Peyton 313: A Cyborg Adventure

Chapter 6

6Late the next morning, Kyra looked down at her tight jeans and even tighter fitting shirt with disgust. Why was she taking such pains with her appearance? He likely wouldn’t notice her clothing. If he did, he likely wouldn’t care. Last night he hated her for telling him the truth. This morning he’d probably hate her for just breathing.

In the mirror, she inspected the way her shoulder length brown hair curled naturally around her face and made her brown eyes look even darker. Surgery had corrected her vision two years ago, but today glasses would have been a welcome shield. She pushed her hair back and held it in both hands as she tried to decide what to do with it before she finally turned it loose and left it hanging.

Sighing in disgust about caring whether or not he might still find her attractive, Kyra grabbed the wrist remote for his restraints and snapped it back on. She’d taken it off to shower but wouldn’t be able to do that again once Peyton was out of the cage.

Taking a deep breath, she headed to her kitchen and picked up his breakfast. Peyton would need serious fuel today. His body had essentially been working all night.

It took her several minutes to get through her lab’s rotating security. What she found inside had her setting the food tray down on her desk and running to the bars of the cage. The metal bed was bent in the middle. Everything was thrown around, scattered, or destroyed. The file she had left with Peyton last evening had been shredded into confetti.

“Captain Elliot? Are you okay?”

He rounded on her so quickly that Kyra didn’t see him move until he slammed his body against the bars. The force of the impact scared her into jumping away from the cage.

“It’s all f*****g true, isn’t it?” he demanded.

Kyra swallowed and nodded. Neither Marshall or Alex had gotten so angry. Instead, they’d been hurt and mentally wounded by the discovery. Their country’s betrayal had sent them into depression. Apparently, the emotional part of Peyton was wired a bit differently.

“Yes. Everything about the Cyber Husband program is all true. And there’s more I haven’t told you yet.”

“My men—what happened to the other Marines?”

Kyra drew in a breath. “Every cybernetically enhanced soldier was redefined and put into the Cyber Husband program. Those that couldn’t be redefined were sent to work camps where they’re being used like android robots for tasks specific to their enhancements. But without exception, all Cyber Soldiers were given cybernetic chips that run the constant codes I told you about. I know of no exceptions.”

“f*****g asshole dipshit motherfucking paper pushing bastards,” Peyton yelled, slamming the bars again several times. “I’m a f*****g Marine. I can’t believe they turned me into a high-priced man w***e without me knowing it. How the hell could this happen?”

Kyra went to her desk chair and fell into it. “Now you understand the primary reason I didn’t have s*x with you when you offered. Do you remember our personal exchange?”

Peyton nodded tightly. “Damn right I remember it. I remembered a lot of things this morning. I remembered things that I hadn’t thought about in a decade. What the hell happened to my fiancée?”

“Fiancée? There was nothing in your records about a fiancée,” Kyra said wearily, rubbing her forehead in confusion. “If you can recall her name and ID number, I can look up her current stats. Chances are she was told that your cybernetics had gone rogue and taken over your personality. It was the standard cover story. Families were sent a tape that was made to portray your cybernetic abilities in the worst possible light. All families of soldiers received large compensation checks for their personal losses.”

Peyton shook his head in disbelief. “So instead of getting the honorable retirement I was promised, they handled the f****d up situation like I had died in combat.”

Kyra nodded. “Yes. I believe that’s a fair analogy for what happened.”

“How long have you known all this? You told me yesterday, but I need to hear it again,” he demanded.

“Jackson told me restoration was not an option just before the peace pacts were signed. He said cyber soldiers were too dangerous to let run loose in a peaceful society. Most decision makers in our government and the UCN wanted all cyborgs discreetly destroyed. Jackson’s constant code solution spared cyborgs from death ... at least after a fashion. Those making the decisions preferred being perceived as good guys so they convinced themselves that soldiers were getting a pretty cushy life in the Cyber Husband program. And it was all aided by the income cyborgs brought to the UCN.”

“Yeah. A cushy life. Just f**k some stranger on demand and do the work of a house droid the rest of the time. That’s bullshit—that’s what that is,” Peyton declared, slamming his hand against the bars again.

Kyra winced at his description of the last decade. “Yes. The unfairness should have occurred to me when Jackson suggested his solution, but it didn’t. It didn’t even occur to me when Jackson replaced me with a female cyborg that he was trying to custom mold to his changing s****l preferences. I brooded for several years about his betrayal, too self-involved to see the bigger picture of the cyborg chaos he’d been instrumental in putting into place. His work on putting controllers into children ended up being my tipping point. I left my job at Norton Industries this year after Jackson was killed because I refused to take over his work on it. I couldn’t stand being involved with altering innocent children. Controller wires have to be inserted while the person is alert so they can be tested at each pain point. They created a special chip to put in the brains of children to store the traumatic memories afterward. But that doesn’t mean they don’t scream while the process is being done to them.”

“I called you Dr. Frankenstein, but you’re a worse monster than any you’ve created,” Peyton said viciously.

Kyra nodded. “Yes. I agree with your assessment of my character. But I promise you I’m trying to make things right as best I can.”

Peyton glared, but his derision was both ineffective and wasted on the stoic woman. If ever there was a time for the mad doctor to be sobbing into her lab coat sleeve, it would have been after his insults. But no—she was too damn strange to act like a normal person.

“Lady, you’re lucky right now I’m in this cage. Otherwise my hands would be around your throat. Locking me in here was probably the smartest thing you’ve ever done in your life.”

Kyra studied her hands. She deserved his anger. She deserved his hate. But that didn’t make her goal any less important or urgent. Her science work had given her a laser-like focus on her goals. It served her well as she stared at the angry Marine she had caged.

“That conclusion depends on how you view things, Captain Elliot. If you kill me when I let you out, then I will at least be released from this remorseful hell I exist in most of the time. But I don’t think you’re going to because you need me to fix at least a few other cyborgs, if we manage to rescue some before the UCN comes after me. I see us working as some sort of a team to help you form a viable group capable of acting together for larger purposes.”

“Do you think rescuing a few cyber soldiers is going to vindicate what you’ve done to people like me?” Peyton growled out his questions as he stomped around his prison.

Kyra shook her head. “No. Nothing will change what I’ve done to you. But regret won’t change the past. I can only try to make amends by restoring one cybernetic soldier at a time.”

“Great. Let me the hell out of this cage and let’s get to it.”

Kyra shook her head again. “No. I can’t. Look at how erratic your emotions are. You’re not fully integrated, Captain Elliott. The human mind is an amazing tool, but it needs time to work through what’s happened in the last couple days. Your anger is a necessary phase of this process. Sadness and depression will come to visit shortly as well. Once you survive feeling all those emotions, then we’ll talk about letting you out.”

“Damn it. I’m going to lose my mind prowling around this cage while dwelling on this s**t. I destroyed the bed the moment I came to consciousness and remembered everything.”

Peyton swept a hand over his head. Human action of frustration, his mind reported, even as his cybernetic implants hummed and scanned for things to help him escape. He laughed harshly at the irony of his awareness. He was emotionally back to the day he’d left the war zone. What had happened since was like watching a movie in his head. The data of the last decade was fully accessible, but there was no emotion attached to any of it that made it worth thinking about for more than two seconds. Data about his other wives was just stored and catalogued. All it provided was proof of how much and for how long he’d been f****d over by the country he’d served.

“You know, I wish you had just left me like I was yesterday, Doc. I think I was actually happy for a few minutes. f*****g hell—I didn’t sign up for this when I let you mad scientists combat modify my brain.”

Kyra tucked her hands under her legs to stop them from shaking. “No. You didn’t sign up for any of this. Bend the bed back into a normal shape after you calm down. You can do it if you focus your thoughts on channeling your strength. It’s going to take a bit of time for your cybernetic enhancements to learn to follow your human will instead of some programming order. Based on the organic access work you were already doing, I think this is the golden opportunity your brain has been waiting for. It should race to create new synapses now that there is nothing to prevent them from developing.”

Rising slowly, Kyra walked to her desk and then to the cage with the breakfast tray she had prepared. She lowered a thin slide welded to the bars and locked the tray to it before sending it through the opening.

“I brought you a lot of protein. Your body has undergone a huge trauma. The integration process will work more efficiently if you eat and rest as much as possible.”

“Before you go traipsing away, there’s one more thing I need to know—are you keeping anything else important from me? Don’t f*****g lie to me, Doc. I can’t take anymore deceit,” Peyton commanded.

Kyra crossed her arms. “Yes. I’m keeping some things from you still, but only for the purpose of helping you adjust slowly—not to keep you in the dark about your life. I’ll tell you everything in time. One day soon you’ll be able to research and learn things on your own. Then you can determine for yourself whether or not to trust what I’ve said to you. No matter what you think of me, I do intend to give you full freedom. You have my word on that, Captain Elliott.”

When he was silent and had turned away, Kyra turned to leave. It was obvious how he felt about her now. The sight of her probably sickened him. Her earlier worry about her clothes now mocked her.

“Hey Doc—wait. f**k. I hate asking this, but damn it—I need to know.”

Kyra turned back to find Peyton glaring at her hard.

“You were right about the s****l training. Apparently, there was a programming chip installed just for that work. Did you purposely leave that one in me? Or am I just supposed to believe it was a scientific oversight?”

Kyra winced internally, but nodded at his comment. It was a reasonable question. And he was right, she had left it to give herself an edge. Peyton would just have to add it to her list of sins.

“I left all secondary chips because I didn’t want to confuse you any more than necessary. I only changed out the primary ones and the processor. Later on, we’ll remove any chips you want gone, including the one with my info on it. If it’s any consolation to your newly reawakened male ego, the chip isn’t the only indicator of what you found on it. You were the only man in the Cyber Husband program with a five star bedroom rating from all ten of your wives. That obviously indicates a high level of innate skill. Cybernetic software can only enhance abilities that are already innate. Removing the chip won’t change that. It will just remove your knowledge of me.”

Peyton snorted. “I’m sure that would be scientifically disappointing for you. Want to do some hands on research to find out if you agree? Apparently, lots of women have. I don’t know why you turned me down before. Why should you be the one exception?”

Kyra didn’t know which of them was more surprised by his snarky offer. Peyton dropped his gaze from hers right after asking.

“Thank you, but no thank you, Captain Elliot. I have my BOB. He takes care of any physical needs I have in the bedroom.”

Peyton’s scanning mechanism sent out signals searching for another cyborg or droid in her home. No signals were returned. Maybe all signals inside the lab were scrambled. “Did you experiment on him too?”

Kyra rolled her eyes at the accusation in his tone. If the whole discussion hadn’t been so traumatizing for her, his question would have been hysterically funny.

“No. BOB is already fully mechanized. Not exactly a droid, but there’s no chance of improving him. I have to make do with his current abilities. I find they suffice for my occasional use.”

Peyton caught the amusement in Kyra’s voice and thought about what she was saying as he looped his arms around the bars. He realized then that he had been too pissed to think clearly. He ordered himself to calm the hell down and start collecting data from Kyra Winters in a more rational manner. When he had achieved that state, her veiled inference instantly came to him.

“Oh, that kind of BOB. Why make do with your old-fashioned mechanical toys, Doc? A woman as hot as you needs the kind of vibrator that comes with an imaginative brain. I bet I’m bigger than your mechanical boyfriend too.”

Kyra snorted at his audacity. He was certainly a lot different than Marshall or Alex.

“Random outbursts of human emotion, such as the typical male bragging you’re doing, will be filtering through your mind and out your mouth for several days. When everything finally settles though, you should find yourself experiencing less of those outbursts.”

Peyton laughed at her calm assessment. “Outbursts? Oh hell no. This conversation is no f*****g outburst. You missed seeing the outburst this morning. I’m just pissed at you now because I remember every one of those women who bought me and the memories are not pleasant. Nine of them were evil bitches that I derailed whenever I could. I had no choice but to f**k them on command and part of me hated them for it—and still does. I can’t believe any government would condone such a thing. In my book, that’s a pretty shitty thing to do to a soldier. Hell—to any man period. Same goes for women.”

Kyra nodded, her face flushing with shame. “Yes. I’m sorry it took me so long to rescue you from that life. I didn’t have fifteen million dollars when I needed it. Raising money took years, even with Jackson’s inheritance. I did the best I could as fast I could. When I couldn’t buy you at first, I bought the others thinking that trying something was better than doing nothing. All my experiences in human restoration of cyborgs has only increased my guilt and shame for participating in such a heinous process to begin with. But it’s far too late for wishing I had never started.”

Peyton ran a hand through his hair, feeling the strands push up. On the right side, he felt the small compartment that provided access to his cybernetic components. Whether Kyra Winters was truly repentant or not, she was the only person he knew who held the secrets to his return to something resembling normality. Without her, he’d still be waiting for another bored rich woman to buy him. Guess it was better to be at the mercy of the evil science b***h he knew, than some unknown female he was painfully programmed to obey.

He sighed as he met Kyra’s concerned stare. “Whatever the hell you did to me, I do finally remember every woman I’ve ever been with, including my fiancée which is the last decent memory I have before I got the cybernetics. As messed up as you are as a human being, thanks at least for giving me back control of my body. From all the data stored in my brain, I can see that never would have happened if you hadn’t had your attack of conscience. I hate you for being alive, but I applaud your attempt to reform.”

“Thank you for that concession, Captain Elliott. Now I know what being damned with faint praise feels like. And let me just say again that any reasonable human would be very angry in your situation. No matter what anyone did to you, you’re just as human as I am. Never doubt it,” Kyra ordered softly.

Peyton studied her sagging shoulders. The women who had bought him seemed to bother her as much as anything else that had been done to him. He might be still pissed at the situation, but at the moment he had a lot of respect for Kyra Winters holding back when he was begging her for s*x. He had clear and distinct recall of just how badly she had wanted him. Even now after all he had learned, memories of her hot kiss had his d**k twitching despite his disgust at the reaction.

“I remember everything about our s****l exchange, Doc. I remember you climbing into my lap to kiss me until I was hard as a rock under you. I remember how much we both wanted that kiss to go on and on. I told you I wasn’t going to forget it. That apparently was a promise I’m able to keep. Thanks for that too. Focusing on my sick obsession with you is at least helping me put memories of those other evil bitches away.”

Kyra shook her head. “Stop patronizing me. Just erase the memory of us kissing. You have that ability back now. It would actually be a good thing for both of us if you did because your shitty situation with me is just getting started. Soon we’re going to be up to our necks in it. We’re never going to find a time and place for anything like that kiss to happen again.”

Peyton shook his own head, mirroring her denial. Maybe he didn’t remember everything perfectly, but he was sure Kyra Winters was one of the most depressing women he’d ever been attracted to. His fiancée had been a curvy, happy-go-lucky yoga teacher. Maybe his strong attraction to Kyra was just gratitude that she had literally saved what was left of his a*s.

“You don’t know what will happen for sure, Doc. No one knows. Life is full of surprises. I escaped one hell and woke up in another. This isn’t the first time either. At least I’m alive and so are you. I’m still pissed but don’t let that stop you from being truthful. I want to hear what you have to say.”

Peyton frowned when she rose from her seat and headed to the door. He found himself speaking to her back as she tried to shut him out. “Hey, Doc—I know I’m in a pisser of a mood, but don’t be a stranger from the lab today. I’m not real keen on being alone right now. It would give me too much time to hate the world.”

Kyra nodded but didn’t turn around. She needed a break from witnessing his unhappiness.

“I’ll be back to see you in an hour. If you fix your area so you can sit, I’ll bring you a reading device with some more documents. I’ll work here and stay available to answer your questions about what you find out.”

After hearing Peyton’s softly spoken “okay”, Kyra slipped quietly out of the lab and took a few cleansing breaths. His reaction of extreme anger was dangerous, especially given his cybernetically enhanced strength. But his anger seemed healthier than the instant depression she’d seen in both Marshall and Alex. She was going to consider it a positive sign that his restoration was working.

Pushing her hair back, Kyra picked up her pace and headed to the kitchen. Once there, she picked up her handheld com and dialed. She had to be careful in case the call was being recorded. She fully expected it was. The connection completed but there was no human answer on the other end. She’d gotten his recording.

“Hey Nero. How’s the gaming going? No line pickup so I guess you must be absorbed in something. Guess what? A real Prince Charming finally arrived on my doorstep. I have high hopes because Peyton 313 is way superior to the other two duds I bought. Wait until you see the guns on this one. I can’t wrap both hands around one of his upper arms. And before you ask, the answer is no—Peyton is not well behaved—but I don’t care. I like bad boys, even if they are cyborgs. So how do you feel about a little get together to meet him? Call me back when you get out of the game.”

She disconnected and frowned. It would have been preferable to wait a couple more days until she was sure Peyton was adapting fully. But her instincts were singing and that was never good. The last time they sang this loudly, Jackson had asked for an official divorce so he could take a Cyber Wife without looking bad to the UCN.

Before the forms had gotten through the legal chain, Jackson’s first Cyber Wife had moved in with him. She had spent the first week of her new single life working with Nero to reset privacy codes throughout the house and lab to respond only to her. When Jackson had come back to the house to get something a few days later, he’d had to wait for her to get home from work to get inside. His shock at her actions to protect herself had been great, but he’d soon adjusted to her new autonomy—as had she.

By that point she’d accepted that she was never in her life going to be able to forgive him.

It didn’t take long after that epiphany for complete apathy to set in about how Jackson was living.

Now she was about to change her life again, only this time she was going completely off the grid. To do the best job of that, she needed to create a side trail of research that would lead any investigation away from Peyton’s true changes to something far less interesting.

Once he’d had a chance to calm down, maybe she could convince the angry Marine to help her.