Her fingers found the edge of her shirt, twisting and smoothing the fabric repeatedly. The next part came out as barely a whisper. “A part of me wonders if they had them killed. I had called them the morning of the accident informing my mom that I planned to quit and come home. That the job wasn’t working out. I suspect they were monitoring my communications.” Her fingers stilled their motions. “They needed me alone and isolated; what would accomplish that better than to make sure I had nothing to go back to?”Her green eyes sought mine, searching for answers I couldn’t give.
Reaper growled. “Don’t think your sob story changes anything.”
Nara’s shoulders sagged. “I wasn’t…” she hesitated, “that’s not why I told you. You wanted the truth, and I’m giving it to you-all of it. Losing my parents left me vulnerable-desperate. Dr. Shaw’s work had been a fascination growing up, but after that, it became an obsession. I had to figure out how she had done it. Finding a way to bring new cyborgs into the world would be my greatest achievement, and after a year of trial and error, I found it. That elusive piece of the process that was needed to create cyborgs.”
Her eyes shifted towards Dr. Shaw, a sad smile on her lips. “No one but Dax knew you mapped your own brain to create his. Your brilliance was the template you built Dax’s core programming upon, and with that gift it allowed him to go beyond his programming - to think for himself, to grow and learn. He took that spark of life and passed it on to every other cyborg he helped you create after him.”
The sound of something shattering against the floor had Nara jumping in my arms.
Dex stood in the doorway of Medical, his mouth agape, horror flashing in his emerald eyes. “If that’s true, then what was used as the map for me?”
Nara
Istared at the green cyborg in the doorway.The other Science Model looked horrified.I had seen the face of someone filled with horror a time or two over the past week. I had made it a few times myself, most recently when I had been confessing my sins.
And that is what they were-sins.
Sins of the highest order. So what if I hadn’t installed the emotion suppressors or the termination code into Core, Caliber, and Chaos’s processors? I had known that is what the Global Allegiance had wanted.
It didn’t matter that I hadn’t learned about it until my cyborgs were growing in the vats. A day after I learned the truth, I stood over the vats staring at their unmoving framessuspended in clear fluid. The sounds of their mechanical hearts beating in unison filled the room, and I wondered if termination would be a more merciful fate than the one planned for them.
I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I loved them too much. They weremine.Their processors had been mapped directly from a scan of my brain. But unlike Dr. Shaw, I had figured out a way to tweak the scan, mapping my brain a little differently each time, giving them their own unique file to build their programming on.
And build they had. From the moment they opened their eyes, they started reconfiguring their core programming. Each developed differently, but all linked in a way I never expected.
All three had seemed to recognize me. Like they knew we shared a common thread. They had eyed the other two scientists with suspicion, never wanting to be alone with either of them. Me? All of them had smiled when they had opened their eyes and saw me. They sought me out, huddled together near me whenever I was with them.
They loved me. And I had loved them so much that I let myself be selfish, bringing them into the world knowing what the Global Allegiance had planned.
But I was all alone. My parents were gone-most likely murdered if I allowed myself to think about the timing of their deaths, and I had no friends-no husband or kids.
I was completely alone in the world, and I needed those three cyborgs much more than I had ever wanted to admit to myself.
I still do.But it doesn’t matter anymore. Reaper? Lennox? Dr. Shaw and Dax? At the very least, they would never trust me to be around them. At the very worst, they all hated me and were plotting my death.
Not the Tank Class. Nope. Brone had not once let me go-not even when I revealed the truth. I was still perched on his lap, an arm wrapped around my waist as his free hand made soothing circles against my back. I wanted to scream at him to stop, that I didn’t deserve his kindness, but Brone was the only thing that was holding me together at this point.
Once again, I was being selfish. Letting myself hold on to someone who should be shoving me off his lap and running as far away from me as he could.
Dax cleared his throat, pulling me from my chaotic thoughts. My eyes moved from each member of my gathered firing squad to Dex, who remained in the doorway.
My confessions had opened another can of messed up worms that I hadn’t even known about. But I had nothing to help him. I couldn’t answer his question, and I didn’t feel right staying to hear what they told him. I wasn’t wanted.Not by anyone but Brone anyway.
I went to try and move off Brone’s lap, but a growl from Reaper stopped me.
The Military Model’s eyes narrowed, pinning me in place with his gaze.Had his hand always been gripping the handle of his battle axe?
Pure terror gripped me and I let out an undignified whimper. One swing would be all it would take. Brone tightened his hold.
Reaper looked at Lennox, anger burning in his eyes. “I know this place looks like a resort, but do you happen to have any holding cells?”
I pushed past the terror clogging my throat. “Let me leave instead.”
Brone let out a sharp sound of distress, his frame stiffening behind me. I ignored it, forcing myself to keep going. “It’s better for everyone if I leave. They are hunting me. If I’m gone, maybe they will leave the rest of you alone. Or even if they do come, you’ll have time to prepare for it. Acquiring me is their primary goal.”
Dr. Shaw regarded me coldly. “That doesn’t solve the issue of them capturing you. Once you’re back in their clutches, they will expect you to follow through with their plan to make them new cyborgs.”
“Plus, I gave you the upgrade,” Dax added. “If they scan you, they will discover you’re no longer just human. I can’t have the knowledge of my formula’s existence falling into their hands.”