After the End - Chapter 22
Cybersix stares down at VonReichter's body, her thoughts going a mile a minute. The others stand around the lab, still trying to absorb all that's happened, no one sure of what to do next.
"Well, I guess we have to bury him... or something." Cybersix says finally in a somewhat strained voice.
Lucas' boots strike the floor with a loud rhythmic sound as he walks across the room. He stops in front of the unconscious Sylvester. "What happened to him?"
Cybersix looks up. "I kicked him... hard. By accident." She also goes over to look.
"Is he... in a coma or something?"
"Yes, but-" Answers a voice from the doorway.
Everyone spins around instantly. Cybersix raises her fists and Yashimoto points the empty gun at the doorway.
Standing there, the techno - the same one who came in before - looks at them all as if they're crazy. She lifts her hands to show non-aggression. " Relax, it's just me."
Her reassurance doesn't have much of an effect. "What do you want?" Cybersix demands.
"I just came to tell you the word's been passed on, that's all." She walks into the lab, apparently unconcerned about having a gun pointed at her, and stops in front of Sylvester's bed. "And to answer your question, he is sort of in a coma." She starts checking over the equipment attached to him, like a nurse. "It's an artificially induced state that protects his body. Master uses it to help us recover from a life-threatening injury more quickly than would normally be possible, even for our bodies."
Yashimoto and Data 7 wander over to join them.
Cybersix is a little surprised by the techno's business-like manner, but she's also curious. "So... he's going to survive?"
"I think so, yes. He'll wake up when his body's healed enough for him to function normally. Shouldn't be too long now."
"What's your number? " Cybersix asks the techno.
"20."
"What's your job?"
"I work in the lab. I take care of the kin that come in here, and the human experiment subjects, and I also maintain the tanks."
"Maintain the tanks?" Lucas repeats.
"Yes, that's right." Techno 20 answer slowly, as if speaking to someone of inferior intelligence.
"Do you know anything about sustenance?" He asks hopefully.
"No, of course not. Don't be silly."
Sylvester stirs on the bed. "Oh. looks like he's ready to wake up now. " Techno 20 says dispassionately. "Guess I shouldn't be surprised. Sylvester heals quickly - it's his fast metabolism. VonReichter found a way to re-direct all the extra energy he produces at will, so be directed it at his injuries."
Cybersix, Lucas and Yashimoto just stare back at her. "He needs to have the fast metabolism to make him faster, you understand. Causes all kinds of problems though - he can be more flighty than a bird in a cage."
Sylvester's eyes open slowly. "Which," Techno 20 adds quietly. "You're about to see." she backs up a step.
Sylvester blinks awake. He looks first at Yashimoto, then at Lucas, his expression twisting in confusion. "Cybersix!" He bolts upright on the bed. Suddenly his feet are under him, he's ready to spring.
"Relax, Sly!" His head whips around to face that of Techno 20. "It's okay. She's allowed to be here now."
"Where's Master?"
"He's dead, Sylvester. "
"What!?"
Techno 20 moves aside and points to VonReichter's body. "Cybersix killed him."
For a moment Sylvester just sits there and stares. Then somehow his face gets even paler than it already is. "Master!" He leaps off the bed and dives for the body, dragging the IV pole attached to his arm with him. He falls more than crouches down and places his hands on VonReichter's face. "He's still warm! How long has it been? We must be able to revive him!"
"Forget it, Sylvester." Techno 20's voice is annoyed. "He's dead. Face it."
Sylvester looks up at her, then back down at his master. Grief twists his features. "Nooo!" Like flood gates opening he bursts into tears. He leans down to place his face beside VonReichter's, hugging him. "I knew... I dreamed... I... He..." Whatever he's trying to say is lost as racking sobs overcome him. They're so violent he gasps and hiccups for air in between wails.
Watching him, Cybersix is struck by an image she saw on TV once of a boy in some war-torn country who had just seen his father killed. A chill crawls up her spine, caused by something much more disturbing than fear.
Techno 20 rolls her eyes at Cybersix.. "See what I mean? Flighty and irrational."
Sylvester's pitiful crying stops for a moment. He lifts his head. He looks down at VonReichter's face, and then he leans over once more and kisses the corpse on the lips.
Behind her, Cybersix hears Techno 20 make a noise of disgust. Lucas and Yashimoto both look away.
"Um, excuse me?"
Everyone turns. Standing in the doorway is another female techno. She looks down at Sylvester, then up at Cybersix. "Wow, it really is true." Her voice is undoubtedly awed. "Um, Cybersix. You'd better come. There's a crowd gathering outside."
"A crowd?" Cybersix asks dumbly.
"Yes. They want to see you."
This time it is fear that travels down Cybersix's spine. There's no way in the world the four of them can stand against an angry group of VonReichter's creatures.
"We've got to run." Yashimoto says quietly.
"Run? Why? I told you everyone wants to see you." The new techno replies.
Cybersix walks up to her. She doesn't flinch. "See me? You mean they really don't want to kill me?"
The techno looks confused. "No... I don't think so. We all just want to know what we should do now."
"And why are you asking me?"
"38!" A voice calls from the corridor. "The fixed ideas are getting restless and I can't find Type 1."
"Then get some people and go look for him. " Techno 38 answers. She turns back to Cybersix. "You really better come. You're the only one who can keep the kin in line now."
Cybersix sighs. Everything's happening to quickly for her. Well, she said she was going to face up to this. "Okay." She reluctantly tells the techno. "Lead the way."
Lucas and Yashimoto make to follow them. "No, not you two." Cybersix says sternly. "Stay here with, um, Techno 20. Where it's safe. I'll be back as soon as I can."
She fallows the techno through the building, looking around her, unnerved at simple fact of walking quietly through VonReichter's halls.
They emerge out into bright sunlight and the buzz of voices. A large crowd of technos and types are gathered at the bottom of the building's steps. Off to one side, a group of fixed ideas pace back and forth aimlessly.
"It's Cybersix!" Whispers of her name ripples throughout the crowd. In little time all eyes are turned toward her and everyone is silent.
Cybersix looks out over the group of VonReichter's creations. There must be
almost a hundred of them here. She begins to get nervous. What do they want from
her? She has just killed their dictator... and destroyed their only means of
survival.
She looks into the faces of these people. What does she see there? Some fear, some anger, but mostly something entirely different. It takes her a moment to realize what it is: Resignation. Neither emotions over what has just passed nor worries about the future.
"Tell them what you want them to do, Cybersix." Techno 38 prods her.
What she wants them to do? How did she suddenly become their leader? Well, it's certainly better than having them trying to kill her. She decides to seize this opportunity. She takes a deep breath.
"I take it by now you've all heard about what's happened." Her voice is steady and it carries over the crowd. She tries to avoid fidgeting nervously. "Right now our biggest problem is sustenance." She's starting to think clearly again. "Can someone tell me, how much do we have on hand? And where is it?"
Movement in the crowd catches her eye. A male type pushes his way to the front. "We've got about 40 barrels, give or take. It's in the warehouse, of course."
"And how long will that last?" Cybersix asks.
The type arches his eyebrow. "For all of us? A month and a half - that's if we take it easy."
A plan begins to form in Cybersix's mind. "Okay. I want to see everyone who could possibly help figure how to make sustenance. Anyone with an education in... chemistry, physics, medicine... And anyone who's ever worked inside the lab."
The crowd begins to mumble again. A small number of people begin pushing their way toward the building's steps. Apparently they've taken her request to mean she wants to see them right now. "Wait." She turns around to Techno 38, who has been standing behind her. "Go get those two humans I was with. Bring them here." She seems to have everyone's cooperation, and she intends to use it to its fullest. If she can assert herself as leader here, she can prevent Lucas and Yashimoto from being hurt.
"Hey, wait," Someone calls. "What about that human who was here before?"
"What human?" Cybersix turns her attention back to the people.
"The little blond man. With the glasses. VonReichter brought him here to help make sustenance."
It's obviously not Lucas or Yashimoto he's talking about. So there's another human
here... and one who might have the answers they so desperately need. Cybersix feels
hope rise within her.
"His name's Kevin." Techno 38 answers her question. "The last I heard from 20, he bolted after you went berserk. No one's seen him since."
Kevin? Could it be Lucas' friend? How lucky that would be. But no one knows where he is. "Okay, everyone be quiet!" She addresses the crowd. They fall silent almost instantly. "This human might be able to help us. I want everyone to start looking for him. Short, blond, with glasses, right?" She looks to the man who gave the description for confirmation. He nods at her. "And his name's Kevin. Search the whole compound... when I tell you to, not now."
"Cybersix?"
Technos 38 motions towards the doorway to the lab. Lucas and Yashimoto are standing there. It's time to introduce them.
Cybersix turns back to the crowd of creatures, her kin. Things have turned out far better than she ever expected. Now, if they can just find Kevin... She only hopes the man didn't panic and run off into the jungle. If so, he won't last long, and all their hopes for survival could be shattered.