Page 37 of Rebels Rising

Okay, that wasn’t entirely fair. He was doing a respectable job of taking care of everyone and he did genuinely care, but there was a scientific side to him that reminded me of the scientists at The Program that I struggled not to latch onto. There was a significant difference between the two, however, that allowed me to separate him from them, and that was his unabashed thirst for exploring the unknown with a puppy-like curiosity compared to The Program’s dull, lifeless push for power.

‘What’s going to happen to us?’ Reece asked quietly, though I wasn’t sure if it was a question he expected me to answer just yet. I figured they were all just taking some time to process the overload of information and it would sink in eventually. The least I could do in this transition phase was to be patient and understanding, even if I was itching to move on.

‘All I know to expect is that youwillchange. In what ways, we won’t know until it happens. There’s no way to know without digging into The Program’s files what your nanites were programmed to do, and there’s too much risk of opening ourselves up for them to track and attack if we try to access those files from here.’

‘I think my senses are heightening,’ he blurted and my brows shot up in response to the outburst, though I wasn’t entirely surprised.

‘Which senses? Can you elaborate?’ Henrik jumped into action, retrieving his med kit to start looking over Reece. He began by shining a light in his eye which made him flinch, blinking rapidly from the sudden assault.

‘My eyesight, for starters,’ he sniped, smacking Henrik’s hand away as he lurched forward with the light again. He was back to normal in no time, however, and I understood what he was saying.

‘Can you see more clearly?’ I asked him.

He nodded. ‘Little details I never would have noticed before, and I’m adjusting to light changes more quickly.’

‘That’s the enhanced healing,’ I told him. ‘Any other changes you’ve noticed?’

He shook his head, Henrik now tapping away furiously on his holo-tab as he recorded all the information and I turned to Addy with a question in my eyes.

‘I’ve not noticed anything yet,’ she admitted, her lips downturned as she worried the bottom one between her teeth. Her hand rose in a claw to scratch at her arm, right over where she has recently healed from the cuts made by the scientists and I refrained from showing any reaction to the action. For all I knew, the scars could simply itch. It was something I experienced when I’d first started adapting to the injuries I’d received as a child, so it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. I couldn’t remember the itch lasting this long after healing, though.

‘You will probably start to notice a few subtle differences soon, but they may not be the same as Reece’s. That said, The Program typically paired their subjects to perform the same tests and procedures on, so it’s more than likely that you’ve both been given the same programming.’

‘You’re talking about it like we’re robots or something,’ Cadmus noted, and I nodded.

‘Essentially, that’s what you are now. Living robots.’

‘A new race of beings,’ Henrik breathed in awe. ‘Part biological, part mechanical.’

I nodded. ‘Cyborgs,’ I supplied for him.

‘And hybrids,’ Addy chimed in, a reminder that the experiments those of us in this room had been subjected to weren’t the only ones.

‘I’m going to pull the volunteers to monitor what abilities the children exhibit. I will give you access to that information as well, Henrik,’ I decided.

‘That’s… a lot of work. I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep up with it on my own,’ he told me.

‘You won’t have to. You can build your own team, but they will need to be vetted. We can’t let this information get into the wrong hands.’

‘Of course. I understand.’

Cadmus waved his hand above his head. ‘I’ll help.’

I blinked in surprise. Cadmus kept surprising me lately, his actions never aligning with how I expected him to behave. I was going to need to reassess him in order to anticipate his next move. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust himnecessarily, but more than I hated the unpredictability. I didn’t know what to do with it.

‘Um… okay. Sure. If you two could start compiling the information into secure files it would help keep us a step ahead of any potential problems.’

Henrik bent over his holo-tab as he spoke, his focus intent on the device. ‘I’ll need a list of your abilities, Arty. It’ll give me a baseline for what to expect. And if you could get me a list of abilities for the children then I can start cataloguing them.’

‘I can do that,’ I agreed, happy to have a task that didn’t involve leading this small army I’d somehow landed myself in charge of. ‘I’ll talk to Libby about compiling a list of the abilities the other women have and what was done to them, then she can send it straight over.’

The only ones left without any real tasks were Addy and Reece, so I let Henrik and Cadmus get to work and moved towards the last two. Addy wrapped her arms around me in a friendly embrace when I got close enough, but Reece didn’t move to greet me. In fact, I got the feeling that despite our understanding during our escape he had retreated back into himself and away from me. I didn’t like this distance, and I wasn’t sure where to start to bridge that gap. Things were so different between us now. I missed the way we used to be.

‘Have either of you found something to do on the ship yet?’ I asked them, keeping my tone professional despite Addy still dangling from my side. I thought I might have seen Reece wince, but it happened so fast that I wondered if I’d imagined it.

‘I can make myself useful as an engineer,’ Addy offered. ‘I don’t think there’s much for me to do, but I can familiarise myself with the engines in case I’m needed.’

I smiled down at her, pleased that she’d bounced back so quickly after the trauma she’d faced. I had a feeling Reece had lost some of his elasticity and I mulled over how I could possibly help him get it back.

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