The Cyber Chronicles IX - Precipice (15 page)

The ducts could
not be opened from the inside, but she would figure that out when
she found the right one. They were narrow and full of dust, making
it an onerous, dirty task. She always emerged filthy and tired, her
elbows bruised and her muscles aching. Still, she refused to give
up.

A whispering
hiss made her swing around. Tarvin drifted towards her in a
floating chair, which hovered at a height that made his head level
with hers. She frowned at him and turned back to the view.

"Not even a
greeting, Tassin?"

"No. I want no
company."

He stopped
beside her "That's very rude."

"I don't
care."

He glanced at
her, then back at the vista. "I think it’s time I told you why I
bought you. You see, I had a suspicion, when I saw you at that Net
auction, but I had to confirm it. Some time ago, Myon Two asked my
people to be on the lookout for a small, black-haired woman who
claimed to be a queen, and was, indeed, a planetary leader from
Omega Five. When I received the invitation to the auction, my aide
informed me of Myon Two’s interest in a woman matching your
description. Myon Two has now confirmed that you are indeed the
woman they want for murder.”

Her blood
chilled. “I didn’t murder anyone.”

“According to
Myon Two, you did. A department head, no less. Previd Malatar?
They’re very upset about it, and want me to hand you over to
them.”

“And will
you?”

“Of course. I
am a law abiding man, although I do like to be rewarded for my good
deeds. I am currently negotiating with them. They have offered five
cybers for you, but I have asked for ten. I expect we will
eventually settle on seven or eight, which will be acceptable. If
you hadn’t been the right girl, I daresay I’d have sold you to
Daone, but now you’re worth so much more.”

She raised her
chin. "My cyber killed Previd to save my life. He was trying to
murder me."

"I really don’t
care. I will be rewarded handsomely for your capture."

Tassin shot him
a killing glare. "Don’t you have enough cybers, or riches,
already?"

"I do, but more
never hurts. Mostly, I enjoy making people dance to my tune; even
Myon Two. They are sending a ship to collect you from Parthis, but
it will take a while for it to get here. That's why we left the
photon corridor some days ago and proceed under power towards my
home world. There’s no safer prison than a ship. And crawling
around in the air ducts every night will get you nothing but dirty
and tired, I assure you."

Tassin swung
around with a growl of rage and raised a hand to slap him. Her hand
swished through air as something hit her in the midriff, punched
the air from her lungs with a grunt and hurled her to the floor.
Her head hit it with a dull crack, and stars danced in her eyes as
she stared into a cyber's impassive face. He crouched over her, his
face painted black to match the walls, only the gleam of his eyes
and the lights on the brow band visible.

"Stop!" Tarvin
said. "Leave her."

The cyber
sprang up and stepped back. Tassin struggled to draw air into her
lungs, her head swimming and her vision dim. The roaring in her
ears drowned out Tarvin's worried voice, then air rushed into her
tortured lungs with a whoop, and she gasped as reality returned.
Tarvin's chair drifted down to land beside her, and he peered at
her.

"Are you all
right?"

She sat up,
dazed and shaky, the back of her head throbbing. "I will be, no
thanks to you."

"I did warn
you. Fortunately I only brought one of my shadows with me, but
still, you could have been badly hurt. That was an extremely
foolish thing to do."

She rubbed the
lump on the back of her skull, wincing. "Do you expect me to be
happy that you’re handing me over for execution?"

"You condemned
yourself when you committed murder, dear girl."

Tassin rose to
her feet, glaring at him, then the cyber. Tarvin gestured, and the
clone retreated into the shadows, becoming invisible again.

"I won’t let
you,” she said. “I’ll find a way to escape you, and them.”

"Ah, yes, you
think you can find a transmitter and call your cyber, or your
fiancé? You’re wasting your time. You will not summon any help, I
promise you."

Her hands
clenched. "My fiancé is a free cyber, the true man, which makes
him, to all intents and purposes, your High King Sharlin, back from
the dead. And he will find me."

Tarvin's chair
lifted him up to her level, and he frowned at her. "You really
expect me to believe that?"

"It’s true, and
when he finds me, I pity you." Spinning on her heel, she marched
out.

Chapter Eight

Kole leant
against a console on Pathos’ bridge and stared out of the screens
at the massive ship in orbit at Vendal Four, some of his triumph
leaking away. Imperial was an ill-disguised warship that far
outgunned Pathos. Arrays of lasers were visible on its flanks and
stern, cannons in its bow. He gestured at it, turning to Thestan,
who stood beside him.

"Well, there
she is. Told you I'd find her."

"It took you a
week. And just how do you propose we get your man off it?"

"I thought that
was your department?"

Thestan shook
his head. "She's twice our size and firepower. It would be suicide
to attack her. And anyway, your man might be killed if we did."

Kole rubbed his
chin. "I suppose we could offer to buy him."

"Whoever owns
that ship has more money than he can ever spend. He probably uses
it to wipe his arse."

"Then... we
could ask for his services, offer to pay, then kidnap him when he
comes aboard."

"They won't let
him off that ship. I don't think they're stupid. Anyway, isn't this
something Sabre should decide?"

"You're right,
he should." Kole nodded. "I'll go and ask him." He headed for the
door, then stopped when Thestan followed. "No one asked you to
come."

"This involves
my ship and my men. I should be included in the planning of
it."

"No, you'll
follow orders. We don't need your input."

Thestan
glowered, but remained behind when Kole strode from the bridge. He
made his way to the hospital, where Martis and Estrelle were glued
to their screens as usual. They looked up when he came in, their
expressions expectant.

"Well?" Martis
demanded.

"Imperial is a
damned flying fortress. Thestan says we can't win a fight with it."
Kole walked over to the padded table and frowned down at Sabre.
"Wake up, old chum. I've found Tarl, now we need your help to free
him. Do you hear me? Wake up, damn it!"

Martis glanced
at his readouts. "He's not listening."

"Bugger it! We
need a plan to get Tarl off that ship." Kole swung away and paced
in a circle. "I thought perhaps we could get him here by telling
them that we needed his services, and offering to pay a large
amount for them, but Thestan doesn't think they'll let him leave
the ship."

"Probably not,
but we could take Sabre to him, and if he can fix him..."

Kole snapped
his fingers. "That's it! But it will mean Thestan will see us
carrying Sabre over there."

Martis
shrugged. "So? We tell him that he's pretending to be
comatose."

"Yeah, that
would work. Then when he's fixed, he can come up with a way to free
Tarl."

Martis nodded.
"Yeah, he's more intelligent than you are."

"Piss off,
Martis. I'm the one who found Tarl. Sabre's the one who copped out,
remember?"

"He's got a lot
on his mind right now."

"So do I." Kole
swung away. "I'll send the message."

"Are you sure
Tarl's on that ship?"

"Yeah, Endrovar
won't part with a cyber tech." Kole touched the door panel, letting
himself out.

As the door
slid shut behind Kole, Estrelle turned to Martis and raised her
brows. "You really think this Tarl guy is going to be able to wake
Sabre up?"

"Let's hope all
it takes is for Sabre to hear his voice."

"What if he's
not listening?"

"Then I hope
Tarl is as amazing as Kole thinks."

She snorted.
"If a host researcher and a control unit researcher can't wake him
up, you really think a repair tech can?"

Martis shrugged
and sighed. "Let's hope so."

Kole returned
an hour later, looking excited. "They went for it. Wanted a
fortune, but they've agreed to let us aboard with our damaged
cyber."

Martis glanced
at Sabre. "Now?"

"Yeah, the
shuttle's waiting."

"Our
shuttle?"

"Yeah,
why?"

"It's
safer."

Estrelle
removed the drip from Sabre's arm, and they draped a sheet over
him, activated the table's antigravity and retracted its legs,
turning it into a floating stretcher. Kole towed it to the door,
Martis following. Estrelle remained behind, since it would seem
suspicious if more than two people accompanied a damaged cyber.
Kole ordered the cybers who guarded the door to follow, and headed
for the shuttle dock. Thestan waited there with the other two
cybers, and Kole groaned.

"Shit."

The
sub-commander marched over when he spotted them, scowling at Sabre,
then at Kole. "What's the idea, taking all the cybers?"

"We may need
them for protection."

"They're not
going to let four cybers on board."

"It's worth a
try, and if not, they can guard the shuttle."

Thestan looked
down at Sabre. "Why do you need all four?"

Kole snorted.
"He's not going to talk to you. He thinks you're a moron."

"I don't like
letting all four cybers off the ship."

"Too bad, those
are Sabre's orders; now get the hell out of the way. They're
waiting for us."

The
sub-commander stepped aside, staring at Sabre. "He looks like he's
really asleep."

"That's the
idea, dimwit."

Martis followed
Kole and the stretcher into the ten-seat, grey and white shuttle.
Kole ordered the cybers to join them, leaving Thestan fuming on the
dock. The hacker anchored the stretcher, and they strapped in as
the shuttle undocked with a slight jerk. Martis glanced past Kole
at the pilot and leant closer, lowering his voice.

"He's right,
you know. They'll never allow four cybers aboard, probably not even
one, except Sabre."

Kole frowned,
nodding. "Yeah, I've been thinking the same thing. I think we
should leave the cybers in the shuttle. They may still come in
handy, depending on what happens. Always good to have some backup
close by."

"Better still,
we should hide them, then it'll be a surprise."

"Yeah, good
idea."

Kole glanced
around at the cybers. "Cybers, find places to hide and remain
hidden unless called upon, understand?"

They turned
their heads towards him, and one replied, "Understood."

Unstrapping
themselves, they moved to the rear of the shuttle to find cargo
webbing and lockers to hide in or behind. Within a couple of
minutes there was no sign of them. Kole stared out of the screens
as the shuttle approached the huge warship, tapping his fingernails
on the arm of his seat. Martis fidgeted and chewed his lip. He
tensed when the shuttled docked and the door opened to reveal five
armed men waiting in a gleaming white dock, hands on their laser
hilts.

The soldiers
entered the shuttle and glanced around. Kole and Martis unstrapped
themselves and freed the stretcher, towing it onto the dock. An
officer approached and frowned at Sabre, then beckoned to a couple
of soldiers.

"They'll take
you to the lab."

Kole towed the
stretcher after the men, who led them down a plush, well-lighted
cream corridor carpeted in burgundy. They marched around a few
corners and descended in a lift, arriving at a door that slid open.
The soldiers gestured for Kole to go in, and he towed the stretcher
into a bright lab lined with workbenches, data screens, analysis
equipment and glass-fronted cabinets filled with surgical
instruments and drugs. Long tables covered with more equipment were
arranged around the grey-tiled floor. Two men in white jumpsuits
were bent over a table, engrossed in some sort of experiment.
Another rolled his chair away from a workstation, rose and turned
to face them.

Tarl's face
stiffened when he recognised Kole, who waggled his eyebrows and
gave an imperceptible shake of his head. The cyber repair tech
swallowed and coughed. Martis lowered the stretcher's legs, turning
it back into an examination table. Tarl's eyes became riveted to
Sabre's face, and his struggle to hide his reaction resulted in an
expression that Martis likened to one a man might wear if he had
just spotted a deadly spider crawling up his leg.

Tarl coughed
again, placing a hand on Sabre's brow. "What happened to him?"

Kole shrugged.
"Don't know, really. Maybe he overheated, or overloaded or
something. Just lay down and went to sleep, damned if he didn't.
Was the weirdest thing we ever saw. Maybe the brow band's
malfunctioning?"

The soldiers
approached to peer at Sabre, and the other scientists looked
up.

Tarl glanced at
them. "I don't need any help, but I could use some room." He turned
to the soldiers. "You two should wait outside. This is a sterile
environment."

The soldiers
glared at him, then frowned at Kole and Martis. "We're supposed to
guard them, and they're not sterile either."

"They're his
owners. I'll need them here if I fix him."

The soldiers
looked irritated, raked Kole and Martis with disparaging eyes and
wandered out. The two scientists stood irresolute, clearly curious,
and Tarl shot them a frown.

"Like I said, I
don't need any help. Isn't it almost lunchtime?"