The Cyber Chronicles Book III - The Core (20 page)

It reminded
him of the sensory deprivation tank, but then he had sensed the
water, and spent his time swirling the liquid to obtain a semblance
of sensation for his starved brain. Now there was truly nothing,
and stars sparkled in his brain as he ran out of oxygen. Time ran
backwards, wiping away the pain of his injuries, but suffocation
would kill him soon. He could no longer sense the cyber's
vibrations, and a veil of darkness clouded his mind.

Tassin frowned
at the sword, which flashed and turned to crystal again, its hum
rising to a painful pitch. It chimed, and she wondered if it was
somehow still engaged in some sort of battle with Sabre. His
absence could not be explained any other way. She had searched the
area where he had been thoroughly, and where he might have been
flung. He had vanished, and the sword was embroiled in some sort of
struggle, she was sure. It could only be fighting him. She stepped
towards it, then bent and plugged her ears as the weapon's whine
shot up to a painful pitch, making her head buzz and her eyes
water.

The sword's
golden glow brightened to an unbearable incandescence, forcing her
to shut her eyes and turn away. The whine rose higher, then silence
fell, and she unplugged her ears, covering her eyes instead while
she strained to catch some sound in the leaden stillness. A crack
of shattering crystal made Tassin open her eyes. The sword had
reverted to metal, and glowed softly, its hum returned to a deep,
audible tone.

Tassin glanced
around at a slight, unidentifiable sound. The air parted and Sabre
fell through only a few metres away, just as the Core's ghouls had
done. He hit the ground hard, his hands clamped over his ears, his
eyes screwed shut and his face twisted with pain. He writhed,
curled in a ball, his skin glistening with moisture. She cried his
name and ran towards him, then stopped, staring. The brow band
blazed electric blue, and an inaudible vibration frizzed the air
and made her scalp prickle. She glanced back at the sword, then at
Sabre, realisation dawning. The Core and the cyber were locked in
combat, and the cyber appeared to be winning.

The sword's
hum ceased, and the blue light in the cyber died. Silence clamped
down, and Sabre drew in a deep, shuddering breath, flopping onto
his back. Frost rimed his skin and whitened the brow band. Steam
rose from him in the chill that had accompanied his appearance, and
a mottled flush replaced his unhealthy pallor. Tassin ran to him
and dropped to her knees, amazement warring with her concern. Not
even a scratch marred his skin, and no sign of burns or blood.

The cyber band
blazed almost solid red. She touched his cheek and gasped at its
iciness. Frost still whitened his hair and clothes, but the skin of
his chest was much warmer. Already his temperature was rising back
to normal. She picked up his hand and chafed it, calling his name.
He appeared to be unconscious, his expression peaceful. He looked
younger, but perhaps that was due to his comatose state, which
robbed him of his usual guarded expression. In repose, his
hawk-like features looked even more sensitive, almost
vulnerable.

A tremulous
smile tugged at Tassin's lips. He was not only in one piece, but
appeared to be unhurt, more than she had dared to hope for. She
wiped off the water that dewed his face with a trembling hand.
Driven by an inexplicable urge, she leant down and kissed him, a
sob closing her throat. Part of her wished he would wake at that
moment, while a larger part shied away from the prospect with keen
embarrassment.

As she sat
back, she wiped away the tears that ran down her cheeks, torn
between intense relief and sadness, an unnamed emotion clogging her
throat. A soft chime made her look around at the sword, which lay
several metres away, shining metal once more.

"I hope you
rot, you vile thing," she muttered.

It chimed
again, insistently, and she frowned. It seemed to be trying to
communicate, but she had no wish to understand it. She shook Sabre,
wishing he would wake so they could leave this accursed place. She
glanced around at the swirling chaos, her concern for Dena, all
alone in the madness, growing. She shook Sabre again and patted his
cheek. Although she hated to leave him, she had to find Dena, then
somehow find her way back here. The prospect of stumbling around in
the chaotic Flux-realities scared her. There was a distinct
possibility that she would become utterly lost and be unable to
find either of them.

The sword
chimed again, insistently, and she glared at it.

"Damn you!
Whatever you want, I won't do it!"

After a short
silence, it gave a single sweet chime. Somehow, the Core lived in
the sword now, a thing of power. She doubted its power could save
it from the rust that would eat it away, however, all except the
hilt.

"You're
doomed! He defeated you twice!" she yelled.

The sword gave
a flat, discordant note.

"Only if you
could help me, would I spare you."

A loud, sweet
chime answered her. The sound betokened agreement, friendship, and
wordless volumes of alien encouragement.

She rose and
walked back to it. "Can you help us?"

It gave a
sweet chime.

"Why would
you?"

Its response
was a flat note.

"You wish to
be saved."

It chimed
sweetly again.

Tassin bent
and picked up the weapon. The hilt was warm, and a slight vibration
ran through it as it hummed. "If you want me to save you, then you
must make sure I can find him again, or I'll leave you here to
rust. And don't think you can harm him; the cyber is still
active."

The sword
chimed.

Tassin went
over to Sabre and gazed at his peaceful face. Laying the sword
beside him, she set off into the chaos to find Dena and the cart.
It seemed as if she stumbled in the chaotic Flux-realities for an
eternity, and Tassin was almost frantic by the time she came across
Dena huddled between the donkeys, staring ahead with blank eyes.
All of them bore wounds from flying crystal. A quick examination
assured her that the injuries were not serious, and Dena had
already pulled out the shards. The child seemed catatonic until
Tassin hugged her, whereupon she wailed and sobbed.

Tassin
crooned, "It's all right. You're safe, I'm safe, it's all over. We
can go home now, no more terrors, okay?"

Dena raised
shimmering eyes. "It's gone?"

"Yes, Sabre
destroyed it. It's gone."

"Where's
Sabre?"

"He's back
there. We'll go and get him now. He's hurt, so we must take the
cart."

Dena released
Tassin, wiping her eyes. "I'm okay."

Tassin smiled.
"I know. You're a very brave girl, and Sabre will be proud of
you."

The sword's
chiming guided them back to him, and Tassin sighed with relief when
she found him again. They lifted him onto the cart, placing him in
the hay. Tassin tossed the sword in after him, and it chimed in
complaint as it clattered on top of the laser cannons. With a last
glance at the crater, she led the donkeys away over the crushed
crystal, Dena sitting with Sabre.

Tassin soon
discovered that walking in the chaotic Flux-reality was hard. The
donkeys balked at things that appeared and vanished, and the ground
writhed and heaved. Sound seemed to have left the equation, or
perhaps they were all a little deaf after the Core's explosion, but
the world was eerily silent. When Tassin grew tired of wading
through the tugging chaos, she stopped beside a Real-reality rock
and gave the donkeys fodder before climbing into the cart to sit
with Dena. She lifted Sabre's head and trickled a little water into
his mouth. He coughed and swallowed.

Dena watched
with a worried frown. "Why doesn't he wake up?"

"He's very
tired. He'll wake when he's rested enough." Tassin hid her concern
behind a smile.

The girl
looked around at the tumbling, colliding worlds with a shudder.
"This is a horrible place now. Before it was okay, kind of fun, but
now it's weird. What if monsters come while Sabre's asleep?"

"I doubt that.
I think they all perished with the Core. If they didn't, they must
have fled."

"I thought
this would all vanish when the Core was broken."

"It will take
a while to fade, I think."

Tassin glanced
at the sword, hoping she was right. How much power did the Core
still possess? Was it feeding the Flux-reality? Surely it contained
only a fraction of the power that had been inside the crystal?

After they had
rested and eaten, Tassin pulled the donkeys along again, her
injuries aching. Dena offered to take a turn, allowing Tassin to
rest in the cart with Sabre.

Chapter Thirteen

For three
days, they struggled through the chaos, overcoming the mishaps that
befell them, none of which were too serious, and involved only the
hazards of the changing land. Tassin became immured to the madness
and accepted the hardships without complaint, adapting to its
unexpected dangers. The chaos' relentless bombardment of horrors
was punishing, and allowed little rest. Tassin and Dena were soon
bruised and exhausted, dirty and blank-eyed. She gave Sabre water,
but there was only dried meat to eat, and he would not chew it.

With no nights
to promote sleep and no sun to guide them, they rested when they
were tired and tried to walk a straight line. Twice they
encountered Real-reality pools, which were easy to spot now in the
ever changing Flux-reality. They found no other living creatures,
but came across many corpses, twisted beyond recognition or
savaged. Tassin wondered what had become of Purr, saddened by the
possibility that he might be dead. The donkeys plodded on with
their usual indifference, learning to ignore the things that
appeared and vanished, the sudden changes of weather and
temperature, and the abrupt transition from light to dark when a
night time world swept through.

On the fourth
day, as Tassin raised Sabre's head to give him water, he opened his
eyes. She jumped in surprise, spilling water on his chest, and
grinned with elated relief.

"How are you
feeling?"

He stared at
her for such a long time she feared the trauma had affected his
mind. Her worries evaporated when he said in a husky voice, "I'm
alive?"

"Yes."

He looked down
at himself, raising a hand to study it as if amazed to find it
still attached and obedient. "I thought I was dead."

"The cyber
saved you."

"The
cyber?"

"Yes." She
hesitated as a brief splatter of heavy rain swept through,
dampening them for an instant. "I think it stopped the sword from
killing you... the Core is in it now."

Sabre took the
water skin and drank, scanning the chaos. "Where are we?"

"Still in the
Death Zone. We've been walking for four days."

Dena glanced
around at the sound of Sabre's voice, stopped the donkeys and
climbed into the cart to hug him.

He smiled at
Tassin over her shoulder. "You could be going in circles."

"I know."

Sabre tried to
sit up when Dena released him, but his limbs trembled and he
flopped back with a groan. Tassin helped him, and he examined his
belly with a confused frown. "No wounds, and no scars."

"What happened
to you? I couldn't find you, and then you just appeared out of thin
air."

He stared at
her, then nodded. "Like the guardians."

"Yes."

"I think it
tried to do to me what it did to them, but it couldn't for some
reason. It sent me somewhere... nowhere is more like it. Perhaps a
place between worlds, since it has the power to open portals in
time and space and draw other worlds into its sphere of
influence."

He rubbed his
brow, lines of exhaustion bracketing his mouth. "It rummaged
through my memories like an old lady at a sale bin. I think it was
looking for something to torture me with, and it found plenty. But
the cyber kept jolting me. It stopped me from sliding into..." He
shivered. "Then it hurled me into a void, I think. I couldn't
breathe, and it was terribly cold."

Tassin nodded.
"When you fell out of the air you were covered with frost. The
cyber band was blue."

He fingered
the crystals. "It must have overpowered the Core. That's amazing.
They're both... artificial intelligences, I suppose, one
programmed, one self-taught. But they're utterly different. I
wouldn't have thought the cyber could match up to the Core, never
mind defeat it."

"I think the
Core's lost most of its power now that it's trapped in the
sword."

"It must
have."

"But how did
you avoid the flying crystal from the explosion? Even Dena and the
donkeys were hit."

"I didn't." He
smiled at her confused look. "It hit me too, but when the Core
flung me into... wherever I was, it tried to mutate me. I guess the
cyber wouldn't let it, so it... reversed time. Perhaps it thought
it could turn back the clock so far I'd become a helpless child
again, but the cyber must have overpowered it before it could. By
rejuvenating me, it healed my wounds."

She gaped at
him. "It turned time backwards?"

"Yes. It can
manipulate time and space, perhaps because they're related. The
Core's incredibly powerful, or at least, it was. A good thing we're
far away from it now."

She averted
her eyes. "Not exactly."

"Don't tell me
you brought the bloody thing along?"

She nodded and
bent to pick up the gleaming weapon.

Sabre frowned
at it. "It should be destroyed."

The sword
chimed, a flat note.

Tassin said,
"It helped us. I had to leave you to find Dena, and I was afraid I
wouldn't find you again, so the sword guided me to you. We made a
bargain. It doesn't wish to be left here to rust."