Captain Lucas Jarcor Read online

  Captain

  Lucas Jarcor

  The Cyborns Reborn Series, prequel

  T.J. Quinn

  GTQ LLC

  Orlando, Florida

  Copyright © 2017 by T.J. Quinn

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.

  GTQ LLC

  PO Box 540375

  Orlando, FL 32854

  www.gtq.com

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  Lucas Jarcor/T.J. Quinn -- 1st ed.

  ISBN

  CONTENTS

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Excerpt from Khajal

  Excerpt from Rafaroy

  Excertp from Bretdon

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  Chapter One

  Jarcor grunted. He could feel the pain rushing through his whole body, but mainly through his legs. For a few moments, he wasn’t able to remember what had happened but soon, flashes of the battle in the middle of the desert and the bombs exploding everywhere came back to him.

  The last thing he remembered, was running out of a building that was collapsing on him. Apparently, he hadn't been fast enough.

  “Captain Jarcor, can you hear me?”

  A man’s voice sounded next to him and he slowly opened his eyes. “Where am I?” he mumbled, feeling his throat incredibly dry.

  “You’re at the military hospital in Washington. You were hurt on your last mission and brought here, as soon as possible,” the man explained, as he offered him some water.

  “What happened to me?” he asked after he took a few sips of the cold liquid.

  “The building collapsed on you, smashing your legs completely.” There was compassion in his tone and Jarcor frowned.

  “Your bones were smashed beyond repair.” Another man replied, from the other side of the bed.

  “What are you trying to tell me?” he asked, in a stern tone, looking around.

  There were at least three doctors and two nurses around him.

  “That we’ll have to amputate your legs, Captain,” the first doctor answered his question.

  “There has to be another way,” he protested, trying to get up, refusing to believe the man’s words. He couldn’t lose his legs.

  “Actually, there is, but it’s still in the experimental stage, it would be risky using this technology on you when we still don’t know how it would affect you in the future,” the other doctor replied, pushing him back to the bed.

  “Who cares about the future? I’ll deal with that when the time comes. Right now, I’ll do anything to keep you from cutting off my legs,” Jarcor grumbled.

  The doctors looked at each other, apparently pleased with his answer.

  “I’m sure you’ve heard we have been working with Nanocybots and Ectogenesis, trying to create the perfect soldier. So far, we have been successful, but the babies take too long to grow up and reach the perfect age to be considered an adult,” the second doctor said.

  Jarcor frowned. He had heard the rumors about it but hadn't known they were true until now. They were playing god, and that usually was a colossal mistake, but right now, it wasn’t the moment to express his feelings on that. “I’ve heard the rumors, like everyone else.”

  “Well, it’s a reality. We’ve managed to narrow the growth time to six years, but as you can imagine, that’s not an ideal situation, especially if the Taucets finally invade us,” he mentioned the alien threat that had the whole planet on edge. “So, we’ve decided to try this new technology on full grown men and see if we get the same results, but a lot faster.”

  “What exactly are you proposing to me?” Jarcor asked suspiciously, not sure he liked what the man was implying.

  “We want to try the new technology on you, Captain Jarcor,” the first doctor explained. “We would be introducing Nanocybots into your bloodstream and wait for them to do their work on your body, the same way they do with the embryos we’ve developed.”

  “What are they supposed to do?” he asked, his frown becoming a bit deeper.

  “Nanocybots are programmed to find weakness or health threats on the host body and fix them,” doctor number two explained. “In the case of the embryos, they’ve altered the DNA, giving the body more strength, more intelligence and making it self-healing. Nanocybots are able to reproduce themselves and get whatever they need from the subject’s diet,” he added.

  “In your case, it should rebuild your broken bones and coat them with the metal alloy they are able to manufacture inside you, making them unbreakable,” doctor number one continued.

  It was hard to believe all they were saying was true. “What’s the catch?” he asked, suspiciously.

  in a cold tone. Again, the doctors exchanged looks that were starting to make him feel unnerved.

  “Nanocybots have artificial intelligence, they think for themselves and make the decisions based on logic and sometimes it’s not the best decision, or at least, not one the host would make,” doctor number two explained.

  “How bad can it be? You said they operate for the host’s wellbeing,” Jarcor inquired, still not sure he wanted microscopic things inside him.

  “We’re not sure since we haven’t tried this on a human being,” doctor number two replied.

  “I thought you said you were experimenting with embryos.”

  “According to our legislation, the beings created and enhanced in a lab aren’t considered humans. We’ve therefore decided to call them cyborgs,” the third man explained, in a cold tone.

  That didn’t sound right. “Don’t they have human biological parents?” Jarcor asked.

  “Yes, but they are created and raised to be war machines, nothing else,” the man replied, without even flinching.

  “Anyway, that has nothing to do with you, Captain,” doctor number one quickly said, with a sleazy smile on his face.

  Jarcor nodded, quickly considering his options. He wanted his legs and his only option at keeping them was on accepting the offer of these men. Nothing could be worse than becoming a cripple. Of course, he knew the new prosthetics were impressive, but they were still plastic parts.

  “Very well, you can do whatever you want with me, as long as I get to keep my legs,” he finally pronounced the words the men had been waiting to hear. He had the feeling of being played, but at that moment, he couldn’t care less. He wanted to get his legs back and that was all that mattered.

  The third man immediately stepped forward and handed him a small clipboard with several papers attached. “If you would be kind enough to sign all these papers, we can start right away, with the first stage,” the man said, in a tone a bit too eager.

  Jarcor was sure he should read the papers thoroughly, but the pain was becoming unbearable. Although he had the feeling they didn’t want him to read them, he didn’t care. All he wanted was to have his legs fixed. H
e would deal with the rest later.

  So, he signed the papers and put himself in the doctors’ hands.

  Chapter Two

  The next time he opened his eyes, the pain was far more significant than the last time. It was as if his whole body was on fire. His breathing was labored, and his heart drummed in his chest in protest of all the pain he was experiencing.

  Doctor number one was standing next to him. “Ah, Jarcor, how are you feeling?”

  “What the hell happened? I feel worse than last time I saw you,” he grunted through gritted teeth.

  “I guess the Nanocybots are working on you. They’re probably trying to get you fixed as fast as possible. We’ve kept you in an induced coma so far, but we needed to know how you were feeling,” the man explained. The way he looked at Jarcor made him feel as if he was some sort of lab rat.

  “As if my whole body is on fire, that’s how I’m feeling,” he moaned.

  “They are working on your legs, Captain. As you can imagine, that is certain to involve some amount of pain.”

  Jarcor held back on his desire to show the man just how that bit of pain felt.

  “We have been working on you for two weeks now, but you won’t feel the difference until you’re completely healed. The good thing is, we are having great results with you.”

  “I’m glad to hear that,” he snarled, as the pain got worse.

  “Well, I’ll let you get some more rest. Be well, Jarcor.”

  When Jarcor next woke up, he was feeling much better. His whole body felt sore, but the excruciating pain was gone. He was still lying in a hospital bed, staring at the white ceiling, but he was definitely feeling much better.

  At first, he felt confused, with the amount of information rushing through his mind, in a dizzying turmoil. It took him a few minutes to get control over it.

  The world felt strange. His sight was a lot more accurate and he could hear a couple of women talking in a room nearby. Pulling the covers off his body, he looked at himself.

  His legs looked as new. There were a few scars here and there, but other than that, they looked perfect, making him wonder how long he had been unconscious. Slowly, he tried to move his legs, and amazingly, he was able to. There was no pain, no restraint; his legs felt and looked as if they were good as new. Determined to test them, he got up, pulling the IV’s connected to his arm.

  At first, he felt dizzy and the room spun around him at light speed for a few minutes before he was able to focus and clear his head. He walked around the room, trying his legs, crouching and kicking the air. They were perfect.

  He was trying some martial arts kicks when the door was opened, and a startled nurse entered. “Hey, what are you doing? You aren’t supposed to be out of bed,” she cried out, running to meet him.

  He stopped her, raising his hand. “I’m fine. I haven't felt this good in a long time,” he assured her. “Where’s the doctor? I want to talk to him.”

  “I’ll go get him.” She turned around and left the room.

  Jarcor chuckled and walked towards the window. It was around midday, the sun shining.

  “Jarcor, you shouldn’t be out of bed,” doctor number one said, as he entered the room.

  “Doctor. I don’t think I heard your name,” he replied, ignoring the doctor’s words.

  “I’m Dr. Masterson. It’s too soon for you to be out of bed,” the man answered, with a deep frown.

  Jarcor only listened to his name. Immediately, a lot of information filled in his mind about the man. His full name, his curriculum vitae, his family members and a lot more. He had no idea where it came from and he was confident he hadn't met the man before.

  Something was wrong. “I’m fine,” he cut the man with a cold tone. “Would you care to tell me what exactly you did to me, while I was out?”

  The man cleared his throat, distinctly uncomfortable. “Your legs are fully recovered, as you can see─”

  “I’m not talking about my legs and you know that,” he pointed out, in a stern tone.

  “When we realized the Nanocybots were working perfectly on your body, healing your wounds and recovering your bones with their special metal alloy, we decided to take the next step forward and add a few intelligence chips to your brain. We figured the Nanocybots would quickly integrate them into your brain, as they do on the cyborgs we create on our labs,” he explained.

  “I don’t remember giving you permission to play games with my brain,” he said, trying to keep his anger at bay.

  “The papers you signed gave us permission to do whatever we saw fit to restore your body, and that’s exactly what we did,” the man retorted, in a firm tone, as if reciting a rehearsed speech.

  “We both know I wasn’t able to read those papers. I was in too much pain to even try.”

  The man shrugged. “That’s irrelevant,” he dismissed his complaints. “Right now, all I want to know is how you feel? How are your senses working?”

  For a moment, Jarcor considered not answering the man’s questions but it was a pointless battle. He had to act carefully around those people, at least, until he knew how much they had changed him and how that affected him.

  Chapter Three

  “At first, I felt a bit dizzy and a lot of unwanted information keeps coming to my mind, like the fact you’ve been married three times now,” he replied, in a scornfully tone, enjoying the man’s fluster.

  “You’ll be able to control that with time, as well as all the improvements we’ve made to your body.”

  “Like what?” he asked, frowning.

  “Just some minor details you’ll discover in time.”

  Jarcor nodded, not very pleased with the man’s answers. “When will I be able to go home?”

  “I know you feel fine, right now, but I need you to stay a few more days, while we test all the improvements made to your body.”

  “How long will that take?”

  “We can’t tell for sure. We need to be certain you’re perfectly alright before we send you back to the battlefield. While you were unconscious, the Taucets landed on our planet. We need to get you back out there, to lead the other cyborgs and fight these aliens off our planet.”

  “Other cyborgs? Are they ready for the battlefield? And why do you include me in that group?” Jarcor asked with suspicion oozing out of his tone, stiffening his body.

  The man cleared his throat once more, wiping the sweat from his forehead. “After all the improvements we made to you, you have been redefined as a cyborg,” he explained.

  “Meaning?” he asked in a threatening tone.

  “You are now the property of the United Nations Political Organization.”

  For a moment, Jarcor was so surprised, he couldn’t move. Had they turned him into a war machine? Who the hell permitted that?

  “You had no permission to do that. All we discussed was healing my legs, nothing else,” he growled through gritted teeth.

  “Did you honestly expect them to spend such expensive technology on you for free? I’m sure you’re not that naïve, Jarcor,” mocked Dr. Masterson.

  Jarcor pursed his lips and frowned. He had never expected anything for free, but he sure as hell hadn't expected to have his life and his identity taken away from him. “I’m a human being…” he yelled, but he could see it was no use.

  “Not anymore. It’s better for you to accept your new life and start acting as is expected of you. Otherwise, life will become very hard for you.” There was a definite warning in the man’s words and ignoring it wouldn’t be a smart move.

  “So, now I’m your lab rat?” he asked, oozing scorn.

  “If you’d like to think of yourself like that, I guess it’s a suitable description.”

  Masterson nodded and left the room, returning only a few minutes later with the same men that had convinced him to allow them to play with his life. During the following hours, they interrogated him exhaustively and put him through a lot of tests, until they were satisfied.

  “We’l
l send you to the training camp tomorrow. We don’t have time to waste and we need all the help we can get to defeat the Taucets,” General Smithson told him. He had joined the group interrogating him a couple of hours ago.

  “What if I refuse?” Jarcor asked with a very calm tone, considering all the rage boiling inside him.

  “That’s no longer your prerogative. You have been programmed to follow orders,” General Smithson explained. “Even if you managed to circumvent those orders, you wouldn’t get far. We’ve installed tracking devices in you that will allow us to find you faster than you can blink.”

  “How many men like me were fooled into this trap?”

  The Doctor sighed, impatient. “You are the first one we’ve transformed, but depending on your results, I’m sure there will be many more,” the man replied in a cold tone. “Besides, we didn’t fool you. We saved you from a dreadful future. You should be on your brand-new knees thanking us,” he snarled at Jarcor.

  “I’m afraid having my freedom and life taken away from me doesn’t make me very thankful,” Jarcor retorted.

  “Nonsense. You had no life left,” the general insisted in a vain attempt to make Jarcor believe in his words.

  Jarcor remained silent and the general finally gave up. “I’ll see you tomorrow at the training camp,” he said before he left Jarcor’s room.

  The other men followed the general and Jarcor was left alone with Dr. Masterson.

  “Do you think this is ethical? Fooling wounded men to accept false hope and then stealing their lives away from them?” he asked the man, his voice deadly.

  “I’m not here to judge. I’m paid to do my job and that’s exactly what I do,” the man replied, not showing a hint of regret or shame, as if he couldn’t care less.

  Jarcor shook his head and walked towards the window, silently inviting the other man to leave his room.

  Chapter Five