Chapter 1: Trial and Error

Hyperion Security Force Building, August 24, 5629

I can remember that memory so well. I can get every detail down to the wind temperature. The reaction on everyone's faces. It was the beginning of a new world. And the preservation of humanity was slowly taking a new meaning. 

Everyone was so afraid. Human Preservationists thought it was blasphemy for all of mankind to rewrite and change the genetic code we were born with. Saying it takes away our identity. Of course, they said the same thing about the Gears and Nanos. Before mechanical augmentation was made available to the people, the rich and elite had access to these mechanical modifications simply because they were rich. They wanted to show how rich they are by cutting off a limb, or taking out an eye just to trade them in for cybernetic enhancements. Soldiers managed to get these limbs as well, equipping military-grade hardware to their body. They can punch through walls, jump higher than normal, run faster than humans, and stay in the fight longer. The few below the upper and upper-middle class were lucky enough to get a pair of metallic feet. These, and more mechanical augments were made for medicinal purposes, sure, but for those that needed them for aid, they came at a great cost. A couple times the Gears sent people into financial depression. Those couple times, the economy had to rearrange itself. Protests and riots were made as quick as they ended. One world-wide incident after another. Others started smuggling parts to others, and giving amateur surgeries for anyone who wanted to be a Gear. Then, finally, Gears walked side-to-side with other, natural humans in peace. Only because a new augmentation was taking place: nanoaugmentation.

Tiny, little bugs that floated in your bloodstream, improving your immune system, your senses, and keeping you connected with the rest of the world. With a mere thought, you can make a video call out to India. This wasn't all they can do; super-strength, breathing underwater, improving heart rate. Whatever the mech-augments did, the nanobytes did better. As usual, this was given to higher classes and military before the people managed to get their hands on them. Once they did, however...humanity realized the line between man and machine was crossed. Hacker terrorists and other malicious groups exploited the nanobytes to their will. It was a horrible time. Anyone with genius-level intellect can sit behind a computer and figure out how to move someone's right arm, lift someone else's leg, or worse, how they can make them die. People were literally controlled by others to do their bidding, or affect their bodies however they wanted. People called it the Blind Man Tragedy, because the first recorded victim was a man suffering from blindness. Companies shut down the cloud services the nanobytes provided, and it took them years for everyone to get familiar with the bugs. My grandfather was there, and he saw what happened. He saw the news report of the Sacrifice. Saw every one of them killing themselves off in horrible ways. He was only ten years old. God rest his soul. 

With every conflict these augments were involved, outcries and rallies of every Human Preservationist group were made in response, demanding them to end these practices, or at the very least, controlled with better care. Some companies decided to end them. Others didn't. Still, the ethical war wages on. 

Now with a new scientific fad people would most likely be a part of, I can't help but wonder when the next international incident would begin. People say it's not right to play God, but the businessmen say that in order to prosper, we must be like God. Honestly, it was a stupid thing to involve augmentation in the first place. The error of humanity's ambition. But that's what people do. Make mistakes, then learn from them. We're always in an endless cycle of trial and error. Because of this, it scares me to know there may be an error humanity may never recover from.

I didn't go for augmentation right off the bat, because I was scared of it. My dad showed me the Rejects when I was little; the people who had "glitches" in their new augments. The defunct arms, the faces that looked like they were falling off, the convulsions another guy was suffering, insides eaten by the little bugs. Whatever was enough into scaring me out of these scientific innovations for humankind. Because of this, I didn't want to become a Gear or Nano or have any other augments.

With all this swirling in my head, I didn't notice the sound of my office door opening up. Then I heard someone said, "Dave," and I snapped out of my trance. I looked to the door to see a well-dressed, bald-headed man standing by my office door. "Evening, Paul," I said. I don't know him that well, other than by name. He's kind of famous for his work.

Paul kept his usual business demeanor, standing straight, and nods in response. "Evening," he said. "Hampton wants to see you."

I get out of my chair and follow Paul to the Head Chief's office. I stayed out on the first floor, listening to the police chatter and video feeds of every crime happening in Solyssia. Domestic violence, limb and drug trafficking, manslaughter, nano hoarding. The Hyperions are the eyes and ears of Solyssia's law enforcement. Don't know why they gave a simple police force some superfluous name. But Nanos, Gears, and natural humans work here, or at least I think. It might just consist of a vast majority of Gears and Nanos, and a couple of Naturals, myself included. Hard to tell who's a Gear sometimes. But you can tell right off the bat on who a Nano is. I can tell Paul is one because I can see the barcode on the back of his neck. Usually to help check your credentials for anything suspicious on your record.

Gears, Nanos, and Naturals weren't the only thing populating the offices now. Thanks to the genetic modifications Novasphere provided to everyone--not just the rich this time--a new type of humans were introduced: Chims. Short for Chimeras, Chims had different traits and characteristics you don't see Gears, Nanos, or Naturals with. Some of the little gimmicks they got was bio-luminescence, different shaped ears, and communications with different animals, like dogs, cats, flies, and more. They didn't get anything like what I saw at the demonstration I was in. No regrowing arms or super-speed or anything ludicrous like that. They save that stuff for the soldiers. 

Paul and I enter the Chief's office, and we see Hampton leaning back on his chair, his feet perched on the desk, reading the news on his tablet. He looks up from his table and sets it down, and sets his feet behind his desk, sitting straight. *Gentlemen," he greeted. "Please take a seat."

The both of us take the two chairs in front of the desk and sit down. Paul had a sort of icy calm to him, not twitching an inch, staring straight at the Chief. He obviously didn't look very nervous about the next gig. Maybe he is, and the nanos are regulating it. I can't tell. I was too focused on listening to the Chief. 

"I'm sending you guys out to the Sewers," Hampton said. "Word is that the Rejects are spotting something strange down there. They keep hearing noises, and it's bothering the crap out of them. Maybe it's nothing, but I want you to check it out."

The Sewers. Others call it the Dump, because that's where all the Rejects hide out. It's where they can't afford a home or heat or medical care. That's where they live all day. At least it's clean down there. No worries about smelling the crap people throw down there. 

Before I asked what the noises were, Paul stole the words out of my mouth and asked the Chief. "They said they keep hearing rat noises," he answered. "Squeaking sounds and all that."

*Sure it ain't just a rat problem?" I said.

"Rats have been under pest control for a while now, David." He said back to me, ridiculing my answer. "There shouldn't be a lot of rat noises down there in the first place. Maybe some guy has an obsession with rats, and he's using a gene splice to talk to them. Or whatever's left of them. Either way, I don't want a big breakout, so find the b*****d and lock him up."

Paul comes back in with a cool demeanor. "Where should we search?"

"Down underneath the Summers District. That's where the Rejects are hearing the noises. Look for something strange."

Paul nods and says, "Understood," then gets up and leaves, where I follow him out of the office. If it's one thing Nanos have, it's being able to choose your mood at any place and time. You can be a party guy with one thought, and a complete businessman in another thought. They program you to be socially acceptable when you want to be. 

As I walk behind Paul, a question popped in my head: who was he before the nanos? Then I wondered that maybe those Human Preservationists were right. The nanos probably get rid of someone's humanity and give them a whole new persona...but to me, I can't tell if this is the nanos working or Paul actually keeping a cool head. I don't know the guy much, so I may be in for a surprise.

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We ride in the gravi-car through downtown. I sometimes look up at the towers looming over everyone's heads, the crowds walking through the sidewalks and alleyways of the city. I usually see different augmented people, some showing their metallic limbs, others hiding them, probably out of shame. Other gravi-vehicles of all shapes and sizes float alongside us on the Level One Roads, or above us in higher levels, traveling in straight lines. 

I sat beside Paul as he drove the car through the roads, still keeping a cold shoulder on him. We haven't said anything to each other after we left the precinct and decided to take this case side-by-side. He just focused on the road, steering the car in a smooth way. 

I wondered what was going on in his head. Is he thinking up different scenarios of what it could be? Or are the nanos helping him with that? Must be fun to have all those abilites at your disposal. But my father went against it. He didn't want me to have augments. Said it would keep me pure. Made no sense to me, to be honest. He was the one that led the project team for the new gene splicing therapy everyone else is going through. Why would he go through with it and give people so many different augments that's now available to everyone, and not even let me have a sample? All he did was show me how it would screw up my life. I'd be a Reject. Left in the Dump. With no way to support myself.

Because of this, I sort of resented and pitied everyone with an augment. Partly because I was envious, but also because of those poor folk that just wanted to fit in. To be above the norm. People have one heck of a superiority complex.

I decided to break the ice and start to get to know Paul. "So...Paul, right?"

He didn't give an answer. Just dead silence.

"Um...you're a Nano, huh? I don't know too many Nanos."

Again, no answer. Just fixated on what's ahead.

"You married? Have any family?"

Still nothing. I think it's more fun talking to a wall than this guy. 

"What, uh...department are you in?"

Paul stops at a red light and gives a look at me. Those bright, icy blue stared at me for a good three seconds, then turned back to the road, but it felt like an eternity passed by when he did. And in those three seconds, I saw contempt. Like I was annoying him with stupid questions. He probably was analyzing my profile as I was sitting here trying to get him to say a word. I didn't know if that was unfair; how he knows everything about me in a matter of seconds, and I don't know squat about him, and we didn't even talk about our lives. But there was something about this guy that felt...off. I sometimes talked with other Nanos when I grew up. Thing is, though, I've never met a Nano like him. He was different somehow. I couldn't place what. 

I decided to keep trying, see if I can get into his good graces. "So what do you think about what we're facing here?"

"Don't know," he said as he kept driving.

Two words. More than I expected. But I'm getting there. "You think it's a Chim?"

"Ninety-eight point three five percent likely."

I nodded, acting like I understood. He probably caught that I didn't. "So what's the plan?"

"The usual," he replied casually.

I held a silence for a few seconds. "Okay. What's the usual?"

"We do whatever it takes to apprehend the suspect, take him down to questioning."

I nodded again, keeping a longer silence. "Basically be a cop."

Paul nodded. "Yes." 

I let out a frustrated sigh. I was wrong. He's more a robot than a guy. I wonder how many nanos he took to even act like this. All he did was raise more questions than answers. I thought nanos made you socially acceptable. Or can if you chose to. Obviously he didn't command the bugs to make him so. Did he hate me that much? Or was it the bugs controlling him that way?

We made it to the alley that leads to the Sewers, where the Rejects say the perp is. We get our guns out, leave the car, and open the cover to the sewers. Paul goes down first, followed by me. I've never been down to the Dump at all, so this is my first time. I expected to see a bunch of Rejects crowding the place, but surprisingly, there weren't many here. Not a trace of a malfunctioned limb, someone with a cracked synthetic eye in their head; no one filled the Sewers. The chambers down here were pure white, but dim lights made them look gray. Going along the middle of the floor was all the controlled waste flowing through the clear plastic tubes, rushing in a steady current at about fifty miles per hour. The civilians here are practically neat freaks, even when it comes to their toilets. 

I was going to ask Paul if he can find our perp, but Paul was already blank-faced, his head turning in different directions slowly. Turns out the guy was already working on finding him. Why did the Chief put him up with me if this guy can be his own personal search party? 

Paul's head snaps to a direction, down a larger tunnel where the smaller current is joining with a larger one. "He's this way," he says, and he snaps to action and draws his gun and runs down the tunnel in a split-second. I follow him shortly after, sprinting behind him. The both of us run down through the dim labyrinth of the maze quick, our footfalls echoing through the pathways. Paul's reaction time is quick and sharp as he turns the corners and goes over the walkways of the tubes surging the waste.

I struggle and chase after Paul, moving as fast as I can, breathing my lungs out. My body feels hotter and my muscles tense up as I run through the maze. The only noise I hear from Paul are the sounds of his feet running. He kept quiet, focused, and steady. Now I'm a fit guy, and I can run a couple miles, but what I do is that I control my breath as I run, so I don't pass out. Paul didn't make a noise. 

Eventually we stopped where we couldn't see a thing. It was pitch black down those tunnels. Which only meant someone sabotaged the lighting in this place. I turn on the flashlight attached to my gun, and put the bolt settings to stun. Paul does the sane with his bolt setting, but he doesn't turn on his light. Probably relying on his radar and thermal vision. Paul points at me then thumbs behind his back; the gesture to stay behind him. I nod and follow behind him. I keep my eyes on the other side while Paul looks forward, aiming his gun down through the dark. 

Paul turns a corner while I follow him. Then I noticed he stopped for a second, but then yelled, "Freeze!" So I turned to where Paul was looking, and saw a shadow turn around and run down the path. Paul and I chase the guy down, looking to catch this guy, while the perp runs through the tunnels, jumping from one side to the other, trying to lose us.

This guy was way too fast. Paul was even having some trouble chasing him. He must be augmented. Maybe he's a Chim. The Rejects said they heard rats down here. Maybe he talks to them. Leads them. But I didn't see any rat attack us as we chased him. He just kept running and jumping like some cat. As we ran, my lungs started filling up with hot air, my legs burning with sweat and pain. But my body pushed on. I was determined to take this guy down, and learn what the hell he was doing with rats. 

"Stay on the left side," he ordered, and he leaped to the other side, landing and continuing the pursuit. The perp decided to jump onto my side, trying to avoid Paul, and the moment he landed, I focused and aimed my gun down the sight, and I fired the stun bolt from my gun. The plasma arced and crackled through the air, illuminating the tunnels in a deep blue. The bolt struck at the perp's back, letting an explosive sound out as the plasma dissipates. What followed after was something strange.

I heard a squeaking noise as the perp fell to the ground unconscious. Like it sounded exactly like a rat. I stopped and aimed my flashlight at the guy, waiting for him to spring back up. Paul leaps back to my side and walks behind me. I couldn't tell what his face was in the dark, but I had a feeling that underneath the nanos inside him, he was just as weirded out as I was.

"What kind of guy makes a noise like that?" I said, making fun of his last sounds. "Not really a dignified way to go."

I felt Paul's disgusted stare bore into the back of my head. "That's just it," he says, sounding unsure. "...I'm not sure what this is."

Then I turned to him and saw that he had a look of confusion. I thought this guy had all the answers, since he was practically a walking computer. But he was so confused, he looked like the guy still mulling over the last question he didn't solve. For some reason, he was still processing who this guy is.

I wanted to know what got him so confused. So I cautiously walked up to the perp, expecting some sort of surprise. Like he had a bunch of rats hiding in his brown puffy jacket. My hand slowly reached for the hood. Fear started to yell inside my head, telling me to stop and reconsider. But I fought through it. I kept my hand steady, and quickly lifted the hood off of the perp.

I stood back and aimed my gun again at the perp's head. Then I realized what got Paul so confused...or rather what got him so afraid. Because now I started to become speechless like him. 

As I shone my light on the perp's head, he didn't even look human. Gray hair covered every part of his head, and a long snout made up his nose. Underneath this snout were two buck teeth that could chew through wire in a second, and his ears were round and large.

It took me a bit to realize what I was looking at, and then it hit me. His head looked exactly like a rat's head...but his body appeared human. Like it still had a human shape to it.

My body was completely frozen. My mind could not comprehend what my eyes saw. I was breathless, not making a single sound. This man could not only talk to rats...he was one. He was no doubt a Chim, but a Reject, as well, and out of all the Rejects I've seen, this one chilled me straight to the bone, because of how foreign, how strange, and how horrifying this...man or thing is. Even Paul must be afraid of this. Among the feelings of fear, disgust, and horror I felt as I was looking at this abomination from hell, one dominated all of them.

As I saw the rat man, I started to regret not spending enough time with my dad.