The Chimera Vector by Nathan M Farrugia Page B

beside her. The soldier’s rifle. She’d disarmed him and taken his knife. She could barely remember doing it. She pulled back. The soldier did the same, terrified.
    ‘I suppose you thought that was funny, setting your Pavlova dog on me,’ he said to Adamicz. His accent was Australian.
    Adamicz remained focused on Sophia as he replied. ‘Pavlovian. It’s Pavlovian dog. And I no longer require your services. Thank you kindly for your time.’
    The soldier didn’t go near his stripped rifle. He looked up at the other men on the balcony. ‘We’re out!’ he yelled. ‘Leave them to slice each other up.’
    Sophia watched the other soldiers disappear from the balcony. She inspected the knife in her hand.
    She glared at Adamicz. ‘What did you do?’
    ‘I switched you back to your neopsyche, activated the Ares parapsyche and gave you order to kill the former Blue Beret,’ he said in his heavily accented English.
    ‘Activated the what?’
    ‘The Ares parapsyche is responsible for assassination. If I had not stopped you when I did, the rifle would not be only thing in pieces.’
    She glared at him. ‘And with five highly trained soldiers ready to cut me down, I would have ended up in pieces too.’
    He nodded. ‘Lucky I stop you.’
    Her hands balled into fists. ‘You’re lying! You’re trying to trick me into defecting to your side!’
    Adamicz smiled. ‘Do you even know what my side is, Sophia?’
    She opened her mouth to reply, but she had nothing to say.
    ***
    Sophia was six years old. The strange men had put wires on her head, the ones that hurt. Her arms had gone fizzy. They placed an earphone in her left ear, but it didn’t seem to be working because all that came out was a funny noise. They injected something into her arm. It made her feel weird. Above her, a fluorescent light buzzed angrily. Two men stood at her feet, their faces smudged in the dim light.
    ‘You are loyal to the government,’ said a man with a very tired voice.
    She could hear him only with her right ear. Her heart was beating really fast.
    ‘What are you doing to me?’
    She couldn’t stop her body from shaking. She screamed. The wires were making it hurt again. Then it stopped. She tried to catch her breath. She trembled. She couldn’t stop it. The light was paralyzing her.
    ‘You are loyal to the government,’ the tired man said.
    She could barely breathe. ‘Yes.’
    ‘And because you are loyal to the government, you will do anything in the name of freedom and liberty to serve the government.’
    ‘What do you mean?’
    The wires made her hurt again. She tried to move her arms and legs to escape the pain, but they’d strapped her to the table.
    ‘You will do anything in the name of freedom and liberty.’
    ‘Please, stop it! I’ll do anything!’
    She shut her eyes. The hurt came back. She’d never felt anything like it. She just wanted it to be over. Tears squeezed from between her scrunched eyelids.
    ‘You will do anything to protect the government. Do you understand?’
    The table felt cold against her skin. Her arms were covered in goose bumps. ‘Yes.’
    ‘We don’t believe you.’
    The wires hurt again. She wanted to die. Anything to make it stop.
    ‘Yes!’ she yelled. ‘I’ll do anything to protect the government!’
    The tired man leaned over her, his nose wrinkling in disgust. ‘Tell us again.’
    ‘I’ll do anything!’ Breathe. ‘To protect!’ Breathe. ‘The government!’ she screamed.
    She opened her eyes and tried to slow her breathing. The walls were liquefying around her.
    The tired man said, ‘You are one with the government. It commands you. It pours through you. You respond unquestioningly to its will. You are a valuable and integral cog in a vast and powerful machine. A machine that keeps civilization from the brink of destruction.’
    Cracks began to appear in his face.
    ‘We’re going to take a break, Sophia. And then we’re going to break you into tiny little pieces.’
    A split