Cyberia - chpt. 2

         Stealing isn’t hard if you put enough research into what you’re doing. It’s easy to pose as one of many, faceless, guards. Making sure to be the driver of the van that would be carrying the merchandise was the only hard part. They don’t give that position to just anyone. At that point you just have to get as close to that person as possible. Then when everyone starts taking off you knock him out and take the driver’s seat. Call him on radio? Voice modulators are easy to come by these days. People seeing his face between that moment and taking the merchandise? A pretty accurate mask looking like him.

My body may not be built up like the guy I knocked out but when you’re just sitting in a van you don’t have to worry too much about that and wear baggy clothing. The rest is pretty much history already. I got out of the parking structure as fast as I could and once I made it back into the busy traffic I pulled out my phone and called a friend. Her phone didn’t ring for more than a second before she picked up.

“Oh, my god, Cassandra! You actually called me after pulling a stunt like that? Your action is all over Cyberia. The web is blowing up and there are tons of negotiations about how much your head should be worth.” I smiled.

“Calm down, Tera. My phone is encrypted. They can’t trace it so you don’t have to worry about men in black showing up at your doorstep. But I do need help getting this case open so I grab whatever’s inside and ditch the van. I’m a red dot driving around right now.” Tera sighed. I could hear frantic typing at the keyboard she spent most of her days in front of.

“I know you’re gonna hate this idea but you’re gonna have to let me see what I’m dealing with. Unless you have the ability to stretch your limbs then you’re gonna have to pull over to link your phone with the case.” Tera was right. I definitely didn’t like the idea of pulling over. The linking process would take too long to hope for a red light. But then it hit me. I was approaching a building that I could hide in. It was an office building. Considering how late at night it was the building was pretty much cleared out.

“I got an idea. I’m gonna need you to help me get into an office building. I’m gonna try to hide in there. It should give you enough time to unlock while they try and find me.”

“I got your location. I suggest you get rid of the disguise and take a picture of yourself. You’re going to need an I.D. to get in. I’ll get all that ready and make sure you call me once you find a spot inside.” Tera hung up and I immediately began removing my mask as I pulled into the parking lot of the skyscraper. I took a picture of myself and hoped security wouldn’t think me too young to make a delivery. I also hoped some people would see me as being older than seventeen. So far I hadn’t had too much luck but hopefully the I.D. would keep them from getting too curious.

I rolled the cart with the large case off the van. It was large enough to fit someone inside and all I could do was pray that there wasn’t a dead body inside. But since the men I stole from were dealing in the Black Market it wasn’t too farfetched to suspect something morbid to be in the case.

As I approached the entrance one of the guards stood up and walked over to me. I was already pulling out my holo-ID holder. I handed it to him and he pulled out a device and scanned the barcode. This method made me nervous no matter how many times I performed it. Tera has never let me down but my mind was always there screaming, “what if?” regardless.

“So what’s the delivery this time? Seems pretty big.” The guard asked. I shrugged.

“I asked the same question but they gave me the usual answer.”

“To not be worried about it and just deliver?” I nodded. “Well, I guess it’s better just being ignorant sometimes. Especially, in your line of work. Curiosity gets people fired.” He handed me back my Holo-ID holder back and stepped back to the desk. I proceeded to the elevator, which seemed to be on the other side of the building. The entire ground floor was just the security desk, receptionist desk and the elevators. After I stepped in I pressed a button for a floor towards the top.

After I reached my destination I stepped off and sent the elevator back down to the first floor that way if the others did come looking for me by the same way I came the number above the doors wouldn’t be a dead giveaway. I pulled out my phone again and called Tera.

“So, did it work?” I’m pretty sure she knew the answer already.

“Just like always.” I walked all the way down to the opposite end of the floor from the elevators. Then I plugged a cable connecting the phone to the large case.

“Oh, my god.” Tera exclaimed.

“What’s wrong?” I quickly asked.

“Well, there is some sort of built in charging mechanism. So most likely whatever’s in there is electronic. But it’s gonna be a pain getting it open.”

“But can you do it?” I could hear Tera let out a breath.

“Of course! But I don’t know how long it will take. Hopefully, less than fifteen minutes. I’ll keep an eye out though for anyone approaching your location. And it wouldn’t take long for them to realize the elevators will be jammed and use the stairs. Keep me on the call and just try to chill for a little while.”



I tried my best to be patient and sit still for a whole ten minutes. It’s hard to be calm when you know gangsters are chasing you. I’m sure my paranoia is called for at a time like this. Every sound that breaks the silence has my heart pounding. I made sure to sit as close as I could to the middle of the floor. I didn’t want to risk being spotted through the windows.
Tera’ voice finally came up again over my earpiece. “Okay, so I have good news and not-so good news. The good news is that I broke through the security and unlocked the case.” I almost let out a sigh of relief but Tera continued. “The latter news is that the thing charging inside is humanoid in shape which means it’s most likely an android or cyborg.”

I risked my life for a this? A robot? I thought.

“No, no. There was a serious deal going down that involved a lot of people and security measures. This has to be more than just a dead droid.” I tried to reassure myself.

“Then maybe it is holding something important?” Tera asked. How was I supposed to know? She was the hacker. The girl already knew more about the what was inside the case than I did. I was about to suggest more ways how my mission had to be worth it when I noticed the elevator number change. I may have moved towards the center of the floor but I kept both the emergency stairway and the elevator’s in view.

“I think we’re just gonna have to open it.” I suggested. “I’m having company soon.”

“But what if the cyborg or android has a defense protocol upon activation?” Tera asked, concerned. “It could be as big a problem as any of the people you stole it from.” I glanced at the elevator numbers as they slowly began to climb. I had less than a couple of minutes since I was towards the top floor in this skyscraper. I let out a breath. I had made up my mind. I rather deal with my odds with droid not having an owner. If it did then I’d deal with it then. Right now, pondering over “ifs” was just wasting time. Best case scenario is that it was just one of security coming to check up on me.

“It’s a risk I’m willing to take, Tera. If we’re lucky then it could be fresh from the factory and not have an owner registered, yet. Either way, it has to come out and shield me from whatever might be coming through that elevator.”



The large case hissed open and I held my breath and thought through a dozen scenarios of what could go wrong. A type of chilled fog billowed out as the door slid open. Once it cleared I could see the cyborg. She looked like she was resting peacefully but as soon as the door fully cleared her eyelids shot open. She looked around for a moment before sitting up. I noticed she only wore black undergarments that matched her short raven black hair. Both stood out against her pale skin. Her distinguishable trait was her eye color. Her eyes were a shade between purple and pink and almost seemed to glow.

Her eyes locked on me and I braced myself for the possibility of her defense mode engaging. But instead she spoke. Her deeper toned voice sounding completely human.
“Registering new owner’s facial structure for future recognition.” What? Did she just say, “New owner?” If so then I was in luck. This means she was either factory reset or fresh out of the box. Tera’ voice chimed in.

“That sounds like good news.” The cyborg continued.

“Would the new owner like me to proceed with manual instructions?” I’ve never owned a robot before so this was all new to me. But I recognized the steps so far. It was similar to setting up a new computer. I would love to know what she could do but the elevator showed that learning about what the cyborg could do wasn’t a luxury I could afford at the moment.

“Not right now.” I answered.

“Acknowledged. Would the new owner like to give me a name?” How long was this going to last. I didn’t have time to do all of this.”

“Can I do the setup later?” The question was directed to Tera but the cyborg answered instead.

“Yes. Is there anything I can assist you with?” She asked.

“Yes. We need to get out of here quickly. There are people after us and they will be here in a few seconds.”

“Are these people a physical threat to my owner?” That was an unusual question. But then again I have no clue how robots operate. But I was so much in a hurry that I was practically on the cyborg’s back to push her towards the emergency stairway. I was kind of shocked that her skin felt very real and was even warm. If I just saw her on the street then I would have no clue she was robotic.

“Yes, they are.” I said as I started pushing. “They will probably kill me and take you.” The cyborg stood fast and didn’t budge at my attempt of shoving. She then turned towards me and then I realized that she was a good deal taller than me. Most likely standing just under six feet tall.

“Self-defense mode activating.” I jumped back as her eyes turned completely black.

“A-are you even allowed to do that? I thought robots couldn’t harm humans!”

“I have no such restriction.” Tera let out an audible laugh.

“We gotta bring this one home, Cass. Whatever those goons did with this model they bypassed the civilian safety regulation.” Before I could respond I heard the elevator arrive at our floor. A man stepped out holding a gun. Upon seeing me he immediately pointed the weapon at me.

What I saw next was a blur dart past me. I heard a gunshot and then next thing I know the man was on the ground with the cyborg standing over him. She took his gun and handed it to me. Tera was pretty much going hysterical. Most likely from hearing the gun go off. I checked myself to see if I was hit but it seemed like I was fine.

“It’s okay, Tera. I’m fine. They only sent one guy up. Most likely as a scout. I’ll have to call you back later when I’m safe.” I picked up my phone from the case and pocketed it after hanging up. Then I looked at the cyborg. “Thanks. You saved my life within the first two minutes of you activating.”

“I am programed to protect my master. At this moment you may give me settings to use either lethal or nonlethal force. The default is non-lethal.” She came pre-programmed with something like that? Was she designed to be a fighting machine?

“Keep it set to default. For now we need to get out of here before more show up. They are probably coming up through the stairs if they only sent one guy through the elevator. And he’s not gonna be telling them it’s all clear for a whi-” Suddenly, I was swept off my feet and cradled in the cyborg's arms. Before I could retort she made a break for one of the tall glass windows.

The cyborg threw her back against the window and shattered it and then I let out a scream as we fell and closed my eyes. But the falling sensation quickly stopped. I reopened my eyes to see us soaring through the air. I could faintly hear the jets that must have been propelling us through the air. I looked down and could see black vehicles pulling to the building. And there were a lot. Some of the guys were looking up to see us but before they could fire we picked up speed very quickly and were out of range.