“Cybernetically, there’s only a five point seven percent chance of Captain Pennington retaining anything. Because of her head injury, her cybernetic panel, processor, logic chip, and all components would have to be rebuilt from scratch. Nero of course would try to keep as much stored data and original coding as can safely be retrieved. He did what he could for William, but the man lost absolutely everything from seven years of his life. William said he didn’t mind, but I’ve seen what losing shit did to King. The unknown rips at your human side. It causes nightmares and other unexplainable inclinations. I’ll take knowing my hell if it means I get to keep the rest of my sanity.”
“Take my word for it, Peyton. Lucille Pennington will be better off not remembering anything from her companion program. She said she had a built-in self flushing system for her data storage. She was programmed to use it after every sexual encounter. It was to keep the traumatic effects of any abuse she suffered from making her unwilling to engage in similar activities again. Basically, everything they did to her was dumped routinely. She entered a fresh hell each and every time she woke up from that hibernation state.”
“Evil fucking scientist bastards,” Peyton swore. “Sometimes I wish Kyra could forget what happened to her. Maybe a complete overhaul
would
be a blessing for Captain Pennington.”
“Yes. It would be a definite blessing,” Eric agreed, swallowing hard as he recalled her hesitantly offered explanations about why he should just indulge his lust.
Peyton sighed wearily, hating to tell Eric the rest. But it needed to be said.
“Unfortunately, her cybernetics aren’t the only problem Captain Pennington faces. There’s still the dangerous matter of her on-board weapon which can’t be safely disarmed. And as you have learned the hard way, the woman possesses more of them than we realized. There are good reasons the UCN is anxious to see her destruction sentence carried out. They are trusting us to keep her safely contained for now, but I wouldn’t put it past them to try and blow her up first chance they get. She represents the worst of their personal violations against Cyber Soldiers. Imagine what the world would think if she does recover and ever talks about what they did to her.”
Eric nodded again. He had thought of that as well. “I think the UCN would be happier still to see us all taken out with her. We’re all at risk, especially here in this isolated location. One short range rocket would solve a lot of the UCN’s problems. Nero has a weapon warning approach system in place like those you find on military bases, and that’s a good thing for us. Some of us might manage to exit here fast enough to stay alive.”
Eric paced then stopped. He released a weary breath.
“I’m sorry I got you all involved, Peyton. She wanted to leave with me—insisted on it. We can take her back to the facility now if it would be safer. In this state, Lucy won’t even realize she’s there.”
“I didn’t tell you all that to alarm you further. Our involvement was inevitable,” Peyton declared. “Now we have to deal with what is happening, but I don’t want to keep dwelling on what we can’t change. We need a mental break to keep our senses sharp. Nero have any beer left in his pantry stock? I’m thirsty.”
Eric nodded numbly, unsure how he was going to be able to force himself to drink or eat without Lucy across the table from him. He’d never open a beer again without thinking of her doing it for him.
“Snap the hell out of your funk, boy. It’s not helping the situation.”
Eric turned to look at the man who was as much a father figure as a friend. His mother was still alive, but his father had passed while he was serving as a Cyber Husband. He hadn’t known and grieving it himself had put his mother through the loss all over again.
He stared at Peyton, who was staring back and waiting for him to get a grip. Sometimes it seemed pain and loss were his only reality. He simply couldn’t imagine losing Peyton and Kyra. He’d almost lost Marcus not long ago, and doing so would have killed the biggest, and possibly best, part of him. Now he was going to lose Lucy… either to her restoration or to death. It was something he couldn’t fight. There would be no reprieve from the pain of her loss for him. Just dealing… all he could do was deal.
“Come on, Corporal. You can cry in your beer and I won’t tell anyone. But I know for damn sure staring into these cages is not going to change anything tonight.”
Eric dropped his gaze and nodded. “Yes. I know that. Guess I’m ready to go. I want to talk to Nero anyway. If he’s decoded the companion program, I want a chance to go through it. I got Lucy to tell me a lot of things about how it worked. Maybe I can help Nero and Kyra figure it out.”
Eric winced with the sharp pressure as Peyton slapped him on the back to show his approval. The sting reminded him of being tranquilized. It was strange how just hearing the truth could hurt so badly.
Chapter 9
The four of them sat around some pretty decent reconstituted meals by Eric’s standards, but no one was eating but Peyton. Kyra sipped tea and stared off into space. Eric did not find the scientist’s silence reassuring in the least. He pulled his wandering mind to the present and put his full attention on Nero when he spoke.
“I have discovered the code to wake Aja 490 and Meara 491 from their hibernation stasis. However, I do not exactly know who they will be once they are fully conscious and functional again. As a precaution against negative programming, Kyra and I have decided to replace their primary processor with a new prototype we have developed. Upon activation, the new processor will gather a basic data collection of information as well as provide life support and normal functioning. Later the matching logic chip should allow the cyborg to assimilate the rest of their memory storage using their free will to bring it forward. We sought to imitate the way a human normally recalls a stored memory and merges it into current thought.”
“Will the two of them remember what happened yesterday?” Eric asked.
Nero shrugged and poked at food he could not identify. How was he supposed to eat something unrecognizable? He spoke absently, happy to have stowed away protein bars in his overnight bag.
“Results cannot be completely anticipated and may vary between each of the women. It is just a prototype logic chip, but luckily more compatible to their unique cybernetics than what we’ve installed in other restored Cyber Soldiers. The new chip will allow for a wider range of adaptation across emotional responses. In short, it is our way of handling hormonal mood swings which appear to be inevitable.”
Eric glared at him. “Why? Because they’re female and need special handling.”
Nero shrugged, not offended by how touchy Eric was. He was an unusually human-like cyborg. It was why he found the man so fascinating.
“In females, logic chips get eroded by hormone surges, and processors fail over time as a result. This new one spins off the adaptations—think of these as reactions to emotions—sending it out to various storage areas where the knowledge can be recalled when needed.”
Eric frowned. “That sounds a lot like how my processors work.”
“Indeed,” Nero said, nodding at Eric’s accurate guess. “We actually made their prototypes from cloning Rachel’s, which while also a prototype, has worked out well in her case so far. Kyra fixed—no, let’s use the word ‘improved’—the way Rachel’s processor incorporates itself with her brain’s storage of organic memories. We suspect it allows her emotions to travel their more normal neural pathways. Despite my initial misgivings about the coding, Rachel seems very well adjusted.”
Eric drew in a breath and tried to sift through what he’d heard. Even after all the time they’d spent working together, Nero’s explanations were still mostly gibberish to him. But he had gotten the gist of this one. Emotions do not mix well with logic, so the cybernetic system needed to get them the hell away from the processor and logic chip as soon as possible after being felt. Let the emotions go where they needed to go, or in a cyborg’s case, have the processor shove them somewhere they wouldn’t cause problems.
Eric pushed away his plate and lifted his beer. “Will the women be soldiers or companions when they come around? Trust me—there’s a big damn difference.”
Nero sighed as he shrugged again. “You are asking me questions we will not know the answers to until the women recover. We are leaving the core companion code during the restoration process, but we are taking steps so it will not be accidentally activated before their new processor has taken control. My goal is for both Corporal Kapur and Corporal MacDonald to be as fully restored as possibly for their circumstances. The codes within the companion code will still be triggers suggesting responses, but neither woman should feel more than a passing urge to obey. It is basically how we killed the Cyber Husband programming. We left it in place… just took away the pain motivation.”
“But they will on some level still be their companion selves?” Eric asked the question, refusing to feel guilty about his personal motivation for wanting to know the answer.
Nero lifted a single shoulder. “Kyra and I agree it's best to leave the accumulated data of the companion program available in the two additional females in case they wish to recall it in its entirety. We understand there is a need to stop this atrocity from being replicated. It is our hope to make these two women totally immune, but keep them sentient about their companion pasts so they can help us formulate a strategy.”
“Okay. That’s them, but what about Lucy? What’s the plan for her?”
Eric saw Nero look at Kyra after he asked the question. They exchanged a look that made his gut sink. Kyra finally turned her serious gaze to his.
“Captain Pennington’s restoration is higher-risk than any we’ve attempted up to now. It is also more prone to failures along the way. If we wake her up without doing the cybernetic restoration, she could either be the New World Companion you knew, or she could be the tortured woman Bradley Smith experimented on.”
“Don’t you think that’s a chance worth taking?” Eric demanded.
Kyra met and held his gaze.
“I’m not sure about anything. What I know is Captain Pennington has been looking for a way to commit suicide and has come close to finding it a time or two. However, if we don’t wake her from this state within a reasonable time period—say within a few months—her body will start to die for real and her heart will fail. That would detonate the weapon. Then there is the matter of her extreme damage to take into consideration. The odds of even a partial restoration are not in her favor.”
“Fuck the odds…” Eric declared, going silent when Kyra held up her hand to stop his tirade.
“I didn’t say I wouldn’t risk it. I’m just telling you all the decisions that have to be made. Any restoration attempt on her cannot be made here in this facility, unlike the other two females both of whom Nero will restore tomorrow while I keep working on this dilemma. We will have to make the attempt—if we decide to try it—in the bomb shelter location where we’ve been holding her. That facility is made to contain any weapon discharges.”
Peyton shook his head. “If the risk is that high, then any attempt to restore Captain Pennington is unacceptable. You cannot risk your life for hers, Kyra. All your knowledge, and your ability to undo the damage to others, would be lost with your death. I’m not going to speak of the thousand other reasons I personally don’t want you to do her restoration.”
“Peyton…”
He held up a hand to stop her denial. “No. I don’t want to hear scientist logic. Your value to the world is infinitely greater than fixing one female cyborg who may be damaged beyond repair. Only you can fight Creator Omega’s hacked code.”
Kyra swallowed the lump in her throat and looked at her husband. “Creator Omega—whoever the bastard is—used my code to turn Captain Pennington into Evelyn 489. And then into a Cyber Wife. And then into this New World Companion abomination. He used
my code
, Peyton. Not Jackson’s code. If I had been less successful, these women might not have suffered their fates.”
“We’ve had this discussion a thousand times,” Peyton declared. He was exaggerating because he couldn’t do the math at the moment without becoming angrier. “What difference does it make who created the code? My point is you’re the only one who can fix the code.”
Kyra glared, willing him to understand. “Allowing Captain Pennington’s destruction means whoever did this to her wins—just wins. After that hacker knows she’s gone, he or she will be able to make as many companions as he wants. And he will make them, Peyton. He will make them because he will then believe his conversions cannot be undone.”
“Kyra…”
She held up a hand. “No. I heard you out, now you have to hear me say my piece. There can be no repercussions from a person who can never witness against you for your crimes or fight you back. The bastard using my code is systematically killing off his other attempts so no one can track him down by his failures. That’s what’s hidden inside those two women who’ve been on the run all this time. It’s his failed code because they somehow managed to escape it. He doesn’t want us figuring out how it happened because then we could learn how to free all the companions he creates.”
“Which makes my point even more relevant. The world needs you alive so you can do those things,” Peyton declared.