Marcus 582: Book Three of Cyborgs: Mankind Redefined (3 page)

Rachel had been traumatized by the worst kind of cyber geek. Now the woman abhorred most technology and refused to carry a handheld. How in the hell had the guy gotten into contact with her again if she had no device? Even her parents were avoiding her.

There was only one conclusion that made any sense, which was that she was lying, but he couldn’t handle thinking Rachel could be so desperate to get rid of him.

Her announcement had to be a reaction to this morning. He’d slipped up and let her catch him checking out her legs in that damn short skirt. It had been impossible not to gawk like some love struck kid. Maybe he should feel guilty about the discomfort he’d instantly sensed in her, but he didn’t.

Part of him wanted to make her aware…wanted to see how she would react to him. Unless his sensors were malfunctioning, Rachel had liked his masculine attention. Either that or her heightened reaction was because he was the only male she’d been seeing on a regular basis. His cybernetics scrambled trying to analyze the situation, but conjecture about feelings wasn’t the same as hard data proven with action. Short of throwing herself in his arms and demanding a kiss, Marcus didn’t know how the hell he’d know if her feelings were reciprocal.

Groaning low in frustration, Marcus glared at the scanner arch Rachel had disappeared through. His cyborg side pointed out he had the clearance to follow her to her work area and demand an explanation, but his human side leaned toward leaving things as they were a bit longer. Her anger was not something he looked forward to having turned on him.

When the guard bot had addressed her by her registered cyborg name, Rachel had looked ready to dismantle the friendly and competent unit. What would she want to do to him if he tracked her down and demanded she date him?

Contemplating her possible reactions to such a confrontation caused his processor to send flashing lights through his brain. Too many of those would lead to a headache. Sighing in momentary defeat, Marcus rubbed a hand over his face, his human side breaking through completely as a purely male sexual frustration took over every cell in his underused body.

He hated internal conflicts—all cyborgs did. Truthfully, he’d not had one moment of peace since being put back in touch with his emotions.

With the prospect of watching Rachel date men other than him, he didn’t see his situation improving any time soon.

Chapter 2

Seetha lifted her head from her report. Normally her assistant did the data recording, but Rachel hadn’t even stayed in the room while she was fixing their last patient’s arm.

“Rachel, stop what you’re doing and talk to me. You’ve been stomping around the lab and banging tools on every surface since you got here this morning. I think you scared the handsome lieutenant who just left. Shame too—he was staring at your ass the whole time you were stomping. My majorly improved booty didn’t even get a look-see from him.”

Rachel stopped walking and rubbed her forehead. “I…am not…stomp…ing. And I…would…never…date a…cyborg.”

“Oh shit, baby. When did the stammering start? You were talking just fine yesterday. Let me see what’s going on,” Seetha demanded, heading toward her assistant. She had adjusted the resonance prosthetic several times. It wouldn’t stay in sync with Rachel’s processor. She had yet to figure out why.

Rachel held up her hand. “No…no more…fix…ing.”

Seetha braked, snorted, and fisted her hands on her hips. “We are not leaving you in this condition. Don’t give up on me yet. I’m going to figure it out.”

“No one…can...fix me.” Rachel shook her head, more angry than ever that the words weren’t coming out as she wanted.

Walking to the door, Rachel opened it wide and almost ran over Kyra Winters coming into their area. She glared at the infamous cyber scientist who had fixed over a hundred Cyber Soldiers now, but failed to fix her.

Needing both time and distance to get a handle on her emotions, Rachel ran out of the room and into the hallway. She heard Seetha calling her name, but she didn’t look back.

***

Kyra turned her head in the direction of the now closed door. “Did I interrupt something?”

Seetha sighed, shrugged, and then laughed. “No. Not anything serious. Rachel’s been in a snit since she got here this morning. I was trying to figure out why when you walked in on us. Her resonance implant is still malfunctioning…and it’s getting worse.”

Kyra sighed. “I suspected that was going to happen. It won’t stay in sync with her processor.”

Seetha nodded vigorously. “I know. She’s frustrated with my efforts to tweak it. I know you’re still trying to find a permanent solution.”

Kyra turned her head and stared at a spot on the floor. “Actually, I’ve figured it out, but the solution is not one Rachel wants to hear. She’s avoided having the conversation.”

Seetha’s gaze came to rest on her boss. “Okay—you’ve got my full attention. What’s the real fix?”

“Installing an upgraded processor,” Kyra stated flatly. “The one Brad used was a hacked up model. He probably didn’t want to risk being labeled as a corporate thief, so he used an unregistered prototype. Worse, he added his own special touches like a wireless remote to activate her pain controller across moderate distances. From what I can determine, Brad’s success in silencing Rachel was actually an accident, no matter how much credit for it he claimed. I’m not saying a new processor would fix her voice without some delicate calibration, but the one she has makes her more defective than any of the cyborgs we’re restoring.”

Seetha sighed. “A new processor would require some rewiring and different chips. Rachel is never going to go for becoming more cyborg. She doesn’t want to be like the guys we work on.”

Kyra snorted. “Well, she never will be, so that much can be guaranteed. As brilliantly evil as Dr. Smith was, his work on Rachel appears to have been unique and somewhat unrepeatable. Brad was always tinkering with devices and technology. With Rachel, he applied his love of tinkering to an actual person. Nero located his records. Pretty much everything he managed with her was dumb luck.”

“Are you saying her cybernetic issues are happening because she’s a fluke?” Seetha declared, rubbing a frustrated hand over her face.

“Yes, but she’s still mostly a human fluke. I think she would rather be that than a fixed, normal speaking cyborg. That’s why I haven’t said anything. What worries me more than her speech problems is that her unique processor will eventually fail badly enough to cause her other problems as well. At that point, all we’ll be able to do is install a new one. I hope she comes around to accepting that solution before we have to take the decision from her hands.”

Seetha chewed her full bottom lip as she nodded in reluctant agreement.

Kyra sighed. “My concern for Rachel wasn’t the reason I came to see you though, Seetha. I have another uniquely wired cyborg who could use your calibration expertise.”

Seetha’s eyebrow rose at her boss’s tone. “Isn’t every cyborg we see a challenge?”

Kyra nodded. “Yes. In one way or the other. Cybernetics and human parts don’t work together naturally, so some tweaking is always needed. But in this particular case…I know what’s wrong. We just can’t get close enough to physically fix it. This cyborg is wired strategically and it would be extremely dangerous to tinker with that too much.”

“What do you mean?”

“This Cyber Soldier is a failed program reject who’s been kept in isolation. If we try to do anything to the onboard cybernetics, the explosives wired to them are going to detonate. The person who converted this cyborg built in a failsafe to prevent easy dismantling. Hypothetically those measures were done in case the soldier fell into enemy hands. If the cyborg ends up insane from all the blips of botched or half-ass upgrades, that’s just as much a danger.”

“What do you want me to do? I’m no bomb expert.”

Kyra drew herself up and held Seetha’s gaze. “I know you aren’t. What I want is for you to look for a way to scan the onboard cybernetics for abnormalities and sync the processor code without requiring any touching. Peyton and King have calculated the minimum safe distance for the procedure is 100 meters in case of failure. The explosives installed in the cybernetics have a much wider range, so we’d have to put the cyber scientist into a bomb suit for protection. We would not expect you to do the actual calibration. The risk is far too high. We just want you to help us build a safe way for one of us to attempt it.”

Seetha rubbed her forehead. “While I’m no ballistics programmer, even I know the remotes they use to blow up things are wireless. If the calibration device sends out the wrong signals…well that would make his life a moot point.

“Not his life—hers—
her
life would be moot,” Kyra said softly. “The cyborg is a woman in this case. She was a Special Forces military person who I suspect was put involuntarily into the Cyber Wife program. She was contracted to my ex-husband as his wife, and part of the reason he and I never reconciled. Dr. Brad Smith counter-programmed her to kill Jackson—or so Brad told me. In this case, I happen to believe him. The woman became so unstable she had to be isolated.”

“Holy shit. You know all this about her and still want to try and save her life?” Seetha demanded.

“Yes,” Kyra declared, letting the one word carry her sincerity.

“Dr. Winters…have you ever considered you might need counseling?”

“Why would you say that, Seetha? King was wired with explosives. We didn’t get rid of him. During his restoration, I found them. I called in a ballistics specialist and we removed all the parts that could explode. He’s benign now, but it took some work.”

Seetha’s mouth dropped open. “Are you telling me my husband was once a walking bomb?”

Kyra nodded. “Yes. Didn’t King tell you?”

Seetha shook her head, too stunned to say more. King had been wired to explode. He could have been killed. They could have detonated him any time during the war. She might never have known him. A shiver of realization crawled up her spine.

“Seetha? Are you alright?” Kyra asked.

Seetha shook her head. “No…but my shock isn’t going to stop the world from spinning.”

Kyra reached out and rubbed her arm. “The military provided their own chip for each soldier when we created the cyborgs. It functioned alongside the processor. Until we found the anomalies in William, I didn’t understand how much control the military chip exercised over the individual. They obviously put this woman into the Cyber Wife program to hide her. I don’t know how or why Jackson picked her for his experiment. Shortly before Jackson was killed, it was discovered that the radiation from the cybernetics nullifies a female’s reproductive system by overheating her eggs. The Cyber Wife program was publicly declared a failure, put on hold, and all further female conversions were forbidden.”

“But they were done anyway,” Seetha concluded.

Kyra nodded to confirm. “Yes. They were. We’ve found three records so far and I doubt that was all. Two of the women are still missing. Imagine what the street value is for a totally controllable, but still mostly human woman. I’m convinced Brad was following in his footsteps when he tinkered on Rachel.”

Seetha shook her head in dismay. “A person’s humanity will always break through. Look at William. I don’t know what makes it happen, but I’m convinced of it. I think given the opportunity he would have killed his creator without a thought.”

“Exactly. But what if there are more women wired as dangerously? What if they are programmed with mental triggers to make them kill on command or risk being killed themselves? William is still dealing with his past and all he was forced to do. He’s a living reminder to me about what happens when people take their manipulation too far.”

“Okay,” Seetha said, walking away. “I have to stop thinking about this now, or you’ll find me in the corner sucking my thumb in full regression. Send me some arms and legs to fix today. I need to feel like we’re beating this shit.”

“I will try. Will you think about what I asked, Seetha? Just make it a medium priority…for times when your waitlist is low.”

Seetha nodded. What could she say? Somehow she didn’t think hearing “hell no” would faze Kyra Winters. She’d just come back and ask again after the shock had worn off. Wasn’t that how she’d ended up working on William—a cyborg who’d tried to kill her? Kyra never seemed to be as emotionally affected by things as she was. The woman didn’t realize not everyone could be so stoic about people trying to take their life.

“I’ll think about what I can do. But what you’re asking…I doubt it’s ever been done. I’m not sure it’s safe either. If the settings aren’t right…” Seetha drifted off.

She felt Kyra rubbing her arm again.

Moments later she was alone with her vague promise and troubling doubts.

***

After escaping the lab, Rachel walked at a rapid clip down the hallway. Her mind was on how much she hated being treated like a broken machine when she ran headlong into a solid surface and bounced off hard.

When her thoughts returned to the present she was surprised to find herself in an ungraceful heap on the floor staring at a man near her age. He was crawling around on his knees looking for something. Following his movements, she saw his missing glasses peeking out from beneath a heap of electronics. She rolled to her knees and reached out to lift them from the pile of things knocked from his arms during their collision.