Chapter Five

Amanda pushed up her glasses and ran a hand over her face. She held the bottle of cold water she had brought from home over her forehead. Her eyes were still puffy from the night before, an after-effect of staying up too late. It meant that anyone who knew her would automatically think she had been crying. Anyone who didn’t know her would think she was sick or had been stung by a bee.

The elevator loudly chimed when it reached her floor, pounding its notes into her head. Why did they have to make the thing so loud? She felt like she was hung over, but a single shot of whiskey before bed couldn’t affect her this much. She was exhausted and emotionally wrung out.

Amanda passed Jenny’s cubicle, noticing that she hadn’t arrived at work yet. Her computer monitor was still off and her lab coat was hanging on its hook. That was odd. Amanda was running a little later than usual, so Jenny definitely should be here already. At least she wasn’t around to harass Amanda about not going to the party last night.

With a sigh, Amanda fell into her desk chair and turned on the computer. Scientists and researchers were still flittering in around her, most of them converging around the water cooler or the coffee station. The beginning of the day was never intense around Cyborg Sector. It was an unwritten rule that nobody bothered each other about work for the first hour. Glancing over her shoulder, Amanda noted that Dr. Feldman wasn’t in yet, either. She couldn’t be sure if he planned on being here today or not. He made his own rules.

Taking a sip of water and turning back to her monitor, Amanda nearly spat the contents of her mouth all over the screen. The alert light was going off for AD-214 again. Checking the logs revealed it had gone off multiple times throughout the night. Pulling on her lab coat, Amanda rushed through the barracks door and headed straight for the far end of the second row. She was far more awake than she had felt just a moment ago.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she passed the other cyborgs, not seeing them as she made her way to her destination. As a scientist, she knew she wasn’t supposed to get emotionally attached to her work. Everything was supposed to be fact, logic, and reason. There was no room for mushy sentimentality. Besides, these soldiers weren’t technically humans, and they didn’t have distinct personalities anymore.

But AD-214 was different. He had been one of the first cyborgs she worked on, and she had made significant improvements to both his operating system and the biomechanics in his hand and leg. He was her pet project, and the amount of alerts in the system meant that something was wrong.

Amanda stopped in front of his cell. The readout on his monitor was extremely active, and his eyes were open. They followed her movements as she turned off the alarm and checked his vital signs. It wasn’t unusual for a cyborg to watch a human working with them. In fact, this kind of activity was encouraged. The current theory was that it helped build their artificial intelligence system. But the fact that she hadn’t given the command for him to wake up unnerved her. He should be asleep until someone activated him.

With no other options, Amanda released the lock on the bulletproof glass cage and swung the door open. She looked directly into AD-214’s blue eyes. “Follow me.”

Amanda didn’t have to turn around to know that the cyborg had stepped out of his cell and was obeying orders. He was following her to the lab, a place they had been together many times before. She could do many things from the computer at her desk, but nothing beat hands-on testing in the lab.

She shut the door behind them, grateful that they had the facility to themselves for the moment. If the other scientists found out that there was something unusual going on with this particular cyborg, they would ridicule her or want to help. She couldn’t imagine a positive result from either outcome.

Following the standard protocol when working with the cyborgs, Amanda turned and addressed him directly. “Good morning, AD-214.”

“Good morning, sir,” he replied, his back ramrod straight and his artificial hand touching his eyebrow in salute. All of the cyborgs were programmed to call everyone sir, regardless of their gender. His voice was distinctly human, deep and powerful.

“We’re going to run through some basic tests this morning, soldier. Are you ready?” It had taken Amanda a little while to get used to commanding the soldiers like this. It felt odd to boss around these big, muscular men with serious faces, but after four years working in Cyborg Sector, it was finally second nature.

“Sir, yes sir,” AD-214 replied.

“Good.” Amanda programmed the computer in the lab to pick up the brain signals from AD-214. It would show her the resulting information immediately, but a copy would also be sent to her computer so she could study it later. “Raise your right hand.”

The soldier instantly obeyed, raising his hand over his head.

They went through several simple commands like this, Amanda asking him to move different parts of his body, step forward, step backward, blink three times, and turn about-face. It was the typical beginning of any session with a cyborg to ensure that they were capable of following simple commands before they were asked to do anything more complicated or dangerous.

AD-214 followed each instruction to the letter. Amanda checked the computer. It showed her his brain waves, heartbeat, oxygen level, and temperature as well as the code responses output by the cybernetic chip implanted in his brain. For Amanda’s job, she had to be a part-time medical doctor as well as a robotics specialist.

After he had passed the tests with flying colors, it was time to move on to examine his mind. “What is your name?”

“AD-214, sir.”

“What is your rank?” Amanda asked.

“Captain of Blue Squadron, sir.” He looked off in the distance over her head, his gaze forward. The soldiers weren’t supposed to look the scientists in the eye.

“Tell me your specialty.”

“Battle strategy and command, sir.”

“Who do you work for?”

“The Cyborg Sector of the United States military, sir.”

Amanda crossed her arms as she studied her subject. He looked healthy, and in all preliminary tests, he seemed to be within normal operational parameters. What was wrong with him? “What did you do before you were in the military?”

“I have always been in the military, sir.”

“Where were you born?” It wasn’t technically Amanda’s job to get into the psychoanalytical details of the cyborgs, but she was curious. There was something unusual happening that kept this soldier awake at night, and she had to know what it was.

Unlike his previous answers, AD-214 didn’t respond immediately to this question. His eyes wavered for a moment, as though looking for the answer in his brain, but he still didn’t look at her. “I don’t know, sir.”

Amanda nodded. “Who am I?”

The soldier looked directly at her. It was against his programming. He should have been able to scan her face with his peripheral vision and give her an answer. Instead, he stared at her with intense blue eyes, seeming to search her soul. He opened his mouth to respond but closed it again without saying anything.

“AD-214, I asked you to identify me.”

But the cyborg had no response. He only stared at her. Amanda checked the monitor. His brain waves were all over the charts, and his temperature and his heartbeat were steadily rising. There was something wrong with this soldier, something on a deeper level than she could tackle herself. It was time to contact the psychiatric department.

“Please return to your cell,” Amanda said with a sigh.

The cyborg didn’t hesitate, marching quickly toward the door that led back to the barracks. Amanda followed him, reconnected him to the life support system, and locked the door of his cell. The cyborgs always took a couple of minutes to enter full sleep mode, and she watched the soldier as she waited for sleep to overtake him.

Contacting another department would be risky. She should discuss his issues with Dr. Feldman first. Of course, Dr. Feldman probably wasn’t here, and she could claim that as her excuse for going around him, but she knew it wouldn’t work forever. Even the psychiatric department might not be too much help. Either way, there was a possibility AD-214 would be destroyed.

When the soldier’s eyes closed, Amanda turned around and headed for her desk. She had to make a phone call.