1. The Meeting
The man and the girl sat at the desk, a doctor and his patient, facing each other, and the air cooled to a glacial chill around them. There was no denying what a strange pair they made.
Half his face was chocolate brown, while the rest was a golden, Asian yellow. A deep scar separated the two different colours, and a patch of white stood out from his black hair, on his forehead.
She looked normal at first glance, a slim girl in her late teen years with shoulder-length blonde hair she wiped back behind her ear with smooth motions of her hand. But her eyes that had this odd feeling about them, as if they shone too blue, burned too cold to be real.
And unreal they were. As was possibly up to half her body. This was the reason for her presence in the man's office.
She finally spoke, in a neutral tone of voice that almost masked the interrogation behind her words. " Can you do it? "
He shrugged. "That depends on how much of you is still human. I need to be able to graft real organs to replace whatever mechanical components I'll be removing. How much of you is still organic and how much is artificial? "
She crossed her legs, folded her arms and tilted her head to one side, an annoyed expression settling over her delicate features. "I don't know," she huffed. "And the lab where we were created was blown up, so forget about checking our blueprints."
A quick smile graced his lips, and a strange sparkle flickered in his eyes. "It also depends on how much you're willing to pay. I won't even consider an operation if the offer is below thirty thousand."
She shrugged in a disinterested manner, pushing a stray lock of blond hair behind her ear. "We'll pay whatever amount you ask. Money is not a problem."
"Very well." He nodded. "I'll need to examine both you and your brother."
"Tomorrow same time," she interrupted, not waiting for him to agree. "My brother and I will be here."
She stood up, ready to leave, but he called out to her, and the sharp sound of his voice somehow had the same effect on her old Gero's remote had once had. She stopped short, as if frozen, then turned back to face him.
"You're perfect." There was no awe in his voice, no barely contained excitement, no admiration. It was a simple statement of facts. "You don't need to eat, sleep, you'll never get sick, never grow old, never die, you have greater strength than any of us human beings could ever dream of having. Why would you want to throw all that away?"
His questions annoyed her. Power level 30, the sensors in her artificial eyes revealed. He was as much of a challenge to her as a fly. She could break his arm just as easily as she breathed, and it would take her little more effort to crush his skull if she wished to.
But she wasn't here to kill. She had turned her back on her old murdering habits, and the urge to destroy human life had subsided within her a long time ago.
It had all been part of her programming, and she was rejecting it completely now. She was rebelling against the purpose she had been created to serve: to destroy human life. The impulses were still sent up to her brain, but she had managed to turn off the part of her mind that reacted to the stimulus. It had been a successful tactic for a few years now, and she was ready to take her mutiny to the next level, by contacting this doctor.
"We pay you for your services, but not for your discretion, is that it?" she asked, sounding more bored than irritated.
He ignored the warning her icy blue eyes gave him. "I don't like to operate patients without knowing their motives."
She looked him square in the eye. "We didn't ask for any of this, you know."
He shrugged. Someone else might have taken a few steps back, as if it could protect them from the killing machine she was. "Maybe you did."
His answer both surprised and angered her. She refused to believe she could have ever wanted anything to do with Gero, but she realised there was no way to prove the man wrong, since she couldn't remember anything herself. Still, it was a possibility she refused to consider.
She shrugged in a disinterested manner. "Perfection gets boring."
Before he could think of another question to ask, she headed out of the room, out of the little house, and kicked off high into the air.
The man and the girl sat at the desk, a doctor and his patient, facing each other, and the air cooled to a glacial chill around them. There was no denying what a strange pair they made.
Half his face was chocolate brown, while the rest was a golden, Asian yellow. A deep scar separated the two different colours, and a patch of white stood out from his black hair, on his forehead.
She looked normal at first glance, a slim girl in her late teen years with shoulder-length blonde hair she wiped back behind her ear with smooth motions of her hand. But her eyes that had this odd feeling about them, as if they shone too blue, burned too cold to be real.
And unreal they were. As was possibly up to half her body. This was the reason for her presence in the man's office.
She finally spoke, in a neutral tone of voice that almost masked the interrogation behind her words. " Can you do it? "
He shrugged. "That depends on how much of you is still human. I need to be able to graft real organs to replace whatever mechanical components I'll be removing. How much of you is still organic and how much is artificial? "
She crossed her legs, folded her arms and tilted her head to one side, an annoyed expression settling over her delicate features. "I don't know," she huffed. "And the lab where we were created was blown up, so forget about checking our blueprints."
A quick smile graced his lips, and a strange sparkle flickered in his eyes. "It also depends on how much you're willing to pay. I won't even consider an operation if the offer is below thirty thousand."
She shrugged in a disinterested manner, pushing a stray lock of blond hair behind her ear. "We'll pay whatever amount you ask. Money is not a problem."
"Very well." He nodded. "I'll need to examine both you and your brother."
"Tomorrow same time," she interrupted, not waiting for him to agree. "My brother and I will be here."
She stood up, ready to leave, but he called out to her, and the sharp sound of his voice somehow had the same effect on her old Gero's remote had once had. She stopped short, as if frozen, then turned back to face him.
"You're perfect." There was no awe in his voice, no barely contained excitement, no admiration. It was a simple statement of facts. "You don't need to eat, sleep, you'll never get sick, never grow old, never die, you have greater strength than any of us human beings could ever dream of having. Why would you want to throw all that away?"
His questions annoyed her. Power level 30, the sensors in her artificial eyes revealed. He was as much of a challenge to her as a fly. She could break his arm just as easily as she breathed, and it would take her little more effort to crush his skull if she wished to.
But she wasn't here to kill. She had turned her back on her old murdering habits, and the urge to destroy human life had subsided within her a long time ago.
It had all been part of her programming, and she was rejecting it completely now. She was rebelling against the purpose she had been created to serve: to destroy human life. The impulses were still sent up to her brain, but she had managed to turn off the part of her mind that reacted to the stimulus. It had been a successful tactic for a few years now, and she was ready to take her mutiny to the next level, by contacting this doctor.
"We pay you for your services, but not for your discretion, is that it?" she asked, sounding more bored than irritated.
He ignored the warning her icy blue eyes gave him. "I don't like to operate patients without knowing their motives."
She looked him square in the eye. "We didn't ask for any of this, you know."
He shrugged. Someone else might have taken a few steps back, as if it could protect them from the killing machine she was. "Maybe you did."
His answer both surprised and angered her. She refused to believe she could have ever wanted anything to do with Gero, but she realised there was no way to prove the man wrong, since she couldn't remember anything herself. Still, it was a possibility she refused to consider.
She shrugged in a disinterested manner. "Perfection gets boring."
Before he could think of another question to ask, she headed out of the room, out of the little house, and kicked off high into the air.