The lights sped up as if in a frenzy and I was outside him once again. Sweat dripped down my face; I was burning up. Then, my eyes flew open, and the episode had ended. Exhausted and shaky, I crouched above Peterson, my hands poised on his chest looking like I’d done CPR. Pulling away, I checked for a pulse, which now beat steadily against my fingers.
He blinked several times and tears rolled out from the corners of his eyes. His coughing had ceased.
“Peterson?” I used the sleeve of my jacket to wipe blood from his mouth.
“What… happened?” He shifted his neck, tried to look around. I helped him sit up, still feeling elevated from his energy. He was alive. A miracle.
I swiveled my head and saw Cecile and Rik lingering behind me, staring open-mouthed. I clambered to my feet and faced them. “How much of that did you see?”
They backed away a step. Cecile clutched her rifle but didn’t aim it. Rik tightened his grasp on the other two guns at his side. I stood, shielding Peterson from them, not wanting them to finish the mission.
The drones had arrived and surrounded us, recording events as they unfolded, and transmitting footage to the watchers. How much had they filmed?
As we stood facing off, a torrent of dust swept through the area. We covered our faces and watched as an air cruiser descended from the sky. The pilot maneuvered the thrusters and landed the craft. Two men in riot gear emerged and grabbed Cecile and Rik, shoving them inside. One man approached me, his gun aimed at me.
I raised my arms in defense, cursing myself for not keeping the rifle, and then watched as the soldier shot me in the shoulder. It stung like a bee sting. A dart. The man caught me around my middle and dragged me onto the ship.
Before I succumbed to the tranquilizer, my last thought was Peterson. What would they do to him?
Twenty-Two
“Of all the subjects, this is the first aberration,” said Dr. Kenmore as he clicked the tip of a pen nestled in his pocket. “Replay,” he ordered the AI.
His companion, a tall black man whose marine jacket read, Tyren, blinked rapidly as he watched the girl on the video place her hands on the wounded guard’s chest, close her eyes, then restore him ninety seconds later. “What do you make of it?”
Dr. Kenmore paced the room, removing his glasses. “She’s only the third that I’ve implanted with the nanobots. The first two… well, you know how those ended.”
“Suicide.” Tyren lowered his head and wished the tests hadn’t been so rushed. Hunter, their superior, had sided with Kenmore—skip animal testing and start on humans. They were out of time.
“An unfortunate complication,” said the doctor.
“Complication? Or faulty design?”
Kenmore narrowed his eyes at the insult, and Tyren suspected the man didn’t give a shit about the dead teens. To him, they were stepping stones as he tweaked the microscopic nanotech he had surgically implanted into numerous subjects. Just being in the lab made Tyren’s skin crawl. “Commander Hunter wants an update on the program. He sent me to check how things are progressing.”
“I see. He’s too busy to visit himself?”
“You know the deal. He can’t be associated with this lab were it discovered. You get his funding, not his friendship.”
Kenmore nodded. “Right. And still no external comms. I’ve kept my end of the bargain.”
Tyren thrust a finger at the screen that displayed Ida’s genetic profile. “Hunter needs intel about her. Give me the background.”
“Fine,” Kenmore said. “As you know, the miniaturized AI injected into patients 117 and 118 were too extreme in terms of their programming. I had to tune down the aggression, so to speak.”
With a stern face, Tyren listened and wondered if the doctor was losing his sanity.
“The girl, patient 119, is a setback, albeit an interesting one. In my attempts to reprogram the nanobots, I may have gone too far in the opposite direction.”
“Too far? You mean, instead of aggression, she's ended up easy going instead?”
Kenmore smirked. “Hardly. Nothing changed about her attitude. Remember, it’s the tuning on the nanobots that has a direct effect on the body of the people she touches. No, instead of the AI implants killing others as intended, they seem to have a healing effect instead.”
“The opposite of what you want in a weaponized soldier.”
Kenmore rubbed his temples. “You see my conundrum. I can’t surgically remove the implants now. They’ve taken root inside her blood and internal tissue. She must be destroyed.”
“Damn it, Kenmore.” Tyren’s jaw clenched. “You know how hard it is to find these subjects for you. If someone discovered us…” He shook his head. “Another one dead? Hunter will not be pleased.”
“What other choice do we have? I can’t reprogram the AI once the nanobots are inside her.”
Tyren thought. Was there another way they could use her? The lab’s body count was already high. He was sick of cleaning up Kenmore’s messes. “There must be an alternative. If what you say is true—if she can heal, then she’d be a hell of a medic. I can use someone like that by my side on the battlefield.”
“Keep in mind, she’s untested. She resurrected a mouse and now the hybrid guard, but there’s no predicting how the nanotech will evolve.”
“You said she’s a decent fighter, right?”
Kenmore nodded.
“I can train her, take her under my wing. She’ll be my back-up plan in case I’m injured in the fighting to come.”
Kenmore furrowed his brow. “I'll want reports on her—regular updates and DNA samples every month.”
“Agreed. Can you spot clean her memory? Make sure she doesn’t remember details from here?”
“I have a way to do that, yes. Did you bring me what I wanted?”
Tyren sighed. “May God help me. The plane is en route. Five more recruits.”
“And the other request?” Kenmore’s eyes gleamed.
“I had a helluva time finding one, but yes, the wolf will arrive tomorrow from Montana. What do you want with it?”
Kenmore
