"Only the control circuit is damaged."
"So he still has all his... scanners, infrared, tactical -"
"Everything," Tarl said, frowning. "And kindly stop speaking about him like he isn't here."
"Sorry."
Trina rose and slid her arms around Sabre's neck, kissing him on the cheek with a tender smile. Kernan stepped aside as she returned to her chair and sat down, gazing across the table at the cyber. After a moment, Kernan followed and sat beside her, and she glanced at him.
"He's a good person."
"He's..." Kernan turned to Sabre. "Cyber hosts are supposed to be -"
Tarl snorted. "Here we go again. Clearly they're not, are they?"
Kernan nodded. "That's why you said it was cruel."
"And now do you agree?" Tassin enquired.
"Yes. Absolutely."
Chapter Nineteen
The conversation died when Tassin walked into the dining room four days later for breakfast. She paused, her smile becoming strained, then went to her chair and sat down. Kaylar placed a bowl of porridge in front her, and she picked up her spoon, noticing that the silence had become pregnant.
"What is it?"
Tarl shrugged. "We've been talking, and... we've kind of decided to stay with Kernan and his crew for a while."
Tassin paused with her loaded spoon poised. "You're joking, right?"
"No."
"What do you mean by 'a while'?"
"Until we decide to leave."
Tassin glanced at Trina, who sat beside Sabre, trailing her fingers down his arm in an affectionate gesture. He studied his bowl of porridge. Tassin had noticed that Trina had been spending a lot of time in his company, often taking his hand and leading him away to be alone with him. At first he had been reluctant, but she had seemed so innocently friendly, and had looked so hurt when he had shown his reluctance that he had gone with her.
Tassin had thought it was a passing phase, born out of gratitude and her apparent enjoyment of his company, which would be good for Sabre, she surmised. Trina had done the same with Tarl, luring him away with gentle smiles and coy looks, showing him an unusual amount of affection. Whenever she entered a room, she hugged and kissed all the men in it, only smiling at Tassin. At first Tassin had found it charming and innocent, but it had started to annoy her, and now this.
"Who do you mean by 'we', Tarl?"
"Me and Sabre."
Tassin frowned at Sabre. "What about going home?"
"I like it here."
"Oh really. You'd rather be cooped up on this rust bucket than back home with me and Dena?"
"That's your home, not mine," he said.
"I thought it was the closest thing you've ever had to one."
"Maybe, but it's still not my home."
"So is this your home now?"
He inclined his head, toying with his porridge. "It could be."
"Have you gone mad?"
"We want to stay with Trina," Tarl said.
"With Trina?" Tassin eyed the girl. "Why?"
"She's a special person, and she needs our protection."
"From what?"
"Anything. Like what happened to her on Endroad. We won't let that happen again."
Tassin ate her cooling porridge. "I see. So does anyone care about what I want?"
"Of course we do!" Trina cried, gazing earnestly across the table. "What do you want?"
"I want to go home."
"Then you shall. We'll find you a ship on Toron and a pilot to fly you home."
"I want Sabre to come with me."
Trina looked sad. "But I want him to stay with me, and he wants that too. You wouldn't want to make us unhappy, would you?"
"What about my happiness?"
"Oh, you'll be fine once you're back home with your friends and family."
Tassin put down her spoon, her appetite gone. "No, I won't! I left my home to find Sabre and free him, and I didn't do all that and risk my life just so he could stay with you."
"But that's what he wants. Is he your slave? Does he belong to you now because you helped him to get free?"
"No, of course not. I... We’re friends. Good friends. Very good friends. This doesn't make any sense."
Kernan and Kaylar swapped a surprised, shocked look. Pryan's mouth fell open.
Tassin glared at them. "What, that surprises you? Did you think we were just acquaintances? We share a cabin."
Trina smiled. "But you're not lovers. He's had a change of heart. If you care about him, you'll let him go."
"No, I care about him enough to fight for him, and I don't know what you've done to him, but it's unnatural. It's like you've taken control of his mind."
Trina gave a trilling giggle. "What a strange thing to say. Sabre loves me now, so does Tarl. We all love each other."
Tassin glanced at Tarl, who looked away, then at Kernan, who met her gaze with a bold stare, his expression stern. Kaylar wore a righteous smile, and Pryan looked confused, muttering under his breath. She tried to hear what he was saying, but could not make out the words, only that he was repeating the same phrase over and over. The strange musical chairs atmosphere that had been building over the last four days had come to a head, Tassin realised, and she was the odd one out.
She stood up. "Sabre, I want to speak to you, alone."
He started to get up, but Trina clasped his shoulder, and he sank down again, frowning.
"He doesn't want to speak to you," she said, smiling.
Tassin marched around the table and stopped beside Sabre. "Yes he does. Get your hand off him."
"Now that's no way to speak to Trina," Tarl remonstrated.
"Bugger Trina. This is madness, and you know it."
"I don't know anything of the kind. We've made a decision, and we're sorry if you don't like it. No one will hurt you, but if you want to leave, that's fine."
Tassin looked down at Sabre. "I want to talk to you, now."
Trina stroked his hair in a possessive manner that set Tassin's teeth on edge. "Leave him. You're upsetting him."
"No, you leave him." Tassin stepped around the cyber to confront Trina, who rose to face her. She gave the girl a shove that made her stagger back, and Trina's eyes glinted, then she buried her face in her hands and gave a childish wail of woe. Tarl grabbed Tassin's arm and yanked her away, his expression furious.
Kernan stepped closer, scowling. "Don't hurt Trina!"
Tassin frowned. "I didn't hurt her. The stupid cow's putting on an act for your benefit."
Shoving Tarl aside, she approached Trina, intending to end her wails with a shake.
Trina shrieked and raised her hands. "Sabre! Help me!"
Tassin spun as Sabre rose. He gripped her arm and pulled her away from the weeping girl. Kaylar hurried to Trina's side and tried to soothe her, stroking her hair.
"She wants to hurt me!" Trina wailed. "Don't let her hurt me, Sabre! Help me!"
Tassin gazed up at Sabre, who looked confused. She became aware of Pryan rubbing his head like a man possessed, muttering loudly enough now for her to make out the words.
"We all love Trina; we all love Trina; we all love Trina..."
"Pryan, shut up!" Trina yelled.
He cowered and fled.
Tassin met Sabre's eyes, her heart twisting at the bewilderment in them. "What's wrong with you?"
He shook his head. "You mustn't hurt Trina."
"Fine, I won't. Let me go."
Sabre released her with a nod, and she rubbed her arm, stepping closer to Trina, who continued to weep. Kernan joined Kaylar, trying to soothe her, but Tassin was not fooled. Whatever powers the girl had, she had cast her spell over all the men, and it was up to Tassin to free them if she could.
"Come, Trina, let's be friends. I'm not going to hurt you."
The girl lowered her hands, her chin wobbling, her eyes filled with mistrust. "You hate me." Her expression became cunning, and her eyes flicked to Sabre. "You want to hurt me because I stole your man, a
nd now you want him back. Well, you can't have him. He's mine now."
Tassin studied her. "What are you?"
"She's special!" Kaylar announced, and Tassin realised that he said those words far too often.
"I'm special," Trina agreed. "And I don't like you anymore. You're not one of us. You don't belong here. I want you off my ship."
"Your ship?" Tassin glanced at Kernan, who smiled and shrugged.
"She's going to hurt me, Kernan. She's bad," Trina said.
Kernan took hold of Tassin's arm, addressing Trina. "Don't worry, sweetheart, we won't let her hurt you. We'll lock her in the brig until we get to Toron."
Tassin jerked away from him, retreating. "Don't touch me."
"Come on, don't make this any worse. The brig's not so bad, and you'll have time to think about how nasty you've been to Trina."
"I don't know what Trina is, but she's got you all under some sort of spell. Where I come from, we'd call her a witch."
His brows drew together. "There's no need for insults."
"It's not an insult; it's a statement of fact." Tassin bumped into the wall and sidled along it, staying out of his reach and wondering if Trina's influence would wane if she was unconscious. It had not when the sand runners had kidnapped her, however, so Tassin doubted it. Kernan made a grab for her, and Tassin yanked out her dagger, brandishing it.
"Back off. You're not locking me in the brig."
Kernan smiled. "You really think that will do you any good against a cyber?"
"Sabre won't help you to lock me in the brig."
"Oh, I think he will if Trina asks him to."
"She doesn't know him as well as she thinks." Tassin glanced at the girl, wondering if she could be goaded into saying something rash, something that would reveal her true nature. She was not as sweet and gentle as she pretended to be, of that Tassin was certain. "You don't just want to lock me in the brig, do you, Trina? You want me off your ship, right?"
The girl's eyes narrowed. "Yes. You hate me."
"And you hate me. I'm female, and therefore immune to whatever powers you've used to ensnare the men. Sabre won't help you, though."
"He will! He's mine now, not yours!"
"I never claimed to own him, but he won't hurt me."
"Don't be so sure," Trina said.
"Why don't you try it then? Go on, I dare you."
Trina's eyes glinted. "You think you still have power over him? You're wrong!"
"He cares about me genuinely, not because of a spell like the one you've woven over him these past four days. That's something you can't simply erase with your magic tricks."
"He'll do whatever I want now. He already hurt you to protect me."
Tassin nodded. "Yes, I'm impressed. How do you do it?"
"It's my talent! It's all I had, growing up on that shithole planet; the child of a slave prostitute, destined to become one too. But I escaped my fate! Now men serve me. They worship me!"
"So, you were born on Endroad."
Tassin looked around at the men, amazed that none of them objected. They smiled adoringly at Trina, except for Sabre, who stared at his cold porridge, looking like he had just swallowed a ten-centimetre maggot. The only one who seemed to have a real problem with what was going on was Pryan, but he had fled.
"So it's some sort of mind thing? Stronger than empathy, I assume?" Tassin asked.
"Far stronger!” Trina said. “Kernan, take her to the brig!"
Tassin held up her hands as he approached. "Wait. I won't give you any trouble, I swear. Just don't throw me in the brig, please."
"Not so confident now?" Trina smiled, her eyes sparkling with glee.
"I just don't want anyone getting hurt."
"The only one in danger of getting hurt is you."
"Precisely. Let's be friends. You've won. I'll behave."
Trina looked smug. "Good. You'll do as I say, and we'll let you go on Toron."
"Fine."
Kernan relaxed, turning to Trina with a smile. "We all love you, sweetheart. No need for fighting."
"No, no need for fighting," Tassin agreed.
Trina smiled and embraced Kernan, kissing him passionately. Tassin glanced at Sabre, then went in search of Pryan. After almost an hour, she found him in the engine room, huddled next to a nest of pipes, which, she discovered when she approached and sat beside him, was pleasantly warm.
"Hello, Pryan."
He glanced at her, then away. "Tassin."
"Are you all right?"
"It's quiet here. No fighting."
"Yes, it's nice here. You spend a lot of time here, don't you?"
"It's quiet."
"Yes. Do you love Trina?"
He nodded, his stringy hair flopping into his eyes. "We all love Trina."
"Does she love you?"
"She loves all of us." He rubbed his head, his face twisting.
"But does she love you as much as Kernan and Kaylar?"
"I'm not as good as them. I'm weak."
Tassin studied his narrow, bowed shoulders and thin frame under his loose jumpsuit. "She likes strong men, doesn't she?"
"The stronger the better."
"But you're clever, aren't you?"
"Too clever."
Tassin considered her next words carefully. "Do you know how she does it?"
"No." He rubbed his head. "Don't know that."
"But she's not an empath."
"No. Stronger than an empath. Special. Very special."
"All right. So she needs you because you're clever, right? You help to fly the ship."
"Fly it, fix it. Lots of things need fixing. Old ship." He frowned. "My ship!"
"Not Kernan's?"
"No! Mine." He glanced at her, his eyes hunted. "She's going to kill you, just like Riana."
"Who's Riana?"
"My sister."
Tassin stared at him, stunned. "How did she come to be here?"
"She was a passenger. Her and Kernan. Bought passage off Endroad to Toron. Then she took over. I..." His face twisted again. "I couldn't stop her. Just like Sabre can't help you now. He wants to, but he can't. She told Kernan to kill Riana. She wanted my ship."
"I'm sorry, Pryan. Maybe I can help you to get it back, if you'll help me."
"I can't help you." He rubbed his tangled hair again, snarling it more. "Just like Riana."
"I just need you to ask Tarl for a frequency, that's all."
"Can't. He won't tell me if Trina doesn't want him to."
Tassin let her head fall back against the pipe behind her with a bonk, staring at the roof. "Could you sabotage the ship? Stop the engines from working?"
He shook his head. "You don't want to do that. We need them to stop. Without them, we keep going forever. Nothing stops in space... unless it hits something."
"I need more time."
"No you don't. You need to get off the ship now, before it's too late."
"I won't leave Sabre."
"He's no good to you now. She has him."
Tassin sat up and turned to him. "But she doesn't have you, does she? Not like the others. You're stronger than them."
"She hurts me." He rubbed his head again. "Hurts my head."
"You don't love her as much as they do, do you?"
"We all love Trina." He grimaced. "She killed Riana!"
"How can she be stopped?"
"She can't." Pryan clutched his head and groaned. "You... you'd have to... kill her. Can't think about that... hurts. We all love Trina!"
Pryan jumped up and reeled away, gripping his temples and gasping with pain. Tassin gazed after him, saddened by his hopeless situation, which was even worse than hers, in her estimation. How terrible it must be to be forced not only to serve, but to love the girl who had murdered his sister. She had not thought it was possible to force someone to love, but then, was what Trina inflicted upon the men really love? If only she could contact Fairen, or Ravian, they might come to her aid, given the strange nature of the problem. S
urely they would be interested in a girl who could control men's minds? Perhaps Ravian would be a better choice, for she would not be susceptible to Trina's spell, as Fairen might, with catastrophic consequences. What could she do?
When she returned to her cabin, she found Sabre sitting on the bunk, waiting for her. He rose when she entered, avoiding her eyes.
"I'm going to stay in Tarl's cabin."
"Trina's orders?"
"She asked me to."
"And you couldn't say no."
"Why would I want to?"
Tassin moved past him to perch on the edge of the bunk, since there were no chairs. "Because she plans to kill me."
"She wouldn't do that."
"Yes, she would. She wants me out of the way, so she can finish enslaving your mind."
"It's not like that."
Tassin snorted. "Of course it is. Can you even think for yourself anymore? How do you feel?"
"Fine." He raised a hand to rub his brow. "I'm a bit hazy, and I have a headache, that's all."
"Fight her. She's trying to control you."
"She wouldn't do that. She's a good person, and she's special."
"Now you sound like Kaylar. And Pryan recites 'we all love Trina' like a prayer. Haven't you noticed that the men on this ship all act a bit strange?"
"No."
She slumped. "Please give me the Overlord frequency."
"Why do you want to call an Overlord?"
"Because we need help."
"No we don't. We're fine."
She shook her head. "I'm not fine. Trina wants me off her ship, remember? Maybe she will let me off at Toron, and maybe she'll have Kernan flush me out with the garbage."
"That's ridiculous."
"Even if she deigns to let me leave on Toron, won't you miss me?"
"I..." He hesitated, and her heart leapt. "I'd like you to stay."
"But Trina wants me to leave."
"Maybe she'll let you stay if you're nice to her."
"I don't think so. She can't seem to control me like she does you and the others."
He shook his head. "She doesn't control us, she loves us."
"No she doesn’t. Will you come with me?"
"I can't. She needs me."
"I need you too."
Sabre rubbed his brow again, grimacing. "I have to protect her."
"Do you love her?"
"I don't know. I guess so."
The Cyber Chronicles 05: Overlord Page 22