Chapter 1

Undisclosed Location, year 456 of the Unified Alliances

My eyelids felt heavy, I couldn’t open them no matter how hard I tried. I attempted to lift my arms, but they were just as unresponsive. When my legs wouldn’t budge either, panic welled up inside me. I could only listen as my pulse quickened, my breathing became rough, and soon I found myself screaming internally, for it was all I could really do. My internal monologue helped calm me, remembering who I am helped cool my panicked head. I tried accessing my bio-implants, but they didn’t respond like I expected them to. Bio implants are like having a user interface for my body inside my head, they are a network that feed my brain information on my body’s state and how it interacts with the outside world.

Connecting...

The wait was horrible,.

System has been subverted or all Implants are offline.

My precious state of calm shattered, panic resumed. Ok, my onboard A.I. is still online which means that at least some of my implants are still operational; my body is still intact. Someone or something has disabled them, I am completely in their power. They could be forcing themselves onto me or cutting me apart, and in my current state I wouldn’t notice a thing!

Weighing my options, I came to realise that I am in no position to do anything but wait. Waiting to see if my captor will decide to discuss with me about my demise ... well, let’s just say that you wouldn’t believe the number of times I have found myself in that kind of situation before. Unprofessional people always want to gloat about how you will “die in the most horrible way” and blah blah blah, and it is ideal for me, because they give you a free window of opportunity to escape

The biggest issue I have however, is that I can’t remember how I got here, I can’t remember how I was captured or why. The most logical conclusion would be that I had been captured for the bounty on my head, but there were countless possible other reasons too, ranging from brain damage to someone messing about in my head for their own purposes...

Intense pain suddenly jolts my body, making me try to scream out in torment. Thinking is impossible; I am in pain for what feels like an eternity but could have equally been just a few moments. Was I always this weak? That panicky mess I woke up as earlier isn’t really endearing.

As sudden as it had started my torment eased suddenly. If I could access my implants I would numb my pain receptors and be done with it. Damn, that’s ... good. A wave of relief and exhaustion came over me. Tiredness slowly filled me, it wasn’t exactly relaxing and I couldn’t even resist it, darkness embraced me once more.

I woke up again and this time my eyes opened, intense white light seared my retinae; my eyelids instinctively slammed shut. The light passed through them; while trying to shield my eyes with my hands I realized that I still couldn’t move any of my limbs. Glancing frenetically around me, I tried to get a good picture of my surroundings. I am in a big room; a laboratory of sorts. It has some sort of chrome theme going on. Tools and machinery that are completely foreign to me are littered around the table I am strapped on. Am I to become the subject of some depraved experiment!? Turning my head a little to the left I could see the back of someone, a female humanoid with a tight white uniform that covers her whole body. Her white hair is styled in a tight bun around the back of her head. If I could move I would be glad she is facing away from me, but wherever I am has me bound tightly. Sitting in a nest of screens and keyboards her hands moved elegantly and efficiently while typing and tracing her fingers on tablets all around her. It was akin to how conductors led their orchestra in the old vids, the staccato tapping of her fingers was entrancing. The show continued for long minutes until a flash of light, brighter than the glare of the lab dazzled me.

It felt like there were millions of tiny insect under my skin, my head, everywhere!

“Finally, you are awake my little one.” I heard say.

The creepy feeling which took over my body gradually ceased, letting me focus on the voice. My eyes found the scientist of earlier facing me; it’s an older woman maybe in her thirties. But it’s hard to judge age nowadays with rejuvenation treatments becoming the norm, this woman could be eighty for all I know. Upturned golden eyes smiled at me, her heart shaped face exuded softness and a kind feeling. She was petite and adorable looking, but my job always was about getting past the first impression. Evil is often hidden by light.

“Oh what a prudent little thing, you are right to be on your guard though.” Said the tiny woman.

I don’t know how to respond to that, but I ... wait is she a psionic?

“Indeed!” She answered with her soft voice.

Fuck.

“Language.” She frown her cute face.

I couldn’t believe that people like this actually existed, still caring about being civil and respectful. That’s the kind of things that doesn’t bring you anything in the rim of Cagliostro space, here only strength and influence count. Only my father or my late mother could talk to me lik...