Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 55375 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 277(@200wpm)___ 222(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55375 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 277(@200wpm)___ 222(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
“He’s useless!” Silas complained again. “Not good for anything but spare parts.”
“No, don’t decommission him!” Corinne exclaimed. Even if the big Cyborg didn’t know her anymore, she couldn’t bear to see him junked.
“Oh, I’m not. Not right away, anyway.” A wicked smile curved the corners of his thin lips. “I still have a use for him—one more use before I junk him.” He patted K-lx on one massive metal shoulder. “You see, even though he’s not much use as a Cyborg, he’s still a perfectly good garbage disposal unit.”
“What? What are you talking about?” Corinne shook her head in confusion. Nothing he was saying was making sense.
“I’m saying, Virelle, that you’ve been a pain in my ass from the minute you stepped aboard the station!” Silas hissed. “Then the Company made you Director of the Cybernetics Division—they gave my rightful place to a stupid female!”
Corinne took a step back.
“What do you care? You got the position you wanted, didn’t you? You’re Director now. You got me out of the way.”
“Yes, but you continue to be a thorn in my side,” he snapped. “First you Link with a massive priceless Cyborg and then you report me to the Company for not handling his return from Stasis properly.”
“Well, you didn’t!” Corinne put a hand on her hip. “You should have brought him out gradually!”
“Yes, yes—whatever you say,” he snarled. “So then you insert yourself into my department again as a Handler. Then you go running off to Earth to find priceless secrets of Cybernetics that the Kindred left behind. I of course, reported you for stealing a hopper, so the Company knows you went to Earth and you’re the one who found the Kindred’s lab.”
Corinne’s heart sank even lower.
“So I guess now they want to put me on trial?”
“No! They intend to give you a commendation, a finder’s bonus, and a promotion. They want you to take my job!” Silas snapped. “The Chairman himself sent a hologram congratulating you on your ‘amazing find.’”
Corinne glared at him.
“In that case, you’d better let me out of here! Or the Company’s going to wonder why the Director of the Cybernetics Division has been locked away for the last two weeks like an animal in a cage.”
Silas’s weasely eyes narrowed.
“You’re not going anywhere. You’re going to stay right here with your little pet Cyborg until he does his duty.”
“Does his duty? What do you mean?” Corinne demanded.
“I mean until he kills you, of course.” Silas held up one hand. In it was a gleaming metallic red chip, about the size and shape of a food cube. “See this?” he asked. “Can you guess what it is? I’ll give you a hint—C-17 was wearing one when he went Rogue and attacked Isla.”
Corinne suddenly felt cold all over.
“Oh my God. Is that…that can’t be…”
“It’s a Kill Chip,” he snarled, giving her an angry grin. “Once I attach it, your pet Cyborg is going to go fucking crazy. And you’re going to be right here—easy prey.”
“You…you can’t do this!” Corinne’s voice shook though she tried to keep it steady. Kill Chips were supposed to be illegal. They drove the Cybernetic Unit they were attached into a crazy, destructive frenzy. As evil as Silas was, she never would have believed he would stoop so low.
“Why not? I did it to Isla’s Cyborg. And once he killed her, I was able to take your job.” Silas gave her an evil grin. “Once I put this on K-lx, I’ll leave you two together for the night. When I come to check on you tomorrow morning to ‘tell you about your promotion and your bonus,’ what do you think I’ll find?”
“You—”
“I’ll tell you what I’ll find,” he snarled, giving her that hateful grin again that had no humor in it. “I’ll find a no-good lazy whore who tried to steal my position twice in pieces. And of course, then your beloved Cyrborg will have to be scrapped. He’s much too dangerous to go on existing and since he’s useless now, we might as well take him apart and see what we can learn from him.”
“No! You bastard!” Corinne threw herself at him, but he was already out the door and she heard it locking behind him. “Let me out! Come back here and let me out!” she shouted, banging on the door, but no one came. Instead, she heard the sound of heavy footsteps behind her.
A feeling of dread filled her. Turning, she saw K-lx had come to life and was now tracking her motion with narrowed eyes. The red cube-shaped kill chip had come to life also. It was stuck to one of his broad metal shoulders, near the top of his arm, and blinking slowly. The light inside it pulsed like an evil heartbeat and the glow from it made the big Cyborg’s eyes look as though they were filled with flames.