CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
"Many people say that government is necessary because some men cannot be trusted to look after themselves, but anarchists say that government is harmful because no men can be trusted to look after anyone else." - Nicolas Walter, About Anarchism
Carlos yanked his hand out of the gel as if it were boiling hot. The gel clung like a second skin until gravity made it run as a liquid again. It dripped to the concrete floor and retreated back to the container as if there was some power pulling it back. Or, as if it had a mind of its own.
Carlos immediately clutched his temples, applying pressure to stop the pain. His head was spinning. The pain only lasted a few seconds and went away as suddenly as it had come.
"I'm sorry about the pain, Carlos. I had to give you as much information as possible in a very short time."
"Harry? Mother? Marlene?"
"Yes, we know. It's wonderful, isn't it?"
Carlos turned to the vat. "Harry! Are you all right?"
"Fine. I'm glad you were there."
"What does it mean—that dream?"
"It wasn't a dream. It happened. Makr made it happen."
"But how? Makr can't reach us here."
"He can. He always could."
"So we never had any control over our own lives."
"Oh, yes, Makr saw that you did by leaving you alone."
"But the cyberts?"
"Not all controlled by him. Some have linked to His mirror, which controls the Outside."
"Two Makrs?" It was Marlene.
"You could say that, but there's really only one with two sides. One evil, one good... In order to facilitate evolution... Pardon me, Carlos. Mother, the cyberts are still cutting through the wall, but I sense a Bio presence coming from the other direction. You may want to move away from the door that Carlos made."
At that moment, at approximately the same spot where Carlos and Marlene had used their laser axes to cut through, another set of lasers was expanding the opening.
"More cyberts?" asked Marlene.
"No," said Harry. "Just one. A very large and dangerous one. The mirror's major pawn. Be careful of this one, Carlos. He's part human and he knows you."
Outside the crudely cut doorway, it took only seconds for the spider-like cyborg to collapse its composite metal frame of bars and struts, squeeze into the tiny healing room and then expand to a more intimidating size once inside. There was an audible gasp as everyone realized that this cybert was very different. Makr had finally succeeded in creating a death machine: armored with shields and spikes that gave it almost a medieval quality, laser cannons and equipped with multiple limbs capable of extending razor-sharp swords. By the time it unfolded to full size in the combined space, everyone with a weapon had it trained on the metal behemoth.
"Hold your fire," Carlos ordered, "unless you want to kill us all with bounce blast."
The ceiling was barely high enough for the cybert to stand under without crouching. The cybert's design mimicked one of humans' greatest irrational fears: spiders. Fully extended, the legs of the spider-like cybert surrounded the room on all sides, almost giving it a second structure. Like some gothic horror, its head and torso rested on the ceiling.
Carlos noticed Jana/Marlene was quivering with fear. She was still not over her latest spider experience, and her fear was easy to understand. She wasn't alone in her fear. Even Carlos and Mother-General were afraid, although they appeared to be faring better at hiding it. Carlos rested his hand on Marlene's hand, hoping to calm her. Her shaking subsided but started again as the monster cybert spoke.
"Carlos, how nice! I've been looking all over for you."
Everyone was startled by the quiet, yet ominous, human voice that came from the monstrous spider-like creature. It was apparent that the cybert had no fear of the weapons trained on it.
Carlos was more aware of the characteristics of the voice itself. There wasn't the usual perfect lilt and accent present in other talking cyberts; this one had a distinctly human quality to it. The imperfect voice was probably the result of sinus congestion and crooked teeth. This voice wasn't Cyber at all. Too gravelly, raspy. Too human. The voice was familiar. Can it be? No! It sounds like...Leach! Leach? Carlos went cold at the thought.
"...and Mother-General, too," continued the artificial arachnid. Then he saw Marlene, and remembered. "I've hit the jackpot!" Vengeful bitterness reigned in his voice. "I remember the pain—and the humiliation, too."
"I don't like to be manhandled," Marlene said wryly, as Carlos increased his grip on her hand.
"You won't be manhandled since I'm no longer just a man."
Leach extended his swords that had become scissors-like pincers in one smooth motion. He dangled them dangerously close to Marlene's face and snipped some hair. He laughed as she stood defiantly in her place. Her locks of hair fell to the floor and she pretended she didn't notice. No point in giving Leach the satisfaction of a reaction.
"How's your tongue?" she asked defiantly.
Carlos saw what she was trying to do. She was trying to bait Leach to kill her first so the others may have a chance to escape.
"Do I look the least bit human to you? As you can see, I have no use for a tongue. Makr created an artificial voice interface. Do you belong to these two?"
"Does it matter?"
"No. I'm going to kill you all anyway."
"Then, as a matter of fact, I do belong to these two. We're family."
"Really? Now, that's interesting. You were with the Insider... What is his name? Harvey? Harold?"
"Harry."
"Yes, that's right. The puny one, the coward."
"Leach! You're Leach aren't you?" Carlos charged. "Or, what's left of him. Why, Leach? Revenge?"
"Harlan Leach is no more. I am better than he was." Then, there was maniacal laughter.
Carlos decided to push Leach even further, "I suppose Makr called it symbiosis?"
"I am the beginning of symbiosis."
Carlos laughed. "Sorry, Leach. I thought He'd want the best of both worlds."
A claw came crashing down dangerously close to Carlos, who tried to ignore it but continued the push.
"Did Makr make you sweat and scream? He's made you his toy. No, you're an experiment. Nothing more."
"How would you know any of this?"
"Ask him? I'm sure he's communicating with you right this minute."
No answer from the monster.
"What is it you intend to do with us?"
"Kill you. Painfully. Very painfully."
Two of the goliath's front appendages, telescoping tentacles equipped with built-in laser cannons, extended until they took on a flexible quality, and whipped around dangerously.
"I'm going to kill all of you eventually. Slowly. Starting with the girl, then Mother-General. But you're the one I really wanted, Carlos. I had to kill ten, or was it more..."
Marlene had to pull Carlos back as he reacted angrily to Leach's words.
"...just to find out where you were hiding. Are you surprised that ten men gave up their lives for you? I am. And they weren't even from your first Nest."
"You were a Shadow soldier," Carlos said with unnerving calm.
"Not any more. You left me to die without Stealth! For that alone, I'm saving you for last, Carlos! I'm going to enjoy making you suffer."
"Why?"
The room echoed with reverberation as the Cyber-enhanced voice thundered. "Because you made me suffer! You with your self-righteous attitude! You were never fit to lead! You got where you were because of your mother." His voice dripped with disgust and hatred. "Deny it!" he screamed hoarsely.
"Take me, then. Let the others go."
"No way! I want to settle up."
"On what?"
"On account of I hate bitches. Bitches that don't put out and bitches that gave birth to the likes of you."
Mother held on to Marlene as the metallic creature lunged forward, menacingly close. Showing no fear, Carlos ignored Leach's ominous adv
ance, not even looking his way, and moved to be with his mother and sister. If they are about to die, it is good to be with family, he thought. "I'm so sorry for this, Mother."
"Don't be, Carlos. I'd have it no other way.
Another voice joined in taking over the whole room in volume and presence. "If you are better than you were, why kill them? They're nothing to you now. They're no threat to you."
"Who said that?"
"I did. The coward."
"Where are you?"
"In the gel."
"What?"
"In the gel," Harry insisted.
"Yeah?" With that, he reached over with his right appendage and pulled the tub over. "Not anymore."
Harry's limp body spilled out onto the floor. The gel formed a protective coating as if refusing to spread out. If anyone or anything needed to get to Harry, he or it would have to go through the gel.
"How'd you do that?"
Silence, then the screaming sound of ripping steel. Everyone's attention was drawn to the area where the cyberts had finished cutting through. As soon as Leach saw the Blue Leader cyberts trying to emerge through the hole side by side, he fired at them with his two forward laser cannons. Two cyberts were sent flying back as the enormous laser cannon bursts did their jobs, burning two gigantic holes in the upper thoracic area of each cybert.
Behind them, it appeared, were two Red Leader cyberts ready to follow, but they were blown back by the flying scrap metal. Larger than the Blue Leaders, they managed to retreat back into the tunnel to evaluate the situation. In the chaos, Carlos recovered his laser ax, armed it and darted into the tunnel after them, knowing Leach would follow him and give the others a chance to escape. Predictably, Leach ignored the others as he squeezed through the opening after Carlos, determined not to let his revenge go unchecked.
Carlos discovered that the two remaining cyberts the Red Leaders had left had vacated the immediate area to re-group and adapt. Waiting just outside the room behind an ancient generator, he fingered the grenade in order to disable the timer so it would explode on impact. As Leach's goliath head came through the opening, Carlos tossed the grenade; however the massive body followed swiftly, pushing the blast back at Carlos as well.
With no shield or other protection, the explosion ripped through his own right arm, which he used to release the grenade, severing it above the elbow. Carlos winced at the pain, which was not as bad as he imagined it could be. Must still be in shock. Blood was spurting everywhere. He grabbed the bloody stump with his other hand and tried wrapping it tightly with the fabric of his garment to stem the blood flow. Holding the stump tightly against his chest, he tried to fasten the makeshift bandage but it was no good. He couldn't get a grip to tuck in the fabric. The blood flow was steady now, not spurting, but if he didn't stop it, he'd die.
He reached for his laser ax with his good left arm, and tried to position it to cauterize the wound. Mother rushed to his side; she knew what he was about to do. She stopped him by blocking his path. She tore a strip of cloth from the bottom of her own Stealth garment, went to Harry, who was on the floor covered with gel, and dipped the strip in the gel that was still clinging to him. She came back and wrapped it around Carlos' stump.
"This will help until we can get a clone graft on it and you'll be good to go. If you cauterize it, you won't be able to attach a clone replacement. The healing gel will keep it clean and fresh until then."
"What about Harry?"
"He's fine. The gel..."
"Nanotechnology."
"How did you know that?"
"I think Harry uploaded a lot of information—that included. We need to get topside with him very soon."
"We need to take care of you first."
"No, Mother, that won't work. I can wait. He can't. Just wrap my arm so the bleeding stops."
Still, the grenade had achieved its desired result. The concussion had rendered the human portion of the metallic monster unconscious. The result of the brilliant flash caused by the rather small grenade had had an added bonus, too. Leach awoke to the darkness of his own mind, or what seemed to be left of it.
"My eyes! I'm blind. Can't see!"
"Appears to me, justice is blind, as they used to say in the old days." Came a welcome voice.
"And not much of a threat now," he said wearily on automatic, then he realized he knew that voice. "Kieran O'Shea!" Leach moaned as he, too, recognized the voice.
Ignoring the creature whose voice sounded like another Bio creature she had known, as she dodged the cybert wreckage to greet Carlos, Mother-General and Marlene standing in the tunnel. The voice stopped her cold for an instant, but she didn't know why and started again when she saw Carlos was hurt.
"Carlos! Are you all right? I saw what just happened."
The two old friends hugged. Or, at least, Carlos tried. The wrapped stump felt remarkably pain-free with the healing gel, but it was still awkward.
"Don't worry, I'll live. Looks like it's cloning time for me." Losing a limb may have been an inconvenience and a temporary handicap; however, it was going to have to wait. Carlos had priorities.
"Where have you been?"
"Looking for you and Mother-General."
As she approached Carlos again, her step had lost its military stiffness to reveal a giddier glad-to-see-him step. Her eyes were beautiful again—bright and shiny, and inspiring devotion. The old Kieran O'Shea was back!
Both Kieran and Carlos had thought they would never see each other again. They held each other for a moment, then, as if suddenly aware of new danger, released one another to regain their military bearing.
"Some interesting developments around here," she said, noticing the crumpled and scorched metal flailing about.
"We have things under control. Leach, believe it or not," he said, indicating the metal heap. "What's going on topside?"
"It's bad, Carlos. Real bad. Did you say 'Leach?'"
Carlos nodded. "Tell you later... We have to get up there."
"Agreed."
Mother and Marlene were visibly pleased at seeing Kieran and ran to greet her. In the midst of the reunion, all could hear Leach sobbing.
"Kill me. Please kill me."
"You don't deserve to die a quick death," Kieran said bitterly.
"Don't you see, Leach?" interjected Marlene mockingly. "Of course you can't. We want you to suffer, too."
Finally, Kieran, remembering her pain and sorrow at losing her eyes, couldn't be the least bit sympathetic.
"Why didn't you just get new mechanical eyes—better ones?" she asks him, twisting her verbal knife.
"Both eyes aren't Cyber; I had one good eye left. All I had left from being human—besides my brain. Makr promised me I'd be better than human, but he didn't want me to be human at all. He wanted to use my brain to achieve symbiosis—a true BioCyber He called it. Said the human brain is the only good part we have. Then, He said my brain wasn't a very good brain, as brains go—too many lesions or something. By then I had been activated. He thought I would have no place to go, that I would be so grateful that I didn't need a control chip."
"Guess Makr never really understood Frankenstein. He understood the monster, but the theme is human. He wanted you to go out like the mad dog you are and kill all the humans who got in the way of your revenge." It was Harry!
"The coward who's not really a coward," added Leach.
Carlos shifted his focus. "Harry! Are you all right?"
"I'm as fine as I can be. As you can see, my tiny cyberts won't leave me—at least for now. I don't have a lot of time left."
"Dumping you and that gel didn't stop you?" Leach continued his provocation.
"Shut up, Leach! We'll get you out of here—topside. Somehow..."
"You should kill me now while you have the chance, Carlos," Leach insisted.
"Can you believe it? I have more important things to do," declared Carlos. "So I think I'll leave you here for the cyberts who escaped your laser cannons. They'll be back." r />
"Don't let the Cyber kill me," Leach pleaded. "Please. I beg you, Carlos. Please."
"Why? They won't feel any satisfaction over killing you. They won't feel anything."
"I'm still part human."
"Let's not get maudlin, Leach. I don't have time for this shit."
"All right, if you want to know. I don't want Makr to have the control. Makr broke me some time ago anyway. I did exactly what He wanted me to do. I came after you then, as now, but as a man with information for sale. Hell, I gave it away for free."
"You were our leak?"
Leach's insect-like cranium moved in some semblance of a nod.
"Harry and Marlene..."
"Nope, me. The Nest shields were more than adequate to garble communications from their chips. Makr was wrong about controlling me. He made me a monster, but He made a big mistake; He made me stronger than His cyberts in the rehab center so I destroyed them. Can I help it my human part was unpredictable?"
"His experiment seems to have served you well." Kieran continued to dig at his wounds. "Definitely more handsome to look at."
She didn't bother to hide her hostility either. "Don't you dare help him Carlos; he killed eighteen of your people just a little while ago. He's a beast, a monster."
"She's right. I would have killed all of you, too."
"Why? Revenge?" she asked.
"Hate. A little jealousy, maybe. Hate you. Hate myself. Hate this world."
"On that last one, we agree with you."
"Kill him!" Kieran insisted. "He's not even close to human any more. He deserves it."
"I don't think that's the answer, Kieran. Not now." It was Carlos.
"I tell you that Outside is a bloody massacre, and you still aren't sure? He cut people in half! He cut their heads off! He burned their eyes out! He did this to your Shadows. All to get to you! To cause you pain. To kill you! You can't stand by and do nothing about it?"
"I can't explain it to you now. Find some way to get Harry topside, can you do that?"
She shrugged angrily and stomped off.
Carlos was torn. He needed to protect his people, but he also knew this whole world wasn't just about his idea of justice. If Makr was truly manipulating everything, He could have manipulated Leach into being the scum he was. No, can't blame that on Makr. Leach is just good ol' human garbage to reckon with, he decided.
He knew Bios were capable of doing terrible things, but they were also capable of forgiveness—even forgetting. Things were going to change drastically and there would have to be a lot of forgetting and forgiving before they were through.
"If you aren't going to get this over with, I am!" Kieran said as she pulled out her laser ax. Carlos stopped it as it was coming up and pulled it down. She saw the look in his eyes that said he was serious. It seemed this day had been full of surprises.
"Kieran!" He was shouting now. It was enough to stop her. "What's got into you?"
"Some of his hate, maybe. He hurt you. Isn't that enough?"
"No, I did this. He's defeated. What more can I do to him that he hasn't already done to himself?"
"I don't know what's happened to you, Carlos. I go away for a few days and you're a different person."
"Where's everybody else?"
"Outside. The fighting has stopped. And it appears we've lost the battle. We affected nothing with all our grenades, diversions, misinformation and attacks. Zero. Zilch."
"That's not true, Kieran. It made Makr reach out to me directly." Another voice she thought she'd never hear again; only this voice she heard in her mind. Kieran's eyes seemed to light up even more.
"Harry? You're alive?"
"I'm fine," he lied. "When Leach released me from the gel, I received quite a jolt. I just needed to rest a few minutes. Bring me to him. Bring me to Leach. I can help." He was now communicating with each of them.
"What? Why?"
"Those cyberts were after him, not you," Harry replied.
"What about Bio clones?" Mother-General asked Carlos. "His eyes were Bio, remember. I bet..."
When did she get so nurturing? Carlos thought. "We have to go, Mother."
Marlene and Carlos carried Harry with the gel still clinging to his body. They themselves were refreshed and a little stronger with the short exposure to the healing gel. They brought Harry to a few feet from Leach's reach.
"Can you open his cranium?"
"What are you doing, Harry?" Carlos looked over at Kieran who was ready with the laser ax. "Not that way," he said to her.
"What are you doing?" said the blind monster.
"Helping you. You'll have to trust me."
"What else could you do to me?" Leach asked.
"You did it to yourself."
"Yes, I know. Why would you want to help me after all I've done?"
"For starters because part of you is human, not Bio, and we humans have to stick together. Besides, I could use your help, right now. I'll be your eyes. You be my legs. Deal?"
As if on command, the gel that covered Harry flowed into the metal casing that was Leach's Cyber head. The brain was exposed. Enough of the gel clung to the brain and formed a protective skin over it. In a few moments, Harry could see some of the lesions fade away, but not all. There was a limit to what the gel could do, but it might be sufficient for what Harry had in mind. Leach now knew what Harry knew through the shared healing gel covering them both.
The gel did more than its usual healing; through it, Harry communicated all that he knew of this world to be true. Makr's world, yes, but a different world than anyone could conceive of at the time.
Leach felt as though a heavy load had been lifted; he was invigorated and grateful. He couldn't believe how good he felt inside. The unexpected kindness went a long way with someone like Leach. Starved for attention, he had never known the acceptance and unqualified, unselfish love of his fellow man. Leach was quick to put Harry's needs ahead of his own for the moment.
"We all are responsible to some extent for the realities that happen to us." Leach was still blind, but connected to Harry he could see through his eyes.
Makr would never understand this change in trust, Carlos thought as he walked alongside Leach and Harry. The rest of the group took up defensive positions all around the giant Cyber and his passenger.
Harry could still lead them while the cyborg carried him. Outside, he wasn't tricked by SensaVision. They were simply walking out. He was seeing reality without thought-blinking. Have the Shadows damaged Makr's SensaVision capability? We still need to be careful. That may not be all sectors. At least, until Makr and his creator were re-connected.