by Maia Starr
“No, I should protect you. Where are you going? You can't head to the wall. You should take refuge in the center of the village far from the invasion,” I said.
“No. I am not a coward. I am to set up a medical tent along the wall in this direction so that if anyone gets hurt, I am already there. There are four medical points set up. Others are doing their job, and so should I. So should you,” she said.
“Fine, I will go,” I said.
I turned and flew away back to the perimeter fence. If I stayed any longer, I would be shouting at her. She was frustrating. She was fiery. She was everything that I dreamed of.
“I have returned; tell me the news,” I said to Marcus. Then he walked me through the procedures that they had planned. I told him which direction my army would be coming from but that it would be in the sky and they would know about the electrical fences because Azlo would tell them. We spoke for a long time making up a plan. He was very smart and was good with strategy. I trusted him because he had been standing on this wall for years. He knew what it could do. He knew what it looked like when Clenok cyborgs came up to the wall.
I looked in the direction that Vanessa would be stationed. I wanted to go to her, but she did not want me around. It was fine. I was needed here. If I was successful in defending the village, then I would be successful in protecting her as well. I only wished I could see the look on her face when she saw the army. Since she did not believe that such an army existed, I would get some satisfaction out of her seeing it for the first time. Of course, she would make the excuse that their sole purpose was to have sex with human females. She just would not let up. She wouldn't let me win.
“What is that?” Marcus said pointing to the sky.
“That is my soldier Jex. He is returning from his scout,” I said.
“You are so fast when you fly, it is like a blur,” he said.
“Yes, it is. It is a great advantage. We do simple movements, but it comes out at great speeds. We are fortunate. Jex will have more news of the cyborg army,” I said.
Within seconds, Jex landed on the perimeter fence next to me.
“What news?”
“There is a cyborg army, about five hundred of them. I saw one keddle, and only one. This is good news. If we can take out the keddle, then we can take out the entire army. They do not seem to be moving. They are sedentary. In fact, it seemed like they were waiting for something. I didn't even see any of them scanning the skies or the area. But I did not wait around long. I got in and got out, just as you asked. So that is good news,” he said.
“Yes, that is good news. They are not moving; that buys us some time. But what are they waiting for? I have a feeling that I am not going to like the answer. When you give machines that are intelligent the way they are extra time then they are able to compute better tactics,” I said.
“Let us hope that you are wrong and that Azlo and General Razook get here with the army before the Clenok cyborgs do,” he said.
Chapter 14
Dr. Vanessa Lopez
I didn't know why he made me so angry. I knew that it did not feel good to be used. I think that was what was getting to me the most. It was because I thought he had sex with me because he desired me and wanted me. Not because he needed to do it in order to survive. Could I trust him? Was it true that he really didn't know that having sex with me would save him? I wanted to believe it. But my cynical side would not allow me to. It was as if I could hear Dr. Douglas’s words in my head.
I was so deep in thought that I didn't even hear the noise above me. I was looking around for the tent that I needed to set up. I took off my backpack and sat down my toolbox. I should have had Karik come with me just to set this up and then get rid of him. But I wasn't thinking at the time. I was only angry at him for using me, and I did not want to see his beautiful face. If I spent any time with him, I would forgive him eventually. It was easier to stay mad at him. Anger was a defense against having to come to terms with my feelings. It was better that way.
Suddenly I was lifted off the ground. I thought it was Karik. I looked up and let out a terrifying scream. It was not Karik at all. It was a drone. I had only seen one in a long time ago when there was an attack on the military base. There weren't very many of them in the cyborg army. I had heard that each army only had one of them. For some reason, the technology was hard for them, and humans easily shot them down. But we did not have very many weapons, and I knew that the arsenal was only being emptied right now. I doubted that there were many set up on the perimeter. But even so, they could not shoot it with me in its grasp. I would fall to my death. I screamed louder and louder, hoping to get anyone's attention. The drone was flying me toward the wall. It went higher and higher and soon I was going over it. I could not see any lights because the village was dark. I was terrified that it was going to drop me in the electrical fences. Why had it picked me up?
“Let me go!” I shouted. But it was no use. You couldn't talk to a drone. You couldn't negotiate with it. I was so high that if it did drop me, I would die. I had no choice but to let it take me wherever it was taking me.
“Karik! Karik!” I shouted knowing that he was the only one that could rescue me. I didn't know where in the village he was other than on the fence somewhere. But would he be able to hear me anyway? Maybe he had some sort of super hearing. He could fly. That meant he could save me. But I screamed over and over again as the drone took me farther into the darkness of the night. I noticed there were no flashing lights on the drone; it was staying secret. It had managed to sneak into the village. It had managed to abduct me. I couldn't believe it.
“Where are you taking me?” I said knowing that there was no point in asking but it was just making myself feel better to keep talking. I screamed over and over again, hoping that anyone would hear me, but I was so far from the village. Maybe this army that Karik spoke of was real and was on its way. Maybe it would hear me and rescue me.
Suddenly I was high over the mountain range. Shit. I knew where it was taking me. It was taking me to the cyborg camp that the scout said was camping on the other side of the mountain. But why? I had not heard of Clenok cyborgs abducting humans. This was a new trick. My scientist side was very fascinated to know why. But the human in me was terrified. The Clenok cyborgs wanted nothing more than to get rid of all humans. They wanted to drive us to extinction. So whatever it was they wanted me for wouldn't be for long. They were going to kill me. That was going to be my fate no matter what. I wished that I had brought the drive with me with the virus on it. Since I was going into the camp anyway, this could be my shot. At least my life would not have been wasted for nothing.
I looked down, and suddenly we were over the cyborg camp. I couldn't believe it. There were Clenok cyborgs as far as I could see. It seemed like at least five hundred of them or more. I was trembling. Then I saw something that I had never seen before: the keddle. reminded me of a very large silver Airstream trailer. It was moving about. I grew more frightened as the drone flew me directly toward the keddle. I didn't bother screaming anymore. I knew my fate. All I could do was look around and absorb everything that I could. I was somewhere that no human had ever been before: a cyborg camp.
The drone set me down on my feet next to the keddle. Two Clenok cyborgs came toward me. Their eyes were glowing red. Their silver machine bodies walked toward me. The sound of metal and electrical circuits as they walked toward me was frightening.
The heads of the Clenok cyborgs were slick silver metal. They almost looked like human weredragons with eyes, nose, and mouth. It was very strange to look at this close. The torso of the cyborg was full of different lights, flashing. There were lots of wires exposed. The legs were skinny metal, almost like human bones. There were all kinds of guns draped all over it.
One cyborg grabbed my arm and pulled me back toward the keddle. I just obeyed. I didn't bother to fight; they would just kill me. I faced the keddle as I was pulled toward it. Suddenly it opened up. I was shocked. Inside th
ere were lots of computer components. It would have been fascinating, if I wasn't about to die.
Then there was a box. The cyborg pushed me onto it until I was sitting down. I looked around, trying to absorb all the information that I could. I did not know what was happening. Was this normal? Were they going to absorb my human energy or something?
Then out of nowhere, I felt a sharp pain. A large needle was stuck into my arm that was attached to a cord. I screamed in pain. Then the pain was gone. The screen to the side of me began to run code. I knew it well from coming up with my own virus on the laptop. The computer was reading me. It was intense. I couldn't believe it. They hooked me up to a computer in order to absorb information from me. I wondered exactly what they were trying to get out of me. I wondered how long this was going to take. As I sat there, I looked around at all the wiring and surroundings. I saw many ports. These were ports that you could attach wires to or even a jump drive. Dammit, I wished I had that virus. Why didn't I put it in my pocket instead of hiding it safely? That would've changed everything.
Then something happened that shocked me. I felt like I could understand the keddle. It was coming to me in waves. It's not like it was speaking English, but I was getting some sort of information directed at me.
It was then that I realized I was there because they were running tests. I thought it was ironic. This was what I did daily. Now I was being the one being tested on. They were testing me to find out more information about humans. They were trying to find out what our vulnerabilities were. Wait a minute? Were they trying to understand human anatomy so that they could create a virus or plague to wipe us out? Of course; it made sense. It was what we had thought of doing to them, so naturally, they would want to do the same thing back to us. It would be easier than fighting battles.
A cyborg walked over to me and pulled the wire out of a port and then pushed it into another one. Then it turned and looked at me. I looked into its red glowing eyes. It was weird. It was it was looking at me as though to say something. But that was not possible. Then it walked away and turned to face me again. It was keeping guard, or keeping watch on the equipment. I hoped that this would take hours. The longer it took, the more I could figure out how to get out of there.
Chapter 15
King Karik Korinth
“What? What do you mean a drone? This cannot be,” Marcus shouted over the radio. I looked at him. He looked sick to his stomach.
“What is it? What is going on?” I asked.
“There is a report. A drone has taken a woman out of the village. It is unbelievable; we have never seen anything like it,” he said.
“Where? Where did it happen?” I asked frantically. I already knew in my heart that it was Vanessa.
“It was from the south medic tent. I think it was Dr. Lopez. That is her station,” Marcus said.
“Jex, with me!” I shouted. Within seconds, we were flying towards the medical tent.
I landed in the area where she had been walking to. I saw her bag and toolbox that she had been carrying.
"Vanessa!” I shouted. Jex shouted too. We quickly flew into the air and scanned the area.
“She is not here. It had to have been her. Jex, lead me to the camp. We need to find a place to observe and to rescue her. There is no time to lose. Go at double-speed,” I said.
“Yes, follow me!” he flew, and I followed him over the wall toward in the fifty-mile mark of this cyborg army. We reached the mountains, and Jex already had a spot. It was the same place that he had observed the cyborg camp from when I sent him to scout.
“This is it. They are still not moving. Why would they take a human female? From what I have heard, they do not abduct humans. They simply want to kill them,” he said.
“Yes, I have heard the same. This must be some new tactic. I only hope that they took her for a very specific reason. Because then she will still be alive. They want to do something, and I don't know what that is. What do you see?” I said as we looked down over the camp.
“There, that is different. The keddle: do you see it? It was not opened when I was here earlier. I didn't even know they could open. Look at it.”
I looked down and saw the large keddle. It was open. It was like a clamshell on its side; it was not facing us.
“What do you think is inside?” I asked.
“I don't know, but we can't see from here. We need to go around on that side in order to see the open-end area,” he said.
“Lead the way,” I said.
We flew low and slow around to the other side of the ridge. We hid in the brush. We looked around to make sure that no one had seen our movements. Then I looked inside the keddle. My heart stopped.
“It's her,” I said. Vanessa was sitting down. I could tell that something was on her arm, but it was such a far distance that I could not tell what was going on.
“What are they doing to her?” Jex asked.
“It looks to me like they are running tests on her. It is what I looked like when she was running tests on me,” I said.
“That is odd. Why would they do that? It does not make sense,” Jex said.
“No, it does not. Unless they are trying to find out new information about the humans. When they come across humans, they are always dead. Maybe they have a new strategy and need to experiment on a live human. That would make sense. That is the way a machine would think. Gather information and then come up with a strategy. We have to rescue her,” I said. I did not like seeing her this way. I was restraining the rage inside of me. I wanted to fly directly to that her and get her out of there. But I knew that was the wrong thing to do. I would be shot out of the sky or when I landed next to her. Even though we moved fast, I still needed to get to her and unhook her. I didn't know if that would cause any damage.
“What should we do?” Jex asked. “Should we wait for the army?”
“No, it might be too late. We have to get her. But I need a distraction. I need to draw the Clenok cyborgs away from her,” I said.
“I have charges. I could detonate them on the other side of the camp.”
“That is perfect. Set them and leave immediately. Do not wait for me. Set them, leave, and detonate them. I will swoop in and get her and will fly in the direction of the village.”
“I understand,” he said.
“Go now. We are wasting time. Who knows what they're doing to her. I owe her my life. She saved me from death, and I will save her. Go,” I said.
Jex left my side.
It caused a great pain inside of me to see her that way. I hoped that she was all right. My heart went out to her. I wanted to save her. It was at that moment that I knew that I was feeling very deep feelings for her. Could I have fallen in love with this human in such a short time? It didn't seem like it could be possible. But then again, her DNA had bonded itself to me. And anything was possible.
Chapter 16
Dr. Vanessa Lopez
I did not know how long I was sitting there inside the keddle. It felt like hours. It felt like days. I really had no concept at all of time passing by. The longer I spent hooked up to the keddle, the more I started to feel like I had some sort of divine insight. I felt myself growing smarter. It was as though I was being filled with information. I didn't know if this is what they meant to do to me or if it was a side effect. But suddenly I could understand the cyborg communications. I could hear the frequency waves of the keddle talking to the cyborg army around it. He was giving them orders of some sort. I thought there was a number; it seemed to be like a time. Maybe it was the time of the invasion that they were planning on the village. Or something else. I really didn't know, but I was fascinated by the fact that I was starting to understand them. This wasn't normal. I hoped that I wasn't turning into some sort of machine.
Then I understood something very clearly. I was a number. I was given a number assignment. I was number one-two-one. This meant that I was not the first human to be taken and tested on. I was one of many humans that have been taken.
But was that the number taken by this particular keddle, or the entire cyborg army all over Earth? I had no way of knowing.
But I knew that they had a project going on. They were gathering humans in order to gain information on anatomy and brain activity inside of humans. They were trying to gather knowledge to know everything that they could about us. This would give them the advantage when fighting us. That much was clear to me.
I wanted to disconnect myself and run away. It was the least selfish thing I could think to do. If I disconnected myself and ran away, then I would not be contributing to their project anymore. Right now I was allowing myself to give them information. I knew that as soon as I ran away, they would shoot me dead. But with that be so bad? At least I would know that I had protected hundreds of humans.
I put my hand closer to my other hand where the needle was inserted. I looked at the Clenok cyborgs around me. They didn't move. They just seem to be looking straight ahead. It was strange. With a human, you could see something in their eyes that let you know what they were thinking. But there was nothing there in these machines. They were just vacant. It was hard to work with. I was about to pull the needle out of my arm quickly and run away when suddenly…