Not Everyone Loves a Cyborg

The hiring of cyborgs by STEP had been controversial at the best of times. And Ed McGee never hid his mistrust of cybernetic organisms, whose hiring signaled the end of Operation Cow Spies. Believing in the superiority of his cattle, he continued to fund the program out of his own pocket, and took every opportunity to humiliate the cyborgs. He would often go out of his way to try to trip them as they walked down the hallways.

He was rarely successful though. It’s next to impossible to catch such deadly cyborgs off guard, even the sensitive ones, but that never stopped Ed from trying. He’d occasionally get a slap in the mouth for his efforts, but most of them managed to ignore him.

Irene Georgios, however, wasn’t one of them. A Greek cyborg specializing in orchards and vineyards, she finally decided enough was enough. She was walking towards the break room carrying a bottle of recently acquired Naoussa Grande Reserve ’88, when McGee, who’d been hiding beside the vending machine, stuck his leg out. Without so much as a sidelong glance, Irene hit Ed with the wine bottle, opening a wound above his right eyebrow that required more that a dozen stitches.

It was an ugly affair. It cost them both their positions, as well as those of 23 other agents, cyborg, human and avian.