zhuqi

7 January, 3078

   “She seems to favor her left side, huh?”

  “Yea, might have to look into that. Those bloody freaks will exploit any weaknesses.”

  Even through the soundproof glass, she could hear everything. She stood motionless, eyes fixed on a spot on the wall, listening as the group dressed in military uniforms discussed her performance.

  If they were satisfied, they would give the green light for her to receive the final microchip before joining the ranks of other battle ready cyborgs. And if they were unsatisfied, well, she would be sent back to the operating table again.

  She vaguely registered a nearby door unlocking and paid little attention to the quiet footsteps that squished through alien fluids and remains towards her.

  “You’ll be fine. They might seem fussy, but they always say yes,” a soft voice cut into her thoughts as she felt herself being gently steered out of the testing room that dripped with carnage and into the sterile room adjoining it.

  She shuffled over to the lone table in the middle, the only piece of furniture in the stark room, and hoisted herself onto it.

  “You did perfectly fine, don’t worry about it,” the petit, birdlike scientist chirped, bustling over and pressing a damp cloth to her patient’s arm and swiping off the remaining blood. “By the way, does it hurt anywhere?”

  She shook her head, choosing to ignore the sharp pain that stung her right ribs. There was no way she was going back to the operating table; no way she was going back to that painful hell.

  The scientist, Mina, her nametag declared, smiled. “That’s good. It was quite unexpected, the way you killed that Malri, way beyond our expectations!”

  Her patient grunted a reply, already tuning out. What was the point of dwelling on a single dead alien when there were millions, no, billions, more?

  Instead, she concentrated on Mina. Taking in the tired but warm brown eyes, the greying hair, and the wrinkled hands that had comforted the post-modification pain away countless times.

  She knew all too well that if the people outside gave their approval, this would be the last time she would ever see Mina, and she was determined to never forget this woman that had personally taken care of her like she would a daughter.

  And so she tried her best to burn Mina’s image into her retinas by taking in the colorful badges pinned to her lab coat, the mismatched socks, and the tiny leather book that hung from a silver chain around her neck.

  “What’s that?” she had once asked, and had been finally handed the necklace after much pestering. She carefully flipped it open, mouth open in an “o” of surprise at the countless pages of tiny scribbles, some neat, some illegible.

  Mina’s eyes crinkled in amusement as she pointed to a random page. “It’s a family heirloom. All my ancestors wrote down their greatest achievement in here!”

  Upon hearing those words, she hastily turned to the last page of words, tears welling up as she read it.

My greatest achievement is helping to create the one I believe will one day help change the world.

-Kim Mina

  Now, she watched wordlessly as Mina straightened up, setting aside the cloth that was now soaked in Malrian matter.

  Suddenly, the metallic gadget on Mina’s belt came to life, its screen flashing bright green, stopping only when its owner pressed it to her ear.

  Time seemed to stretch on. No doubt it was the decision of her fate being passed through. At long last, Mina set the phone down, turning to face her patient with a straight face.

  Her heart thudded, her palms grew sweaty at the stony expression on the scientist’s face. And then Mina broke into a grin, swiftly scooping the stunned girl into a hug. “You’re clear! They said yes! Oh, your father would be so proud!”

  She sighed in relief, releasing a breath she never knew she had been holding. “You stupid hag, I was so scared,” she whispered, tears of happiness pooling in her eyes.

  Mina giggled childishly as she released the other to briskly stride to the door and beckon for her patient to follow. “Come on, we have to prepare.”

  She stood, about to obey when she suddenly remembered observing as people headed for their last operation with clear eyes and emerged with blank ones. And although she tried her hardest to be brave, the memories struck a distant cord of fear.

  “What’ll happen to me after the operation?” The unspoken words were clear in her eyes, and she knew Mina could see it.

  The old scientist’s face hardened grimly momentarily before her usual serene gentleness replaced it. She stepped over to the other, smoothing back strands untamed hair and pressing a kiss to her forehead in a motherly gesture.

  “My dear Seven, after the operation, you’ll be ready.”

---

  The first thing Zhuqi saw when she opened her eyes for the first time in decades was a young man leaning in way too close for comfort.

  “Good morning Seven, my name’s –“

  To say she was shocked and mildly irritated was an understatement, and with a yell of “Get away from me, you creep!” she headbutted him before he could even finish his sentence, sending him reeling back clutching his nose.

  Zhuqi watched smugly as he removed his hand, eyes widening at the red that dripped from his nose. Pride filled her for being able to teach that possible ert a lesson, but that soon changed to slight panic when he started advancing again and she realized that she could not move because of several thick silver bands that tightened around her body.

  “I’m not sorry for what I did, so if you come any nearer, I swear I will hit you in the face again.”

  The man merely huffed in annoyance as he crossed over to somewhere besides the cramped box Zhuqi was being held in, making sure to carefully stay out of headbutting range. “You have two choices, you can stay in here, or you can promise not to touch me and I’ll let you out.”

  There was silence broken only by the sound of fingers tapping on a glass panel. Zhuqi wanted to get out, but would that creep do anything to her? Weighing her odds, she decided she could make a run for it if she found herself in any danger, and with that she called out, “Fine, but don’t come near me.”

  More sounds of digital buttons being pushed, and a whirring sound could soon be heard. There was a series of clicks, and the metal bands unsnapped from each other and slid in opposite directions into hidden compartments in the wall.

  Zhuqi waited a few minutes, listening out for any sign of attack, but when all she could hear was breathing coming from some distance away, she deemed it safe to get out.

  Gingerly, she stepped out, wincing at the numbness that was her limbs. She took tiny steps, rubbing her arms as she glanced at her surroundings.

  It was well maintained in this part, with clean air, bright lights and fully functional machines that flashed and blinked in time to an unheard rhythm. But with a squint and a sniff of the darker cavern that stretched to her right, she could tell that those parts were well and truly abandoned, with musty air and holes in the roof.

  A cough behind her drew her attention away and to the man she had previously injured. He stood a safe distance away with blood still dripping down his face.

  “Anyways, as I was saying, my name’s Jongin, it’s nice to meet you,” Zhuqi watched in amusement as he bowed in formality that she thought had been long forgotten in humanity’s fight to survive. He straightened, eyes casting everywhere except at the girl in front of him in an action of understandable nervousness.

  Zhuqi nodded in acknowledgement, before turning her attention to other things. More important things, such as why she could not hear any other human signs of life. She frowned, straining to hear more, but even with her enhanced hearing, there was an eerie nothingness in the atmosphere around.

  “Where the hell is everyone else.”

  It was a statement more than a question, and it surprised her when she heard Jongin’s unexpectedly tired voice, “Dead. Maybe dying.”

  “What.”

  “It’s 3078, ninety-six percent of humans are dead.”

  “You’re kidding me,” She looked back to study the boy properly, eyes scanning over the messy brown hair, the somehow familiar brown eyes, the perfectly sculpted face. Totally her type if it was several centuries earlier, if Jongin was to be believed. With a quiet beep, statistics started appearing in her vision, and she turned her focus to them.

  Not bad; this was probably the first time she saw a human with a strength percentage above the nineties.

  “Come on, I’ll explain,” he cracked a small smile as he moved to grab her wrist, only for said wrist to be jerked away roughly.

  “I’ll kill you if you touch me,” she glared at him, but nevertheless, she still trailed after as he turned to stride down the dark corridors.

  And that was how she ended up following this guy she knew for less than twenty minutes to god knows where. It was a long walk, and although Zhuqi was too busy examining the things around her to fully listen to what he was saying, she somehow managed to get the gist of it.

  Apparently, humanity’s efforts had been a huge failure and now all that was left were a few thousand humans, maybe even less, mostly just struggling to stay alive. Unless they were idiots like Jongin, who had somehow gotten it into his head that he could help save the world through researching and releasing defective robots.

  Zhuqi mentally scoffed as he told her his ideals. What could he do against an entire army of super freaks?

  Eventually, they emerged out of the maze of capsules to an obscure metal ladder that stretched up to an office that overlooked the entire room.

  They ascended carefully, Jongin climbing up with ease and smirking as she struggled to do the same with heavy limbs that were seeing their first use in ages.

  “Shut up,” she hissed when she finally managed to pull herself up.

  The place was tiny, cramped and dim. It had obviously once been a control office, with a dusty row of buttons lining one wall. The only source of light came from a single candle burning on the table, illuminating the countless piles of papers and other clutter strewn about the room. A lone table sat in the far corner, every inch of its surface covered in notebooks, files and pencil stubs.

  Stooping, Zhuqi plucked a random piece of paper from the pile and glanced over it, taking in the scrawls. She was vaguely aware of Jongin seating himself at the table and jotting something down on a scrap of paper.

  Silence reigned, uncomfortable for Zhuqi who had spent her whole life in noisy environments either filled with the everyday sounds of people going about their lives or filled with the constant whirring of machinery.

  “Are these all your junk?” she asked, picking up what seemed to be a metal arm from the floor. Bits of wire poked out from where missing plates had once clung, and a bit of fiddling on her part caused a finger to twitch, making her hastily set it back down in disgust.

  “I prefer to refer to them as research materials, actually,” came the distant reply, and Zhuqi cast her eyes around to see Jongin now hunched over the control panel, muttering as he jabbed at a number pad.

  She rolled her eyes, ambling over and peeking over his shoulder. He had several sheets of papers spread out before him, occasionally running his finger across the numerous markings before impatiently stabbing seemingly random buttons.

  Zhuqi squinted, surprised to see that they were all profiles of others like her; all placed into storage at some point or another. What was he doing with those?

  “Hey, Seven?”

  “Hm?”

  “How do you think you would feel if you… woke up alone without explanation?”

  “Probably pissed, confused and looking to break things.”

  “Ah,” Jongin sighed, dropping his head and cradling it in his hands. “And let’s say there are currently several pissed and confused cyborgs out there looking to break things, how much trouble do you think they’d cause?”

  Zhuqi could only gape at him as the words registered themselves in her brain. “What the hell did you do, you absolute idiot?”

  And she had so much more to say, so much more choice phrases that could better express her opinion of Jongin, but alas, she was interrupted at that moment by the unmistakable pitter patter of machine gun fire.

  Jongin looked up at her, sheepishly rubbing his neck. “I might have... um, accidentally released a few cyborgs without realizing what they would be capable of.”

  Zhuqi regarded him with disbelief written all over her face. Disbelief at how stupid this ‘scientist’ as he had claimed to be could be so stupid.

  “Kim Jongin, you are the biggest moron I have ever seen.”

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