The Cyber Chronicles Book II: Death Zone
Read The Cyber Chronicles Book II: Death Zone Online
Authors: T C Southwell
Tags: #science fiction, #monsters, #mutants, #epic scifi series, #fantasy novels, #strange lands
The Cyber
Chronicles
Book II: Death
Zone
T C
Southwell
Published by T
C Southwell at Smashwords
Copyright ©
2010 by T C Southwell
Smashwords
Edition, License Notes
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Table of
Contents
Prologue
When the King
of Arlin died, Tassin, inherited the largest and wealthiest of the
five kingdoms in the western Life Zone of Omega Five. The
post-holocaust world, which has been abandoned to its fate and
regressed to a medieval society, is divided by a radioactive desert
called the Badlands.
King Torrian,
ruler of a neighbouring kingdom, proposed marriage to annex
Tassin's realm, but she refused. With the support of two other
kings, Torrian declared war, and Tassin was on the brink of defeat
when the strange wizard who had agreed to help her father destroy
the Death Zone offered her a weapon. Monsters from the Death Zone
ravaged Arlin, and the wizard assured her that his weapon, intended
for the Death Zone, would also save her from the kings. The man who
stepped out of the strange casket did not impress her, however. She
mistook ‘cyber’ for ‘sabre’, and thus he gained a name. Filled with
the foolish bravado of the very young, she resolved to die when her
castle fell, but her senior advisor ordered Sabre to save her.
The cyber-bio
combat unit is the ultimate hi-tech fighting machine. Sabre is a
cyborg with metal-plated bones and internal body armour, controlled
by a micro-supercomputer embedded in a brow band attached to the
skull plating under his scalp. A cyber’s built-in equipment
includes bio-scanners and ground-penetrating scanners, plus a
cybernetic interface capable of controlling animals over a limited
distance. In his natural environment, the advanced world that
created him, he is able to interface with other AIs and break
security codes and firewalls with ease.
A cyber is
considered to be the most dangerous weapon ever created. His
reactions are honed to split-second precision, and he is trained in
every art of combat, able to use any weapon, speak every language
and operate any craft, plus the data stored in his brain, intended
for the supercomputer’s use, is updated at regular intervals. He is
so dangerous, in fact, that his creators have ensured that no cyber
will ever gain a sense of self, with all the ramifications that
stem from it.
The cyber
saved Tassin, who, while she disliked his blank stares and clipped
tones, enjoyed his utter obedience. He helped her to flee her
kingdom, but, during the pursuit over the mountains, he was
attacked and fell several hundred metres, damaging the brow band.
The host, enslaved almost since birth, gained his freedom, and
Tassin met a gentle, unassuming man. The damaged control unit was
unable to regain control, and Sabre agreed to help Tassin escape
her pursuers, whereupon host and cyber reached an uneasy truce.
Now two
intellects share a body, one a cold, analytical AI, the other a
kind-hearted man who hates what he is and longs to be free of the
supercomputer. The cyber is still able to cause him pain, and
denies him access to its scanners and data. Sabre has suffered all
his life as a spectator, unable even to focus his eyes, enduring
terrible pain and abuse. He knows, however, that his freedom is
only temporary, for his owner will return for him one day. Cybers
are extremely expensive.
In the Kingdom
of Olgara, King Xavier betrayed Tassin, but Sabre rescued her
again. When she ordered him to kill the soldiers that recaptured
them, however, he refused, and entered into a monumental mental
battle with the cyber. The supercomputer succeeded in robbing Sabre
of all motor control, and he was certain he would die a slow and
painful death.
The cyber’s
mission is to obey Tassin and keep her safe, and it offered Sabre a
bargain, its help in return for his co-operation. Sabre agreed,
freed Tassin from Torrian, and forced her to flee with him into the
desert, since, thanks to his actions, two angry monarchs wanted his
head parted from his shoulders, impossible though that may be.
Tassin
believes the Death Zone to be a deadly, accursed place, but Sabre
is certain it is nothing more than an area of radioactive desert.
Sabre's scanners allowed them to avoid the radioactivity in the
Badlands, and they set off across the desert. Torrian, however,
refused to admit defeat, and sent his mage after them. Gearn, with
the aid of a magically enhanced ex-gladiator and an enchanted wolf,
tracks them towards the most feared area on Omega Five: the Death
Zone…
Chapter One
Sabre squinted
across the burning wasteland that surrounded him, the sun’s fierce
light stabbing his eyes. The heat shimmer made the desert sand
dance and filled the barren expanse with silver mirages. He had
slept through the worst of the day’s heat, and the sun sank towards
the horizon. Beside him, Tassin roused and sat up, rubbing her
eyes. She drank the last of the water, and Sabre knew they must get
out of the desert within the next two or three days. The dried
horse meat was tough and stringy, and they had lost a lot of
weight, although Tassin had lost more. Another genetic enhancement,
he reflected, which made a cyber less inclined to burn energy as
long as he did not partake in strenuous activity. Walking did not
qualify. Compared to the amount of exertion a cyber was capable of
in full combat mode, it barely taxed him at all. On the other hand,
in combat, a cyber burnt energy approximately twice as fast as an
unaltered human, due to the speed and strength he employed.
Sabre knew,
from a glance at the virtual dashboard in his mind, that the
control unit had switched on several dormant genes to conserve his
reserves, and had lowered his metabolic rate to a crawl. It meant
he would have little energy, if called upon to fight without
warning, but the advantages outweighed that drawback. It would take
the micro-supercomputer about ten minutes to raise his metabolism
back to normal, which was a good deal higher than a man's. Even he
did not fully comprehend the intricacies of cyber design, Sabre
mused. A mental barrier prevented him from delving too deeply into
the classified data stored somewhere in his brain.
By the end of
the second night after the chestnut's death, their thirteenth in
the desert, Tassin could barely walk. They trudged onwards, but she
clearly had little strength left, for she no longer complained or
protested, even when he helped her. He gave her a pebble to suck to
ease the dryness of her mouth, wishing he could do more. Dust
filmed her ridiculous pink court dress and ink-black hair, and
grubby marks smudged her delicately featured face. Her dishevelled
state did not detract from her beauty, however, Sabre thought. If
anything, she was lovelier than ever, with her new golden tan. His
skin, already golden from the anti-radioactivity treatments he had
undergone during cyber preparation in his youth, had darkened, and
his dark blond hair had grown a bit since he had arrived on Omega
Five. In Olgara, he had had his first clear look at his own face,
in a mirror in the inn where they had stayed, and knew that he
possessed silver-grey eyes, a strong chin and a well-shaped mouth.
The thin, pale scars that ran along his high cheekbones and halfway
down his narrow nose were a legacy of operations to implant
barrinium reinforcing on his skull, and he had hated that glimpse
of himself.
As the sky
paled with the first blush of dawn, Sabre became aware of a strange
phenomenon ahead. At first it looked like a low band of mist,
faintly luminous in the weak light. The scanners showed nothing
unusual, and he plodded towards it, wondering if he was
hallucinating. As the light increased, the mist began to look more
solid, and he realised that it rose into the sky in a weird,
translucent wall that skirted on the edge of invisibility.
It played
tricks on his eyes, and he could not see exactly what it was until
he found himself standing only a few metres from it. The sun rose
over the horizon, and its first golden rays shot across the sand to
illuminate the misty barrier. A shimmering wall confronted him,
gleaming like mother-of-pearl in the dawn light. Rainbows flickered
within it, twisted by billowing water vapour. He tugged at Tassin's
arm, rousing her from her stupor, and she raised glazed, dark blue
eyes to the beautiful barrier. She stared at it blankly, then
comprehension dawned, and her eyes widened.
"The Death
Zone!"
Sabre caught
her as she collapsed and lowered her to the ground, then turned to
study the strange phenomenon. If this was the Death Zone, it was
more than a stretch of radioactive desert. The iridescent mist
looked moist and inviting, making him long to walk into its cool
dampness. Mother Amy had called it evil magic, but he did not
believe in magic, and it did not look evil, only cool and wet.
Whatever it was, they had to cross it, and there must be water
where there was mist.
Scooping
Tassin up, he walked through the iridescent wall. The terrain
changed as soon as he crossed into the Death Zone, and when he
looked back, there was nothing behind him but misty whiteness, no
sign of the desert outside, although it was only a few metres away.
The sand was replaced by cool, damp grey rocks striated with bands
of brown and white. Boulders loomed out of the mist ahead, forcing
him to follow the narrow path between them, and stunted, gnarled
bushes grew in the clefts of the rocks. He was too tired to try to
figure out how this moist land could exist in the middle of a
desert, but was glad it was there. The sun shone dimly through the
haze, robbed of its fierce heat.
When the path
widened, he stopped and put Tassin down, squatted beside her and
patted her cheek until she opened her eyes. She glanced around at
the weird landscape, then scowled at him.
"You brought
me into the Death Zone."
"There's got
to be water here."
She closed her
eyes. "What is the use? We will die anyway."
"We'll get
across it. Come on." He stood up and pulled her to her feet. "Can
you walk?"
She nodded,
peering into the mist with deep dread. "We must arm ourselves."
Sabre sighed
and unstrapped the leather-bound bundle that contained the sword
and dagger from his back, handing it to her. She staggered under
its weight, shooting him a glare, then took out the dagger and
handed back the sword.
"You take it,
it is too heavy."
Sabre replaced
the sword on his back while she buckled the sheathed dagger to her
belt, then he led the way through the rocks, following the path
that seemed to open before him. The thick mist caressed his skin
with damp, silken skeins, beading his eyelashes with water.
Flickers of
green and brown shot through the landscape as if coloured lights
shone within the rocks, and the terrain changed. Sabre stopped and
gazed around at an eerily silent jungle. Soft, lawn-like grass sank
under his feet, and glimpses of movement flitted amongst the trees.
Behind him, Tassin hissed. Sabre glanced back, but the jungle
surrounded them, and there was no sign of the rocks they had just
come through.