Short Stories

Cyborg Warriors

Half machine and half human; beings that had their every thought controlled. They were made into weapons so that the human race would stand a chance against the mechanical monsters that had risen up. They needed people who would fight, not ask questions, and do anything to stop the mechanical monsters. Everyone was utterly terrified of the idea when it first came out. People being fused with machinery? The same thing they were fearing for their lives? It was preposterous! The man behind the idea: Servian Melde. He dealt with biochemistry and engineering. When he was a child, he'd dreamt of a future where humans were upgraded, more efficient. The only thing that could help them achieve that was becoming one with technology.

First, volunteers came in to start the first phase of the project. He'd study them, seeing how he could improve them. Servian added little things, such as tools that came from their hands and fingers. He also trifled with their eyes, giving even a blind man the ability to see with the power of an eagle's eye. He melded them together, living up to his name. The first group were sent out to find the mechanical monster outside the metal walls and destroy it. But only two of them returned, having left behind the others in fear. They were flawed. Servian had to make sure they would stay and finish the job. If they didn't return, that would mean they weren't strong enough. But these two? They were cowards.

Servian reported to his people of the first cyborgs that were left. He told them of the adjustments and then of their cowardice. People were furious! Those cyborgs volunteered to help them and they would do it. No one can ever go back on volunteering, it's immoral. The people tore through the streets, going to those cyborgs' homes and carrying them to the wall. They tossed them out.

No matter how loud their screams were or the cries of their families, no one let them back in. They must be punished. For Servian Melde, it was just a failed prototype and he'd have to make more. Less people were hesitant to volunteer the second time. He added more weapons and tools, even replacing the peoples' eyes entirely with an optics mechanism. They had blades come out from their elbows, the skin long gone replaced with metal and gears. They were less flesh and more metal. Servian hoped they would work, but he thought back to what happened before.

Servian spent day and night with a cyborg rat, trying to create a brain-controlling chip. If he could get the rat to listen to his every order, then he would try it on a human. He needed the cyborgs to be fearless and to fight until they couldn't fight anymore. He needed them to be ruthless. He needed them to be warriors. The ultimate cyborg warriors.

It took Servian almost three months to gain any kind of response to the chip, but he had done it. He directed the rat through the maze with his computer, the chip taking the signals from the computer and sending them to the rat's brain. He controlled the rat, giving him a taste of true power and control. He adored it and immediately went to work on his cyborgs.

His first ever controlled cyborg, Cynthia, he remembered. He did not care for his first ever cyborg, he only cared for the one that truly listened to his every demand. She'd wash his dishes when signaled, make his bed, and even kill the farmer's pig. He controlled her. He knew the next thing was to send her out into the field.

There was only one problem; Cynthia did not speak unless spoken too. Even so, she was monotonous and devoid of any personality or life. She did not answer questions on personalized things, such as hobbies or things she'd like to eat. She'd become hollow, a living machine. A machine that followed every order that was signaled to her. She was nobody.

The power became tempting when Servian started to get less volunteers. He needed to control more people, he craved it. Cynthia was just the first, and three men to follow. He went late at night and snatched people from their homes with the help of his cyborg warriors. It was the power, once he got a taste, he could never be full of it. Everyone listened to him then, unlike in the past. People ignored him, thought he was crazy. But when the Mechanical Revolution began, people panicked and turned to scientists and intellectuals for help.