CHAPTER 3

A WORSE FEAR COME TRUE

"Daniel? Can you hear me?" Amelia's caring voice came through, slightly metallic in one ear.

I slowly opened my eyes, then blinked, think I was seeing wrong, for in one eye my view appeared to be orange, with small targeting scopes floating around.

Unfortunately, my eyesight was fine.

Or as fine as it could be with cybernetic enhancement.

I slowly raised my right hand, only to see a clever artificial replacement, my arm hidden under hospital robes.

Slowly, very slowly, I reached up to the right side of my head, hoping, wishing, that there was nothing there.

I slowly ran my hand over the large metal plate that had now replaced my ear and a good side of my head. It felt like Silvers, only it didn't have a piston constantly turning it around.

"Oh, No," I groaned. It had come true, my worse fear had come true.

I was a Cyborg.

"Daniel?" my new scanners immediately focussed onto Amelia, a sad look in her emerald eyes.

"Amelia?" I whispered, reaching out to her with my good hand, "The children…are they safe?"

My wife smiled and took my hand in hers.

"Yes, their safe. Dr. Doppler and Mrs Hawkins are with them. If it hadn't been for Mr. Silver though, I doubt that you or they would be here."

I searched her eyes, I needed to know the truth.

"What happened?"

She sighed and let go of my hand, gazing out of the window at the nearby stars.

"You've been out for about a week," she sighed at last, "According to Mr. Silver, the Ship he wanted to show you…the Enterprise II, was rigged by Procyon bombers. Before you could get out, the blast destroyed the ship, as well as taking your arm and part of you face with it."

I gazed down at my new arm sadly. It wasn't as large as Silver's I noticed, slightly bigger actually then my other arm, and was covered down to the elbow. The only difference I could see was that my fingers looked more human than Silvers, no pads on the end of my fingertips.

I slowly pulled up the sleeve of my hospital vest, showing that the cybernetics went right up to my shoulder. The top half of my arm was actually covered up with metal plates, unlike Silvers. Which was just a rod with wires.

I slowly got out of bed, and stood behind her, my hands on her shoulders.

She looked back at me, her eyes welled with tears.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"It's just…" she bit her lip in frustration, "I almost lost you. If you had died I…I don't know what I'd do."

I smiled at her gently, raising her chin to meet my eyes with one metallic finger.

We stared at one another for a moment, the only sound of ships slowly sailing past the window and the slow clicking of my new enhancements. Without a moments hesitation, I leaned forward and kissed her. Softly and caring, as I to confirm it was still me underneath the pile of scrap where my arm and head had been.

We held it there for a few moments then parted. She smiled up at me gratefully and then leaned up against my chest, sighing with contentment.

I held her close, feeling the warmth of her body against mine, the light of the sun beginning to shine through the window.

Three days went by and I was given a clear bill of health and allowed to leave the hospital.

Now I sat in the Benbow Inn, my artificial fingers drumming on the table as I hummed to myself to pass the time.

According to Amelia, both Jenny and Armstrong had also been cleared, although Armstrong would have to be on a small dosage of painkillers for his head for a while.

Out of the three of us, I had been the worse off. My artificial arm, like Silvers, had a number of gadgets installed into it. However, seeing that my arm was slightly smaller, a few of the utensils were stored in a smaller version in my index finger.

Strapped to the side of my leg was a extension of one of my more large utensils, a small lightweight cannon, that could be connected to one of my gadgets that now resided inside my arm.

Because the lower half of my arm was now larger then before, my uniform had had to be changed. Now, the sleeve of my right arm had been cut off just above the elbow, allowing room for my arm.

"Credit for your thoughts Daniel?"

I looked up from my musing to see Sarah Hawkins looking down at me, a glass of water in he hand.

"Oh, hey Sarah," I nodded to her with a smile, "I was just thinking about the new me,"

She sat down opposite me, looking at me curiously.

"Your still here though, that's what matters right?"

I looked up at her quietly and nodded reluctantly.

"I just wish I was fully here and not just only partly," I sighed.

I flicked my index finger, revealing a small blow torch, gazing at the bright blue flame.

"On the plus side, you have extra strength in your arm," Sarah said hopefully, "as well as about a dozen new gadgets at your disposal."

"But I just feel like….Like the kids have lost part of their dad."

She gently placed a hand over my bad one, feeling the cold of the metal beneath her fingers.

"They haven't lost you Daniel. Your still here. So you've lost an arm and your eye, it's what's inside that matters and the love you no matter what."

I smiled at my friend as she smiled back and was about to reply when I suddenly heard a scream of "DADDY!!!"

I turned round to smile, only to be bowled over my four children, each hold me tightly in their gasp.

"Oh Daddy, we're so glad your alright!" Catherine cried, my oldest child, a feline with blond hair and Crystal blue eyes.

"We really missed you!" Emma sobbed, my second daughter with red hair and brown eyes, who now had cambered up onto my good shoulder and was holding my head close to hers, a tear transferring to my cheek from her.

Maria and Joseph were gazing at my cybernetic arm, intently.

"He has a new arm," they said together in awe,

"Just like…" Maria started.

"…Mr. Silver," Joseph finished.

I looked up from my children to Sarah who just gave me a "I told you so," sort of smile.

"Well Daniel Kennedy Dearing," I voice I never thought I would hear again called, "I never thought I would see the day you would have such beautiful little children gathered around you."

I looked up to the doorway with a smile.

There stood Jenny Desoto, the only friend my age I ever truly had back on Earth.

Nearby stood Mr. Armstrong, along with Amelia and Silver.

"Jenny," I sighed in relief as I stood up letting my children down as I strode over to her.

Jenny tried to smile back, but only managed it half-heartedly as her eyes fell on my artificial hand, Half hidden under my tunic, then to the metal plate and eye.

"Daniel," she whispered, "I am so sorry,"

I looked puzzled, "Why?"

"For this," she reached up and gently ran her hand over the plate on the side of my head, "If I had known there was a bomb on board…" her face faltered, "I…I would never want to hurt you Daniel, not after the way you saved me back at school."

I looked away as I remembered, before looking directly in the eyes and placing both hands on her shoulders.

She looked back at me, her eyes filling up with tears before she broke down onto my artificial shoulder, sobbing quietly.

"It's all right," I soothed, "It wasn't your fault. The Procyon Armada clearly rigged the ship after you both passed out. There was nothing you could do."

She stood up from my shoulder and looked up at me.

"I…I thought I would never see you again," she whispered, "When you disappeared, Mr. Clements called me immediately to let me know, I tried your mobile, email everything. I had no idea where you went."

I smiled and eased her into a chair as Amelia came up beside me.

"Naval Intelligence has confirmed what we have previously thought," she said with a sigh, "The Procyon Armada has moved into the Terran System over a month ago, and appears to have taken over several planets there, including Earth, her moon and Mars."

"Rotten Bastards," Armstrong spat, "They came out of nowhere, and blasted us clear out of the sky. The destroyed the International Space Station with one blast."

"Further inspection of those hunks of metal I recovered confirm what I thought originally Danny Boy," Silver added, "The Station was blown to pieces by a Nova Mortar. I'm surprised the ship managed to survive a blast of that magnitude."

"Me and Peter have theorised that when the blast was detonated, the solar panels on the bottom of the Enterprise absorb the solar power from the blast, overloading the docking jets and engines," Jenny explained, "We think that so much power over loaded the systems, forcing them to do double time, blowing us clear from the blast,"

"And making us spin out of control," Peter added with a grim smile.

I steepled my hands in thought, my children looking up at me curiously.

"What does this mean Daddy?" Catherine asked quietly.

"It means…" I said with a sigh, "That the Procyon Armada has taken over Daddy's homeworld."