The Modified (The Biotics Trilogy, #1) (29 page)

As I pace around my room nervously, I listen to the names of each cadet as they’re called out through the intercom. I wonder to myself what’s going to happen to them. There doesn’t seem to be any kind of order to how they’re calling out the names, they seem to be random. Every time a name is called out, I pray that it’s not one of my close friends.

There’s a pause in the names being called and I relax, plopping down onto my bed, which feels rock hard and not soft like it usually is. I stare down reflectively at the band of shiny white plastic around my wrist and long to hear that little voice I was so used to. That little stuttering blue hologram, I miss him.

A sudden crash into my door startles me and turns my attention to it. There seems to be one heck of a commotion happening on the other side. Pushing myself away from my bed, I make my way over to the door, just as another loud crash sounds outside. I flinch at the sharp noise and stare at the door questioningly. What a great time for my powers not to be working.

The door slowly begins to slide open and a cloud of smoke fills my vision so I can’t see into the hallway beyond. Two bodies come flying out from the smoke and land at my feet with a thud. They’re Federation guards. I get into a defensive stance as I peer into the haze before me and ready for something to attack.

“Kenley? Are you in there?” I hear a familiar voice call out.

“Galileo? Is that you!?”

“Yes, indeed,” a disembodied voice says.

I see the silhouette of a body begin to emerge from the smoke and am shocked to see an Adam android standing in front of me.

“That’s you, Galileo?” I ask hesitantly.

“Yes, Kenley. It is me,” he says and then smiles.

“How did you get into that body?”

“Your father put me in here. He told me to find and protect you. Like I would do anything other than that,” he laughs slightly while grinning at me.

I rush over and wrap my arms around him. “It’s so good to see you, Galileo,” I cry into his shoulder.

He pats my head while holding on to me. “I agree, Kenley. It is good to see you as well.” He pulls back slightly and looks me directly in the eyes. “We have to get you out of here to safety, okay? I can never disobey an order.”

“But we have to save people, Galileo. My friends, my dad.”

“Your father has already been taken away by the Allied Federation. And I regret to say that it is futile to try and save anyone else on board. I must get you, and only you, to safety,” he replies matter-of-factly.

“No! I won’t leave without them. We have to at least try,” I say forcefully.

“That is not my order, I cannot comply with that.”

“You’re my AI, right? Then I order you to help me get my friends out of here.”

“If we leave now, our probability of getting you out safely has a ninety-two percent success rate. Our probability decreases five percent every minute we waste,” he replies.

“Well, if your order is to get me out of here safe, you have no choice but to help me rescue my friends, because that’s what I plan to do.”

“If these friends mean that much to you, Kenley, I will assist you in your efforts. But just know that my sole purpose now for being here is to get you to safety.”

“Thank you, Galileo,” I reply and hug him again.

“My pleasure, Kenley.”

Chapter Fourteen

Breakout

The hall outside my room is quiet. Strangely, there are no guards patrolling around.

“Shaw, Landon, was in the research lab when I took over this body. We should start there,” Galileo states.

“Wait, Landon was in there, but you didn’t think to help him? Were any of my other friends in there too?” I ask harshly.

“My orders were to get you out of here. Not Shaw, Landon. And no, I did not see anyone else you knew closely.”

“Whatever, let’s just get there, okay?” I reply as I turn to walk away.

“Kenley, I must inform you that there is a chance, Shaw, Landon…may not be himself anymore,” I hear Galileo say and then turn back to face him.

“What do you mean by that?”

“It is the last step of the modification procedure. Complete control of mind and body by the Allied Federation.”

“Then it looks like we don’t have any time to waste. Let’s go already,” I reply impatiently.

As I begin to walk away again, I feel Galileo grab my arm.

“What now, Galileo?”

“Here, this will help,” he says softly as he brings his hand toward my bangle. Galileo extends his index finger out and it begins transforming into what looks like a probe or something. He presses it to the band and penetrates it, causing a neon blue glow to emit from the opening. The band separates into two halves and falls to ground.

A surge of power rushes through me and I feel ten times stronger than I did with the bangle on. My hands ignite in a blue glow and I smile at Galileo.

“Thanks,” I say to him.

“Remember to not over exert yourself, Kenley. I am not there monitoring your implant anymore, use it wisely,” he explains with a serious face. I nod and follow him as he pushes forward to the research lab.

 We meet no resistance in our travels and I begin to feel confused. “Where are all the guards? You’d think this place would be crawling with them,” I whisper.

“I took them all out on my way to you,” Galileo replies. “I made sure to do it quietly as to not arouse suspicion. This Adam body your father gave me has great defense mechanisms set in place.” He lets out a tiny laugh under his breath and I almost feel like he’s becoming more aware of himself.

“Good to know, because I have a feeling we’ll need to utilize some of those soon.”

“Indeed.”

The door to the research lab seems to be heavily fortified by two guards standing there equipped with large shiny plasma rifles. We duck behind a wall as we see a third guard emerge from inside.

“Those Allied Federation guards were not there when I left earlier,” Galileo states.

“What should we do?”

“It would be best not to cause a commotion.”

As I peek back around the wall to look at the guards again, I hear a voice come over one of their hand transmitters. As the guard responds, it’s clear to me that we don’t have much time and they’ve found evidence of Galileo’s handiwork on his way to reach me. Without thinking, I move around the corner, hands glowing, and throw up three barriers around the guards. Two of them begin to fire and are taken down by their own electrified bullets ricocheting around inside the barrier. The last guard is unarmed and stands there defenseless. I hold my barrier around him as I approach. I can’t see his face, but I’m sure he’s terrified. He puts up his hands in surrender and I have a choice to make. I reach the edge of the force field and I stare at him, contemplating what to do.

“To some, it is a sign of cowardice to kill an unarmed man.” I hear Galileo say as he approaches us.

I rear back and my hand begins to glow even a brighter blue. I lean forward and throw the punch, breaking through the wall of energy. At the last moment, I ease off my power and my hand stops glowing. It connects with the guard’s chin, which is exposed beneath his helmet’s face shield, and he falls to the ground.

“I was never going to kill him, Galileo. If I did, then I’d be no better than he is,” I reply, looking down at the unconscious man in front of me. “We need to get moving, we don’t have much time.”

“Agreed,” Galileo answers.

Once we enter the research lab, the lights begin to flicker on and reveal a large space full of scientific-looking equipment and seven large glass tubes that look eerily like the ones where we received our implants. Five have green lights on above them and two have red.

I continue looking around the lab and see several androids, dressed in lab coats, but they are deactivated and hunched over the tabletops they’re standing in front of. It’s eerie seeing them lying there motionless with their eyes still open, but no sign of activity in them. 

“Do not open any of the conduits with a green light above them, Kenley. Those cadets have already been processed,” Galileo states and it almost sounds like there’s sadness in his voice.

Scanning the tubes, I stop on one that has a red light over it and hurry over when I realize that Landon is propped up inside of it. He’s lying there only in his boxers and seems to be in a deep sleep. I try to open the door, but it won’t budge. A keypad appears on the front of the tube, asking me to input a code.

“I need a code, Galileo. Do you know it?” I ask over my shoulder hurriedly at him.

“Let me see,” he replies, moving to stand next to me in front of the tube. He scans the keypad and presses his hand to it. The numbers begin punching in automatically and once the last number chimes, the keypad turns green. The door slides open and Landon falls into my arms. I cradle him to the ground. He breathes in deeply as his eyes shoot open.

When he realizes that it’s me in front of him, he grabs me tightly. “You have no idea how glad I am to see you,” he whispers into my ear.

“Me too,” I choke out.

I just live in this moment for a while and let him hold me. I feel safe in his arms and just want to be there forever. It isn’t until Galileo taps me on the shoulder and presents Landon’s uniform that I let go of him.

While Landon gets dressed, I walk over to the tubes again. All of the cadets inside are lying there motionless, just as Landon was, and my heart begins to break. The red light that was on above the tube next to the one Landon was in is now green. I recognize the girl inside as Jamie Warren. She was the girl my dad called up during the first day of training. I put my hand up to the glass and it starts to glow. I want to just punch through and pull her out to safety.

“Kenley, it is too late for her now,” I hear Galileo comment behind me. I turn to look at him and feel my eyes stop glowing. Returning my focus back to Jamie, I jump back as I see her eyes are now open and staring at me. She slowly places her hand up to the glass in front of mine, and it begins to glow neon red. I pull my hand back quickly as her eyes begin to glow the same color as her hands. My hands stop glowing and almost like a hunter losing track of its prey, Jamie relaxes and closes her eyes while leaning to rest against the back of the tube.