Sabre turned to frown at Tassin. "If you can't hit anything with that laser, don't waste the power."
Her mouth fell open at his unexpected rebuke, then she shut it and her expression hardened. "Fine."
Sabre grunted and set off again at a faster pace, eager to meet his foe and put an end to its toying with them. Flux-reality Changed again, this time to an icy world of freezing wind and snow. The donkeys floundered into a snowdrift up to their shoulders and stopped. Sabre was hip deep in it, and Purr had vanished. Tassin sprawled as the subsidence of the snow crust took her unawares. Sabre struggled over to her and helped her to crawl onto the cart, where she huddled with Dena. Purr emerged from the snow as a ball of thick fur with paddle-like paws and waddled over to the cyber. Sabre scanned the snowy landscape, but the whirling flakes reduced visibility to only a few metres. Thick clouds obscured a weak sun, making the world dim, and Purr snuffled the air while they waited for the attack.
A heaving mass of grey beasts emerged from the icy gloom, eyes gleaming. Sabre yelled a warning and fired, the blue laser light cracking into the monsters. The pack of huge wolves from the prairies bounded through the snow with deceptive ease. Several fell to his fire, and Tassin's laser cracked behind him, killing more. With so many, she could not miss. The pack kept coming, however, leaping over their fallen fellows undaunted. Sabre fire again and again, drawing the second laser when the first ran out of power. Dozens of wolves fell, but still more came on.
Tassin shouted as the first beasts reached him, and Purr shifted with a huge sneeze. A beast leapt at Sabre's arm, and he spun away, sending it sprawling with a punch. Two more came at him, one of which he burnt at point blank range, but the other knocked him into the snow. Pulling out his knife, he stabbed it, and hot blood pumped from the wound. Another went for his throat, but he smashed it away with his forearm. A yelping close by told him that Purr was busy, then a hot beam of laser light seared dangerously close to him and a hairy body crashed into him. He pushed it off and struggled out of the snow as more wolves attacked, eyes gleaming, teeth bared.
The deep snow hampered Sabre as he fired into the mass of grey bodies, smashing others aside when they hit him. Their teeth ripped his arms and claws scratched his chest. One tried to leap past him onto the cart, but he stabbed it with the knife in his left hand, firing the laser in his right. His knife opened gashes that stained the snow red and his fists hammered the wolves aside, crushing bones. Laser fire flashed from the cart, making him flinch when it came too close.
Within a few minutes the attack broke off, and the half a dozen remaining wolves retreated, some limping, to glare from the gloom. Picking up the laser he had been forced to drop in the melee, Sabre climbed out of the trampled, bloody depression and stood on top of the dead wolves piled around it. Reloading the laser, he killed two more animals before the others fled, then he turned to survey the carnage.
At least thirty wolves lay dead in the snow. Purr sat atop his victim, and the rest were ranged around the spot where Sabre had fought. He looked up at Tassin, who sat on the cart with a spent laser gripped in her white-knuckled hand. Dena also clutched a weapon, her face deathly pale. He longed to climb up and comfort them, but hardened his heart, unable to forgive Tassin for her foolishness. Instead he turned to the mosscat, who was licking a gash in his flank.
"You're hurt."
Purr shot him a sour look. "So are you."
Sabre looked down at his arms, surprised to find blood running from deep gashes. He had felt nothing, but now a dull burning spread up his arms. Cursing, he put away his laser and scrubbed the wounds with snow, then dug in his pouch and smeared antibiotic cream on them, using the well-worn strips of cloth to bind them. Tassin appeared beside him, her face pale, and took over the chore. He studied her while she worked, noting her clenched jaw and icy hands.
"It's going to get worse," he warned.
Tassin shrugged, then looked up at him, the expression in her eyes making him look away. When she climbed back onto the cart, he joined her, settling down in the hay to await the next Change. Dena cuddled up to him, and he put his arm around her to hold her shivering form close. He thought about the look in Tassin's eyes, something frighteningly akin to despair, and wondered at it.
Tassin gazed at his profile, her heart aching. She had a terrible foreboding that Sabre would not survive this quest, and emptiness grew inside her. There were times when she glimpsed something in his eyes, but it was always so fleeting that she could not be sure of what it was. It could have been sadness or tenderness or both, but his guard was always too quick for her to ascertain it. He was no longer the teasing man who had revelled in his freedom and laughed at her pompous airs. Over the months, he had become dangerously intent, a panther stalking its kill.
Clenching her teeth to stop them chattering, she envied Dena's warm place in his arms. She wished he would hold her close like that, but knew he would not. He was too angry with her for coming to the Core. In truth, she was terrified of what lay ahead, yet she refused to be parted from him. Whatever time he had left, she was going to share with him. If only he felt the same way about her. Lost in dreams, she did not notice the flashes that heralded the next Change. The snow and cold vanished, and a flat expanse of grey rock riddled with fissures and cracks under a brilliant blue sky replaced it.
Sabre jumped down and started to lead the donkeys forward. Tassin joined him, leaving Dena alone on the cart, for Purr had vanished as soon as reality had Changed. Her nape hairs prickled, and she stopped, her hand dropping to her laser. Sabre already had his out as the air parted before them, and a man stepped through.
Tassin gasped and gagged. What stood before them had once been a man, but his resemblance now was minimal. His skin had the pallor of a week-old corpse, his cheeks and eyes were sunken, and his near naked body was shrivelled. A filthy, half-rotten rag hung about his hips, green with mildew and dappled with brown stains that might have been blood. Thin grey hair straggled over his shoulders, and his nails were long, curved and twisted. The stench that emanated from him was that of an open grave, musty and putrid. His withered mouth opened, and he spoke in a dry, clotted voice.
"Go back. You are forbidden."
Sabre kept the laser aimed at the creature. "Who are you?"
"I am a guardian, you will not pass."
Tassin glanced at Dena, who looked like she wanted to be sick, a hand clamped over her mouth.
Sabre looked unimpressed. "We will pass, don't try to stop us."
The air parted again, and five more ghouls stepped forth, three women and two men, one built like a wrestler, two short and plump, another tall and thin, the last of average build. All had the same pallid skin and straggly grey hair. The first one spoke again.
"You have proven a match for the beasts, but you will not prevail against the guardians."
"Oh? Why is that?"
"We are already dead."
Tassin shuddered, and Sabre tensed, his finger tightening on the laser's firing button. "Then how do you stand there and speak to me?"
"The Core gives us the power to guard it. People cannot be changed as the animals are, they…" the creature broke off, shivered, then said, "Go back, this is your last warning."
"No." Sabre fired, the laser bolt burning a hole through the ghoul's chest. Dark, brownish blood oozed from the wound, but the creature did not even flinch. Sabre fired again, this time at its head, which exploded like a rotten pumpkin, spraying decayed grey matter. Still the creature stood, then stepped forward.
"Bloody hell," Sabre muttered.
The other ghouls shambled towards them. Sabre fired at the leader's legs, causing it to stagger and fall when one gave way. Tassin fired at another, her shot wild as she backed away from the zombies' slow advance. She hardly noticed the Change that flickered through the landscape, transforming it to a shallow lake from which spindly, large-leafed trees grew. The ankle-deep water hampered the ghouls a little, but they came on. Sabre fired at the zombies' legs, b
ringing them down, but they still moved grotesquely, robbed only of the ability to walk. More and more stepped from the air, old men and women, youngsters, even children, their hollow eyes blank and staring, their withered faces expressionless.
The donkeys turned and trotted away, not liking what they faced, forcing Dena to jump down and stop them. Of Purr there was still no sign; the mosscat had vanished. The zombies walked too slowly to be effective, and Sabre was able reload his laser and cut them down before they reached him. A huge, bear-like beast armed with long fangs and scythe-like claws emerged from the air behind the ghouls. It cowered from the grey-skinned zombies, then spotted Sabre and Tassin. With a guttural growl it charged Sabre, who shot it. Its lifeless corpse slid to a stop at his feet as another Change came.
A scrubby, semi desert terrain of white sand dotted with solid gold and tarnished silver boulders replaced the shallow lake in a blink. Sabre reloaded again as more and more undead stepped from the air. All manner of monsters accompanied them, from snarling dire-wolves to hissing, dragon-like lizards that spat acid. Some of the beasts turned on each other and entered into bloody battles, but most advanced on the intruders as if some unseen power goaded them. Sabre retreated, cutting down ghouls and monsters alike with broad sweeps of the laser, reloading every few minutes when the blue beam died. Corpses piled up before him, some still moving uselessly, others freshly dead.
Tassin handed him more power packs from the cart, but they were being used up rapidly. A sudden inspiration struck her, and she pulled the sonlar from the cart and handed it to him when next he turned for more power packs. He glanced at it, then fired a sweeping blast of booming white fire at the horde. Almost all of them vanished in a spray of crimson, coating the alien landscape beyond with red and brown blood and digging a crescent-shaped crater in the sand. The survivors ignored their fellows' death and continued towards their foes. The sonlar's boom had hardly faded when the air seemed to boil.
Fearsome beasts jostled each other as they stepped forth, and droves of blank-eyed ghouls accompanied them, filling the air with a foetid stench. The Core's power seemed infinite. Sabre annihilated the monsters again and again, but still more appeared, larger and more fearsome than ever. Ghouls were now absent from the throng, and packs of dire-wolves mingled with herds of scaly five-metre tall monstrosities wielding two-metre bone blades that grew from their cheeks.
Hordes of shaggy pig-eyed creatures whose broad, frog-like mouths were filled with shark teeth shambled beside giant insects that resembled scorpions, their stinging tails arched over their backs. Between their legs, six-metre snakes slithered at an amazing speed, striking at those around them, their cold green eyes turning constantly to the trio before them. Sabre wiped them out yet again, but the air continued to spew more forth.
Sabre turned, took Tassin's arm and yanked her around. "We can't hold them, there's too many, run!"
Tassin ran to the donkeys and hauled them forward. The beasts needed little inducement to break into a swift trot, their ears laid back, sensing the pursuit. Sabre followed, firing at monsters that threatened to overtake them, and the slower creatures were left behind, thinning the opposition. They ran through a Change, and a true desert replaced the scrub as Sabre caught up.
"Circle back, we're going the wrong way!"
Tassin pulled the donkeys, turning them. Dena panted alongside, hanging onto the harness and gripping a spent laser. Sabre dropped back to shoot two monsters, using his laser again. Many lumbering beasts still followed, but some loped off, apparently losing interest in the chase. By the time Sabre had shot the last of those that persisted, they were heading back towards the Core.
The soft sand that sucked at Tassin's feet made running strenuous. A Change came, and green grassland appeared, bringing welcome relief to her aching legs. A stitch tugged at her flank and her breath came in harsh gasps. Dena lost her grip on the harness and fell with a cry, and Tassin stopped the donkeys. Sabre scooped up the child and tossed her onto the cart, then hauled the donkeys forward. Tassin stumbled after him, clasping her side. For the moment, nothing appeared to block their way. It seemed they had left the entry point behind, and the monsters that still emerged from it, finding no prey, either wandered off or attacked each other.
The Core could not move the entry point once it had been established, apparently, so presumably it had to create a new one in each world. Tassin stumbled on numb legs, longing to shout at Sabre to stop, but determined not to. She hung onto the back of the cart instead, and was dragged behind it. He glanced back after a while and slowed the donkeys to a walk, for which she was most grateful. Sweat ran down her, and her legs burnt. Sabre had not begun to sweat or pant, and walked briskly beside the donkeys, alert for danger.
A sheer rock face appeared before them. Sabre stopped the donkeys and looked around. They stood in a deep canyon running at right angles to their path, preventing any travel in that direction. Rocky spires clawed at a grey sky, carved into odd shapes by wind and rain. Tassin sank down on the hard ground with a groan, her legs cramping, her gut lanced with pain from the stitch in her side. Sabre squatted beside her and handed her a water skin, and the water a soothed her dry throat. She glimpsed that indefinable emotion in his eyes, then he turned his head to scan the canyon for danger.
Without looking at her, he said, "You ride in the cart with Dena. From now on, we have to move fast. It seems we're getting close to the Core, and it's starting to really fight back. I'm going to have to use the sword; we must save the lasers."
She nodded. "I wonder where Purr is."
"If he's got any sense, he's far away by now."
Tassin nodded. "This is not his fight."
He turned to her, and his eyes bored into hers. "It isn't yours either. Tassin, please go back."
For a moment she was too surprised to say anything, then she shook her head. "No."
He jumped up. "You're a fool. You'll get us all killed."
"No, I won't. I've helped you already, fighting those things."
He snorted and stared down the canyon, his face grim.
Tassin shuddered, remembering the ghouls. "Those things were dead, weren't they?" She could still hardly believe they had not been part of a bad dream.
"Yeah. The first one said that people can't be changed. I think I know how it works now." He glanced at her. "The Core doesn't create these monsters, it changes them. It must draw them from the Flux-realities, then change them into the things we see. That explains Purr's memories of a time before he came here. But it can't change people. Apparently they die, so it reanimates them and uses their corpses with their spirits intact."
She swallowed. "Why do you say with their spirits intact?"
"Because the one who spoke got quite chatty back there. He was about to explain it all, and the Core stopped him. It controls them, but they aren't empty shells. They're still trapped in their rotting bodies."
She gulped, tasting bile. "That's horrible."
"Maybe that's why Purr came through with so little change. I don't know if he could shift before, but he's certainly no monster. If it's linked to intelligence, that might explain it. Purr's as clever as we are, but the other monsters are just animals, and so they could be changed, but people die from the shock."
She nodded. "Maybe it will let the ones we mutilated die now, since they're useless to it."
"Maybe. But it'll replace them. This thing isn't only intelligent and powerful, it's also evil. None of this is coincidental. I think that thing has a plan, probably to rule this planet."
"And kill all the people?"
He shrugged. "It doesn't need them. It can populate this world from the Flux-realities, or it might not want anything to live here. It all depends on what the Core is."
Tassin stared at him, then looked away when he glanced at her and drank some more water, her mind numb with horror.
Chapter Ten
The canyon vanished, and a chilly terrain of tough, sparse grass growing in frozen, snow-dapple
d ground replaced it. An icy wind tore at them as Tassin climbed to her feet, and Sabre boosted her into the cart. He pulled the donkeys forward, one braying in mournful protest. Dena crawled into Tassin's lap, and they huddled together for warmth. Sabre coaxed the donkeys into a trot, loping beside them at a mile eating pace. The bouncing cart jarred and jolted the girls despite the cushion of hay, but Tassin's throbbing legs were glad of the rest.
For a while, nothing attacked, and Sabre made swift progress over the tundra. Two relatively tame Changes passed, each of a shorter duration now, only a few minutes long. They were in a pretty Flux-world of verdant saffron grass and miniature blue trees when the guardians stepped forth again.
This time their pasty skins glowed with a sickly yellow light and their hollow eyes gleamed redly. Sabre leapt at the nearest without hesitation. Tassin gasped in horror and Dena shrieked, burrowing into the hay. Sabre drew the sword and slashed at the corpse's legs, sending it sprawling. As he struck, yellow light leapt from the zombie, arcing into him with a crackle of raw power.
Sabre gave a startled yell and arced over backwards like a mad acrobat. He landed heavily and writhed, his lips pulled back in a grimace of agony. The cyber band flashed red as he rolled, unable to control his limbs properly. A spark of yellow leapt from the brow band, and Sabre staggered to his feet. He looked dazed, then he bent and retrieved the sword, straightening to lunge at another zombie with a growl.
The donkeys turned and trotted away. Tassin dug Dena out of the hay and yelled, "Hold the donkeys!"
Gripping her dagger, Tassin jumped down. The apparitions terrified her, but she was determined to help Sabre. The ghouls raised their arms, and yellow light spat from their fingers, making him stagger. Each time he was hit, the cyber band flared red, and a spark shot from it. Each time the reaction of the control unit was faster, and Sabre's momentary incapacitation less. She ran towards a ghoul, her dagger raised. It turned and lashed her with a brilliant filament of light. Tassin screamed as incredible agony shot through her. Her limbs jerked uncontrollably, sending her sprawling, and blood flooded her mouth as she bit the inside if her cheek.
The Cyber Chronicles 03: The Core Page 11