Recombination

by Brendan Butts

  The sound of snapping twigs in front of me spun my head around. This was it then. Piner's contact.

  A man stepped out from behind a tree.

  Lucas. And he was holding a gun.

  "Taking an afternoon stroll?" He asked pleasantly.

  I was rooted to the spot. Every instinct in my body told me to turn and run. To sprint off into the forest and hide. Instead, I just looked into Lucas' eyes. They were shining with triumph. The gun in his hand looked more like a cannon. I didn't know much about guns but I could tell this was the kind that could put some really large holes through you.

  "Piner?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

  Lucas dipped his free hand into his pocket and I flinched. He smiled at me and pulled out a small handful of peanuts. He popped them into his mouth and began chewing. The crunching echoed in the otherwise silent forest.

  "Right about now?" He said, chewing, "Waking up in a recombination tank at Genetek. A bit of mercy that he doesn't have to remember what happened to him last night. I would much prefer that he did. It’s bad business though, leaving loose ends." He spoke in the same matter of fact tone that Piner had the night before, except he put a sadistic emphasis on his last words that sent my mind cartwheeling backward in panic.

  "How'd you catch 'em?"

  Lucas laughed, popping another handful of peanuts into his mouth and chewing them absently as he considered his next words.

  "I've got my newest employee to thank for that. Parli?"

  There was a rustling sound to the right of me and I turned a fraction to look. A young man with shaggy brown hair was making his way towards us through the gloom. He was a couple of inches taller than me, dressed in a multitude of different clothing.

  "I believe you two have already met, yes?" Lucas asked, the gun in his hand lowering to point at the ground as Parli got closer.

  Parli smiled at me, "I don't think he could'a easily forgotten the kinda beatin' I gave 'em nah, boss." He had an accent that I couldn't place, but I could tell it came out of a slum.

  "You're awfully quiet," Lucas was saying, "Don't you want to take this opportunity to explain yourself?"

  I shrugged.

  "Boss asked you ah question, baka," Parli said, closing the distance between us with a few more steps.

  I stayed silent. My mind was still reeling. Piner was dead. Lucas knew I had betrayed him. Zenigra was nowhere in sight. Was he dead as well?

  Parli grunted at my continued silence and threw a punch at my face. It was a lazy effort, I watched it as it arched toward me. I could tell he expected no resistance. And why should he? The last time I had gone up against him he had left me in a pool of my own blood, inches from death.

  I leaned away from the punch and felt it breeze within inches of the side of my face. I shuffled to my left a few paces, putting some distance between myself and the brown haired boy. Parli hadn't put enough power behind the punch to cause the miss to throw him off balance, but the sneer that slid onto his face let me know the next time he tried to hit me there wouldn't be anything lazy about it. My mind flashed back to the night before and my failed attempt to ambush Piner. I was pretty sure I'd be able to take Parli in a straight fight, but what would that accomplish? Lucas could shoot me at any moment.

  Never fight when your enemy has the advantage.

  "Calm down Parli. I wouldn't want you damaging my chip."

  "Come on nah Boss, I's be real careful like."

  "Shut up." Lucas snapped at Parli.

  Parli slunk back a few paces, frowning at the rebuke, but remained quiet.

  "Now," Lucas continued, "do you have any idea why a bounty hunter as esteemed as Vic Lansing would be interested in you?"

  "Lansing?" My heart stuttered as a memory of his helmeted form flashed through my mind. Was he seriously still on my trail?

  "Yes. He arrived shortly after I installed that chip in you. He was very eager to acquire you. We've had dealings in the past. He was my go-to hitman until my competition offered him a better retainer. We came to an agreement, he and I. I’d watch over you while he went and took another job, and he could have you when I released you from my service."

  So Lansing had never lost my trail. He’d just taken that job in Withmore City while I was here working for Lucas.

  "I don't know why the hell he’s after me. I wish I did."

  "Pity. That information could have been very valuable to me."

  "So sorry you won't be profiting off me any more than you already have."

  "Now, boy, what did that splat job Piner say to you last night?" Lucas continued as if I hadn't spoken at all.

  I glanced over at Parli, "Don't you already know?"

  Lucas shrugged and popped another handful of peanuts into his mouth, "He got the gist of it. The tail end really. I'd like to hear the full story from you. Talking is the easy way. The hard way involves much more pain."

  I searched my thoughts for some means of escape. Something to tell Lucas. Anything that would get me out of this alive. It was all fine and good for Piner to get killed over this, he had a clone. I didn't. Seconds ticked by as my mind raced through all of the different possibilities. It didn't matter what I told Lucas. He would take me back to the plantation, remove the chip he had embedded in me, then shoot me in the face.

  "You're going to kill me either way," I stated.

  "Yes. But as I mentioned, one way is quick, the other way is, well, it still involves you dying, just minus some important parts of your body. Much less dignified."

  "Go to hell." I spat.

  Lucas grinned at me, "Fighting spirit. I respect that. But don't be stupid."

  "He told me you were a drug runner," I said, deciding to delay the inevitable as long as possible.

  "Did he?"

  "Yeah. Did you know he was DEA?"

  Lucas lifted his eyebrows up and laughed, "Is that what he told you? Big, bad DEA Agent going to make all your problems go away?"

  I frowned. Lucas continued.

  "You really are clueless. He wasn't from the DEA or any other government agency. I pay all of them well enough to stay the hell out of my business. He worked for a group much more dangerous than the government."

  "Who?" I asked.

  "The competition." Lucas smiled.

  "In all likelihood, I've extended your life. If I hadn't killed Piner you'd probably be dead already. They'd have my chip and you'd be dead. Look on the bright side, at least this way I get to keep my paydata."

  "Bastard." I muttered. Piner had fed me a line of lies. Played me and made me dance to his tune. If he hadn't been dead I'd have wanted to kill him myself.

  Lucas seemed to sense my train of thought.

  "He died painfully. If that makes you feel any better."

  "Not really," I replied.

  "Well, at least you won't have to. Stand still and I'll make it quick. You don't need to be alive for me to get my chip back. No reason to delay any further."

  "I thought you were handing me over to Lansing?"

  "Ha! He won't care if you're dead. You can always be cloned if need be. Now--"

  "Nah boss,” Parli interrupted, “you promised."

  Lucas grinned, "You can have your way with the body when I'm finished with it. You'll have to stay away from his face though. I promised the bounty hunter he would still be recognizable."

  Shock rolled through me as I turned to look at Parli. He was staring at me with hunger in his eyes. I didn't want to let myself think what he had planned for me and I locked those thoughts down. Still, the fury of the entire situation rolled through me. It eroded every thought in my mind like a virus wiping out data on a disk. It left me with only one thought. Kill.

  Lucas was raising his gun. I watched him move in slow motion. Adrenaline was rushing through my body. My hands had clenched into fists. I could feel every part of me like I never had before. My vision seemed to expand at the peripheral.

  I took in the entire scene. Lucas raising the hand cannon in front of me
, the trees swaying slowly in the afternoon breeze, the sun peeking through the canopy and casting shadows on the ground, a bird flying low overhead, Parli's greedy expression. It was as if whatever the nanos had unlocked inside of me had gone into overdrive. It was like experiencing life for the first time. I could smell the soil, my own sweat, the scent of Lucas' cologne and Parli's unwashed body.

  Maybe I'd just seen one too many of Jason Kimowagi’s street samurai movies, but I felt like I was truly living the moment; Like I had reached some higher form of being.

  And at that moment I felt like I had a chance. At the very least, Parli was going to die with me. I sure as hell wasn't going out alone.

  I turned and launched myself at Parli before Lucas had his gun halfway raised. The distance was like nothing and he had no idea what was coming. Surprise hadn't even registered on his face before I had my left hand around his neck. I gripped it tightly, half lifting, half dragging him along as I kept moving. In my periphery, I could see Lucas continuing to raise his gun, though he was still looking at the spot where I had been standing a split second before.

  I smashed Parli's body into a tree. His head smacked against the trunk. I could feel his skull give way from the force of the impact and his body went limp. I released him and he slid down to the ground, leaving a trail of blood on the bark. Dead.

  By now, Lucas had his gun fully raised and he was tracking it across the space I had just vacated.

  Kill.

  I sprinted toward him, moving faster than even I could have imagined. When I was two meters away, the first shot from his gun ripped a hole in my right shoulder. The impact of the bullet spun me around and I lost my footing and fell to the ground.

  Kill.

  There was no pain. I didn't want to look at the mutilated remains of my shoulder but my enhanced vision showed me the wound in all its gaping bloody clarity.

  There was no gloating from Lucas. We were beyond that now. Parli was dead and he would be next.

  I was on my feet in an instant, launching myself from a crouch toward Lucas.

  In that last splinter of an instant I saw the surprise register on his face but his gun didn't waver. I watched as the muzzle flashed and the bullet sped toward my heart. I felt as though I could reach out and touch it. It was moving so slowly, as if that I could just swat it away as if it were nothing. I began to move my left hand up to do just that.

  There was still no pain from my right shoulder, though my right arm seemed to be paralyzed. I caught sight of myself reflected in Lucas' eyes and it was like looking at a stranger. My face was twisted into a mask of fury. All the pain, all the stress, all the loss I had experienced in the past year seemed to have been burned onto my features.

  I also saw that my hand wasn't moving fast enough to intercept the bullet as I had planned. Even if it had been possible, it would have been futile, given the five other bullets trailing behind the first. I started to growl, the throaty feral roar of a cornered animal. His gun must be some kind of semi-automatic because he had only pulled the trigger twi--

  Chapter 18

  He had only pulled the trigger twice.

  He had only pulled the trigger twice.

  He had only pulled the trigger twice.

  That one thought bounced around in my head like a pinball, impacting the walls of my skull with such force that it obliterated all other thoughts.

  There was something stuck down my throat and I pulled it out with my left hand. It came out easily and as it slid up and out of my mouth, I almost threw up. A sour tasting liquid was starting to fill my mouth so I shut it.

  I opened eyes that I couldn't remember closing.

  Some sort of yellow liquid was all around me. I was floating in it. I pushed as much of the sour tasting liquid out of my mouth as I could and began holding my breath. I must be drowning. How long had I been submerged in this liquid?

  I had been breathing before, hadn't I? Where was Lucas? He had been standing in front of me only a second before. How had I gotten here? Where were the bullets?

  My lungs were starting to burn from a lack of oxygen. I flung my arms out trying to move myself up and out of the goo. My right arm came up along with my left. Why was my right arm working now? I started to struggle with the goo, trying to rise up, but something was wrapped around my waist, holding me down. I dropped my hands to my waist and tried to pry whatever it was that was holding me away, but I couldn't.

  Panic and confusion welled up inside of me. I flung my head from side to side. I thought I could hear a voice in the distance, calling out to me.

  Then, just as my lungs were reaching their limit, the liquid around me began to drain away. It was slow going, but just the thought of air in my lungs kept me conscious for the few moments it took for the liquid to drain down past my face. The second my mouth was above the draining pool of liquid I began sucking in air. My head was swimming and my vision spotty.

  By the time the remaining liquid drained away, I regained control of my breathing and was wiping the slimy liquid from my face, mouth, and eyes. I found myself standing in a tank just big enough for my fingers to touch either side if I held them out. There was a hatch in front of me with a tiny slit of glass that I could peer through. I tried to step forward to look through the glass, hoping to get a clue as to where I was, but the thing around my waist, some sort of synth-leather restraint I could see now, prevented the movement.

  A melodious female voice filled my ears. It was quiet but still hurt my eardrums. "Welcome back, you will experience a short period of disorientation, this is quite normal for the cloning procedure and will pass. Your new body has been infused with a short term time-release stimulant that should begin taking effect soon. Thank you for choosing Genetek Revival to extend your valuable life. Be well."

  "H-How?" I sputtered, but there was no response.

  I looked down at my shoulder and saw only the puckered flesh of a scar. I looked down at my chest and found the same puckered flesh in no less than six places around my chest. One of the little round circles sat right on top of my heart.

  Cloning procedure. Genetek Revival.

  I had my memories. That meant that someone had cloned me from my corpse. Lucas had said something about turning my body over to someone, but I couldn't remember who. Still, the thought stirred something inside me and I could feel my heart rate quicken, though it could have just been the stimulants kicking in.

  The same melodious female voice filled my ears again, "One non-organic piece of cyberware was retrieved from your remains before the recombination tank was activated. Your cloning package covers re-installation of that cyberware. It will be implanted now. Please remain calm."

  Before I could respond, before I could even comprehend the words the voice had spoken, which I now assumed to be a recording of some sort, two robot articulator arms dropped down from the ceiling of the tank.

  The first of the articulator’s arms looked something like the appendage surgery rig that Lucas had used to implant his microchip under my skin. The second articulator arm grabbed my right hand and lifted it up. I didn't bother to struggle. I just closed my eyes and a moment later I felt something pressed against the skin of my right arm. Then, my hand was released and the arms rose back into the ceiling.

  With a click, the restraint around my stomach was released and I found myself able to move. The floor of the tank was starting to get cold now that the warm liquid had all but drained away through a mesh-covered hole in the floor. I spat a glob of the sour tasting liquid onto the floor.

  I tested my senses. They seemed to be dulled by the cloning process. I wondered if whatever the nanomachines had done to me had been erased. Maybe I was back the way I was before Parli had jumped me and Lucas had been forced to get the Doc at the plantation to nano me up.

  I sighed. I was keeping my mind pretty well locked down so far, but the flashes of Lucas' gun, the path of his bullets, and the look on his face all seemed to want to play out before my eyes, over and over again.r />
  Suddenly, my right shoulder burst into pain and I screamed. I looked down at it through squinted and teary eyes, expecting to find that the flesh had exploded once again and instead found the same small puckered flesh. Slowly, painfully, the pain eroded and I was left with nothing but a dull ache.

  I heard a rapping on the hatch in front of me and took a step forward. My legs felt like they had the consistency of pudding, but I managed not to trip myself up during the few short steps it took to reach the hatch. I tried to peer out the thin little window but found it was covered with slime and I had to wipe it off. Lucas' words about turning me over to the bounty hunter Lansing swept through my mind and I knew who must be waiting for me on the other side of the hatch.

  When I finally managed to look through it, I found a pair of eyes staring out from an ebony face. The eyes belonged to a man I'd thought I would never see again. His head was not helmeted and his massive frame was much bigger than that of the bounty hunter.

  Zenigra.

  When he saw me looking out at him, he grinned and jerked his head as if to tell me to hurry up.

  The hatch had a circular opening mechanism reminiscent of something you would find on a submarine or in an airlock, and when I spun it and pressed the hatch open there was a whooshing sound as the air pressure in the tank equalized with that of the room outside.

  I climbed out of the tank and found myself in a brightly lit room. Directly in front of me, there was a large leather couch, next to which there was a table made out of what appeared to be real wood. It had a large vase full of flowers on it. The floor was a soft medical white, unobtrusive and easily forgettable. The walls were painted the same white. The scent of the flowers filled the air and was a welcome relief from the sour taste in my mouth.

  Sitting on the couch, grinning at me, was Zenigra. He had a bundle in his lap.