Tranquility

Interlopers Part 4

The cyborg abomination, the thing that was called Dusk, crawled up from a blasted opening in the weather station's hull. The monster's sickly pale, mottled skin was full of fresh cuts and lacerations. No doubt the explosion the cyborg caused had damaged him as well. Dark oily blood flowed from the creature's skin, but inside, its artificial organs pumped a pale fluid that kept the thing alive. It's arms had been removed from the elbow down to be replaced with metal appendages fitted with silvery elongated fingers. Its legs were similarly removed and replaced with mechanical limbs built for leaping great distances to catch prey. Like a cat in partial light, Dusk's eyes had a form of tapetum lucidum. His retinas were mechanically enhanced to reflect visible light so that he had he could see at night as well as in daylight. The most hideous thing about the creature was its lack of a mouth. Where its bottom jaw was supposed to be, a metallic disk was adhered to the thing's skull. Whenever the cyborg spoke, the metal disk glowed a dark red.

Leonard Thorne watched the half-man, half machine stalk its way to his shuttle. It stood there, watching him through the tinted glass, able to see him clear as day. Thorne frowned as the cyborg waited. Another ship, much smaller than his own, was set close to the entrance of the facility. A small hole had been punched through the small vessel's port side, but otherwise it was completely intact. Dusk stared at Throne through the dark glass, the cyborg's eyes were red with malice. Thorne's mouth twitched and he smiled at the creature, his contempt flooded the small cabin he stood in. Fury was the response from the cyborg.

Very slowly, Dusk turned around and walked back towards the smaller shuttle. Thorne was curious now. Slow methodical steps brought the abomination closer to the interloper shuttle. Dusk turned his head once more to Thorne's shuttle. In a swift motion, the cyborg extended his mechanical arms and hoisted the smaller vessel high in the air. There was a loud groan that echoed from the structure of the landing pad as weight shifted. Veins full of pale fluid popped in the creature's back. With a swift toss, the small shuttle had been launched into the orange vortex below. Thorne gaped in horror and amazement.

"Are you trying to impress me, abomination?" Thorne said as he activated his ship's speakers, a scowl now replaced his bemusement. "You know, It's quite funny actually, I could have sworn you were supposed to kill three interlopers for me, not put on a circus performance."

Dusk vanished. In a split-second, the creature had landed on top of Thorne's shuttle, its claws poised to strike.

"You know Thorne, It's quite funny you say that... I was just thinking about how easy it is for me to survive outside without a spacesuit. I wonder if you can do that too? Shall we find out?" Dusk crawled like a human spider to the side of Thorne's vessel. There was a loud scraping noise as the cyborg ran its sharp claws against the metal bulkhead of the shuttle.

"Are you insane? Get the hell off my ship you freak!" Thorne choked.

"Fine." Dusk rumbled as he sprung himself off of the ship. "Let me inside your ship... we need to talk."

Leonard Thorne kept a small squad of soldiers with him in his vessel. All of them backed into a corner as soon as Dusk entered the small cabin. The airlock door opened with a sharp hiss and the cyborg strode inside. The soldiers raised their weapons to the cybernetic creature. He scanned the interior from his left to his right and found Thorne sitting at a small metal table in the main cabin.

Thorne was a clever man. Everyone said so. He took pride in his work and he was a loyal employee of Astrocore. He had spent ten years building his career which had granted him many freedoms that were associated with a man of his station. He wore a pressed, expensive suit and a smug grin that complimented his almost elf-like features. His sandy blonde hair was combed neatly to the side and it had looked as though he spent a good part of the morning making sure there wasn't a single strand out of place.

"Would you like to take a seat Pinocchio?" Thorne asked with mock kindness.

"I have destroyed the east wing of the station. The interlopers are trapped and have no way to escape. We will have Revetta's Neuro-card soon."

"That's excellent news. Now, why don't you go back down there and finish them off?"

"That would be... unwise." Dusk seemed to stare off into space.

"Oh? Please, enlighten me."

"Revetta fell from the station when I destroyed it. One of the Sentinels jumped in after him." At this, Thorne stood up and pointed a finger at the creature.

"You moron! What about the Neuro-card?" Spit flew from Thorne's mouth.

"Let me finish." Dusk hissed. "The Sentinel managed to rescue him and bring him back unharmed. Before they fell, Revetta hit me with an electromagnetic pulse blast. The three of them have managed to reconfigure the station's fusion reactor to emit a similar blast." Thorne considered this for a moment.

"Well they have been down there a while... So what? Project horizon designed you to be invincible. Aren't your organic parts supposed to withstand all forms of radiation? Hell, I even infected your brain with a Neo-virus to rewrite your genetic makeup!"

"Yes. But the E.M.P will short out my mechanical components. If I go down there... I will... die." Dusk's mood seemed to change then. Despite his mechanical appearance, he looked remarkably human in that instant.

"You were built to kill. And if need be, die." Thorne scoffed. Dusk stared him down. As fast as the flashes of lightning outside the ship, the cybernetic creature pulled the nearest guard and held him with his left arm, while the blades on his right pressed themselves underneath the soldier's neck.

"I don't want to die. Not again." The metal disk in Dusk's skull flashed red. The rest of the soldiers pointed their guns towards the monster - not that their bullets could do much to hurt it. There was something strange in the cyborg's reflective eyes. The thing was afraid. Thorne stared at him impassively. Very calmly, he sat back down in his chair, his arms stretched out lazily against the chair.

"I feel for you tin-man, I really do. But let's put aside all of the dramatics for a bit, shall we? I know exactly what they did to you in that laboratory. I put you there. I know what you gave up. Hell, I even know your real name. Do you?" Dusk listened to Thorne very carefully. The well-dressed man continued speaking.

"Listen. I know how hard it is, you were a good soldier once, but we made a mistake. I told them that they should have let you keep your memories, but the scientists wouldn't listen to me. They said something about how if you were to keep your human memories, then that would make you a less-effective killer. We had to upload the Neo-virus into your brain. They were trying to turn you into their own toy soldier... their very own technopath." The room grew very still. Dusk dropped the man he held hostage to the floor. A thin trickle of blood dripped down his fleshy neck and he scrambled back to his comrades panting. There was a wet stain on the front of the soldier's pants. Thorne didn't seem to notice, he only put his feet up on the table and continued talking.

"Dusk... I know you live your life in pain... If you can call it life. Project horizon failed. You're not the technopath Astrocore is looking for. You're a soldier with no family, no wife, no kids... you have nothing. You're like a middle-school science experiment where the kid put in too much baking soda into his volcano. You're so angry and you don't even know why..." Thorne's voice trailed off.

Dusk only stared at the floor. Empty. 

"The virus... the computer virus. I can't sleep anymore... I can't think." The cyborg spoke. "If... I go down there... If I kill the interlopers, will you promise to bring me back to life? They'll hit me with that E.M.P again and I'll die... Please... I want my memories back. My human memories. I want the virus gone." Thorne watched the cyborg for a long time. 

"I promise. I'll give them back. I will help you remember," Thorne's smile was like acid. "But you'll need to do something else for me."

***