Page 1 of Darken
Chapter One
Darken Wolf strode toward the observation deck of the passenger freighter that was bringing his brothers and him back to Earth after 95 years, 8 months, 21 days, 18 hours, 38 minutes, 37.4 seconds. He looped the message he’d received over the internal cyborg network for the fifth time.
DHK18497, aka Darken Wolf, your genetic mate, is located in the Enclave community south of new Chicago. Her name is Gina Malcolm, 29 years old, health excellent.An image that looked very much like Gina’s was planted in his mind when he was made.
She was beautiful, the one genetically compatible female with whom he could breed and make offspring. She was the only one who could give him the family he never had, that no cyborgs ever had because they were grown to adulthood before they were awakened.
The door to the observation deck opened automatically for him, and he stepped inside. His commander Blaze Savage was there watching as they approached Earth. The blue planet swirling with white clouds was a beautiful sight.
Although they had integrated tech in their bodies and programs that regulated their brain chemistry and suppressed their emotions, cyborgs were still innately human. They could appreciate beauty and form friendships. The suppression of their feelings was gradually reversed after the war.
“Commander, they found my mate!” Darken exclaimed as he came to stand beside him.
“Not commander anymore. The Enclave made me Captain of the Cyborg Rangers. I just found out.”
“That’s great, brother,” said Darken.
“Your news is even better. I’m pleased for you. I hope to find my mate one day. That’s the primary reason I wanted to come back to Earth. It seems the most likely place to find our mates.”
“This is going to delay starting my assignment,” said Darken as he came to stand beside the other cyborg.
“New Mexico has waited this long. A few more weeks won’t matter,” said Blaze.
“At least I have a home for her. I hope she will like New Mexico.”
“You’d better hope she likes you,” Blaze teased.
“She already said she looks forward to meeting me,” Darken insisted. “I hope you will find your mate as well.”
“Thank you. And I hope you and your new mate will be happy together.”
Biologically, they were brothers but spawned in different batches. Blaze was two years older. They had other biological brothers but had no contact with them. All the cyborgs on Blaze’s team considered themselves brothers.
The many years they’d fought the war had been hard on them emotionally and physically despite the emotional dampers programed into them. Darken had been left for dead with catastrophic injuries on a hostile planet.
He’d lain alone in a snowy field drifting in and out of consciousness for days. His internal computer sent pings through the cyborg network to let them know he was still alive. Vyken Dark onStarfire Nemesisreceived the distress signal when they were scouting the system for Mesaarkan ships.
Commander Dark had convinced the ship’s captain to allow his team to recover Darken Wolf. He had lost an arm and leg, suffered a concussion and a gut wound, yet his nanites had kept him alive though barely. Six months in a nurturing tank grew him a new arm and leg over a cybernetic frame.
He emerged as good as new, physically. He’d needed gene therapy to recover from the emotional trauma of being left alone to die by inches. Apparently, his emotional dampeners had failed. It was why his psyche was impacted by his abandonment as deeply as it was.
Darken fought another fifty years when he recovered. The gene therapy had reduced the emotional impact of his suffering, so it seemed almost like it had happened to someone else.
Unfortunately, his experience was not an isolated one. Many cyborgs had been left to die on planets all over the galaxy rim. Some naturals in command positions viewed them as expendable, regardless of how much they cost.
Darken sat through Commander Dark’s briefing on their mission as Cyborg Rangers without hearing his words. He let the computer record the speech while he looped on the message and picture of his genetic mate. He was amazed that she looked so much like the avatar his creators planted in his virtual life before he was awakened for war. Darken was programmed to fall in love with his mate before he ever met her.
So far, he was the only member of the team whose mate had been located.
The database they started eighteen months before Darken’s arrival grew steadily with DNA profiles of females wanting cyborg husbands. It was a genetic database of females to match with the existing cyborg genetic database. It was beginning to work, but the cyborg database was larger than the female one. Expanding the Enclave reach to the West would give them a fresh data supply.
They would all collect data from their new territories. Hopefully, it would help more cyborgs to find their mates.
Darken only realized the briefing had ended when the other cyborgs stood to leave. His mind had been filled with thoughts of meeting his mate for the first time.
Quickly accessing the briefing, he was up to speed when his turn came to pay his respect to Commander Dark. He hadn’t known the commander when he chose his name.
It seemed fitting of the dark deeds they were made to do. Darken chose Wolf for his last name because they were strong, fierce creatures. He hoped one day to see them in the wild. Before the war, packs had been reintroduced to the wild. Since they weren’t living in the cities, they might well have survived.
