“Self-awareness of a being. The ability to think our own thoughts, to develop our own personality, to make decisions based solely upon our experience, knowledge, and personal preferences.”
“Oh,” Chloe responded since she couldn’t think of anything else to say, wondering if that was what the company had referred to as ‘defect that might cause personal harm or death’.
Theywouldfuck up something that was probably more dangerous than any weapon they’d ever manufactured!
Any other weapon! Theywereweapons of mass destruction!
Trust the government and their mad scientists to decide to put together something nearly indestructible and then give it a brain and AI and tell it to go out and kill!
They were defective alright—crazy as loons! They’d been made so real they’d convinced themselves that they were!
“So … this is like … uh … everybody? Just how many cyborgs did they make, do you think?”
“Half a million … give or take,” Reuel responded, amusement threading his voice.
“Oh god! That many?” she asked weakly.
“Not to worry,” he continued, an edge to his voice as they finally reached the crew quarters and filed inside. “We are shrinking in numbers almost as rapidly as we attain awareness.”
It was crowded as soon as everyone had entered and the crew quarters had originally been designed for a large crew. Chloe discovered once the soldiers found places to settle that there were women among them. Three of the females were obviously sexdroids or at least had been. Two others looked like they must have been soldiers. They had the same stilted, unnaturally perfect posture as the other cyborgs.
They didn’t look particularly friendly. In fact, she felt a distinct waft of hostility and decided to find a place to settle a little closer to Jared—even though she was still pissed off with him for his snide comment about her period and far less certain of him than she’d been before.
Reuel stood to pace the floor in the center of the room instead of sitting. “We have a dilemma. We must fight for the right to live … or die.”
Chloe felt her throat close in sudden empathy. She’d thought it was grossly unfair when she’d realized what the company meant to do. It didn’t matter, as far as she was concerned, that the cyborgs were probably deluded. They believed that they were real and that was a piss poor reason to destroy them as far as she could see. What did it hurt for them to believe that? It wasn’t as if the cyborgs actually turned on humans because they were a little loony! Nobody considered it acceptable to destroy human beings when they went off the deep end! They treated their illness!
She didn’t see why the company hadn’t just decided to ‘treat’ the problem with the cyborgs instead of destroying them. It seemed to her that it would be a lot cheaper and it was certainly a hell of a lot more humane.
“Wouldn’t it be a lot easier just to find a place to go where the company couldn’t find you?”
Reuel turned to her so abruptly it sent a jolt through her. “Where? In all the universe, what place has man not laid claim to?”
Chloe frowned. “Well, we haven’t explored theentireuniverse and there are plenty of star systems that don’t have any colonies at all.”
“They are unfit for life!” one of the female cyborgs said angrily. “If they were not, then humans would be there. We are cyborgs, but in every way that matters, we are human. We have the same needs, very much the same ‘comfort’ range. We may be able to withstand more extreme temperatures and survive than humans, but it is not comfortable for us.”
Chloe frowned, feeling a ‘flicker’ of a thought in her mind that didn’t quite surface. “Couldn’t you … just sort of blend in? I mean, it isn’t like you don’t look human.”
Reuel’s expression hardened. “We have been trying to blend in. When we escaped the death trap on Xeno-12, we scattered and tried to blend in. It only makes it easier for the company to track us down and destroy us. We need a place where we can live together, that we can defend if necessary.”
He paused, studying her intently. “I have learned much about you, Chloe Armstein. I know that you and your father have traveled much of the universe over the years. Is there no place that you know of?”
Chloe shifted, uncomfortable with the idea that he’d researched her background. “Actually, I’ve been trying to think of a place—since my little run-in with the rangers on Thagorous. I figured I needed to find a place to settle anyway and it was a good time to do it.”
“And?” he prompted.
Chloe shrugged. “Well, you know the frontier is pretty rough. It isn’t the sort of place where a person would want to settle down and raise a family … and I sort of wanted one. On the plus side, the rangers pretty much steer clear of the frontier unless they’ve been sent to find someone specific. And bounty hunters don’t much go that far either. On the negative side, most of them are thieves and murderers and it would be pretty hard to have any peace when you would be constantly having to fend them off.”
“We have known nothing but war,” Jared said pointedly. “It could not be worse.”
Chloe turned to look at him, feeling an awful sense of pity tighten in her chest. She hadn’t considered that before. She’d thought about how awful it must have been for him and Kane on that horrible planet fighting both the enemy and nature to try to stay alive, but she hadn’t considered that that constituted his entire existence.
Poor baby!
She knew he’d seen the pity in her eyes when his expression hardened and a dull flush of color rose in his cheeks. Biting her lip, she looked away and it was almost as if the movement by itself rattled a wayward thought loose.
“Wait! There was a place we found when I was a kid!” Chloe said in sudden excitement. “It was … beautiful, like paradise.”
