Cyborg - Emulating Life - Susann Greendragon (chromebook ebook reader TXT) 📗

The Cyborg

The Cyborg

Book 1 Emulating Life

by Susann Greendragon

Translation from Der Cyborg - Band 1 Emulating Life

Copyright © 2015 by Susann Greendragon, 6. September 2015

English version The Cyborg - Book 1 Emulating Life translated by S. Greendragon

cover design and copyright © 2015 by greendragon-gecko

All rights reserved.

The right of Susann Greendragon to be identified as author of this Work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the publisher. You must not circulate this book in any format.

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

For Vasso, Tanja and René,

who accompanied me on this road trip.

Comment about the book: All characters and the created universe are fictional - but it is a world created by me, please respect the work and time that has flown into this project. Some sure names, last names or web/avatar names are used with the knowledge of the people. I hope you like the final result.

Susann Greendragon

table of content

Prologue

171 years aMS

Earth, mountains south of the burned metropolis

 

Wind rustles trough the treetops of the forest. Nothing was moving except for a few small wood critters and birds. The cyborg let his gaze wander around the landscape then he focused on the birds nest nearby. He moved swiftly and picked up two little eggs without any sound. Eating them to satisfy his hunger, he felt a sharp painful impulse in his neck.

 

"Hey, keep watch, don't eat!"

 

David was angry. As ever. Yes, Master., replied the cyborg with flat voice and returned to watch his environment. As if I would not keep watch while eating.

 

The situation was changing some time later. He noticed a large number of quickly moving objects at the outer rim of his scanner vision and they were moving downwards the complete hillside he was monitoring. Out of the red blur he could quickly identify individual objects moving at different speed. David was busy with his knife and ignoring the new information. Incoming, he called to get David's attention.

 

"Fuck!", David shouted as he recognized the large amount of red dots moving. "Far too many. What can you see?" David's voice was ringing in his ear. His cyborg sends him the first results of his observations. The fastest were recon drones, some of them were also moving in their direction. In between hunter-robots were moving, likely 'black cats'. "Cyborgs?", asked David.

 

Unclear. They could be hidden behind shields.

 

"Figure it out!", David bellowed.

 

The cyborg was moving out of his hideout searching a strong branch to get to the next tree. "What are you intending to do?", David asked sharply.

 

I need to get closer to answer your question.

 

"You stay! Or should I be discovered?"

 

The cyborg felt another sharp pinch, spreading in waves from his back through his body and quickly settles down again. What do you want actually?, was he thinking and suppressed his anger. He could hear David trying to transmit the new information and often repeating himself while speaking. They have signal jammers, the cyborg thought. We have to leave; one of the drones is soon close enough to see us. He listens to the orders that they should retreat.

 

"Take over the drone." David swore. "Shit, to obvious." He swore again. "Search a save way back!"

 

A few are behind us.

 

He felt another burning sting and winced.

 

"Idiot, we need to get away now!"

 

The cyborg followed the order that David was listening to.

 

"Rav, retreat now. Use him."

 

He could hear David Ravier swearing angrily. Leaving the tree, the cyborg ran soundless through the bushes and towards David's hideout.

 

"Take over a hunter!", David ordered him.

 

Too far away, the cyborg thought but changed his running direction and started to move closer to the closest red dot. David was heading the same way. If he was not fast enough, the hunter may see them moving and they would soon have a pack of hounds behind them. Thus, the cyborg speeds up his run risking to be heard. He jumped down a rocky part of the hill to reach his target faster and noticed that it was not a small hunter-bot. Still he continued tracking it. Before he could reach the bot, he heard a scream from David. He has fallen on his way down the slope, so the cyborg changed his track to run to David and away from the hunter, hoping that the machine was just tracking movements.

 

His guide has injured his right foot and could not run anymore. "Help me back to the camp.", he whispered with pain in his voice. Securely placing David over his shoulder, he started to run wordless and with measured pacing back. Spending himself could mean the end of both of us, he knows. He followed a pathway parallel to the enemy hunters and drones, trying to avoid the scanner fields of the recon drones. The field of the drone behind them was nearly reaching them, so the cyborg accelerated his speed.

 

"Fuck.", David hissed, "You are too slow. Sareina would have captured the hunter already."

 

Most of my abilities are limited, you idiot, the cyborg wished to shout at David. But he knows it was a stupid idea to reveal himself. I am also not a cursed Tracker like your precious Sareina was.

 

"Faster!", David hissed and hit his body armor with his flat hand. Gritting his teeth, his cyborg ran as quickly as he could. Two hunters were following them already. The cyborg heard the distant sound of bursting metal followed by metal scraping over the soil. They have to be within reach of the snipers. Someone of them had just hit the drone. The bigger hunter robot started firing and he doubled his speed to win some distance to the hunter.

 

Noticing something coming from the sides towards the, he tried to dodge it. The thing jumped and dragged them to the ground. Falling, he kicked David to avoid that his heavy body smashed him. The 'black cat' was clinging to his armor and started ripping his thin shoulder plates. He needed to react fast to avoid that it would not be his body next. His own metal claws ripped the outer hull and hydraulics to pieces and he was bathing in oil and energy gel before he could kick the robot away. The bigger hunter has not reached them, but would soon be here. Hounded, he roughly picked up David and started to run again. The big hunter fired and hits its target...

 

Part I

 

 A new beginning

The delivery

StarOne

2 years later

Ian

 

The view out of the office window was still astounding and distraction at once. Ian glanced out of it. White clouds were moving in wonderful spirals with long tails over water and land alike. The blue of the ocean outshined the browns and greens of the continents. And on top of all was this fine layer, looking like a magical shield that was surrounding the fragile looking planet Earth. There was no comparison, Ian thought enjoying the view. It was amazing that this beautiful place had been unused for all these years.

 

He leaned back and noticed his own reflection in the transparent computer screen. Ian McAllister was 37, 1.76m tall and was wearing today a dark blue shirt and a fitting pair of trousers. He was rubbing his eyes, as the last days had been stressful. Too limited sleep had given him dark circles under his eyes and the stress a few more grey hairs. He noticed that his beard needed trimming too. Bringing this station back to life had been his dream and now he has reached this goal. Today the first fright space ships had docked and the first cargo has been exchanged. So, the docks, the storage rooms and the first levels of the station were now officially in use. It will need time to operate at full capacity, but location and facilities of 'StarOne' were ideal as reloading site for Earth, Moon, Mars and the new colonies. None of the other near earth stations were comparable to its size. So, for the moment he was enjoying the view without remorse that there was still so much work waiting.

 

There was a knock on the door and his assistant entered. Haskill was in his early forties and was wearing data-glasses looking like old-fashioned glasses. He was head-shaved as ever and this made his striking nose, which must have been broken several times, even more prominent. Despite of his age he was in good shape, letting Ian from time to time feel a sting of envy. His alive, black eyes revealed his sharp, clever mind.

 

"Sorry for disturbing you, Sir."

 

Haskill would never stop saying 'Sir', even so he was just a few years older than Ian and they had worked already some years together. An elegant and polite fragment of the past, Ian was guessing. Haskill's critical gaze above his glasses told Ian that something unexpected has happened. His assistant strides though the office