Auxem: A Science Fiction Alien Romance (TerraMates Book 13)

by Lisa Lace

  As far as Amanda was concerned, AD-214 was supposed to take her with him. That part would not be a pretense at all. “Yes. Let’s go.”

  The pair emerged into the hallway. It was still relatively quiet. The nurses and doctors were so busy that they didn’t pay attention to the human and the cyborg. Nevertheless, Amanda’s stomach jumped around inside of her. She didn’t know the consequences of being caught, and she didn’t want to find out. They still had to move all the way to ground level before they had a chance to escape.

  Even if they got away from the hospital, where would they go? As they advanced down the hall, she realized that she should have asked AD-214 to reveal more of his plan. Amanda never looked at the soldiers who escorted her around the building, and someone might discover her plan if she turned around and started to chit chat with her captor.

  AD-214 led her to the elevator bank. There were only two lifts and a line of people waiting for them. They were anxious to go home now that their hectic shifts were over.

  Amanda wanted to ask why they didn’t take the stairs and run down to the lower levels. In all the time that she had been here, nobody had ever used the stairs. Even the doctors, who should have been endorsing extra exercise, were content to stare at their phones or study their charts as the elevator carried them to their desired floor. But the cyborg captain had assured her there was a plan, and all she could do was trust him.

  Eventually, the scientist and the cyborg piled onto an elevator with two nurses, a doctor, and a janitor. The group all stood facing the elevator doors. Nobody spoke except for the nurses.

  “What a long day. I swear, I thought I would never get out of here.” The speaker wore pale purple scrubs and had curly red hair piled on top of her head.

  “Tell me about it,” replied the other nurse. She had hair black as night, pulled back into a sleek bun. Her scrubs had tiny cartoon characters all over them. “I badly need a cigarette.”

  “I didn’t think they were allowed to schedule us for so many shifts during a week,” the redhead replied as she rubbed her lower back. “I need to talk to the union or something.”

  The dark haired woman gave a tired laugh. “Good luck. It won’t make any difference. There were too many people who quit last week. I don’t know where they’re all going.”

  “Must be someplace great,” the first nurse agreed. “They aren’t even giving notice. It’s more like they just disappear.”

  “Hang on.” The second nurse touched an earpiece that Amanda hadn’t noticed. She listened for a moment and heaved a heavy sigh. “Looks like I won’t be going home yet. There’s a patient on the first floor who needs urgent care right away. The other first floor nurses are busy in the emergency room.”

  “I’ll help you, Fran,” the redhead said. “We’ll get it done together.”

  Amanda snuck a glance out of the corner of her eye at AD-214, wondering what he thought about the situation. Being stuck in an elevator with a group of random strangers was a uniquely human experience and not something a cyborg would ever encounter on a regular basis. Since he was caught somewhere in between, she wanted to know how he interpreted this situation, or if he even registered it at all.

  To her surprise, there was a small smile on his face. It was just enough so nobody else would have noticed it, but the grave look of a soldier on a mission had faded from his countenance. She would have to ask him about it later.

  The elevator chimed and opened its doors, letting the group pour out onto the first floor. AD-214 held Amanda firmly by the elbow. Though she knew it was to keep up appearances and make her look as though she were his prisoner, she liked to imagine it was something more. Could the cyborg ever think of her as his possession?

  He steered her to the left, toward the main entrance to the building. PD-4 must have provided accurate surveillance information because the clones always took her through the front of the hospital whenever they brought her out of the hospital room. Things were spot on so far.

  They hadn’t even needed to use any of the forged paperwork AD-214 brought with him. No other soldiers had appeared in the hallway to interrogate them. They were almost out of the hospital.

  The front doors took up her entire vision as they moved to escape. They were nothing more than panes of glass with the hospital visiting hours printed across them in vinyl graphics. But she could see the parking lot through them, and from there, freedom.

  Amanda’s heart leaped in her throat as AD-214’s hand clamped down more tightly on her arm. They were going to get away from all of the madness with Dr. Feldman, Cyborg Sector, and the media. She didn’t know the rest of his plans. Perhaps the cyborg captain only intended to escort her back to her apartment, but she would have a chance to confess her feelings. It might be wrong in the eyes of the world, but if her time here had taught her anything, it was that she should be honest with herself.

  Amanda and AD-214 reached the lobby. After they crossed it, Amanda could shove open the glass doors, dash past the two C-class cyborgs stationed on the other side of it, and make her way to freedom.

  “Hold it right there.”

  The voice coming from behind them sent chills down Amanda’s back. It was a voice she had once hoped would speak to her late at night after a romantic dinner and a few glasses of wine. Now it only meant trouble. Amanda slowly turned to face Dr. Feldman.

  He stood a few steps behind them, holding a small device pointed in their direction. “It was a nice try,” Dr. Feldman said, coming slightly closer. He was wearing his typical uniform of a lab coat and slacks. He would have been a handsome figure if Amanda hadn’t known he was such a jerk. “Nobody noticed you were here at first. But it turns out we have some observant nurses — or perhaps horny ones — who noticed some of the cyborgs had suddenly become better looking. I have to congratulate you on your plan, but please realize I have to stop you.” He gave a slick smile.

  “Let her go,” AD-214 replied. Standing this close to him, Amanda could feel the rumble of his deep voice in her body. She knew she shouldn’t have been thinking about how sexy the sound was, but she couldn’t help it. He was hot, powerful, and he was trying to save her. She sidled even closer, making sure their bodies touched together.

  “You know I can’t do that,” the doctor replied with a shake of his head.

  “She hasn’t done anything illegal.” The cyborg stood straight and tall, firm in his stance both physically and verbally. “You have no right to keep her here.”

  Dr. Feldman raised an eyebrow. “She hasn’t? Dr. Conrad has allied herself with a group of dangerous, rogue cyborgs. She’s lucky that I’ve kept her in the hospital instead of letting the government cart her off to jail. It’s clear from her speech that her association with you is no accident. How do I know she didn’t change you and the rest of Blue Squad on purpose? It would be easy to convince a jury that a scientist fell in love with one of her creations, and found a way to make it love her back.”

  “You know I didn’t!” Amanda protested. “We discussed this back at Cyborg Sector and outside the warehouse. It was a fluke of the software upgrade and something I couldn’t have predicted. What happened is a miracle.”

  The doctor shrugged. “One person’s miracle is another person’s abomination. What matters to me is that I have the captain of Blue Squad here again, and I can use him to retrieve the others. Once they are reunited, I can have them destroyed and erase the problem.”

  Amanda’s mouth dropped open in horror. Her heart pounded behind her eyes. “You wouldn’t.”

  “Why wouldn’t I? A cyborg has no rights and is the property of the United States government.” Dr. Feldman gestured at the other people in the lobby, who had stopped to watch the altercation with widened eyes. “I think the general populace is ready to abolish the threat of independent cyborgs. As the head of the program, the responsibility of executing the order is mine.”

  While Dr. Feldman talked, Amanda studied the lobby, looking for the best way to escape. The cyborg clones
outside the front door had started to move and were now approaching them from the rear. The false paperwork wouldn’t help them now. Nobody could override what Dr. Feldman had to say when it came to his scientists and his cyborgs. The only other way to leave the lobby was to go through the doctor and out the back door.

  She felt AD-214’s muscles begin to tense, and she knew he was thinking the same thing she was. It was easier to get past a single unenhanced human than two biologically engineered cyborgs. They charged Dr. Feldman together, without speaking. Amanda expected the other scientist to shrink away, believing he would let them pass and command the clones to follow him. To her surprise, Dr. Feldman’s face twisted into a grin of satisfaction as the couple ran at him. He held out the device in his hand, something Amanda hadn’t paid any attention to before now. Two tiny barbs shot out from the end, springing on coiled wires as they launched toward the cyborg captain. They buried themselves in his skin.

  An electric shock raced up Amanda’s arm where she clung onto AD-214, forcing her to pull away from him. The cyborg crumpled to the floor with a thump, muscles convulsing and twitching. The barbs from the modified taser had plunged into his skin. Strong hands groped at them, trying to pull them out, but Amanda knew what was happening. The electrical impulses were shorting out his biochip. The weapon was not disabling AD-214. It was killing him.

  Dr. Feldman released the button on the taser and gave a short laugh. “They look so tough, and yet they’re easy to take down if you know the secret. I’ll have to improve the design for the 2.0 models.”

  Amanda knelt next to AD-214 as the clones closed around them, weapons at the ready. Her cyborg was completely motionless. They had failed.

  CHAPTER 24

  Amanda Conrad didn’t notice how hard her knees hit the floor as she fell next to AD-214. The cyborg captain who she had hoped to save had been killed by a person she once thought was on her side. Dr. Feldman had proved in the last few weeks that he wasn’t the man she thought he was. He stood over them now, triumphant in the destruction.

  “Now that that’s over with,” Dr. Feldman said over her shoulder, “I suggest you return to your room unless there are some other Blue Squad members around here. I can take care of them too. It’s completely up to you.”

  The clone cyborgs once stationed by the front door were now next to them, holding guns pointed at Amanda’s head. A wrong move would land her on the floor just like AD-214 with blood spilling onto the clean linoleum. Whirling with angry words in her mouth, Amanda turned to Dr. Feldman. “You didn’t have to do this. He wasn’t going to hurt anyone.”

  “How do you know?” the doctor countered. “You didn’t think he was going to break out of Cyborg Sector. Or did you? That’s the one thing the media needs to be clarified. They keep acting as though you’re a hero for surviving your time with Blue Squad and speaking out for them. You were the one who changed his programming. You were the one who made him become self-aware. None of these problems would have happened without you. Perhaps you planned all of this.”

  Amanda understood what the cruel smile on Dr. Feldman’s face meant. If media coverage about the cyborgs turned negative — and that was certainly possible now that AD-214 had broken into the hospital — he could frame her for everything. Pressure had been on Dr. Feldman ever since Blue Squad’s escape from Cyborg Sector. Some called for the immediate closure of the program, and others wanted the doctor to step down from his position. If he could blame someone else, he wouldn’t be in the hot seat. Amanda would be locked away, paying the penalty for his crimes, and he would be free to continue destroying lives.

  Amanda could accept the position of a scapegoat for a good cause. What she couldn’t accept was the cruel treatment of the cyborgs who she had come to think of as friends. Amanda was about to voice her opinion when she noticed a twitch in AD-214’s eyelids. It was barely noticeable, so small that she would never have seen it if she hadn’t been watching him intensely. This minute flicker gave her simultaneous feelings of hope and dread. The cyborg captain wasn’t dead yet. He may have been saved by Dr. Feldman’s overconfidence when he stopped the taser’s electric impulses a few moments too soon. AD-214 must be suffering, either in pain or fighting to regain consciousness.

  AD-214’s predicament gave her an idea. “Dr. Feldman, I need to ask you a favor.”

  The man snorted with laughter. “A favor? Do you think you’re in a position to ask for things? I suppose you could put yourself in the right position...”

  Amanda ignored the innuendo. “AD-214 is still functioning. I want to shut him down all the way. I know you don’t think highly of Blue Squad, but I do. I don’t want him to suffer. Let me put him out of his misery, at least.”

  “He’s not dead?” Dr. Feldman asked as he took a small step backward. “Of course he is. I know what a taser can do to a cyborg.”

  Amanda shook her head. “Maybe a typical cyborg would be overwhelmed, but you and I both know this one is not normal. He’s stronger than you imagined.”

  Dr. Feldman hesitated as he stared at the figure on the floor in horror. “How do you plan to shut him down? You have no equipment. We’d have to take him to Cyborg Sector. It would be easier to shoot him.”

  Amanda nodded. “Yes, we will have to take him to the lab,” she agreed. “But it’s the only way to get the job done. You can bring all the clones you want. I promise I’ll return willingly to my hospital room once it’s complete.”

  He considered it for a moment. Amanda could see concern reflected in his eyes. He had no reason to trust her, but his fear of Blue Squad was greater than his fear of a female scientist. She felt as though she could read the thoughts running through his head, and could see the precise moment he realized the safest option was to make sure the leader of Blue Squad was undeniably dead.

  “All right. You win,” Dr. Feldman agreed with a sigh. “But don’t try to pull anything. Any member of Red Squad can take you down in an instant.”

  Amanda didn’t need reminding of something she could see with her eyes. There was no point in arguing with Dr. Feldman, especially considering that she was getting what she wanted. Her stomach churned nervously as the two clones lifted AD-214 between them and carried his body out the door. Cyborg Sector was right next to the hospital, conveniently placed for anyone who chose to donate their dying body and live forever. The walk there, however, seemed to last forever as thoughts and concerns raced through Amanda’s mind.

  There was a chance her plan would fail. She knew everything a person could know about cyborgs, but she also knew that the human element meant sometimes the best plans ended with unexpected results. Her software upgrade was proof of unintended consequences. There was also the possibility that she wouldn’t be fast enough. She would have to keep her hands steady, but it would be hard considering the adrenaline pumping through her system.

  The mismatched group had no trouble getting into Cyborg Sector and climbing to the lab. Dr. Feldman served as a living access pass to open the facilities. It was his kingdom, for now. With luck, Amanda was about to bring his reign to an end.

  “Put him on the table.” Dr. Feldman gestured to a stainless steel exam platform, and the two clones dropped their burden on it with a clang.

  Amanda winced as she heard AD-214’s body land harshly on the table, but she knew he would be able to take a beating. He had gone through worse trials than this, and he was still here with her. Now it was her turn to fight for his life.

  “I’m not going to do anything with you and your goons hovering over me,” Amanda said, trying to make herself sound as stern as possible. “You can lock the doors and watch from the observation deck. I won’t have you breathing down my neck.”

  Dr. Feldman sighed. She was wearing on his nerves. “Very well. But I’m not accommodating you any further on this.” He turned on his heel and strode off across the lab to the staircase.

  Amanda got to work quickly. There was no time to waste since Dr. Feldman might realize at any minute what sh
e intended. The scientist pulled over a cart containing a computer with numerous wires sticking out of it. She began to connect the computer to AD-214’s chip, her heart beating quickly. She had never performed this sequence of actions before, but she had to take a chance. The worst thing that could happen now was AD-214’s death. If she didn’t do anything, Dr. Feldman was going to kill him anyway.

  When she had the correct wires connected, Amanda turned to the computer and began adjusting its settings. She increased the frequency, checked the readings briefly, and then turned the frequency down again. After another adjustment to one of the wire connectors on his biochip, and one more check of the monitor, she was ready to begin. Amanda leaned down and muttered into the cyborg captain’s ear, pretending she was still fiddling with the wires. Then Amanda quickly disconnected the entire setup, slipped AD-214 a quick injection, and made her way toward the observation deck.

  Amanda climbed the steep steps to the floating chamber with ease. She was in good shape, and the exercise started adrenaline pumping through her body. The room was set up like a large office, with a massive wooden desk facing a transparent wall that gave a perfect view of the lab below. Like the rest of Cyborg Sector, it was sparsely decorated and more functional than beautiful.

  “That was quick,” Dr. Feldman observed. “I would have thought you would take more time to terminate someone you were so concerned about.” He smiled, one corner of his mouth edging higher than the other in a smirk of satisfaction. He thought he had the upper hand again.

  “He had suffered enough,” Amanda said with a sigh as her shoulders sagged. “And there’s another thing, too. I realized you were right.”

  He stiffened and focused on her acutely. “I’m always right. But what specifically are you referring to this time?”

  “About Blue Squad, about me...I guess about everything. I let it all get out of hand, and I should have listened to you in the beginning. You could have helped me. I might never have gotten into this mess if I had only taken your advice. I don’t know what I was thinking.”