The Shadow in My Hand

The Steel Giant

Commander Vesper stands in the center of the broken lab, his massive steel frame blocking the only way out. The white light from his eyes cuts through the rising dust, casting long, sharp shadows across the floor. He holds a large, double-bladed axe that sparks with violent blue electricity.

I take a step back. My boots crunch on the broken glass.

"Get behind me, Caleb," Elena says. Her voice is calm, but her grip on her long silver rifle is so tight her knuckles turn white. She does not look scared. She looks ready to kill.

"Is that the guy from the simulation?" I ask, keeping my eyes on the giant cyborg.

"He is not a simulation anymore," Elena replies, adjusting her stance. "Vesper is the head enforcer for the Secret Council. He is a full-body cyborg. He does not feel pain, and he does not stop until his target is dead."

Vesper takes a slow step forward. The metal plates of his legs grind together with a heavy, mechanical sound.

"Project Seven has breached containment," Vesper says. His voice sounds like two pieces of iron scraping against each other. "The penalty for protocol violation is immediate termination. Surrender now, and your death will be quick."

I clench my fists. My arms feel hot, and that strange, powerful energy I felt inside the simulation starts to wake up under my skin again. I am tired of running. I am tired of being lied to.

"I am not going back into a cage," I say, stepping past Elena.

"Smart choice," Elena says coldly. "Because he was going to kill us both anyway."

Before Vesper can swing his axe, Elena raises her rifle and fires three shots in rapid succession. Bright energy beams streak across the room and hit Vesper square in the chest.

The blasts spark against his thick metal armor, but Vesper does not even flinch. He charges forward like a freight train, swinging his heavy axe in a wide horizontal arc.

"Look out!" Elena shouts, shoving me hard to the left.

The charged blade slices through the air right where my head was a second ago. The rush of wind knocks me off balance, and I hit the floor hard. The axe smashes into a metal computer console behind us, cutting it cleanly in half in a shower of white sparks.

Vesper spins around with surprising speed for someone made of so much metal. He kicks out with his heavy boot, catching Elena in the side and sending her crashing into a stack of metal crates.

"Elena!" I call out.

She groans, pushing herself up quickly, a trickle of blood running down her chin. She does not waste a second. She points her rifle at Vesper's knee joint and pulls the trigger again.

This time, the energy beam finds a weak spot in the cyborg's armor. A loud pop echoes through the room, and a puff of black smoke shoots out from Vesper's right knee.

Vesper stumbles for half a step, his heavy frame dipping to one side.

I do not think. I just move.

I run straight at him, bringing my right hand up. The skin over my barcode glows with a bright, blinding white light. I channel every bit of anger I feel toward the Council, toward the fake life in District 4, and toward the scientists who treated me like a broken toy.

Vesper swings his massive fist down toward my head.

I duck under the heavy blow and slam my glowing hand directly into the center of his chest armor.

A massive shockwave explodes outward from my palm. The force of the blast pushes Vesper backward. He slides across the slick metal floor, his metal boots tearing deep gouges into the ground until he slams hard into the main structural pillar of the lab.

The pillar cracks. Dust and small rocks rain down from the ceiling.

Vesper drops to one knee, his glowing eyes flickering off and on like a dying light bulb. Sparks rain down from his shoulders.

I stand there, breathing heavily, staring at my hand. The light fades away, leaving my skin normal again, but the energy still pulses deep inside my bones.

Elena walks up beside me, keeping her rifle aimed right at Vesper's head. She looks at me with a new expression in her eyes. It is not cold calculation this time. It is respect.

"You hit harder than the test data predicted," Elena says.

"There is a lot your data did not show," I say, wiping sweat from my forehead.

Vesper slowly raises his head. His steel mask is dented from the impact, and one of his glowing white eyes is completely dark.

"You... you cannot destroy the system, Project Seven," Vesper rasps, his synthetic voice cracking. "The Council... they already know you are out. The entire city of Neo-Eden is locked down."

"Let them come," Elena says. She looks at me and nods toward the open blast door behind the rubble. "We need to move now. The real army will be here in two minutes."

I take one last look at Vesper, then turn and follow Elena toward the exit. We step out of the ruined lab and into a long, dark metal tunnel that stretches out into the deep underground of Neo-Eden.

We run side by side down the corridor, the sound of our boots echoing against the walls. Behind us, the alarms in the lab finally stop, replaced by a deep, low rumble that shakes the floor beneath our feet.

Elena glances sideways at me as we run. "Can you fight like that again if we run into more guards?"

"I have to," I say.

We reach the end of the tunnel, where a heavy elevator shaft stands open with a service cage waiting inside. Elena presses the call button, and the cage groans as power surges through its cables.

Before we can step inside, the security lights above us turn a bright, angry crimson. A loud automated voice echoes through the entire underground tunnel system.

“Facility breach confirmed. Sector zero lockdown initiated. All units deploy.”

Elena’s face goes pale. She taps the elevator controls frantically, but the doors stay locked tight.

"What is wrong?" I ask, stepping up beside her.

"They did not just lock the doors," Elena says, her voice dropping to a harsh whisper. "They flooded the entire lower level with knockout gas."

A hiss sounds from tiny vents along the ceiling above us. Thick, white smoke begins to pour down into the tunnel.

I hold my breath and try to push the elevator doors open with my bare hands, but the heavy metal does not budge. The sweet, heavy smell of the gas fills the air instantly, making my head spin.

Beside me, Elena stumbles, dropping her rifle as her knees hit the metal floor. She tries to reach for her weapon, but her arms lose all their strength.

"Caleb..." she breathes out, her eyes heavy as she looks up at me. "Do not let them... take us back..."

I try to answer, but my chest burns. My vision blurs, turning the red warning lights into swirling streaks of fire. I feel my legs grow weak, and I sink down to the floor next to her.

As my eyes start to close, heavy footsteps echo from the dark tunnel behind us.

A pair of polished black boots stops right in front of my face.

I force my heavy eyelids up just an inch. Standing above us is a tall man in an expensive gray suit. He wears a silver mask that covers the upper half of his face, and he holds a small, glowing data drive in his bare hand.

"Good work bringing him out into the open, Elena," the man says smoothly.

My heart stops. I look over at Elena, who lies unconscious on the floor.

The man looks down at me with a calm, cruel smile and presses the data drive against my neck. A sharp pain shoots through my veins, and the world goes completely black.