Chapter 1. Survival of the Fittest

She cleared the five foot chain link fence in one leap. With a soft roll, she landed in a lawn of perfectly tended grass and stayed there, very still. Rising towards the night sky, her goal, the National Center for Robotic Engineering, reflected the stars on its glass and titanium surface, but the twinkling lights were distorted in an eerie way. The shadow it cast on the manicured lawn swallowed the girl whole.

 

Breathe. C'mon, Yukiko, slow breaths. Very slowly, the girl let out soft, steady breaths. Blades of grass bent to the air ever so slightly. Inch by inch, she propped herself on her knees and elbows, transferring the weight to her slim frame bit by bit. In an imperceptible movement, she carefully reached inside the pocket of jeans and gave a small flash drive a brief squeeze. She let her eyes rove around the lawn and building, counting ten guards, five security cameras, and three androids. She took in one more slow, slow breath.

 

Then she ran.

 

Yukiko almost slammed into the glass double doors, but ten guards, five security cameras, and three androids continued their vigilant patrols. Yukiko almost smiled. That sprint brought her thirty feet closer to her goal. She peered inside the glass double doors, but all she saw was her own nervous reflection pressed against the glass. Delicately, she laid a small hand on the door to the National Center for Robotic Engineering and gave it a light push.

 

Slipping through the double doors, Yukiko turned in a slow circle. Her black army boots clicked and clacked on the tile floor, magnified in the dim silence. The interior of the Center was just as ominous as the exterior. Yukiko found herself in the center of some strange, circular architectural design. Marble walls towered above her, hugged by a spiraling metal staircase. Shedding poor illumination, small lamps sprung from the walls. Everything was titanium, marble, and tile, cold and unfriendly.

 

"The eighth floor, that's what we want," she whispered.

 

Creeping across the tile floor, Yukiko started along the staircase. With the slightest hesitation, the girl let her fingertips glide across the chilled metal handrail of the stairs. She shivered. With every step, Yukiko winced at the sound of her echoing footsteps. My one saving grace has to be the emptiness of this Center, or else I'd already be dead.

 

At the second floor, Yukiko slowed down. Pressed against the wall, she peeked into the rooms on the floor through a wide glass window. Amid the propagandized Living in 2038 pamphlets and the uniform mahogany desks, a shadow shifted in and out of sight. Yukiko dropped to the floor. Very slowly, she army crawled her way to the second staircase. One shoe glanced against the titanium floor. Yukiko held her breath as a dull ring throbbed through the room.

 

She dove out of the way just in time. A bullet tore past her, exploding into the staircase. Throwing up an arm to protect her face, Yukiko felt stabs of pain as metal shards ripped into the skin. Her blood splattered across the marble floor. Yukiko turned back to see a security guard stepping through a broken window. "Androids," she spat.

 

There was one way to tell an android from a human. While they were "modern marvels of human ingenuity" as the NCRE liked to put it, their human creators had neglected them one thing, a face. Where the android's face should have been was one perfectly cut out oval, revealing whirring, cranking gears. The android twisted its silvery head to face her. "Intruders must be stopped," it ground in a monotone.

 

Rolling to the side with superhuman speed, Yukiko narrowly avoided an android foot. She sprung to her feet, back against the wall. With creaking and groaning, the android lumbered towards her. It threw a punch that missed, leaving a smoking crater in the marble wall. Yukiko stumbled back a few steps. The android charged at her again.

With a quick swing of the leg, Yukiko swept the android's feet from under it. Unbalanced, it toppled down the titanium staircase. Yukiko turned, fists at the ready, but the android had collapsed at the bottom of the staircase and begun to smoke.

 

Yukiko tore her gaze away from the robot. Leaning against the railing, Yukiko craned her neck towards the rotunda ceiling. The eighth floor was somewhere above her, just out of reach. Gingerly, Yukio stretched out her bloody arm. Plucking out the metal shards, she bit her lip as more blood dripped on to the floor. I can't afford too many encounters like that. I'm going to have to avoid the floors themselves.

 

Yukiko swung her right foot on to the thin titanium railing and hoisted her left foot after it. Shifting herself bit by bit, Yukiko adjusted herself on the metal bar until she was fully standing, perfectly balanced. She broke into a sprint. Faster, faster Yukiko flew. She barely registered the metal railing The third floor whipped by her. Her choppy cut dark hair, streaked with green, swished behind her. The fourth floor blurred into the fifth, the fifth into the sixth. The pounding of her feet echoed in her head. She rounded the seventh floor. And leapt.

 

For a brief moment, Yukiko was suspended in animation, frozen mid jump between the seventh floor and the eighth, a marionette strung many, many feet above the ground. She slammed into the railing of the eighth floor. Yukiko let out a short gasp as she began to plummet to Earth. Her fingers wrapped around the rails. Swinging perilously, Yukiko twisted her head to look down. Below her, her feet swung in the emptiness of space, and far below that, the polished tile floor reflected the moon, shining through the window of the rotunda. Against the pale moonlit circle, Yukiko could not even find her own insignificant shadow. She took one shuddering breath and pulled her left hand off the railing.

 

Yukiko slipped a few inches. Calm down. Calm. She fought the urge to cry, to hyperventilate. She made a grab for the top of the railing, something to use as leverage. She caught air. Stretching her hand again, Yukiko found only her ice cold fingers. He would say this is the price of arrogance. Yukiko closed her eyes and smiled, a little slight smile. He'd probably shake his head and say "Little bird, don't fly for show."

 

Yukiko hung from the metal banister, and finally, finally her seeking fingers reached their goal. One hand twisted around the top of the metal railing. With that firm anchor, Yukiko pulled herself up and over the bars. She collided with the floor, the cold, solid floor, and lay there, dimly aware that her feet were still half propped against the rails and not really caring. Yukiko stretched out her arms and studied them. Dully, she noticed tiny rivulets of blood oozing down two, new twin scrapes on the sides of her lower arms. A warm droplet fell on her cheek. "Lovely."

 

After a few breaths, Yukiko rolled over and stood up. Very cautiously, she studied the floor. Above the third door, a tiny brass plaque read "Records: Experimentation." With utmost care, she cracked the glass door and slunk inside. While the main circular hall may have been dark, the hallway was pitch black. Yukiko stretched out her right arm and almost immediately touched the smooth, stone wall. She found the left wall, too. What narrow, narrow hallways you have, NCRE. A few steps and the darkness swallowed the girl whole.

 

"Take one left and two rights. The light switch is on your right. The room is high security. Once you flip that switch, you have two, maybe three minutes before the guards show. They'll be class A patrol androids for sure."

 

Through the weathered mail slot the rushed voice slipped her a small flash drive. Yukiko caught a glimpse of long, soot stained fingers. She wished she could see their owner's face. "On this flash drive is all the information you're looking for, the records of the genetically modified, all of their physiological data, monitoring information, everything. You realize that as soon as the NCRE finds that you got this info, you're as good as dead, right?"

 

With a confident smile, Yukiko turned from the door and looked out on the beaten, silent street of New York City. "Oh, please. What kind of jaded test subject would I be if I couldn't handle that?"

 

The voice behind the darkened wood said nothing. In a split second movement, Yukiko spun around and yanked open the door. It was empty, of course. It always was.

 

Yukiko slipped her fingers into her jeans and pulled out the flash drive. With careful movements, she ran a hand over the right wall. Her right hand hit a small titanium roadblock; her left popped the cover off the flash drive. Clattering across the metal floor, the flash drive cover sounded to Yukiko's ears like a small plastic avalanche. Not that it matters much anymore, she thought with a wry smile. Yukiko flipped the switch.

 

Three minutes.

 

It was white flash of blindness. Yukiko blinked and blinked some more. Dazedly, she stretched one disoriented hand out and staggered into the square room. The walls were solid, spotless white, completely windowless. Polished metal floors reflected piercing fluorescent light. The room was empty, except for a lone, white computer and its printer pair resting on a worn mahogany desk. Pulled out at a slight angle, a chair stood, restless and waiting.

 

As her eyes adjusted to the light, Yukiko made for the computer. She pressed the tiny power button, and the screen came to life. "Welcome User," flashed across the blue screen, "Please insert identification."

 

Two minutes.

 

Yukiko jammed the flash drive into the USB port. Text ran across the screen. "Thank you, G. Marvell. Loading your files…"

 

Well, well, well… Looks like I'll be paying someone a visit, Marvell. A list of file names raced down the digital screen; the scrolling side bar was steadily shrinking. Panic paled Yukiko's face. There were so many documents, too many documents to sift and sort in two minutes. "One minute," she corrected herself, "By now, it's probably one."

 

The file titles didn't look coded. Several were self-explanatory, their green text extending links to arm anatomy and rat testing data across the black screen. Yukiko scrolled down looking for any sort of identifying key words. Genetic modification, genetic modification, genetic modification, where are you?

 

She froze. Like an answer to her prayer, a file stretched across the screen, "Genetic Modification: Human Subject: 7mbES: Physiology." Am I 7mbES? Quickly, Yukiko ran her eyes up and down the screen. This was the only file on human modification, and they took much too long to find. Does it matter? She tugged the hem of one arm warmer and bit her lip. This might not even be me. But my informant is smart, on the inside, a NCRE employee. And I have his name. With that info, I could blackmail him into getting my file for me. No crazy neck stretching required. But still…

 

Yukiko opened the file. Before it could load on the screen, she jammed the print button. Nothing happened. Glancing at the printer, Yukiko realized it was shut down for the night. She lunged over and mashed the power button. Nothing happened. Yukiko slammed her fist on the table, leaving a bloody stain. "They didn't plug the cursed thing in!" she hissed.

 

With the power cord in hand, Yukiko dove under the table. Frantically, she looked left and right. Under the mahogany wood, a mess of tangled cords dove and snaked around one another. Yukiko shifted wires out of the way to get to the outlet, shaking hands only making the task more difficult. Screw it. She grabbed a handful of cord and yanked.

 

Somewhere above her, the computer began to buzz and hum. Ignoring it, Yukiko plugged the printer into the outlet. The printer started whirring. With a jerk, she smashed her head into the top of the desk. Stumbling backwards, Yukiko tripped her way out from under the desk. She landed on her stomach. Dead ahead was a pair of worn sneakers."Lost, kiddo?"

 

Time's up.

 

Very slowly, Yukiko pushed herself on hands and knees and addressed the male voice. "You really don't want this. Turn around, and I'll be gone before you count to ten."

 

The name. I can make it out with just the name. Cut the losses. Yukiko heard something, the unmistakable swish of paper brushing against the floor. She winced. The owner of the sneakers shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "I'll pass. Waiting in the hall wouldn't be nearly as interesting. Now let's talk about-."

 

With lightning speed, Yukiko lunged at the sneakers, and the two of them collided in a mess of arms and legs. Yukiko felt a dull ache blossom in her head as it collided with a pair of knees. They fell backwards. Amidst the head ringing, Yukiko heard a thunk, the sound of a person hitting a wall. Dazed, she started to stand and nearly toppled over again. Her attacker, wobbly on his feet, swung at Yukiko, fist smashing into her face. Fighting the sinking suspicion her nose had broken, Yukiko stumbled backwards. Blood splattered across the floor. With superhuman speed, she whipped a leg at the man's stomach. He flew backwards, his path halted by the marble wall. A sizable crack spread up the wall from the man's body.

 

Yukiko shook her head, clearing it of ringing, and took a step towards the man. The boy, really, she corrected herself. He looked to be about her age, seventeen, in jeans and a long sleeved tee. His blond hair fell, unkempt, to his shoulders. A gash on his forehead stained his hair, now matted with blood. Gingerly, Yukiko tilted the boy's head up and felt for a pulse. She found it, a warm drum beat, and let out a sigh of relief.

 

I've taken people out before, but he's so much younger. Ever so slightly, he shifted his head, letting out a light shook her head, tearing her eyes from the boy. Here I am, daydreaming through my chance to escape. Abruptly, Yukiko stood up. Snatching the now bloodstained paper off the floor, she made for the exit. At the door, Yukiko turned back and glanced at the boy. He had turned ever so slightly, and now he faced Yukiko, looking slightly groggy. "Wait."

 

It was one, soft word, but it echoed throughout the room. The boy pushed himself up from the wall and stumbled towards Yukiko. "Take me with you."

 

Suddenly, he was close, close enough for Yukiko to reach out and touch. Yukiko froze. "I… Why should I take you with me? Do I look like a fool? You work for the government. You tried to kill me."

 

He grinned with a painful wince. "Actually, you started it."

 

For a split second, Yukiko felt a frown flicker across her face. Wait. A frown? I don't care what happens to him. Do I? He leaned in a little closer. A strand of his blonde hair tickled Yukiko's face. She found herself looking straight into his eyes. Colors swirled through his irises as if someone was stirring them. Flecks of red drifted by, swirls of yellow and blue mixed into green, blue spiraled in and out, all contained within the circular boundary of his irises. "I'm like you," he whispered.

 

Yukiko felt her face grow hot. This boy was much, much too close, with his rainbow colored eyes. Awkwardly, she stepped one step back; he took one closer. "You know I'm right. Could any normal human withstand your blows? You're genetically modified, kiddo. You may have a human face, but your strength and speed, we both know that's not human."

 

He's making so much sense, a rather nice voice said, somewhere from the back of her head, and he has such pretty, pretty eyes. A much nastier voice piped up, Wait. What do his eyes have to do with it? Go with your gut. Whack the guy. Yukiko shook her head, completely flustered. "I… I have to go. Androids to smash, you know."

 

"Exactly," he said with a confident smile, "I'm another set of hands, here for the same reasons you are. You beat me to the computer because I got lost. Our positions could have been reversed. And you know…"

 

He, once again, leaned in closer. Yukiko felt his warm breath against her face and lowered her eyes. With long fingers under her chin, the boy tilted her head up. All she saw were his eyes, kaleidoscope eyes. They really are pretty, she found herself thinking. "If I was in your place, I'd take you with me," he breathed.

 

Such beautiful eyes…

 

Yukiko blinked and found herself back in the circular room of the NCRE. Shaking her head, Yukiko frowned. Strange… I don't remember getting here. An odd heaviness was weighing down her left shoulder. She turned her head and found herself looking straight into a pair of rainbow eyes. The blonde boy grinned, "Sorry to bother you, little lady, but I'm in need of some assistance."

 

Raising one lithe arm, he pointed down the circular staircase. Yukiko's eyes followed the arm straight to a squad of android patrolmen. "Regularly, I'd handle it, you see, I ama gentlemen after all, but twenty androids is a lot for one dashing knight to take single handed," the blonde boy said, detaching himself from Yukiko.

 

Yukiko sprung back. "Regularly, I'd handle it," she spat, "but I'm feeling a little unhelpful right now. How, in the name of bloody Mary, did I get here? And why were you leaning on me, when you can stand perfectly fine?"

 

The boy smiled and winked cheekily, steady on his own two feet. Yukiko lunged at him, fist raised. A bang from her left, and a bullet whizzed through the airy space once occupied by Yukiko's head, colliding with the wall in a small explosion of rubble. Chunks of marble rolled across the metal floor. A cloud of dust started to grow. Yukiko pushed herself up and found she had landed on the boy. "I'll take credit for saving your life. I think this means you owe me one," he said, dust now collecting in his blood matted hair.

 

Jumping up, Yukiko snarled, "I'm saving you for last. Consider that your favor."

 

The boy pushed himself up and dusted himself off, "Hector, a pleasure."

 

Oblivious to the androids, he stuck out a hand. Yukiko looked at it. Wordlessly, she turned around and charged the robots. "Hey, wait!" Hector called after her, "It doesn't go like that! Don't you know how clichés work?"

 

He pulled a thin rapier from the back of his shirt and ran to join her. Yukiko sprung and twisted from robot to robot. With ease, she flitted through the cluster of androids, just avoiding the explosive bullets shot from their fingertips. A quick swing of the leg and she sent a robot head skittering down the metal stairs with a clang. Its body began to sputter and smoke before losing balance and toppling backwards after its head. Yukiko grinned triumphantly. Hearing the telltale whirring, she ducked as a robotic arm swooshed over her head.

 

Yukiko glanced back at Hector. While slightly groggy, he was still standing on his own two feet. He ducked and dodged his fair share of robots, parrying blows with his icy blue rapier. Whatever it's made of, that blade isn't normal. After all, I've seen those androids blow through pounds of metal. Hector flicked his rapier, causing an android's arm to fly over the railing.

 

Yukiko turned to look down the stairs. We may be superhuman, but we aren't invincible. We, no I need to get out of here. Patrolling androids swarmed the stairway below like an ant colony. Far below her, Yukiko saw the ground floor. I could jump and make it, maybe, at least to the fourth or fifth floor. Yukiko turned to look at Hector. He was still striking and dodging, but Yukiko could see him beginning to falter. He kept turning to the glassy top of the rotunda, waiting for some godsend. He couldn't follow me. He's too injured. An android caught Hector with a lucky blow. He staggered backwards, momentarily stunned, kaleidoscope eyes staring up at the rotunda. Androids surged towards the boy as Yukiko jumped over the railing.

 

Survival of the fittest.