Read The Cyber Chronicles IX - Precipice Online

Authors: T C Southwell

Tags: #lost, #despair, #humanity, #precipice

The Cyber Chronicles IX - Precipice (10 page)

Tarl gave him a
painkiller first, something he had forced Endrovar to supply,
refusing to work on the cybers otherwise. Then he had the onerous
chore of pulling out the many venomous spines that were embedded in
the clone's arms and hands. It took him over an hour to stitch up
all the wounds, by which time Warrior Two was brought in, his brow
band ablaze with red lights. His legs had been broken below the
knees, and one arm, which was also dislocated. A flap of scalp hung
down the side of his head, exposing the golden barrinium plating on
his skull, and his palms were shredded.

Endrovar was
quite drunk by the time they returned to the ship, and Tarl did not
see him again after he took the cybers to the hospital and put them
on drips.

The following
day, the party returned to the planet with the two remaining
cybers, and once again Tarl sat where he could not see the gory
fights, then took care of the injured clones afterwards. Warrior
Three, the C-grade, barely won his fight, and the extent of his
injuries and blood loss caused the control unit to shut down, but
Tarl gave him painkillers anyway. As he was putting the finishing
touches to the bandages on the clone's torso, Endrovar came in with
the rat-faced man Tarl had seen him talking to in the mess hall,
and four cybers. Endrovar indicated the ratty man with a
banana-fingered hand.

"Tarl, this is
Larus, my supplier. I want you to check out these cybers and give
me your opinion."

The cyber tech
went over and examined the clones, shaking his head. "They're all
B-grades, except this one, who's a well-disguised C-grade."

Larus swelled
with indignation. "Rubbish! They're all A-grades."

"Nope." Tarl
shook his head. "They're B-grades."

"You don't know
what you're talking about. You're a phony. The only cyber techs
work for Myon Two. This is just a ploy to get my cybers
cheaper."

"I used to work
for Myon Two," Tarl said. "I can prove it."

"How?"

"You know about
the tattoos?"

Larus snorted.
"Anyone can get a tattoo."

"These are
special. They have a registration number embedded in them, which
cybers can see. Order one of these cybers to kill me, and see what
happens."

Larus' eyes
darted, increasing his resemblance to a trapped rat, and he licked
his lips.

Endrovar looked
intrigued. "Do it, Larus. If he's not who he says he is, prove
it."

The supplier's
eyes narrowed, and he turned to the nearest cyber and pointed at
Tarl. "Cyber Seventeen, kill him."

The cyber
stepped towards Tarl, who turned to face him. The cyber stopped two
strides away, his brow band flashing.

"Unable to
comply. This man is a Myon Two technician."

Tarl glanced at
Larus. "Proof enough for you?"

Endrovar
grinned, clearly delighted. "I didn't know about this."

"Few people
do," Tarl said. "It's a safety feature, so cybers can't be used
against Cybercorp executives. All Myon Two technical personnel have
the tattoos."

"But where's
the tattoo? I don't see one."

Tarl pulled
open his coverall, exposing the red tattoo on his shoulder. "The
registration number gives off ultra violet light, which the control
units can see even through clothes."

"But what if
someone copied your tattoo? He'd be safe from cyber attack then,
right?"

"The tattoos
can't be duplicated. Only Myon Two has the technology to do
them."

"Fascinating."
Endrovar turned to Larus. "So, now you'll have to sell these cybers
to me at thirty per cent less than you were asking, or bring me
some real A-grades."

Larus shook his
head. "I have plenty of buyers, but where will you find another
supplier?"

Endrovar
scowled. "I'll find one."

"Good, then do
that. I won't miss your business. I have more demand than I can
handle."

"I'll also
spread the word that you're selling B-grades as A-grades,” Endrovar
said.

"Go ahead, even
those who believe you still have to buy from me, and I can sell
them for as much as I want." Larus walked out, the cybers
following.

The emperor
scowled at Tarl. "That didn't go as expected. Now I have to find a
new supplier."

"I could find
you one if I had access to the Net, sir," Tarl offered.

"As if I'm
going to let you go online and send a distress message," Endrovar
said, shaking his head. "I'm no fool."

Tarl shrugged.
"There's no one for me to send a message to, and I'm an outlaw,
condemned to death by Myon Two. I wouldn't risk them finding
me."

"But you'd risk
exposing yourself to look for a new supplier."

"No risk. I'd
be searching, not sending information, and I certainly wouldn't
identify myself."

Endrovar shook
his head. "Not going to happen." He glanced at Warrior Three.
"How's my little warrior doing?"

"He's shut down
from blood loss."

"Agh, well,
he's not going to last much longer. The next fight will be the end
of him, I reckon."

"I agree."

The emperor
smiled. "Then next time I'll bet on the beast, and make a
killing."

"I need the
drugs and equipment, sir."

"Yeah, yeah,
I'll get them."

 

 

Chapter Five

 

Sabre looked up
as Kole entered the hospital, his brows drawing together. Ten hours
had passed since he had wrecked the exercise room, and Estrelle had
persuaded him to let her tend to the cuts on his hands. He sat on a
stool beside her workstation, and she used medical supplies from
the first aid kit she had found in one of the hospital’s cabinets.
She had sprayed his bloody knuckles with anaesthetic and then
antibiotics, although the latter was unnecessary for a cyber. His
destruction of the exercise room had restored some of his calm, but
none of his peace, even with all the emotional crap shoved into his
mind’s darkest corners. It still shouted its concern, anguish and
despair from the back of his skull. Estrelle raked Kole with a
quick glance, then resumed bandaging Sabre's right hand, which had
suffered the worst damage.

The hacker
flopped down in a chair, grinning. "Wow, Sabre, you sure know how
to get yourself from the pot into the fire, don't you?"

"What do you
mean?"

Kole gestured.
"You're on an enforcer ship, for god's sake!"

"In command of
it."

"Ah well, of
course, until they find a way to drug you in your sleep or knock
you out with gas or something. At which point, Estrelle and Martis,
and maybe even I'm going to be in a world of shit."

"They won't
disobey Fairen."

"Of course they
will; they're enforcers. They just have to make sure you can't send
him a message, and you'll vanish without a trace, I guarantee it.
This time they'll make sure no sympathetic techs can free you. How
did you do that, by the way?" he asked Estrelle.

"On a drone
ship."

"Oh, that must
have been fun."

"Yeah, it was a
barrel of laughs."

Sabre shook his
head. "They can't drug or gas me."

"There are how
many enforcers on this ship?"

"About a
hundred and fifty."

"And four
cybers."

"I have their
overrides."

Kole snorted.
"You'd better get command privileges too, just in case. Or give
them to me, in case they find a way to knock you out. Cybers can be
knocked out, can't they, Estrelle?"

"Very difficult
to do, but it's possible, yeah."

"You see?"

Sabre sighed,
flexing his hand as Estrelle finished bandaging it. "All right, if
it'll make you feel safer."

"It should make
you feel safer too."

"I don't feel
threatened."

Kole eyed him.
"Sure you do. You're as tense as an acrobat's high wire, old
chum."

"What did you
find out on Omega Five?"

"Not much. Just
what I already told Overlord Fairen. They're a bunch of peasants,
that lot. So what's the plan?"

"I need you to
hack into the local network and plant some information."

The hacker
smiled. "What sort?"

"There's a new
outfit in town, selling cybers, repair equipment, drugs and repair
services. We also buy and sell high-quality slaves."

"So you're
after Tarl. I wondered how you'd find Tassin. Good plan. It might
even work."

Sabre looked
away. "There's a chance it will."

Kole's gaze
dropped to the cyber's bandaged hands. "What happened to you?"

"I vented some
frustration."

"Wow, what does
the poor slob look like? A red smear on the floor?"

Estrelle shot
him a sharp look. "Sabre didn't hurt anyone."

"More's the
pity. These enforcers give me the willies. All scowls and glares.
You should rip off a few heads, get them in line."

"Sabre's tense
because his brain block has failed, so don't antagonise him, okay?"
she said.

Kole's eyes
flicked over the cyber. "And what does brain block failure do?"

"It means he's
got feelings now. A lot more than he's ever had before, and
stronger."

"Really?" Kole
leant forward. "So he's not a cool dude anymore, huh? He's what, a
hothead?"

"He's very
angry, yeah."

Sabre said,
"And he's getting angrier the longer you two discuss him like he's
part of the furniture."

"You seem calm
enough to me, old pal."

"It's an
illusion."

"Ah."

Sabre eyed the
hacker. "So how long is it going to take you to get off your
backside and get to work?"

"You know, a
little civility wouldn't go amiss here, old chum. I don't have to
be here, or help you. I already did you a big favour getting you
off Eden Five, and, while I admit it was fun for the most part, it
doesn't mean I work for you."

The cyber
nodded, ignoring Estrelle's anxious look. "You're right. If you
want to piss off, then do. If not, start hacking."

Kole glanced at
Estrelle. "He doesn't seem any different to me."

"Are you trying
to make him angry?"

"Just pushing
buttons."

"Well, I don't
advise it. He's got a lot of boom buttons now."

Kole's brows
rose. "Boom buttons?"

"Yeah, the kind
that you really shouldn't push."

Sabre bowed his
head and gazed at his hands. "He's right, Estrelle, he doesn't have
to help."

She shot him a
concerned look. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing.”

All the fight
had drained out of Sabre, taking with it his resolve to find
Tassin. The emotion Estrelle had named earlier had taken hold, and
he could not shake it off. Despair. He was not meant to be in
charge, and he was not good at it. As had happened on Triumphant
during the Corsair attack, he did not want to be in charge of such
a hopeless situation. He was plugging holes in a boat that had
already sunk. Despair, he discovered, was an oddly numbing emotion.
It took away his hope and gave him permission to give up. The
situation was hopeless, anyway. Who was he trying to kid? His
machine-trained mind had calculated the odds of finding Tassin and
returned a decimal so small he did not want to count the zeroes in
front of it. She was lost, and he would never find her.

After all they
had been through, fate had dealt a final, crushing blow. A small
voice nagged him that Tassin had not given up when Manutim had
taken him, but she had had the sword, which had found him and
brought her to him, while all he had were his wits, an enforcer
ship full of men who hated his guts and a bunch of annoying,
argumentative companions. He was just a broken killing machine, and
now he was a broken killing machine with a shitload of really
crappy emotions he did not know how to deal with. It was so unfair,
and he was tired of all the struggle and strife.

Estrelle turned
to Martis, who adjusted some instruments, and he looked up at the
same time. "Martis, get those command privileges, now."

He jumped up
and trotted out, and Estrelle faced Sabre again, her brow furrowed
with worry.

Kole
straightened, frowning. "What is it?"

"He's
withdrawing."

"What does that
mean?"

She shook her
head. "I'm not sure. I've never had to deal with a free cyber
before, have I? But he's not himself, that's for sure."

Sabre stared at
the floor, his mind blank. Kole rose and followed Martis. Estrelle
sat down and peered at Sabre's face.

"What are you
feeling?"

He sighed.
"Nothing much."

"Come and lie
down, please." She held out her hand.

Several moments
passed before he raised his gaze to her hand. He took it, allowing
her to tug him over to the padded examination table that would be
used to repair injured cybers. He lay down on it and stared at the
ceiling, then closed his eyes. Within the darkness of his mind, he
scanned the cyber’s scrolling data and found no answers in it. He
flinched from the emotional storm going on in the dark corners
where he had stuffed all the useless feelings, unable to deal with
them. He wanted out, just as he had done when Ravian had made him
step out of the airlock and Tisha had tried to seduce him. He was
not designed to deal with this shit. He let the peaceful darkness
in the centre of his being wash over him with soothing waves of
sorrow.

 

 

Estrelle
waited, chewing her nails, for several minutes until Kole and
Martis returned, looking cross but triumphant.

"We got them,"
Martis announced. "How is he?"

"Not good."

Martis
approached the cyber and gazed down at him, placing a hand on his
brow. "He's cold."

"Oh, god,"
Estrelle muttered.

"What?" Kole
demanded. "What the hell is going on?"

Martis frowned
and went to lock the door. "He's withdrawn from reality. He's
trying to shut down. It's almost as if he's going into cold
sleep."

Other books

We Didn’t See it Coming by Christine Young-Robinson
El Coyote by Jose Mallorqui
My Name Is Parvana by Deborah Ellis
One Night Only by Emma Heatherington
108. An Archangel Called Ivan by Barbara Cartland
Cry in the Night by Hart, Carolyn G.
Heart of the Witch by Alicia Dean
Dance On My Grave by Aidan Chambers
The Bag of Bones by Vivian French