by Lisa Lace
The image changed, and the woman lay on top of him. The end of her hair tickled his face, and he could feel the press of her body against his. He ran his hands down her torso, two hands of flesh that could feel the heat and softness of her skin. He saw everything from his viewpoint, but it was as though he was living someone else’s life.
AD-214 could feel the tightness between his legs and the warmth as the woman pushed his cock inside of her. There was a rhythm to her body’s movements as she glided back and forth on top of him. The scent of perfume filled his lungs, and the sounds of gentle moans overwhelmed his ears.
The perspective suddenly shifted. He was no longer underneath the woman, but standing in a doorway. The pain he had felt in his chest in an earlier vision assaulted him once more as he saw the woman on the bed. This time, she was on top of someone else, another man. He watched the curve of her backside as she rode, but it didn’t bring pleasure like before.
AD-214 knew that he was himself again as pain and pressure filled his lungs. The idea of being someone else faded away. He was no longer a person who had natural limbs, an individual who thought it was natural to make love on a Sunday afternoon. Instead, the cyborg felt his computer systems re-engage as he returned to the real world.
“AD-214!” a gentle voice called from somewhere above him, but he couldn’t move his mouth to respond.
The vision of the woman had faded, but his sight did not return to normal. The cyborg saw only blackness, with glimpses of the woman flashing before him: her eyes, the curve of a breast, her trim waist. They were interspersed with other images that seemed incongruous: a note, a knife, a pair of boots. They each appeared in front of his eyes, the time between hallucinations filled with nothing but darkness.
“You can’t do this here,” the voice above him whispered urgently. “I don’t have the equipment to fix you properly if you glitch.” Fingers gently touched his face. They scurried to the part of his skull behind his ear. Surgeons had installed his biochip there. “Come back to me, AD-214. Come back to me and tell me what you’re seeing.”
He wanted to return. The cyborg didn’t like this place. It was full of strange images and darkness. Wherever he was, he didn’t want to stay here. He swam through the dark, forcing his limbs to move, fighting to open his eyes.
“There you are,” the voice whispered as AD-214 finally managed to shove his eyelids apart.
He realized the voice belonged to Amanda. He could feel the gentle warmth of her breath as she leaned over him, her face only inches from his. Blonde hair tickled his cheek and his ear, but he made no move to brush it away. She pushed his hair off his forehead repeatedly with the soft touch of her hand.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
Before he could answer, the door to the office flew open, nearly falling off its hinges as it slammed against the wall. ND-45 burst in with a roar. “What are you doing to him?” he screamed.
“He had a systems failure,” Amanda responded nervously, backing away from the captain. “I was trying to help him.”
“Like hell you were.” ND-45 strode across the room, needing only two steps of his powerful cybernetic legs to appear in front of her. He reached down with one hand and raised Amanda by the neck, pinning her against the wall. Amanda’s feet dangled above the concrete floor.
AD-214 watched helplessly as the scientist choked and sputtered in his comrade’s grip. His software had started to reboot, but it wasn’t finished yet. He couldn’t move or speak. He could only watch as her face began to turn blue. Amanda grabbed the hand holding her throat, but she wasn’t strong enough to pry the soldier’s strong fingers apart.
“I knew we couldn’t trust you,” ND-45 snarled at Amanda. “I remember what the white coats did to me. My legs were useless, but my eyes worked perfectly. I watched every swipe of the saw as they cut them off. Do you know what it’s like to feel every blood vessel break and your bones splinter? It was like I was a piece of meat sent to the slaughter house. I felt an electric shock when they plugged these mechanical legs into me.”
AD-214 waited impatiently. His system was close to being fully operational.
“That wasn’t me,” Amanda squeaked. “I didn’t do that.” She pulled her feet up and kicked wildly at the cyborg assaulting her. One sneaker made contact with his jaw. Her efforts were pitiful compared to his strength, but it was just enough to turn his head.
At that moment, AD-214 felt his full strength return. He bounded upright, planted his feet firmly on the floor, and plowed his metal hand into ND-45’s nose at the same time as Amanda’s foot pushed it toward him. The offending cyborg’s head snapped back, but he didn’t release the scientist.
“I’m not going to let you kill us all again!” ND-45 screamed. Blood flowed from his nose and dripped over his face.
AD-214 knew he had to prove himself worthy of his men’s respect. He pounded his fists into the other cyborg, feeling the crunch of flesh and bone. Swinging his knee up, AD-214 made contact with the other soldier’s ribs and threw him off-balance. ND-45 let go of Amanda as he fought to stay on his feet. She slumped to the floor, gagging and gasping. Taking advantage of the other soldier’s lack of balance, AD-214 brought him swiftly to the floor by shoving his shoulders and kicking behind his knees.
He planted a heavy boot in the middle of ND-45’s chest and leaned down until they were face-to-face. “I am your commanding officer.” He bit off every syllable, his voice low. “It is my duty to keep my men alive. For now, that includes your sorry ass. If you don’t think you can handle it, I suggest you find a different squad.”
“They aren’t going to put up with your love affair with the human,” ND-45 retorted. “We don’t need her weighing us down or reporting back to the other white coats.”
The words sent an infuriating rage through AD-214 that he couldn’t explain. “I told you before that the decision was mine. I’ll be sure to keep you informed. For now, she is worthy to stay with us. Treat her with respect and never touch her again. Is that understood?” He ground his boot harder into ND-45’s chest.
“Yes, sir.”
The cyborg let him up and watched ND-45 walk out of the room. Then he turned to Amanda.
CHAPTER 10
Once Amanda had recovered, she was ready to get to work. “I’d like to meet the rest of the squad.” Her experience with ND-45 had been terrifying. She hadn’t been scared of him when he had been in his cell or following voice commands like a proper cyborg, but he was no longer the same soldier created by Cyborg Sector.
AD-214 shook his head. “I’m not sure that’s wise after what just happened, sir.”
Amanda couldn’t argue with his logic, but she was a scientist. She couldn’t let danger stop her from discovering more about these creatures. “I understand. But you aren’t like ND-45, and I doubt they are, either.” She bit her lip, trying to decide how much she should tell him. She had to remember that he wasn’t human, and he was only going to understand a certain amount of abstract thought.
“I have an idea about what’s happening to you. I’m beginning to understand what you mean by being awake. But I need to talk with the others to confirm my theory.”
The cyborg captain studied her face for a moment, as though deciding something. She wasn’t sure if he was capable of evaluating interpersonal relations, but he finally nodded. “Very well. But I want you to stay close to me.” She didn’t have to ask him why.
Amanda followed the cyborg out of the office. The rest of the squad was sitting in a circle in the middle of the warehouse floor, some of them perched on old crates or boxes, all talking in low voices. As they turned to see their leader emerge, they quickly rose to their feet.
“At ease,” AD-214 said, gesturing for them to sit back down. “This is Amanda Conrad. I have been talking with her, and I believe she can help us. I trust her, and you should too.” He glared over his shoulder at ND-45, who was standing guard at the far door. The other soldier didn’t return his gaze. “She wants to speak
with all of you. I expect your cooperation.”
The two of them joined the circle, and Amanda settled down onto the concrete next to AD-214 and looked around the room. The soldiers she had seen for the last few years in Cyborg Sector were now surrounding her like they were entirely human. She had never seen them in any position other than completely upright and at attention. Now, however, they lounged around like regular people. Some sat with their legs crossed, others with feet stretched out in front of them as they leaned back on their hands. They watched her with equal interest.
“Hi, everybody,” Amanda said tentatively. “I know this must be strange for you. It’s weird for me, too. But I want to help you as much as I can. It’s true that I worked on you back at Cyborg Sector, but I want you to know that I was always acting in your best interest. From what I understand, some of you are having...memories.” She hesitated before saying the word. Would cyborgs know what she meant?
Everyone around her nodded, and some leaned forward a little, eager to hear more. “I want to hear about it. I want you to talk to me and let me know what you’re seeing and hearing. I don’t have any of my equipment or tools from Cyborg Sector, so the only thing I can use to analyze you is your words.” Amanda turned to the soldier on her right side. “Do you have any memories you’re willing to share?”
The man’s slim body and smooth skin suggested the cyborg program accepted him as a young man. Amanda recognized him as PD-4, one of the first private donors in the program. It was odd to see him now, looking at her with blonde eyebrows knit together in concern.
He glanced at his comrades. “That’s what we were just talking about, ma’am.” He had a southern drawl that hadn’t made itself evident back in the lab. “I was just telling them about the things I’ve been seeing. Everything will be normal, and then all of a sudden it’s like my sight quits working, and I see other things. At first, I thought I was pulling them from my system, but I didn’t know which part of my system they came from.”
Amanda smiled, glad to see that some cyborgs would be more willing to work with her than ND-45. “What kind of things do you see?”
PD-4 shrugged. “Random things, ma’am. A dog, a big tree. An old lady with a plate of cookies.” His eyes closed as he recalled the images. “It’s not a lot, and it’s pretty random, but I like it.”
She wished Dr. Gold was here. She had cyborgs who were showing feelings. Had they still been back at Cyborg Sector, with none of the soldiers self-aware, none would have been able to tell her if they liked something or not. They weren’t programmed that way. They accepted their orders, did their duty, and went back to sleep in their cells. Of course, Amanda hadn’t been privy to everything that happened in Dr. Gold’s office. She suddenly turned to AD-214.
“Was Dr. Gold all right?” she whispered earnestly. “Did he survive the mess at Cyborg Sector?”
AD-214 tipped his chin down in confirmation. “I saw him as we left, sir. He was well and able-bodied.”
Amanda breathed a sigh of relief. She could come to terms with the loss of Dr. Feldman. He had been an outstanding scientist and a brilliant man, but she hadn’t been as close to him as she had been to Dr. Gold.
“I’ve had memories as well,” another soldier volunteered eagerly, bringing Amanda back to the present moment.
“Describe them to us.”
“I see a child. It’s a little kid with red curls. She’s standing on a sidewalk, with a big smile on her face, and she keeps saying the same thing over and over again.”
“What does she say?” the scientist urged.
“Daddy. Apparently, she only knows one word, and she compensates by saying it frequently. I’ve looked in my system, but I can’t find a match.”
Tears pricked the back of Amanda’s eyes. This soldier had been a man with a child before he became a cyborg. Whatever had happened to him in combat that had put him on death’s door and made him eligible for the cyborg program also separated him from his family. Amanda glanced around at the circle of soldiers, wondering how many of them were being missed by loved ones right now. PD-4’s grandmother was probably wishing he would come home so she could make him some cookies.
“Mine aren’t anything like that,” came a deep voice from the other side of the room. A cyborg leaned forward, bringing his face out of the shadows. He had a sloping forehead, heavy eyebrows, and a blocky jaw with graying stubble. A jagged scar ran down the center of his face, bisecting his nose. “I see men at war. Like PD-4, I thought these were images from my training. But the things I see don’t match up with anything in my command history database.”
The cyborgs recorded every command, even if it was something as small as following one of the scientists to the lab to perform tests. It served as both a safety check and a learning mechanism. Nobody would ever give a cyborg an unlawful command. It would be stored permanently in their database and was valid in a court of law. The logs could also be compared to the actions of the cyborgs to make sure they were performing their tasks correctly.
“My command history shows that I served my country in a large town during an uprising. But the images I see are from the jungle. The air is hot and full of moisture, and the trees are so dense that I can barely see a few yards in front of me. I can hear gunshots and men dying, but I don’t have any commands to follow. I’m on my own.”
“Thank you,” Amanda said, not sure what else she could say. These men were sharing the deepest parts of their minds with her, telling her the kinds of special memories they wouldn’t be willing to share if they understood what or who they truly were. They were opening up their hearts to her.
Looking around at the group of cyborgs, she realized that they were misfits in the world, just like she had always been. They were not entirely men, yet they were more than machines. They could never go back to Cyborg Sector and be 'asleep' again, nor could they assimilate into the general populace. They were a different and more extreme version of her, a person who had never quite fit into any crowd.
Amanda was fascinated by them and needed to help them, although she wasn’t sure what she could do. She could explain to them who they used to be and who they were now, and why they remembered their time as human beings, but she didn’t know if they could or wanted to understand.
Amanda glanced at AD-214 out of the corner of her eye. The cyborg captain intrigued her most of all. He had told her about his memories, about fighting in the war and becoming injured. But she had a feeling that there was more to his story that he was still keeping secret. Perhaps he didn’t know, but maybe he was holding it back. That would mean he was far more human than she had realized.
CHAPTER 11
Though Amanda usually would have stayed up well past sunset, she felt the excitement and danger of the day catching up with her and knew she needed to rest. AD-214 wanted her to sleep in the seclusion of the office, but Amanda disagreed. If something peculiar happened, she wanted to see it in front of her.
Instead, she made herself as comfortable as possible, dragging the canvas tarp out of the office and folding it twice to make a pallet. She noticed the cyborgs made no effort at such comforts, only stretching out on the concrete and falling swiftly to sleep like they were in luxurious beds. She supposed it might feel good for a cyborg to lie down. ND-45, relinquishing his guard duty to another soldier, had also shut his eyes for the night, but he did so in the corner furthest from AD-214.
As the droning of cyborg breathing surrounded her, Amanda fell into a deep sleep full of vivid images. She dreamed of the random things that often haunted her sleep, such as the house she had lived in as a little girl with its winding driveway and big bay windows. So many of her dreams had taken place here, so it was no surprise to find herself there again.
This time, however, the cyborgs had turned against her simultaneously. Every one of them, including AD-214, was chasing her. They broke the windows, sending shards of glass all over the hardwood floors. Hands clawed at the doorknobs. Their replacement parts were stripped
back to the steel mechanics underneath them. Terrified, Amanda tried to run up the old, narrow stairway to the second floor, but her feet felt heavy. She ascended the stairwell in slow motion, making a great effort to lift each leg and escape her assailants. When she reached the landing at the top of the stairs, the cyborgs had already arrived ahead of her.
Waking with a start, Amanda surveyed the warehouse. The soldiers were all asleep, looking identical to ordinary men. Only the lone soldier near the door was awake. AD-214 lay asleep next to her, only a few feet away. She could barely make out his features, but she could tell that he was in a deeper sleep than he had ever been at Cyborg Sector. His brow and jaw were relaxed, making him look more human than ever.
Confident that he wouldn’t turn against her like in her dream, Amanda rolled over and quickly fell back to sleep. She soon started dreaming again, but they were of a different nature this time. She was in a bed in a dark room. A man was with her, a handsome man that made the area between her thighs feel hot and wet. He lay naked next to her as he ran his hands slowly over her body.
“I remember,” he whispered in her ear. “I remember the pleasurable things. I remember what it’s like to make love to a beautiful woman, to feel her soft body pressed into mine.”
The man squeezed her breast softly, and Amanda gasped with pleasure at his boldness. She didn’t know who this dream man was and didn’t care.
“I have visions of women, and they’re like you. They’re strong but curvy. They’re sweet and bold. And I think they liked sex as much as I did.”
He let his hand creep further down her body until it reached between her legs. His fingers were knowledgeable, slowly circling her center of pleasure. Amanda’s body responded against her will. She was hungry for this kind of attention. Her back arched instinctively, allowing the man complete access to her.