Katie was sitting up now, as the van drove on. She sipped gingerly at the water Norman had given her. “What happened?”
“Weeeellll,” he said, “looks like you drove too close to a Cylink node. A bit like a WiFi hotspot: they use them to communicate with their cyborg units.”
“Like me?”
He nodded. “Only, this time, it seems that they spotted you getting into Libby’s van, so the command from the node was to engage a self-protect program that is designed either to get you crawling back to your parents or kill you. I dumped its power supply: it’s dormant until it can recharge, but then it will be really pissed off.”
“What’s next?” She was becoming immune to the shocks by now.
“Unlike Cylink, we give you a choice. We can take you home or we can get this out. Surgically.”
“They’ll turn me into… what my parents are?”
“They’ll merge you with the machine, yes.”
Minutes ticked by; the van sped on.
Katie shook her head. “It’s not really a choice, is it? Get your knife. I want to be alive.”