“This process. . .always hurts. . .like fucking hell,” Peyton declared.
Kyra used her sleeve to wipe his sweating brow, trying to soothe him. She was so out of practice. The woman that used to know how to give comfort had been gone for many years. “I know it hurts bad. I’m sorry. It’s going to get much worse before it gets better. Hang in there. I can’t knock you out because I don’t have the equipment. But once the processor is dead, you won’t feel what I’m doing.”
“Will I. . .remember you. . .or anything?” Peyton asked.
Then he groaned loudly as his upgrades sizzled and popped inside his head. His neural attachments freaked out at the separation from the organic paths he had painstakingly created. Blackness swept across his vision removing his consciousness at last. He was relieved to give in to the pain-free darkness that swallowed him whole.
Chapter 3
Kyra closed her eyes and sent a plea out to the universe as she donned her lab coat. “Please. . .please. . .please. . .let it work this time.”
There was no choice but to move forward. Peyton 313’s primary processor was now destroyed. If she didn’t replace it within a couple of days, his cybernetic heart would eventually run out of back-up power and stop beating.
She swallowed nervously as she stared at the eerily still man. His eyelids hadn’t closed completely. Golden cybernetic orbs glowed softly in reserve power warning from under them.
Kyra walked numbly to her console, touching screen commands without really seeing them.
“Record voice notes and visual of all work being done to restore cybernetic unit Peyton 313.”
When she saw the camera activate and shine its roving eye at the man in the operating chair, she walked numbly back to her task.
She lifted a hand to brush his perfect hair back from his nearly unlined forehead. Captain Peyton Elliot was definitely more handsome in person than his online records had portrayed him to be. Nothing said in his profile had done justice to describing broad shoulders covered with sculpted muscles. His waist was lean but flared into strong hips bracketing a pelvis that naturally drew a woman’s eye to see what might be happening there. With the sexual training chip he had received as part of his Cyber Husband indoctrination, it was easy to understand why Peyton 313 had been optioned so many times.
But neither his proclaimed sexual talent nor his outstanding looks had been part of her purchase requirements when she had looked up his profile. For her, the most intriguing mystery about Peyton 313 would remain unanswered during his rebooted silence. Just how bad had the man’s human-based traits been that so many women had ended up returning him? His Cyber Husband record was full of vague criticism from his previous wives. The hyped-up propaganda written to excuse Peyton’s shortcomings was similar to that of UCN chancellors whose long-running political careers relied on them being perceived well.
“External review of the cybernetic unit’s responses indicates the reboot was successful in shutting down all onboard cybernetic controllers. Due to a lack of body movement, I can conclude that typical human unconsciousness occurred because of the extreme pain during destruction of the processor. Based on my discussion with Captain Elliott during his shut-down, he believed he had somehow been creating his own neural connections to his cybernetics. While long thought to be impossible, his rather startling question about how I had evoked the creator code was surprisingly accurate.”
Kyra pushed her doubts aside as she finished recording her initial discoveries. All she could do now was hope that she hadn’t been wrong in choosing to release the Marine captain from his cybernetic chains. Under the full control of his cybernetics, the man would have lived two hundred years or more. But now? Kyra had no idea what the captain’s longevity would be.
Not only was she changing his processor programming, she could very well be shortening his life span if he wasn’t able to keep his cybernetic enhancements in good condition. Her new processor would allow for natural neural pathways to be established, or maybe re-established in Peyton’s case if he was right about doing some internal rewiring on his own already.
She felt the recording camera’s blue light panning around her as she worked. Long used to not discussing the restoration process with anyone, it was challenging now to remember to talk to the camera.
“Based on my past two failures, there are no predictable outcomes with any attempt at restoration. A full reversal is not possible because it would have to include the removal of the cybernetic enhancements. With Captain Elliott, my plan is to restore his cybernetics to a basic state that will allow his human mind to function alongside his cybernetics. Whether this will ultimately prove to be a positive possibility for other soldiers or not remains a theoretical supposition. Captain Elliott’s survival and adaption are critical to scientific discovery and proof.”