Polaris

When she opened her eyes, everything was black, and everything was pain. Every part of her body ached as if she'd just been run over by a train. Her head felt groggy, as though she were a human who'd just woken up from a very long sleep. The exterior of her stomach seemed to be held intact by mere duct tape, and there was a strange buzzing filling her midsection.

Polaris extended her arms, ignoring the jolt of agony that coursed through them. Feeling along the floor with her fingers, she recoiled when she touched something soft. She opened her mouth, about to call for Wei again, but then she remembered what happened the last time she'd done that and thought better of it. Instead, Polaris edged forward, closer to the surface her fingers had brushed against.

It was hard to comprehend her environment; thick layers of dust from the explosion obstructed her eyes and vents, restricting her senses and clouding her thoughts. Her system seemed to be suffering. Nevertheless, she moved her hand against the soft surface, trying to map out some sort of shape to it.

It was a body: that much was clear. But whose body? Polaris wanted to scream her frustration at not being able to answer this simplest of questions, not being able to distinguish between Wei and his aunt or his uncle or--no, Amir wouldn't be here. Amir was the one who had brought them here.

She sat in the dark, pondering her situation. Somehow, Polaris would escape from wherever this was...but first she had to be able to see. She extracted a small brush from her wrist compartment with shaking fingers and set to work cleaning her vents, hoping that would help clear out her system.

She tried to text Andromeda, but there was no reception, wherever Polaris was. Or perhaps the explosion had somehow affected her WiFi components? Either way, she wasn't used to not having the Internet ready for her at every turn. It was unsettling, to say the least.

Although it was currently pitch-black, there would be light eventually; there was no way Amir would leave them all here to die. That brought Polaris to the conundrum associated with being trapped in what seemed to be a basement: why?

Amir had seemed courteous enough. He obviously didn't share the government's apparent distaste for cyborgs, and in any case, he didn't seem like the sort to trap girls in his basement. Yet there was no doubt in Polaris's mind that Amir was the one who'd taken her into this room. She could remember his face very clearly, like a wild animal, looming above hers...and she could trace the arc of his arms in her memory as he swung at her, knocking her out.

Suddenly, she heard the flip of a switch, and light flooded the room, interrupting her train of thought. Ducking her head instinctively, she saw that the body next to her was that of Wei and breathed a sigh of half-relief, half-dread. Polaris shoved her brush back into her wrist and edged backwards when she glimpsed Amir standing at the corner of the room.

"Hello," he said, walking toward her calmly. Every step of his boots made a bone-chilling thump on the dust-covered floor. Polaris swallowed, trying to keep her composure. "You must be the cyborg."

Her heart fluttered in hope, and she tried to appear as frightened as possible. Think, think, what would a cyborg say? "No, I-I'm human!"

Amir scoffed. "You really think you can fool me with those wires in your stomach?" His lip curled in clear disgust. "You're still a dirty cyborg." In the blink of an eye, he was in front of her, grabbing the side of her face. "And you're with the rebels. Every cyborg is, nowadays."

"What are you talking about?!" Polaris spat, inching away from him. "I've never joined the Rebel Alliance--I've never even talked to a rebel! Why are you keeping me here?" She let out a long, sorrowful wail that echoed off the walls of the tiny room.

"Oh, shut up," Amir snarled. "The government officials will be here in a second to interrogate you. Until then, keep your trap shut."

She whimpered to the best of her ability, inching backwards some more until she was pressed against the wall. "What about Wei?"

"You'll see," Amir said simply, leaning against the wall next to her.

Polaris squeezed her eyes shut, trying to quench the wave of dread that really had risen in her chest. This was her fault. She should've known to stay away from Wei. From any human, actually, especially those in the 22nd century.

She had known that she couldn't afford to get close to anyone, and now she'd dragged Wei into this mess. Rubbing her cold fingers over her eyes, she allowed the tears to flow down her cheeks, knowing she would somehow feel better afterwards. What was it that Polaris had once read? Tears released hormones?

Something clicked into place, as if a tiny bubble of realization had formed in her mind. She raised her head from her knees, eyes widening slightly...

But the small realization that she had very nearly come to was shuttered from her when a red-haired woman abruptly entered the room from the same door as Amir. For a moment, Polaris's vents hitched; that shade of red hair was exactly the same as Andromeda's. She soon got over the resemblance, though, when the woman glanced at her with piercing eyes that were completely black. Lie-detector orbs. Of course, they relied solely upon the human symptoms and couldn't detect lies from androids, so Polaris was safe. She still shifted uncomfortably; she'd been on the brink of some important idea...something that was vital here...but she couldn't remember exactly what it was, and brushed the thought aside.

Victor's voice came. Crackling through her interface, intermittently loud and soft, so sudden that she winced: "Leave this to me, Polaris."

Clearly he had been damaged by whatever impact she'd endured in the explosion. Briefly, she wondered whether to relinquish control or fight for dominance over her own mind; it was a split-second decision. Polaris pushed Victor to the back of her brain again, where he belonged.

"Good morning, Polaris," the woman said. Her voice seemed almost fake, and Polaris realized it was probably because of the speech autotune that was still in its beginning stages during 2117. They hadn't yet flawlessly developed the different autotunes now commonly used in the 23rd century. This one she recognized as a rough model of Straightforward Interrogator (the alternative to Sympathetic Interrogator). It was supposed to make the other person more likely to tell the truth. Some kind of manipulation of the human brain, through all the artificial, yet precise tonal infractions so carefully implemented in the autotune.

"Morning," Polaris greeted, slightly amused. Her android brain wouldn't be affected by this in the slightest.

But wait, something in her subconscious said; not Victor, she was still keeping him locked down, which was much easier when he was impaired like this...wait, there's something else!

"My name is Dr. Kelley. I'm just going to ask you a few questions, okay?" the woman said, in that same obvious autotune. "Have you ever heard of the Rebel Alliance?"

"Yes," Polaris replied honestly. After all, everyone had acted as if they knew what the Rebel Alliance was...this would be only normal, right?

The woman went on curtly: "Have you ever had any interaction with a member of the Rebel Alliance?"

"No," Polaris responded, equally honestly.

Dr. Kelley's lips thinned nearly unnoticeably. Polaris smirked inwardly; this was a small victory for her. "Why were you turned cyborg?"

She could feel Victor pushing at the boundaries of her mind; her fingers seemed to be jerking of their own volition, and she hastily moved her hand behind her back, where the woman couldn't see them. Polaris could feel Amir's suspicious glare on her. "It was a car accident."

"Car accidents are notoriously rare," the woman commented almost innocently. "Care to elaborate?"

It took her only a moment to fabricate another (ridiculous) lie: "My uncle collects antique cars. He was drunk and he crashed into a tree. With me in it."

"A...tree?" The woman seemed thoroughly confused.

"Just to be clear, I was in the car, not the tree."

"Yes, I know that," Dr. Kelley snapped. "But people haven't placed trees next to roads for decades."

Inside, Polaris was groaning and wishing she'd chosen a lie like this random drunk dude in an antique car crashed into me. But no, she just had to throw trees into it.

"Yeah, but there was a tree next to the road. It was, like, one of those sightseeing roads. The Redwoods, you know? Where you can drive through the forest?" Polaris said hopefully.

"Oh. I see," Dr. Kelley sniffed. "And you're telling me the car didn't have sufficient armoring to protect you from the crash?"

"Well, I was riding shotgun," Polaris replied (the woman cocked an eyebrow in confusion). "And that's dangerous. Plus, like I said, it was an antique car."

"Can you tell me more about this shotgun?" Dr. Kelley went on, and Polaris nearly choked in her attempt to keep from laughing.

"It's--no, it's just, uh, slang. From the 21st century. It means you're in the front passenger seat of the car."

"Your family seems to love antiques."

"We really do. Slang, cars, everything."

"It's just your cyborg design that seems to be a bit futuristic," Dr. Kelley continued smoothly. "Frankly, Polaris, I've never seen anything like it. It's sleek, efficient, and its components seem to take up nearly all of your body. In fact, there are some parts that rival our highest quality--"

"Wait," Polaris interrupted. "Hold up. Let me get this straight. You poked around in my body without my explicit consent? I could sue you for that!"

The woman raised her eyebrows (was this the third time?), unimpressed. "Seeing as I'm authorized by the government to inspect any cyborg, provided I have a warrant, which I'm actually holding right here, I doubt you could."

"You could've at least fixed my system," Polaris said angrily. "If you're looking at my insides anyway."

"That's the problem, honey," Dr. Kelley uttered. "We don't know how. Your system is just that advanced. As I was saying, there's some technology in there that rivals the highest-quality government devices." She leaned forward, a smirk playing across her lips. "And you can bet we're going to inspect it. I believe you've given us enough reason to do so. There is no way in hell that a car accident warrants 98% of your body to be replaced by such a complex system."

"What's the other two percent?"

Dr. Kelley looked at Polaris quizzically. "Your brain, of course."

***

Muahahaha cliffhanger! >:D I've been writing a lot of cliffhangers lately. Don't worry; I won't leave you hanging.

Please vote, comment, & follow if you enjoyed!