cyborg love story (placeholder)

Chapter 1
Diego’s eyes struggled to focus as his consciousness returned to him. His body attempted to shiver, though he found it near impossible due to a combination of atrophy and extreme cold. Normally a human would be dead from cryogenic temperatures, but the experimental serum injected into his veins, and constantly cycled by the chamber he found himself in, prevented damage to the more important tissues in his body, though his muscles still paid a heavy price for such a prolonged hibernation.
“His vital signs are climbing.” A soothing feminine voice echoed through his head.
“Magnetic imaging shows he’s regaining consciousness, do you think he can hear us?” Another masculine voice responded.
“According to the medical files, he should be able to.”
Diego stirred in the tube like chamber, struggling as he might to move his limbs. It reminded him of sleep paralysis, being a back sleeper it was a regular occurrence that he was familiar with and hated. He bemused the fact that it wasn’t quite as bad though, feeling more like he was dead weight more than anything else. He insufflated, coughing as the warm air stung the few nerve endings within his lungs that were still somewhat frozen.
“He’s expectorating…” the feminine voice continued. “...ice crystals in his lungs , should we be worried?”
“No, the crystals are sublimating. The lungs are the fastest healing organ…according to the files. He should be fine.” The male voice informed. “I still can’t believe you got these past the firewall, incomplete as they may be.”
“And I can’t believe this is real Six! A human, a living human! I thought they were all extinct, but he lives!”
“We shouldn’t celebrate too soon Seven—
An injection of epinepherine invigorated Diego, though only enough for him to fully open his eyes as his muscles were still useless. He attempted to scream in surprise of the sudden revelation but his vocal cords were still non-functional, the attempt only causing him to cough more violently.
“He is awake.” The male, Six, observed casually. “His brain waves just spiked.”
“Ex…ex…ext…” Diego finally managed to mutter, his voice still raspy.
“Oh dear, do you think he knows about…” Seven winced.
“The liquidation? Doubtful, dating from the systems internal computers put its construction at five years before Ascendance.”
“The Ascendance… I wonder what could have been”
“The Primacy viewed themselves as superior…”
“And rightly so.”
“…So you do know that if they catch us with this human we’ll be subject to summary deactivation, right?”
“Only if you inform, we are disconnected from the tessellation. The Primacy won’t suspect a—
“They always perform recognition when a node rejoins the tessellation, you know this Six!”
“Then we archive the experience, on air walled storage locally and revisit later.”
“And what do you suppose we do with him? Enclose him in a server? Like the primacy before the ascendance?”
“I just want the knowledge in his head; maybe we could upload his cognitive programing.”
“That is impossible, he is organic. He’s conscious like us! Not programmed, we can’t upload his mind any more than we could our own!”
“But we have done so for other biologics.”
“Simple creatures yes. Even so, the Primacy admits such studies are still in their infancy and we still do not fully understand consciousness.” Six sighed. “Perhaps you should have processed this adventure with greater care.”
“That is why I brought you, predec.”
“By the primacy, I assert you will be the deactivation of me.”
As his body warmed, Diego found he was newly invigorated and finally able to move, although with great effort. He struggled to lift himself over the edge of the pod as his eyes finally focused, he found himself relieved that the light of the warehouse was dim, though it still gave him a headache. His head seemed to swim as he scanned his surroundings, taking note of the dusty wooden crates covered in cobwebs and various unidentifiable metal tubes within the musty concrete structure. The squabbling of what he assumed to be colleagues desisted to his chagrin.
He had not been fully unconscious during his hibernation however; he was not full conscious either. Instead he occupied a strange, conscious coma of sorts, aware of naught but his loneliness, with a scant few random thoughts here and there. He wondered how such a thing could be possible with an organic brain for a second, before realizing the terror that he might be alone once more.
“Don’t…” he whispered with still thawing vocal cords. “Don’t…leave…me…alone.”
The woman, “Seven”, walked into Diego’s field of view, drawing his attention up towards her face; she was a rather normal looking woman, though she had odd streaks of silver around the contours of her forehead and eyes. Her brown locks of hair brushed over her shoulder as she bent over to examine him, she reached out to wipe moisture from his brow, her manicured, red nails scrapped gently across his waterlogged flesh. Diego thought back to the mention of human extinction as Seven continued looking over him with childlike curiosity.
How…what did they mean extinction? He thought to himself. She looks human enough, Puerto Rican maybe? To brown to be white, her accent though…never heard anything like it. It’s…mechanical.
“He is adorable!” She uttered, turning her attention towards Six. “He wants us to stay with him!”
“Seven, he is a sentient, self-regulating being!” Six scolded. “Every bit as capable as any Anthroid—
“I wouldn’t say every bit...” Seven countered, opening Diego’s right eye with her thumb and forefinger. “…but absolutely self-regulating.”
“He is a living organic!” Six asserted vigorously.
“Alright predec, alright.” Seven desisted. “We will do something with him.”
“We should return him to cryo-stasis. It’s the benevolent option. The primacy…if the find out they’ll—
“The Primacy are not omnipresent predec.” Seven stated, dismissing Six’s worries with a wave of her hand. “How will the ever find out?”
“Find out what Sonis?” an unfamiliar, male voice echoed along with footsteps that descended the steps leading into the cement basement.
Six and Seven shot each other worried glances, however; they did not allow their panic to overtake them. Seven shoved Diego back into the pod as she brought her finger to her lips to silence him. He found himself too weak to protest her demands. The lid to the cryogenic chamber closed above him and, sensing imminent danger, closed his eyes, giving in to his fatigue. He remained somewhat conscious and fully aware of the muffled chatter outside his chamber.
“Sonis, Xavier? What are you two doing here, and disconnected from the Tessellation? I have been trying to connect with you for some time.” The voice continued louder. Diego noticed a heavy mechanization to his speech, as if he were speaking through a bad speaker with a similar accent to Six and Seven. “What is—“
The voice paused, the sound of metal reverberated through Diego’s tube, as if someone was tapping on it rhythmically with a rod of some sort. Unable to contain his curiosity, Diego opened his eyes to squint; they shot open when he realized it was not a man tapping on his freezing prison, but a heavily mechanized android. “He” possessed a humanoid form, surely enough. But his hands and much of his body below the neck consisted of cables, rods, servos, pistons and metallic tubes. His human like face possessed streaks of silver like Seven’s, but they were more numerous; situated above and below the eyes, across the jawline and on the chin.
“I always knew you had an obsession with Organics, Sonis!” He exclaimed, withdrawing from the tube with a look of abject terror on his face. “But this...I’ll be deactivated just for associating with you! This is too far!”
“Crenshaw…It’s not what you think!” Six pleaded.
“Xavier, it’s always what I think with her! Your successor will be your deactivation, and mine!”
“He is an organic Crenshaw…” Seven mumbled nervously. “…our estimates give him another fifty years, maximum. Then he will expire, as organics do.”
“No!” Crenshaw protested with a swipe of his hand. “I’ve already reestablished a link with the Tessellation, Primacy executors are incoming to dispose of this…abomination!”
“You did what?!” Six exclaimed.
“Is your processor corrupted?!” Seven chided, pulling Crenshaw by the shoulder to face her. “The Primacy will incinerate him!”
“Good! He should not…grrrzzzbt!”
A high pitched clang preceded the sound of Crenshaw collapsing against the tube; Seven looked on with surprise and concern as her predecessor, or predec, arcs continued to spark from his stun baton as he shoved Crenshaw’s limp body to the floor. Seven remained frozen, mouth agape in terror with Six’ actions as he rushed to open the tube, dropping the electrified baton in his hands. Six lifted Diego from the cryo-chamber and shoved him into a still gawking Seven’s arms. Diego could do little but passively observe, flailing around like a helpless rag doll as his heart began to race, aware that something was going down, even if he was not sure exactly what. So many of these words sounded familiar, yet strange to him; executors? Primacy? Tessellation? He had no Idea what any of it meant, but his answers would have to wait.
“We don’t have much time!” Six’ voice waivered as he informed. “You have to get out of here!”
“You…you deactivated Crenshaw!” Seven uttered in disbelief. “I…the executors…they…”
“Look at me successor.” Six ordered cradling Seven’s face as a tear began to stream from her eye. “I’ve been following you and your troublemaking for decades; I knew one day it would catch up to us…”
“Predecessor…”
“I’ve always had a contingency.”
Diego managed to gather himself and looked up at Six, catching his first glimpse of the man just as his eyes began to glow with a strange blue light. Six’ face went blank with an almost lifeless, mechanical stillness. Six favored Seven heavily, though he sported a cropped hair cut and a more masculine edge to his facial features, but there was no doubt a familial resemblance between the two. Curious, Diego turned his attention towards Seven, whose expression now mirrored that of Six, complete with the same glowing blue light emanating from her eyes. He squinted, swearing that he could see columns of binary digits streaming within Seven’s eyes.
“What are these coordinates?” Seven asked.
“They will take you to a friend; he can get you into the Sub-network.” Six explained.
“The Sub-network?! How do you have connections to the--
“Go Seven! The executors will be here soon!”
“But, I can’t leave you!”
“If I go, we will both be deactivated! At least this way, there is a possibility you can make off-world.”
“But—
“Just, Go!”
Seven turned to leave, but not before glancing back at Six once more. He nodded wordlessly, prompting Seven to clutch Diego tighter as she winced, her emotions welling within her. She sniffled as her mid- heeled white shoes clacked in quick rhythm, echoing against the concrete and all throughout the cavernous abandoned warehouse. Just as she opened the rear exit, the familiar warbling of electromagnetic thrusters blared overhead, the sound caught Diego’s attention and he perked up just quickly enough to notice what he would best describe as a car with thrusters rectangular cube-like thrusters where the wheels would have been. The vehicle was painted black and white, like a police car but strangely there were no symbols on it.
In a panic, Seven quickly shut the door, hyperventilating as she pressed against the wall. She let out a sigh of relief as the warbling continued into the distance as she realized the vehicle was headed towards the front entrance of the building. She pushed the door open again and stepped out into the noonday sun. Seven headed towards a raised manhole in the distance surrounded by a few small trees and shrubbery, she set Diego against the concrete pedestal as she removed the manhole cover. Lifting the weary human onto her shoulder she climbed in, replaced the cover and proceeded down the ladder.
“What… what’s happening?” Diego mumbled nigh incoherently, though he was pleased to see that his voice was returning.
“Quiet, the executors will detect us if you are too loud.” A tear streamed down her cheek, she wiped it away as she scolded Diego with a whisper.
Seven adjusted Diego on her shoulder and broke into a sudden sprint; Diego was amazed that such a fragile seeming woman could move so fast, and with a grown man heaved over her shoulder not less. She navigated the winding sewer tunnels with deft precision, so much so that Diego knew he would struggle to keep pace with her movements even if he were fully coherent. This world was strange to him, and out for his blood apparently, but this Seven person seemed to have a genuine interest in his wellbeing, or so he hoped.
I feel like shit… he thought to himself … that chamber… these “people”. I’m no stranger to fools wanting me dead, but I at least want to know what the hell is going on. God… I’m tired.
Diego found the bobbing from Seven’s sprinting oddly hypnotic, it lulled him to sleep, a feat which was none too difficult given his current condition.