Andena the Rebel

CHAPTER SEVEN

Joshua hated being exposed out in the open with all the delicate equipment. He knew that it was highly unlikely that anyone would turn into the secluded area, but he still had a bad feeling. He just wanted to wipe everything clean but needed to wait until the casualty was mounted on the table inside the cabin.

The fact that Mr. Yousima was personally paying a visit made him feel extremely nervous. This was clearly a high profile project, and it was vital that everything went according to plan. There was no room for mistakes. He shuddered involuntarily when he remembered the look in Mr. Yousima's eyes. His colleague had messed up badly and lost his job in the most horrendous way possible.

Joshua had been shaken, when Mr. Yousima had stepped in front of him and said, "Joshua, the pretty girl's neck is now secured and she is ready for the full upgrade."

He knew he had to behave as if Mr. Yousima knew what he was talking about and he replied submissively, "Perfect, Mr. Yousima. It will be done."

Mr. Yousima touched his glasses as he grumbled, "Now, don't mess up this time. I don't want to waste time on removing the equipment from a corpse again. Capisce?"

His heart was thumping loudly in his throat. He had made a fatal mistake the last time even though it wasn't completely his fault. He didn't dare meet Mr. Yousima's eyes and meekly replied, "Yes, Mr. Yousima I understand."

He patted Joshua on his shoulder and said, "That's my boy. Let's write history today and be nice to Olga unless you want to do the job on your own."

Joshua nodded, and was pleased when his boss walked away. He knew he had been very close to losing his job when he saw Mr. Yousima reaching for his glasses.

With a trembling hand, he swiped his card over the reader to open the door and pushed the cabin into the narrow hall.

He was glad that he had prepared everything already which would make the job quick and easy. The only thing he hadn't anticipated was that Olga would be there as well. He would have loved to kiss her pretty mouth with those juicy red lips, but he knew for sure it never would happen.

He jumped when he heard her icy voice saying, "Mr. Yousima asked me to assist you. I'll keep the door open so you can move your stuff."

He couldn't help but look at her fantastic body which was so beautifully contoured in her immaculate white slim-fitting suit. The white suit made her pale skin look much better, and her red painted lips stood out even more. He both adored and loathed her at the same time. She was horrible to deal with especially after spending time alone with Mr. Yousima.

He said meekly, "Oh, okay."

It took three trips to get everything he needed into the spacious room, and he was impressed at how elegantly it was decorated.

It took him just under a minute to get the cabin online and load all the modules into the pockets. He felt uneasy because Olga had watched his progress all the while sipping at a mug of coffee. The smell of the cheap surrogate coffee made Joshua a bit nauseous, and he asked her, "Do you really like that stuff?"

She stared at him and said, "No, but there's nothing else except this horrible tea which looks and smells like cat pee."

"Whose place is this anyway?"

Olga replied indifferently, "I have no idea, except that Mr. Yousima knows her well enough to offer her the penthouse suite at the hotel."

He hadn't seen the table yet on which the person was secured, but he was curious by what had happened. He asked, "So, how come we are here and not at the company?"

Olga sighed, and her face indicated that she was sick of telling this story. "The girl plunged straight through the conservatory."

"What? Here at level seven hundred fifty?"

"Yup."

"She must have fallen a long way it's practically impossible to break those windows."

"She didn't break a window. The whole structure of the conservatory collapsed. The girl was lucky that she didn't bounce off this one because the next conservatory is five hundred levels lower."

Joshua wondered how the girl had fallen out of the building in the first place. He asked, "How bad is she?"

As Olga walked towards the door, she said, "Apart from her broken neck, a few bruises. I reckon she must have fallen from the eight-hundredth level or so. I guess she must have bounced off the three other conservatories before she crushed this one. She was lucky not to hit any construction beams."

As he followed Olga into the room, he saw the table on which the girl was strapped. He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw her naked body.

She was the most beautiful woman he had seen for years, and it was also evident that she prided herself on taking good care of herself. He marvelled at the girls' beautiful well-toned body and was mesmerised by her vibrant red hair. Her full lips and her petite nose were in perfect proportion with her eyes. Her nails were immaculately painted, and her hair felt amazingly soft when he secured it into a net. It was impossible not to become aroused as he saw her pert breasts moving up as she breathed rhythmically. He needed to divert his gaze from the girl, and as he saw the discarded clothes lying on the floor, he said quickly, "These carbon boots are custom made, and they are much better than the ones with the outfit. She should keep those."

Olga answered indifferently, "Yeah, whatever. Let's get on with it. I don't want to be here the whole night."

Joshua chuckled and said, "I don't mind because I've brought my air bed with me. There's plenty of room for two."

She shot him a look which made him decide to stop trying to be funny. He saw Olga's eyes grow dark as she chided, "The longer you keep on chatting the later I'm back in my quarters."

He moved the girl into the cabin and closed the seals. He was not sure how well they had sedated her and decided to create a feedback link with the anaesthetic pump and her heartbeat rate. The faster her heart beat, the more anaesthetic fluid would be administered, which was the best solution in most cases.

He looked at the cabin display and chose the final option on the menu: 'Full Upgrade'.

He double-checked that all the connections and all indicators in the top row of the display were green. He knew that the girl had no chance of returning to a normal life with a broken neck, but he still questioned whether it was legal to administer a full upgrade to her without her consent. He knew she was very lucky to be alive. He had seen shocking pictures of splattered bodies from people who had jumped or fallen from those buildings. Olga had a senior position at Bionex, and he didn't want to mess up again by not asking whether they should do the upgrade on the girl at all. He sighed deeply and said, "Well, it's all set to go."

Joshua heard her snort. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

"You have to agree that I start the upgrade."

She moaned and said, "What do you think? Why the hell are you here? Why did I volunteer to be here on my free day? Is it because I like spending time with you?"

He hated her patronising tone and asked, "So, I assume you agree?"

She screamed, "YES! For fuck sake start the bloody upgrade!"

He winced and with a trembling finger he tapped on the screen. The screen showed a countdown from ten which had been built into the system as an extra precaution. He was staring at the screen while the numbers flashed by nine... eight... seven... six... five... four... three. His finger hovered above the button 'Abort' hoping that she would ask him to stop, but the numbers went steadily down to zero at an agonisingly slow pace.

Danette was drinking the last bit of the horrible tasting cold coffee while feeling dismayed as she closely studied the inner structure of the latest android. The bloody thing was still as dead as a squashed fly. She had been overjoyed when Bionex had first offered her a contract to create ten androids. Even though Lunn had warned her about Bionex's dubious practises, she had felt unable to turn down this once in her lifetime opportunity. There was no way that she would willingly let this slip through her fingers!

She finally had the opportunity to prove to herself that her specially developed Artificial Intelligence program was revolutionary and met the necessary requirements. She had spent the last fifteen years perfecting her program for the Artificial Intelligence core and by tweaking just a few parameters she was now able to convince an untrained person that they were talking to a real person.

She still hadn't worked out why Bionex had ordered so many androids, and she had been even more surprised when she'd received the 3D information folders. Bionex stipulated that not only did they all have to be female but they had to be unique! Danette was pleased that when she had calculated the price for the quote, as a precaution, she had based her price on them all being female. Female androids are composed of considerably more outer polymers than a male.

She was lucky she had managed to get hold of the most sophisticated skin renderer available and for an extremely good price. The outer skin produced by this renderer was as close as it was possible to get to human skin, and it was next to impossible to tell the difference between them.

She'd never been presented with an opportunity to prove that her androids were better and much safer than the others. She had been too late in submitting her evidence, and the board of the Archon had refused point blank to listen to her arguments. Her attempts to get another review were rejected and to her dismay, she had received an official warning for practicing illegally. It was an incredibly challenging time for her as she attempted to make ends meet. In desperation, she'd resorted to stealing and working as an escort.

Mercifully, Lunn had saved her from totally self-destructing. It saddened her that their relationship had deteriorated so rapidly, but she understood that she needed to focus and so shook her head to clear her mind of the disturbing thoughts. She was deeply troubled by the fact, that when it came to Bionex, she felt totally out of her depth. She shuddered as she recalled the foul expression on Mr. Yousima's face. Nothing about that man made sense, and that fact disturbed her on several levels.

She was beginning to think that she had made a serious error of judgement. The moment she realised that she'd been denied access to Lunn was incredibly disturbing. She mentally berated herself for the fact that she hadn't challenged him in any way. For this failure now meant that Mr. Yousima had even greater control over her life.

Her stomach was churning, and she knew she needed to eat something soon, but she probably wouldn´t be able to keep anything down. Danette realised that it was no use staying at the lab because she hadn't the energy to focus on her work. The ridiculous brawl that she'd had with Lunn was rattling around agonisingly in the back of her mind. It was all just so fresh and painful. It was too much to comprehend, and Danette was aware that her anxiety was affecting her ability to think straight. She closed off her lab and rushed out of the door desperately wanting to be in the fresh air. Her stomach was still hurting from the retching which in turn conjured up disturbing images of the obese Mr. Yousima, staring viciously at her: penetrating her mind.

Danette needed to go home and eat before crashing out. She felt dirty, and the only thing she wanted right now was a long shower and to forget all about recent events. She was so preoccupied that she nearly forgot to show her ID-card to the curfew camera. She had a special dispensation to be late provided that she travelled only from her laboratory to her apartment.

When she turned into the hall before her apartment, she was perturbed to see a man leaning against the door. She stopped and instinctively reached for the pepper spray that was attached to her belt. This was exactly what she hated about her apartment complex: it was open to the public, and as such anyone could wander in. She gasped when she recognised Lunn's slurred voice, "So, have you done it?"

Danette could smell the alcohol lingering in the hall, and even though she presumed that he was too drunk to give a coherent answer, asked, "Have I done what?"

He chuckled, as he slid down the floor, "Never thought that hiding a dead human body would make you dumb."

Her anger was starting to get the better of her anxiety, and she decided that the best course of action was to ignore him completely. There was nothing to be gained from arguing with someone who was drunk. As she walked over to him, she could tell that he was in a terrible state. His shirt was covered with blood, and his left eye was badly swollen. It made her think about her actions and for a brief moment, she felt a pang of guilt. He'd clearly been involved in a fight, and his eye needed urgent attention. However, Danette had no desire to become involved in a lengthy discussion with him as she couldn't deal with this right now. The overpowering stench of alcohol was making her feel sick. "Lunn, go home. You're drunk."

"I don't want to go because I want you."

She instantly remembered Mr. Yousima warning her to stay away from Lunn. She looked at him, and said dryly, "Forget it, Lunn. Go home."

He laughed, and he stated, "I'm not going anywhere. I want you, Danette."

She knew how stubborn he could be and loathed the situation that he had created. She sighed and pushed firmly with her foot against his shoulder. He lost his balance and fell sideways. She had hoped she had time enough to enter her apartment but before she had the chance to open her door she found herself slammed up against it.

She felt his hard body pressed against her back. Normally this would turn her on, but his foul smelling breath made her even more nauseous.

She knew she was no match for his strength even in his present state. She groaned and pleaded, "Lunn, please don't."

"Don't you want it from behind anymore?" he hissed.

Danette was fighting against the urge to vomit, and she croaked, "Please stop, Lunn."

He started to grind his hips against her butt which increased the pressure on her stomach. She whimpered loudly when her stomach couldn't hold it anymore and with a loud retching noise the content of her stomach splattered forcefully against her door. Spatters of surrogate coffee mixed with stomach acid landed on Lunn's face and to her relief he staggered backwards.

She quickly opened her door and stumbled into her apartment. Just before the door slid shut she heard him say, "Oops, that went well."

With trembling hands Danette emptied her pockets on her side table and walked zombie-like with her clothes still on towards the shower.

She turned on the water and stepped straight into the cold spray. The cold water made her shiver as it ran down her body. She didn't care that the water was cold because she wanted to get rid of the awful rancid smell as soon as possible. After a short while, the water began to warm up, and completely exhausted, she slid onto her knees. She was so miserable that she began to cry.

Meleda heard her brother stumble into his bedroom. She felt for him: ever since he'd became the head of security, his nights were often disturbed. She knew that Arnost was very fond of him and treated Haruz as a son, although he would never show his emotions in public. She was regularly visited by Arnost asking her to make sure that Haruz took care of himself. She thought it was sweet of him but after Haruz had pointed out that Arnost did it for self-preservation her regard in which she held him had plummeted considerably.

Nothing could have prepared them for the arrival of the alien ship. She had noticed that her brother was getting more and more restless which made her concerned that he was hiding something from her. Sighing, she got up from her bed. It was rare that she was unable to drift back to sleep, and feeling increasingly restless she opened her balcony doors and walked out to see if there were any stars.

Looking up at the stars felt different now that she knew there were other beings out there. She rarely went out onto the balcony these days: ever since Tancred had decided to place the last field so close to the main quarters.

The sudden hissing noises that occurred erratically always made her jump. However, tonight something felt different. The temperature was nice, and the air seemed to be crisp. She inhaled the air deeply and marvelled at the delicate and pleasant smell which she figured could only be coming from the field. She looked down at the massive square structure of the gorse which was glistening in the moonlight. It hadn't even occurred to her that it was a full moon tonight, and she couldn't believe her eyes when she saw someone walking directly towards the field.

Meldea ducked instinctively to ensure that she wasn't seen by whoever it was out there. As the man came closer to the field, she heard him humming a strange tune. His voice was low, and the melody was a simple one that he repeated constantly.

The song had a soothing quality, and Meleda wondered why he would risk standing so close to the gorse. Her question was quickly answered when the man was suddenly surrounded by four vines. He was still humming the tune and the vines seemed to be caressing his legs. One of the vines slowly moved up to his face, and the man stroked the vine as if it was a cat.

She was mesmerised by the gentle: almost loving movements of the vine and was shocked to the core when the man gently guided the vine to his neck. Meleda heard him gasp and shortly after that he slowly collapsed but the vines wrapped around him to keep his body straight. The vine at his neck shot away as if it had been bitten and the man quickly regained his posture. As soon as he stood up straight, the vines retracted back into the field, and with sturdy paces the man walked away from the field.

She realised that it could only be Tancred, and it suddenly made sense to her why he had asked to remove the cameras. Meleda knew that Haruz had complied with his request, but she wouldn't be surprised if he had other means of secretly recording everything. She knew that she was going to have to be discrete when speaking to her brother later.

Meleda suddenly felt cold, and longed to be back in the comfort of her warm bed. She stepped into her room and closed the balcony door as quietly as possible hoping that she wouldn't wake Haruz.

As she was lying comfortably in her bed, she couldn't help but mull over what she had witnessed. It looked like Tancred had been injected with something, and she was certain that he had been unconscious for a short while. Meleda was convinced that the vine, he had stroked, had administered some kind of potent drug.

The fact that the aliens had downgraded Earth to a planet where it was easy to get a quick fix, terrified her. All she wanted to do was sleep but was unable to quiet her mind. Why had Arnost allowed the aliens to build those fields? Did he know about the drug production? The one thing that surprised her most was the fact that the fields weren't guarded. Even though she had heard numerous rumours about people disappearing she struggled to believe that people weren't curious enough to take a look. She continued to toss and turn, and it was a long time before the reassuring veil of sleep descended upon her.

Lunn had the hangover from hell. He knew that he had messed up big time. He had never felt as depressed as he did at that moment, and he didn't blame Haruz for knocking him out like that.

He had ordered two more whiskeys to ease the pain of his bruised eye when he had regained consciousness. He desperately wanted to speak to Danette, and he had stumbled while still bleeding from his nose to her apartment. It felt as though he had waited for ages, and the effects of the whiskey quickly began to take hold. Staying awake was a struggle, and he had forced himself into an upright position. He knew that if he were to sit down, then he would quickly fall asleep and had been completely drunk by the time Danette had arrived. He was angry that she had dismissed him so abruptly and that she seemed to be unfazed about Andena's unknown fate. He was sure she knew what had happened to her.