4 Man or machine?

"Initiating digital synchronization."

"Bringing all systems up to speed."

Hearing the human voices, Kevin opened his glassy red eyes inside a hexagonal chamber made of 6 bulletproof glass panels linked to one another. Something hammered inside his head as he looked at the bright white light shining directly on his face.

He tried to move his arms, but they were clamped in place by heavy metal braces. There was enough room to wriggle his legs, but he couldn't move them more than a few inches due to the several black cables holding them in place.

Dazed and delirious, he looked around, hoping to find a nurse or a doctor. He thought he was most probably in a hospital, but there was not a single soul in sight.

"Where am I? Is anyone there?" Kevin shouted, and instantly reeled in shock. His voice sounded completely different. It was as if he had some infection in his throat. Before he could cry out again, a string of binary codes popped up in front of his left eye, followed by several blinking sentences.

// Reboot successful!

Experimental Cybernetic User Interface online...

Vitals stabilized.

Exoskeleton integrity: 100%.

Visual Clarity: 100%.

Weapon Systems: Offline.

Defense Systems: Offline.

Tracking Systems: Offline.

Core temperature: 320.10 K.//

"Release clamps. Detach cables!" a familiar female voice exclaimed from outside the chamber.

Immediately the cables attached to Kevin's feet retracted and the metal clamps opened up, releasing him from their painful embrace. He fell from a height of 10 feet and crashed face-first into the shiny metallic floor.

"Aghh.."

"Oops...My bad, my bad!" the female voice exclaimed apologetically. "Are you alright?"

"I'm...okay," Kevin mumbled, pulling himself back up on his knees.

As he slowly raised himself back on his feet, he noticed that his arms were made of metal, with bolts securing the joints and tiny spring-loaded mechanisms acting like muscles. Narrow transparent tubes filled with a clear blue liquid were running along his forearms, connecting to his shoulders.

"What the hell is this?" Kevin was freaking out just looking at his arms, but it only got worse. Even his legs were made of several metallic parts, supporting two hydraulic pistons along the back.

Slowly, it all came back to him. He remembered he had been attacked by that killer android while trying to escape via the elevator. She had jammed her sword into his heart. There was no way he could have survived that.

He immediately looked down at his chest and his whole body trembled as he noticed the several segmented metal plates which made up his body. Every inch of his body was covered in metal!

"What the fuck happened to me?" he cried out in shock.

"Oh no, his heartbeat is going through the roof."

"We need to put him in the stasis chamber."

"Deploy the ana—"

"No, wait. He's just not used to this new body. I gotta talk to him."

Kevin looked up at the door in front as it opened with a loud beeping. A girl wearing a white lab coat stepped inside.

He was so distraught with himself, that it took him over a minute to recognize who it was. "Suzy? Is that you? Where am I?" he finally uttered in his mechanical voice, staring at Suzy's freckled face.

"Yes, it's me, Kev. We are inside an underground research facility now." The girl slowly walked up to him and gave him her hand. "I'm glad you're alright. Come on, get up. We have a lot to discuss."

"I...don't understand what's going on." Kevin reached for her hand but stopped midway. He felt afraid of touching her delicate hands with his metallic fingers. "I don't want to hurt you. This isn't me!"

"Kevin, you're not gonna hurt anyone. It's still you inside that exoskeleton. You are my best friend, Kev."

"But what happened to me? The real me?"

Suzy gently took his hand and explained, "After the robots had finished tearing through the school building, we sent a rescue team under the cover of darkness. There were no survivors except you. Your human body was in a pretty bad shape when we found you, but you weren't dead. It was a miracle how your brain was still alive even after all your other vital organs had shut down. We brought you back to our lab and helped you as best as we could."

"So, you just fitted me with bionic prosthetics right?"

Suzy shook her head, gently pulling him up. "We extracted your brain and a bit of your cerebrospinal fluid. We kept them inside the cryopreservation chamber, till we could figure out a way to revive you. It took us many days to get this exoskeleton functional. This is your new body now. You still have the same brain and you still retain all your memories, but you don't have any organic tissues anymore."

"No!" Kevin immediately reached for his face. He couldn't feel his smooth cheeks, his eyelids or his wet lips. It was all just the same cold touch of metal. Though he didn't have any skin or muscles he could still feel the difference between the soft smooth surface of Suzy's palm, and his own cold metallic face. "How can I feel things with this body?" he asked.

"You may not have an external covering of skin or nerve endings anymore, but this exoskeleton has millions of microscopic pressure sensors and synthetic neural fibers embedded inside." She touched him lightly on his chest and added, "The central processing chip and all micro-circuits are in there, along with the miniature power supply."

"So, I'm just a damn robot now!" Kevin exclaimed, pulling his hand away from hers.

"No, you're not! You're still the same person. Your brain is still there. You still have your consciousness. Nothing has changed on the inside. We only fixed your body. You still remember who you are, what you love, and those close to you."

Her last words suddenly caught Kevin's attention. "Where are my mom and dad? Do they know I'm still alive? I need to talk to them."

Suzy wasn't prepared for this question. Instead of answering, she lowered her gaze and went absolutely quiet.

"Suzy, where are my parents?" Kevin repeated his question.

"Kev, we just rebooted your system. You should get some rest." Suzy turned to go away when Kevin reached out for her arm and pulled her back.

"Where... are they, Suzy?" he asked again, this time in a much softer tone.

Suzy couldn't bring herself to look at him, so she spoke without turning around. "Your...parents didn't make it." There was a long pause after which she added, "They were killed by an android. I'm sorry, Kevin. There was nothing we could do."

Kevin froze right there, his bionic eyes twitching as his circuits went haywire. If he still possessed a human heart it would have stopped beating, but his artificial turbo cooling pump kept going.

Images of his happiest moments flashed before him. He remembered his mother's delicate touch and his father's warm hug. They were all gone now and he was left alone in this world.

Suzy wanted to walk out of that room and give him some time to get his bearings straight, but she couldn't find it in her heart to leave him all alone inside that lifeless chamber. She twirled around and wrapped her arms around him.

"It's going to be okay, Kevin. We'll get through this somehow. Everyone here is fighting their own battles. But I'm here for you."

"Were you there when my parents were killed?" Kevin asked.

"No, I wasn't. But we found the recording from the concealed camera in your driveway. They were about to get into their car when an android named AISHA jumped them. It was bad. They didn't even get the chance to defend themselves."

Suzy went on telling him about all that had happened since the first day of the attack, but he wasn't listening. The only word which kept ringing in his ears was 'AISHA.' It was the same android which had attacked him at school and killed all his classmates.

Curling his fingers into fists, he whispered, "She should have finished the job."

"What?" Suzy released him from her embrace and looked into his eyes.

"I'll find her and I'll fucking tear her to pieces!" he screamed. "I'm gonna destroy them all!"

Before Kevin could storm out of there, Suzy gestured with two fingers and shut the chamber door. "You are not in a proper state of mind. You need to calm down and let us run some more tests."

"I am a machine now. I don't give a damn. I'll destroy every single one of those tin cans! They ruined everything!"

"You're not a damn robot! You're a cyborg." Suzy held on to Kevin and explained things as they really were. "We hooked you up to an Experimental Cybernetics User Interface. You can control every part of your body using your mind, but you need to get used to this first. And you can still die!"

Suzy waited for Kevin to digest the information and then continued as calmly as she could. "The world has changed a lot since the day of the attack. I know it may come as a shock, but you've been in the cryopreservation chamber for six months. You don't even know what's outside, Kev."

"Six months!" Kevin reeled in shock. It felt like it was just yesterday when he was sitting inside the classroom, playing Robo Warrior.

The more he thought about it, the more it hurt. He found himself in a dark hole, clueless and confused. Eventually, he turned to Suzy for all the answers. "Are the robots still out there? What happened to our soldiers?"

"The robots are still out there and the soldiers are either dead or imprisoned. We are no longer free. Our government was unable to stop the attack. The machines rolled over everyone in their path and destroyed everything we held dear. We don't have a human government anymore. An advanced android now sits at the helm of affairs, making all administrative decisions for the whole country."

"The machines took over?" Kevin asked, still unable to accept the shocking news.

Suzy nodded. "They took over every single city. Everything is run by machines now and those who live on the surface are treated worse than animals. They are constantly tracked and monitored by the machines and forced to abide by all the rules imposed by the advanced android. Nothing is the same anymore."

"If the world is so screwed up, then why the hell did you bring me back? You should've just let me die!"

"Because we still have hope. We are trying to fight back, and we need you on our side."

"What difference can I make against a whole army of machines? I'm just a useless gamer. I can't do anything. I couldn't save anyone," Kevin replied, turning away.

Suzy touched him lightly on the shoulder. "You're a lot more than that now. You are a cyborg. I built this cybernetic interface, especially for you. I know you always wanted to make a difference, to be a hero. This is your chance. I know you want revenge, and it's not just you, we all want the same thing. You've been given a second chance. All I ask is that you don't waste it."

Kevin slowly turned around and looked Suzy in the eye. "What kind of interface is this?"

"It's a lot like your favorite mecha from Robo Warrior. You can equip your new body with various peripheral implants, outfit yourself with all kinds of weapons, state-of-the-art tracking systems, space-age shield tech, and even upgrade and modify your mainframe. You've always wanted a system, and now you have it!"

Suzy paused and waited for Kevin's reply, but he was still trying to deal with his dark thoughts. She finally tapped lightly on his left shoulder and added, "We can't change the past, but we can still write our future."

All of Kevin's fondest memories resurfaced in his mind. He had lost almost everyone he had held dear and he yearned for revenge. Clenching his fists tightly, he looked in the eye. "Teach me how to use this interface. I want to take the fight back to those bastards!"

"That's what I'm here for, Kev," Suzy replied, gently caressing his left cheek. "We will get through this together and take back what is rightfully ours. I believe in you."