Chapter Seven

Natasha knew that the key to discovering the truth about the cyborg was in her father’s records. With any luck, his laptop had everything she needed. Natasha hadn’t seen any old-school paper notebooks lying around, and she knew that Cyborg Sector wanted digital records of everything. If the computer held no relevant information, she would have to find where her father kept his files.

She turned on the computer, simultaneously relieved and angry to discover it wasn’t password protected. If her father had taken the laptop anywhere with him and lost it, people could have learned his secret and reported him immediately. On the other hand, it meant that she had no problem gaining access to his documents.

It didn’t take long to find what she needed. A folder entitled Fury opened up to reveal numerous subfolders of test results, experiment procedures, diagrams, and electrical charts. The one that intrigued Natasha the most was labeled Log. Inside were files organized according to their date of entry, and her father appeared to have created them on a daily basis. Natasha randomly clicked on one.

April 15

I admit that I questioned myself when I undertook this project. There are legal implications, and I’m putting my life in danger. But I have successfully managed to smuggle the required equipment into my new laboratory, as well as the subject himself.

Fury was surprisingly compliant when I removed him from the cell at Cyborg Sector. He followed me out to the van without question. Despite his apparent agreeability, I put him back in sleep mode for the ride home. The traffic, sounds, and lights would have overwhelmed his senses. I believe I would have quickly lost the illusion of control.

I had to reactivate him to move him into the basement once we reached our destination. Fury is over two hundred pounds, and I had no hope of lifting him by myself. I noticed that he became extremely tense when he saw the inside of a residence. He has only lived in the clean interior of a laboratory before. My home is a strange and exotic environment. He activated his weapon when the telephone rang, but I managed to calm him down and bring him into the basement.

Fury relaxed when he saw the cell I prepared for him. I am hesitant to use the word relieved. It’s difficult to avoid assigning anthropomorphic values to a creature that used to be human but is now something else.

I’ve only made things more complicated by using his nickname. But Fury seems like a far better thing to call him than a string of letters and numbers, and the name is more appropriate than his designated handle.

Seeing her father’s written words made tears rush to Natasha’s eyes. The content was not particularly revealing or introspective, but it felt wonderful to have a connection with him again. Living without him would be a challenge.

Intrigued, Natasha opened another file.

April 23

I finally took Fury out of his cell today. It took some time to work up the courage to open the door. I haven’t forgotten his kill count or the damage he caused at Cyborg Sector. We received several warnings because of his actions. The cyborgs were supposed to make covert operations easier, not leave a trail behind them. Fury has come close to killing me before. I was advised by all of my colleagues to destroy him, but I don’t feel like I can give up. I’ve come too far to throw him away.

Fury did surprisingly well when I let him free in the laboratory. I gave him simple orders. He was able to peel a banana and hold a screwdriver. I know he can do far more, but I believe in taking baby steps first.

I’ve spent a lot of time wondering if I should give him the upgrade. There is a possibility of a great reward. Once he has access to his memories, he may be more capable of processing and understanding his environment. On the other hand, there are more risks associated with this procedure than most of the public knows, or the scientific community is willing to admit. (See Report 65A.)

Natasha sat back in the chair. Cyborg Sector created a structured release program for cyborgs before putting them back into society. First, programmers gave them the infamous software upgrade which removed the blocks on their memories. The onslaught of historical information invariably caused confusion, so the next step was to put the cyborgs through rigorous therapy sessions within the walls of Cyborg Sector.

Once psychiatrists and therapists decided they had made sufficient progress, the cyborgs relocated to off-site rehabilitation facilities. Natasha worked at such a facility. Graduation from the program meant living on their own, with frequent follow-up sessions to monitor their progress. The soldiers came in waves. One group had its software updated, went through the first round of therapy, and left the building before the next group started the upgrade process.

Workers at the Cyborg Rehabilitation Center had to become certified. Despite many hours of training, Natasha had never heard about negative side effects from the upgrade. She knew that some cyborgs adjusted faster than others. Some were scared or angry, but the specialized therapists knew how to work with them. The majority of the cyborgs went through the release program quickly, heading out into the world in a couple of months.

But if Neil’s record was accurate, there was more to this story than she knew. She scrolled through the seemingly infinite files on the computer until she found a folder of reports. Neil Daniels did not write Report 65A. It was a confidential communiqué distributed around Cyborg Sector during the time the release program started. Neil would have lost his job much sooner if Cyborg Sector had known he copied it to his personal computer.

The report was a combination of the findings of several scientists. The one common thread was that their cyborgs malfunctioned after the software upgrade. The subjects went on tirades, killing and ravaging whatever got in their way. Only a few of the cyborgs were previously noted as being unusually aggressive. The scientists weren’t sure if there was a natural violence in the cyborgs that led to the destructive results or if the upgrade was introducing the new behavior. No one knew if the cyborgs were aware of their actions. They were exterminated immediately.

Natasha rubbed her eyes without paying attention to the makeup she had applied earlier in the day. She had to do something. Fury was dangerous. Her father had tried to ease the aggression out of Fury before loading the upgrade, hoping he could become part of society again. But Dr. Daniels was no longer there to fulfill his dream. The cyborg in the basement was not like the ones she saw at work every day. She needed to make a phone call and send him right back to Cyborg Sector.

As Natasha waited for her phone to activate, she thought about the implications of turning Fury over. The scientific community would denigrate her father’s name. Even though he was dead, he didn’t deserve to be treated poorly. And what would happen to her? Would anyone believe her if she said she had nothing to do with Fury’s abduction? She’d been living in her father’s house for weeks. If anyone thought she had assisted her father, she could lose her job or go to jail.

When the phone had booted up and was ready for action, Natasha noticed that she had twenty new messages. She deleted them without looking and set the phone down again. She couldn’t tell anyone about Fury. Her only way out would be continuing her father’s work.