The Bionics (The Bionics Series Part 1) (9 page)

“Why not, because I’m a girl and I’m supposed to sit
around with
a chastity
belt on while I wait for you to make a move?”

Dax
clutches his chest like the wind’s been knocked from him. “You’ve been waiting for me to make a move?”

Shit.

I didn’t mean it like that.

Or did I?

I honestly can’t say that I’m sure about
that one.
Dax
is sexy for sure
and
,
a great friend, but do I like him in
that way
—
want him the way Olivia does? I’ve never explored the possibility, because I’ve never thought of him that way. He’s like Dog
:
comfortable, loyal, and mine.

“No,” I say, a half
lie
. “What I meant, was that I don’t understand why you’re so upset when we’re just friends.
Right?”

Dax
studies me for a minute before sighing noisily, brin
ging his hands up to his
hips. He hangs his heads and nods.
“Yeah, Blythe.
We are friends, and that’s why I’m worried about you getting too close to this guy
. We don’t know him, we don’t know where he’s from, and we don’t know what he wants. I don’t trust him.”

“You’re being ridiculous. You don’t know anything about him!”

“
And you do?”

I cross my arms over my chest. “I know that he’s from D.C. And before you start going on and on about how that makes him even more unsavory, consider this: a guy from D.C. probably has government officials or M.P.s in his family. That means the axe would fall even harder on his neck if someone were to rat him out for rescuing that little girl. Don’t you get it? He’s put his life on the line for her and he cares about The Bionics! You may not be able to see that, but I do.”

“So you’re going to let blond hair and a set of blue eyes turn your head? Where’s your focus, B?”

“From what I’ve been hearing through this wall between my room and yours, blonde hair and blue eyes have been turning your head at least once a week for months now. And my focus is where it’s always been: on finding the others and saving them before it’s too late.”

Dax
turns toward my door, glancing back at me over his shoulder. “I only want to make sure you’re okay. I know that August fifteenth is always hard for you. It’s hard for all of us.”

I turn my back on him, unwilling to continue to allow guilt to gnaw at me for something I should
n’t
feel guilty about. “It’s the sixteenth now,
Dax
, and I’m fine.”

Six

Blyth Sol, Gage Bronson,
Yasmine
Zambrano
,
Jenica
Swan and
Professor
Neville
Hinkley

Restoration Resistance Headquarters, the office of
Professor
Neville
Hinkley

August 16, 4010

7:00 a.m.

Breakfast in the
Professor
’s quarters is tense, but necessary
if we’re going to organize some kind of rescue mission for forty-eight hours from now
.
Jenica
has rolled in the flat screen partitions, filling the dining area with maps and surveillance footage of both Memphis and
Stonehead
, the maximum security prison facility where Bionics are held while awaiting their punishment, which is always execution.
We are watching a video feed hijacked from the M.P. station in Memphis
of Bionics coming and going from their underground shelter. They did a good job of keeping hidden, only letting those with less obvious technology leave and only when absolutely necessary. It was the small mistakes that got them caught, and we all watch the footage of the arrest silently
. I glanced around and saw some with anger in their eyes, others with d
e
spair.
It mirrors my own turbulent emotions at watching members of the Resistance rounded up like cattle and carted off to prison.

Beside me,
Yasmine
allows a tear to slip down her cheek and across from me I can see that Olivia is fighting them.
Professor
Neville has already seen this footage and is
busy tackling his biscuits and coffee.
Dax
and Gage are glaring at each other from across the table and any second now I’m thinking they’re going to pull out the
rulers
for a dick-measuring contest.

Men.

“That footage was taken by Military Police cameras outside the Memphis hideout for the
members of the Resistance
arrested by the Enforcers,”
Jenica
says,
pausing
the video feed and turning to face us with her usual military precision. “Our
intel
suggests, that even though many of them were captured, there are still several down there needing rescue.
Also an
issue,
is the fact that the Memphis branch of the Resistance is responsible for procuring fuel for our vehicles. This is not an immediate concern, as we have some in reserve for situations just like this. The important
thing right now are
the prisoners at
Stonehead
and those still trapped inside of the Memphis Hideout.
”

“How many
still inside
?”
Dax
asks, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms across his chest.

“At least one hundred,” she answers. “Should we undergo a rescue mission, we will need two crafts to bring them back, so we’ll need a second pilot. I will, of course, serve as the first.”

“It’s a trap,” say
s
Olivia, popping a genetically engineered grape into her mouth. My whole life I have wondered if the bio-crap the government came up with to replace real produce tastes anything like the stuff that used to grow in the ground. Of course, this technology is at least a century older than I am
and by the time I was born real crops
were
no longer
an option. Oh, and
forget about beef from a real cow. I’ve never even seen a cow in person, let alone eaten one. Everything is synthetic; the real stuff is reserved for those with really deep pockets. I’m sure the
President
is eating Grade
A
beef with his eggs right now.

The bastard.

“Of course it’s a trap,”
Jenica
snaps, her human eye rolling in exasperation. “That doesn’t mean we’re going to leave them there in the
hands of the Enforcers
. We need to think of a way to draw the M.P.s away
long enough for us to get them out of there.”

“Why not focus on the refugees already captured by the Enforcers?” Gage asks.

“Because it’s exactly what they’ll be expecting,” I answer. “It’s too obvious.”

Gage smiles and I lower my eyes to my half-eaten toast and blush.

“Then let’s do something way less obvious and way more daring,” he says.

Jenic
a
frowns. “I don’t think I like
the sound of that, but perhaps you should elaborate Mister Bronson.”

Gage stands, bracing himself against the table with his large fists. He turns his head slowly, looking every one in our group in the eye as he speaks.

“It’s simple
, really. We go out in two team
s:
o
ne to Memphis and the other to
Stonehead
.”

Jenica
gasps.
“A double mission?
Infiltrating
Stonehead
and
the Memphis hideout on the same day?”

“Not just on the same day,” Gage answers, “but at the exact same time as well.”

“Impossible,”
Dax
snorts. “We don’t have that kind of firepower and we don’t have that many people.”

“The way I see it, you wouldn’t need that many people if one of your groups carried a walking EMP,”
Professor
Neville interjects, his voice barely above a whisper.

“An EMP?”
Gage asks. “What is that?”

“Electromagnetic pulse,”
Jenica
answers her brow knit with bewilderment
as she studies the
Professor
. “But,
Sir, that
would render
us all helpless. Every member of our team would be stuck in the field with malfunctioning apparatuses.”

“Can someone please explain—real-people speak—what the hell an electromagnetic pulse is and why it’s a problem?” Gage asks, pacing toward the monitors near
Jenica
and studying the virtual layouts of the two places we need to infiltrate.

“An EMP is a burst of electromagnetic radiation,” the
Professor
says, standing as he goes into what I like to call ‘teacher mode’.
“
Basically, it is a wave of particles, both electric and magnetic that usually results from a high energy explosion, like a nuclear bomb. It is capable of coupling with electrical systems and producing damaging voltage surges. In short, it can cause a breakdown of an entire network of computerized hardware
,
rendering it useless. As
Jenica
and everyone else in this room
are
fully aware, centuries ago, we discovered that an electromagnetic pulse could be created without the harmful effects of nuclear explosion, enabling a person to harness the same side effects.”

“Meaning
,
if an EMP goes off anywhere near any person with bionic equipment,
their gear is going
to crap out on them,” I say between sips of coffee.

“I don’t get it,” Gage says to the
Professor
. “
If the EMP is dangerous to pretty much everyone in this room, why would you suggest us bringing in a portable one?”

“Because it would disable M.P. armor, weapons and vehicles,” Olivia supplies with a shrug.

“The playing field would be even then, but I’d rather have the advantage,”
Jenica
says.

The
Professor
clears his throat. “
I’ll clear all that up if you would just follow me to the lab.
I want to show you all something.”

***

Through the plate glass window separating us from the pristine, white room on the other side
we see
Agata
seated in a comfortable chair, surrounded by electronic devices. Televisions bla
st
various programs in a symphony of noise that would drive me nuts if I were her. Robotic children’s toys walk across the floor with a chorus of beeps and flashes of flickering light. Music blares from several stereos.
I’m grateful that the thick glass blocks out most of the irritating sound and I wonder how the little girl can stand it.

“What’s she doing in there?” Gage asks. His stance is a protective one, his face full of concern for the little girl. “Haven’t you studied her enough?”

The
Professor
nodded. “Our session last night was eye-opening, to put it mildly.
Agata
passed every test put to her with perfection and excelled in every area of reason, logic, and mathematics she was
quizzed
in. Her grasp of the subject matter surpasses that of many of my colleagues and subordinates. It really is quite fascinating the way her mind works. The robotic left-brain works side by side with the
human
right-brain in a way that increases her
thinking
power to ten times that of a normal human being.
She thinks faster and better than anyone in this building and is able to compute even the most difficult of equations in less than one minute. And that’s not all.”

“Her left brain can emit an EMP?”
Jenica
guessed
,
her human eye wide with shock. “How is that
possible
?
”

“The technology that was used to build the bionic cerebrum makes it possible,” he answers. “
Agata
is able to emit the energy pulse, but—and this is the best part—she can control it, direct it where she wants it
to
go with a single thought.”

“Watch,” he adds, pressing the intercom button that allows him to communicate with
Agata
from outside of the room. “
Agata
, how are you this morning? I trust you enjoyed your breakfast?”