The Bionics

by Alicia Michaels

Six

  Blyth Sol, Gage Bronson, Yasmine Zambrano, Jenica Swan and Professor Neville Hinkley

  Restoration Resistance Headquarters, the office of Professor Neville Hinkley

  August 16, 4010

  7:00 am

  Breakfast in the Professor’s quarters is tense, but necessary if we’re going to organize some kind of rescue mission for forty-eight hours from now. Jenica has rolled in the flat-screen partitions, filling the conference area with maps and surveillance footage of both Memphis and Stonehead, the maximum-security prison facility where Bionics are held while awaiting their punishment, which is always execution. We are watching a video feed hijacked from the MP station in Memphis of Bionics coming and going from their underground shelter. They did a good job of keeping hidden, only letting those with less-obvious technology leave and only when absolutely necessary. It was the small mistakes that got them caught, and we all watch the footage of the arrest silently. I glance around and see some with anger in their eyes, others with despair. It mirrors my own turbulent emotions at watching members of the Resistance rounded up like cattle and carted off to prison.

  Beside me, Yasmine allows a tear to slip down her cheek and, across from me, I can see Olivia is fighting them. Professor Neville has already seen this footage and is busy tackling his biscuits and coffee. Dax and Gage are glaring at each other from across the table and any second now, I’m thinking they’re going to pull out the rulers for a dick-measuring contest.

  Men.

  “That footage was taken by Military Police cameras outside the Memphis hideout for the members of the Resistance arrested by the Enforcers,” Jenica says, pausing the video feed and turning to face us with her usual military precision. “Our intel suggests that even though many of them were captured, there are still several down there that need to be rescued. Also an issue, is the fact that the Memphis branch of the Resistance is responsible for procuring fuel for our vehicles. This is not an immediate concern, as we have some in reserve for situations just like this. The important things right now are the prisoners at Stonehead and those still trapped inside of the Memphis Hideout.”

  “How many still inside?” Dax asks, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms across his chest.

  “At least one hundred,” she answers. “Should we undergo a rescue mission, we will need two crafts to bring them back, so we’ll need a second pilot. I will, of course, serve as the first.”

  “It’s a trap,” Olivia says, popping a genetically engineered grape into her mouth. My whole life I’ve wondered if the bio-crap the government came up with to replace real produce tastes anything like the stuff that used to grow in the ground. Of course, this technology is at least half a century older than I am and by the time I was born, real crops were no longer an option. Oh, and forget about beef from a real cow. I’ve never even seen a cow in person, let alone eaten one. Everything is synthetic; the real stuff is reserved for those with really deep pockets. I’m sure the president is eating Grade-A beef with his eggs right now.

  The bastard.

  “Of course it’s a trap,” Jenica snaps, her human eye rolling in exasperation. “That doesn’t mean we’re going to leave them there in the hands of the Enforcers. We need to think of a way to draw the MPs away long enough for us to get them out of there.”

  “Why not focus on the prisoners already captured by the Enforcers?” Gage asks.

  “Because it’s exactly what they’ll be expecting,” I answer. “It’s too obvious.”

  Gage smiles, and I lower my eyes to my half-eaten toast and blush. “Then let’s do something way less obvious and way more daring,” he says.

  Jenica frowns. “I don’t think I like the sound of that, but perhaps you should elaborate, Mr. Bronson.”

  Gage stands, bracing himself against the table with his large fists. He turns his head slowly, looking every one in our group in the eye as he speaks.

  “It’s simple, really. We go out in two teams: one to Memphis and the other to Stonehead.”

  “A double mission? Infiltrating Stonehead and the Memphis hideout on the same day?”

  “Not just on the same day,” Gage answers, “but at the exact same time.”

  “Impossible,” Dax snorts. “We don’t have that kind of firepower, and we don’t have that many people.”

  Gage glances at Jenica’s plans and frowns. “You have hundreds,” he counters.

  “And it would take all of them to overwhelm the guards at Stonehead,” Dax retorts. “Don’t you know anything? That place is a fortress, maximum security. Even if we outmanned them, they outgun us. They could pick us off like fish in a barrel.”

  “The way I see it, you wouldn’t need that many people if one of your groups carried a walking EMP,” Professor Hinkley interjects, his voice barely above a whisper.

  “An EMP?” Gage asks. “What is that?”

  “Electromagnetic pulse,” Jenica answers, her brow knit with bewilderment as she studies the Professor. “But, that would render us all helpless. Every member of our team would be stuck in the field with malfunctioning apparatuses.”

  “Can someone please explain—real-people speak—what the hell an electromagnetic pulse is and why it’s a problem?” Gage asks, pacing toward the monitors near Jenica and studying the virtual layouts of the two places we need to infiltrate.

  “An EMP is a burst of electromagnetic radiation,” the Professor says, standing as he goes into what I like to call ‘teacher mode’. This is when he’s at his best. “Basically, it is a wave of particles, both electric and magnetic that usually results from a high-energy explosion, like a nuclear bomb. It is capable of coupling with electrical systems and producing damaging voltage surges. In short, it can cause a breakdown of an entire network of computerized hardware, rendering it useless. As Jenica and everyone else in this room are fully aware, centuries ago, we discovered that an electromagnetic pulse could be created without the harmful effects of nuclear explosion, enabling a person to harness the same side effects.”

  “Meaning, if an EMP goes off anywhere near any person with bionic equipment, their gear is going to crap out on them,” I say between sips of coffee.

  “I don’t get it,” Gage says to the Professor. “If the EMP is dangerous to pretty much everyone in this room, why would you suggest us bringing in a portable one?”

  “Because it would disable MP armor, weapons, and vehicles,” Olivia supplies with a shrug.

  “The playing field would be even then, but I’d rather have the advantage,” Jenica says.

  The Professor clears his throat. “I’ll clear all that up if you would just follow me to the lab. I want to show you all something.”