Three

Pushing through the warehouse door, she'd admit she'd been more than amazed at what she'd seen and a little bewildered by the whole thing.

Why would her people not want all this?....

With Aquarius's help, she went through some of the 4D printer programs in the large storeroom she was led to holding three of the biggest things, ‘machine's 4D printers' she'd ever seen. Her community didn't have equipment like this. They were like small houses. Seemed to be able to make anything with the materials supplied.

Another amazing experience one after the other. Her brain struggled to cope with it all, there was a surprise around every corner with everything she saw.

Eager to get something going, with Aquarius's help, she set them ready to ‘manufacture' the solar bikes. Having no idea what she was doing, she let Aquarius do most of it. Just pressed a button here or there or gave the go ahead for Aquarius to do it.

She felt useless but it was a start if nothing else. She asked her to get the Autobots on it.

Going back to the main living area stopping by Jacqs to let her know they were going to have company, men to help protect them, Jacqs was full of questions, and she did her best to answer them. Explaining who they were and where they'd come from, Jacqs shock matched her own. They would help them fight back she told her and explained they'd been in stasis and still here. Waiting for them.

Jacqs excitement went through the roof.

Smiling and shaking her head as Jacqs bounced in her seat asking question after question, she'd made more coffee grinning herself and with a kiss to her head, she told her to get back to work, they'd be plenty of time for questions later and made her way back to the hub. Going through more of those blueprints at a large display table asking her own question after question to Aquarius, when the door opened, and in walked three men.

Blinking up at hearing the door go, they came in and stayed just inside the doorway, like they were giving her room. Not wanting to crowd her.

Wow….

Was all she could think.

She'd never seen such large men in all her life. And appreciated the space. They were way too big filling the room by the door but at least they were dressed now. She felt better about that. It was wrong to have them naked and couldn't think why they'd done that.

Did they not do embarrassment?.... Maybe they had nothing to be embarrassed about?.... Or didn't care… It was kinda freeing….

Blinking confused by her own thoughts, she realised she'd got lost in her brain, and gave another wave and smiled. They didn't rush her, and she got the feeling they knew she was adjusting to their presence.

"Hi, I'm Helena. Sorry to wake you, this is not Old Earth, you are still here on Sanctuary where you were last stationed. The last transport never came to take you back. In fact, they never came back at all. I'm sorry about that too, I know you wanted to leave. We don't know why they never came. All communication with Old Earth just stopped. You've remained in stasis for all this time. And I'm not sure why that happened either." She frowned. "They should have come and got you when it was clear Earth Corp weren't coming back." She shook her head. "Maybe they forgot you were here, which is awful. I'm really sorry about that as well." She screwed her nose up.

That was a lot of sorry's….

"You are a child." The first one who'd woken, the Commander who seemed the leader of the three told her.

"I'm 14, nearly 15."

"And the other child?" The one on the right asked.

"She's 5."

"Where are the others? The rest of the colony?" The Commander asked.

"It's been many generations since you were first here. It was peaceful. We had a good life. Generations of living well and nothing to worry about. We never created an army. Didn't need it. It's one of the reasons Aquarius told me you were in stasis. But now it's clear that was a mistake." She wrestled with her emotions keeping them back. Swallowing her pain.

"We're under attack. Pirates, raiders came to our world weeks ago and have taken over the main community, likely the others too. My sister and I escaped, our mother giving us a chance to get away, but they came after us. We've been on the run for weeks." She looked around. "We were lucky to find these tunnels and be safe. My grandparents told us the stories of them, handed down, our refuge for safety. At the time, we found the story's amusing to hear them, but no longer. My mother remembered them when we were attacked and told us to run and find them when they raided our home."

"They're dead?" The main man asked bluntly. She nodded tears in her eyes. "I and my men need access to the systems here to update ourselves."

She swallowed back her emotions and nodded. "Aquarius?"

"Yes Helena."

"Give access to these men please."

"At what rank?"

"Rank?"

"After you."

"Why after me? They're the adults."

"You are the oldest human here and in command."

How could she be the oldest human here?...

Screwing up her nose she looked to the three men. "I don't understand."

"We're not human. Cyborgs."

Her frown deepened. They were flesh and blood, she could see that as they stood there. Aquarius's comment about being the only humans in the tunnel system registered but didn't make sense. She looked at the leader again. He looked familiar. Then the other two. So did they. The videos on the tunnel history, they were in it. She swallowed.

How was that possible?..... Had they'd been in stasis all this time? It was far too long….

And realised they were waiting on her. "Well….. that's just crazy. You're flesh and blood, have a pulse. Your human."

"We are both human and machine made by Earth Corp to soldier for them. They made us and own us."

"What? They can't own you that's just wrong. And not possible here, it would never be allowed. Slavery was stopped on Old Earth a long time before my family ever came here. I know that."

"They made us, so owned us." The main man stressed.

She shook her head. "That's crazy and no longer. No one owns anyone here. That's sick. You are free men. I will not consider anything else."

"We are machines, programmed." He stressed again. She didn't know why he kept pushing her on this.

It was wrong. It was that simple.

Her frown only deepened, and she sighed. She didn't have time for this.

"Look I don't know what you're trying to say but I'm not seeing the significance. That might have been then, but that is over. You are alive, sentient and here, that's good enough for me. You are free men. Aquarius, give the leader of the men joint rank with me please. His men under him as he sees it."

"Affirmative. Recorded."

"Our orders?" The leader asked.

"Your names?"

"B1184. I'm the Commander. My First. B1189. My Second. B1197."

"Those are numbers, I want your names."

"We don't have names." He told her flatly.

She looked at each of them in turn horrified.

That wasn't right…. She couldn't call them a number….

And shook her head. "I'm not calling you numbers its offensive. And Commander is a rank?" She shook her head again her eyes wide in disbelief. Earth Corp had a lot to answer for that was clear and blew out a breath. "Pick a name. All of you. Find something you're happy with or keep the number if it means so much to you but, it seems wrong to me."

"We will discuss it with the men." The Commander told her. She nodded. "Your orders mam?"

"Please call me Helena. For now, we need information and equipment, after that, we need to fight and take back our world."

The door opened and Jacqs came running in. Stopping dead seeing the three men and then coming to her she climbed on her lap. "Hey baby girl these are our new friends."

Jacqs waved. "There are more in the kitchen Hel, they are making food, real food Hel. It smelt so good I got hungry."

"I can imagine. How was school?"

Jacqs nodded. "Good, I like it."

She laughed in wonder. So resilient. There might be a time when Jacqs would need help understanding her loss in all this, just as she would, but that time wasn't right now.

"Well I guess its lunchtime then. What do you want for lunch the replicators can do anything?" Standing with her, Jacqs legs wrapped around her waist on her hip. Holding her to her.

"The child needs real food; we will feed her." The leader told her.

He was clearly used to being in control. She took a beat.

Was he taking over dismissing her because of her age?....

She didn't like that.

"Thank you for the offer but she gets what she wants." And walked out as they gave way to her, walking to the living area and the kitchen. Finding all the tables now full of men eating and drinking, meat being cooked, tonnes of it. The smell heavenly they both waved as the men looked up and glazed over.

She felt a bit lost in all those huge males. It was a walking, sitting, eating, mass of muscle.

"They're all so big Hel." Jacqs whispered.

She tutted pulling back on her own thoughts. Even if Jacqs said what was on her mind. "That's rude Jacqs, we don't do that."

"I'm sorry. But they are big." She bet they looked huge compared to her. Kissing her head, she smiled at her.

"That's ok, we need strong men to help us, but we need to remember our manners, yes? Kindness costs nothing right?" Jacqs nodded. "Okay, so lunch what do you want?"

Putting her down at an empty seat where two other Cyborgs were already eating on the other end of the table. She smiled at them as Jacqs gave her order and she went to get it for her. And heard Jacqs talking to the Cyborgs who by their faces were a bit confused by her. She hid her smile as Jacqs had introduced herself and was explaining things in her own way. They seemed to appreciate it. They listened and were careful with her.

"The child, is she yours?" The Commander right there as she used the replicator. She'd not heard him at all.

"Eww. Hardly I'm 14 remember. No. She's my sister." She took the food over to Jacqs with a kiss on the head who started to eat while talking. "Not with your mouth full Jacqs, it's not pretty and no one wants pebble dashing with your lunch." Jacqs grinned and nodded.

"Sorry Hel." With another kiss on her head, she went back to order her own.

"Real food would be better for both of you." The Commander still there. Watching it all.

She gave a nod. She knew that. "We've been on the run for several weeks, the raiders chasing us, not eating well, hardly at all. We need to take it easy, and I want her to have what she likes for a while then we'll need to eat healthy once more. I was going to go foraging, can you believe that with all this here. I didn't know we had freezer stores here until you were woken up." She looked over at him. "Was it okay to wake you?"

He gave a nod. "We were brought here to protect but there was nothing to protect you from, so we weren't needed. Going back into stasis seemed the logical choice." He walked to one of his men cooking the meat on a hot plate she'd not known was even there and wondered what else she didn't know about and made a mental note to ask Aquarius for a full listing of stores and equipment. She watched as he filled up a plate on meat and other items so did the other two men that were with him. Going back to the table, the two took a seat at Jacqs table too, the Commander was waiting on her it seemed.

The smell now saturating the room, it made her mouth water, and she took her own lunch to the table and sat down next to Jacqs with a nod to the others already there. The leader coming to join them too.

"You may call me Blad if you wish. I was called it once in action. It seemed appropriate then. Do you know what happened to Earth Corp?"

She ate and shook her head. "No I'm sorry. Our records show that they came for three trips and then stopped. No news after that either. I'm not sure if communications died or were cut, this end or theirs, I've not got around to checking that yet."

"The time stamp on our cryo tubes tell us that we were in there for 162 years. What generation are you?"

Her mouth dropped open.

162 Years?...... Holy shit…..

She cringed closing it again and swallowed. She knew it had to of been a long time, but that amount was crazy, sounded terrible to have just been left like that and shrugged apologetically. Before smiling at Jacqs giving a huge speech about what she'd learnt this morning to the others at their table. Completely oblivious to what she'd just been told.

The Cyborgs clearly indulging her.

"So long?" she whispered mostly to herself in disbelief. Then focused back on the three. "I don't know I'm sorry. I remember and know about 4 generations back in my family, but I know there were a lot more before that. My ID chip will know so will Aquarius, I've asked her linked to the community now, she can access the records, I'm sure."

"We'll need access."

"Don't you already have it?"

"They took it away when they crated us."

She was beginning to think her ancestors were asses. "Aquarius, give full access to the Commander and his men."

"Affirmative."

She gave a ‘I'm not sure what the hell they were thinking' shrug. "I won't be doing that. You have it." And took a bite of her sandwich before looking up at the leader again. "I saw you, the three of you on the colony historic records in these tunnels. You look exactly the same."

"Cyborg, we do not age."

"So if you'd not been in cyro, you'd still look as you do now? A hundred and sixty odd years later?"

He gave a nod.

Wow….

"The defensive perimeter in the entrance hallway, that's new and there are more cameras active. You put that in operation?" he asked between bites of his meal.

She bit into her sandwich thinking about what he'd told her and gave a nod to his question as he continued to eat what looked like a slab of seared beef. "Yeah, seemed like a good idea if they got in. Thought we were alone you know. I couldn't defend against them with Jacqs." She told him quietly so Jacqs couldn't hear. "I had the other cameras go live too, they can be seen from the hub and anywhere I am, and I started the 4D printers, the Autobots are working them. We need transport and a way to fight back."

"Can you fight?"

She shook her head. "I can learn."

"Whats your plan?" He asked between more bites as she finished her sandwich.

She'd been brought up to steer away from conflict. But now she faced it. "To take back what is ours. Deal with the raiders. Free our people."

"That will take time. We show our hand too soon or give this location away and you'll both be compromised. We need to build, do recon. Know our enemy. How many are there?"

"Hundreds." She told him quietly. "And they have air vehicles."

"You need to train, so can Jacqs. We'll start with scouting our opposition, mapping out the terrain and their strength. Then we'll push back. If they have prisoners, there will be a cost."

She nodded finishing her sandwich. She'd guessed as much. The raiders wouldn't take kindly to having competition. "They don't know about you so that's good right?"

"Once they see us, they'll know we're not from here and a threat and be coming in force if they're determined to keep this world. We need to keep a very low profile until we're ready." That didn't sound good at all.

"But people are dying." She whispered.

"And more will. We can't take them on until we know what we're up against."

Her anger started to seep in.

What was the point of freeing them if they couldn't help her?....

"Can't we free at least some of them?"

"If we get the chance, we will. There were other emergency living tunnels. Have you opened them too?"

She shook her head. "It was a miracle we found this one. We were being chased and they nearly caught us."

"They know this is here?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I don't think so. They know the tunnel is, they followed some distance behind us, but the wall projection is good. We only found it because I'd told Jacqs to hammer on the walls thinking there was a false door or something. The tunnels didn't look abandoned to me, too clean but it was a dead end seemingly without reason, so it didn't look right. It was very good, looked real. I had Aquarius change it after to look abandoned. Jacqs put her hand right through the projection and we found the entrance. Without her doing that, I doubt we'd have found it at all. I knew the system would need an entry key we didn't have, or a bio read, so gave I gave it some of my blood and my handprint, it scanned my ID chip and it worked. Thank God I'd listened to my grandma and her old stories passed down of this place….." She whispered tailoring off thinking of the ‘what if's'.

"Then we'll start using another exit."

She looked up at him again. "There's another?"

"There's three. Always have a backup plan. We'll be opening up another tunnel for any one we save too. Can't have them coming here in case they compromise it. We'll also open up the rest of this place. There are bedrooms for two, with showers, you and Jacqs can take one, we'll take over the bunk rooms. Not that we sleep much. We can direct everything from the hub."

"I need to learn to fight." she told him earnestly.

"We can do the fighting."

"Thank you but I need to learn to fight." She told him again determined to be useful.

He stared at her as he finished his meal. It was like he was weighing up her determination. Gaging her. Looking for something, trying to figure something out. She held his eyes. Buried all her emotions but revenge.

Then he gave a nod. "Then you will."

****

It had been more than four years since that first day.

Four years of birthdays and made-up Christmas's. Four years of learning to fight. Of working with her men to get her world back. And they were her men now. Working with her day and night. Going out on recon. Mapping the land. Leading skirmishes. Capturing the bad guys and making them talk. Freeing who they could but it wasn't enough. Pressuring for more, Blad refused over and over again to go all out. It pissed her off and she'd exploded more than once. He'd tolerated it in the child she was, trying to work it all out and as she got older, he'd tell her to work out and pound the bag, run, take to the mats, anything to work off the aggression flowing through her and when she demanded he fight her, he refused to go all out again and no one else would do it.

They'd been warned off.

And she was sick of it.

Four long years. It weighed on her.

She'd had to argue for months to have him let her go on missions. He'd come up with one reason after another why she couldn't go. Her age at first, then her strength, her endurance, her skill. So she'd aged and while she waited, worked her ass off to the point he couldn't use those any more and had to let her go.

The first time she got a scratch from an engagement six months in, Blad had lost it. He'd exploded in rage and cut down everything in his path that was a bad guy. It had been as awe inspiring as it had shocking.

Okay so it needed a couple of stitches, but it was no big deal. She'd been observing and in watching them, she'd not seen the man come at her until it was too late, and he'd got a shot off. He hadn't lived much passed it. Even feeling the injury she'd had her weapons ready and fired back.

But Blad wasn't appeased. She kept telling him she was fine as he charged towards her after, covered in blood picking her up and running like a mad man for the solar bikes and at full speed getting her back to the tunnel. And once there, he was growling like a crazy man and his number one and two had to threaten him that he was making it worse by the delay if he didn't let them treat her.

She'd watched as he'd slowly came back from wherever he was in his brain and put her down gently in medical holding her for a moment breathing her in. Then his eyes cleared of the raging fire in them, and he walked away.

Not sure what that was about, they never spoke of it, but he'd been out of control. They all knew it. She'd just turned 16.

After that, he kept his distance, but always there and she was more careful. But it wasn't the last time she'd been injuried and looked to him each time waiting for the detonation, but it never came again. He had better control. Just inspected the injury and gave a nod to her and the medics took over.

She felt sure he'd been close to grounding her every time, but he didn't. Likely knowing she'd rebel if he did.

They'd been plenty of engagements over the years. Plenty of enemies to take care of. Far too many.

It was all taking too long.

Never in her wildest dreams when she started this had she thought they'd still be here 4 years later. She got it; she really did. It had been hammered into her over and over again. 76 Men were not enough to take on hundreds. They were Cyborg not Gods. Yes, they could take a lot of punishment. They could fight 5 to 1 and win. But to stand any real chance they needed double the men. And any way you looked at it, they just weren't enough. Cyborgs could fight better than human men, they could take on 5 times the numbers and win, but the cost could be high, so very high.

She'd know. She'd been patching them up since they'd started to fight back.

Sighing. Unable to sleep again, she continued to find sleep difficult all these years later, her mind too preoccupied unable to switch off. This time by something other than the war they were raging.

Stretching, it seemed like she'd been dreaming of him since she'd woken him.

But in reality, the dreams that concerned her were only after she'd turned 16 and that first incident several months later.

Suddenly he seemed more than her friend, not that he'd done anything differently or inappropriately. He hadn't.

Within days of him being set free from that crate, he'd entered her dreams. A comforting presence she'd welcome, always chasing her nightmares away. And when she did dream of him, sleep came to her. She'd wake rested, feeling better.

Until those dreams had intensified after her 17th birthday. They'd started taking on a more…. intimate nature. She'd dream of him with her. Often just in her company the two of them doing something. Working or training. He would be looking on her with an expression she rarely saw in life. Like he wanted something from her, and her body would heat and react.

It had become unsettling. Young, she wasn't sure how to deal with it. He never touched her in real life unless it was necessary but in her dreams, they'd started taking on a more, sexual nature. The first time it happened, she'd woken sweaty, her heart beating and an ache in the pit of her stomach, her body pulsing that she didn't understand. Needing relief, she'd hit the shower and stood under its freezing cold water.

She'd hit 17 and it seemed like her body had come alive overnight and completely alien to her.

Telling herself to get a grip. She was imagining things that were likely not there she didn't understand the changes and sort answers. In the quiet of the night, she found an empty space with no Cyborgs around, their hearing off the charts she needed privacy. Locking herself in, she would talk quietly to Aquarius looking for those answers.

Having found them, her understanding and fear for what it meant stayed with her and as the time passed, she'd tried everything to remove him from her mind. Gone through the avoidance tactic, the evasive tactic, she'd been defiant in denial. Surly to the point of offensive anything to keep him at arm's length. She'd been objectionable and difficult. Had pulled rank. Made decisions with his number one and two excluding him. Changed his orders. Looking to get a rise out of him, seeking some distance. Crushing any emotion other than friendly banter or snide remarks. She tried everything to push him away.

Took countless cold showers.

Worked herself into exhaustion.

Anything to keep her mind off…. him.

Pushing herself to the point of being reckless, he'd eventually acted, overruling her, and grounding her. In hindsight, he wasn't wrong to do that. He'd allowed her to have her head. Had given her time to come around and only when she hadn't pulled it back before it was likely to get her hurt, did he act. Showing her the error of her ways.

Putting her firmly in her place.

It was stupid. Putting them all at risk with her need to do something, prove she was good enough, to push him away. To not address the elephant in the room.

She was fixated on him.

When actually, her actions told them all she really wasn't good enough at all.

She'd had to live with the shame of that for the past 2 years.

And tried to make up for it by working harder, doing better, keeping some distance between them and being the leader she needed to be. Continually in her mind was the reality she'd messed up, that she needed to be professional. Be better than she was. A leader. Someone they could depend on.

She hadn't asked for this, but she was responsible for it and it weighed heavily on her. It was her that had set the tone for getting her world back. It was her that had woken them up.

She had a job to do, one she'd chosen. She could have stayed hidden, stayed by themselves. Not woken the Cyborgs, thought about her actions more before acting but she'd not done that.

Her only thought was survival at any cost. No matter what she had to use to do it.

She was no different from those she'd seen working with the pirates on the vid screens. She hated seeing it, but they were trying to survive too.

And she'd started to run in the middle of the night. Needing to keep focused.

She wasn't that child any longer. Not sure she'd ever been a child since the moment the pirates came and they'd ran.

Such thoughts of him were wrong. She knew it. This wasn't a romance; it was a war. He was a hero, they all were. And he was not here for her. He was not her knight in shinning armour, there was no white steed that he'd be whisking her off on. That was romantic nonsense from childhood books. She was no Cinderella. No Snow White. And although he looked like any woman's Prince. They'd been left behind and had no choice once awake but to take a side.

He wasn't here because of her. But because he'd had no choice.

That was her reality. Needing the outlet, her brain doing it again, she pushed it and ran harder.

She could have used the work out area, but the Cyborgs on training shift would be using them and she preferred to run the tunnels and be alone. In the early days when she'd started doing it, she'd find she had an escort and had politely told them to get lost. She wanted to pound the ground on her own. Work through her mind in isolation and they'd respected that.

Now the Cyborgs knew better than to stop her or try to engage her and stayed out of her way. They rarely slept or rested either. Always on the go. Doing patrols, working a mission, making more equipment, planning.

They rarely rested.

In those first months, she'd worried seeing them sleep less than she did, but in her isolated room, late at night, Aquarius had explained it all to her, given her what was called ‘Cyborg 101'. And then she understood better, knew how they were created and why, what they could and couldn't do and why they were as they were. Much of it seemed so strange to her, she didn't see how people could be that way, but she'd seen enough of the invaders to know that that was how some people were.

Cruel and brutal.

But Cyborgs were made differently. They couldn't be corrupted. They were brutally honest with mad skills. Their programming ruling them, until it didn't.

She couldn't remember when that happened. When the programming seemed to stop having control over them but over time, in those early months, they started to change. Be more human.

Needing to keep her mind focused on what they were doing next, she went over the plan over and over again in her mind as she ran. Looking for any cracks, any weaknesses. Eventually feeling the burn, she slowed down to jogging, then walking, ending up in the kitchen area doubled over breathing hard.

Yeah, she'd needed that….