Page 66 of Human Reform
“And did it?”I pressed, stepping closer.
“Right on time.Two years after the reprogramming.”His smirk sent fresh rage coursing through me.“Those violent outbursts you all experienced?Those memory lapses?That was just the beginning.It would have reset all of you eventually—back to your base programming.”
Alora crossed her arms, her expression icy.“And then what?CE would have remote access to almost a hundred cyborgs?”
“CE would have regained control of some of their best assets,” Tegan corrected.“Do you have any idea how much the military paid for each of you?Billions.And you all just walked away.”
I stepped forward, looming over him.“We’re not assets.We’re people.”
“Keep telling yourself that.”Tegan sneered.“I had it all planned out.Two and a half years of waiting, watching, and pretending to be one of you idealistic fools.It was finally working—the code was reactivating just as designed.”His gaze swung to Alora, hatred burning in his eyes.“Then you had to go and find her hiding in the mountains.The one person who could figure out what I’d done to her code.”
Alora’s expression remained neutral, but I could see the tension in her shoulders and the way her fingers curled around her bracelet.
“Once she was here on Planet Alpha, I tried to cover my tracks.That security protocol I embedded—the one designed to lock her up for practically breathing wrong—that would have bought me time.”
Alora’s head snapped toward me, her eyes wide with surprise.“What security protocol?”
I shifted uncomfortably.I hadn’t told her about finding and deleting Tegan’s trap, not wanting to add to her stress while she was focused on fixing the code.
“Our friend here created a nasty little subsystem that would have flagged you as a security threat for almost anything,” I explained, shooting Tegan a murderous glare.“I found and deleted it the day after you arrived.”
Her expression softened, a small smile playing at her lips.“Always protecting me, even when I don’t know it.”
Tegan made a gagging sound.“If I’d known you two would be this nauseating, I would’ve requested hazard pay.”
I fought the strong urge to slam his head into the wall.“Continue.Now.”
“After that failed,” Tegan resumed, shifting uncomfortably in his restraints, “I created a switch in the failsafe code of your neural pathways.It was elegant work, really—would have corrupted the reprogramming entirely.”
“But I caught that, too,” Alora interjected, her voice laced with pride.
“Faster than I expected,” Tegan admitted grudgingly.“You were always brilliant.Wasted in the mountains.”
I clenched my jaw.“Your last move?”I growled, taking a deliberate step closer to him.
Tegan’s confidence faltered under my glare.“The kill switch in the colony’s security framework.It would have dismantled your defense systems entirely.But she found that, too.”Tegan’s shoulders slumped.“If all my sabotage efforts failed, I was supposed to burn this place to the ground and flee.”
The thought of our settlement—our home—in flames made my vision pulse with violet rage.I imagined children screaming and the careful life we’d built turning to ash.
“I was ready to do it,” Tegan continued, his voice hollow.“But then this giant lunatic nearly crushed my windpipe.”He gestured at me with his cuffed hands.“I panicked.Gave myself up.”
“And now you’re a dead man,” I stated flatly.
“I was a dead man either way.”His laugh was bitter.“If I escaped, CE would kill me for failing—or worse, just cut me loose after nine wasted years.”
I grabbed his arm and yanked him to his feet.“Game over.”
“It doesn’t end with me,” Tegan warned as I marched him forward.“CE will send another operative when I don’t report in.You can’t stop them.”
Alora fell into step beside us, her mind clearly racing.“Then report in.Tell them everything’s fine.”
“Exactly what I was thinking,” I agreed, our synchronicity a constant source of satisfaction.
We escorted Tegan to the main operations area, my grip tight enough on his arm to leave bruises despite the restraints securing his wrists.The morning light shone brightly through the reinforced windows, casting elongated shadows across the room’s curved metal walls.
“Who do you contact?”I demanded, shoving him into the chair at his old workstation.
Tegan hesitated only briefly before reciting a communication code.I entered it myself and then positioned him before the audio transmitter.
