Read Online Emma: Part Three by Lolita Lopez - Free Book Online

against the Faction was chosen as their last option, Mom’s mate volunteered himself as Patient Zero. He helped rewrite the code, infected himself with the software virus and then sent the communique.”
    “What happened then?” Emma asked softly, already fearing the worst.
    “Then he died.” Rio shoulders scrunched together in a small shrug. “Nobody really talks about what happened to those infected cyborgs. All I know is that they experienced system-wide breakdowns. Like their bodies stopped functioning and they died horrible deaths. Well—if their fellow cyborgs didn’t recognize them as Faction traitors when the first symptoms appeared and blow their dang heads off,” she added grimly.
    Emma didn’t want to imagine what a person would experience as their body broke down and stopped working. “And after that the Faction was no more?”
    “Maybe,” Rio said uncertainly. “Some people think that a few of the higher-ups in the organization were wise to the vulnerabilities in their implants and software and might have taken steps to protect themselves from an infection.”
    Emma didn’t like the sound of that. What if a few of them had survived? Were they planning another war?
    “I know what you’re thinking,” Rio said. “You’re wondering if they were behind the bombs last night.”
    Emma nodded reluctantly. “It makes sense, doesn’t it?”
    “Yes. There’s been a lot of chatter around base this morning.” She hopped off the counter. “But it’s all just rumors. We’re safe here. Your men are healthy and alive. We should focus on that.”
    Emma wanted to focus on the positives, but she couldn’t ignore the nagging feeling that something terrible was coming. She finished cooking and plating their breakfast and followed Rio to the small round table at the other end of the kitchen. They took their seats and started eating. After a few bites, Rio asked, “Is there anything you want to ask me? Maybe things you aren’t comfortable asking your guys?”
    Emma pushed food around her plate with the tines of her fork. “I don’t know. Is there anything you think I should know?”
    “Do you know about the tattoos on the bottoms of their feet?”
    Emma’s eyes widened. “No. Why are their tattoos on their feet?”
    “They’re serial numbers,” she explained. “They have them lasered on at birth. Zap. Zap. Zap.” She pointed her finger like a gun. “The serial number is easy to read once you figure it out. There are five components to it—series number, sperm donor ID, egg donor ID, birth date and their MOS code.”
    “MOS?”
    “Their occupation,” Rio explained. “They were all bred for specific traits. Leaders, engineers, pilots, snipers, trackers, explosives, medical—they’re all gifted in certain areas.”
    “And what happens if they aren’t suited to the job they’re bred for?” Emma asked the obvious question.
    Rio shrugged. “I’ve never heard of a cyborg that had that problem. I mean, they were born and then immediately separated into these, like, baby barracks. They were trained and educated from birth for their jobs. I doubt it ever occurred to them to even consider wanting something different.”
    Emma couldn’t shake the cold feeling that gripped her at the clinical description of Max and Jack’s childhoods. Compared with her own, theirs seemed so sad and bleak. “Who named them? If they were raised in barracks without parents, who decided what to call them?”
    “It was done alphabetically in each sperm donor line,” Rio said. “Adam, Brian, Charlie, David and so on,” she explained. “You’ll also figure out pretty soon that there are only a few dozen surnames around here.”
    “Why?”
    “Because the scientists who created the first cyborgs selected sperm donors from the military and there were only, like, forty of them with the right DNA profiles and high enough scores on their aptitude tests,” Rio said. “When the war started, they didn’t have time