by Lisa Lace
His father spoke again. “Robert, you should have talked to us about your plans before you signed anything. We’re your parents. We could have helped you make sure your choices were the best for your future.”
Wrath couldn’t look at the man and turned his gaze to the worn shag carpeting under his feet. He knew that after he left, he might never step on that floor again. “I don’t think it would have mattered that much. What other options did I have?” He looked up to see his mother purse her lips.
“If you didn’t want to stay here, we could have talked to Aunt Marsha. She has a big house, and she’s all alone now that her girls have moved out. I’m sure she would let you stay with her. There’s a community college nearby.”
The room seemed to rattle when Wrath shook his head. “It’s too late now. I’ve made my decision. If you wanted to stop me, you could have done something a long time ago.” He could feel the defiant jut of his chin as he stared emotionlessly at the couple.
His parents were silent for a moment. Finally, with a heavy sigh, the man spoke. “We know why you think you need to do this, Robert. I promise that things aren’t as bad as you think. It’s been hard living with your brother. But we’re doing everything we can.”
“Everything you can? That’s the first time you’ve lied to me in this conversation.” Wrath pushed himself up from the ugly couch. “How can you say that to me? Do you think grounding him is doing anything when he sneaks out every night? He couldn’t care less if you don’t let him go to the basketball games or the homecoming dance. He doesn’t even want to go! He makes you think he likes those things so he won’t miss anything when you take them away from him.”
His heart ached as he remembered the decisions he’d made to start the next phase of his life. Rachel was important to him, and he had dumped her. It had taken only a few minutes, but the damage to his heart wouldn’t heal for years. The thought infuriated him.
“Sit down, Robert.”
He shook his head. He was on a roll now, and wouldn’t let anyone stop him. “No. I’ve sat down and taken everything you gave me for too long. I tried to make the other kids at school forget who I was and my origins. For a while, it was working. I had a spot on the varsity football team, a beautiful girlfriend, and I saved up every penny I had to buy clothes that no one could mock. I thought I had fixed everything. Jimmy had to go and mess everything up.” He could feel the anger boiling beneath his skin and started to pace the shabby room to release his energy.
“Jimmy hasn’t taken any of that away from you,” his mother protested.
“Yes, he has, Mom! Our town is too small to avoid the rumor mill. I thought I could go to college. Rachel and I might get married and buy a house in the right part of town. Even if I manage to get out of here, everyone will still think of me as nothing more than a loser from the wrong side of the tracks. I have to leave.”
The man threw his hands in the air, giving up. “All right, if that’s the way you want it. I know you’ll make an excellent serviceman, just like your grandfather. We’ll be waiting for you when you get home.”
“If I’m lucky,” Wrath retorted, “I won’t be coming home at all.” He stomped past his parents and out the front door, slamming it behind him.
The crash of the door closing triggered a searing pain in the cyborg’s head. He fell to the floor clutching at his hair. He was willing to do anything to make the pain stop.
On the other side of the door was a shaggy yard. It had brown grass that was either dead or dying everywhere. The trees around it were overgrown. Weeds and vines snaked up their trunks as they tried to find their way out of the tiny yard. Wrath saw it for only a moment before the pain forced his eyes shut and the vision disappeared. He felt as though he could describe every speck of dust on the porch. Even through the anguish in his head, he could remember each cobweb that clung to the shutters on the house and all the streaks of dirt covering the old van parked in the driveway.
“Wrath? Captain?” A voice called to him from a distance. The cyborg struggled to move through a great void, searching for a way out. He didn’t know where he was going or how to get there, but it would have to be better than the pain and the emptiness around him.
“What’s wrong with him?” A different person was speaking now, and her voice was beautiful. It sounded like music as it filtered into his ears. He swiveled his head, listening and trying to locate the sound again. If he could hear it one more time, he would know what direction to take. He could swim through the darkness and find his way out.
He heard other sounds in the background, but they wouldn’t help him escape like that lovely voice. He ignored them, waiting impatiently for something that would tell him where to go. He typically had orders or enough information to make a decision. Here he had nothing.
Something small and cold touched his forehead. Wrath couldn’t see it, but he could feel it brushing against his skin. It pushed his hair back, swept down his cheek, and cradled the side of his neck. The muscles in the cyborg’s body suddenly relaxed, and the darkness consumed him.
Chapter Twenty
Hiking behind Wrath was a step up in Rachel’s conditions. He was a little grumpy, but she knew he wouldn’t hurt her. He wasn’t like Weapon, who made it clear that he wanted her dead. She couldn’t count on him being like the Robert she had known before, but he was her closest tie to safety for the moment, and she thought she could get through the night attached to his waist.
The ground here was level, and even though she tripped over a thick-branched brush that tried to block her path, most of it had already been knocked down by the body of the massive cyborg in front of her. She wasn’t going to complain as long as she was alive.
Rachel had considered trying to start a conversation with Wrath. It felt awkward walking through the darkness together without saying anything. Unfortunately, she couldn’t think of much to say. She had already tried everything she could imagine to help the cyborg understand, but nothing had worked. The essence of Robert didn’t seem to be in Wrath’s mind anymore. He was only a machine that was determined to get to the next waypoint.
When Wrath stopped unexpectedly, Rachel nearly crashed into his back. She dug her toes into the sand and managed to prevent herself from falling. “What’s wrong?” she whispered. He didn’t answer her.
The cyborg stood like a statue and presented a darker shadow against the night sky. He held his arms stiffly at his sides. Rachel slowly noticed that the soldier was gently swaying back and forth. She cried out as Wrath fell to his knees and collapsed onto the dirt.
The other members of Green Squad clustered around them. Their boots kicked up dust as they pulled Rachel away from Wrath. “What did you do to him?” Weapon snarled angrily. “We’re going to find out, and we’re going to fix him. Don’t bother trying to keep any secrets.”
“I didn’t do anything,” Rachel moaned. “We were walking together, he stopped for a minute, then collapsed.”
The scarred cyborg crouched over Wrath, checking his vital signs and initiating a basic scan of the other cyborg’s operating system. Wrath seemed aware of his surroundings. He grabbed his head weakly as his body began to convulse. Rachel held her breath and wondered if he was going to die in front of her eyes. She didn’t want him to expire without remembering his past life, and she was sure Green Squad would kill her without Wrath’s protection.
Rachel bravely reached out a hand to touch Weapon on his arm. “Do you think you can fix him?”
Weapon ignored her question as he rocked back on his heels. “We’ve all had problems like this before. It will subside soon enough.”
His answer wasn’t good enough for Rachel. There had to be something she could do to help Wrath even if she wasn’t trained to repair him. Anxiously, she shoved her way back through the crowd around the cyborg leader and held her bound hands out toward Weapon. “Cut me loose.”
He eyed her warily, uncertain of her intent, but eventually pulled a knife from his belt. Rachel flinche
d as the cyborg pulled on the rope around her wrists and sliced it apart, the metal cutting through the restraints like butter.
Rachel reached out to Wrath. She cradled the back of his head with one hand, pulling him gently into her lap. She ran her other hand across his face, letting her fingers caress his features. He might not be the same man she had known, but she still cared for him. Rachel couldn’t let him die alone. The cyborg relaxed under her touch, and she continued to stroke his face.
Clayton’s voice called out of the darkness. “I know how to fix him. The problem is with his biochip.”
Rachel turned around. She could barely make out the shape of Clayton in the night. He was standing up and had one hand on his stomach. Clayton was still in pain from Wrath’s beating. “What’s the matter with the biochip?”
“It’s shorting out after being in the desert for months with no maintenance. The cyborgs were made to be self-sufficient in extreme conditions over a short period. They weren’t designed to operate for a year without servicing.”
“How do you know?” Weapon asked. His question reflecting Rachel’s thoughts. “You said you’ve only been part of Cyborg Sector for a few months. By your admission, you’re no scientist.”
Clayton acknowledged the truth of Weapon’s statement with a nod of his head. “I know. But I spent plenty of time watching the scientists do their jobs during my time with them. I’ve seen biochip degradation before.” He swallowed nervously. The other cyborgs were beginning to listen to him. “When the biochip starts to break down, the neural pathways rerouted during conversion become blocked. One of the side effects of the cyborg conversion process is that neurons quickly regenerate. It doesn’t take long for a cyborg’s brain to compensate for the dead connections.”
“Let’s pretend I don’t know anything about neuroscience. I understand the individual words you’re saying, but I can’t connect them together in my mind. What does that mean?” Weapon was clearly interested in the answer.
“To put it into plain English, it means Wrath is reconnecting with memories Cyborg Sector suppressed.” Clayton’s arrogant demeanor began to reappear. As Rachel’s eyes began to adjust to the darkness, she could make out the haughty countenance of his face. “It can be a messy process...” He trailed off, shaking his head and looking away.
“Don’t start getting shy now, Clayton,” Rachel muttered. The last thing she needed was the only human male around to start injecting drama into her life as if he were a woman. “It’s time for full disclosure.”
“I only saw it happen to one cyborg. The scientists were trying to get him ready for rehabilitation but were having trouble getting him under control. Something had eroded his biochip so much that they were having difficulty getting all of the connections repaired. A different person worked on him every day. They tried various surgeries and therapies, but the subject eventually killed himself.”
Rachel and Green Squad stared at him with open mouths. The idea of a cyborg committing suicide seemed impossible.
“This happened right after my contract started with Cyborg Sector,” Clayton continued. “They said they learned a lot from the experience. I don’t know of any similar cases. Most of the cyborgs made a smooth transition to rehabilitation.”
The reporter was becoming impatient, and she sensed the same apprehension from the members of Green Squad around her. She would have put her hands on her hips and angrily stomped her foot if she hadn’t been holding Wrath’s head. “Thanks for the background. What do we need to do? If there’s a cure for his condition, spit it out.”
Clayton threw his hands in the air helplessly. “There isn’t anything we can do. Are you carrying an operating room in your pocket? We don’t have the right tools or possess the knowledge. Your pet cyborg there is screwed unless you get him into a lab staffed with professionals.”
Rachel felt defeated and sagged forward, pressing her forehead against Wrath’s chest. If Wrath had anything to say about it, he would never return to Cyborg Sector. He had said earlier that he would rather die than turn himself in. It was starting to look like he might get his wish.
The other cyborgs stood silently around her. Rachel noticed that none of them were proposing a course of action. She sensed they were waiting for her to speak. Something had changed in the way they viewed her. Perhaps it was how she cared for Wrath as he suffered, or perhaps it was something else. Either way, they weren’t looking at her solely as a prisoner.
“I guess I’ll have to convince him to change his mind,” she whispered to herself. Tears welled up at the corners of her eyes as she pulled herself up from the cyborg’s chest. She tipped her head back to see the stars. They looked like sparkling jewels against the dark sky. They were the same stars she and Robert used to watch a lifetime ago when they lay together in the bed of his truck. On those nights, when she lost herself in the evening sky, she felt like she could have been on another planet.
The cyborgs didn’t argue with her, and she took their silence as a sign that she should continue. Rachel turned her gaze to the soldier in her arms. “I don’t know if you can hear me or not. You’re having problems with your biochip. They probably started long ago. The issues are worse than you realize. Only Cyborg Sector can help you now. I know you don’t want to go back to them, but you have to. Your life depends on it.”
Even though the cyborg lying on the ground didn’t stir, it seemed like his pain had subsided. He wasn’t moaning or holding his head. Wrath lay limp and relaxed in Rachel’s arms with his eyes shut. She didn’t know if this was a positive development or not, but she was grateful that she no longer had to watch him writhe on the ground.
Rachel didn’t know what to do. She looked up at the soldiers surrounding her. She had spent plenty of time being terrified by them, but now they didn’t scare her at all. The expressions on their faces showed sadness and concern, not anger. They were created to kill humans; they wanted their leader to survive. “What should I do?” she asked, eager for anyone to offer guidance. “I don’t even know if he can hear me.”
“He can,” Watcher replied slowly. “This has happened to me before. I wasn’t affected to this extent, but I remember that I could hear everything around me. I could even sense the breathing of other cyborgs. The sounds made me want to regain consciousness.”
Rachel nodded appreciatively. If the observation specialist was correct, she had a chance. “Did it hurt?” she asked quietly.
His nod was almost imperceptible in the darkness, and his eyes glittered as they darted among the other cyborgs. “It was more painful than being shot.”
Although she had hoped for a different answer, Rachel wasn’t surprised. No cyborg would react like Wrath did without a good reason.
She decided to speak to him again. “Please, Wrath.” The strange name made her tongue feel thick, but she pushed on. “You’ve got to wake up so we can help you. You have to get back to civilization, but I can’t carry you. Come back to us. Come back to me so we can fix you together.”
Wrath’s left hand lay sprawled in the sand. Rachel gently picked it up and held it against her chest, marveling at the thickness and strength of his fingers. His skin felt rough from the lack of lotion in the desert, but there was still warmth inside his body. Wrath was a cyborg who should not be brought down by something as minor as a biochip. Rachel could never again have the Robert Williams she knew before, but she had to do everything she could to save this version of him.
Rachel’s muscles became tense as a heavy hand descended upon her shoulder. She was prepared for one of the Green Squad members to drag her away from Wrath. Someone might say she was nothing more than a human and that she had no right to fuss over a cyborg.
But the hand stayed on her. The weight felt heavier when another joined it. A third hand clamped down on her, and more. Finally, she understood. The cyborgs stood behind her and wanted her to be successful. Even though Green Squad had fought for their independence, they knew the time for running was over.
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nbsp; Chapter Twenty-One
Wrath floated in a darkness that didn’t end. Everything around him was a contradiction. His body seemed weightless, but his arms and legs were too heavy to move. He touched nothing and everything at the same time. He wanted his feet to be on solid ground again.
A flash of brilliant light assaulted his eyes. Wrath couldn’t raise his hand to protect his face. The ball of luminescence zoomed toward his face at an incredible speed. He could not avoid colliding with it.
When the light reached him, it didn’t stop. It went directly into his eyes, burning its way through his pupils and burrowing into his brain. Wrath opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out.
Inside his head, the flare coalesced into something new.
He suddenly saw long rows of LED bulbs recessed into a ceiling. Wrath was staring at the lights of a hospital. Everyone around him had green masks covering their faces. They were doing something to his body.
Even though Wrath wasn’t moving, he could feel sharp pricks from the instruments. The doctors sliced through his skin with knives, manipulating and evaluating his organs. They removed some and shoved others aside while they put in new ones.
“This is a good specimen,” someone said as he made a small incision over the top of Wrath’s ear. The doctor wore a magnifying device over one eye, and his mask moved when he spoke. “We have complete access to all his pathways. It should be easy to reroute this neural network.”
“Good,” replied another man without looking up. He was fiddling around in Wrath’s chest cavity, but the cyborg couldn’t see what he was doing. “The body is relatively unscathed, considering what happened to it. I bet we’ll have this one up in the barracks by the end of the week.”
“It’s getting easier. I’ve performed so many of these surgeries that I stopped counting them. Someone refresh my memory. What happened to this guy again?”