The Cyber Chronicles Book II: Death Zone (3 page)

"The big
monster caught a smaller one. That's what happens when you hide
behind Flux-reality and a Change comes along."

Sabre
shuddered, glancing at Tassin, who tossed and sighed. "What happens
further in, when it's all solid?"

"That's what
makes it dangerous. In a landscape like this, an ordinary rock
stands out, but in a more normal Flux-reality you can't tell the
difference. Also, it's very dangerous to be in Flux-reality when it
Changes, you can get caught inside something nasty, like a rock or
tree. Here, you can still pull free, but there, you're stuck until
it Changes again."

"How can you
avoid that?"

Purr shrugged.
"Always camp on Real-reality when you can find it. If you're
moving, you've got a few seconds to find some. Flux-reality tends
to avoid Real-reality up to a point."

"How long
between Changes?"

"It varies.
Sometimes a few hours; sometimes only one or two. The last one was
a long one, six hours you slept, and no Change."

Sabre gazed
around. "What causes all this?"

"Magic, of
course. These worlds that pass through here are all real somewhere.
The Flux-core rotates, and the worlds spin past. The closer you go
to the Core, the faster the Changes come. No one goes too close to
the Core, where the Changes are mere minutes apart. That's very
dangerous."

"Huh. I was
supposed to destroy it."

Purr snorted.
"That's impossible. You'd never get close enough."

"Monsters are
leaving the Zone and attacking villages outside. The people want it
destroyed."

Purr stopped
grooming his tummy and gazed at Sabre. "Not everything that lives
in the Flux is a monster."

"Wouldn't you
be happier outside?"

"Would people
accept me?"

Sabre sighed.
"Probably not."

"Exactly."

"How long will
it take to cross the Death Zone?"

"That depends
on the terrain."

Sabre dug in a
pack and pulled out some dried horse meat. Purr wrinkled his nose.
"I can get some fish for you."

"Where the
hell will you get fish?" Sabre gestured at the crystal
countryside.

Purr gave a
purring chuckle. "In a Real-reality stream, of course."

Sabre would
have gone with him, but could not leave the Queen unguarded, so he
settled down to wait as Purr vanished into the precious terrain.
When the mosscat returned an hour later, he carried three fish, one
in each hand and one in his mouth. His fur was as short and sleek
as an otter's, adapted for swimming. Since there was no way to cook
them, Sabre cleaned the fish and woke Tassin.

The Queen
grumbled, rubbing swollen eyelids, then exclaimed in delighted
wonder at the new scenery, smiling for the first time in days. When
he offered her a raw fish, she took it with a grimace. A few days
ago, he reflected, she would probably have thrown it in his face,
but hunger had stripped away her inhibitions. While he ate, Sabre
worried about the fact that the scanners remained blank. The cyber
had not warned him of the monster; it seemed the scanners did not
work in the Death Zone, and he wondered why. His bio-status
information remained, and the flashing amber light had dimmed,
indicating that his dehydration was lessening.

As soon as
they had eaten, they set off into the crystal forest. Tassin gazed
at the jewels with awe and stuffed some into her pockets while she
walked. Sabre marvelled at her childlike ability to become
distracted by new toys, and guessed that the gems would vanish with
the next Change.

Gearn stared
across the burning sand, mopping his forehead with a linen
handkerchief. The wolf trotted ahead, nose to the ground, following
the clear tracks of two horses. Gearn sat astride a fat bay
gelding, prodding the lethargic horse often to keep it going.
Behind him, Murdor plodded, too large now for even the biggest
horse to carry. He stood over two metres tall, and his body had
grown in proportion, magically enlarged and strengthened. The
broadsword that hung in a scabbard from his belt looked like a toy.
As he walked, he picked up rocks and crushed them, chuckling. Gearn
glanced back at him, irritated by the constant chortling. Murdor
met his eyes and grinned.

"I can't wait
to meet this puling man and crush his flesh instead of stone. It'll
feel good to make blood flow."

Gearn forced a
weak smile, shuddering. They had no need to carry supplies, for
whenever they needed food or water, Gearn conjured it, using the
collection of potions and magical items in his pack. By following
the warrior mage's trail, he was confident he would avoid the
curse, although sometimes his skin crawled, his magical aura alert
to danger.

After four
hours of walking through sparkling gem trees, the tell-tale
flickers of brown and green shot through the land.

Purr yelled,
"Change!" and raced for a dull brown boulder ahead. Sabre grabbed
Tassin, who yelped in surprise, and dashed after the mosscat.
Leaping onto the rock, he hauled her after him, almost jostling
Purr off. The boulder was barely large enough for the three of
them, and Sabre was forced to hold Tassin close to him. Her eyes
widened as the landscape warped and changed.

The swirling
whiteness of a snowstorm engulfed them, fat flakes drifting from a
bitter grey sky. Sabre helped Tassin off the rock, sinking knee
deep into soft snow. There was still no sound or smell, but the
cold was real enough. A shaggy creature approached, and for a
moment he did not recognise Purr.

The mosscat
padded over the snow on broad feet, perfectly adapted to his new
environment. Tassin rubbed her bare arms and shivered, her teeth
chattering. Warmth suffused Sabre as the cyber increased his
metabolism, snow melting on his shoulders. He dug in the pack and
pulled out the ragged petticoats they had used for shade cloth in
the desert. These he wrapped around the Queen's shoulders, and she
clutched them to her.

"Come on, keep
walking, it will warm you," he advised.

Purr shook his
head. "No. Too dangerous. We can't see the monsters coming."

Sabre glanced
around and cursed. Visibility was reduced to less than a metre, and
he had to agree with the mosscat. They seemed to be in the middle
of a blizzard, and without the scanners he was as blind as everyone
else. Sabre sat down on the boulder and pulled Tassin onto his lap,
enfolded her in his arms and held her close. She snuggled up to
him, warming her hands on his chest, her cheek nestled against his
neck. He marvelled at how her fiery independence evaporated as soon
as he was the only form of foot warmer available, then brushed the
cynical thought aside. She was little more than a child, and needed
his protection no matter how much she denied it. Purr curled up in
the snow, and they settled down to wait.

Tassin clearly
enjoyed the intimacy she had not shared with him since the mountain
cave. He was ill at ease, however, and shifted, fidgeted and
glanced around, trying to ignore her presence. Once he looked down
at her suspiciously, but he could not accuse her of anything other
than being cold. He found her proximity discomfiting, confused by
the strange feelings it evoked.

Cybers were
not supposed to have emotions, but with his freedom had come odd
reactions to things that previously had not bothered him. He
wondered if what he was experiencing was normal, or if his reaction
to this, like so many of his other responses, had been changed by
his training and the years of subjugation by a computer's cold
control.

Even a damaged
cyber could not afford to have emotional attachments, but was he
still a cyber? He was still part man, part machine, but now that
the human side was in charge, what did that make him? The mosscat
gave a purring chuckle, his eyes gleaming, and Sabre schooled his
features in an effort to hide the confusion Purr had obviously
noticed, making the mosscat chuckle again. Sabre spent the next
three hours acutely aware of the girl pressed against him, willing
the next Change to come soon.

When at last
the brown and green flickers came, he lifted Tassin onto the rock,
ignoring her sleepy protests. Purr was already on it, but before
Sabre could join them, the world warped and Changed. A shaggy tree
trunk appeared centimetres from his nose, and he jerked back in
surprise. As soon as he tried to move away, however, he became
aware that his feet were stuck. His ankles vanished into the shaggy
tree, swallowed to the calves. Quelling a spurt of panic, he
reminded himself that the Flux-reality was not solid yet, and he
could still get free. He leant back and pulled steadily on one leg.
Purr noticed his predicament and offered encouraging, if
unnecessary advice.

"That's it,
just pull, it'll come out."

Tassin hopped
down and gasped when she saw the reason for his immobility. "Are
you all right?"

"I'll be
fine," he said, "as soon as I get my feet out of this damned
tree."

The wood clung
to him like semi-set cement, and sweat popped out on his brow as he
struggled. He glanced around at a warm forest of massive trees,
some ten metres in diameter, towering over a floor of soft brown
leaves. Purr had resumed a tropical garb of short fur, and Tassin
shed the petticoats, stuffing them back into the pack. Sabre could
not meet her eyes, embarrassed by their prior closeness, and
scowled at the tree trunk as he pulled his feet from the
Flux-reality wood. When at last he got free, he was hot and sweaty
and rather cross.

The new
Flux-reality seemed to be a pleasant one. Inviting pathways wound
between banks of thick ferns and moss-covered tree trunks. Sunlight
filtered down to pattern the lush forest floor with golden dapples.
Tassin exclaimed in delight when they came to a sparkling blue
lake, but Purr tested the water and declared it unreal. They
skirted it and walked on, following the twisting paths that this
world's creatures had made. The eerie stillness pressed in on them,
only the soft sounds of their footfalls breaking it. Birds flitted
amongst the trees, pausing to puff themselves up in silent song,
unafraid of the strange intruders who trod the deep paths. When a
shaggy brown creature shambled out of the trees and whiffled a long
snout at them, Sabre stopped in alarm.

Purr chuckled.
"Flux-reality. No sound."

Sabre detoured
around the beast, and it watched them go, then shuffled away. After
an hour of walking, Sabre became aware of a thudding sound, and
looked at Purr. The mosscat's ears, which appeared to have doubled
in size, swivelled. Heavy footfalls approached, and Purr
nodded.

"Real-reality.
Hide."

The mosscat
dived behind a grey boulder, and Sabre bundled Tassin after him. He
pushed her down behind the rock and peered over it. A three-metre
tall, ape-like creature came into view, stomping between the trees.
Tusks curled up from its undershot lower jaw, and its beady red
eyes glared around. It radiated hostility, and its vast knuckles
almost dragged on the ground. Sabre breathed a sigh of relief as it
tramped past, sniffing the air. The brown and green flickers of
Change shot through the landscape, and the world warped into
rolling, open grassland, leaving the three of them huddled behind
nothing.

Purr rasped,
"Keep still!"

The monster
roared and shook its fists at the Flux-reality, apparently angered
by its fickleness, but luckily it did not look back. When it
vanished over a distant hill, they stood up, and Sabre turned to
Purr.

"That's what
happens when you hide behind Flux-reality and a Change comes
along."

Purr sneezed
and shrugged, smoothing his bottle-brush fur. "There isn't always a
convenient bit of Real-reality about when you need it, you know.
You have to take your chances. I told you it would be dangerous
here. What did you think I meant?"

Sabre could
find no fault with his argument, and turned away with a snort. They
walked on, the grassland stretching away around them like
undulating green velvet, dotted with a few out of place rocks,
which Purr said were Real-reality. After several hours, they came
across a Real-reality stream, and Purr waded in to fish.

Sabre watched
him. "How do you know this is Real-reality?"

"Have you ever
seen a stream running through grassland before? You never get one
that runs over hills like this, they're always in rocky
gorges."

Sabre had to
admit that he had a point, the stream looked quite odd, as if it
had come into being just recently, flowing along a winding,
bankless course that bore no relation to the contours of the
visible land. He glanced at Tassin, who was stretched out on the
grass, indulging in a much-needed rest. After a rather tasteless
meal of raw fish, they discussed the problem of where to sleep.

"We know the
stream is Real-reality, but we can't sleep in it," Sabre pointed
out.

"We'll have to
keep watch," Purr said. "When the Change comes, we stand in the
stream."

Purr took
first watch, and when he roused Sabre, the grasslands remained.
Sabre stood guard for four hours, then woke Tassin. When he woke
again, the grasslands persisted, and Purr did not think it wise to
move on, since the next Change had to be imminent. They waited by
the stream, and Sabre joined Purr in a bit of fish tickling,
without much success. An hour or so later, the brown and green
flickers shot through the terrain, and they all waded into the
knee-deep water.

Flux-reality
transformed into a scene from Hell. The stream wound through a
burning landscape of black rock, recent lava flows congealed into
weird patterns of flowing stone. In the distance, a volcano belched
clouds of ash and noxious smoke into the dirty brown sky. The
putrid stench of sulphur stung their noses, and Tassin coughed.
Faint rumbles shuddered the ground, and faraway lava rivers oozed
between melting rocks and plopped down banks in sluggish falls.