The Cyber Chronicles IX - Precipice (14 page)

Again she toyed
with the idea of telling him about Sabre, but discarded it. "I have
one, of course. Why do you think I had a cyber tech in my
employ?"

"Ah, and I
suppose he'll be searching for you now, but he won't find you, and
even if he does, he's a bit outnumbered. But if you have a cyber,
how were you abducted?"

"He wasn't
there, obviously."

"Of course,"
Tarvin said, smiling. "You are full of surprises." He touched a
keypad on the table beside his hand. "Now, let's eat, shall
we?"

Chapter Seven

Kole banged his
glass down on the bar counter and gestured for the bald bartender
to refill it. Pathos had arrived at Hades Eleven four hours ago,
and, after scouting the gaming arenas for Tarl, he had found this
little bar tucked away around the corner from one. It appeared to
be a converted storeroom, but no one had bothered to update the
drab grey prison paint, although someone had added a few ornaments
in the form of stuffed alien beast heads on the walls. Some of
which were not too well cured, judging by the smell. Then again, it
might have been the surfeit of unwashed bodies that packed the
room. The patrons all appeared to be smugglers, pirates or slavers,
their garb dull and functional and their faces bearded, for the
most part.

Some might have
been employees of the rich playboys and moguls who visited the
games to rub shoulders with riffraff and indulge in some blood
sports, for there were a few men clad in fairly clean outfits.
Scuffed plastic tables and chairs provided places to sit and drink,
and the bar counter was made up of stacked crates all marked ‘high
explosives’. He hoped they were empty. More crates provided
shelving for bottles of liquor behind the counter, which two large,
sweaty men clad in filthy vests and ragged trousers tended.

Wandering
around searching for, or even asking about, a cyber tech had proven
fruitless and tiring, and this was probably the best place to make
enquiries. Asking about Tarl seemed unlikely to get any truthful
answers, however. Kole was a stranger, while Tarl's new owner was
probably a regular.

A drunken man,
however, could get away with a lot more, and would be likely to
make bold statements that could draw the attention of someone who
might have some information. It might cause trouble, though, so he
was glad he had brought a dozen enforcers with him, some of whom
were positioned around the room, with more outside. In order to
make the ploy believable, he had consumed a fair number of drinks,
and the alcohol was taking effect, so he had to make his move
soon.

Kole turned to
the stranger beside him. "Know any arseholes who go 'round
kidnapping cyber techs from fellow outlaws, huh?"

The man shook
his head and moved away, taking his drink with him. Kole turned to
glare around the room, swaying. "Anyone know any arseholes who go
'round kidnapping cyber techs from fellow outlaws?"

The murmur of
voices hushed, then resumed, and many men shot him scornful,
scathing looks.

"I'm lookin'
for the arseholes who kidnapped my friend, a cyber tech!" Kole
shouted. "An' when I find 'em, I'm gonna rip 'em a new one!"

Someone tapped
him on the shoulder, and he swung around. The bartender glared at
him. "Take it outside, or you'll get taken out, got it?"

"But there's no
one outside," Kole slurred.

"Then shut it,
or get booted."

"Fine, fine,
don't blow a gasket." Kole staggered over to the nearest table and
leant on it, scattering glasses. "Any of you fellows know anyone
who's got a cyber tech they kidnapped, huh?"

The men
recoiled with growls of anger and cries of, "Piss off!"

Kole pushed
himself away, spilling more drinks, and reeled over to another
table, repeating the question as he bumped into it, slopping
drinks. The patrons jumped up with shouts of anger, and Kole
stumbled off again, slugging back his drink. Sprawling across
another table, he stared owlishly at the men who sat around it.

"I'm lookin'
for the bastards who took my friend! 'Is name's Tarl! 'E was
kidnapped!"

Someone grabbed
him from behind and hauled him off the table. "Out you go,
buster."

Kole struggled
in the grip of a muscular man who trundled him towards the door.
"Hey! I'm lookin' for my friend! 'Is name's Tarl Averly! I'll give
five hundred thousand credits to anyone who knows who took him!
Half a mill! One million to anyone who tells me where he is! I
-"

The bouncer
slammed Kole into the wall beside the door. "Oops." He
sniggered.

Kole rubbed his
nose. "Oi, that wasn't nice, dumbass."

"Tough luck, ye
shoulda looked where yer was goin'."

"Piss on you,
arsehole!"

The bouncer
shoved Kole out of the door, sending him staggering into the wall
across the corridor, and dusted his hands. "If ye come back in,
you'll be sorry, so piss off."

Kole raised a
finger, then slid down the wall to slump on the floor, bowing his
head. Now he just had to wait for someone to take the bait. Half an
hour passed before a pair of boots stopped in front of him. One
nudged him, and he looked up. A rat-faced man scowled down at him,
then squatted, eyeing him.

"You the one
looking for the cyber tech?"

Kole nodded.
"Thas right."

"I might know,
so where's the reward?"

"Not on me,
thas fersure," Kole raised a hand and fingered his nose.

Ten enforcers
emerged from the shadowy doorways and side passages up and down the
corridor. They converged on the ratty man, who leapt up and tried
to dive back into the bar. Thestan and another enforcer caught him
and dragged him out. Kole climbed to his feet, shaking his head as
it swam from the alcohol. The man tried to yell, but the enforcer
clamped a hand over his mouth. Kole headed down the corridor to an
empty storeroom he had rented earlier, the enforcers following with
their captive. In the room, Kole turned to frown at the
prisoner.

"Tell us what
you know, and we'll let you live."

The enforcer
who held the man released his face, and he spat, grimacing. "Bloody
bastards."

"Yeah, we are,"
Kole agreed. "So where's the cyber tech?"

"If I had a
cyber with me -"

"Well you
don't, so start talking."

The man's eyes
darted. "I want the reward, or I ain't saying nothing!"

"Yeah I want a
million credits, too." Kole thrust his face closer. "Ain't gonna
happen, shithead, so spit it out or get yer head bashed in."

"What you want
him for?"

"He's my pal,
and we're gonna get him back."

"Okay." The man
looked mollified, even a little pleased. "Endrovar’s got him."

"How do you
know?"

"He was here,
at the games, boasting about his damned cyber tech. He told me all
my cybers were B-grades, the bastard. I could lose money because
-"

"Where is he
now?"

The man
shrugged. "How the hell should I know? His cybers got beaten up and
he left, that's it."

"What's the
name of his ship?"

"Imperial. You
can't miss it, bloody great monstrosity, armed to the teeth. You'll
have a job, that's for sure."

"How do you
know it was Tarl, and not some conman?"

"Because he was
right about the cybers, and he had a tattoo. And Endrovar
introduced him."

Kole
straightened, nodding to the enforcer. "Get rid of him."

The enforcer
dragged the scrawny man away, and Kole led the men back down the
grimy corridor towards the landing pad where the shuttle was
parked.

Thestan fell
into step beside him. "So how do you propose to find this
ship?"

"Much more
easily than a man, and I found him."

"Sheer luck. If
this ship is heavily armed, how are we supposed to get him
back?"

Kole shot him a
frown. "Aren't you supposed to be a commander? Oh right, now you're
a sub-commander. But you should still know how to board a ship. We
have a battle cruiser, don't we?"

"I don't think
Overlord Fairen intended -"

"Overlord
Fairen gave your ship to Sabre, to do with as he chose, so you'll
do it."

"I'd like to
hear it from Sabre, then."

Kole smiled.
"An excellent idea. I'd like to see you get your head bashed in.
He's still in a really shitty mood, you know. I saw what he did to
your exercise room. Man, I wouldn't like to be on the receiving end
of that. Your funeral, though."

"Why didn't
Sabre come with us?"

"He's a
cyber!"

"So?"

Kole snorted.
"He doesn't like pretending to be under cyber control, and if he
didn't, that would sure raise a few eyebrows, wouldn't it?"

"I suppose so."
Thestan looked uneasy. "All right, there's no need to tell him.
I'll do it."

"You sure?
Because it's no problem, really. I think he's just itching to bash
some enforcers. That's why he's been staying away from you lot, his
self-control isn't too good these days."

"No, there's no
need to tell him."

Kole chuckled.
"Fine. Sooner or later you're going to piss him off, though, I
guarantee it, and then I'll get to see you bounce of the walls like
those dumbbells."

Thestan's mouth
thinned, and he glanced around, frowning, as if expecting Sabre to
leap out of the shadows. Kole chuckled again, enjoying the man's
unease. The shuttle ride back to Pathos was achieved in silence,
and Kole entered the hospital radiating triumph and wearing a broad
grin.

"I found
him!"

Martis, who sat
at one of the workstations set up on the wide bench that ran along
a wall, looked up, his brows rising. "Who, Tarl?"

"Yep, the one
and only."

Estrelle turned
from her screen and smiled. "That's wonderful! So where is he?"

"On a ship
called Imperial."

"And... where's
the ship?"

Kole raised a
hand. "Okay, I don't know that yet, but I will."

"Ugh." Martis
swung back to his instruments, shaking his head.

"Hey, this is
big, okay? A ship is a lot easier to find than one man, and I did
that already."

Estrelle
sighed. "This is smuggler space. No one keeps records of where
ships go or where they dock."

"Even so, I
know who owns it, and he's got to have information on the Net. I
can track him down, you watch me."

The techs
shrugged and returned to their work. Kole wandered over to Sabre,
who lay on the examination table again, hooked up to a drip.

"Hey old chum,
I found Tarl, so you can wake up now. I've done the really hard
work. No need for you to hide in the dark anymore. Come on...
wake up
!" Kole bellowed the last words in Sabre's ear.

Martis looked
around. "Leave him alone."

"Bloody cop
out," Kole muttered, walking around the table to Martis and peering
at his screen. "What're you doing?"

"Are you
drunk?"

Kole shrugged.
"A little. Had to, part of the plot. It worked, too."

"You
stink."

"So what're you
doing?"

"Monitoring his
brain function."

"And?"

Martis leant
away from the swaying hacker. "He's remembering."

"How do you
know that?"

The tech
pointed to the image of Sabre's brain on the screen. "Those
flashing areas, they're memory storage. He's immersed himself in
memories. Happy ones, I assume."

"Damned cop out
coward," Kole said, then swung around and grasped Sabre’s
shoulders, shaking him. "Come on you bastard! Wake up damn it!"

"Hey!" Martis
jumped up as Sabre's head lolled from side to side, bumping into
the U-shaped instrument around it. "That's a delicate instrument!
Don't damage it, you idiot!"

Kole said,
"He's got to wake up now! I can't do this alone!"

Martis gripped
his arm and tugged him away. "Leave him. Now you know how he felt,
huh?"

"Bastard," Kole
muttered, rubbing his brow. "I should just go home and leave Tarl
to rot. Let Tassin stay a slave forever. This isn't my problem! You
hear me, Sabre? I'm not going to find her if you don't bloody wake
up!"

Martis glanced
at his screen as another area of Sabre's brain flashed, and gave a
cry of excitement. "He heard that. There was a reaction!"

Estrelle
glanced up from her screen, which monitored the control unit. "Here
too. They both heard it."

"It's stopped."
Martis sank down on his chair, staring at the image on the screen.
"Come on, Sabre."

Kole turned
back to the cyber and leant over him. "If you don't wake up, I
won't find Tassin, you hear me, Sabre? I'll leave her. I can find
her, and Tarl too, but only if you wake up."

Martis shook
his head, frowning. "Nothing. Maybe it was just an anomaly."

"The control
unit's still reacting,” Estrelle said.

"That never
stopped. It's Sabre who's withdrawn, not the control unit."

She sat back,
chewing her fingernails. "Something's got to work."

"Tarl will do
it," Kole averred. "And I'm going to find him."

Martis looked
up. "I don't know what he can do that we haven't tried
already."

"What have you
tried?"

"Well...
nothing. There's nothing anyone can do."

"You don't know
Tarl." Kole headed for the door. "If anyone can wake that bastard
up, he can!"

"Kole,"
Estrelle called.

The hacker
paused in the doorway and glanced back. "Yeah?"

"Why are you
doing this?"

Kole swung
away, frowning. "None of your damned business."

****

Tassin gazed
out of the screens in the forward observation room of Tarvin’s
ship, whose name she did not know. She visited the observation
lounge often to watch the stars creep past. Another week had
passed, so Tarvin's home world must be far from Forge Prime. So
far, she had seen no one aboard the ship other than crewmen and
servants, and she wondered where Tarvin’s retinue was. Surely a
high king would surround himself with fawning fops and pretty
girls, as Endrovar did? The only explanation she could think of was
that they were housed in another part of the vessel, and naturally
the King would not allow a lowly slave to mingle with them. The
ship did not appear to be moving very fast, and, since the screens
were not filled with light, she had to surmise that it was not in a
photon corridor. If it was crossing from one corridor to another,
they must be far apart. She had pried off the cover of the air vent
in her room, and spent most of her nights exploring the air ducts
in the hopes of finding one that led to a technical area that had a
transmitter.