CHAPTER 15
My waking hours settled into a routine balanced between the simulator and the control console. I was getting results, and, in exchange, I wasn’t bothered by anyone. I’d enjoyed the isolation at first. As time dragged on, however, I came dangerously close to talking aloud to myself. The simulator’s assassins made for poor company. And, while the console’s now familiar current no longer tormented me, its algorithms were too docile to count as companionship. To top it all off, questions constantly pulled at the back of my mind, and the empty training quarters offered nothing to placate them. I resorted to muting my thoughts and focusing on the task at hand, which was why, at first, I didn’t notice Agent Nerzogk’s green bulk lounged against the wall nearest the console.
My mountainous handler said nothing as his golden eyes met mine. A med bot buzzed over to scan me as soon as I left the simulator’s frames. I cybernetically bypassed its protocol to shoo it away. I might get scolded for that later, but I was more interested in learning what brought the elusive jade man here.
“To what do I owe this pleasure?” I asked with an edge of sarcasm as I crossed the room.
A grin twitched at the corner of his leather jade lips, nearly breaking his stony expression. “The training isn’t challenging you anymore.”
I waited, unsure if his statement had been a question. He didn’t elaborate. My eyes were drawn to the platform. I’d only recently begun enjoying this training for exactly that reason. “So?” I asked.
He didn’t answer.
“Is General Larkkon here?” I probed.
“Not here. But you’ll see him soon.”
I broke away from his riddle to enter the console’s chill. The platform edge raised around me and harmonized as the holos woke up. I accepted the soundless noise like a greeting from an old friend, their gentle hum no longer sickening.
“Then you’ll be changing the programming, is that it?” I attempted again to solve the riddle.
He shrugged.
“I’ve missed having you around. Are we on talking terms now?” I searched his golden-slit eyes to gauge his resolve. He was likable in an odd way.
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” Nerzogk grumbled.
“Why don’t you tell me what I did wrong? Then I can correct it.”
“I didn’t peg you for the sensitive type.”
“I’ve got a lot of time and not much to think about.” I lied. I had plenty to think about, but I ran from most of it, found distractions through whatever training was nearest. I’d do practically anything to keep my questions barricaded away. What would be the point of musing over things I had no hope of resolving and could only push me closer to insanity? Confusion made me weak, vulnerable. I’d learned that much from my initial escape. If not for the questions—I might’ve never been coaxed back into these miserable white walls.
“You should train harder, then.”
“As you pointed out, it’s not challenging me anymore.” I didn’t know exactly how long I’d been locked in here, only that my hair had grown long enough to brush against my eyelashes. The bots had tried to cut it a few times before I’d eliminated the function from their programming.
He folded his massive arms tighter. “I’ll admit I’ve been distant. I’m surprised you care. But I needed to see if you were committed to this or not.”
“And if I wasn’t?”
“No reason to get attached,” he whispered.
His quiet confirmation of my suspicions conjured back memories from the crimson woman’s lab. A shiver ran through my bones. I distracted myself by nudging the console with a tap from my conductor-tipped hand. The system activated, and my circuited veins glowed. I’d finished my training objectives a while back and entertained myself by sculpting the programs into new challenges.
“And your verdict?” I asked without looking away from the holos.
“You’ll be a useful comrade.”
I paused to debate how to respond. When I couldn’t come up with anything, I continued with my merge. The white walls blurred out of focus. I closed my eyes and melted into the electric alternate reality. A deep dive. I’d nearly submerged deep enough to lose contact with the training room’s physical world when a whistle disturbed my connection. I bristled and did my best to hide my annoyance. The whistle came again, louder, longer, more impatient. I conducted myself to separate prematurely from the algorithmic flow and reroute back to my physical senses.
My focus slowly returned to the white walls and the source of the whistle. A metallic, black-scaled vorgon. No, not a vorgon. His eyes were… human. And cold. I cringed from his untrusting scan, his icy gaze too similar to the doctor’s. He recognized me. Not as a friend. As a project. His finger, an unnatural leathery texture if he was human, hovered over one of the usual thumb-ring remotes. I half expected a jolt from the implant as a shiver ran down my spine.
“Aviator,” Agent Nerzogk didn’t break from where he patiently lounged against the wall, “This is Agent Terrokk.”
I didn’t move. Didn’t say anything. The metallic man still had his finger near the remote and held me skeptically in his gaze.
“Agent Terrokk will test your cybernetic efficiency. Consider this a graduation exam, of sorts.” Agent Nerzogk watched Agent Terrokk quietly, his attention drawn to the same place as mine, the implant remote. The metallic man noticed and relaxed his fingers away from the ring. Nerzogk's focus left the man and returned to me with a slight nod. My confusion created an opening for questions to bubble up. Was the doctor’s lackey looking out for me, or was I misinterpreting the nod?
The metallic man stepped forward. He tightened his jacket, preparing for the platform’s chill. I focused on a long exhale to keep my feet in place as this strange vorgon-human joined me within the platform’s paneled ring. I’d never taken much notice of the console’s size. But I noticed now. It was designed for just one person, and while I doubted any amount of distance would be comfortable around this man, the space here was far too intimate.
Agent Terrokk scowled while watching his breath turn to clouds in the platform’s frigid air, then glared at me as if blaming me for his discomfort.
“So…,” I attempted to break the ice, “you’re an Imperial operative as well?”
“Connect to the console. I’ll send you instructions during your cybernetic dive,” he ordered without responding to my question.
I shared an uncertain glance with Agent Nerzogk, who watched the two of us intently. Either for this agent’s safety or mine, I wasn’t sure which.
Agent Terrokk’s patience quickly ran out. “Connect to the console,” he ordered again, leering closer, “or I’ll consider the test a failure.” His breath clouds heated the tip of my nose, uncomfortably humid in the frigid air.
“What kind of test, exactly, are we running here?”
“I’m not going to ask again,” he hissed—an impressively guttural hiss.
Both he and Nerzogk had their fingers hovering over the implant’s remotes. I could probably drop the metallic agent before the implant could disable me. I studied his false scales, attempting to judge how thick his neck actually was and whether the metallic tattoos made any difference in his defense. A shock ran down my spine. I used it as an excuse to step away from the menacing vorgon-human and rubbed my neck.
“Okay. Got it. Connecting to the console,” I said and placed my biocircuited hand on the nearest panel, careful to remain aware of my physical surroundings. I didn’t feel safe while so close to him.
The metallic man connected something under the console’s master board, then flipped a holo from his uniform collar, connecting it to his equipment to activate the test. New data flowed through like an invading enemy. A virus.
“You’ll corrupt the entire system. It’s not isolated from the room,” I warned as if he didn’t already know that much.
He smiled a sadistic grin. “If the room is compromised, we’ll have to find another place to store you. I hear Doctor Lsar is eager to keep you near.”
I didn’t have time to protest, not that it would have mattered either way. I quickly abandoned my physical surroundings and fully merged with the sieged console. The virus bled into every aspect of its programming. It flowed through me as well but didn’t cripple me like it crippled the system surrounding me. I struggled to keep up, to separate the virus from rewriting the system’s codes. After a great deal of effort, I put a stop to the virus’s spread, then backtracked and corrected spots of corrupted coding. I knew the system intimately by now. I’d spent hours, days, merged with its programs.
I obliterated the connection sourcing the virus for good measure and as a way to silently object to the method used in this test. Then I separated from the restored system and traced myself back to my training room’s white lights and frigid air.
Agent Terrokk frowned while removing the now useless attachment from the panel.
“Well?” Agent Nerzogk asked with a razor grin, still unmoved from where he’d been at the start of all this.
“It’s too soon,” the metallic man grumbled. “The asset hasn’t been properly vetted.”
“That’s not your call,” Nerzogk countered nonchalantly. He dislodged himself from where he’d been leaning against the wall and flashed some cuffs. “Aviator, you’ve got an appointment with General Larkkon. Let’s not be late.”
Agent Terrokk stood between me and the platform’s exit. Not purposefully; it was just how we’d become positioned. I wasn’t interested in trying to squeeze by the man. But I also didn’t want to stay here, stuck between him and the holo’s rim. I considered jumping over the panels and through the holo bubble. Would that be too extreme?
“Are the cuffs necessary?” I asked to bide my time.
“Yes,” Agent Terrokk answered for Nerzogk.
“Who are you, exactly?” I narrowed my eyes at the metallic man.
“I believe we’ve finished introductions already.”
“Do I know you? Or - did I know you… from before?”
“Why?” His eyes glistened with suspicion.
“You seem to know me.”
“It’s my job to know you, asset.”
“Aviator,” Nerzogk waved the cuffs, which appeared minuscule in his oversized grip. “Let’s get going.”
Agent Terrok offered an open palm to take the cuffs. “I can take him.”
Nerzogk shook his jade-scaled head. “You wouldn’t stand a chance if he got out of hand.”
Agent Terrokk laughed. My skin crawled at the sound. “Neither would you. That’s what the implant is for.”
“At least I’d be an effective anchor.”
Agent Terrokk shrugged and hopped off the platform, rubbing his arms and stepping far from the console’s concentrated chill. I let out the breath I’d inadvertently held. It hung in the air like a puff of smoke. Nerzogk raised his pebbled leather brow impatiently. I stepped off the platform and offered my non-glowing wrist. He waited, and I switched to extend my biocircuited arm. He attached the cuff and locked my ionized wrist behind me by gripping the back of my jumpsuit collar, along with my already cuffed ionized-pulsing wrist.
“I’d like to state again that this is not necessary,” I protested. He nudged me to start walking toward the entrance. I gave up, knowing my opinion didn’t amount to much.
Agent Terrokk watched us with a calculated gaze. “The pod would be better.”
“Take it up with the General.”
“I will.” His finger stayed uncomfortably close to the implant remote. He let us pass, then followed closely behind.
It was Agent Terrokk who reluctantly scanned the back of my neck to authorize me to exit. We entered the red-lit holding area, the chill similar to my console’s platform. The bar outside scraped as it was removed. The hallway was empty, with a shield set up identical to before, armed soldiers lined up beyond the shimmering veil. The hydraulic pumps at the door, however, were accompanied by two muscular reptilian soldiers this time. Non-manipulable—which I assumed was the point. They avoided eye contact.
I calculated the distance from here to the shields. Nerzogk’s grip tightened. If I did manage to get out, I’d do it right this time. No guessing, no killing time in despair. And no surrender. The training they’d forced me to master could easily backfire on them. The metallic man’s icy attention told me he was well aware of that fact.
Agent Nerzogk pulled me over to the waiting transport. A windowless bubble of a vehicle. I held back a muttered curse as I was ushered inside before having a chance to pull close to the vehicle’s underbelly. Agent Terrokk followed us in and signaled to one of the soldiers at the metal door, soon after which the transport’s entrance phased into solid. I attempted a cybernetic scan once seated, but, not surprisingly, the interior was insulated.