Page 2 of Human Reform
“At least I stopped helping CE,” I murmured, feeling the tension finally easing from my body.“At least I walked away from that evil.”
My consciousness began to drift, the mountain silence wrapping around me like a second blanket.In that space between wakefulness and dreams, I found a measure of peace.I might not be able to undo what I’d done, but I’d refused to do more harm.That had to count for something.
A sharp click jolted me fully awake.
My security system.Someone had tripped the first perimeter alarm.I froze, listening for the secondary confirmation beep that never came.
They’d disabled it.
I slid silently from my bed, my bare feet finding the ladder rungs in the dark.My fingers closed around the heavy flashlight I kept beside my pillow—both light source and weapon if needed.
The interior of the cabin was pitch black, the moonlight barely penetrating the small windows.I moved with practiced precision toward the hidden compartment where I kept my handgun.
Three steps in, something shifted in the darkness to my left.
“Who’s—”
A large hand clamped over my mouth, another pinning my arms.The flashlight clattered to the floor.
“Target secured,” a deep voice said with mechanical precision that sent ice through my veins.
I twisted violently, biting at the hand that covered my mouth.Not the reaction of pain I expected though from my attacker—no yelling or groaning, as if they were completely unbothered by my movements.My heart hammered against my ribs as memories of lab demonstrations flashed through my mind.
“She’s combative,” the voice noted, the cold and calculating tone unmistakably familiar—a cyborg.
“Administer sedative,” another voice directed from across the room.
I kicked backward, connecting with my attacker’s groin.“Let me go!”I shouted between gasps.“Whatever CE is paying you?—”
“This isn’t about payment,” the first voice grimaced, slightly less mechanical and more pained now, as if adjusting to my emotional response and the kick to his groin.
Cold metal pressed against my neck—a syringe.In the brief moments before the sedative took hold, my fuzzy mind registered something impossible.A symbol on the tactical gear of my captors.Not CyberEvolution’s double helix, but something I’d never seen before—a stylized alpha symbol overlaid on what looked like a planet.
“What are you…” My words slurred as the drug flooded my system.My last conscious thought was pure disbelief.These weren’t CE operatives.These were something else entirely.
The darkness claimed me before I could finish the thought.
I soon drifted into consciousness like a swimmer breaking the surface—gasping, disoriented, and desperately seeking air.White light stabbed my retinas.My muscles tensed against restraints that bound my wrists and ankles to what felt like a bed.Not my bed.Not my cabin.Not my mountains.
“Perfect.Just perfect.”My voice cracked with dehydration.“Off-grid for three years and I still manage to get kidnapped.Stellar life choices, Alora.”
The panic that had been building since getting captured exploded as my vision cleared.The room around me was simultaneously familiar and alien—sleek, minimalist medical equipment humming with quiet efficiency.Not the clunky, functional gear from Earth hospitals, but something more… elegant.More advanced.
My heart thundered in my chest.I recognized the precision engineering and the seamless integration of technology.This was cyborg-grade.The kind of equipment we’d designed at CyberEvolution, only more refined.More evolved.
“No, no, no…” I twisted against the restraints, the soft but unbreakable material cutting into my skin.“This isn’t happening.”
A strange weight on my right wrist caught my attention.I turned my head to find what looked like an Apple Watch, but it wasn’t.The screen pulsed with my vitals—heart rate, blood pressure, and neural activity.All elevated.All being monitored by… whom?
“Whoever’s watching, I hope you’re enjoying the show,” I hissed at the device.“Because when I get out of these restraints, there will be a dramatic finale.”
Something outside the window caught my eye and the words died in my throat.Beyond the glass stretched a wild, untamed jungle of impossibly vibrant greens and purples.Plants with structures I’d never seen twisted toward a sky that held not one but two moons—one silver-white, one with a bluish tinge.Both hung impossibly large in an alien sky.
“That’s… not Montana,” I whispered, a hysterical laugh bubbling up.“And definitely not Earth.”
The cyborgs.The ones who took me from my home.The ones who fought in the war.The killing machines I had helped create with my programming.They must have brought me here, wherever here was.My mind raced through possibilities—a secret base?A research facility?A prison for war criminals?
Was that what I was now?A prisoner on an alien world, held by the very beings whose autonomy I had helped strip away?
