Andena the Rebel (The adventures of Andena Book 1) Read online

  Danette was hurrying to her laboratory and dreading the fact she had to fix an unknown error with the last android before it was able to go to Bionex. She felt like she hadn’t slept at all, and felt dreadful. She looked at her watch and realised with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that she had even less time than she’d hoped for.

  The only positive thing she had encountered this morning was that her door had been cleaned until it gleamed and there was a bunch of red roses on the brand new doormat. She had smiled knowing it was typical of Lunn to do such a thing. She had taken the roses with her and had given them away to one of the female beggars at the main square. She reckoned that the beggar could earn some credits if she were to sell the roses separately.

  Feeling apprehensive, she entered her laboratory where she saw the android lying on the table. She slowly walked around the table looking at all the details and checking them minutely in the hope that she would find the flaw. She opened the little hatch where the main computer core was mounted and examined the connections of the core. Then it suddenly dawned on her: maybe the main software wasn’t uploaded into the AI core.

  Danette was relieved when the upload program confirmed that the core was empty. Something must have distracted her that made her forget to initiate such an important step. After she had started the upload program, she checked the time, and she was very pleased she had enough time to arrive at Bionex five minutes early. As she left her laboratory, she walked to the office of Bionex in a much better mood.

  Olga had read the message from Joshua that the girl had been transported to the recovery room at Bionex. She was pleased because it had saved her a lot of time in the morning, which she had gratefully spent in her comfortable bed. As Olga walked into the corridor where the recovery room was, she found the empty cabin neatly parked against the wall. She looked into the operation tube of the cabin, and she was surprised at how immaculately clean it was. She heard footsteps, and as she turned around, she saw Joshua looking at her. He looked fresh: as if he had a decent amount of sleep. He said cheerfully, “Good morning, Olga. It’s a wonderful day today.”

  She was always amazed by how cheerful he could be in the morning because most of the time she suffered a bad case of morning mood. She murmured, “Good morning, I assume it went as planned?”

  “Yes, even better than that. It went perfectly. During the whole upgrade her heartbeat kept steady as a rock. I don’t know what you’ve given that girl, but it was a hell of a narcotic cocktail.”

  “What?”

  “She is still out like a light, and so far I haven’t needed to give her any anaesthetics.”

  She was surprised because she hadn’t administered any drugs at all. On balance, she decided that it wasn’t all that important and replied, “Oh okay.”

  Joshua was behaving a bit nervously, and he said, “But…. I really would like you to come and have a look at her.”

  His request didn’t appeal to her at all. She knew from previous experiences how the girl would look after the upgrade. She had seen the ghastly cuts on the others and said, “I don’t think I want to see her body at the moment.”

  “Don’t worry: she is completely covered.”

  Olga didn’t understand why she had to come and asked, “Why do you want me to have a look at her?”

  “Just come. I promise you; it’s not disturbing.”

  Feeling queasy, she took a deep breath and muttered, “Okay whatever you want to show me had better be good.”

  He smiled, and as he walked to the recovery room, he said, “She is on the respirator getting some extra oxygen to increase the healing speed.”

  When she saw the girl lying there, she felt her stomach contract a bit. She wanted to leave as soon as possible, and she asked, “What is so urgent that it can’t wait?”

  He lifted the sheet away from the girl’s feet and said, “We inserted muscle and joint enhancers for nearly every single joint. Have a look at her skin.”

  Olga looked closer, and she couldn’t see any scar tissue at all. She moved her hand over the girl’s foot and felt the small bumps of the enhancers. The skin was amazingly soft which made Olga feel quite awkward. She lifted the sheet higher and experienced a pang of jealousy when she saw the perfectly shaped legs. The girl looked as beautiful as before the upgrade and her skin still looked amazingly smooth. She whispered, “That is impossible!”

  He said with a sigh, “I know. She looks so amazing. I don’t know what has happened, but as far as I can see, she doesn’t have a single scar.”

  She asked, “Did you check her? Has she had all of the upgrades?”

  He nodded slowly and said, “Yup. She does have all the upgrades, and I checked them all.”

  She was taken aback by that remark and asked, “Right. So what now?”

  They walked back into the hall, and he said with a meek smile, “Take a few cups of coffee and wait until she wakes up.”

  Olga said resolutely, “Not for me. I have other work to do. I need to get those androids up and running for Mr. Yousima’s new trainer.”

  He sighed, “Okay, I think I can deal with the situation here.”

  Olga felt better now because she had seen that the girl didn’t look mutilated at all. In fact, she was envious at how fantastic her skin looked. It was weird that she had no scars at all. She thought it was wise to keep it silent because she couldn’t explain it all. Before she left, she warned Joshua, “Don’t tell a single soul about the lack of scars. Make sure that she is covered at all times.”

  He nodded, “Don’t worry, my lips are sealed.”

  She left in a hurry because she had already lost valuable time and she knew that she needed as much time as possible to get the nine android girls into shape. It was the first time that the girls would receive their initial training. Up until now, they had been offline and stored in Bionex’s dungeons. Olga had received a message from Mr. Yousima this morning that she should bring the androids to the main hall. She knew that as long as she wasn’t disturbed anymore she would have enough time to complete this task.

  Danette arrived at the Bionex building five minutes early because she hated being late. The thought of upsetting Mr. Yousima made her shiver. As she entered the intimidating huge entrance hall, Mr. Yousima stood there waiting for her with a ghastly smirk on his sweaty face. The lighting in the hall was reflecting in his dark sunglasses making him look ridiculous. Danette had great trouble stopping herself from bursting into fits of laughter, and his voice had a sing-song quality to it when he said, “Ah my lovely Miss Danette. Ever so punctual.”

  The scent of his cheap aftershave overwhelmed her, and she had to force a smile. “Mr. Yousima what an honour to meet you again!”

  His smile changed into to laughter that sounded like a castrated monkey, but it ended abruptly, when he said placidly, “It is my custom to welcome a new employee personally Miss Danette.”

  Danette was taken aback by his abruptness and stammered, “I, I see Mr. Yousima.”

  He looked at her as if he was pondering whether he would say something about her appearance. Danette felt uneasy because she had spent quite some time deciding what to wear for the first day. She had decided to wear her suit because it was smart but stretchy enough if she had to work with the nine androids.

  He walked to a desk and picked up a badge which he handed to her. He said, “With this badge you will have access to areas that have been designated for you. Now, if you would follow me I’ll introduce you to Olga, who will guide you around and will be your assistant for today.”

  After they had walked what felt like a considerable distance, Danette began to get concerned about her ability to find her way back out of the building. Mr. Yousima stopped at the door and asked, “Oh yes, by the way, did you have any success with the last android?”

  Danette was very pleased to be able to confirm that she had managed to fix the android on time, and she replied, “Yes Mr. Yousima, it was something very simple that I had overlooked. I
t will be ready when I have the time to seal off the inner core.”

  “Good, the last instalment will be transferred to your account by tonight.”

  She was surprised by his statement and the only thing she could think of saying was, “Thank you Mr. Yousima.”

  As he opened the door, he said, “Behold and see what you have built in the last few months. I think you’ve done an excellent job, Miss Danette.”

  As Danette walked into the large hall, she was very pleased with what she initially saw: it was indeed an impressive sight to see the nine androids sitting next to each other: they looked like a group of young women waiting to be informed. Danette’s heart was beating faster, and she was excited by the fact that Mr. Yousima was pleased with the final results.

  A woman dressed in an immaculate white suit entered the hall, and Mr. Yousima said almost joyfully, “Miss Danette I would like you to meet our lovely Olga. She will guide you around, and she is responsible for ensuring that your androids are in pristine condition. If you need anything, just ask her, and she will help you.”

  The smile on Olga’s face didn’t meet her eyes, and Danette could sense that something wasn’t right when she shook Olga’s firm hand.

  Danette didn’t want to spoil her good mood and smiled as she said, “Nice to meet you, Olga. I never thought that the androids could look this fantastic.”

  Danette instantly knew that something was bothering the girl when she answered with a tremble in her voice as she joked, “Thank you! Clothes make the girls.”

  They were all dressed in an extremely dull grey suit which covered all of the skin except their faces and hands. They all wore black boots and the ones with long hair had a neat plait. Each android had a number embroidered onto the suit.

  Danette laughed but stopped instantly, when she saw the sour expression on Mr. Yousima’s face. She had trouble stopping herself from shivering when Mr. Yousima addressed Olga with an icy tone, “What is the status of number ten?”

  Her answer confused Danette, “She is still in the recovery room. I reckon it will take at least another two days before she is deployable, sir.”

  “Why is that?”

  “It seems that she is still unconscious, sir.”

  His nose flared as he barked, “What the hell has happened to her?”

  Danette admired the calmness that Olga exuded when she said, “It seems that the full upgrade was much more taxing than we had anticipated, sir. But she will be the first who has survived it, sir. I can guarantee you that the full upgrade had been successfully implemented, and it might take just a little longer than we had planned.”

  It was clear that Olga was one of his favourite employees because his voice was in an instant a lot more pleasant when he said, “I see. Keep me informed and help Miss Danette by giving her a tour of this department.”

  Visibly more relaxed Olga retorted, “Yes Mr. Yousima, I’ll see to it that Miss Danette will have everything she needs.”

  Again he didn’t wait for Olga’s answer and the door slammed shut the moment she had spoken the last word. Danette blew out some air forcefully before she said, “That was really close! I really thought you were in huge trouble.”

  Olga laughed while shaking her head. The next moment Olga seemed scared as she said in a barely audible whisper, “As long he doesn’t touch his glasses you’re fine.”

  Danette understood instantly the importance of her remark and nodded slowly, as she asked, “What about that woman you were talking about? Who is she?”

  Olga’s face darkened as she said, “It is best not to ask too many questions.”

  Danette didn’t like her answer at all and retorted, “If I’m going to be involved in the training of the woman, I rather would like to know who she is.”

  Olga sighed and said desperately, “You don’t understand the policy and I advise you not to question Mr. Yousima’s decisions. He gave the order to implement the full upgrade and besides the girl would have been paralysed from her shoulders down because of her broken neck. From what I’ve heard, she wouldn’t have survived the injury at all if we hadn’t intervened.”

  “We?”

  “The medical team of Bionex.”

  Danette was shocked when she realised that they had implemented a ‘full upgrade’ - whatever that might be - on a woman without her consent. Even if that poor woman would have died because of the severity of her injuries, Bionex didn’t have the right to ‘fix her’ in that way. She said placidly, “So this so called ‘full upgrade’ helped the woman to survive.”

  Olga’s face changed into a hardened expression when she nearly growled, “In a way yes.”

  “And why is she going to be ‘deployed’ together with the androids?”

  Danette had used her fingers to air quote the word deployed, and she wasn’t surprised when Olga said in a dismissive tone, “You’ll find out soon. Now, follow me so I can show you around.”

  She wasn’t at all satisfied with the answer, but she could see by Olga’s posture that she had nothing more to say on the subject. She knew that Olga wouldn’t give her any additional information. Danette knew she was getting deeper and deeper into Mr. Yousima’s murky web and to her horror she realised that she no longer had a way out.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Olga had trouble keeping her anger at bay. She thought that this Miss Danette was a stuck up bitch. She might be skilled to build those androids but who was she to judge her and her team? It was obvious that she didn’t like it that she had to deal with a woman as well as her beloved androids.

  As she and Miss Danette were walking back to the hall, she was thinking about what she had read in the information folders for the androids. She knew she was fortunate have had access those highly secure folders especially when it became clear why they were so secretive. It was typical of Mr. Yousima to masquerade his sinister goings on in a confused muddle. Olga thought that using the androids to cover up the errors was a smart move: provided, of course, no-one became too inquisitive.

  Olga was shaken to the core when Danette broke the silence by asking the question, “Do the androids still have their original program?”

  “Yes, I haven’t had the chance to make a start, and I’m pleased that you’re taking over.”

  “I see. Too busy with other tasks?”

  “Mr. Yousima always manages to fill my day to the brim.”

  Danette had smiled weakly and said softly, “I can understand that some days might be incredibly challenging.”

  Olga hated when people tried to sympathise with her. If they only knew what she had to endure on a daily basis, they wouldn’t make stupid remarks.

  She snorted, “I can assure you that from now on your days will never be boring. Let me show you the room where the androids are stored, and I’ll brief you about the training program Mr. Yousima has set up for the androids.”

  Olga didn’t like the woman’s sour expression, and she couldn’t wait to leave her with it.

  Danette was pleased that she could finally start training the girls, and as she arrived in the hall, the girls were still sitting on the benches all looking dazed at the opposite wall. They hadn’t moved at all, and Danette knew what would happen when she shouted, “Attention!”

  All the girls stood up within a second and waited for instructions. Danette couldn’t stop a little yelp coming from her mouth. She was super excited to see her hard labour bear fruit. It made her feel happy, but she knew that it was going to be hard work getting them ready on time. Mr. Yousima had set quite a challenge, but she was convinced that she could pull it off, especially with her neatly designed androids and she instantly took command of the group, “Right! At ease! Sit down on the bench.”

  They all complied in an instant. Danette stood in front of the girls and studied the numbers embroidered on the suits. Hoping that the android was wearing the correct suit she asked, “Zero One, who am I?”

  The girl replied with a ringing voice, “You are Miss Danette, our trainer.”r />
  “Good. Now listen carefully and store the next instruction: If you’re in this hall, and I enter the hall, I want you to stand to attention immediately.”

  Danette expected a confirmation, but she realised that they had to learn everything from scratch. She didn’t know whether to sigh or chuckle with frustration.

  “I want to hear ‘Yes Miss.’ if you have successfully received and stored an instruction.”

  Again her remark was met with a deathly silence, and Danette said, “If I say at ease, and we are in the hall you sit down on the bench.”

  A chorus of nine female voices said, “Yes Miss.”

  She had to test whether or not her instruction had been received in good order and she shouted, “Attention!”

  The women all jumped up again, and Danette grinned as she said, “At ease.”

  The women sat down on the bench in one smooth move. It was still intimidating to see nine androids moving as one. She left the hall and walked back after she had waited for a few moments.

  As she entered the hall, the nine android women instantly got up which made her feel a little bit better. Now the time-consuming part of her job was about to start: making the androids ready for the task Mr. Yousima had assigned for them.

  She pondered for a few seconds and said, “When I say ‘go for it’ you’re going to run at a pace of two steps per second following the blue line around the hall, counter-clockwise. Since your body is different to the parameters stored in your memory, you will need to recalibrate. I will place cones and other obstacles in the route which you must avoid. You’ll need to learn to overcome them as efficiently as possible. If you fall you will need to analyse what went wrong and adjust your patterns accordingly.”

  Danette looked at the androids and was quite excited by the fact that she finally had the opportunity to test the capabilities of her carefully designed androids.

  With a big smile, she shouted, “Go for it!”