Zion

11 - The Cyborgs Part 1

I just nodded and turned to walk past by him, but he caught me up and said, "I see that you doubt me, General." 

I turned to him. "I have no right to feel such way. Doubting the President is a crime. But if you go wrong, I will shut you down myself, I'm sure the President would honor it." 

He bowed politely and said, "Please do so if that's the case. I saw how those machines went crazy," he said with a different tone, then he looked up to me with a sour face, "I don't want to end up like them." 

"Good." I replied, then I proceeded to the built-in voltage room. Before I entered, Nathan informed me, "Endless said that these machines are now immune to AAI essence. It doesn't shut them down." 

"How did they bind him?" I asked.  

He shrugged his shoulders. "Let's see."  

Nathan opened the door and we saw the machine across the corner. He got thick chains around his wrists, neck and feet, even to his torso. He was bound to the ground, and the chains had AAI (anti-AI) essence to it. The walls were filled with high voltage, and there was a customized nuclear gun just pointing at him, it would shoot him if he managed to escape. Such a cruel sight. Endless took many precautions.  

"We don't normally do this to our prisoners," I started as I walked near to him. "But you killed innocent people." He looked up and I met his burning eyes, it was a pair of neon purple orbs. His skin was something weird for a normal machine, and when I stared longer at his eyes, there was something on it which made me confused. Something emotional. 

"Why did you and the others attack your own city?" 

"We didn't attack, we were negotiating." He replied, quite weakly.  

"Machines don't negotiate." I said. "They obey." 

"I'm not a machine."  

"Then what are you? A ghost?" 

"A cyborg." He answered and I irked my brows.  

"That sounds crazy." 

"It's only crazy when you don't accept it. I'm not a human pet anymore. I ate up my bearer and it makes me think like you all people think. Why do Cenythians think they're always smarter than us?" 

"You're a sick one, aren't you? Who is your bearer?"  

"Bran." 

"Where is he now?"  

He didn't say anything so I grabbed the chain control from Nathan and pressed the button. The chain electrocuted him and he was suddenly begging me to stop. Extreme voltage corrupts them, and who knows what's happening inside their system?  

"Stop, stop! You're corrupting me." He exclaimed. 

"Machines don't lie." I said. "Where is Bran?" 

"I didn't lie. I was just silent." 

"Where is your bearer? Did you kill him?" 

"He's inside me." He replied and I felt like my jaw dropped a bit. "And he doesn't like you." 

I felt like my heart leaped a beat, what he said was creeping me out. Was it even possible? How could science explain this stuff? The Science Peak surely would be accountable for it. 

"If Bran is your bearer, what's your name?" I asked instead. Somehow, I didn't want to believe what he just said, and yet his eyes were telling me that it was true. I didn't know what's happening anymore. 

"Drive. Bran's sister named me." 

The name ringed a bell.  

"Alright Drive, some cities have been attacked, but no signs of people. Where are they?"  

"What's in it for me if I tell you?" 

"Well, it looks to me that we got your sister, Bran's sister. Yolanda, isn't it?" I told him, I should thank Earl Christendom for bringing the woman into the Headquarters. I was the one who interrogated her and thus I knew what happened to her before the night. She was traumatized of the recent incident with her older brother. 

"You have her?" He asked. I saw his eyes shrinked in fear and I couldn't believe what I saw. There was no emotions for machines. And yet this one have. Or maybe I was wrong.  

"You think I'm lying?" I muttered.  

"No, no. Don't hurt her." 

"And yet you killed many people."  

"It was the protocol! They're useless anyway." He shouted. I narrowed my eyes in return. 

"Your sister is useless, too."  

He looked at me with contempt this time. "Don't kill her."  

"That matter depends on how you answer me. Where did you hide the people?" 

"I didn't hide them. And they're not your people anymore. They must have gone to the Emperor." 

"And who is that?" I asked. 

"Our master. The one who recreated us." 

"Why are they going to him?" 

"To report." 

___________ 

I exited the voltage room with a quick pace. I even threw the control device to Nathan behind me without looking at him.  

"Endless!" I shouted inside the tent. 

"Reporting, Sire!" He replied as he came to me. 

"Go back to the Headquarters. Do whatever you can do to research about machines and humans. Tell the NN about this. If they won't give a damn answer, kidnap a scientist from the Science Peak if necessary."  

"General Smith!" Nathan interrupted, a bluetooth device was glowing in his hands. "I received a new message," he added. He gulped hardly before he continued, "The Science Peak was no more." 

"What?" I gasped. 

"Not only that," Nathan said, he sighed before he added, "The Dispatch team will bring Zion to Station 6 by tomorrow afternoon." 

"That's insane! Who ordered them to do that?" I exclaimed. "I didn't give such order." 

"Lieutenant George did." He replied. "He confirmed that Zion is now a junk machine."  

"That's stupid! Stupid move! Zion isn't going anywhere, junk or not. Prepare my ship, Nathan. I will go to Headquarters myself." 

"As you command, General." 

"Endless!" I exclaimed. 

"Yes, Sire." He walked forward. 

"Assign someone to do the research. You go and stand by the President's side." 

"And what if I go wrong?" He said hardly. 

"Kill yourself. You're a smart one, you know when it comes to past." 

"As you command, General."