Primrose pushed herself into the office. Mr. Sumner didn’t even look up, waving her towards the desk. She pushed her chair and slid closer to the desk. Her wheelchair didn’t quite fit under it, so she sat a little awkwardly, taking up a lot of space in the cramped office. He was balding and bordering on unhealthily skinny, something his suit did nothing to hide.
“Why are you here?” He still wasn’t looking at her.
Prim cleared her throat and said “I’ve been told you can help me.”
“How? How can I help you?” He said, clearly getting annoyed. “Specifics.”
“I need cybernetics. New limbs, new pelvis, new spinal cord. Had an accident.”
“And you can’t go to other surgeries because?”
Prim grimaced. “Technically, I’m a wanted criminal.”
– – –
Part of her payment would be years of service, Mr. Sumner was explaining.
“You have a right of refusal on anything we ask you, but any such refusal will be taken out of your hours for the amount of time we expect the task to have taken.”
Prim was listening and paying attention, but it was a duty more than any anticipation. She rolled back and forth, stopping her wheelchair quickly each time. It was a nervous tick, the equivalent of drumming her fingers or playing with her red hair.
“Barring any complications with your surgery, it’s likely we will charge you two years, on top of the money you have already paid. There are certain limitations with money in the current environment, as I’m sure you’ll understand, which is the reasoning behind this kind of payment.”
“I get it.” Prim replied. “Is there anything to sign?”
Mr. Sumner paused. “If you’d rather just read the written agreement…”
Prim shook her head. It was easier to understand like this, though she’d have to read the agreement anyway. There wasn’t any reason that Sumner couldn’t be lying to her.
“Then I’ll continue.” He said. “Certain tasks may count for extra time, up to double the actual hours…”
– – –
Prim sat on the edge of the test track, kicking her new legs against the wall. She had protective gear on, white padded leather. It was stitched with IR lights so Matsushima could keep track of their new investment while she did her trials.
Matsushima’s test track was enormous. The clean white walls extended over a hundred meters, distance indicators marked in iridescent green. The middle was sunken, five metres below the edge of the red concrete border, and filled with mock houses, streetlights and roads. A lighting rig hung from the ceiling, bathing the town in the starkness of halogen lamps.
“We can simulate nearly any weather condition here.” said Mr. Sumner. “It serves as a demo area for Dogs and a training area for our operatives, normally. You’ll be training with both in the future, but for now, just explore. Try the cybernetics out.”
Prim twisted her new arm. The covering was clear plastic, designed to let her engineers locate faults without breaching the careful seals that it had taken to keep the weight down. Pistons and fluids moved as she shifted it, fingers opening and closing. There was a lot of strength there, she could feel it.
They’d started her off with a mere 15% total capacity. It was meant to be so she wouldn’t break anything, particularly members of staff. Prim felt insulted, but didn’t let it settle. It couldn’t be helped. She’d already had a brief jaunt on her new legs. It had been wonderful to be able to run again, but it wasn’t as good as she’d hoped. It wasn’t so much that something was missing, more that the something had always been there and it wasn’t as important as she thought. No new clarity, no breaking the perpetual emotional grey.
She took a step towards the ladder down and stopped.
How do ladders work, again?
Prim knew, on an abstract level, but she hadn’t used one for… quite some time.
Foot down, turn. Next foot down. Grab the bar. Next foot down.
As her foot touched the bar, it slipped backwards. Prim twisted, but she couldn’t keep her hold. She dropped the remaining ten feet to the concrete, feet thudding into the ground. Her legs hissed as they bent, knees absorbing the shock. There was no pain.
Prim let out a laugh. She was different now, after all.
– – –
The Dogs were all lined up near the exit, 5 of them. They were turned off, for now, wide shoulders hunched over their forelegs, which split at the knee. Their rear legs were larger then their front, built for power. They attached at the narrowest point of their bodies, a segment that looked rather like a spine, which continued to a tail. Their tails ended in a short, wide spike.
Prim crouched down for a closer look at one, bringing her eyes in level with the Dog’s head. It was mainly teeth, taser and jaws bolted the ring around the Dog’s eyes. The eyes were clustered on a sphere, which rotated in it’s socket to give a near 360 degree vision range.
Matsushima had, rather typically for them, made sure their logo was clearly visible on the Dogs. The green stood out from the matte black of the rest of it’s body.
Prim tapped it on the head, making a ringing noise. “They’re pretty imposing.” she said.
“That’s intentional.” replied Mr. Sumner. “Psychological warfare is part of the package.”
He sat down. A man in a suit, who’d followed Sumner, passed Prim a packet, before walking off.
“You’re going to try to reach whatever point on the map is highlighted.”
Prim tore the packet open. Sure enough, there was a map inside, a general store circled in the top left corner.
“The Dogs will be hunting you. We’re giving you a 30 second head-start, but there’s no expectations on your first attempt.”
Prim gave a short laugh, something that had become a lot easier lately.
“We’ll see.” she said. “We’ll see.
– – –
The timer set to zero with a loud clunk. Almost immediately, static-laden screams filled the air, bouncing off the far walls to repeat themselves.
Prim pushed the gate of the house in front of her open, shuffling slowly. She was trying not to make any noise. Opening the door, she slipped through and settled in a room with multiple exits. She opened the map, ripping it slightly down one of the creases. A quick glance out a window assured her of her safety, so she ran her fingers down the map.
If I’m here, then the quickest route is down the main road here. So that’ll be sealed off. If I take the outside to here and then cut in, I should be able to minimise any contact.
Right.
Plan made, she closed the map and lifted her head… to see the open jaws of a Dog. It hissed gently at her, clearly saying not to move.
– – –
She didn’t reach the goal until a week later. The best way to elude the Dogs was raw speed; they clawed through tricks and dragged her out if she hid. She was now proficient at analysing maps quickly, grabbing information out of them in quick glances. The training area changed every evening. It was always the same buildings and environments, but their locations shifted, so relying on her memory had proven futile.
Prim pulled herself up the ladder, breathing hard. She wasn’t exhausted, per se, but it was still a lot of effort. Mr. Sumner greeted her at the top. There was a tall middle eastern lady with him, dressed in a white long-sleeved top. Her brown hair was pulled into a short ponytail.
“This is Devyn Rye. She’ll be teaching you for the next part.” Mr. Sumner said. “She’s our special forces sergeant.”
Prim laughed.
Running Silver 