Zandile grabbed Mila and jumped from platform to platform, trying to get as high as she could to avoid the water pressure. Mila gripped onto the pirithium as they ascended
“What? How are you doing this?”
Before Zandile could answer, a jet of water burst from the wall and pushed her, causing her to lose focus. The women fell onto a ledge in a heap. Zandile let out a scream that was reminiscent of metal being scraped on a factory floor.
Mila rolled from her grasp and noticed rubble from the higher platforms falling. She rushed to pull Zandile out of harm’s way and propped her up on a wall. The rest of the platform fell and the water below rose. She turned to Zandile: she had never heard a sound like that before.
“Are you OK? Talk to me, gogo…huh?”
Mila tried to see where Zandile was injured and had to pull back her cloak to get a look at what she should tend to first. Electric sparks and steam jumped up to greet her. Glowing blue lines ran from Zandile’s wrist all the way to her shoulder, and maybe even deeper.
Realising that she could not hide her identity any more, Zandile pulled back her hood and tapped her head, revealing her glowing blue eyes to Mila.
Mila froze. She scrambled for words, breathlessly attempting to piece a sentence together. “You…you’re a…cyborg? This whole time? Why are you here then? Why do you look just as homeless as me? Why were you trying to discourage me? What was that scream?”
“Yes, I am a cyborg…I didn’t want you to know that yet….”
Zandile rasped for breath. Mila dragged her further up the platform to give the old woman time to breathe and answer.
Zandile put her head down slowly, low in power, “Water, the only thing that makes us feel true pain, which in turn lets us know we are close to death…” She faced the deep cracks in the dam wall, the falling rubble and rising water from below. “It’s not going to hold long. As for the other stuff,” Zandile said, turning to Mila, “I tried to think of different ways to tell you, Mila, but now I see, there’s no other way to explain the disadvantages of being a cyborg without the truth. This is mine…
I was young like you; cybernetic enhancements were still fairly new and the large businesses all over the country were promoting them for better efficiency. They were being hyped as ‘improving the human experience’, giving one enhanced strength and stamina. Thinking I deserved a better life, I scraped together enough money to get myself an enhancement. They stuffed me full of pirithium and overnight, my life turned around. My vision improved, I could carry heavier objects, and I could complete tasks faster over longer periods of time. By the end of the year, I was one of the highest-ranking officials in my workplace. I was rich and living the luxury life only dreams could make up.
However, that quick and easy dream eventually fell apart. As time went on, and I got older, my fleshy bits were holding me back. I needed to replace more of my body with the un-ageing tech, and maintain the stuff within me regularly to link up with the new tech.
I was so scared of losing my prestige and my place in the world that I went crazy and replaced as much of myself as I could. I only realised my mistake when it was too late, when I became more machine than woman. The continuous surgeries had removed all my nerve endings, I couldn’t feel anything or react to sensations. It was like I was living in a shell, a box of my own making that I could not break out of. I wasn’t human, I became a tool.”
Zandile closed her fist; the blue lines which were now her veins glowed violently.
“I left. Ashamed, I turned my back and never went to work again. What took me years to build was undone in months. And my name in the history of bionic evolution was scrubbed away. Within a short time, I found myself in the dumps like you.
I then made a promise to myself: since no one had taught me the dangers of becoming a cyborg, I had to be the one to teach others. I made it my life’s mission to warn as many people as I could about what an unfulfilling life it is, but none listened to me; more and more sacrificed themselves to the industry of the world, never speaking about their ambitions and individuality again.”
She then put her hand on Mila’s head. Mila merely sat with her mouth agape
“Society wants to paint becoming a cyborg as a natural part of growing up. If that’s the case, why is it so expensive? Why did you have to steal that pirithium? Everything may be run by the machine-heads but there are so many other niche jobs and opportunities your talents can fill. Do you really want to throw them away for a life-changing decision you can’t come back from? I don’t want you to become like me, Mila.”
Mila held her pirithium ore close to her. It was supposed to be her key to a luxurious life and to finally moving out of the garbage ruins of the city. She could live in a good house, eat good food, but never feel anything again and potentially lose everything that made her unique.
Zandile cupped Mila’s hand in hers.
“I can’t even cry any more; water is called the source of life, but it is a nightmare to us cyborgs.”
Mila eyes widened in horror at Zandile’s words. She pushed the ore towards the old woman.
“Come on, you deserve life too. Let’s get you back up to the surface. You can use this to repair yourself and we can figure out the next step together.”
“It’s too wet, Mila,” Zandile said, her voice scratching with static, “I don’t know if I’ll make it.”
“Yes, you can, you’re the strongest person I’ve met, we can take any wave.”
Mila stretched her arm out and Zandile grabbed it, giving Mila a weak smile and pulling herself up. Zandile’s eyes glowed with a bright flare once more.
“Great, my power reserves are back online. It should be enough to get us out of here.”
As the two climbed up to the dam’s entrance, the great wall finally gave way; the top part of the wall fell into the crushing water, flooding the structure with not just water but daylight as well.
Zandile points up, “There. That’s our way out.”
Mila looked at her with concern, “Through there? But it’s directly in the water’s path.”
“It’s our only way.”
The women ran towards the wall, ducking under the large waterfall that erupted from it. Zandile grabbed Mila and they jumped higher toward the opening.
Once under the opening, Zandile turned to Mila..
“Alright, I’m gonna throw you above the waterline. Get to the riverbank as fast as you can before the rest of the dam collapses. Avoid the suction waves. Got it?”
“What about you? I thought you said we could both make it…”
“Did I? Huh, I must have made a miscalculation.”
Mila, horrified, tried to fight back. She pushed against Zandile, trying to break free from her grasp but the old woman simply looked down at her with a weighted smile.
“No, no, you can’t do this. You deserve to live too!” Mila cried, tears running down her cheeks.
“It’s OK, you will get to live your life. Live the way I couldn’t. Break free.”
She wiped the young woman’s tears, which caused her thumb to spark. “It is good being able to feel something again.”
Tightening her grip, Zandile swung Mila and threw her over the dam’s waterline with her cyber-strength. Mila’s vision was clouded by a watery haze and her voice was drowned out by the rushing waters. The last thing she saw before making her way to safety was the rest of the dam wall breaking and Zandile being washed away by the wave.
On the riverbank, Mila coughed up water and spluttered for breath. After unclogging her ears, she heard the sound of sirens and helicopters: the authorities were on their way to investigate the damage.
Mila’s gaze turned down toward the blue ore she carried in her arms, the only thing she had made it out with. She looked down toward the part of the dam she and Zandile had fought their way through, now filled with water. The river had broken through its shell.
Tell us: Despite challenges, Mila survives and considers her future. What keeps you hopeful during tough times? How do you bounce back from difficulties?
