by Maya Carnage
Patton paces back and forth at the end of the hall. He wrings his hands, muttering to himself. He doesn't notice Rodrick walking toward him until his shadow falls across his path, startling a scream out of him.
"Do you want to talk in your office?" Rodrick asked.
Patton clutches at his chest. "Give me a second would you. You scared me to death."
"You're a cyborg. You're going to be fine."
"Our mechanical hearts can fail if we overexert ourselves. There haven't been any studies on fright, but it could happen," Patton said, giving him a pointed look.
Rodrick arches his brow.
Patton sighs, shoving past Rodrick and gesturing for him to follow. "We'll have our discussion in my office. We'll be more comfortable there especially if this is going to take a while."
He leads Rodrick down the corridor, past a set of doors, and into a stairwell. They climb up to the second floor. Patton checks behind him, making sure Rodrick's still following him.
"It's right around the corner," Patton says as he pushes through a set of double doors.
A few steps into the hallway, Patton makes a sharp left turn and stops in front of a door with his name on a placard next to it. He clears his throat. Patton stands in front of the door, his hand resting on the knob, but he doesn't make a move to go inside.
"Is something wrong?" Rodrick asked.
"Hmm? Oh, no, umm, let's go in." He twists the handle, throwing the door open before stepping aside to let Rodrick in first.
Rodrick stares him down from the corner of his eye. As important Patton is to the mission, he's going to be an issue. They haven't even begun to talk about the rebellion and his part in it, and he's already nervous. Nerves can keep you cautious and safe, but too much can be a sure sign of trouble. Hopefully, he'll start to calm down once they get everything out in the open where he can dissect and rationalize the situation he's going to be putting himself in.
Patton goes around to sit behind the small metal desk. His hand trembles as he motions at one of the two empty chairs in front of his desk. Patton shuffles the papers on his desk around, waiting for Rodrick to start talking.
Rodrick takes a moment to study him. He reeks of fear, and Rodrick's glad he didn't bring Kayla. Imagine how much worse Patton would be if a human rebel sat in front of him right now? His mechanical heart would give out then.
Rodrick crosses his foot over his left knee. "We're nothing but weapons to the Malviks. They don't care about us and won't hesitate to risk our lives. Our children's lives too. Quite a few cyborgs have started families since settling on Teraz. Especially lately, but you're more familiar with that than I am. Do we want them to have to go through the same thing we did all those years ago? It wasn't easy breaking their control, Patton. I don't want to do it again."
"Neither do I. That's why I agreed to talk to you today." Patton pulls at his collar, looking uncomfortable. "It's difficult for me to consider even joining the rebellion, following protocol offers stability and safety and if I do what you're asking they will be gone."
"But not for long and imagine the reward at the end of it. The Malviks won't be a threat any longer. We could live our lives free of them, and there would be no more waiting for them to take everything we've worked so hard for away." Rodrick tries to keep the pleading note from his voice, but he fails, this means too much to him. He can't risk not having Patton on board. The Malviks have taken enough from him, and he's tired of not fighting back. The cyborgs aren't theirs to order around anymore.
Patton drops his head, sighing. "What do you need me to do?"
Chapter Three
Kayla
Kayla's lucky it's not too cold out, she would be freezing her ass off right now if it was. She shakes her legs out before looking down the road again. An hour has passed, and there's no sign of Ian. The cyborg's she's meeting.
Back on Earth, she heard of him in whispers, there was never a lot of information on him, but enough that she couldn't resist hunting him down while she's on Teraz. Supposedly he sympathizes for the rebels' cause, championing for them to beat the Malviks.
Since she arrived here, she's been trying to find him. It's not an easy task. Right when she's ready to give up and call it quits, she remembered that there was a rebel back home who contacted the cyborg before. It took her a week to reach him, but the wait was worth it. He told her how to get into touch with Ian.
Kayla used Rodrick's comm while he was out one day. One of the many days where he left her alone with nothing to do and too much energy. The same day she hid his coffee. He still hasn't found it, and she can't help but laugh out loud.
The sound echoes through the forest that's surrounding her. A road winds out in front of her, it crests over the hill a thousand feet ahead of her. She shoves her hands into her jean's pockets.
Ian said that he might be late, but she didn't realize he meant a whole hour. Maybe fifteen minutes, yeah, but she's beginning to think he might not show up at all.
She hears the loudness of the engine before she sees the cargo van. It comes careening down the hill, heading straight for her. Kayla takes a step back, moving farther away from the road. Her heart races. She eyes the driver down and glares at them. She heaves a sigh of relief when the van slows down. It comes to a stop in front of her.
The man driving leans across the passenger's seat, opening the door. "Hop in! We'll talk once we get to my place. It's right down the road."
Kayla hesitates, studying him. He looks older than Rodrick by a few years. His hair is thick and blond, and it hangs down, touching the edge of his collar. Laugh lines stand out as he smiles widely at her. He looks trustful, friendly, but Kayla's not going to take a chance. She wouldn't be able to live it down if she had to call Rodrick to come and save her. He's arrogant enough as it is.
"What's your name?" Kayla asked, cocking her hip to the side.
"Ian." He chuckles. "We talked on the comm not that long ago, kid."
"Yeah, well, you were in shadow, and I couldn't make out your face all that well."
"You can never be too careful on those things."
Kayla turns her head to look in the direction he said his house is. "Are you going to drop me off back here afterward?" The rover is in the woods up past the hill. There's a dirt road, and she turned down it, parking the car out of sight. She didn't want anyone passing by to see the vehicle and become suspicious. Plus, if someone other than Ian drove by, she would have been able to hide in the woods behind a tree. It would be too conspicuous having the car out her next to her.
"Right back, promise."
She hesitated only a moment, before pulling the door open and getting inside.
Ian drove slowly down the road. The curves wound around the tall trees that reminded her of redwoods, except the bark is brighter. She kept a close eye on him from her peripheral vision. He might look and act friendly, but she wasn't going to take any chances. If he's going to attack, she'd be damned prepared for it when it happened.
By the time she started to feel suspicious, frowning at him and ready to accuse him of lying to her, Ian turned into a driveway after they had been on the road for fifteen minutes.
His blond hair shimmered as it caught the early morning rays, turning his head to glance at her. "You should be back at Rodrick's place before lunch, but if you'd want to stay, I can fry us up a couple steaks."
Kayla shook her head. "If I'm not back by the time he is, he'll come looking for me, and I'm not interested in sharing this task with him."
"I've known him since the beginning. We were both in the same task force when the Malviks sent us to war. He's the leader of our group, and when the Malviks were conditioning him, they made sure he had the personality to keep ten cyborgs in line. That's gonna make him more stoic than most, but he's not that bad of a guy once you let him know you're not going to let him push you around," Ian said, giving her small smile.
She scoffs at that because since she met him, he's been nothing but a hard ass. She can
't imagine him relaxing, letting go of his responsibilities long enough to have some fun.
Ian brings the van to a rolling stop alongside an old shed that's riddled with dents as if someone took a bat to it repeatedly. He steps out, pausing to look at her. "We have to walk from here, but don't worry, it's not that much farther ahead."
With a sigh, she hops out of the van, following Ian around the shed to where a well-worn trail sits. It's big enough for a small off-road vehicle, but it looks like it only sees foot traffic. She walks beside Ian in companionable silence, and she takes the opportunity to glance around her surroundings.
She stayed with Rodrick long enough to become familiar with the woods on Teraz, and even though Ian's place is right down the road, it's slightly different. There were some bushes bordering the trail every few feet. Their leaves were a greyish green speckled with red. She jerked her sight away, staring at anything else but the offending plant, stamping down the awful image of blood splattered fauna back on Earth.
She'd been in enough battles with the Malviks to last her a lifetime, and the nightmares they gave her would always be with her. Sometimes it's hard having a single peaceful moment because anything, even the most innocent, can cause a flashback. She hates those moments and the sweat and nausea they cause her.
Taking a deep breath, she shifts her focus away from the awful memories and reminds herself that she's working on getting rid of the Malviks.
Half a mile from where they left the van a rustic cabin appears.
"I'm going to take a chance and say this is your place?" Kayla shoves her hands into her pockets and stares at the dilapidated building.
"Home sweet home." He laughs, slapping her on the back before heading inside.
She hesitates, eyeing the building with a frown. It looks like it's about to come down, and she doesn't know if she wants to risk bodily harm while talking to Ian. He's important to the mission she'll have to give him that, but is he worth the risk of being buried alive if his shitty cabin comes down on them?
The front door opens, and Ian leans the upper half of his body out, asking her if she's coming in.
"Yeah."
At least it looks nicer on the inside, she thinks to herself, as she steps into the dimly lit shack. It's a single room building with a door and four windows. Dust particles glimmer in the ray of sunshine coming from the window on the back wall and her eyes rake over the sparseness of the place.
An old, white table rests to the left of her with four chairs and against the wall is a set of counters, and a fridge jammed in the corner. There's a frayed rug at her feet with two armchairs sitting on it, and behind them, the wood stove crackles and hisses as it burns. The full-size bed that's under the right-side window is in a disordered mess, with a pile of clothes strewn about on top of it.
Ian pulls out one of the kitchen table's chairs, gesturing at it. "Did you want a cup of tea or coffee? I'd offer you something to eat, but I haven't been to the store." He chuckles as he sits down across from the chair he pulled out for her.
Kayla looks out behind her through the still open door, scanning the acres of woods before shutting it and making her way over to Ian.
He gives her a lopsided smile, and she squints her eyes at him.
Her dad always warned her never to trust someone blindly, waiting instead until they prove beyond a doubt that they're worth the risk. Back on Earth there were whispers of Ian and going on what people said, she should be able to open up to him about Stanley and the rebels, but before she screws up by giving him any important pieces of information, she's going to hear what he has to say about the other cyborgs who are sympathizers.
"I prefer if we can go ahead and get started. As I said, I don't want to be out here long."
Ian leans back, stretching his feet out in front of him. "What did you want to know?"
She sets her elbows on the hard surface, linking her fingers together. "How many are like you? Truthfully, after being raised by a man who's distrustful of anything or anyone to do with the Malviks, it's hard to believe that the cyborgs feel sorry for us. Your kind is in a position of power. Hell, y'all even helped enslave us, taking our home from us. What reason is there for you to want to betray the Malviks?"
"To answer your first question, there are several hundred of us here on Teraz who are disgusted by the conditions on Earth. You've got to understand that all those years ago, we were absent of any humanity. They used us to do their bidding because they were too weak to do it themselves, but they never planned on us gaining consciences, naively, they thought we'd always be nothing but empty machines. It took decades, but we managed to break their control over us so that we can live our lives without their manipulative ways. We didn't want to go to battle with humans, but back then there was no other option available to us. Now there is, and we want to right what we did wrong. The Malviks are our common enemy. We have to lose just as much as you do if they continue to have power."
She takes a deep breath, giving herself time to think about all he said. He's right of course. The Malviks created them to use as weapons, and they succeeded if the ravaged remains of Earth have anything to say about it, but they were mindless back then. It would be cruel to hold what they were forced to do against them.
Staring down at her hands where they lie flat against the table, Kayla closes her eyes. Humanity's enslaved and had been for over a hundred years, all the pain that comes with that can't be forgotten, and the cyborgs are partly responsible. It will take time to come to peace with them, but if they want to beat the Malviks, they have to have the cyborgs fight alongside them. It's the only way they'll win.
"Do you think we stand a chance against them?" she asked.
"They're a lazy species, always expecting others to do their work. If we can get some more cyborgs to join us, then the Malviks don't stand a chance."
"How do we plan on doing that? From experience, I've learned that most people go along with their awful circumstance because their familiar and safer than the unknown."
"Most of the citizens on Teraz know their peace lasts as long as the Malviks don't call them to do their bidding. There's always the possibility of another war, and most of us don't want to fight anymore. We have families and friends that we don't want to lose. I think if we can convince them that the better idea is to eliminate the Malviks so that their control isn't hanging over our heads anymore," Ian said. "There's a meeting next week. I plan on bringing up that we need to start recruiting. It's time we deal with our problems instead of burying our heads in the sand as we've done so far."
Kayla nods her approval, glancing down at her watch. "It's getting late. Can you call me on Rodrick's comm to let me know how the meeting goes? I'll fill him in on our conversation before then." She'll probably use it as leverage to convince him to let her go with him the next time he meets with Patton or another cyborg. It's bullshit that he keeps using the excuse that she'll scare them off. For fuck's sake, they're combative machines designed for warring. They can handle a rebel or two.
"Sure," Ian said before getting up from the table and heading outside.
Chapter Four
Rodrick
Rodrick pinches the bridge of his nose, exhaling. "I don't see why I have to go over this again. Patton will be nervous if you're there, and right now he's our best way of reaching cyborgs we know will want to join the rebellion." He received a comm message from the doctor saying that he needed to talk to him this afternoon, and Kayla's argued with him since he read the message. He wasn't planning on telling her about it, because he knew how she would react, but he was so focused on the contents of the message that he didn't hear her sneak up behind him. Only when the warm air of her breath touched his neck, did he realize she managed to creep up on him without alerting him to her presence. A hard feat to pull over a cyborg, and it goes to show how calm and trusting he is of her.
"I'll need to meet the guy eventually. Why can't it be today?" Kayla braced her hands on her hip like she does everything
single time she's annoyed with what he's telling her, which is more often than not these last couple weeks.
She is pissed off at him for keeping her out of all the meetings, and the meeting with Ian did nothing to improve her mood. Rodrick's still uncertain if the guy's trustworthy. Patton sent several files to him on a few of his patients. All of the ones he thinks are willing to join the cause, and so far, he'd been right.
He went by himself to the first one, but when he got back home and found that Kayla had disappeared again, he realized that he needed to stop protecting her. Truthfully, he didn't think the cyborgs were a threat to her, but he didn't want to risk the chance of one of them being too loyal to the Malviks. He'd never forgive himself if Kayla got hurt because he wasn't careful enough.
"I'll bring it up to him today and see what he thinks. We can't afford to push him away," he said.
Kayla shakes her head. "I think you're overreacting."
"I'm not, and you'll understand that once you meet Patton. He's skittish."
"I let you meet Ian! And I didn't have to do that, but I did because we're a team. Do you know what that means, Rodrick? Hmm? I'm beginning to think that you don't."
"Ian's different than Patton. He doesn't care about the Malviks and what could happen to him if they found out about him. Patton's scared and worried every second that the Malviks are going to come after him. Give me today, and I promise that I'll let you come next time." He hopes that will be enough to placate her, he thought, checking his watch he realizes that he will need to contact Axe before he leaves to go to the clinic.
"What the hell... Are you serious?" she blurted, voice tight with rage. "Promise me? As if I'm some misbehaving child, really?"
"Kayla," Rodrick began.
She held her hands up. "No, okay, I'm tired of being stuck in this cabin having nothing to do. I've met with Ian once on my own since I met him, and I've barely gone with you to any of the meetings. I was a kid when I started fighting the Malviks. I'm not some whimpering girl that needs a man to take care of her! Let me do something, Rodrick. If you can't manage that then why am I here?"