Gate 216

Wait, What?

Sam looked shocked. "Kate isn't technology!" she almost yelled at the President. "She is a human being, with rights just like everyone else! You can't come up to me and tell me that Kate is just a piece of machinery, and has to be contained!" I could see this was getting us nowhere, so I tried to smooth things over just a bit. "That's not what they're saying, Sam. They're trying to tell you about my past. Remember how I told you I didn't remember much about my childhood, because a lot of it was spent moving around? Well, in a way, that was true. When I was ten years old, I began training in the NHI's Child Training Program. It wasn't what you would expect: very juvenile, easy stuff, until I was twelve. Now, usually the true training does not begin until age fifteen, but I advanced so quickly in the ranks, that I was deemed eligible for the test, which would move me on to the level of all the "real" trainees. Five others moved on with me, and we prepared for the test. During the test, there was a section called the jump of no return. Trainees have to make a twenty-foot long jump from one building to another, without the use of a safety net. By this point in training, this is a piece of cake: we had been training for this from day one, gradually widening a gap which we must jump across. This is considered, however, the hardest part of the test, because if you do not make it, you do not survive. I was the first one to jump across, and it started off great. I made a running start, and just before my jump was to commence, something slipped. I got off the ground, but halfway through, it was evident that I would not make it across. I began falling rapidly down a 23-story building, where the jump was to be made. I crashed into the ground seconds later, and remember nothing after that.

"I was told later that the crew rushed over to see me, and checked my vitals. Surprisingly, I was still alive, but had no function whatsoever. They rushed me to a hospital near the NHI, and proceeded to try and put life back into me. This was unsuccessful, and the doctors settled back to await the time of death. But just then, NHI employees came with a slip of paper, telling the doctors that I was to be released into their custody, for transfer to the NHI HQ. The scientists in the facility had just began research on a new type of metal, which was organic, and could be used in the human body, and not be rejected by it. By this point, my parents had arrived, and gave the approval for the surgery to be done. The scientists then planted this metal compound, called triglycocarbonite, and began to bring me back to life. They took my entire heart, as none of it was functioning, and implanted a futuristic pacemaker. They implanted in me a motherboard of sorts, to control the rest of my body. Most of my brain was still functioning, and so all they did was implanted a chip to control my new bodily functions. They replaced all of my bones with triglycocarbonite, which is as hard as a human bone, but practically unbreakable. Since I was going to be a NHI Agent, they implanted me with things that I would need: for instance, each of my ten fingers are equipped with a different type of gun, or rocket device. My feet have jets inside them, kind of like the jet pack seen in some action movies. My head has a long arm, used to grab things out of reach of my normal hands. Nearly everything in my body is equipped with something needed for the agent, so a utility belt is not needed. I woke up ten days later, and found no one in the room, but a large book in front of me. Inside was a manual of precisely how to work everything I was equipped with, and all I did was extend my new arm in my forehead, and my brain ingested it, and I instantly knew everything I was supposed to do to activate anything. I am 40% robot, and 60% human. I am the HumaBot, the first ever human robot. And that is my big secret, and that is why they are after me."

Sam stood and stared at me in amazement, then skepticism. "Alright then, show me something. Do something amazing. Prove it." I twisted my nose first to the right, then the left, then pushed it in twice. A metal arm burst out of the top of my head, holding a sign saying, "Now do you believe me?" Sam went white. "I need to sit down," she said faintly. Jonathan, who had been quiet during this whole incident, finally spoke. "So why do they want you?" "Isn't that obvious?" the President asked. "They want triglycocarbonite for them. They want to steal it, then patent it and sell it for ridiculous prices on the world market. It's the oldest trick in the book: steal another person's work, and market it as your own." At this point, two or three men in black suits came up to the President, and whispered in his ear. "You are to come with me," the President said. "We're taking you to headquarters. Katrina, you are free to get there as you please, as long as you go only there. Remember, we can track that com-link anywhere, so we will find you if you go to Washington, or anywhere else." I nodded, and snapped my fingers first on the right, then the left. Jets sprang from my feet, and she shot up into the air. She stopped for just a moment, and checked her watch. Her voice crackled from the President's wrist. "Radio connection enabled. Sir, would you like for me to contact the rest of the Elite team?" Sam and Jonathan looked at each other, wondering if this was really their friend they had known for the past two years. The President responded through his watch, "That would be an affirmative. Tell them to rendezvous at HQ in 15 minutes. Out." I flew off, broadcasting over my com-link, knowing my two friends could hear me in the car below. "Attention Elite, meet me at HQ in ten minutes. Use any means necessary to arrive on time. No worries about secrecy now, guys, it's time."

~**~