Humans had come out to space for various reasons and set up their own trade routes, their own businesses. Many of them ruthless with their own kind. The worst of humanity seemed to have found a place in space exploration as it had everywhere else. A forensic anthropologist would have a field day with that one.

  “It could be something else.” Brok told them. They both turned to look at him. “There’s a 32% chance it could just be explorers. 57% Military.” Donna wanted to believe it was something other than pirates, but she didn’t want to be naive. Exploration and military ships had been few and far between. The costs were simply too high and governments had abandoned them as private enterprise had moved in and taken over.

  “Message to the Admiral,” Sord called out. “Pull up all data on Exploration and Military vessels. If something else came this way, I want to know about it. Emissions trail continues in line with the spearhead Cyborg ship. Origin unknown. End message. Check the debris for evidence of a battle or other vessels.”

  “Affirmative.”

  “Set location buoy, deploy sensors relay. Time to next drop?”

  “83.6 Days.”

  “Take us out.”

  Chapter Four

  The dream had come to him again. The moment he took a sleep cycle she was more often than not, there waiting for him. Unable to hold back, the need to be with her grew stronger each time, the dream world was becoming the reality he wanted. The pleasure she gave him something he’d never thought possible. And he wanted more.

  Awake the winter lingered giving him no joy. His perception of day and night, real and dream, became skewed. He wanted the dream, not the reality. His mind confused and unfocused, his logic floundering. He knew his focus was split. His optic displayed how poorly he was functioning as a Cyborg. Something was driving him to the dream time and time again, but he had so little data to work with.

  He reminded himself he had work to do. The ground still crisp was hard underfoot, but the thaw had finally settled in. Still freezing cold, but patrolling had become easier.

  He checked the ground around him just as the beast came out of nowhere surprising him. The haze between darkness and light had hidden his shadow, the beasts heat signature not showing on his optic as he swiped out through the barrier and caught him across the chest. 0103 Staggered back. He knew better than that. He needed to be aware at all times! His system immediately showing him how deep the cuts were and how much trouble he was in. He fired his rifle as he moved away catching it in the neck. The beast reared up and moved away. 0103 Gained his feet and fired again. Centre body mass. It went down hard. Why his sensors hadn’t pick it up he didn’t know. The female? Blood bubbled to the surface of the wounds and started to seep into his clothing. The running diagnostic, told him he needed to urgently sterilise the wound. He knew from experience, the predator’s claws held poison. The wound would be soon infected and if not cleaned completely and treated, death would be the outcome.

  Holding the wound, he checked the area, he couldn’t see any more in the dim sunrise shadows. Not that he’d seen that one, he reflected ruefully. Pushing his optic and audio as far as possible he tried to find anything out of the ordinary around the security fencing. Nothing showed on his optic. Could he believe that? His data told him he no longer truly believed in his own abilities. How could he? They were failing him. His responses were slower, and his functioning ability was down to 83%. The damaged he’d just sustained would lower that percentage further. He was severely compromised.

  Angry with himself for allowing the distraction, he put pressure on the wounds, slowing his circulatory system walking carefully back to the ship. His power depletion showed flashing in red across his optic. He was in trouble… Coming fast. The last thing he needed was to slip and fall and be unable to help himself. If he went down, his system told him at that moment, he’d struggle to get up again. And if he didn’t get up ……. His steps halted, as he gripped the side of his ship, slowing his breathing right down. Pain penetrated his nervous system as the poison took hold. Fuck..

  Putting one foot in front of the other, he staggered to reach the loading ramp, as he pulled himself up and engaged the doorway. As if he needed the visual, just how much the poison was affecting him flowed across his optic. His lack of physical ability told him that and more. “Computer….. ship lock down, security protocol in place” he called out verbally. No longer trusting his neuro net connection. It was on the blink.

  “Affirmative Medic 0103.”

  The door way closed behind him. Knowing he needed to make it to medical before the poison stopped him functioning altogether, 0103 pushed off the wall keeping him up and made his way across the loading bay to the connecting doorway. It led to the internal corridor that would take him to the lift and then medical. His nano’s were working overtime, drawing everyone he could spare to the affected area, he was burning through them quickly. His body soaked in sweat as his system worked to expunge the invasion in his system.

  He’d seen how this poison affected Cyborgs. It deteriorated the neuro net, the connective pathways and the wiring. Broke them down until they no longer functioned. His data told him exactly the fastest route and how long it would take him to Medical in his current condition. The time lapse was surprising. It was a reminder that he was more compromised that he’d first thought.

  Everything in him told him to hurry. He moved as fast as he dared. Sending instructions to his central nervous system to cool down his body. He knew from experience, the colder he was, the slower the poison would take hold.

  Accessing the lift system, he pressed for medical and leaned back against the wall, trying to steady his breathing. Would he survive this? His data showed him the percentage of that possibility. 0103 Laughed. Those odds were pitiful. He was likely a dead man. The female crossed his mind…. Had he ever been close to finding her?

  The doors opened, 0103 looked on as he wondered if he had the strength left to fight it. The females face swam before his optics. You are not alone….. her voice called to him. Drawing the last of his strength from his body, burning into valuable resources making him weaker, more vulnerable to the poison, he pushed himself out the door and down the corridor. The diagnostic running on his systems showed him he was down to 39%. The poison was taking hold faster than he’d hoped.

  A moment of fear assaulted him. He might not make it…. “Computer…. systems ……on automatic ….until further notice. Emergency… protocol in place.”

  “Affirmative.”

  Emotions dominated his optic diagnostic. He fought on to make it. The female flowed across his optic. He’d never get to see her in the real world. Know who she was. Hold her for real… He pushed the thoughts away as he moved determinedly down the corridor
towards medical. He would make it….. He wasn’t losing this battle….

  Moving slower than he thought possible in his condition towards his goal, he was reduced to using the wall to help support himself. Reminded of what was at stake, he worked through what he needed to do for the wounds as he moved forward. Flush the wound with sterilising agent, inject biotics into the wounds, followed by nano’s around the wounds. Bridge the tear’s with nano strips. Cover and protect. He was at the doorway at last. His breathing heavily affected. Making an effort for the door, his functionality was down to 22%. His internal alarm was blaring across his mind. He fucking knew already….. Slapping his hand on the ID pad, the medical door opened. 0103 Pushed off walking straight for the equipment cabinet. Opening doors and draws knocking several things over in the process. His co-ordination compromised, as well as his breathing. His control over his limbs diminishing with every second. He was out of time!

  Ignoring the damage he’d just done, he pulled the equipment he needed together, then turned looking for the medical bed. His optics became blurry. Try as he might, he couldn’t focus and blindly headed in the direction of the bed. Crashing into it told him he’d found it. Dumping the equipment on the bed, he crawled on, stripping the blood-stained T, from his body. He could at least feel where the injuries were. He didn’t need to see them. Getting to work he pushed the steriliser directly into the wounds flushing them. Biting down at the intense pain the flushing fluid created. His hands were shaking more now… Hi vision gone, he grasped for the injector, added the biotic vile and depressed it straight into wounds. He roared as the horror of pain burned into the wounds, the biotics doing their job. That was the easy bit, he almost cried.