Kingston 691: A Cyborg Adventure

Chapter 3

3Nero scratched his head as he walked back into the lab. It was late and he should be home sleeping, but Eric hadn’t left the facility in three days. The man would shut down for short periods of time right in the chair, then pop back up a short while later and start work where he left off, as if he’d had a full night’s rest.

Nero shook his head, yawned and stretched, while envying how alert the cyborg managed to stay. “How did you get around the satellite security to redirect its lens?”

Eric laughed. “Easy. I didn’t get around anything. Since I didn’t know how long the search would take, I looked for a more legit tactic. So I’m pretending to be a new com station. I paid their yearly fee from money King gave me, got the control coordinates to manipulate the satellite, and now I can point its most excellent high-powered camera anywhere I want on earth. I can even point it into the work camps and watch who comes and goes. The problem is I can only do one damn camp at a time. It’s taking forever to check them.”

Nero stared, fascinated by the man’s cleverness. “Can’t you record instead of watching? Seems like it would be less taxing and we could enlist some help reviewing the records.”

Eric shook his head. “No. Just the opposite. I’m pretending to broadcast which means I have to keep sending the bogus signal constantly. If I stop sending it, their monitoring service might suspect I’m not exactly what I say I am.”

“I see. How many camps have you watched in three days?” Nero asked, amazed by the man’s focused dedication to the task.

“I’ve watched six of the sixteen so far. Not many. I’ve been hoping to get lucky. Five were in the mountains, all mining camps. Bots went in and out of dark holes in the ground. Very boring. This afternoon I’ve moved to the jungle for a change of scenery. This camp digs for gold. It should be much more exciting to watch them go in and out of holes in the ground surrounded by jungle plants.”

Nero snorted at the self-effacing humor. “This camp must be deep in the jungle. Most of the gold was mined out of the earth by the end of the twentieth. I’m afraid mining for gold there is nothing but a waste of time and AI units.”

Eric blinked, zoomed in, and turned his head to grin at the skeptical scientist. “Or this camp could have the very gold we’ve been looking for. Does that look like a human female to you? She’s awfully skinny—almost looks like a man to me.”

Nero stared at the screen. “Whoever it is has a hefty escort. There’s a cyborg walking behind the AI bot.”

“Really?” Eric adjusted the zoom on the satellite, moving in for a closer shot. “This is as good a feed as I can get. Can we do face recognition on this com?”

“Absolutely.” Nero swung to his com and pulled up the photo Kingston West had given them of him and Seetha. He typed a few commands to send it along to Eric. “Just pull it up and put it in the top right corner of the screen.”

They both watched as the photo landed in place.

“Now highlight her face and drag over it. Then drop the cropped photo of her face on top of your video. The system will do the checking for you. We use the feature to identify rogue cyborgs.”

“Rogue cyborgs…right. Bet that’s got you working your ass off these days,” Eric declared, smiling when he heard the scientist tiredly chuckle.

“Yes. I’m up to my neck in rogue cyborgs and the bastards never f*****g sleep. They make me look bad when I have to crash once in a while.”

Laughing at Nero’s reply, Eric dropped a copy of the woman’s face over his video feed. “Now look at my satellite, sweetie. I need to see that pretty face of yours.”

Another five minutes went by as they watched her walk toward a building. If she went inside, they’d lose her until she came back out. But at the door, she stopped and stared at the sky. Clasping her hands together, she lifted her face, then lifted her hands in a pleading, prayerful gesture. A push in the middle of her back from the bot had her swinging around and bam—the photo started flashing.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Nero said. “That’s Seetha Harrington. You actually found her.”

Eric smiled and pushed back in his chair. “King is going to owe me big time. I knew I could do this. I’ve always had a lot of faith in my instincts. I even had it as a cyborg. Back then I credited being this sure to some sort of data I couldn’t access, but really it was my intuition talking to me the whole time. I figured it out almost as soon as I was restored. I feel ten times smarter about myself.”

“Great. I’m glad to hear one restoration is working out well. Call Kingston on the way home and tell him we found her. I’ll drop you at your place. Dude, no—don’t look at me like I’m a wimp. I have to go to my domicile and get some real rest,” Nero exclaimed.

Eric laughed at his protesting. “Okay. I need just one more minute—there it’s done. I pointed the satellite at the nearest city, just in case it gets looked at while we’re away. So we’re going to the jungle? I guess it beats heading back to the desert. Marcus is going to hate it though. He hates the oppressing level of humidity required to make the place so green.”

“I’m not too fond of it either. My airjet isn’t big enough for the five of you or I’d offer it as your ride.”

Eric grinned as they walked out the door. “The place we’re going is south of the equator and straight down. It’s going to take about six hours by deluxe airjet, unless we get a cargo lift. Cyborgs can survive the speeds those travel, but you still feel like s**t for a while after you get there. We wouldn’t be able to bring the woman back that way. Guess we’ll have to book private air transport. Peyton or King can take care of those details.”

“You’re not like other cyborgs, Eric. If I didn’t know what you were, I would think you’d never been anything other than human. You don’t spout logic all the time like the rest of your group. You talk in terms of end results—a very human thing to do.”

“Is telling me I suck at being logical your way of paying me a backhanded compliment? Because if it is, you hellaciously need better social skills.”

Nero sighed as they exited the building into the parking lot. “Yeah…sorry. That probably was out of line. I didn’t mean to insult your friends. I’m tired and my filters are down.”

Eric shrugged as he climbed into the sleek vehicle. “Good enough apology for a pass. What a sweet ride you have here, Nero. Would you offer your airjet to one very proficient-at-driving cyborg if he promised to bring it back in good condition?”

Nero thought as he opened the driver’s seat compartment. “I might be persuaded…for the right reason.”

“Right reason? What does that mean?” Eric laughed as he asked the question. He was as confused talking to Nero as King had reported being. The young scientist was smart though—incredibly smart. He had no doubt Nero had earned his white coat.

“I want to ask you questions—any questions I want—about your cyborg life. The collected data on cyborgs says nothing at all about the realities of living in a human world with a higher functioning brain, not to mention the problems you have dealing with your leftover military cybernetics. I want the inside scoop even though my questions will undoubtedly continue to reflect my lack of social skills. It will probably feel like I am prying your brain open again.”

Eric looked around the airjet’s interior. It was pristine. He glanced at the man beside him. Everything about Nero was just as precise as his ride. “Can I keep your ride for a whole afternoon?”

“If you prove to me you can drive and agree to my terms, you can keep it a whole work day,” Nero declared. “But I want access to you immediately. We’ll start interviewing tomorrow…or whenever you guys get back from rescuing Kingston’s lady. I can wait that long.”

Eric snorted. “King’s lady…that’s so funny to hear. You see, King always had a lady and didn’t have to work very hard at it. He’d hook up with one wherever the hell we got sent. When he’s not freaked out, the man is completely charming—well at least to women. I think he looks scary as s**t, but women don’t see him like I do.”

Eric looked back to see Nero blinking at him…and waiting. The man’s single-minded focus made him laugh.

“Okay. You can have eight hours of brain picking time in exchange for eight hours of ride borrowing. That’s my best offer.”

“Done,” Nero declared, putting the airjet into gear as it revved. “Better buckle up or grab on to something.”

The moment the engine reached max power, he shot straight up and did it at peak velocity.

Beside him, the cyborg he’d surprised laughed and swore.

“Seetha? In a work camp?” Annalise shook her head. “That’s where they put rogue cyborgs…and antiquated robots. Why would they put Seetha there?”

Thinking about her daughter having to survive in such a place gave her chills. All this time she’d been thinking Seetha didn’t want to be around her family, when the truth was she couldn’t be.

“I don’t know why or how she ended up there.”

King outright lied, even though it hurt his brain to do so. He bore the suffering of the uncomfortable cybernetic side effect to save the older woman. It would have caused her worse anxiety knowing Norton and the UCN were likely involved in her child’s disappearance.

“All I know right now is that we’re going to go get your daughter out. You need to focus on that.”

Annalise throwing herself at him to hug him tightly caught King off-guard. His arms came around her, offering comfort as best he could. He hadn’t hugged any female but Doc since his restoration. It felt very strange.

“I’m so glad I told you, Kingston. What if I hadn’t? I almost didn’t. It took me so long to find the courage to even speak to you again. No one would ever have looked for Seetha if I’d stayed silent—I see that now. How did you find her?”

King pushed Annalise gently away and walked her to a chair. “I served in the military with some amazing men who never cease to surprise me with their talents. One of them found Seetha and they’re all going along to help me free her. In the meantime, I want you to stop beating yourself up. You saved me from a worse fate by buying me when you did. You saved your daughter by asking for my help. You have acted as bravely as possible given your circumstances and I don’t want to hear you saying anything different.”

Annalise nodded and patted the strong hand on her shoulder. “Yes. Okay. Thank you, Kingston. I badly needed to hear that. Now don’t worry about me at all. Just be careful and bring Seetha back.”

King lifted Annalise’s chin until he held her face in his hands. The pain in her gaze as she imagined her child suffering made his gut ache. Not stopping to analyze the urge, he bent to drop a kiss on her cheek. It felt right to do so. Her ragged sigh over the comfort made him feel very protective of the older woman. A new relationship was being formed between them—or at least new to him—but he wasn’t inclined to stop it from developing.

“Okay. My transport is waiting and I have to go. Annalise, I need you to trust me now the way you did when you first told me about Seetha. While I’m gone, pray for us to have good luck.” At her silent nod, King patted her cheek gently before turning away to leave.

Outside Annalise’s residence, a pod cab hovered at curbside, still waiting as he’d asked. King walked to it with his determination growing every step he took. Even without remembering the mysterious Seetha, he had to try and help. Regardless of his apathy for the Cyber Husband program, he couldn’t abide the Harrington women suffering for yet another atrocity Norton had committed on behalf of a corrupt UCN.

He climbed into the vehicle, closed the door, and gave directions to the driver to take him to the local air transport station.

Peyton looked down the row at the men checking their cybernetics to make sure they were fully functional with the limited modifications they’d received. King could no longer turn himself into a fusion bomb, but something so dramatic had never been his idea of a viable weapon anyway. The thought of losing King was not something he was willing to contemplate longer than the three seconds it took to be grateful. Kyra had insisted on downgrading King’s enhancements before any of the other men’s. It had taken a bomb expert two days to declare him completely deactivated. God only knew why Norton hadn’t done so before they put King into the Cyber Husband program.

“This is like the good old days,” Eric declared, smiling as he looked from man to man.

Peyton snorted. “Except that we’re a decade out of practice.”

“Not to mention Doc made sure we only kept a few of our enhancements,” King stated, turning on his pulse canon deflectors. “I’m more afraid of her than I ever was of any enemy we faced.”

Peyton nodded. “Well, it’s not like we’re fighting a hundred trained Cyber Soldiers any longer. We’ll be dealing with labor AI units at the work camp. They’re going to be strong and maybe hard to get around, but they’re not going to be prepared for any sort of full scale invasion of their territory. I think all we’re going to need is a distraction that will require a lot of them to investigate. We also need a way to discreetly get in and out of the camp without disturbing their routines any more than necessary. If we keep them functioning normally around our efforts, we’ll move in and out easier. The cyborg Eric saw is the only unknown factor.”

Marcus looked at Vincent and Steve who both nodded. He looked back at Peyton and King and swept his head to indicate them. “The three of us will create your distraction. How big of one are you wanting?”

“Your basic big boom with as little real damage as possible, but make it messy. We want as many of the AI units occupied in addressing it as possible,” Peyton declared.

Marcus nodded, and then picked up the pulse canon leaning on his leg to check it.

Eric stared at Peyton. “So what? Since they’re creating a distraction, I guess I’m supposed to figure out a way for us to get in and out?”

Peyton grinned. “Oh hell no. I’ve got that covered. I already did some research on this camp. King’s got the tough job and you’re with him, Eric. Once we get in, he’s going to have find the target and release her.”

“Seetha Harrington is not a target,” King said, glaring at Peyton.

Eric laughed at the instant defense. “I always heard men were touchy about insults to their wives, but your reaction surprises me, King. I thought you didn’t remember her.”

“I don’t and she’s not my wife. Seetha is my…” King sighed heavily. He didn’t know what the hell she was. But she wasn’t a just a damn mission target. “f**k you, Eric. She’s more than just a mission.”

“Of course she is,” Peyton declared, grabbing King’s arm and laughing at his friend’s emotional reaction. “I just fell back into old habits and the way we used to talk about the people we rescued. I wasn’t implying anything by the terminology I used.”

“Yeah…damn it…I know,” King said, running a hand over his newly shorn head. He had his hair clipped close when he found out where they were going. He looked at the men around him, all of whom were now grinning. “Don’t pay any attention to my bitching and complaining. I thought we were done with these kinds of things. This rescue s**t has got my circuits a bit scrambled.”

Marcus laughed and shook his head. “No need for a meltdown. You’re not the only member of that club traveling in this transport, Master Sergeant West.”

When the others laughed at Marcus and yelled their agreement, King heaved out a nearly exasperated breath. “I was going to say thanks for helping me find her, but maybe I’ll save my gratitude for when I’m not pissed over your teasing. And I’m not having a meltdown. I just don’t know what we’re getting into.”

King turned to look at a grinning Peyton. “Now what the hell are you smiling about?”

“Nothing I intend to share until Seetha Harrington is safe and headed home with us. This transport is too small for me to have to kick your big ass around in it.”

“You wish you could kick my ass,” King grumbled. He fell back against his seat and huffed when Peyton’s comment earned another round of snickers at his expense. “Glad I seem to be providing the entertainment for this freaking party.”

Eric grinned. “Dude, it’s the least you can do since it's your wife we’re helping you rescue.”

King’s swearing at Eric’s teasing filled the air, but still didn’t drown out the laughter.