Marcus 582: Book Three of Cyborgs: Mankind Redefined by Donna McDonald Read Free Book Online Page B

rational reason for doing something he or she knows is irrational and/or wrong. In people like you, it gets interpreted as stiff-lipped denial.”
     
    Marcus narrowed his eyes and let himself think a few evil thoughts about wiping away Eric’s grin. “You need to get out of here as soon as you can, smartass. You’re starting to sound like Nero.”
     
    Eric grinned again and raised his middle finger. “Okay, dumbass. Let me clarify the data so even an all brawn and no brain guy like you can understand. You’re jealous of the kid for having coffee with Rachel and making her laugh. Admit your weakness for a woman too young for you, realize how stupid it is, and then get on with your life. I told you before, either make your play for her, or stay away from her.”
     
    “I am not jealous of any geeky kid,” Marcus declared. “I just want his damn info. Something was off about him, Eric. You use your gut to make decisions about people all the time. Well, I’m using mine now. Look him the hell up.”
     
    Eric snorted, well used to Marcus getting huffy when they disagreed. It was usually entertaining.
     
    “Okay…I think it’s a waste of my time, but if you insist…” Eric’s eyes widened as they studied the screen of information. “ Uh oh… ”
     
    “What? What’s uh oh mean?” Marcus demanded.
     
    “The geeky kid…he’s…wait this can’t be right. For one thing, he’s way too young.”
     
    Eric’s fingers flew as he input commands and cross-referenced. It was in both places—not even hidden.
     
    “Well holy hell. Seems your gut was right in this case. Rachel’s mystery date is a cyborg. His name is Nathan 180. He’s got a panel like us—but as far as I can tell—no prosthetics. His enhancements are comprised of multiple neural implants. They also include a state of the art logic chip to run those neural implants, which probably makes him smarter than most com systems. He also has a high-speed processor, which channels pulses through a customized bodybuilding program more sophisticated than our military spec one. He’s about a half a year into whatever six-pack he’s got growing under the skin-tight shirt he’s wearing in his Norton ID photo.”
     
    Marcus walked to the chair beside Eric and sat down heavily. “How does a new brand of cyborg end up working for a company who would prefer to see all the cyborgs they’ve created turned into mindless AI slaves?”
     
    Eric shrugged. “I don’t know…but I have another question. Who the hell converted him? Nathan 180 exists in the database, but his cyborg file doesn’t show a creator. Norton clearly has him cataloged as a cybernetic hybrid human. Every scanner in the world is going to identify him that way. That means someone here at Norton hired him knowing exactly what he’d had done to himself.”
     
    “I saw the kid. He couldn’t have been over twenty-five years old, Eric. What the hell was he thinking getting those things done at his age? There used to be an age minimum of forty because they wanted to make sure your body was through all its natural growth cycles. You’re one of the few guys I know who was converted before thirty. I don’t like this.”
     
    Eric nodded. “I was a military special case and I hear you. I don’t like it either.”
     
    “Rachel said he was an old friend from college. Maybe I’ll ask her for background information on him.”
     
    Eric laughed. “Dude…don’t be so lame. She didn’t know him in college. The woman you’ve been stalking steadily lied to you about the guy to keep your interested nose out of her dating business.”
     
    Marcus ignored the wit of Eric’s criticism, but it was impossible to ignore the truth of his statements.
     
    “The Nathan guy being a cyborg doesn’t work for me as an explanation for what my gut picked up on. Rachel walked away from him at the coffee shop because he was going on and on about rogue cyborgs and how he thought all cyborgs should be