The air seized inside my lungs, rage drifting away to leave me hollow. Brone’s face flashed inside my head, and something tugged deep within my soul. Like fingers plucking a guitar string, it pulled at the core of my being, filling up the empty space inside me.
He was alive.I felt it.Thank you.I had no idea how this bond thing worked, but even without being fully bonded, it had given me a way to know he was okay. That was enough for me to draw air back into my lungs.
The Service Model cyborg narrowed his eyes. “No more questions. Everything will be explained to you by Master.” He leaned down, his breath ghosting over my lips. “Trust me, you don’t want to keep Master waiting.” His eyes drifted down to what I now realized was his very naked frame, to lock on a set of shiny scars.
They glinted under the light, catching my eyes and drawing my attention to the fact that those weren’t the only scars decorating the cyborg’s body. His whole frame was covered. The synthetic blue skin was dotted with fused circles of melted tissue, deep cuts dug into his flesh, and round holes that looked suspiciously like bullet wounds.
My fingers released their grip on his arm as bile rose in the back of my throat. “Did he do that to you?”
“Master can do anything he wants. I belong to him.” He dragged a finger over one of the rounded holes. “Sometimes, he likes to use me for target practice.” His eyes unfocused before he shook his head. “Come on. You have caused Master a lot of trouble. Do what he says, and you will survive. I would have already been ordered to terminate you if you didn’t possess something the master wants.”
“You don’t have to do this.” I shook my head, ignoring the pain in my head. “There is a way you can be free. Get me out of here, and I’ll take you with me to a place where he can’t ever hurt you again.”
The Service Model smiled sadly. “You can’t save me. Do what he wants and maybe you can save yourself.” With those words, he dragged me out of the room and down a large hallway.
My eyes darted from right to left, looking for any way to escape. A window, a stairwell-anything. There was nothing. The dimly lit hall was nothing but a sea of muted, gray concrete that seemed stretch on forever.
After being dragged for what felt like an eternity, the Service Model stopped. Placing his hand on the wall, it slid open to reveal a set of polished elevator doors hidden behind the concrete. He pressed the button and it dinged, the sound echoing through the long hallway.
I watched as the doors opened, and my heart galloped inside my chest. Once I got on that, a part of me knew that was it. I would be at the mercy of whoever this ‘master’ person was. I could fight the Service Model’s hold. With my enhanced strength from Dax’s upgrade, there was a good chance I could break free. The Service Model wouldn’t be expecting it, believing I was an average human and no match for a cyborg.
But where would I run too? I saw nothing in the hallway that would provide a way out. No doors, no stairwells, no windows. Nothing. The scientist in me had surmised that I was deep underground.
The only way out was to go up. And I would only get one shot before they figured out I was not your average human female. It was my ace in the hole, and I couldn’t show my hand too soon. So as everything in me screamed to break free, I stepped inside the elevator without a fight.
The Service Model gave me a sad smile. “It is better this way. If you would have tried to run, I would have had to hurt you. And there is nowhere for you to go anyway. Even if you managed a few brief seconds of freedom, it would have been for nothing.” Reaching out, he pressed an unmarked button and the elevator jolted, beginning its journey upward. “I didn’t want to hurt you.” His blue eyes met mine, and something flickered within their navy depths.
Empathy. Compassion. Sorrow. Guilt.It could have been any or all of them. Whatever it was sent a bit of hope rushing through me. There might still be a chance to get the Service Model on my side. Two against whatever we were facing were not good odds, but it was better than one.
And if we managed to survive, he would be free. Not trapped in this place where he was at the mercy of this “master.”
I gave him a small smile. “I know better than to take on a cyborg.”But if I have to, I will, I added silently.
Up and up the elevator climbed, and I worked to calm my racing heart. My mind needed to be sharp, my emotions under control. I was no good to myself if I let fear overtake me. I had to form a plan to get the hell out of here. I focused on everything I knew so far.
They were keeping me alive for a reason. That gave me an advantage. One I needed to exploit. I was stronger. Faster. And unless they were employing a room full of geniuses, I was definitely smarter. Not that I was bragging…okay, I was. Sue me. I needed every advantage I could get to fortify myself against what was to come. I had never been much of a fighter, but I would become one now. I had to. This ‘master’ would regret the day he decided to take on Nara Jones.
The telltale ding informed me we had reached our destination. The Service Model stepped out, taking me with him, and I took in my new surroundings.Oh good, another hallway.
But instead of being drab and dark, this one was brightly lit from streams of light that poured through a set of floor-to-ceiling glass windows that bracketed the hallway.Etched in the large panes of glass were lines of bright, silver circuits. They spread out like spiderwebs, twisting and turning to create massive circuit boards within the glass.
“Rather beautiful, isn’t it?” the Service Model remarked.
I could only nod as I trailed my eyes over each line, captivated by the display.
“Don’t let the beauty of it deceive you,” a new voice said.
Turning my head away from the windows, I saw a man standing at the end of the hall. Wearing a fitted black suit, his dark eyes burned into mine and I froze. The identity of the man who stood a few feet from me rushed to the forefront of my brain.
Roman Rothchild.The reclusive owner of the Global Allegiance. Very few photos remained in circulation of the man who had turned the Global Allegiance into an empire. Those that did exist were from before he had launched the cyborg program.
A smiling image of him standing next to Dr. Shaw, his arm wrapped around her shoulder as they beamed into the camera droid, was the only picture of him I had seen. I had been mesmerized by the sight of him, wondering if they knew back then how they would change the world with their technology.
Facing him now, I realized that even in that old photo, something dark lurked behind his eyes. Power. Greed. Cold and calculating.They were right there for all the world to see, but everyone looked the other way, too excited by the prospect of having cyborgs in their lives to do the things humans no longer wanted to do.
Take care of the sick. Fight in our wars. Hack foreign tech to be one step ahead of any threat-both real and imagined. Service our sexual needs no matter what we desired. Model after model pulled from a vat and into a life of nothing but servitude.
Humanity had bought into the lies. The lies that they were nothing but machines. And when the illusion had started to crumble when reports of cyborgs having emotions, and questions asking why they didn’t get to decide about anything for themselves, sprung up, he told the world they were defective. Nothing more than a broken product that needed to be returned and destroyed.