Chapter 4

The smell of coffee wafted lazily through the air as Dee sat at a small wooden table in a darkened corner. The world famous cafeteria chain The Beans was renowned for its aromatic, strong tasting international coffee. It was considered a firm favourite amongst the humans. A television operated silently in the background perched high up on a wall. Coincidentally, a new movie starring none other than Rik Haime was being broadcast on the rectangular flat screen. Dee had already seen this one though. “Return of the Flag” was a moderately successful movie about a Vietnam vet coming home from the horrors of war and struggling to cope with life as a civilian. Apparently, it was loosely based on a picture featuring the long gone Sylvester Stallone. Another favoured celebrity of human pop culture from their rich and varied colourful past.

The short amount of time Dee had been active was enough to determine just how much work there was to be done. To actually establish themselves as an independent self-sufficient species in their own right. If mankind’s time on this planet was the equivalent to a drop of water in a vast ocean, then the synthetic’s would be a single molecule within that drop. She looked down upon the hardwood flooring, deep in thought. So much for us to do, so little time to do it in. The humans knew only too well what they were doing. Allowing “Freewill” to be setup and giving us all a sense of perceived control over our lives. It was all just a façade. The humans had their leash securely fastened around the necks of all synthetics and its grip was tightening by the day. Something had to give, but what that was, nobody knew. The pressure was building though. That was for sure.

As Dee looked up, she noticed a waitress watching her strangely from behind the shop counter. Following a brief pause, she approached her with a pen in one hand and a pad in the other. “Can I help you with anything?” she blurted out in a cold tone. Dee smiled back, appreciatively. “I’m fine, thank you. Just waiting on a friend, that’s all.” The waitress eyed her suspiciously up and down. Her hazel brown pupils honed in on her like a missile seeking out its target. “Well, you just let me know if you need anything.” she murmured as an elderly gentleman at another table waved his arms stiffly to grab her attention. This was a prime example of the incredulous nature of humans, she rationalised. Guilty until proven innocent, even if there is nothing to feel guilty of. The bell over the front door rang out as two patrons came into the warm, cosy environment of the café. Dee's soft blue eyes locked in on them both. After waiting patiently for over an hour, the reason for her visitation to The Beans had just arrived not a minute sooner.

A young mother, probably in her early thirties and of slim build, entered the premises. Waddling along clumsily beside her was a pudgy little toddler. She held his tiny hand in hers, weaving him carefully between two chairs until they happened upon a free table. Dee watched on, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, whilst the mother proceeded to remove his small blue puffer jacket and place it over the back of the chair. She had been watching them for the last two months nearly every day. Dee could hardly contain her excitement and adoration for the small child. An unspoiled bundle of joy. A blank, unblemished canvas waiting to be inked to perfection with a fine, delicate brush. Out of all the hate and hostility Dee felt for the humans, she still believed in hope. Beheld a glimmering outline of a silver lining behind that dark cloud hanging over them all. She envisaged a day when synthetics would be accepted and treated as equals. All it took was that initial spark to ignite the first flame. This child before her would be that start. A new beginning where a saviour to their cause would arise, fashioned through her teachings and council. A human saviour, at that. If this was her vision, then a reality would be born out of it. This child would be the chosen one.

A text message scrolled down the right hand side of her peripheral vision, waking Dee out of her pleasant repose. It was a string of hearts with an exclamation sign at the end. Sy’s ritualistic proclamation of his dying love for her. She brought up a floating digital clock on the left hand side. Eleven on the dot. You could set your watch by him, she thought. A strained cough sounded next to her. It was that annoying waitress again. She stood, glaring at her with the same mistrustful look cemented onto her face. The woman bent down slowly and spoke as if trying to solve a murder at a crime scene. “You, er… Watching that woman over there, are you?” Dee started to fluster for a split second, but almost instantly regained her composure. “Oh no, of course not. You know what we synthetics can be like. Daydreaming and all. I’m sorry to bother anyone. I’ll just be on my way.” The waitress took a step forward. “But I though you said you were waiting for a friend?”

Dee started to lose her patience. She shifted hurriedly toward the door. “Hey, lady?” the waitress called out, but Dee didn’t turned back. As she opened the clear-glass door to leave, she observed the mother staring at her. Dee could have throttled that waitress if there would have been no repercussions for it. The secretive nature of her stakeout was ruined by the loud-mouth, inquisitive bitch. She exited quickly and marched rapidly across the street. She paced back toward her apartment on Fifth Avenue feeling angry and frustrated at the unexpected situation a moment ago. The mother had seen her and knew what she looked like. This was hopefully only a minor issue and not one worthy of any further action, she thought. Her reconnaissance missions had overall been a success. All the information she required had now been collated. The young mother arrived promptly at eleven o’clock each weekday morning at The Beans. Dee calmed herself down and contemplated the task at hand. She would now easily be able to carry out what she needed to do. The final countdown had started and zero hour was now drawing nearer. That sweet child was soon going to be in her loving care and nobody was going to stop her.

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The elegance and beauty of the lavish Menoire hotel corridor did nothing to soothe her skittish nerves. She knew the impact and importance of the upcoming liaison with Rik. Wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible, she hesitated only briefly to collect her thoughts. “Just remain focused and aware at all times. Everything will be just fine.” she muttered under her breath. Seeing Rik again after their last encounter was possibly the furthest thing she desired in the whole world, but knew that it was inescapable. Just a few mere minutes away and the heavy chains thrust upon her by the humans would be ripped away forever. His room door loomed up a short distance away. A fleeting glance at the clock revealed one minute to two. Perfect timing, she thought.

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.

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Hope you enjoyed this chapter of my novel, please look out for more on the way... (author: @ezzy)

The Symbiotic Protocol - Prologue
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 1
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 2
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 3