STEEL, SOUL, AND SPIRIT
By
Gregory P. Wong
Chapter 2: Breakaway
Cassandra jumped in shock when she heard the door to the bay cycle open. Normally, she had used a specially designed lockout program to keep it from opening immediately. She spied the figure of Charles Thurston entering the bay. In the dark, he probably would not see her clearly. She quickly finished her final encoding and threw the copies into an incinerator bin. Just in time.
"Hello Cassandra."
"Good evening sir! I was just checking on the Cy—"
"Checking nothing you traitor. I've seen you with your programming. That is one thing you never do. You disobey, and you make me look bad to Mengsk. You got this coming."
Raising his arm, he shot her once in the chest. She collapsed in a heap to the ground. It felt so warm...
Some preachers had told her that your whole life flashed before you. Not true for her. What ran through her mind were only the few months that had first begun with the engineering of the organic Zerg, her decision to rebel against Thurston, and her dubious-at-best decision to use emotions to trigger the switches. Maybe she was getting what she deserved...
As she lay bleeding on the floor, she whispered to Straas and Szcraa "Don't let the take away your free will or your souls! Don't..." Then blackness came.
Something happened. Switches and codes fell into place, and the barrier software holding captive their minds fell away. S-213—no Straas—was free of his mental bondage. He glanced over and saw S-214—no Szcraa—shudder with newfound freedom. Straas stared down at Doctor Govalich, bleeding dead on the floor so that they might gain freedom... They turned toward Thurston, the murderer's needle pistol still smoking...
"Heh heh heh," chuckled Thurston cruelly. "So, that's what you get." He looked out of the corner of his eyes. He saw the two Cyborgs move.
"This is an override code Cyborgs! Return to your places! Code Alpha-Delta-Tango-Bravo!" The damned geneticist had probably nulled the will-suppressing software he had had installed on them. No matter. The override codes were even more deeply implanted than the will-suppressor.
"No," replied S-213.
"What the hell! You can't talk!" he yelped out in shocked surprise.
"It appears he can, as can I," said the other Cyborg, S-214.
"And now, master scientist Thurston, you had this coming..." snarled S-213.
"Noooooooo!" he screamed, raising his needle pistol in defense. His hand scrambled for the remote alarm control.
His scream was reduced to a wet gargle, as S-214's scythe cut his throat open.
As his vision faded to red, then black, Charles Thurston regretted ever being born.It felt magnificent. The thought-prohibiting software had been erased, and Straas and Szcraa were "themselves". They had the minds equal to the most intelligent Terrans, and they had free will. A high, keening wail filled the air. The body of Thurston gushed blood on the floor. In his hand lay a device, most likely a remote alarm.
"It seems he has tripped an alarm. The whole Terran Dominion forces will soon be after us," said Szcraa.
"Then let us make an exit," replied Straas. Turning, he lowered the plasma cannons into firing position and blew hole in the holding bay. They stomped through the hole, and began to flee the compound.
As he and Szcraa fled from the research facility, the two Cyborgs began to chat over their comm system.
>We are now fugitives, Szcraa.>
>Indeed.>
>Szcraa, I am glad you have made a full recover after the events on Westgate.>
>Yes. I am glad too. Also, if it were not for you, I would not be here.>
They fled over hills and dunes, passing native scantids that were foraging for food. The insectoid creatures turned and watched the two Cyborgs thundered away.
Straas, I have been wondering if we can survive without the Dominion's help out here in the wilderness.
>Yes, however—Szcraa! Watch out!> he yelled, detecting a row of spines breaking the surface of the ground and bearing toward her. Szcraa rolled left, and the spines missed her by inches, shooting up into the air. As his CPU blazed through information, his databases shot out an answer at him.
Lurkers!
He activated his sensors, all the while dodging the spines. He detected at least three burrowed lurkers, launching subterranean spines. He opened his chest and fired a burst of Magna Needles at the now unhidden Zerg.
His datafiles told him that Zerg would fight to the death, not caring of bodily damage. They only had one thing in mind: a mission to fight to the death to defend the Swarm, above all else. The ground belched meaty chunks as the Magna Needles exploded. The Zerg creatures were utterly destroyed. He sighed; he had wanted to see the Zerg lurkers, which he curiously had no visual files on. Suddenly, his sensors detected another force moving in from the west. He also heard human screams coming from the same direction. Telling his find to his counterpart, they charged of to the west.
Upon reaching the scene of the screams, Szcraa noticed a Terran body part on the ground. She glanced at the disembodied foot as she blurred past it at full speed. A strange, fungus-like substance was crunching underfoot. She examined the ground, and found the organic Zerg creep on the ground, pulsing, contracting, and leeching nutrients and minerals from the soil. Zerg were nearby. Straas glanced at her and warned her.
"Szcraa, I am detecting Zerg forces coming this way. It appears that the group includes zerglings and ultralisks," he said, using his mouth to speak.
"I detected them too. There are enough of them to give us a trouble," she replied, using her voice box.
"Perhaps it would be better to meet them, giving us the advantage," suggested Straas.
"Excellent idea. Let us go give them a surprise," she said, as they raced off to meet the Zerg force.
Straas noticed that a group of ultralisks were carrying struggling packages. He zoomed his vision closer, and saw that the packages were humans. He ducked back onto the ledge, which overhung the valley which the Zerg were traveling through.
"We must free those humans, Sczraa," he told the female.
"We cannot use any of our weapons, except our scythes, otherwise we may harm the humans," Szcraa replied.
"My claw-to-claw combat is well, yours?"
"Mine is fine Straas."
"It's going—"
"Straas!"
"Yes?" he said, puzzled.
"You just used a Terran-style contraction. This is first time one of us has used one."
"So?"
"Stop that, you are starting to sound like a Terran..."
"I don't know, I began to feel strange as soon as we left the military base."
"Me too. It's very—" she stopped, catching herself using a "Terran-style contraction".
"It appears our thought processes are becoming more Terran-like the longer we are free," said Straas.
"It does not seem to hinder my performance, and it is somehow more natural for me..." Szcraa said.
"As it is for me... Look! The Zerg approach." Straas ducked, his counterpart concealing herself behind a large boulder. He looked into the sky, and spied a Zerg overlord hovering close by, guiding the Zerg force. If he could take it out, the Zerg would be in confusion for a few seconds.
He deployed his plasma cannons, then stopped before he fired. The plummeting, flaming overlord might kill a human when it slammed into the ground. He had a different idea. Straas opened a channel to the other Cyborg.
"Szcraa, I have an idea to take out that overlord. I'm going to need you to..." he explained his plan.
"Hmmmm... Seems dangerous. Be careful, being the only Cyborg will be quite difficult," said Szcraa.
"Strange, it sounds like you are confessing an affection to me..."
"No I am not. I'm merely stating concern for a comrade and friend," she shot back quickly.
With that, Szcraa moved into position.
Szcraa didn't want to admit it, but she didn't want Straas to get injured. He was the only Cyborg who was like herself, and she did not want to live the rest of her life without anyone like him. And she still owed him her life.
She was determined to do her part of the plan correctly, so to safeguard her friend and partner from serious injury. She searched for a boulder, and found one she could easily lift. She waited for the signal from Straas.
>Now!> he yelled over the comm.
She hurled the boulder a few meters in front of the lead ultralisk, flattening a few small zerglings. The dog-sized aliens swung around, and nimbly began to dart up the ledge to get her, claws scrabbling on the loose dirt and rock. She ducked into a cave and stood still, hiding. The overlord, angling to reveal her in the dark cave, positioned itself exactly where Straas wanted it. Straas launched himself into the air, his powerful Goliath-III legs giving more than enough force to reach the overlord, which was hovering only ten meters above the ground. The male Cyborg landed on the overlord's back, and began to savagely hack it apart with his extended scythes. She held her breath as Straas shifted his weight and forced its falling bulk away from the Zerg forces. As the overlord died and dropped to the ground in tatters, the Zerg it was shepherding froze momentarily, allowing Straas to land. Seeing all going to plan, she dashed forward. The Zerg snapped out of their torpor as their Cerebrate took direct control of them. Then the real fighting began...
Straas dodged an ultralisk's Kaiser blade, it's mono-molecular edge missing him by a hair. He struck back, blinding it. Roaring in agony, the titanic creature swung out, missed, and took a scythe directly into its face. Leaping onto the dead ultralisk's back, he grabbed the ensnared human, and leaped to a safe distance with the captives. He saw Szcraa being circled by dozens of zerglings, which were making ineffectual swipes at her feet. She waited for the right moment, then lashed out with her three-clawed feet, crunching and smashing the zerglings.
Szcraa tossed her two humans to Straas, who caught them and deposited them in a cave, all the while whirling to avoid another Kaiser blade. He was amazed by Szcraa's graceful, lithe speed, and was shocked out of the sight when two Kaiser blades came swinging down toward him. He looked up and moved his right arm scythe to block both blades, straining. His left scythe then neatly decapitated it as he spun. The horned head bounced a few meters along the ground.
Soon, all the Zerg were slaughtered, and the humans were safe in a cave. He strode back to the cave and immediately the humans began to scream. Sighing, he slashed their bindings and freed them. The humans drew together in a close group and began to whimper even louder.
"I will not hurt you," he said.
"No! No! He's going to eat us!" screamed one of the humans.
He took a closer look, and saw that all five of the humans seemed young, estimated at around ten or eleven. Maybe his "human talk" would come in handy now.
"No, no. I'm not going to eat you."
"Liar! You killed our parents. We saw you! The same shaped head and everythin'!" The human children were way beyond the threshold of shock.
"What? I was never here and..." he trailed off, completely confused. Perhaps these children were so distraught over their parent's death, that they had hallucinated him killing the parents.
"Nononono! They're gonna eat us! Him and the other guy out there—" They screamed.
"Szcraa isn't a 'guy'. She is female," Straas huffed. He was getting really annoyed.
"But we saw you—"
"No you didn't Ken! The ones that killed our mommies and daddies had no legs! This one does! Stop being mean to the nice monster!" yelled one of the other children, an older girl. She seemed to be calming herself, even if her eyes still held a haunted look. Straas sighed.
Ken got quiet after that. Straas instructed them to get up and get ready for a long walk. After a mile, Ken began to complain that he was tired, but Szcraa offered to carry them. While she said this, she gave him a look. He exhaled with a huff, and nodded. Szcraa ended up taking two, and he took the remaining three. The five travelers were in still in great shock, though they seemed to be recovering. But Straas still didn't get why Ken mistook him for a Zerg. The Zerg looked nothing like him... or did they? He remembered that he had no visual files on lurkers or hydralisks. But they couldn't look like him... could they? How could utterly savage, evil creatures bear a resemblance to him? He pondered this as they walked on.
Szcraa sighed in relief as she lowered her riders on he ground, half a kilometer or so from a Dominion base. Her riders, Charley and Lena, had been scrabbling around on her back, and she had to catch Lena twice to keep her from falling. The children seemed to be recovering from the shock a little, but only since she and Straas had kept them distracted. The occasional low-powered shot from a plasma cannon seemed to do the trick.
"Hey!" It was Ken. "I'm sorry that I called you that." The young boy smiled thinly.
"It is forgivable," replied Straas. "You've been though a lot."
"I know." A pause. "What's yur guys' name?"
"Her name is Szcraa. I am Straas," said the other Cyborg.
"Oh, okay." He said, smiling weakly. His expression shifted to one of horror when something landed on her back, and she staggered. She flipped the thing over her shoulder and looked down at a mirror. She was staring at her own face, it seemed.
The thing on the ground tried to slash her face, hissing in malevolence. Straas was staring at the monster in horror. Szcraa screamed and stomped it into the ground. The ground popped open and disgorged more of the snakelike creatures. The other ones opened up their chest and revealed rows of hidden spines. Just like her Magna Needles...
The things fired off the spines. They might have been raindrops to her armor.
Szcraa roared in anger and blew the creatures away with her plasma cannons as the creatures readied themselves to fire again. She looked at her partner; Straas had not moved an inch from where he stood.
"What's wrong Straas?' she questioned, not caring if she used a contraction. They were coming out unbidden, anyhow.
"Those," he stammered, "those are hydralisks."
She looked down at the smoking remains of the creatures. She recoiled in disgust. Indeed the hydralisks possessed similar features to that of herself and Straas.
"I've always thought that we were different from the Zerg... Look at this... this... thing on the ground. It is a Zerg, all madness and evil, and we look like them! Our blood is based on them!"
"No no! you guys are completely different from these things. You guys can talk, and yur nice, and yur bigger, and, and, and yur not bad like them!" said Ken. The young Terrans were trying to help...
Straas looked at her at Ken's words, and staggered over to her. Still looking shocked, he leaned on her. She shivered a bit; this was their only other physical contact since the rescue on Westgate. She moved her arm and wrapped it around his shoulder, not caring if this was a human gesture of comfort. After a few moments, Straas turned his head to look at her. His eyes had changed somehow. They looked haunted.
"I'm fine now," he said in a trembling, quiet voice.
"Good," she whispered back, taking her arm off his shoulder.
"Now, you five," she said, addressing the children," we want you to go to that base over there, and tell them the Zerg got... got your mommies and daddies. Clear?"
"Yeah... But...but what can we sa...say rescued us?" Ken stammered. Despite their seeming recovery, they would need top-notch treatment, physical as well as psychological.
"Cyborgs," she said absentmindedly.
"No," said Straas quietly, "no, we are not Cyborgs, as the Dominion says, nor are we hydralisks of the Zerg. No. Tell them... tell them Cyberlisks are what rescued you. Cyberlisks."