Cyborg Claude
Episode 18
In the previous episode, Claude awakes in the middle of surgery to find that he has a mechanical arm and the same for his foot. Later he reveals some of his history with the Goekens and their current commissioner, which sets Salindra digging through side information gathered during her assignment on Goeken.
Cyborg Claude Main Page and Table of Contents
Claude sat down at the conference table and rubbed his shoulder. It ached like a real arm recovering from an injury. He flexed his left hand. It looked normal, and the skin was his. The super healing of the nanobots in the past three days had dissolved most of the stitches it had taken to wrap the mechanical parts in flesh. He grimaced at the image that came to mind of Stefen sewing him back together. Thankfully, whatever they had used to knock him out again had saved him from seeing it for real. He grabbed the glass of water closest to him and chugged it. That helped wash some of the foul taste away.
He put his attention on Min, who stood at the head of the table within arm’s reach of him. She had given him another chance to truly live. He had a lot to overcome to do it right this time. Including divulging secrets he kept from even her.
A loud snap followed by a few gasps made him blink. He had zoned out with his thoughts.
Min carefully took the broken glass out of his hand.
No scratches. The glass had cracked, but not shattered in his grip. He clasped his hands in his lap.
“Are you all right?”
“No, but I’ll get over it.” He smirked at the looks he received.
Min nodded, but he knew she would want to talk about it later. “Then let’s get this meeting started since everyone is present.”
Admiral Hawkins closed the door behind those who had lingered in the hall chatting before the meeting.
“Some of you are new to the command staff.” Min looked around the table. “For phase two, we are doing a major reorganization. We still have a few things to sort out from the first phase.” She picked up the controller and brought up her first item. “This is the new organizational chart. All of you received your official notifications yesterday.”
She paused while taking in the people around the table.
Admiral Hawkins, who remained standing, cleared his throat. “Looks more like a corporation than a military agency.”
“Exactly. A company that supplies security of people and assets, including transports. That’s our the public side and makes us unaffiliated directly with the Universal Alliance. We will have a new ship for this cause. This yacht will be stripped of all our additions, including our computer upgrades.”
Salindra leaned forward. “I hope we wait for all processes in progress to complete first. I have the computer producing a 3D image of a schematic we acquired just before leaving Goeken. It is one of the last things to sort out in what you are calling Phase One.”
“Correct. As of now, this yacht is marked as inhabitable while it remains docked here, but flagged for decommission. The Deserkans have added security to this station and helped devise a discrete move to the new ship.” She advanced the screen to the next item and remained silent.
Claude examined the timeline. Min had shown it to him while he recuperated in the sickbay, but his system hadn’t allowed for deep thinking. For that matter, the drain of recovery still demanded rest and more food than usual. That thought invoked a growl from his stomach.
Stefen, who sat to his right, handed him a protein bar.
Claude ripped it open and took a healthy bite out of it.
Min continued, “The items in green have been completed, the ones in yellow are seventy-five percent, orange is anything started but below the yellow percentage, red is planned but not started, and purple is still in the planning phase. We have a lot to do to have this completed in the next thirty days.” She held up a hand for silence.
“Most of you are already on track with what you are doing. The main reason for this meeting, beyond reiterating our org chart and timeline, is to clear up personnel intrigue.” She put the organization chart back on the screen and highlighted the top two boxes.
Claude took in his and Min’s names. They had come a long way with a great deal of sacrifice from the inception of the agency and through everything it had morphed into since. This transition was not the first, but one of the largest.
“It starts here with me and Claude. I’ve been the leadership face of this agency for most of its existence. Claude has seniority over me if we go by our military ranks.”
“Which isn’t public,” said Admiral Hawkins.
“Correct. Most everyone received a new rank when assigned here in the past decade. Your home military records show you as retired from the service at the time you joined the agency. You are the only one still called by your rank because you are simply on extended leave.”
The admiral nodded his head. “I’m not on the org chart.”
“You are considered a consultant and we don’t have to divulge our consult sources.”
The admiral grinned. “You just let me run the bridge enough to feel at home.”
Min smiled. “You are sharing your expertise in how to man a vessel and defend it. After all, we are a security company and we need to know how to move and protect our assets.”
He rubbed his jaw. “I can handle this change of pace. However, the Droeken Armada will want me back soon. I told them I’m not ready to retire. I plan on giving them another decade of my charming personality.” He chuckled. “I believe you have me for about three more months as a consultant. My ship will be retrofitted by then.”
“And your expertise will help us retrofit our new ship.”
Min looked around, but no one else jumped in with comments. “This venture is making us a private company rather than a secret agency of the Universal Alliance. It will allow us to work for hire and move about as a business not associated with any government or military. If we get burned from this point forward, we can’t rely on the Universal Alliance to bail us out. The company has to defend itself, so that is why we have added a legal department.
“But it is time for Claude to share who he really is because we start by clearing all mysteries inside the company. We must become more cohesive with this change, so we have a full trust of each other.”
Claude rose to his feet. No one knew who he really was. His family had changed their name to hide from something when he was young. His jaw tightened, remembering their horrific deaths of his parents in what was dubbed an accident. He had to sort that out, along with adjusting to his cyborg status, before he could settle on a full relationship with Min. So many things to fix and some of them should have been remedied long ago.
“Might as well leap right in with both feet.” Claude smirked to hide his tension. “My name has always been Claude. I know there have been more hits in the database to find a Claude internally than there have been externally. The Goekens have my face now and that could lead to issues, even if they don’t have a name until our company goes live. However, that will test how this transition to running like a private company full of retired military works outs. Retired military cannot be harassed for what they may have done for their government. It takes a lot for it to turn into a court case.
“The best way to hide information is keeping it off a computer. I’ve been a complete mystery for some time now. Not an easy thing to do or live with.” He paused. “It has left me as a mystery to the organization, while we tried to convince our enemies I didn’t exist anymore. There is at least one person on Goeken who will recognize me as a military operative. His rank will allow him to try something, but it’s all part of my military association at the time.”
He collected his thoughts. “This last trip to Goeken will prove touchy because all records either showed I was dead or medically discharged from the Droeken Armada five years ago. Once this man sees my picture, he will know things were falsified. However, what I did on Goeken this last time can’t be tied to the personal issue he has with me, nor can he do much in the neutral universal court system. It is all tied to a Universal Alliance secret agency op. It did not harm anyone but agents and will be attributed to espionage during a cold war.”
Claude fell silent and stared off at nothing. The memories of his squad being ripped apart in an ambush on Telna made him flinch. The current commissioner of the Goeken Space Association had showed up and choked out what life he had left in him. He swallowed hard against the constriction of his throat and sucked in a deep breath to prove he could breathe.
Expectant expressions meant his gaze when he glanced around the room.
He cleared his throat. “You all received a form you could not use until after this meeting. If you stay, you retire from your military and work for the company. You can’t have a military paycheck and one from the company. If you feel you prefer to return to your military career, you can do that as well. All personnel will be given the same option when those of you who remain brief them about the changes.”
He leaned on the table when pain shot through his heel. “Once in the company, we will not have the protection we had as a piece of the Universal Alliance’s joint military ops. We have their full support, but it has been determined this agency must move forward as a private company. It keeps the Universal Alliance out of what we do in the records, but if we break a universal law, we could be prosecuted.
“The man with a personal vendetta against me is none other than the commissioner of the Goeken Space Association. I am the one who killed his son at a space station in the Droeken Empire. We still haven’t figured out what he was doing there, but it may be something we can figure out if the current agenda works.”
He pushed himself upright with his weight on his left foot. “Our mission is to prove Goeken is misusing biomechanics. However, now we have to do it by universal law methods so we can take a strong case to the courts.”
He looked at Min, who gave him a slight nod. Sweat beaded on his forehead with the effort to remain standing. Maybe he required more time to recuperate.
“Salindra, where do we stand on analyzing that last information we acquired from Goeken?” Claude winced and slowly rolled his left shoulder. It did not help that Min had dressed him in a business suit. Definitely appropriate, but the last thing he felt like wearing at the moment. “I know you and Hawkins started looking at it.”
“We are having the computer build a 3D image of the curious item with the information we have.” Salindra shifted in her seat nervously. “There are two parts of the diagram that are devoid of schematic details. One is at the end of what could be an arm and the other is in the central area of the box. It is so heavily detailed everywhere else. At first, the computer said it would take sixty hours, but it has run most of the past three days with just over half rendered, so in three more we should be able to play with it on a holodeck.” Salindra looked at her notes. “We know every in and out of the building on Goeken that has a secret bio lab of some sort in it. There are enough snippets to point to places on Telna, as well.” She paused and looked at Claude. “You all got very close to something on Telna five years ago. It probably got moved, but I think part of this secret project of theirs is still there.”
Claude frowned when old memories flared again. The ambush had led them where the Galactic Council wanted them, not to the actual site. Telna seemed a slow and backwards place, but most of that was an act. What remained hidden there? He rubbed his forehead.
“Can we have a holodeck running on our new ship in three days?” Claude glanced around the table again.
Chancellor Krollin said, “I have supplied the new ship information. The ship has the latest in technologies, is fully armored and armed to the teeth, and has a cloaking feature just recently completed and tested by the Deserkans. It has no distinguishing style to it at all. I find it rather clunky looking. It has the latest hyper drive. The computer setup should feel like a mansion for the agency’s AI. We could move the holodeck first since it is not required for processing of information into 3D, only required for interaction with it per what I understand.
“I’ll be leaving in five days to return to my duties to ensure my presence doesn’t undermine this change over. Despite having a hand in some of the new ship acquisition, none of it can be tied to me. All data was passed via thumb drives and not over the network.”
Min said, “That should work. The transition will take three weeks. That gives us plenty of time to reanalyze everything we have and fill in what holes we can. There may be more than one place to infiltrate simultaneously. I do not want a repeat of five years ago.”
Claude clenched his teeth. Too many things went wrong, too close together. What if there had been an insider? What if there still was one? He slowly looked around the table.
Krollin seemed like the prime suspect because of his political position that led him to interacting with the enemy. He had gotten an agent killed with his latest slip. His slip had removed him from any ambassadorial duties. The Galactic Council would start screaming about espionage and secret agencies if he joined in any talks. The mole, if there was one, wouldn’t be so obvious, would they? Now he wished he knew everyone better. Room for doubting could cause a catastrophe.
Claude sat and put his head in his left hand, which reminded him what was under the skin. How could he call out the enemy for their biotech usage when he possibly defied the laws by being alive? He needed to find the dry humor again that just kept him plugging along, no matter what. He sighed louder than he wanted to.
“Claude?”
He looked up at Min. “Before you or anyone asks, yes, I am feeling rather run down at the moment.” He pushed himself more upright. “All I know is that some things in the past have neatly hindered us, as if the Galactic Council had a clue. I, like Min, do not want a repeat of five years ago. I would have died if not extracted from the carnage. You all know that I’ll put my life on the line to prove or disprove what the Galactic Council is up to with their bioengineering. I also have no qualms about shooting a comrade that tries to backstab me. I’ve done it before and I don’t want to do it again.” Yet another thing to remind him of that day. One of the dozen had died because he had killed him.
He rubbed his jaw to ease the tension. Everyone looked rather pale, though Min and Stefen had a look of understanding in their eyes.
“Give me a target I can go after in one month. So that gives you three weeks to shift from one ship to the other and one week of full testing to prove her capabilities.” He strode to the door, where he paused when it opened with a soft swoosh. “I really hope we don’t find what we think we will.” He glanced one last time at them before stepping out the door.
He strode down the hall and punched in the security code for Min’s massage parlor. Inside, he sank down onto the only stool and leaned against the wall, listening to the tranquil sound of the little fountain.
He held up his left hand. “My brain thinks you’re normal, but also knows better. I abhor the idea of a mind probe, let alone any other freakish, illegal bioengineering, and here I sit as a test lab.” He snorted. “Well, if I have to take a fall, I’m taking Goeken with me.”
< Episode 17 | Main Page | Episode 19 >
I’m at the part where I’ll be doing as much rewriting as editing, if not more. However, there are pieces worth keeping in the mix. I’m not having to fully write episodes from scratch… yet.
I also realize some of my buttons from episode 11 are not sharing the right episode because of copy pasting the buttons each time. I’ll have the remedied by the time this episode goes live.
Share your thoughts about the episode in the comments. Thank you for reading.