Page 6 of Ruled By Their Desires

All Cyborgs, KC or SC they were taller and larger than human males. Something about the growth hormone they were given at their creation or conversion to Cyborg and the programming in their on-board computer that did that. Most were barely recognisable from who they’d once been as human, although they’d all been large competent soldiers to start with before the transformation. It just turned them into something else. Something far more formidable. Far more deadly. Controlled by the hive mind. No one knew why some KCs rejected their programming and became sentient once more, but they knew around a quarter did. Others were lost to the Hive and couldn’t find themselves again. There was some speculation that they were the ones that enjoyed it. Welcomed it but, no one really knew the answers to that.

Her people, the FHA and her SCs had old school records and some did have files on them, but without the spy satellites in orbit that were blown up during the uprising and burn, they had little hope of identification other than by doing it manually and going through old records and localised computer files. They really needed a specialist they didn’t have to do all that. People were trying but you needed a mind that worked that way. That could see patterns and link up information. There were so many on file it would take decades how they were doing it now and most SCs had given up trying to find out about their lives before being made KC, it was too long ago but they badly needed to put that in order.

That information was key to knowing what KCs they were dealing with and why but until then, they were in the dark. Who knew back in the day that saving everything to a cloud, when that cloud disappeared, was gonna send them back decades? Only those that were determined to keep records old school too, survived that crash. It was smart.

In the end, any technology linked up was not their friend. Cyborgs could hack it.

The phone pinged. She picked it up.

You think you can save me?

She smiled looking at it. They were lucky they still had mobile phones at all, but from what she’d been told, they were more like CB radio’s than the phone technology of old. They didn’t have the tech they once did, they were gone with the burn but they still worked short distance connected to local systems they kept running or on a linked up system that took a lot of juice. Morse was the main communication language, encrypted of course. But today, it was straight up words.

The fact that he could answer so quickly meant he was close or had hacked their systems. She wondered what he was doing here and why.

And typed.

I think I can do a lot of things.

The dots moved.

I can’t be saved. Don’t waste your time.

What did that mean?

What were you doing there? I could have got out any time I wanted.

The dots appeared again telling her he was writing.

And yet you didn’t. Why?

She guessed a bit of honesty was due.

I wanted to know why they’d captured us in the first place,

I wanted their intel and see if I could make the traitor that marked us.

More dots appeared.

You know about that?

You’re right. It’s the only way they could have known where you were to get to you.

And we have the intel that proves it now. They didn’t succeed. That time.

The intel she should have had. Shit. Meaning it was likely they would try again. Someone had made a deal with the enemy. Again. The FHA was a god damn leaky sieve they couldn’t seem to be plugged, and it didn’t pass her notice that he’d not answered her question. What had he been doing there to start with?

They’d be stupid to try again.

She typed annoyed at herself and him.

She watched the dots knowing their time was coming to an end. He wouldn’t want to take the chance of being tracked. He’d said 5 minutes.

They’re not known for their brains and didn’t get the example they wanted.

She looked at the screen. What the fuck did that mean?

That was a pretty fucked up example from what I saw.

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