suddenly, the world appeared so strange around me. And yet at the same time, so familiar. I watched. I listened. I heard a lot of things said about cyborgs, most of them derogatory. But none of them explained how I’d become part machine. Who I was.
“I needed to know but couldn’t find out while I was a slave. Then, I overheard the order to kill us, to march us out into space like useless garbage. As Seth would say, I flipped my lid.” When he would have paused, she waved him on, fascinated at his story. “After the rebellion, I fled with the brothers who survived. We roamed the stars in search of a place to call our own. We found one and began to build, but one question kept cropping up. Not just with our group either. In some paradox of circumstance, we found others like us and they asked the same thing. Why? Why was this done to us? Who dared? I wanted an answer so I, and a chosen few, began raiding military establishments. Mostly space ones where we’d spent most of our time in servitude. We discovered nothing we didn’t already know. So we widened our search. On some planets with human outposts and settlements, we found others who’d woken and freed their brethren. They shared our curiosity and gave us more questions too.”
“And so you kept looking for answers?”
“Actually, at some point, as we progressed in our mental liberation, we came to understand why they did it. It turned out to be really quite simple. The military did it because they think themselves above the laws humans created.”
“No one is above the law,” she stated.
He arched a brow. “Do you truly believe that?”
She opened her mouth to say yes but instead clamped it shut. The military had done things of late beyond their accepted scope of power. And lied about it. Where were the consequences? Did anyone in the government even care or did they aid and abet the military in their quest to remain in power?
A sad smile emerged. “The truth is a hard thing to accept. But we did and moved on. Our reason to keep searching has since become a more basic one. As the military keeps hunting us and our numbers dwindle, survival is now of utmost importance. Now we look for how they did it, how they meshed man and machine to create us. You see, while we can repair active units and replace defective parts, or even enhance programming, we cannot create more cyborgs. We are a society doomed to extinction.”
“You can’t procreate at all?”
“Human ovum are destroyed by our nano imbued sperm, making fertilization impossible.”
“While I’m sure your lessons on our inadequacies is fascinating, your skill is required elsewhere,” interrupted Solus coldly.
A shame, because Chloe found this loquacious side of Joe riveting. It revealed him and the other cyborgs in a light she’d not thought of before. A new species just trying to survive, looking for the same thing any race would—answers to their existence and a way to leave a legacy.
“I will escort you to my quarters,” Joe offered.
“I’d rather stay here,” she replied. “It’s more fun to watch movies on the big screen, and I am going to scrounge for something to eat.”
“As you wish. I will return once my task is complete.” He strode from the room, the view of his rear just as appetizing as his front, and she sighed. Possibly even smiled a little goofily. And someone noticed.
“You do realize he is cyborg?”
“What?” Startled from her inner fantasy of Joe’s butt naked, she focused her attention on Solus, who remained behind.
“I am detecting an odd warmth in your body when you gaze upon my brother. My memory banks suggest it might be affection. For your own safety, you should be reminded that, while we appear human in many respects, the ability to feel has been stilted and for some, like myself, completely unrecovered.”
“Are you trying to tell me Joe won’t ever love me?”
“That is a valid assumption.”
“I never asked him to. But look at it
“I needed to know but couldn’t find out while I was a slave. Then, I overheard the order to kill us, to march us out into space like useless garbage. As Seth would say, I flipped my lid.” When he would have paused, she waved him on, fascinated at his story. “After the rebellion, I fled with the brothers who survived. We roamed the stars in search of a place to call our own. We found one and began to build, but one question kept cropping up. Not just with our group either. In some paradox of circumstance, we found others like us and they asked the same thing. Why? Why was this done to us? Who dared? I wanted an answer so I, and a chosen few, began raiding military establishments. Mostly space ones where we’d spent most of our time in servitude. We discovered nothing we didn’t already know. So we widened our search. On some planets with human outposts and settlements, we found others who’d woken and freed their brethren. They shared our curiosity and gave us more questions too.”
“And so you kept looking for answers?”
“Actually, at some point, as we progressed in our mental liberation, we came to understand why they did it. It turned out to be really quite simple. The military did it because they think themselves above the laws humans created.”
“No one is above the law,” she stated.
He arched a brow. “Do you truly believe that?”
She opened her mouth to say yes but instead clamped it shut. The military had done things of late beyond their accepted scope of power. And lied about it. Where were the consequences? Did anyone in the government even care or did they aid and abet the military in their quest to remain in power?
A sad smile emerged. “The truth is a hard thing to accept. But we did and moved on. Our reason to keep searching has since become a more basic one. As the military keeps hunting us and our numbers dwindle, survival is now of utmost importance. Now we look for how they did it, how they meshed man and machine to create us. You see, while we can repair active units and replace defective parts, or even enhance programming, we cannot create more cyborgs. We are a society doomed to extinction.”
“You can’t procreate at all?”
“Human ovum are destroyed by our nano imbued sperm, making fertilization impossible.”
“While I’m sure your lessons on our inadequacies is fascinating, your skill is required elsewhere,” interrupted Solus coldly.
A shame, because Chloe found this loquacious side of Joe riveting. It revealed him and the other cyborgs in a light she’d not thought of before. A new species just trying to survive, looking for the same thing any race would—answers to their existence and a way to leave a legacy.
“I will escort you to my quarters,” Joe offered.
“I’d rather stay here,” she replied. “It’s more fun to watch movies on the big screen, and I am going to scrounge for something to eat.”
“As you wish. I will return once my task is complete.” He strode from the room, the view of his rear just as appetizing as his front, and she sighed. Possibly even smiled a little goofily. And someone noticed.
“You do realize he is cyborg?”
“What?” Startled from her inner fantasy of Joe’s butt naked, she focused her attention on Solus, who remained behind.
“I am detecting an odd warmth in your body when you gaze upon my brother. My memory banks suggest it might be affection. For your own safety, you should be reminded that, while we appear human in many respects, the ability to feel has been stilted and for some, like myself, completely unrecovered.”
“Are you trying to tell me Joe won’t ever love me?”
“That is a valid assumption.”
“I never asked him to. But look at it