A.L.P.H.A
All Laughs Pause Here, Adym
Program II[
All Laughs Pause Here, Adym
Program II[
“Why isn’t he moving?”
“Maybe he’s sleeping?”
“I don’t give a damn about the kid. He doesn’t notice you, that’s the important part.” Alviin’s voice crackled over the transmitter. “Just get that computer and get the hell out of there. You can only have so much time before they send a search team to your floor.”
“But there isn’t a computer!” Zyzon muttered angrily into the transmitter. “Just a whole bunch of computer junk hooked up to the kid.”
“Hooked up to the kid?” Alviin asked, obviously skeptical. “You sure it’s not just hooked up to something behind him?”
“Negative on that one.” Helena stated, standing next to the blonde-haired boy. “There’s nothing behind him. All the wires are hooked up to his ears.” She walked back over to Zyzon. “Alviin, what do you think that means?”
“Well, obviously that kid’s the computer!” Alviin said, as if it was obvious. Zyzon rolled his eyes and walked over to the kid. “They must have crafted the machine to look like a human in order to throw off anyone that came to steal it. Luckily you have me, though.”
Zyzon made a scoffing noise, shoving Alviin’s high and mighty comments out of his own mind. He was curious about this machine. Why would anyone bother crafting it to look like a human? As soon as someone rapped on its ‘skin’ they would realize it was made of metal and not flesh.
Only that wasn’t the case, as Zyzon soon realized. He had taken his left hand and poked at the computer’s shoulder, finding that there was flesh under there, and even blood that oozed out when he retracted his sharp, metal hand. A swore bloomed upon his lips as a thought occurred to him. With Helena watching in mild confusion, Zyzon placed his ear against the boy’s chest.
Thump.... Thump.... Thump.... Thump
“Holy ********’ crap!” Zyzon exclaimed, rocketing his body as far away from the body as it could with one push of his legs.
“What is it?” Helena and Alviin asked simultaneously.
“You moron...” Zyzon murmured. “This is no computer. I heard, even felt, a heartbeat. He’s alive!”
“Are you sure?” Helena asked, walking over to him and the living computer. She took her fingers and placed them against the boy’s neck, feeling around for the correct place. Then she felt it too, the pulsing sign of life. She didn’t jolt back like Zyzon, but she drew her hand back rather quickly and stared at the vacant expression on the boy’s face.
She stared into his eyes, and he did not stare back. He couldn’t not when there was nothing there. His pupils and iris’ had nearly disappeared. They had slid back into his head a bit, though Helena could still see a hint of faded blue amidst the binary code that was drifting across the whites of his eyes.
“What are you...?” Helena whispered in disbelief.
“Project Alpha, test subject number 0218362. Status: success.” A voice rang out, loud and monotonous, through the large room, echoing off the walls and equipment. Helena and Zyzon jumped, surprised, and looked at each other. After confirming with the looks they gave each other that neither of them had spoken, they turned their gaze to the next being with vocal chords in the room.
“Was that you?” Helena asked, looking directly at the boy.
“Affirmative.” The boy said, his mouth moving and forming the words in a robotic way.
They stood there in silence for a moment, unsure of the next action they should take, before another, more familiar, voice rang out through the chamber.
“What are you standing around there for?” Alviin yelled, the transmitter screeching as he did so, causing Helena and Zyzon to cover their ears and glare. “He’s so obviously the computer! Grab him and go. And don’t break him! I don’t want anything wrong with him when I get my hands on that program! Having it inside a human is going to be hard enough to hack into, but if he’s broken, man, I just forget about it!”
“Stop talking about him like he’s just some machine, some tool, just a computer.” Helena said to Alviin in a scolding tone.
”He is a computer! And I don’t know why, so I wanna tinker with his brain. Come on, hurry up! The search team has already reached the twentieth floor and found some of the dead bodies. They’re trying to call for reinforcements and it’s all I can do to jam their signal.”
Helena rolled her eyes and sighed, returning her attention to the living computer. “Okay, well, come on, kid. We gotta go.”
“Password required for transportation.” The boy said, the only thing moving being the binary code in his eyes and his mouth. It didn’t even look like he was breathing; he was so still.
“We don’t have time for this!” Zyzon yelled, stomping his foot down angrily.
“Zyzon!” Helena chided, placing her hand upon his shoulder, a hand that Zyzon angrily shook off.
“******** this piece of s**t!” he yelled, bringing his foot down again.
“Password accepted.”
All motions paused for a second as Helena and Zyzon looked over to the computer boy that had just spoken. They glanced at each other, and Helena clapped a hand on Zyzon’s shoulder, smiling at him and gripping the shoulder in a way that showed she needed him for balance as she fought back the snickers. “Nice job, Zyzon.” She was able to sneak out before laughing at the absurdity of the password and how it was stumbled upon.
Meanwhile, the boy had begun preparations for transportation. The wires that had connected him to all the equipment in the room had detached themselves from the appliances and reeled into the clips on his ears, closing up like they had never been there to begin with. He then stood up, wobbling a bit. His legs were still slightly bent, obviously unused to standing up.
“Come on.” Zyzon said encouragingly to the boy, grabbing him by his wrist and following Helena in their dash for the fire exit. Alviin had reported to them that the search party had reached the twenty-seventh floor, so they hurried. Their car was parked at the bottom of the fire exit for an easy, quick exit. It took a bit of work to get the boy down the stairs, and when they had gone two flights down, they had to duck and hide against the wall. The footsteps of the search team echoed in their ears, and when they couldn’t hear anything anymore, they continued downwards, quickening their pace. Their missing computer would be found soon, and they wanted to be gone before that happened.
“Zyzon, sit in the back with him. Make sure he doesn’t start to act all... weird or something.” Helena said as she hopped into the driver’s seat, unlocking the side door for Zyzon and the computer. Zyzon just nodded and led the boy inside the car, locking his seatbelt for him since all the boy would do was follow after them. After locking his own seatbelt up, he locked the door and they were off, speeding down the road as fast as they could without drawing special attention to themselves. That was the last things they needed; police investigating why people with metallic limbs had a young boy with binary code in his eyes and wearing only pajamas in their car. Too many things were suspicious about this scenario, and they would avoid all they could. Zyzon even pulled out the nerve cords, using his teeth, from his right gun-arm and pulled the addition off him.
“Welcome home.” Alviin greeted the three at the door within an old apartment building. He ushered them inside, his gaze lingering on the computer boy before he closed and locked the door. He then hurried over to his computer and its equipment, motioning for Helena and Zyzon to bring the computer boy over there. They seated the boy upon a sturdy cardboard box and Alviin began his inspection of him.
He clipped his blonde hair with it’s crimson tint at the ends of his hairs away from his eyes using one of Helena’s black barrettes, which Helena had to complain about for a short while. His blue eye ran rampant over the boy’s features, memorizing every little feature, separating the natural from the electrical. Though they couldn’t see it, they knew his left eye was also working overtime, scanning through different sites and programs Alviin had created. It was glass, implanted and connected to his brain so it could work. Claw-like scars ran down his face on that side, showing the reason his original eye went missing. A cord ran from the corner of his eye, down to his metal limb where he had implanted a computer chip of his own. He was able to see and click with his mind on anything stored in that computer, most of which were programs he used to hack into various places.
“Now...” he said, cupping the boy’s chin in his fleshy right hand. “Reveal to me your secrets.”
