Abel wobbled, his legs a little unsteady. He felt himself falling forwards and put up his arms to catch himself.
“Oof.” He wheezed as he barely managed to catch himself on the metal support rail that ran alongside him.
“You are making great progress Abel, keep trying.” A slightly coarse female voice said from behind him.
He turned his head to look at the source. Dr. Abernathy stood a few meters away, dataslate in one hand and her other idly fidgeting with the many medallions that hung from her sash.
She was a gre’vahn, the centauroid race placing great importance on family honor and personal achievement. He could tell she was no different from the majority of her people. Her desire to succeed was almost religious in its fervor.
He straightened and then took a few more shaky steps. “Why is this so difficult?” He complained out loud.
Dr. Abernathy moved to his side, the soft padding of her clawed feet mixing with the dull thuds of his own cybernetic footfalls. She placed a large furred hand on one of his shoulders and said “It will get easier with time. I promise. Look, you are already getting better all the time.”
He glanced at her hand, six fingered with delicate nails painted sky blue. Her short fur ended in the middle of the dorsal side of her hand. He felt the sudden urge to place his hand upon hers, but did not act on the impulse. With his lack of control he would likely just end up hurting her somehow anyways.
Instead he just gave a tired sigh and said “Yes. I know that, but the knowing doesn't make it any less discouraging.”
Dr. Abernathy removed her hand as he started to walk again. “Well. I know you can do it, you made it this far after all.”
Abel nodded, the action much more smooth now that he had been practicing his movements. “Well, maybe we should call it a day then? I would like to work on my fine motor controls again.” He lifted a single hand as he said it.
She nodded her large head and the offered him an arm. “Here. I trust you enough to dispense with the wheeled chair.”
He raised his remaining eyebrow. He reached out tentatively and took hold of her arm before asking “Are you sure? What if I accidently hurt you?”
She gave a snort. “Did you forget what I am? My bones are many times harder than yours used to be and my skin is tougher as well. I will be fine Abel. Now, let’s go.” She chided him.
Holding onto her tightly, they made their way slowly across the room. It was impressive that she was able to offer him any support at all, considering that he had to weigh many hundreds of kilograms now. His cybernetic body being made of a dense tungsten alloy called titansteel.
She led him over to another table, this one with a very sturdy chair so he could sit and focus on his upper body instead of just staying upright. He sat down with a relieved sigh. “Thanks doctor, you are very strong.”
She gave him a small grin and slapped one of her biceps saying “Quartz bones and silicate infused musculature will have that effect.”
He just nodded and turned to the table. Its surface was covered in puzzles, small tinkering toys and small plastic toy bricks called Snap’ems. They were his favorite, something about them brought a sense of joy to him. It was probably due to some pleasant lost memory involving them. Perhaps he had played with them as a child he imagined, but he couldn't be sure. So he focused on the many tasks available to him.
He began to focus, reaching for one of the puzzles he grasped it as gently as he could manage. He brought it closer and looked at it. It was a cube made of smaller cubes that could all be rotated to change their positions relative to each other. The objective of this particular puzzle seemed to be to organize the six sides into solid colors.
He looked at Dr. Abernathy who just gave him an encouraging gesture. Frowning, he looked at the cube. At first he carefully turned a few faces at random, not having any particular plan or goal. It all seemed like so much static to his mind. He played with it a bit more and was surprised when he managed to line up three of the same color on a single face.
Brightening he turned to the gre’vahn woman and held up the cube. “Check it out, I made a match!”
She looked up from her datapad “Oh. How clever, can you solve the rest of that face?” She asked him.
He knew she was likely just trying to goad him into continuing, but it lit a small fire in his mind. Yes, yes he could finish another face. In fact, he would do the whole thing just to show her he wasn't stupid.
“Yeah.” Was all he said in reply.
He looked at the cube, he moved it around, looking at every other discordant piece of the whole. A picture started to form in his mind, the sensation was strange. It was as if he suddenly had a plan, like his thoughts had suddenly come into focus.
He sat up straighter, new ideas whirling in his mind. Slowly at first and then with more confidence he began to turn the pieces on the colorful cube. As he worked the picture in his mind grew clearer till he was no longer guessing his moves. He was following a pattern.
After a few more minutes he spoke. “Hah! Got it, check it out!” He said as he held up the now fully completed puzzle. All six sides of the cube now showing a single color each. Dr. Abernathy looked at him wide eyed, as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
“What?” Abel asked her.
**********
Dr. Abernathy was conflicted. On one hand she was a scientist, cool and collected. Her emotions held in check by the logical side of her impressive mind. But then on the other hand she was feeling a bit torn. She had been working with Abel for the better part of a week now and she was enjoying every minute of it.
She didn't really understand it, she felt so strange when she was around him. He was witty and intelligent, but also gentle and very respectful to her. She was pretty sure that if she told him to try and do a backflip he would, despite the fact that he was still struggling to walk unassisted.
That's what he was doing now, she watched as he slowly wobbled down the side of the room. One of his arms was straight out for balance while the other gripped a wall mounted safety bar for dear life.
She marveled again at the incredible journey Abel had made in the last few days. He had gone from an inert lump of flesh to a vibrant and somewhat unorthodox individual whom she enjoyed spending time with. He had become more than her test subject, he had become a friend.
She cocked her head at the realization, her pointed ears twitching in consternation. The more she tried to refute it the more her own internal thoughts confirmed it. Abel had become closer than she would have imagined possible for a reanimated subject. Sure he was unable to remember his past, a past that she herself knew nothing about. But his charm and wit were clear in his remarks and mannerisms. She found herself smiling widely as she thought of their many conversations these past few days.
Abel stumbled, suspending her thoughts as she rushed to his aide. But it was unnecessary as the man caught himself with a sharp exhalation of air.
She fidgeted in pace, not sure whether to help him or leave him be. He was a very independent soul to be sure. She had found that helping him directly was sometimes counterintuitive to her goals, sometimes he made better progress working through it on his own.
She decided to give him verbal encouragement instead, she spoke kindly “You are making great progress Abel, keep trying.”
She saw him pause and turn his head to look at her. He seemed angry, though it was likely directed more so at himself for failing than at her for her words. Still, the rage that simmered deep in his core was terrifying to see, even in such small doses. She knew the berserk state that adrenaline could push human’s into, but understanding its function and witnessing it in person were two vastly different things. She would hate to see him in such a state, face twisted in a rictus of rage and pain, muscles screaming with potent combat stims. What a truly horrid homeworld they must have had to evolve such mechanisms strictly for personal defense.
Abel seemed to cry out in anguish “Why is this so difficult.” A small part of her twin hearts broke for him. He had never asked for this, this new life had been thrust upon him entirely by her own hands. If she had known the suffering that her subjects were going through she would never have attempted the project at all. But then again, what choice did she have. Her earlier work in the field of reanimation was far from legal, it was only the protection of general Drask and those officials on the Zeirworks Unlimited board of directors that had kept her from serving prison time. Never mind the fact that the entire idea had been theirs to begin with.
No, she was a scapegoat, and she knew it. Her only purpose was to make the project work and then take the fall if it ever got out. But she had changed since then, no longer was she the frightened young undergraduate with a knack for bioelectrical studies. Now she was a woman, strong of will and spirit and no longer afraid of what would become of her. She had secretly gathered enough evidence to take general Drask and his corporate cronies down with her if she fell.
She walked over to Abel’s side and placed a single hand on the man’s cybernetic shoulder. He had haptic sensors all across his body and so turned to look at her hand as she placed it. “It will get easier with time… I promise. Look, you are already getting better all the time.” she told him reassuringly. At least she hoped it was reassuring.
He was silent for a few moments, his eyes fixed on her hand. After a long pause he gave a sigh and said “Yes. I know that, but the knowing doesn't make it any less discouraging.”
Dr. Abernathy removed her hand as Abel started to move again, his steps a little more sure than they had been a second ago. “Well. I know you can do it, you made it this far after all.” she said.
Abel stopped and turned to look at her again, this time with a strange new expression on his face. She glanced at her datapad but saw nothing out of the ordinary on his readouts. Whatever that look meant it wasn't overly angry or happy, it was some other neutral emotion that she was not familiar with. Human faces were hard, their ears immobile and their faces furless. Their features were dominated by their eyes, human eyes were different from almost any other species she had ever encountered.
While many other sapients in the union displayed intelligence when looked in the eyes, humans had a certain something more. It was said that a human’s eyes were windows to their soul, that is if one gazed into them long enough they would instantly understand everything the human was feeling. But it was not that easy. Many times during her work with Abel she had attempted to read his eyes, and failed. He however seemed to always understand what she was feeling intrinsically, it was as if he was reading her thoughts and emotion through her eyes instead of the other way around.
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She inhaled sharply, realizing that she had been staring at him again. If he noticed the pause he didn't comment on it instead asking her “Well, maybe we should call it a day then? I would like to work on my fine motor controls again.” he gave a small nod as he said it as if confirming something to himself.
‘For the love of yaskp.’ she thought to herself. What was she doing thinking like that? He was her patient, nothing more. But even as she told herself this she felt herself offering an arm to Abel as she said “Here. I trust you enough to dispense with the wheeled chair.”
Abel swallowed as he just looked at her for a moment. Had she gone too far? What if he became angry or unstable at the blatant mention of his inability to move himself effectively.
Before she had an opportunity to make up her mind Abel raised his remaining eyebrow and asked her “Are you sure? What if I accidently hurt you?”
She couldn't help but snort at his genuine concern. She could forgive him for forgetting that her species was silicate based with vastly stronger bones and musculature than his old body, but she still found it humorous. She chided him saying “Did you forget what I am? My bones are many times harder than yours used to be and my skin is tougher as well. I will be fine Abel. Now, let’s go.”
Abel remained silent at her remark and for an instant she again feared she had gone too far. But as she glanced down at his face she saw no anger, only calm acceptance. She shrugged internally as they slowly and carefully made their way across the room to a table covered in numerous intellectual stimulation objects.
“Thank you Dr. Abby, you are very strong.” he said to her as he released her arm and sat, surprising her and making her smile.
Dr. Abernathy slapped one of her biceps that was under the long white sleeves of her lab coat. “Quartz bones and silicate infused musculature will have that effect.” she said cheerfully. She was proud of her strength, she was not large for her kind, but she had never been a weakling even by the standards of other gre’vahn. To most other member species in the union she was terrifyingly strong.
She stepped back from him to let him focus. The point of these activities were to help Abel calibrate his hand to eye coordination and fine motor control. She watched with half an eye as he picked up one of the puzzles, a small colorful cube. She smiled and made an approving gesture to him as he held it towards her. He fidgeted with it for a few minutes before seeming to make a breakthrough.
“Check it out, I made a match!” he told her excitedly as he held up the puzzle. She looked up from her datapad and smiled.
“Oh. How clever, can you solve the rest of that face?” she said in what she hoped was an encouraging way. While the practice was vitally important to Abel’s ability to function, this was by far her least favorite of his exercises. The focus he needed required her to be completely silent. She was unable to speak with him at length and wasn't supposed to offer advice or assistance. While this was all under the guise of allowing him to grow at his own pace she still disliked the feeling of detachment it gave her from him.
He just muttered something and went back to working on the small puzzle. She watched his movements for a few seconds but couldn't see any pattern. While he had extensive cybernetic augmentations to his mind as a result of his death, it was impossible for him to directly access them in his current state. She hadn't even activated half of them yet, they were still there. Memory enhancers, data scrubbers and cognition enhancements, all dormant however.
Suddenly her thoughts were interrupted by Abel exclaiming in triumph. “Hah! Got it, check it out!” he told her, holding up a perfectly solved cube.
She stared at the man with wide eyes, her datapad beeping a warning at her. Just as she had been thinking about it he had done it, she had watched as his cognitive implants had suddenly come online. It was as if Abel had turned them on himself, but that shouldn't have been possible. He hadn't even known they were there, he couldn't have.
Abel gave her a slightly confused look. “What?” he asked her.
She looked down at her datapad again and then back to his face, one more a strange look passed over his features that she couldn't understand. This time however there was a small spike in his adrenaline levels, as if he was preparing for something.
Before something got out of hand she clapped her hands together, placing the datapad on the table between them. “Well, that was impressive Abel. How did you solve it that fast? Have you ever had experience with one of these before?”
She watched him intently as he looked at his hands, the small plastic puzzle still clasped in his cybernetics. He spoke slowly and carefully “No. I have no recollection of anything like it at this point in time. Though I must admit that it is entirely possible I had experience with this kind of device before my, er, transformation.” he finished heavily.
She stopped, he seemed sad, not angry. His emotions clearly written across the biological side of his face. She wanted to say something to him to ease his pain, but she had no idea what to say. As they sat there in silence she decided to try anyway.
“Abel.” she began, the man’s head slowly turned towards her. His remaining eye fixed on her face. “I uh… I wanted you to know that I believe in you. I know that changes nothing, but you are making so much progress in such a short time. I think it's time you learned your purpose.”
Abel sat up straight “My purpose? What do you mean, I thought… Well, I don't know what I thought actually.” he trailed off.
She nodded sadly to herself, he was sad because he had no purpose. She tried to imagine how she would feel if she had no purpose, no reason to get up every day. She cocked her head at the thought. No wonder her other subjects had failed, none of them had the same spark that Abel had, likely for much the same reason. Abel was unique it seemed, he had just enough will to keep going even when all hope seemed lost. He never seemed to give up and was always making jokes and putting a positive spin on situations.
She found she was smiling, Abel was smiling back. He chuckled as he asked her “What? Why are you grinning like that? You aren't going to tell me my purpose is to become a daycare nanny is it? Because I don't really like kids all that much, at least I don’t think I do. I'm not sure, maybe I'm great with kids… It's not kids is it?” he said seriously, a look of concern passing over his features.
She laughed, she couldn't help it. The man was so absurd that it was hard to remain strictly professional, but she needed to. Clearing her throat she said “No, don’t worry it's not kids, at least not directly.” causing him to sigh in relief. “It’s something more interesting.”
She grabbed her datapad from the table where she had set it and pulled up a file on it. The file’s name was Project Aberrant. It took a second to load before the all too familiar details were projected onto the screen in front of her once again.
Steeling herself she used the cast function to share her small screen to a wall monitor in front of them. Abel looked at it curiously as the project name was pulled up.
“Project Aberrant? Why does that word sound familiar?” he muttered to himself. She was about to answer when he said “Oh, that's what my designation was right? Aberration or something like that? So this is like a code word for something else?” he asked her. He was leaned forwards in his seat, all his attention focused onto the screen and its information.
She continued, the name minimizing to one of the upper corners before more information was displayed.
She pointed to the screen and spoke “Project Aberrant. Its main goal is to successfully reanimate fallen servicemen and women so they may continue to serve even in death. You were in the public service, either the military or police, perhaps a fireman or other, it matters little. What does matter is that you had signed an organ donation consent form upon the event of your death. While not listed as a charity, your body was subsequently considered a donation to Zeirworks Unlimited’s research and development department in the interests of planetary security.” she spouted in a rush.
Abel was sitting there, his eyes glued to the screen as he seemed to soak up every word. As she paused he glanced at her and shrugged. It seemed as though he wasn't particularly surprised or bothered by the revelation he was corporate property. Or maybe it just had not sunk in.
“Do you understand what that means Abel? It means that for better or worse, they own you. You are property of Zeirworks, a tool for them to use. A hammer for them to swing. A pawn.” She said bitterly as she thought of her own indentured position. She was trapped by her past work. If she tried to escape then they would surely have her silenced and locked away for the rest of her life.
To her immaculate surprise Abel just laughed. She looked at him curiously as he laughed and laughed. Finally, after some time he wheezed out, “They already owned me Abby. They own everyone. Even I remember that. I did a little research after you left last night. You left your datapad unlocked and I was using it to read the hyperweb network, and you know what I found?” he asked.
Dr. Abernathy shook her head. She wasn't quite sure she liked this new turn of events, it could spell danger to him and her both. General Drask wasn't known as a forgiving man, and if he found out his project was compromised by Abel because of independent thought then he was just as likely to have the man deactivated permanently. She needed to instill a sense of caution into him one way or another.
“I need you to be serious about this Abel. They can and will destroy you if you don't follow their instructions.” she pleaded him.
Abel sobered, something in her voice or perhaps the sincerity on her face caused him to think it over. She watched him closely as he slumped back into his seat. “Okay. I’m listening doctor.” he said.
She nodded, vastly relieved that he was willing to hear her out. “Yes. The first thing you need to know is that you are being prepared for law enforcement duty.” Abel perked up at that, it seemed that this at least wasn't something he took issues with. “Okay, good. Now the second thing you need to know is that you are to take orders from every higher ranking official without question, if they say jump then you do it, immediately. I know that sounds like himpletwash, but it’s the way things need to be.”
Abel just nodded, again he seemed to be taking it rather well. She glanced at her datapad to make sure his emotions were not being suppressed, they weren’t.
She took a deep breath. This was harder than it should have been. Maybe it was because she knew that the being sitting in front of her was a conscious living person, maybe it was the strange and conflicting feelings she had for the cybernetic human sitting across from her. Whatever the cause, she had a job to do, and no choice on the matter either way.
She continued “You were dead Abel. Whoever you were before is gone, you have no personal life, you have no family. You are a tool for the corporation, you only exist to serve their wishes. You are technically an aberrant class cybernetic entity and therefore considered dangerous. You are to be fitted with a remote killcode in case you ever succumb to the hollow or go otherwise rogue.”
Abel stood, his face now showing confusion and anger. “What! They did this to me, was it not enough to rip me apart and then stitch me back together like some sort of monster?”
She raised her hands in surprise as he slammed a fist into the sturdy metal table in front of him. He held that position for a few heartbeats before she saw his eyes look down at his hand. His hand that was now embedded a few centimeters into the table’s surface. He yanked his fist out of the twisted and deformed table with the screech of metal on metal before turning his back to her. She could see his cybernetic muscles moving and flexing as he maintained balance. It was quite intriguing really.
She walked slowly around the table to his side, his head was bowed and his eyes were closed. Thinking for a second she decided to throw caution to the wind. She gently placed a hand on his shoulder, this time giving him a gentle squeeze. “Abel, I understand, maybe more than you will ever know I do. But please, this is the way things have to be.”
She flinched slightly as he raised an arm and placed one of his hands on hers softly. He lifted his head and looked into her silver and black eyes with his own remaining one, it was full of a certain intensity. Again she felt that same strange feeling as if he was looking through her and somehow into her innermost thoughts.
Another second of this passed before he nodded his head, his lips moving as he muttered something to himself. Louder he told her “I believe you doctor, truly I do. But it’s just so much. So much to take in all the time. You have to understand that I will always wish for a normal life, something that has been taken from me forever though. I no longer have my body, but with Luck’s blessing I still have my humanity. Thank you for telling me, I think I want to rest now.”
Without another word he removed his hand and stepped forwards. She watched as he walked to his resting station with a steadiness he had not yet exhibited before. It was as if the thoughts and worries that had been keeping him from focusing had been stripped away, leaving only his core beliefs. Whatever the reason, it filled her with a profound sadness. She cursed herself once more for ever thinking of the idea to reanimate fallen soldiers. If only Drask had never learned of her, she would probably be working in some genetics lab somewhere finding the cure to the common cold or something like that.
She watched as Abel attached to his small maintenance bench and went to sleep. His main functions deactivating as his mind went into a deep comatose like rest. She placed the datapad on the table next to the dent he had left and walked to the main door of the lab. With a final glance at her distraught friend she left, knowing that worse days would lie ahead.