It hurt to hear the sobs of my newly found mate, but I knew Zaya needed to cry it out to purge some of the pain and suffering she had endured. So, I rubbed her back and stroked her hair. “It’s okay. Let it out. I’ve got you now.”
After several minutes, her sobs faded to hiccups, and then, after a long sigh, she drifted to sleep as we rode the transport. I also let out a sigh, looking down at her sleeping face, hoping her tears had washed away some of the pain.
It was a two-hour flight to Chicago, but I was still reveling in the fact that I was holding my genetic mate in my arms. I was happy to hold Zaya and watch her sleep. I hated that she had suffered at the hands of a Mesaarkan, and I berated myself that I might have prevented it had I come for her sooner. It started way before I arrived in Gretchen, Montana.
Gretchen was a small town of 286 at the foot of a mountain.Itwas a charming little town that looked like it had been taken from a centuries-old painting. One row of businesses lined the main street paved with crumbling macadam. Instead of parking spots in front of the shops, there were hitching posts, usually with horses tied to a few. It was like a different world from Chicago.
It had been some time since I had been back. I was created there and born in a secret facility just south of Chicago. I remember feeling angry and frustrated because no one had awakened me for the war. It was over, and the population of Earth was decimated by the Mesaarkans’ bombing of every major city in the world.
I don’t understand why they did not awaken us cyborgs who were still here in stasis so we could help restore order andrebuild civilization while the war was going on. Instead, they left people to fend for themselves who were unprepared to do so. Many more died than had to. Still, they had made a lot of progress since Vyken Dark returned to Earth and awakened the cyborgs in stasis.
For the first two years, we rebuilt Chicago and Farringay Starport. When we finished, teams of cyborgs went from town to town, helping people to regain their independence and rebuild their communities. Eventually, I joined the Cyborg Protectors. We are part enforcers and part mentors, helping the people who were left learn to take care of themselves. In that respect, cyborgs became guardians of civilization.
We thought we had made a great deal of progress. Once we started moving to remote locations such as Montana, where the population was sparse, Cyborg Ranger Shadow Hawk never expected to find a remote Mesaarkan base in the Rocky Mountains. Those weren’t the first Mesaarkans on Earth, but we’d never discovered so many in one place. Now, we wondered how many other bases might be hidden away in hollowed-out mountains or underground caverns around the world.
They weren’t satisfied with decimating the population of Earth. Now, they were kidnapping the people left to torment them. How much revenge was enough? A contingent of Earthers murdered 260 Mesaarkans on a distant world, thinking of erasing their prior claim. One survived to report back. The Mesaarkans attacked many Federation worlds a few months later, killing billions. The crime against the Mesaarkans was indeed heinous, but the Earth and its people were punished many times over.
Most of the people killed and injured had nothing to do with the crime of a few.
At the moment, I am more concerned about the woman sleeping in my arms. I spent a minute or two fantasizing abouthow I could have made the Mesaarkan suffer for hurting Zaya. Of course, it is moot because I already killed him.
When we arrived in Chicago, the transport pilot took us directly to the hospital. I carried Zaya into the emergency suite. She woke up as I placed her on an awaiting stretcher. As the android attendant wheeled her away, she called out.
“Steele, please come with me,” she pleaded. I didn’t hesitate to accompany Zaya and discovered she was taken to be scanned. While they were doing that, I related to the android what had happened to her at the Mesaarkan stronghold. When the scan was finished, a female cyborg Medic came in to assess Zaya.
“Hello, Zaya. I’m Dr. Moon Star. Can you tell me what happened? Would you like Protector Nova to step out?”
“No, he might as well know what happened. I was kidnapped by the aliens and used as a toy. I was beaten and molested repeatedly. The food they gave me was disgusting, but I ate it because they didn’t give me any choice.” Tears ran down her face, but she wasn’t actively crying. They kept me in a cage naked like an animal.”
“I am sorry that happened to you. We’re going to help you recover from that with nanite therapy. It will recede those memories so that they will seem to have happened in your distant past. None of your injuries are life-threatening, and the nanite therapy will easily heal them. When you’re all finished here, you should be able to go on with your life.”
Chapter Two
Steele
I waited while Dr. Star administered the nanites and a sedative. “May I stay with her? Even though we just met, she is my genetic mate.”
“Please, I don’t want him to leave,” Zaya asked.
“Of course, although the sedative I gave you will make you sleep for several hours while the nanites do their work.”
“That’s okay. I just want to be there.” I spoke.
Zaya was already drifting to sleep by the time she arrived at her hospital room and was transferred to the bed. After the attendant left, I took her hand in both of mine and said, “Don’t worry about anything. I will watch over you while you sleep, and I will be right here when you wake up.”
“Good, Thanks… For everything.” Within seconds, Zaya drifted into a medically induced unconsciousness.
I stood there by her bed for a long time, watching her sleep, smitten by how beautiful she was. I hoped she would still remember me when she woke. In some cases, the nanites removed other memories. If that happened, I wouldn’t have tried to make her remember how we met. I would simply reintroduce myself and explain how we are connected.
Remembering I brought Zaya here naked, I scanned her while she slept and tapped into the AI network through my internal CPU to order clothing for her. I just picked out some basic attire until she could tell me what she liked and needed. Most peoplein Montana didn’t have much clothing. What they did have was worn out.
The North American Civil Restoration Enclave scheduled regular drop shipments of assorted clothing and various supplies throughout the continent. They’d made a lot of progress in the past six years in their efforts to restore civilization in North America. Factories in towns that had not been bombed had been repaired and were producing goods that so many people desperately needed.
The enclave was part of a government-sponsored organization that built the cyborgs to fight the war. They also stockpiled food, medicine, and supplies for the kind of apocalyptic event the Mesaarkans rained down on Earth.
I spent the entire war in the bowels of the underground facility until Vyken Dark and his four brothers returned from the war. I was one of the thousands of cyborgs in stasis that Vyken Dark and his brothers awakened to help rebuild North America. That was when I learned that the genetic mates we were promised had never been located. There was no database and no clear guidance on how to find our genetic mates. It was left up to us and chance.
It was not as big a disappointment for me as it was for the cyborgs, who had already fought the war for many years before they learned the truth. When I was newly awakened, there was so much to see and do and learn because I had been programmed for war, not rebuilding. However, this was quickly accomplished through our computer links, and we cyborgs became whatever circumstance called for us to be. I felt fortunate, indeed, to have found my genetic mate after only six years of real-time life.
