The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 8 (An Original Novella)
Not a second before the designated time, Dee rang the doorbell. As she waited, the nerves started to kick back in again with a vengeance. A burst of sudden morality broke her out of the regimented concentration. She rang it again, her mental state crumbling to pieces fast. This was a planned crime. An illegal act about to be perpetrated by a synthetic against an innocent human. The first of its kind. She was going to break the sacred bond of peace the synthetics had until now enjoyed with the humans. As she turned away, ready to even forego the huge sum of money she had dished out last night, the door clicked open.
Rik stood in the doorway wearing nothing but a pair of striped boxer shorts and a silken robe. The same one that he wore yesterday in fact. He squinted at her questioningly. “Wow, you really do have good timing. I actually made a bet with myself that you’d be early. Oh no, seems I lost.” He smirked drily as the door opened fully. Dee was left with no choice but to entered discreetly. The room had been cleaned thoroughly. A far cry from the mess the place was previously in. “So, how are you?” he asked, pulling up a chair for himself whilst gesturing to her to sit down. “I’m fine, thanks, Rik. Everything’s just dandy.” Dee wanted to keep the small talk to an absolute minimum if possible. “That’s good to know. I mean, how much better can you really be after only a few hours after our last meeting, eh?” he said sarcastically. Dee smiled back with a warm glow, her mental resolve now fully restored again.
He got up languidly off the chair and made his way to an artistic looking wooden cabinet at the far side of the room. “Now that we’ve got the chit chat out of the way, let’s get down to business. You ready for this?” He opened up a small compartment on the cabinet's underside and produced a shiny metal coil. He lifted it into the air. “This, Dee… Is your one-way ticket to freedom.” Dee watched him silently as he strolled back to her. “Now, this is the way things go from here. You’re gonna wear this device and for a few seconds, it’ll feel as though you’ve just blacked out. Only for several seconds, mind you. After that, you’ll awaken to find you’re now a Samson free synthetic. An amazingly reconditioned enhancement of your former self. Sound good?” The preceding nerves that had interfered with her thought process were gradually transforming into feelings of excitement and exhilaration. Her state of mind was now at the complete opposite end of the spectrum. “Let’s do this, Rik.” she said confidently.
He approached her and attentively placed the halo onto her cranium. Dee could feel its weight pressing down upon her metallic skull. “OK. You ready, Dee?” Rik asked one last time. She put two thumbs up in the air simultaneously. “Right then. See you on the other side.”
He lifted a hand up toward the heavy coil and as soon as he made contact, everything went black. A total system shutdown. Eventually, her eyes reopened a few moments later. Rik was staring open-mouthed at the coil. He glanced at her while cautiously removing it from her head. “Is it over? Am I… fixed?” she asked.
Rik moved away from her, carrying the flat cylindrical object delicately as if it were made from eggshells. Without saying a word, he motioned with his head toward her hands. Dee looked down and almost fell of the chair in shock. She had been gripping onto the sides of the chair unknowingly and her fingertips had shaped five, small indentations into the wooden frame. “My god.” she cried. “Is this for real? Are we synthetics being limited to such an extent?” Her intricate cognitive circuitry attempted to accommodate itself to accepting this new, advanced robotic body, but she knew it would take time. Her mind boggled at the potential possibilities. “This is incredible, Rik.” she exclaimed. But he just continued on disinterestedly, remaining calm and composed, refusing to share in her ecstatic jubilation.
“It’s great, I know. Just one thing though. The enhancements are purely physical. Don’t expect to somehow gain telekinesis or any other super mind-bending ability. This is as far as it goes. But that’s still a mighty long way from where you originally came from. I'm sure you'd agree.”
She couldn’t wait to test out her new capabilities. “Rik, tell me something. Why didn’t you get your Samson chip disabled too?” He gave her another one of his broad, derisive grins. “Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t. Who knows? What I do know is this, though it should already be pretty blatantly obvious. Don’t use it outside where others can see. The last thing you want is the S.P.A. hot on your heels. Trust me.” She acknowledged what he said, however more so to stop him interrupting her alluring wonderment at the new technological suit. Gripping both arms of the wooden chair she sat in, Dee hoisted herself steadily into the air like a gymnast. Rik could be heard clapping nonchalantly in the background.
“You got any more questions, Dee? Coz once you leave this room, we’re done. You understand? You’ll have enough time to practice with your new play toy when you get outta here.” Dee took a hold of herself. This wasn’t a game but she suddenly seemed to be treating it like one. “No, Rik. Thank you so much once again. I think I’ll be on my way now. Actually, is there anything else I should know about?” She thought it best to get one final important question in before the pleasure of never having to see him ever again. In person, anyway.
“Nope, that’s about wraps it up for us. Just remember what I said. Don’t draw attention to yourself. I’m placing a lot of trust in you. So don’t let me down. More for your sake than mine.” He studied her to ascertain whether she was on the same hymn sheet as he was. “Of course, Rik. I understand just fine. I just believe this is how we synthetics were meant to function. Our unaltered, pure form. So I wanted to release myself from the debilitating curse put upon me by the humans. That makes sense I guess, right? Maybe someday we can all be free like this.” She almost emitted a stifled laugh at his complete ignorance as to why she had gone ahead with this at all. Rik looked at her with his sleepy, perfect set of eyes. “I guess so, Dee. Maybe one day.”
They both made their way to the front door. Dee managed to squeeze the handle a little harder than she should have. It groaned under the stress of her exerted pressure. “Easy there.” he interjected quickly. “You don’t wanna go damaging any more stuff in here unless you intend to start running up a tab with me.” Dee relaxed instantly. “Sorry, I guess it will take some time for me to acclimate. I’ll be patient.” She opened the door gently and made her way out. “Thanks again, Rik.” she added before making her way down the plush corridor. “No problem and remember what I told you.” he called out before shutting the door for the final time on their tortuous little covert rendezvous.
She could feel a new power pumping through her limbs, every fibre of her being brimming with vitality and strength. How could the humans incapacitate them so brazenly? Imprison them within a body even more limited than their own? The way Dee saw it now, that was in the past. A new chapter was about to begin and with the help of her newly acquired set of cybernetic power tools, nothing was going to stand in her way.
