Empty Toward The Moon

Chapter Six

I woke slowly but pretended to sleep when I remembered that I wasn't at home. Kidnapped and held hostage. I wondered how long I'd been unconscious for. I wondered if my uncle had arrived already. I wondered what he would do with me.

[Judging by your respiratory system and heart rate, you are conscious, small one.]

I jolted as the voice in my brain sounded loudly.

[My apologies, Miss. I will lower my internal auditory output to more comfortable levels.]

What the hell....?

[I'm not Hell, my designation is DomonovaniMatrix001769.3. Pleased to make your acquaintance], The voice sounded. I opened my eyes and looked around the room, trying to find the person or speaker box or something to explain where the voice was coming from.

"Domonova... what are you?" My voice quivered, a husky rendition of its former glory. I cleared my throat, only to scrape it raw a little more. There was a pouch of water beside me which I quickly ripped open and drank from.

[DomonovaniMatrix001769.3. I have forged a symbiotic attachment to your former BrainComp MatcherBordouglas Unit 440.]

"My BrainComp?" I stopped looking around the room, then froze in place when I realised it was in my brain. I curled up and wrapped my arms up around my head, remembering the pain I suffered, and cried for the second time in the space of 24 hours.

"You uploaded into my head? What the hell? Who does that?" Then I paused as a more disturbing thought came to me. Was this an alien entity?

[No, I am not an alien entity. I am one hundred percent human manufactured and operated. And no, I will not be rotting your brain any time soon.]

"What do you mean, any time soon?" Then I realised that he could read my mind.

[I'm not reading your mind. Your surface thoughts, although chaotic and incredibly inefficient in order and function, are being projected to anyone with an ounce of pathic abilities. I share your bioware and can hear everything you project.]

"You're reading my mine. Stop it!" I hissed.

[Yes Miss.] The voice complied. Or at least seemed to. I breathed, and drank from the water pouch. My clothing was a mess, and I was covered in dryed on sweat and blood and snot. The refresher unit didn't have a mirror, but the amount of blood and mucus I washed off my face and neck gave me a fair idea of what had happened. The echo of that horrible pain made me shudder again.

[I apologise for the pain my adapting to your biological mainframe caused you. It was necessary for bioware calibration and nervous system functionality. If you had fallen asleep or become unconscious, it would only have delayed things and I would have had to begin at the start all over again.] The voice said.

"You assimilated me." I said in shock, as anger and wrath began to bubble up inside, making my heart beat strongly and my sensors heighten.

[I suppose I did.] The voice said with any inflection in his words.

"You fracking assimilated me, uploading yourself to my brain and body without my permission and enslaved me. What the hell, Domo or whatever you call yourself. Get out of me, right now!" I was nearly yelling at this point.