Part 2

Slowly, I come to my senses for the first time in what feels like a lifetime. There's some kind of earthquake, or maybe that was just part of a dream. There's a buzzing in my brain that makes it hard to think. Water drips down onto my face and I cough to clear my lungs, though the sound seems strangely hollow and metallic to my ears.

I open my eyes and take in my surroundings. I don't remember being in prison, but yet it feels like I've spent weeks laying here.



"Subject must stay in bunk. Recuperation is mandatory."

The small robot that has been resting on the floor of my cell comes to life as I start to move.



"Subject must comply with all instructions."

To hell with that! Despite the pounding in my head, the last thing I'm going to do is lie back down and go back to sleep!



Just as I get to my feet and start to get my bearings, my little robot 'guardian' stabs me with a huge needle, injecting me with god only knows what. So I do what comes naturally...



I headbutt the shit out of the damned machine.



I felt something give under the robot's thin outer skin as I smashed my forehead into it, and it starts floating aimlessly in circles, glitchily croaking out the same messages over and over again.



I get the feeling that this nursebot might be my ticket out of this cell, so I give it a helpful push in the right direction. The nursebot hits the bars, twitching spastically for a few moments before the bot explodes, overloading the bars in the process.

Even though the bars are down, I need to pull myself together and get a bearing on the situation before I try to get out of this place.



My body is some kind of machine. But I can tell that I was once human. I am a cyborg. Who made me this way? Why did they? How could I have let them?



There is a panel on my arm. Experimental Unit AP-124... is that the name given to me by the people who did this to me?

There are entries in my journal, but I have not made them. Or does this device record unconcious thoughts? I do not understand what has been done to me. Something is not right.



Checking the diagnostics screen, it looks like I've taken a bit of damage from that damned nursebot and its needle. Turning on the biological repair function results in my wounds miraculously healing in the course of mere seconds! But it seems to drain engergy, so I'll have to be careful with it.

Whatever the 'PFD Prototype' is, it's deactivated, so I'll worry about that later on.



Searching my cell, I find a hunk meat laying on the floor. Hardly a meal fit for a king. It appears spoiled, and I'm not hungry anyway.



Suddenly, everything starts shaking again. I guess I wasn't just dreaming up the first one. These tremors feel extremely severe. Why isn't anyone coming to check on me in person? Something has gone wrong here, and I am certainly in some kind of danger. Is there anybody out there?



The only other thing in the cell is a logbook.



I know what they will do to me. They will mutilate my flesh and make it into something inhuman. They can completely alter the state of my mind. But they shall not break my spirit. I am determined. I swear with every ounce of my will that who I am, my internal nature, cannot be twisted or cut out of me. No matter what occurs I will remain unchanged.

Did I write what is in this logbook? I don't remember writing it. It sort of sounds like me. It's hard to tell without a basis for comparison.



I heard a cry of agony come from beyond my cell. A guard? Another prisoner?

I think it's time for me to get moving.