Chapter 1 Cyber Soul

Chapter 1

Cyber Soul

 Commander Read had his Technicians introduce a corrosion proof vapor into the huge suspended animation tank that housed all 200 hundred of Kian West’s spare bodies. His sudden demise made further storage unnecessary. Kian’s bodies would repel the vapor causing it to cling to the tank’s walls. Once the walls were thoroughly coated technicians would siphon off the preservative suspension gas that had kept Kian’s ‘sleeping bodies’ intact and ready for animation, and replace it with an acid so strong that it would burn away every trace of human tissue, eliminating the last semblances of Kian west.

  The Technocrats had been mistaken; apparently, Kian did not possess an indestructible immortal soul. The moment the security guards blew his head off all thought projection ceased and Kian finally and forever died. This pleased them. They could resume their soulless reign of Luna and Earth with their Atheistic assessments intact.

   There was no God but them and no eternity. This life was all there was. They could sleep easy knowing that Kian West was gone and along with him, any possibility that the universe was anything more than the empirical reality they had always believed it to be.   

 On his way to Commander Reads’ office a magnetic surge from Kian West’s E Car fractured the transit tube, causing a massive cave in. The accident killed him instantly and rendered his lifeless remains an unrecognizable mess.  This was the cover story the Company would give his friends an co-workers, The Company however would tell the girls the truth sparing them no gory detail.…

   Penny and Kress’ history class had just let out. They were walking down the hall toward the lunchroom when they noticed Tech Maria and Mr. Myers the school principal wading up stream through a crush of hungry teenagers. Mr. Myers face was blanched white. Maria’s face however carried the slightest hint of a grin. She always delighted in delivering bad news to the underlings.

   Mr. Myers, a tall elegant man glanced down at her, saw her less than sympathetic expression, stopped walking and gently grasped her arm.

  “Don’t you think I should tell them, ah Ma’am. I am their Principal.”

 “No,” Maria shot back, “their guardianship reverts back to me, I get to,” She hesitated, “I mean it’s my place to break it to them.” She looked up at him with eyes more fitting a snake than to those of an attractive young woman.

  “Of, of course,” he stuttered.

  “Something’s wrong,” Kress said as she stopped walking put her arm around Penny and let the other kids squeeze by, “I haven’t seen Maria since…”

  Maria elbowed her way to them and cut her off.

 “I’m afraid I have some bad news.”

  “Shouldn’t we do this in private,” Mr. Myers interjected.

 Maria shrugged, “Yes that would be better. You can leave Mr. Myers.” she then took Kress by her left arm and led her and Penny into a nearby chemistry classroom. She waited for Myers to disappear in the crowd then shut the door.

  “What is it Maria?” Penny asked as she and Kress clung to one another.

  “Kian is dead.” She said flatly.

  The girls collapsed on the floor sobbing in each other’s as they sank.

  “No.” Penny cried, “It just can’t be.”

  “Well it is. Apparently, his hatred for us was stronger than his love for you. He turned on the Commander forcing his security detail to blow off his head and in doing so obliterated your usefulness. We do appreciate how well behaved you girls have been. It was invaluable in making our efforts to reverse your genetic alterations completely successful.

   Moreover, both of you have embraced your new reality far better than we hoped, proving we can successfully incorporate other altered test subjects in to human society. Unfortunately, your only other purpose was helping us control Kian. His rebellion and resulting sudden death wiped that out.

  The Company is now discussing your fate. But I must tell your termination is inevitable.”

  “You’re going to kill us?” Kress yelled.

  “Yes, just as soon as I they give me clearance.” Maria then gave her head a little jerk and the girls lost unconsciousness…

  Something warm rolled the bridge of Kia’s nose. With hardly a thought, she reached up and wiped it off. “Alex,” She yelled backing away from the cluster of blackberries, she was about to pluck. “I’m bleeding!” Suddenly her entire face was dripping red. Every pore of her scalp oozed red until her beautiful blonde-hair was a stringy crimson mop.

  Alex stooped over a nearby creek drinking water. He jumped up and ran to her. Something was in her voice he had never heard before, terror and agony.

  He found her balled up and writhing by large blackberry bush, cradling her head as if she were trying to keep her brain from falling out, she screamed and rocked on ground struggling to escape the pain.

    Alex could not believe his eyes. A blanket of blood covered her head and matted her hair as is it poured from her head like water. Yanking off his shirt he slung his body down at her, searched for a wound found none then wound her head in his shirt and held her to his chest until she finally stopped screaming so loudly.

  A puffy white cloud slid silently across the blue sky.  Alex did not see it. He had fixed his eyes on Kia. Her screams slowly turned to whimpers. Her body shook when she began to sniffle. Finally, after many long hour-like minutes she managed to utter a few words through her cradling arms, “Kian is dead. They shot him. They shot his head off!”

  Alex slumped back almost falling into the prickly blackberry bush. “Shot him, who, how do you know?”

  “He’s gone Alex, he’s gone. I was there, for just an instance I was there, I felt it but I can’t feel him anymore. I can’t sense him anywhere. He’s never coming back!” With that, she passed out in his arms…