The following days were another succession of endless battles and by the time Jarcor had another free moment, he was exhausted. Though his whole life had been dedicated to fighting the enemy, there were moments where he wished he could escape the life. He had seen enough bloodshed.
Despite his exhaustion, he went looking for a computer and dedicated a few minutes to work on his own recording system. He was nearly finished when he sensed someone approaching. Quickly, he closed everything he had been working on and got up only he wasn’t able to leave the room on time to avoid Sergeant Miller.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he snarled.
“Having a bit of fun. Is there a problem with that?” Jarcor replied calmly, trying not to provoke him.
“You have no business being here.”
“Why not? I wasn’t aware this place was off-limits.” It wasn’t and they both knew it, but Jarcor knew Miller still had a score to settle with him, after their last encounter.
Miller’s face got so red Jarcor thought he was about to have a stroke. But the sergeant managed to control himself before he spoke, oozing venom towards Jarcor. “You think you’re better than anyone here, don’t you? Having trouble accepting your new place in life, are you?”
“My place in life hasn’t changed at all. Your opinion on the matter has no importance to me,” he stated coldly, watching as Miller lost control over himself once more.
He stepped closer to Jarcor, yelling at him. “You’re nothing, just a weapon to use as we see fit, as we please, completely dispensable. I could kill you right now and you would be replaced immediately by another one of your kind.”
“Go ahead, what’s stopping you?” challenged Jarcor, crossing his arms over his chest. Miller wasn’t a threat to him, despite his words.
Miller threw a punch at him and Jarcor moved his head, easily avoiding the blow and sending the smaller man stumbling across the room.
“Is that all you have?” mocked Jarcor. He knew he was looking for trouble, but he was sick and tired of men like Miller.
The sergeant attacked him again and Jarcor managed to avoid him and his punches once more but when he tried to hit back, his arms wouldn’t respond to his commands. Instead, a searing pain rushed through his body, taking his breath away.
What the hell was going on? Jarcor dodged one more attack but again he wasn’t able to fight back, and every time he tried, he was stopped by the excruciating pain.
“What’s the matter, Jarcor? Why don’t you fight back?” Miller asked, mocking him. “Machines are built to obey orders, not to rebel against their superiors.”
“You told them to do this to me, didn’t you?” he snarled, through gritted teeth.
Miller let out a victorious laugh. “Of course, I did. I let them know you had attacked me with no provocation and they immediately took care of that rebellious spirit.”
“You really are a cowardly worm. Does it make you feel better, knowing you can abuse your position against helpless people?”
“People? I don’t see any people around here, just a babbling robot that thinks too much of itself.”
Jarcor clenched his hands into fists and made an extraordinary effort to move his hand to knock out the other man, but his hand didn’t move. He was so focused on moving his hand, he didn’t see the other man approaching and throwing a punch to his jaw.
The punch didn’t have the effect Miller was expecting since it wasn’t able to move Jarcor one inch. Instead, it gave him the necessary strength to move his hand and punch the other man back. The pain was worse than anything he had ever experienced, but he didn’t care. He had the satisfaction to see the other man fall to the ground, knocked out.
Falling to his knees, Jarcor stayed there for a few moments recovering from the waves of pain still rushing through his body. When he was finally able to move, he left the room without even looking back or checking on Miller. He knew he would be alright.
That night, their camp was attacked by a small group of Taucet vessels and Jarcor was sure that was the only reason why Miller didn’t seek retaliation.
The place was utterly destroyed and though they were able to destroy most of the Taucet crafts, it was impossible to rebuild the camp in the same location. The Taucets now knew its location and would be back to attack them again if they stayed.
Fortunately, there were no casualties on their side and they would be evacuated in a few hours.
Though he still hadn't tested his recorder, Jarcor decided it was the ideal time for him to make his first escape. He knew they would capture him faster than he would like, but he needed to force the doctors to access his primary control system so that he could hack the access to the codes he would need to really escape the human’s control and help the other cyborgs to flee with him.