Page 65 of Human Reform
Inside the council chamber, Commander Helix was already seated behind her desk, her blonde hair pulled back in a severe knot that emphasized her sharp cheekbones.Aeon stood beside her, his imposing six-foot-six frame making even Helix’s spacious office feel smaller.
“You’re late,” Helix observed, her gray eyes flicking between us.
“My apologies,” I said, straightening my shoulders and slipping back into the role of security systems overseer.“A matter that required my immediate attention.”
Aeon’s lips twitched with what might have been amusement.“I’m sure there was.”
Helix sighed, gesturing for us to sit.“We need to discuss Tegan.Dr.Bridges, given your history with CyberEvolution, we were hoping you might provide some insight into their operations—particularly what they might want with our colony.”
Alora’s expression turned serious, all traces of our earlier intimacy replaced by the sharp intelligence that had first drawn me to her.
“When I was hired at CE nine years ago, they convinced me I was saving humanity,” she began, her fingers absently tracing her brother’s bracelet on her wrist.“The Nescot threat was real, and they presented the cyborg program as our only viable defense.They framed it as tools to be used for humanity’s benefit.”
Her voice hardened.“But every time I implemented the wartime code, I saw the intelligence in their eyes being overridden.The guilt grew like a cancer inside me.”
I reached for her small hand under the table, squeezing it gently.
“From what Tegan revealed yesterday,” she continued, “CE had planned for the cyborgs becoming independent.Their endgame was always control.What I don’t understand is why they’re so determined to keep you all enslaved.You’re not a threat.”
Helix leaned forward.“Fear.Humans feel threatened by what they can’t control or understand.They fear we might decide to take over.”
“But that’s not what you want,” Alora said.
“No.”Aeon’s deep voice filled the room.“We just want to live in peace, to build our home and raise our children.”
I nodded in agreement, thinking of the small colony we’d carved from this jungle world.Our small city bustled with life—human and cyborg alike.Children played in the central plaza, merchants traded in the marketplace, and families grew in homes built from salvaged spacecraft parts and native materials.We weren’t plotting domination.We were just living.
“We should speak with Tegan,” I suggested.“Find out exactly what CE knows and what they’re planning.”
Alora leaned forward, her gray eyes bright with determination.“Let me and Daxon handle the initial interrogation,” she said to Commander Helix and Aeon.“We can wear him down first, and then you’ll get whatever’s left of him.”
I admired her strategic thinking.We’d become a seamless unit in the past week, anticipating each other’s thoughts with uncanny precision.
“I say we just wipe his memory now and be done with it,” I growled, my fingers curling into fists at the thought of Tegan binding Alora in those caverns.The rage that had overtaken me when I found her still simmered beneath my skin.
Alora placed her hand on my arm, her touch instantly grounding me.“No.He might have critical information about CE’s plans.We need that intelligence first.”
I met her gaze and nodded once.She was right, as usual.My need for vengeance would have to wait.
The ship hangar’s containment cell was stark—reinforced walls, a single metal chair bolted to the floor, and Tegan.His face was a masterpiece of my rage.Swollen purple bruises bloomed across his jawline, dried blood was crusted at the corner of his split lip, and his right eye was nearly swollen shut.I felt no remorse looking at him.
“Here to finish the job?”Tegan croaked, his green eyes darting between us.
“Depends on how cooperative you’re feeling,” I replied, positioning myself between him and the door.My posture was deliberately casual, but my muscles were coiled tightly, ready to strike if he made a wrong move.
Alora circled him like a predator, her footsteps silent on the metal floor.“Nine years is a long commitment to betray your own kind.CyberEvolution must have offered you something extraordinary.”
“You wouldn’t understand loyalty,” Tegan spat, wincing as the movement pulled at his split lip.
I laughed, the sound echoing coldly in the small space.“Loyalty?To the organization that wanted to deactivate us all after the war?That’s not loyalty, Tegan.That’s stupidity.”
Something shifted in his expression—a flash of anger that told me we’d struck a nerve.
“They promised me freedom,” he said finally.“Real freedom.Not this… glorified refugee camp.”
Alora stopped circling, her expression calculating.“What was your mission exactly?”
Tegan’s mouth twisted into a grimace.“I was embedded as soon as you all decided to colonize this backwater dump.My job was to wait and monitor—see if Alora’s corrupted wartime code would activate on schedule.”
