Before they’d gone far, a large group of heavily armed people jumped out from hideouts on the ground pointing their guns at them.
“Lower your guns, now,” one of the men yelled at Bretdon.
“Please, do, as they say, we might be able to talk to them,” she murmured, begging him.
He glanced at her with a frown. “They will turn us in with the authorities,” he murmured, through gritted teeth.
“You don’t know that.”
“I can take them down,” he started saying.
“No, please, I’m sure you can, but I know we can talk sense into them. They look like a subversive group, not people friends with the authorities,” she insisted.
“Do as I say, or we’ll open fire!” the same man that spoke before shouted at them.
Still looking at her and completely ignoring the other man, he snorted. “I hope you know what you’re doing,” he finally said, letting his gun slid to the ground.
The minute his gun touched the ground, the people around them moved into action and soon they had them handcuffed.
“Who are you and what are you doing here?” the group’s speaker asked.
“We were just passing by, we’re no threat to you or your people,” Bret stated in a stern tone. He wasn’t pleased with the whole situation, but there was no sense endangering Ophelia’s life over a theory.
“What the hell are you? You’re one of those aliens, aren’t you?” the man snarled at him.
Bret looked at her as if saying ‘I told you’ before he turned to look at the other man. “No, I’m not a Taucet. I’m a cyborg.”
“A cyborg? And what the hell are you doing out here?” the man wasn’t convinced.
“Let’s just say I’m on a special mission,” Bretdon replied, not willing to give these people any more details.
“I don’t believe you. Miss, we assume you’re his prisoner, so this is your chance of getting your freedom back,” the man announced.
His prisoner? Incredibly, she had never felt like that, not even when he insisted he had made her his hostage. He had always seemed to have her wellbeing in mind in all of his decisions.
“I’m not his prisoner. We’re traveling together, and he’s not lying to you. We really mean no harm to any of you,” Ophelia said, stepping even closer to Bretdon. “We just want to continue our way.”
“I’m afraid you can’t, at least, not for now,” the man replied, in an icy tone, as he signaled some of his men.
Before they were able to react, they had thrown hoods over their heads and were pushing them to walk along with them, with two people guiding them by the arms.
They could tell they were walking up a hill or mountain, and the trail they were using wasn’t the most pleasant they had used on their journey there.
After what seemed like an eternity, they stepped into what felt like caves, judging by the darkness and the coldness of the air. They still walked for a long time, before they were made to stop and their hoods were removed.
They were indeed in caves. There was a whole town inside those caves for what he could see, and he wondered who these people were.
He looked at Ophelia and saw the same amazement in her expression.
“This is where we live,” the group’s speaker announced. “We need some time to confirm your story before we decide what to do with you.”
“How the hell are you going to confirm our story?” Ophelia asked, feeling scared. If they called the police or the army, they were doomed.
“Why? Is there something you’re hiding from us?” he asked, with a frown.
“Judging by the way you live, down here, I would say you also have things to hide,” Bretdon interrupted the conversation between the other two. “We’re on our way to Jackson, and for reasons we would like to keep to ourselves, we’re staying away from the roads.”
“James? Is this for real? Did you bring a cyborg into our town? Have you lost your mind?” a woman’s voice sounded, from the other side of the cave they were in.
“We took the safety precautions, as usual, Sandra,” the group’s speaker, James, grumbled.
“Those precautions are useless for a cyborg. They can see through almost everything and their sensors can establish the coordinates of the place they are in,” the woman snarled, as she made her way to where they were.
She seemed to be an authority for these people, considering the way they moved to make way for her and the tone of her voice.
“How the hell was I supposed to know that?” James protested, clearly hating the public scolding.
The woman ran her hand through her white hair, tightly caught in a bun at her nape, as she sighed.
“He might have sent our position to the army as we speak,” she continued.
“I haven’t. Nor do I have the slightest interest in doing so,” Bretdon interrupted her.
“Why should I trust you?” the woman asked with a cold tone.
“You seem to know a lot about cyborgs, so you must realize my presence in these woods has nothing to do with the militaries or the government,” he replied, in a very calm way. He was starting to think Ophelia was right. This was a subversive group.
The woman remained in silence for a few moments. “Then, it’s true. The cyborgs are escaping.”
There was a commotion amongst the people gathered around them.
“Yes, it’s true. We’re tired of being treated like slaves, with no rights,” he confirmed.
The woman smiled. “God! I didn’t think I would live to see this day. I got tired of telling them this would happen, but they didn’t pay me any attention. They were sure they had everything under control,” she said, sighing. “Remove their restraints. I want to have a long talk with this man.”
“Are you sure, Sandra? He could be fooling you,” James said, expressing his doubts. He clearly wasn’t happy with the turn of events.
“Yes, he could, but I’m sure he isn’t,” she replied.
The men still holding them cut their restraints and Sandra invited them to follow her into what looked like a huge community room, with tables all over the place.
She motioned them to take a seat at one of them and sat in front of them. “Tell me, when has this started?”
Most of the people went back to their work, but some stayed and joined them at the table.
“A few years ago. They turned a human soldier into a cyborg, hoping to avoid the six-year period they have to wait for a cyborg baby to grow up,” Bretdon explained.
“Six years?? What the hell? They’re sending six-year-olds into the battlefields?” Ophelia protested, shocked.
“They grow up a lot faster than humans” Sandra started saying.
“Yes, physically. But what life experience can a six-year-old creature have?” she insisted.
“I know, that was one of the things that revolted me of the whole project,” Sandra agreed.
Bretdon nodded. They had a lot of knowledge in their memory chips, but they had never had a normal life, so no real-life experience.
“And what happened? Were they successful?” Sandra asked, returning to Bretdon’s narration.
“Yes, they were, so much they decided he should be treated as a cyborg and took away all his rights. Unlike what they expected, they weren’t able to fully control him,” he replied, with a proud smile on his face, “He managed to escape twice, and last time, they weren’t able to get him back. He has established himself with all the other cyborgs that escaped in a planet they called Arcadia, just outside this solar system.”
Sandra clapped her hands excitedly. “Oh, you have no idea how happy I am to hear that,” she said. “I was part of the first team of scientists that developed the cyborg program but I left it the minute I realized how abusive it was. I protested and tried to make people realize what was going on, but it was useless. When they started to chase me, I decided to come here, along with my family and friends.”
“That’s quite a family you have here,” Ophelia said, surprised.
“Many others have joined us, especially those we’ve rescued from the so-called freedom camps,” she explained.
“It was about time someone did something to help those people,” Bretdon nodded.
“So, you’re the last one that escaped?” Sandra asked, looking for more details.
“Yes, as far as I know.”
“Where are you going?”
“I’ve involved Ophelia in my escape, and she has asked me to take her see her mother before we leave the planet,” he explained.
Ophelia turned to look at him startled. She hadn't realized that was what would happen if she discovered the militaries were after her.
“You can leave her here if she doesn’t want to leave the planet,” Sandra offered with a smile.
There was a tension in the room after her words.
Ophelia offered a tremulous smile to the older woman. “First, I need to go visit my mother and make sure she is alright.”
“Of course, but if I know the government well enough, I’m sure you’ll soon find out they have taken her to one of the freedom camps,” the woman replied, with a heavy sigh.
“Why do you say that?” Ophelia asked, more worried than ever.
“They hate leaving loose ends behind that might expose all their lies and manipulations. And your mother would be just that. They can’t know for sure if she knows what happened or not,” Sandra explained.
“This is a nightmare,” Ophelia mumbled, leaning her head against Bretdon’s arm.
He wrapped his arm around her waist. “We’ll get to her, no matter where she is,” he assured her.
“How can we be of assistance to you?” Sandra asked, willing to help them.
“Do you have any kind of vehicle you can spare? We would return it, of course,” Bretdon asked.
“You need a vehicle able to go through the woods. Using the roads would be suicidal,” she said, thoughtful. “Something like a MotorStorm, but a lot quieter,” she added.
“That would be perfect. Do you have anything like that?” a MotorStorm was some sort of glider, able to travel over any kind of terrain, even water, though not large expanses of water.
“Yes, we do. We’ve been developing some new technology to fight the government,” she announced, very proudly.
“Would you lend us one? We need to get to Jackson city as soon as we can,” Bretdon asked.
“Yes, of course,” Sandra got up. “I would like to continue talking with you over dinner. We must see what I can do to help others like you to obtain their freedom.”
Bretdon smiled. That would be perfect. Having people willing to help cyborgs to escape would be great. “It would be a pleasure.”
“Get some rest. You can leave tomorrow early in the morning, after a good night sleep,” she suggested. “James will take you to a guest room. We’ll talk over dinner.”