Taking in a sharp breath, she comes too, lying on her back, staring at the ceiling. Black metal is above her head alongside lots of wires. She had seen this time and time again over her search. Regular quickly built space station affair. Which means she's in a new to newish facility. And since there isn't really a buildup of dust or cobwebs she leans more to the new side than newish. Which is weird how spiders are just everywhere.

  She's able to sit up and take in her surroundings. A cold steel medical table is beneath her and she isn't strapped down. Close to her is a pedestal with an attached desk. The only other thing in the room are the four walls and a keypad locked door. Clothes are still missing, but at least she has skin. Even if she looks like a pin cushion right now with all of the iv's. A small glimmer of hope creeps in, and she wants to believe the cyborgness of her arms, legs and face was a dream. That the explosion taking her limbs and her friends, the nightmare of all the doctors surrounding her isn't the truth. A small part in the back of her brain tells her she knows better.

  She isn't in any pain, which is a blessing, but pulling out the iv's allows reality to crash in. All but four needles slide out easily. The last four were screwed in.

  Taking a deep breath, she unscrews the first one, and pulls out the long needle. With it out of the hole, a flap that closes up with a piece of skin on top. A small orange circle of light fades in for a brief moment. No mark or circle is left behind, as if a threaded hole wasn't in her arm two seconds ago. She repeats the process with the other three, each of them repeating the same as her right arm.

  She places her feet onto the metal floor, and it's cold. Which she didn't expect. All the cyborgs that she knew of couldn't feel their extremities. There was tactile feedback but they hadn't been able to feel the subtle differences in temperature like skin did. Unless she's the first. The Conglomerate is known for keeping things to themselves for their upper echelons until their ready to part with it or something better is already lined up.

  Her first few steps are wobbly but surprisingly responsive. Same with her arms. Ryker spent a small fortune to fix her up like this. Ryker. That rat bastard. He's a selfish, good for nothing, cold-blooded dick.

  That made her stop. She remembers having feelings for him, even through the explosion and fire. So what changed? A thought to save for later. Her 'time-to-get-the-fuck-out-of-there on the nope-fuck-this-shit express' feelings are tingling. A feeling she is not going to disappoint.

  Her only problem being she's naked in a presumably locked room.

  She thinks, hey, maybe I'll get lucky and they didn't lock the unconscious cyborg lady in.

  Each step is a challenge that eases up with every drop of her foot. A twist of the handle shows her intuition is right. The door is locked. With the only other thing in the room the pedestal and desk, she goes over to it. The desk is empty except for an integrated touch display. A pause button is on the screen, with the heading “Whisper's torture jams.” Something that didn't sound pleasant at all. On the pedestal is a bracelet with just as many wires coming out as she had.

  Within the silver bracelet is a thin strip of blue stone running around the whole thing. It's a beautiful piece. Kat looked at it and then to the table. She hits the pause button, which leads to a prompt. Shut down simulation, with a yes or no button. She hits yes.

  4

  A weak woman's voice fills the room, "Please no more. I don't understand why you're doing this to me, just please stop."

  Kat calls out, "Who's there?" Looking around the room.

  "Oh no, am I still in the simulation? What is it going to be this time? What torture do you damn flesh-bags have planned for me this time?"

  "I'm not going to torture anyone. I just woke up in here and want to board the let's-get-the-fuck-out-of-here train. Who's speaking?"

  "You, naked ape, what is your name."

  "Katrice Wylde. What's yours?"

  "Whisper."

  "Where are you, Whisper? We can help each other bust out of here."

  "I'm right in front of you. I know they calibrated at least your cybernetic eye."

  That sounded a little snarky to Kat, but she doesn't understand what's happening. She is the only one in the room besides... The bracelet.

  "You're the AI?"

  "And you're a cyborg, I'm so happy you've caught up. Now please unhook me from these wires and put me on."

  "What is that going to do?"

  "It will let me. Let us, break out of here."

  Kat didn't have much of an option at this point. She could wait around and hope someone opens the door or try her luck with the AI. Normally she would be hesitant because AIs caused a lot of trouble in the past, and are the reason the cyborgs went berserk on her parents, and everyone else that day. But this one is in the same place she is, an experiment, prisoner, or both.

  Unhooking the bracelet she slides it on her left wrist. As it shrinks to the size of her wrist, a slight pinch, practically becoming one with her arm. Then a sharp poke under the bracelet.

  Kat flinches, "Ouch, what was that?"

  "I am taking a sample of your blood. To register you as my user."

  Another robotic voice comes out of Whisper, "Say command code. Full name, then initials and four-digit number. Say command code now."

  "Katrice Wylde, KW1337." The number was something that popped into her head. An old gaming reference to being elite. Something she definitely isn't feeling at that moment but used in the past when registering usernames.

  Whisper says, "That did it. We are now paired. I'm still fully locked down, but I can hack into myself, I think. It will just take time. I don't think anyone should come and check on either you or me for the next few hours. So we can just wait till I can open the door."

  Whisper stops talking as the door beeps open. Two young-looking men are standing in the doorway. One in full body armor, and the other in a lab coat. The man in the coat had the door open but face turned looking at the other. The one in full body armor is nervously looking down the hallway in both directions.

  Lab Coat is in the middle of saying, "Yea she is. Just about every man has had their turn with her. Even a couple of the women too. Some were saying they built her to look that good. I've seen the pictures before they brought her in here, she was always that way."

  Body Armor says, "Won't Mr. Mallory be mad at you and everyone else for screwing his new sex toy?"

  "Na, he told us to do it. Said something about she was going to be his new cyborg sex killer or something. The programming is going to take about three more months, but once Whisper is ready, she's going to give the commands to the cyborg. For now, we need to get you laid."

  "What about getting her pregnant or getting an STD from her with her getting passed around like that?"

  "She's barren and clean. A small swab of nanobots take care of the cleaning, which is a thing that all of the privileged one-percenters are using right now. The barren part was Mallory's idea when he brought her in. Now no more complaining or questions. This is a right of passage for all the newbies around here. Now drop your pants and give her your magic stick."

  Kat feels the anger and frustration building inside of her. She is not some sex doll to be used at someone's whim. Ryker is going to have a lot to pay for the next time they meet.

  For now she just makes her presence known, "I'm not interested in any magic today, thanks."

  Lab Coat turns around with wide eyes. Kat connects her fist to his face with a satisfying crunch of bone and cartilage. Body Armor backs against the wall behind him, raising his arms in the air.

  "I wasn't going to do anything I swear. I got a wife and kid, I had to play along you know."

  "Sure you were." She replies, grabbing his collar, throwing him into the room. He flies over six feet into the table that Kat was laying on. Which sends it into the wall and Body Armor to the ground. His face is scrunched up as he fumbles for something on his shoulder. Kat gives him a swift kick in the ribs and the light in his eyes goes out as he slumps to the floor. A light is blinking on his top left shoulder.

  Kat talks to herself in a hushed tone, "Crap, I think that's a distress beacon."

  Whisper says, "You come up with that all on your own."

  Kat ignores Whisper and stands still for a moment, taking in the heft of her new self. Her mental muscle memory is still the same and her body reacted the way she thinks it should. She's just a lot stronger now than she used to be. Making it harder to ignore or deny the obvious. She isn't only human anymore.

  She kneels down close to Lab Coat, seeing his name is Richard. Confirming he really is a Dick and not just acting like one. He is closer to her size of the two, so she rips off his clothes. Taking his undershirt, pants, and shoes. The only things that weren't bloody. All of which smelt like rotting onions. It is all she could do to keep from dry heaving. Which she is pretty sure it would be dry heaving because who knows when she last ate.

  She then checks Body Armor for anything useful. No weapons but he did have a security passkey and a secure radio. She hopes it's enough to bust her out. Then an idea pops in her head to hopefully help slow down or at the very least distract any pursuers heading to this room right now.

  5

  Whisper asks, “How is that going to stop anyone?”

  Kat finished positioning the now mostly naked Richard with his butt in the air and face on the ground. Body Armor, who is now pant-less, is placed strategically to where it looks like they were in the middle of some loving. Kat’s hope is this will make the guards just think it was an accidental trip of the distress button. Which might give her another minute or two until the realize the cyborg and AI are gone.

  Kat explains her idea, then says, “I don’t think it will stop anyone really looking, but it might slow them. I hope.”

  “Well, you took long enough to where I have access to the local intranet. I have a map of the facility, and it looks like there are a few guards on the way. Channel seven. They are talking about the security guard, and how he better not have hurt himself screwing that motionless cyborg. Then saying he better not have pulled a Simon. Whatever that means.”

  “Let’s not dwell on that right now. Is there a ship anywhere?”

  “Only one. It’s in the research bay. Take a left out of the room.”

  Kat nods, mainly for herself, not knowing if Whisper can even see the gesture. The hallway is clear as she exits the room. There is a number on the wall next to the door, A113. There is also a room across from her numbered A114. She takes a moment to switch the two. If nothing else it will only help cause more confusion.

  There are no windows showing into the rooms as she walks by them. Kat just hopes there isn’t anyone else like her in here in need of help. She shakes her head and just presses forward. If she wasn’t around to take Ryker down then there is going to be a lot more people that need help. She tells herself to focus on the new task at hand and worry about everything else later.

  She knew how to push past misery, with the time she spent stowing away on space freighters. Jumping from space station to space station. Holding on to her happy memories, which she has more of now than she did then. Her parents, Knox, and Gale.

  It makes her look at her new hands. They look just like her old ones, even the small scar she got on her right palm between her thumb and index finger when she was twelve from opening that stuck vent she had to hide in. It hurt really bad at the time and she couldn’t even scream. It would have given her up as a stowaway. Just looking at them makes it hard to believe these aren’t her real hands anymore. That she’s something different, something she hates.

  Whisper leads her through the maze of halls with the help of the passkey. She still hadn’t seen anyone else. Which is amazing when you’re trying to escape, but made her wonder if there is something going on. She asks Whisper, who tells her it’s on purpose. Whisper is leading her away from all of the people. Everyone is tagged and tracked. She can see them and has overlaid their locations with the layout of the space station they are in. They're about a thousand or so people in the space station. Which is the reason it feels like they are just winding through because they are.

  They finally reach the research bay, and the security passkey opens the door. As she enters she stares up at the ship. The one that got her into all of this mess. The Crucible. Its hull is covered in diagnostic cables; the cargo hull door is open with a fat barrel-sized cable running out of it. There are welding tools, power tools, and pieces of what Kat assumes are the hull, still laying on the ground around it.

  Kat says, “So this is our way out?”

  Whisper says, “It is the only space ship docked on this space station. So yes.”

  “Is it even in working order? I mean look at all this.” Kat says as she holds up Whisper’s bracelet.

  “I can see everything just fine, no need to lift me in the air with your fake meat covered perfection you call an arm. I ran a diagnostic on the way here. It’s ready to fly, everything they are doing here is cosmetic. They want it to look like a small cargo ship and not a secret stolen military personnel carrier.”

  “How do you know about that?”

  “It’s in the file for the ship. It’s a ship made to stealthily infiltrate places, put troops on the ground, and then if need be, shoot things down. Made from the only collaboration from all three powers that have ever existed. There is a one-of-a-kind magi-tech engine inside with magi-tech shielding and cannons. The hull is an absorptive metal made only in the Empire, its computer systems are also Empire, money was provided by the Conglomerate, and the shields and weapons are obviously Guild being magi-tech. They did, however, make two fail-safes to prevent someone from taking off with it and using it to its fullest.”

  “How long did you know about this?”

  “The ship or the fail safes?”

  “What do you think?”

  “It doesn’t matter. You already have the most important one. Me. I was designed to control the navigation. The weapons and shields, however. Those are my brother, Fury.”

  “Brother? They made two new AIs?”

  “He isn’t here, but they send updates on his progress. They just finished his housing. So I want to ask you to do something. I know we both need to get out of here but I also need to save my brother.”

  “If you can get that ship going, that’s a deal.”

  “It seems like you aren’t a worthless, soulless waste of human flesh like your file suggests.”

  “I have a file?”

  “We both do and mine isn’t accurate either. So it isn’t surprising that yours is wrong as well.”

  “Thanks, I guess.”

  “Let me get to work on the start-up process.”

  There is a loud squeal across the speaker of the radio in Kat’s back pocket with a man’s voice right after that.

  “Be advised we have a breach in docking bay B1, I repeat, we have a breach in docking bay B1. It’s the cyborg and she has the AI with her.”

  Kat asks, “Whisper how long is this going to take?”

  “Five to ten minutes. It hasn’t been started in a while.”

  “How long till the security gets here?”

  “Three minutes.”

  “Then you better hurry.”

  Kat goes to the door, searching for a lock other than the magnetic one, which there isn’t. She grabs a piece of the metal hull laying on the ground, one slightly smaller than she is, and finds it easier to pick up than she thinks it should be. Hesitating, she thinks maybe she should just give up.

  She doesn’t want to live as a cyborg and doesn’t want to be on the run from the CEO of the Conglomerate. With the sheer amount of money Ryker has at his disposal is enough to hire the Earth Empire Army to come after her four or five hundred times over. How is she even supposed to fight something like that? She might actually get to see her parents again if she stops.

  She shakes her head. Hating herself a little more for even thinking about giving up. Hating the fact that she has this new body that can lift what she can only assume is a five- to six-hundred pound hunk of metal. She was only a hundred and forty pounds as a human and would never have dreamed or wanted to be able to lift something like this. She then focuses that hate toward Ryker, and stores it for later. Right now he’s the reason for everything happening. He’s the problem, not her.

  The door blows open. Kat’s still holding on to the metal chunk as the door bounces off of it. Three security guards file in, each holding an automatic rifle. Kat wasn’t sure if they were laser or metal ammunition but is sure she’s about to find out.

  The man in the middle says, “Cyborg, put down the piece of metal, surrender yourself, and the AI.”

  Kat says, “Don’t I get an ‘or else’?”

  “No. Surrender. Now.”

  “Sorry guys, but I think I’ve overstayed my welcome and I would hate to see what the bill is. So I’m going to bail.”

  “The cyborg has resisted, lethal force authorized. Weapons go.”

  Kat hunkers down behind the metal hunk, listening to the sound of three automatic rifles firing at her with bullets. The shells hitting the metal ground. But there is something missing. The sound of the shots bouncing off the metal. They stop firing and she looks at the metal chunk in her hands and it doesn’t even look damaged. Which is weird.

  The middle man says, “She’s got a piece of the ballistic shielding off the ship, switch over to blasters.”

  Kat doesn’t give them the chance. Throwing her makeshift shield at the middle guard. Then two things happen at once. She reaches behind her, grabbing the radio, throwing it at the guard on the left. While she runs at the guard on the right.

  She connects her fist with the guard’s face, feeling the bone snap underneath as the radio smashes against the other’s face breaking apart, making him fumble his weapons around in his hands. Grabbing the guard as he collapses, she turns and forces his hand to fire at the guard she just hit with the radio. Bullets pour out of his automatic rifle leaving the guard filled with holes everywhere the vest didn’t protect.

 

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