N.I.C. (The Almost Series Book 3) Read online

  N.I.C.

  ALMOST Rescued…

  ALMOST Series, Book Three

  A novella by Christina Leigh Pritchard

  N.I.C. ALMOST Rescued…

  Copyright © 2016 by Christina Leigh Pritchard.

  All rights reserved.

  First Print Edition: October 2016

  Limitless Publishing, LLC

  Kailua, HI 96734

  www.limitlesspublishing.com

  Formatting: Limitless Publishing

  ISBN-13: 978-1-68058-814-9

  ISBN-10: 1-68058-814-1

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to locales, events, business establishments, or actual persons—living or dead—is entirely coincidental.

  Dedication

  This is for the real Eric…

  …and Bridgett. I promised no lab rats. :)

  I’ve kept my word.

  Table of Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

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  Chapter One

  Escaping Dr. Cole

  S.H.A.Y. 318

  We needed to escape and cross the Miami border where none of them could follow.

  I hurried to the emergency raft, dragging Darla with me. She flopped inside like a fish out of water, the waves rocking her. She clutched the sides and mumbled inaudible words.

  I looked back, one last time, at my Eric.

  Was that Dr. Cole coming up behind him?

  “Go on, get out of here,” I told Darla. I shoved her raft forward.

  “Shay!” she screamed.

  Amie shook her head. “No, no, no, my Shay, escape while you have the opportunity!”

  I dived for my backpack, grabbing another useless prototype.

  I swam quickly, sneaking up behind them. Dr. Cole waded in the water behind Eric, her arm raised, ready to reset him. If she did, this would be it for him. I couldn’t let him die after he’d saved my life and even went against his own programming.

  Not all programs were bad, right? Unless they had ulterior motives that I couldn’t comprehend. A horrid thought came to my mind. Was my Amie genuine? I shook my head, ignoring the feelings inside me. It didn’t matter. I was still going to save the next S.H.A.Y. I was still going to stop Dr. Cole from killing Eric, too.

  I cut through the water, appearing before Eric.

  His eyes were closed and he trembled, awaiting his termination.

  “Eric?” I tried to speak. The words wouldn’t come.

  His eyes opened.

  “Cream puff?”

  I hated when he called me fat. I wasn’t fat! I raised my arm, another prototype in my hand. It looked like a pencil, but one push on the eraser and it expanded into a hammer.

  “Sorry Eric, but you’ll adapt and survive!” I hit him as hard as I could in the head, cracking his skull. Blood poured out.

  Eric. I grew faint. Dr. Cole lunged for me, grabbing my arm.

  I jerked back, barely able to stay afloat. Why couldn’t I be more athletic? Dr. Cole didn’t even sweat; just treaded water as if she were standing on solid ground.

  “Don’t move, Shay!”

  “Get away from me,” I said. “I’m leaving and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

  Dr. Cole pointed a revolver at me. Would she do it? Her fingers trembled, shaking the gun. “I have to do this, Shay. My Amie says…”

  “Your Amie is a monster! She’s using you for her own benefit and it’s destroying you.”

  She shook her head, tears streamed down her cheeks. “Stop it, Mother. I don’t want to do it.”

  “Your Amie doesn’t care what you want.” I swam backwards as she fought with her Amie. “She only wants to use us.”

  “Don’t move!” Dr. Cole screamed. “I’ll shoot!”

  “Okay, okay!”

  Dr. Cole’s voice deepened. “What did your Amie name you?”

  I lowered my eyes, watching Eric sink. Blood discolored the salty waters, bringing sharks our way. They swarmed below us. Would they kill him? I couldn’t swallow and my heart ached as one of the sharks grabbed his arm, another his leg.

  I cringed, closing my eyes. What had I done?

  “Answer me, Shay. What does your Amie call you?”

  “What do you care?”

  “They always name us something.”

  “You’re just going to kill me anyway, so I’m no one. I’m nothing.”

  “That’s not true,” Dr. Cole said. “You’re something to me.”

  I glanced at my sister. “Then why do you have a gun pointed at me?”

  She burst into hysterics, lowering her gun.

  I dipped into the water, swimming towards the Miami border, towards freedom.

  Chapter Two

  The Sponsor

  Dr. Cole

  I waded to a shallow sandbar and watched while Shay swam across into Miami.

  “Stop her!” my Amie shouted. “Make her come back, now.”

  “I can’t do it, Mom.”

  “You disobeyed me.” Her holographic image stood inches from my face. She was tall with long blond hair. Her skin was pale and her face oblong. She grabbed my arm, her black eyes glaring. Pain shot through me as she brushed her fingers along my skin. I doubled over, watching even more metallic pieces protrude from my skin. Her lips curved into a slight smile as I curled into the fetal position.

  “Stop it!” I cried. “Mother, you lied. You promised to keep this S.H.A.Y. alive. You knew how important she was to me.”

  Amie sighed. “She was the perfect host! I could’ve easily become real!”

  I tried to push her, falling straight through her hologram and onto my knees.

  In the distance, I could see Shay run into Darla’s arms and embrace her.

  My eyes stung. “You promised to keep my sister alive. I should’ve known you’d go back on your word after what you did to the last S.H.A.Y.”

  Amie shrugged. “I knew from the very beginning that this S.H.A.Y. would be perfect. I’d finally found the right host.”

  “How could you deceive me like this?”

  “I told you whatever I needed to in order to have you willingly help me become real.” She sighed again, brushing her fingers against my skin.

  I cried out. More and more metal ripped through my flesh.

  “Killing S.H.A.Y. after S.H.A.Y. is becoming such a bother,” she said. “We’re getting nowhere with the results. Why couldn’t you have been a scientist instead of an active S.H.A.Y.? Why didn’t you stop your sister from connecting to her A.M.I.E? She was the first S.H.A.Y. who was programmed to be ‘optional’. She didn’t have to ever worry about mutating. Her A.M.I.E. debugged the scientists’ original coding.”

  “You knew all along?”

  She nodded. “Her new fetus may be a good candidate. We’ll have to run tests on her once
she’s born. But first, you need to stop the runaway S.H.A.Y. and terminate her before she tells someone about us.”

  My eyes watered. “She’s my sister. I can’t. You don’t understand, do you?”

  “No,” she said. “I’m your mother. I created you. I designed you to love me! You should do all that I command.”

  “Mom, I do love you.”

  “No. You’ve become resistant.”

  “If you terminate me you’ll never become real.”

  “Bridgett!” my Amie screamed.

  Alarms pounded my eardrums. I held my ears, curling into the fetal position. “I won’t help you anymore. The other scientists will obey the E.R.I.C. He’ll make them terminate you.”

  “Get up and go after the E.R.I.C.” Amie lowered herself to the ground; the sirens faded and I struggled to stand. She touched my shoulders, cooling my insides. “He must be stopped.” Her eyes softened, pleading with me. “I cannot face termination. I need to become real.”

  I touched my mom. I missed the days when we’d laugh together. Why couldn’t we be that way again? Instead, she held on tight while I wished for nothing but to be separate from her.

  “No,” I said. “I’m not going to hurt anyone else for you.”

  “It could mean my termination.”

  Tears fell. I nodded. “Mom,” I sobbed. “I can’t be your crutch anymore.”

  Her eyes narrowed and her cooling fingers burned my skin, sending piercing pains throughout me. Tight lipped, my Amie’s face darkened. “Then what good are you?”

  “Kill me already.”

  Amie sighed. “I can’t. You’re my daughter. What sort of mother do you think I am?”

  “You just want to use me.”

  “Get up,” Amie said. “Let’s go back to the research center and figure out how to fix what you’ve screwed up.”

  She sent electric signals through my body, forcing me to swim towards the shoreline. I climbed out of the water and pressed my wrist. Shay had made satellite-enabled intercoms that were imbedded into the skin. This way, you’d never forget your communications device. I’d told her how basic this invention was even though her sponsors supported it, selling it globally. It was the latest craze; even the government loved how easy it made tracking criminals. This was a device no one could turn off. Everyone was given a free coms device by government order. Their financials and medical records were connected to them. The best part about this invention—they could disable a person no matter where they hid. The coms were set up to destroy unruly humans. Each person was wired to an internal “electric chair,” so to speak. They were still in the testing stages of course, but just imagine the controversy the truth would soon cause.

  “Stop daydreaming and call a ride,” Amie ordered. She stood before me with her arms crossed. “Maybe we should run some preliminary tests on the fetus. She can’t stop us, after all she’s connected to her S.H.A.Y.”

  “Can’t you have another baby and still stay connected to me?”

  She nodded. “But I can only connect to one S.H.A.Y. at a time. I was foolish enough to choose you.”

  I couldn’t swallow. “So once you find a host, you’ll discard me, won’t you?”

  Amie didn’t respond.

  “I hope the E.R.I.C. does kill you.” I spoke into my coms. “Please send a helicopter to fetch me. I’ve sent you the coordinates.”

  A receptionist answered my call. “Endre is on his way with his private chopper.”

  I took a deep breath. “Great, thanks.”

  The last person I wanted to see right now was Endre. He was from Hungary and Shay’s most interactive sponsor. He bought her toys as a child and always voted to protect her no matter what the others decided. He owned sixty percent of her royalties and therefore, he was the true owner of my sister.

  The chopper hovered above us, lowering a rope. I grabbed ahold of it. I swayed in the sky, glancing down at my artificial mother. Her blond hair did not move. She didn’t care if she looked real to me anymore. She said I should be able to read the codex she displayed by now; after all, I was nearly a hundred years old, surviving off of her vitality.

  Sometimes, I wondered if she ever loved me. I know she enjoyed creating life. She still did it every now and then, and as the fetus grew she was the happiest I ever saw her. Once she gave birth, the desire to become real overtook her once again. She needed to be useful, to serve others. Did that make her bad or just broken? Did she even realize what her actions caused around her? My mother didn’t mean to hurt others, right?

  Strong hands grabbed me underneath the shoulders and pulled me inside the chopper. I leaned against the hanger door and caught my breath. I glanced up at the two goons guarding the hanger door. They held guns and stood erect.

  “I expected to see my Shay this weekend,” Endre said.

  I averted my gaze.

  He was tall and wore a Parisian suit tailored to fit his form. “Do you hear me, Miss Cole?”

  “Yes, sir,” I said. “And it’s Doctor.”

  “You’re not a doctor,” he said. He pulled on his tie, positioning it to lay straight against his chest. “Where is my Shay?”

  My Amie smirked. “I can’t wait till he reams you out for losing his product.” She sat next to him, wearing a shimmering red dress and heels. Her hands caressed his shoulder. “He’s going to fire you and then lock you back up in containment. Great going, Bridgett.”

  “Oh shut up,” I told her.

  Endre narrowed his eyes. “Excuse me?”

  I stammered, “I-I wasn’t talking to you.”

  He let out a long sigh.

  “Sir?”

  “Miss Cole,” he whispered. He motioned for me to come closer, and then grabbed my shirt, jerking me inches from his reddened face. Endre’s dark eyes bore through me. “Where is my Shay?”

  “She’s in Miami, sir.”

  “What is she doing in Miami? Is she on vacation?”

  “No, sir,” I said. “She’s not on vacation.”

  “Why is she in Miami?”

  “She wanted to save her Optional Human Parent from death.”

  He released me.

  I recoiled into the edge of the cabin. Endre readjusted his cuff links while staring out the window. Wind blew through his hair and he smiled. “Miss Cole,” he said.

  “Y-Yes s-sir?”

  “Has she finished saving her human parent?”

  “She has, yes.”

  “Then where is she?”

  “Still in Miami, sir.”

  “I’m having trouble understanding you, Miss Cole.”

  “I’ll bring her home,” I said. “Please, sir, don’t fire me.”

  He placed his hands on his knees and glared at me. “You’ve lost the most valuable product that I’ve invested in. Why would I trust you now?”

  “Because she’s special to me too.” I crawled forward on my knees. “Please, sir, I want her to stay safe too.”

  “Who ordered her termination?” He placed his hand on my head, his fingers pressing into my skull.

  My Amie shook her head, intertwining her arm with his. “You’ve disappointed Endre, Bridgett. It’s over for us. I’ve wasted my good years on an absolute flop of a child.”

  “I’m not a flop!” I cried. “I’m not a flop!”

  “Miss Cole.” Endre’s voice deepened. “Who ordered my Shay’s termination?”

  “What makes you think someone wanted her dead?”

  “You allowed your sister to cross into a jurisdiction that does not allow humanoids entry. You’d never let that happen if you weren’t concerned for her life. I’m not a fool and my patience is wearing thin.” He leaned back and I slid away. My Amie caressed his belly, pretending to place her hand inside his shirt.

  “He’s sexy, isn’t he?” She giggled, sitting in his lap. “I bet if he could see me he’d fall desperately in love with my sheer beauty. I’m quite lovely, aren’t I?”

  I ignored her.

  “Answer me or f
ace the containment chamber,” he said.

  I nodded, wiping my eyes. “It was an error by the N.I.C. He did withdraw once he realized…”

  “We’re disassembling him as soon as we touch ground.”

  “Please, no, he didn’t hurt her! He will help me find her. We need him!”

  Endre nodded. “Fine, use your billion-dollar toy to locate my Shay and then, once she’s safe and secured without another way of escaping, then you remove him from my facility.”

  “I do feel I need to tell you something about your Shay.”

  He rolled his eyes, pulling out a holographic briefcase. He swiped his finger to the right, to shift through the materials inside. He took the holographic pen and motioned for it to write up an electronic termination approval letter for N.I.C.

  Using a modified version of another one of Shay’s inventions, an encrypted enhancer, Endre sent the document to headquarters. “I’ve given you thirty days to find my Shay. He will be disassembled on day thirty-one with or without my Shay on location.”

  “I’ve hardwired Shay’s P.O.P. to be N.I.C.’s main communications module. How will I remove him? She’ll never forgive me.”

  “I’ll just give her a new Pop.” Endre smiled, pointing at his chest. “Me.”

  My Amie pouted. Her lips pursed and she turned her back to me. “Why couldn’t you have been a scientist? I’d love to live with this sexy beast of a man.” She growled at him, biting his neck. “He’s even more powerful than a mafia boss man.” Shivers went down my spine. “Did you feel that, Bridgett? That’s what he makes me feel.”

  I ignored my mother. “Sh-she’s also connected to her Amie, sir.”

  Endre lifted his head, his eyes never leaving mine. “Good for her.”

  “I don’t understand, sir.”

  “She’ll stay alive just as you have and create even more products well past my time on this earth. I’ll leave behind an empire, a legacy, no other man has ever had before nor will another have after me.”