Marcus 582: Book Three of Cyborgs: Mankind Redefined (6 page)

After the scan finished, Seetha read through the data. Sighing heavier, she calibrated new settings into the device.

“I’m going to adjust for the flux of change you’ve been experiencing. Your vocal tone might be pitched a little higher than your norm, but the calibration should last a bit longer. Of course, I’m basing the adjustment on your history of decline, which is more guesswork than scientific.”

“Just…do…it,” Rachel ordered.

Seetha held the Forensic Calibrator up in the air. She ought to let Kyra be the messenger of doom, but damn it—she was the one working with Rachel every day. She couldn’t stand keeping the real solution a secret. To her way of thinking, nothing was gained from sparing people’s feelings.

“Rachel…there’s a permanent way to fix this. It sucks, but it’s the only thing that’s really going to help.” Seetha sighed heavily when Rachel stepped away. “No…now come back here…and stop shaking your head. I’m not the one who found it, but I happen to agree with the solution. I’ve been studying your file since I came to work here. The reason your resonance implant tweaks aren’t holding is because your processor is a prototype that keeps failing to hold the settings. You need a better processor installed. Kyra’s been too chicken-shit to tell you it’s the only way to fix your problems.”

Seetha held her breath as Rachel stepped within range again and closed her eyes.

“Not…that…can’t…please…just…fix…me.”

Swearing, Seetha reluctantly touched the calibration tool to the port on the device. Tears gathered in Rachel’s eyes, but never fell. “Almost there, honey. Hold still just a little longer. There it is. All over.”

She grabbed Rachel’s arm when it finished. The girl was weaving from the excruciating pain of the chords being re-stretched.

“Now speak to me,” Seetha ordered.

Rachel opened her mouth. Nothing came out.

“
Oh shit
,” Seetha exclaimed, assuming the worst.

Rachel put her hand on Seetha’s chest as she shook her head. “No. Wait. It worked. It just…hurts bad. Damn…tingles.”

Seetha let out the breath she’d been holding. “Okay. That’s a relief. You can let go of my boob now.”

Rachel looked at where her hand had slid down to and laughed as she pulled it away. “Sorry. Did not mean…to grope you.”

“I figured you were just showing gratitude like my other patients do, but unfortunately, I’m not in the mood for any girl-on-girl action this morning. Well actually I’ll never be ready for it. They don’t make women any straighter than me.”

Rachel snorted and grinned. “I’m straight too.”

Seetha grinned back. “Well, I’ll believe that when I hear a man tell me. I’m going to be thinking about your grope for the rest of the day and worrying about what it means. I may even have to call King for some emergency hetero nookie. Come to think of it, I think I need some right now.”

Rachel laughed and rubbed a hand over her face. “I am never…going to be…normal again…am I?”

Seetha snorted, but she also looked away. That question was one that definitely would not be served by too much honesty in such a sensitive moment. “I’ll give you my best advice, baby girl. Define normal by your own standards. My definition has changed radically in the last couple of years.”

Rachel crossed her arms. “What will happen…if I do not…upgrade?”

Seetha busied herself with putting away tools so she could have a few moments to think of how to sugarcoat the explanation so Rachel wouldn’t freak on her again.

“Seetha…I need…to hear…the truth.”

Their gazes met and locked.

Seetha sighed, giving in. “Okay. I’ll tell you what will happen. Your voice will keep getting worse, but other things might start to fail as well. Anything your processor controls is at risk for failure. Being out of sync for a cyborg is like…”

“…having a human mental disorder,” Rachel finished.

Seetha nodded. “Yes. I think that’s a fair analogy. Since you’re a unique creation, none of this is for certain. But given what I’ve seen in the ones we work on here…”

“…you are ninety-nine…percent there…in your…thinking,” Rachel finished, having heard Seetha dramatically express the sentiment many times.

Seetha confirmed the statement with a silent head nod, sympathetic when Rachel sighed and touched her throat. At least the girl was temporarily adjusted. If she chose, Rachel could remain in denial for a little longer. But when that time ended, her assistant was going to have to let Kyra Winters finish evil Brad’s work of turning her into a cyborg. There really was no other choice.

“I hate this for you as much as you hate it for yourself. But Kyra is right about the solution. You’d be a new woman afterward.”

“No…I cannot…until there is…no other choice.”

Seetha nodded and watched Rachel fold into herself as she readied the lab for the next broken cyborg who crossed their threshold. Knowing how little choice Rachel had about getting a new processor, Seetha suddenly had a keen appreciation for Kyra’s hard-ass determination to individually fix each and every one with whatever they needed.

It had never occurred to her when she started this job that part of it would be to help fix people she worked with day-to-day. Seeing Rachel’s struggles, she was now exceedingly grateful that all King had lost in his final restoration was access to some memories.

***

Marcus stood over Eric’s shoulder and pointed. “There. That’s him. His name is Nathan. I never got his last name. He never stated it.”

Eric snickered. “And we’re researching this geeky kid because…?”

“Since when do you need a reason to check someone out for me?” Marcus frowned when Eric laughed at his complaint.

“Unbelievable. You’re lying to yourself…and nearly lying to me,” Eric said sharply, grinning at the glare he got for his words.

“No, I’m not. I never lie,” Marcus said stiffly.

Eric shrugged. “Denial. Lying. Both prompt a person to seek a rational reason for doing something he or she knows is irrational and/or wrong. In people like you, it gets interpreted as stiff-lipped denial.”

Marcus narrowed his eyes and let himself think a few evil thoughts about wiping away Eric’s grin. “You need to get out of here as soon as you can, smartass. You’re starting to sound like Nero.”

Eric grinned again and raised his middle finger. “Okay, dumbass. Let me clarify the data so even an all brawn and no brain guy like you can understand. You’re jealous of the kid for having coffee with Rachel and making her laugh. Admit your weakness for a woman too young for you, realize how stupid it is, and then get on with your life. I told you before, either make your play for her, or stay away from her.”

“I am not jealous of any geeky kid,” Marcus declared. “I just want his damn info. Something was off about him, Eric. You use your gut to make decisions about people all the time. Well, I’m using mine now. Look him the hell up.”

Eric snorted, well used to Marcus getting huffy when they disagreed. It was usually entertaining.

“Okay…I think it’s a waste of my time, but if you insist…” Eric’s eyes widened as they studied the screen of information. “
Uh oh…
”

“What? What’s
uh oh
mean?” Marcus demanded.

“The geeky kid…he’s…wait this can’t be right. For one thing, he’s way too young.”

Eric’s fingers flew as he input commands and cross-referenced. It was in both places—not even hidden.

“Well holy hell. Seems your gut was right in this case. Rachel’s mystery date is a cyborg. His name is Nathan 180. He’s got a panel like us—but as far as I can tell—no prosthetics. His enhancements are comprised of multiple neural implants. They also include a state of the art logic chip to run those neural implants, which probably makes him smarter than most com systems. He also has a high-speed processor, which channels pulses through a customized bodybuilding program more sophisticated than our military spec one. He’s about a half a year into whatever six-pack he’s got growing under the skin-tight shirt he’s wearing in his Norton ID photo.”

Marcus walked to the chair beside Eric and sat down heavily. “How does a new brand of cyborg end up working for a company who would prefer to see all the cyborgs they’ve created turned into mindless AI slaves?”

Eric shrugged. “I don’t know…but I have another question. Who the hell converted him? Nathan 180 exists in the database, but his cyborg file doesn’t show a creator. Norton clearly has him cataloged as a cybernetic hybrid human. Every scanner in the world is going to identify him that way. That means someone here at Norton hired him knowing exactly what he’d had done to himself.”

“I saw the kid. He couldn’t have been over twenty-five years old, Eric. What the hell was he thinking getting those things done at his age? There used to be an age minimum of forty because they wanted to make sure your body was through all its natural growth cycles. You’re one of the few guys I know who was converted before thirty. I don’t like this.”

Eric nodded. “I was a military special case and I hear you. I don’t like it either.”

“Rachel said he was an old friend from college. Maybe I’ll ask her for background information on him.”

Eric laughed. “Dude…don’t be so lame. She didn’t know him in college. The woman you’ve been stalking steadily lied to you about the guy to keep your interested nose out of her dating business.”

Marcus ignored the wit of Eric’s criticism, but it was impossible to ignore the truth of his statements.

“The Nathan guy being a cyborg doesn’t work for me as an explanation for what my gut picked up on. Rachel walked away from him at the coffee shop because he was going on and on about rogue cyborgs and how he thought all cyborgs should be controlled by the government. She got highly agitated and booked after ten minutes of his ranting. Being upset was why she blew past the scanner guard in her building.”

“Kid may have been putting on a show for her. Wonder why he felt the need to lie?” Eric crossed his arms and studied the image on the screen. “Now I’m getting a weird feeling. If this kid somehow got customized cybernetic enhancements, how many others have done something similar?”

“And I’d like to know why he didn’t claim what he was when it was easy for us to find out,” Marcus said, frowning as he stared blankly across the room. He could barely recall any details of Nathan’s actual appearance. The only image in his mind today was that single tear rolling down Rachel’s cheek when she was facing the guard bot.

“I am nearly a hundred percent sure Rachel has no idea he was a cyborg. I think she just liked him because he was attractive and funny.”

Eric laughed at the disappointment in his friend’s tone. “Dude—you’ve gone too long without sex if guys are starting to look good to you.”

“Yeah, I’ve definitely gone too long,” Marcus agreed, not able to even recall his last intimacy. He’d had Kyra pull his Cyber Husband chip and erase all records. At the time, he’d wanted to forget all women, especially his ex-wife who had no longer wanted him. Too bad memories of her hadn’t been on a chip.

Marcus crossed his arms. “So the guy converted himself into the very thing he pretended to fear. That makes no sense. I was sitting right behind him, Eric. He sounded completely sincere.”

Eric shrugged. “Maybe he’s delusional. No telling what those neural implants are doing to his mind.”

Marcus looked at Eric as he thought it through. “I had hoped the guy who was following King was the last of the weirdoes at Norton. Don’t any normal people work here? ”

“Define normal,” Eric said, looking back at the screen. “Here’s an alarming theory for you. What if the geek truly doesn’t know he’s a cyborg? Whoever kept programming William found ways of making him forget who and what he was.”

Marcus looked at the screen again, considering the possibility. All he saw was a relatively attractive guy who’d had enough charm to make Rachel laugh—at least he had before he started talking smack about cyborgs. Oddly, he felt a tug of empathy too. He had tried to make small talk over pizza last night and failed to obtain a single giggle for his trouble. Not only did he not get a chance to kiss Rachel goodnight, he’d left early to avoid the awkwardness his efforts seemed to cause between them.

“I think I make Rachel nervous,” Marcus confessed. It made him angry when Eric laughed loudly at his admission.

“Gee…do you think? In case your processor isn’t picking up the nuance in my tone, yes I’m being sarcastic. Next to King, you’re the most intimidating guy in our group. Surely, you know that about yourself.”

Marcus huffed. No, actually he didn’t know that. “Intimidating? How am I intimidating?”

Eric turned from the monitor and waved a hand. “Look at you, Marcus. All those tats. Not shaving often enough. You wear clothes war refugees wouldn’t even wear. I can understand you being depressed about losing your family, but you need to overhaul your image, dude. I wouldn’t date you either. You look like some crazed stalker…oh wait…you are one.”

“I don’t find that funny…nor do I believe it,” Marcus said.