Chapter 1

My name was Phillip Moore, I was an EMT in San Diego when my reserve unit got called up, I would be heading to Iraq, good times. I said my good byes to my family and friends, my mother was upset but she understood, but we had just lost dad a few months prior.

It must have been my lucky day I was barely five minutes on the ground in Iraq when an explosion rocked the base, I hit the deck, I could see the smoke from the explosion less than a quarter of a mile away, my training kicked in and I ran toward it, I could already see injured soldiers lying around, when I reached the first one I began to do triage and stabilize him.

I could here more soldiers coming to respond to the explosion, I grabbed one and had him start helping me, It seemed like hours but must of only been several minutes, we had gotten three people away from the blast site, I was going back to help another when I heard gun fire erupt, I crawled to an injured soldier and began working on him, ignoring the gun fire, something out of the corner of my eye caught my attention, on a building across the street from the base a man was aiming an rpg at the soldiers responding to the explosion.

"RPG" I yelled, throwing myself on top of the soldier I was helping.

I felt the heat from the explosion followed by nothing, everything went black, my last thought was fuck this shit.

I awoke feeling cold, I couldn't see anything, I couldn't move, but I could hear, it seemed like an eternity.

"This is the latest batch." Voice one.

"What happened?" Voice two.

"Insurgents, I.U.D. And rpg attack." Voice one.

"Jesus, I hate those leaves us nothing to work with." Voice two

"I already injected them with the test serums." Voice one

"Well at least this one still has his spine and head intact, never goes well with out it." Voice two.

"That ones getting the medal of honor." Voice one.

"Really why?" Voice two.

"He was in the thick of it helping the injured, warned them of the RPG attack, instead of running he shielded the person he was working on, saved the poor bastards life." Voice one.

"Lot of good it will do him." Voice two.

"Well what do you want to assign these ones." Voice one.

"Well the first three brains are useless but their cerebral cortex seems okay, send them to Dr. Klein, She could salvage them for her quantum cognitive communication test." Voice two.

"What about the hero here?" Voice one.

"The body seems to respond to the serum, and the brains intact, send it over to Dr. Benson, he might be perfect for the necrotic tissue test." Voice two.

"Sure thing, you want to get a bite to eat I'm starving?" Voice one.

"Sure, lets just process these bodies first." Voice two.

I drifted out of it again, the next time I came to I seemed to floating in a vat of some kind, I could feel the cool liquid on parts of me, I could hear bubbles flowing past my ears, I still couldn't see, I head muffle foot steps.

"How are we doing today?" A female voice.

"Eh not talkative as usual." She said

I heard her pull up a stool, at least thats what it sounded like, I heard something unwrapping, it was difficult to make out, was she talking to me?

"Mmem beej" She said.

"Sorry talking with my mouth full." She said.

"Remember I was telling you about the test? Yeah well it didn't work, I just can't get the quarks to align properly." She said.

Was she eating?

"Yeah I know subject 24, I just can't figure it out." She said.

"It works on animals, I tethered one using the system to a drone on the International space station, it seemed to move around, well what little the machine could, Bob is still working on getting me a good robotics model to use it even tried to get to the food, so I know it works." She said.

"Your right 24 maybe there is two much data, maybe if I narrow it down for humans?" She said.

"Man if I don't figure this out the military might scrap my program." She said.

"At least Dr. Benson is having progress, he said that he actually got brainwave activity from you, he want's me to keep coming in here to talk to you, says it might stimulate more activity. You know I was actually thinking of teaming up with him on you, If I could install the tethering systems well the necrotic tissue is being reanimated I might have better luck." she said.

What the hell was going on here.

"Yeah I know its a long shot, but I mean right now you are just a head in a jar, maybe I can get together with Bob and Dr. Benson, if you really are responding to the serums you would be perfect test bed for all our research." She said.

"Yeah I know Bob has been itching to try out those robotic systems on humans, but all his animal testing has gone badly, but maybe if he grows the tissue around it would work, same with mine, I have been implanting on subjects that are whole ... If I could put it in in the state you are in, well maybe when it grows around it the connections would function like they are designed?" She said excitedly.

"OH 24 you have been a big help, I would never of thought of this with out you." She said.

What the fuck was going on, I seemed to drift off again, I was awoken by several voices.

"So you see sir, if we use subject 24 in his current state, it might be the best hope to get Bob and My projects working. If we install on the equipment we want to test on the subject now, we could use Dr. Bensons serum to reanimate and grow the tissue around it." The female voice said.

"Like a topiary" A gruff male voice said.

"topiary?" A more formal voice asked.

"Yes general they are comparing my advance research to a shrub." Said a prim male british voice

"General, it could work." The female voice said.

"Just because your project is failing don't try to co-opt mine." the british voice said.

"General all we are saying is that Dr. Bensons serum shows promise for our fields, there will always be more subjects, whats this one to ensure the success of the over all mission?" The female voice said.

"Bob you sure the enhancements will work when you connect them?" The general said.

"Yeah I am, its just the immune system of the animals I am using can't take the stress, on this subject that wouldn't be an issue." The gruff voice said.

"Dr. Klein, are you sure the neural connections for the tether system will work on human subjects?" The general asked.

"Yes sir, I am having the same problems as Bob, the subjects can't take the implantation process." She said.

"Dr. Benson, I am going to allow this, Ill be transferring this one subject to her care, you know how important the Tethering project is, if she gets it working we may never lose another soldier in the field again. Please assist her with the application of the serum when she needs it." The general said.

"Yes sir." Dr. Benson said.

It was awhile again of floating in and out of awareness, at one point I felt I was being moved, another I could of swore I was on an operating table, I had no idea if this was all some coma induced delusion or was what I was experiencing real.

I felt something tugging at my attention, it was strange but I could feel something trying to get my attention, when I focused on it I felt my world dissolve. I found myself on all fours surrounded by walls, I could see, but I couldn't feel, it was strangely disjointed, I willed myself to move forward and I did, thats when I heard it.

"OH its working!" The female voice again, Dr. Klein.

I stopped moving.

"It could just be random synapses firing." The gruff male voice Bob.

I moved forward again and stopped and backed up, I was in some kind of maze.

"That didn't look random." Dr. Klein said.

"We will see if it can finish the maze." Bob said.

Didn't these people relies I was a person? Not some lab-rat.

"I hope he does, otherwise the general could scrap the project." Dr. Klein said.

What ever was going on these people controlled my destiny, and if scrapping meant I would end up dead than I was going to be the best damn lab rat they had, I moved as swift as the little robot I seemed to be in could move, it was awkward at first but I got the hang of it, I ran that maze as fast as it could move.

"Well Ill be damned, looks like it could be working." Bob said.

"Yes, yes it did." Dr. Klein said.

"Whats wrong Doc?" Bob said.

"Nothing, well, didn't Dr. Benson say these brains had to much damage to anything but rudimentary functions." Dr. Klein asked.

"Yes, he said they are almost vegetables." Bob said.

"Oh right right, okay, well I need to finish up hear you can go on." She said.

I was waiting at the end of the maze, I heard the door open and someone leave, that was when I was picked up, it was disorienting to be picked up like that, the Doctor brought me up to look at me, she was young, younger than I expected, she looked very much like a geek, thick glasses, red hair with freckles, she seemed to be examining the robot, I fit in the palm of her hand, she placed me on the table and stared at me.

"24, I never imagined you could finish the maze, Bob said that as a joke ... umm can you hear me and understand me." She asked

I moved back to answer her, I could see her eye go wide.

"How about forward for yes back for no?" She asked.

I moved forward, I could see she went pale.

"Do you know where you are?" She asked.

I backed up.

"So you understand me?" She asked.

I moved forward.

"oh god, oh god." She said.

"Do you remember who you are?" She asked.

I moved forward, I watched as she promptly fainted.

I was left on the table she had placed me, I moved around trying to get an idea of where I was, I was in some kind of lab, I could see equipment I didn't recognize all over. I caught my reflexion in the glass of one of the monitors, I was in some kind of small spider like robot, no that didn't make sense my brain couldn't fit in there, I was connected to it somehow.

I went to the computer and looked at the screen, there was a graph display signal strength, one line said host and the other said drone, I studded it for a minute, I tried to type on the keyboard but couldn't. I heard the door to the lab open, I decided to act like I was randomly walking across the table. I heard someone approach.

"Doctor?" It was Bob.

"Doctor Klein!" He said bending over to help her.

"huh what?" She mumbled.

"Doctor Klein what happened?" He asked.

"The subject?" she mumbled.

"Its fine its randomly walking about the table." He said.

"Oh oh, I um I most of slipped an hit my head." She said quickly.

"I should call for help." He said.

"No no, I am fine, really." She said.

"At least have Dr. Benson look at you?" He said.

"No! No I am good. Really don't worry." she said standing up.

"Doctor, don't be so stubborn." He said.

"NO really I have a lot of work, Ill rest later and be fine, okay, if I feel anything ill go to medical right away." She said.

"Okay, but if you feel anything off let someone know." He said.

I watched her nod as I continued to walk around the table, she reached over and grabbed.

"Well back to work." She said walking out of the lab.

I could see nothing in her lab coat pocket as we went, I heard doors opening and what sounded like a lock, she pulled me from her pocket and I could see we were in an office, she placed me on the desk and sat down, she put her head in her hands.

"Oh God, what do I do, the subjects are supposed to be practically brain dead." She said.

I moved toward her, she looked up startled.

"Oh oh you can still under stand me." She said.

I moved forward.

"Oh god." She said again.

"I am so sorry, this shouldn't be happening." She said.

"If I tell them they will stop and dispose of you." She said.

I moved back.

"No no, don't worry, I wont say anything. Ill think of something." She said.

I moved forward.

"If we finish the experiments that might work." She said.

I moved back again.

"Oh oh, you see we are supposed to be working on several things, I am working on a neural interface, one that say a soldier could use to operate a drone, much like you are doing now, your brain is in another part of the lab." She said.

I moved forward.

"Right and Bob well hes a bio-engineer, his team are working on building better remote drones, he was working on using animal genetics to make a drone that would be undetectable to the enemy. He would use animal DNA to create bio-synthetic parts, he would then graft them into the animal test subjects" She said.

I moved forward again.

"Well and then there is Dr. Benson, he is working on a serum to reanimate necrotic tissue." She said.

I moved back.

"Oh well you see the idea was to reanimate dead tissue, make it living again, it has several applications if it works, we could use it on severed limbs to make them viable again, or well its kind of gruesome but we could combine it all to make a drone thats very human like, one that could pass for living, you see we can't experiment on live people, so the though was we could use all the technologies together to make a sort of remote control soldier. Right now he and Bob are using it on dead animals to create their drones, as you can guess he has begun to test it on human corpses" She said.

I backed up again.

"No you don't get it they where supposed to be brain dead, this is a fluke, we would eventually have created a drone that could fight instead of real soldiers, and be controlled from a bunker, it was not supposed to be like this." She said.

I could see tears forming in her eyes.

"If they find out they won't finish the experiment and you will be cremated." She said.

I moved toward her.

"Obviously you responded extremely well to the serum, if you and I plan this right we can get them to finish the project, if they do that, it might be that they wont be willing to scrap it." She said.

I moved forward again.

"Look you will have to play along, act like you are doing random movements like on the table, Ill figure something out." She said.

She put me in her pocket, and left her office, I heard her typing in a computer, I felt myself being pulled out of the robot, next thing I knew I was back in the jar, I could hear the bubbles again.

"Its okay 24, I severed the connection, the next test will be in a few days, also Bob will be installing the interface for the cybernetic controller, just sit tight." She said.

I could hear her walk out of the room, it seemed like awhile, but I heard foot steps approach.

"General I understand the need for the drone program, but my serum has more uses than that." Dr. Benson was saying.

"Like what Doctor?" the general asked

"Imagine dropping the serum on a recent battle field, or include it with a biological payload on an enemy village." Dr Benson said.

"What would that accomplish Doctor?" The general said.

"It would be a debilitating psychological deterrent, with the combination of a nerve toxin to kill and with my serum to reanimate it you get a village of shambling walking reanimated corpse." Dr Benson said.

The general actually chuckled at that.

"Zombies Doctor? Are fucking kidding me?" The General said.

"No General I am not, You have seen the subjects in my lab, they are mindless drones, violent mindless drones, Imagine that being set lose on the enemy." Doctor Benson said.

"Doctor, lets stick with reality for now, Id much rather have controllable weapons, than an uncontrollable mob." The general said.

"Well perhaps we could incorporate Doctor Kleins research, I heard she had some success controlling a remote, we could figure out away to control them remotely, All I ask is you don't discount the possibility." Dr. Benson said.

"Alright Doctor, Ill allow you to research it." The General said.

"Thank you sir." Dr. Benson said.

"But on a small scale, the main project is the tethered drones." The general said.

"I understand sir." Dr. Benson said

It was six months since Dr. Klein and I had come to an understanding about how we would handle the problem of me still being mentally aware. We had worked out a system of how to explain the level of control I could exhibit over the various drones we had hooked up to me, she had explained that I had the intelligence of a small child and that she had worked out a series of commands I would follow, the General had been hesitant at first to continue but the Doctor had explained I was barely alive, that the level of intelligence I was capable of was minimal.