by Matt Ward
I was thinking of a reply when a drone appeared. Not a good sign. “We got company.” I pointed. “Should we hit the horn?”
“Not yet,” Abe replied. “Let’s see what the little guy does.”
A few minutes later, it was gone. “What’d I tell ya. Not a big deal.” He grinned. “Got any brothers or sisters, Raj?”
“Nope, just me.”
“That’s a shame. Nothin’s more important than family; family and business that is.” He smiled. “My Pa taught me to be a trader: negotiate deals and bargains, where to sell, who to talk to, that kinda thing. My brother wasn’t interested, always getting in trouble. Joined the army, no surprise there. Stationed overseas, I think. Something about keeping the peace, problems on the Continent. I should call him, it’s been a while since—”
Abe’s head exploded, words dying on his lips. Holy crap! Blood splattered everywhere, spraying me. The wheel slipped from his hand, spinning as the truck turned. We jackknifed, flipping, once, twice.
SLAM.
Everything went black.
15
Pitstop
An amplified voice boomed everywhere at once. “STAY WHERE YOU ARE! HANDS WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM. WE HAVE YOU SURROUNDED. OUR SHOOTERS HAVE YOU IN THEIR SIGHTS. ”
Disoriented, I opened my eyes. The windows of the truck were shattered, the big rig lying on its side. Fitz was awake, peering out the door, rubbing his head.
Where were we?
The cruiser doors opened and armed officers piled out, blasters leveled at us. Red dots appearing on our chests.
Stay calm, Raek. We put our hands up. My cybernetics wouldn’t help here, not if there were other cynetics in those vehicles. We were screwed.
As long as they didn’t kill Fitz. There was enough blood on my hands.
Officers advanced on the rig, guns drawn, unblinking.
“TOSS YOUR WEAPONS AND COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP. ANY FUNNY BUSINESS AND THEY WON’T BE ABLE TO ID YOUR BODIES, YOU’LL HAVE SO MANY BLASTERS UP YOUR ASS!”
We flung the blasters out.
“We get it. We’re coming. Don’t shoot!” Fitz yelled. “Don’t let them take you alive,” he whispered as he ducked out.
There were six officers, two in front, four behind. Three had blasters, three didn’t. So, at least three cynetics with built-in blasters of their own. Outnumbered and outgunned. At least it couldn’t get much worse.
“We’re law-abiding citizens.” Fitz stumbled to his feet. “What’s the meaning of this?”
One of the black-clad officers stepped forward. He was a small slim fellow, unarmed except a pair of curved knives. I’d bet money he was cynetic. Size was irrelevant—he could be strong as an ox and nimble as a snake—his mechatronic muscles and superhuman reactions made him a formidable opponent. And I had no idea what I was doing...
He sneered, pitch black eyes an abyss of suffering and pain. “Cut the crap. Raek here has been a naughty boy. Don’t move your hands, kid. We know you’re semi-cynetic, freak. The nerds back at HQ are excited about you. Half cynetic, half animote… they’re dying to open you up and see how you tick.” He smirked.
Open me up? Swallowing hard, I fought to control my emotions. Don’t let him get to you. “And, Professor Fitz,” he said icily. “What brings you here? Aiding and abetting a half-breed traitor to the state, sounds like capital crimes.”
He raised his palm, pointing it at Fitz’s head. “How’d the boy get his cybernetics?”
Fitz shook his head but stayed cool. “Beats me.”
“Liar.”
Not Fitz too. I took a step forward. “He doesn’t know and I don’t either.”
“Bullshit. You’re going to tell me or your friend dies!” the cynetic hissed.
“I don’t—”
“Wrong answer.” His palm illuminated. He fired.
No… Fitz’s right ear evaporated before my eyes. “You’ll have to work on your aim,” Fitz coughed as blood gushed from the wound.
The cynetic scowled, his eyes narrowing. “Lucky for you, I’m just the deliverer. Search them, boys. Find everything. You know what’ll happen if you miss anything.” He turned to the officers behind him. “Torch their bags and car. No sense leaving anything to chance.”
Tasers hit me and spasms wracked my body. Once I couldn’t fight it any longer, I collapsed to the ground, peeing myself in the process, until the pain subsided.
“Sorry about that,” the cynetic said with a mocking grin I’d have wiped off if I wasn’t writhing. “Standard procedure and all. Besides, it’s only a ten-hour ride to headquarters. You don’t mind sitting in your own piss, right?” A few officers joined in laughing.
“Name’s Thorn, by the way. In case you want a name with the face. Pleasure to meet you.” His lips curled into a predatory smile. “Hurry up, load them in the cars. Separate them. We don’t need any funny business.”
He turned and swaggered back to his car with a confidence that made me sick.
It took another ten minutes to finish their invasive search and burn our gear. Everything we owned, up in flames, just like that.
So much for our luck improving. At least Fitz’s ear stopped gushing. Was he okay?
Stepping toward the car, I had an epiphany. If I was cynetic, I could access the web. In the five steps before being shoved into the cruiser, I posted in three separate radical forums asking for help.
-
Help, I’m an Animote-Cynetic hybrid, REALLY!
Wolfish w/ cybernetics
Captured by DNS/GDR
Username: @nightstalker1
Password: howlsatthemoon
My internal GPS is on!!!
-
No one would see it. And if they did, they wouldn’t believe me. How could they? They wouldn’t be able to help either. Still, it felt better than doing nothing.
Maybe the fact I existed, a mixed-breed… maybe there were others. Maybe there was hope, maybe.
An officer jabbed my finger with a micro-needle. A small prick.
Everything spun.
16
An Apple A Day
I awoke feeling weird. My head was—I don’t know… off.
The door opened.
Stay calm. Think, Raek. Look around, what do you see? It was an operating room. Everything was pristine and white: the walls, the floors, the table. Crap, the table. Why was I strapped to a table? No windows, two swivel chairs, a camera above me. To my right was a drawer filled with scalpels, saws, and all manner of horrible looking tools.
No! I strained my arms and legs, desperate to get out, but tiny red restraints dug into my hands and feet. Ah, that was tight.
What was going on? My heart pounded. What Thorn had said? “The nerds back at headquarters, they’re excited to open you up…”
Someone whistled an eerie tune in the echoey hallway. It made my skin crawl. There was a voice, but I couldn’t make out the words—my ears weren’t working right.
A small, slimy blob of a man walked in. He was hideous. So short, grossly overweight, and completely bald, a face covered in boils. He smiled at me, his tiny black eyes alight with excitement. “Our patient finally decided to wake up, Dr. P.”
Behind him walked—if possible—someone equally as ugly. It was tall and gaunt, skinny beyond any degree of health or youthfulness. And its skin was worse still, so pale and thin, almost translucent—veins and bones practically poking out of the decaying body.
I couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman until I saw the hands. They were massive, much too big to be a woman’s, with long, smooth fingers and manicured nails. “It would appear so, Dr. R. It’s time to get to work.” He smiled toothily at me, hideous, perfect, pearly whites making me ill.
“Raek, my boy, you’ve been given a gift. It’s our job to understand that gift, to cut it out of you.” The fat man’s eyes were fanatical, stretched to the absolute limit of his revolting face. “We’re to peer into your soul, open your genome, and find what makes you tick. Ready for
a little fun?” A tiny giggle escaped his disgusting lips.
Before I could respond, he grabbed a blade from the dressing table and stabbed my hand.
I screamed as spasms gripped me. Tears came.
“How did you get the nanoSTEMs?” Dr. P asked, voice rising. “Were you going to the Resistance? Did Lyam tell you where their headquarters is?”
Sobbing, I closed my eyes. “I don’t know. I don’t, I swear.” My nerves were on fire, pain blinding.
Stay calm. No luck. Piercing agony brought me back to hell. “I don’t know!” I screamed. My SmartCore downregulated the pain until his partner hacked off my big toe with one efficient swipe that sent my nerves ablaze.
I passed out on the third toe. It was more than I could bear. Before everything went black, it hit me. I’d never walk again.
I came to in time to hear, “Got to take a trip to the little boys’ room. Don’t miss me.” Another disgusting giggle, and the door thudded shut.
“Raek, we need to hurry!” The skinny one unclasped the restraints binding my feet.
What? My eyes opened, widening. “What are you doing?”
“My name’s Robiert, I’m undercover with Rebel intelligence, spying on the GDR’s research programs. I’m on your side. We need to get you out of here! You may be our side’s last chance.”
He handed me crutches, and I stood speechless. What was he saying? It wasn’t possible, was it?
He unhooked my shaking hands.
“Did Harding tell you where to go? Where the new Resistance headquarters is? I need to get out of here too, my cover is blown after this.”
“No. Why?” Wait, who’s Harding?
“Follow me!” The sickly man locked the door Dr. R had gone through and opened another. “Down here, come on.” He hurried deeper underground, feet echoing in the tiny stairwell as I struggled after him. Where were we going?
The echo. Something about it was off. My ears again... they’d been acting up since the officer injected me. Come on, Raek, focus. I shook my head to clear the fog.
At the landing, he had another series of questions.
Something wasn’t right. If there were sound sensors in this hallway, talking made no sense. The things he was asking—it hit me. My ears, my eyes, my senses… everything was off. You can’t model consciousness, can’t know exactly how someone experiences life.
This was a simulation, it had to be. A virtual world.
Really?
Closing my eyes, I concentrated on my breath. Please be right...
“Raek, hurry! Raek? What are you—Where’s the new headquarters? Raek?”
I blocked him out, blocked everything and went deeper and deeper. He stabbed me twice. Still, I fought, pain searing. Everything disappeared and I signaled my SmartCore to wake up.
A shockwave rippled through me.
There was light.
17
The Bus
The smooth micro-fibers of the seat, the rhythmic bumps of the road—I was still in the car. We must be driving to Caen, to HQ. My eyes stayed shut.
At least we still had time. I flexed my hands and wiggled my toes. They were there, and they worked! It was a simulation, just virtual reality. Holy crap! I wanted to cry.
That was unreal. No wonder junkies got hooked.
Keeping my eyes closed, I slowed my breathing. They couldn’t know I’d awoken. It was the one advantage I had.
I was in the backseat, the middle, I think. Two officers from the smell of it.
“How much longer, Stev?” the whiner in the front asked. His name was Wilk from what I’d gathered.
“City’s pretty big, busy at this hour.” The driver paused, thinking. “Thirty, forty minutes, not more.” Thirty minutes… that’s it?
“Good, I’m starving. Babysitting isn’t a bad gig after what we heard about this kid. But heck, you’d think they’d feed us or sumthin’. How’s the wife by the way?”
The car stopped, and so did my heart. Were we there, already? No, he’d said thirty minutes.
“Gotta love traffic,” Wilk complained. “That them in front of us?”
“I’ll be damned, it is. Roll your window.” A brief electric whirr and a blast of fresh air and noise. “Fancy seeing you here.”
“Stev, Wilk… how’s it going fellas,” a deep voice from outside boomed over the din. “How was the drive?”
“Uneventful,” Wilk said. “Kid’s been asleep, plugged into the sim the whole time. Hope they’re getting good intel. Wouldn’t want to be him, right? What ‘bout you?”
“Same. Tigerish scum’s out cold.”
Fitz. He was right there… And he was alive.
Now what? I didn’t have a plan but I didn’t have time. This was my last chance.
Leaping forward, I blasted the driver in the face, taking his head off before firing at Wilk. At point-blank range, he never stood a chance. My targeting acquired the two officers in the vehicle next to us. A multi-burst shot. The first blew the window. The next two hit the officers within milliseconds. Blood splattered their bioleather seats.
Instinct told me all threats were neutralized, but I was on high alert, panicking and wired. Were they dead?
I tried the handle. The doors were locked. Leaning, I kicked it off the hinges and slammed through the ultralight steel door.
Adrenaline flowing, I dove over to the other cruiser. There were bikes, buses, and scooters everywhere. A large circle of onlookers had formed on the sidewalk, several commentating like they were filming. Were they armed?
Fitz was sprawled in the back seat, breathing labored. The doors were locked. I smashed the glass, praying no one fired. Shards flew, but I didn’t bother to duck. Grabbing Fitz’s limp arm through the gaping hole, I dragged him to the side, his stump of an ear ripping open once more.
Sirens blared and people screamed as I lifted him out. Shit. Tossing him over my shoulder, I ran, warm blood dripping down me.
The city was big, unbelievably, unthinkably, unimaginably big. Buildings stretched to the sky in all directions. I’d never seen more than a two-story hovel, except in the movies. Unreal.
Flying across the busy sidewalk, sounds and smells assaulted me: flowers, burnt rubber, yelling, sweat...
After four blocks, a small red bus pulled up and a brown haired girl in gray leaned out. “You the hybrid? That you they’re after?”
What? I looked at her and continued to run.
“It’s you. You posted on Animote Power?” she snapped.
Oh! I stopped. She had big brown ears and light fluffy fur covered her hands and cheeks.
“Chimpish?” I asked.
She nodded. “Get in before the DNS show up and take you and your friend to the Basement.” Where?
The sirens were getting louder, and a VTOL took off somewhere in the distance. Did I have a choice?
I climbed in, twisting sideways to make Fitz fit.
“Step on it, Jame!” the girl yelled. “What you waiting for?”
A small man with a greenish tint and scaly skin was at the wheel. He wore a blue hoodie pulled low, his green eyes snatching a glance at Fitz and I as we passed. He floored it and I dropped Fitz into a seat, collapsing beside him.
Where were the VTOLs? We zipped through chaotic streets as sirens faded.
“Quite a stunt you pulled there.” The girl had come to sit across from us. She was pretty—in an unconventional way—dangerous brown eyes, full lips, and a spunky smile to match her sporty physique. “You’re lucky. That’s the busiest intersection in town. Anywhere else and they’d have arrived sooner. We wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
“Who are you? Why are you helping us?” Turning, I readied my blaster, lining up the shot. I hoped I wouldn’t need it.
“Name’s Zedda.” She stuck out her hand. “We’re helping cause you asked.”
“And because you’re rare,” Jame added from upfront. “The Cause needs you.”
“Cause?” I gave her a questioning look.
Made sense. “Rebels?” Fitz had warned me about these guys.
“That’s what the government calls us, or terrorists.” She shook her head. “We think of ourselves as freedom fighters, fighting for the rights of animotes everywhere, and to overthrow the government.”
That didn’t sound so bad. “Whoever you are, thanks. I had no idea what I was going to do.”
“Yeah, I got that.” She laughed. “You did okay, taking out two cynetics and two enhancers.”
“Two and two?” I asked.
“The decals on their cruisers. Besides, partners are always same species. DNS doesn’t mix ‘em, wants to avoid conflict.”
Wait, was this another sim? I closed my eyes, concentrating.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Zedda interrupted. “This isn’t a simulation. Check your eyes, check your ears. Always have something only you know about.”
I opened my eyes and focused. She was right. Everything felt normal, no off feeling. Satisfied, I said, “Where are we headed?”
“A safe place. Can’t tell ya, at least not yet,” she added. “Security, we gotta change cars a few times.” At this point, I was beyond caring.
We screeched to a stop and my eyes bolted open. Weird, no bus. We must have switched to this delivery van at some point. I didn’t remember and that worried me.
We were inside an abandoned warehouse of some kind: high ceilings, gray sheet metal walls, no windows. Could be underground for all I knew. The lighting was artificial, the ground, concrete, and a constant weak echo.
How’d I let myself fall asleep? What was I thinking?
GPS? No luck. Like the simulated surgery, this place had jammers, but my other senses checked out. I wasn’t dreaming, this wasn’t VR. All that happened in the blink of an eye—a hundred milliseconds or less—as my eyes opened.
Zedda was looking at me. “We’re here. Grab your friend and let’s go.”