The Cyber Chronicles - Book I: Queen of Arlin

by T C Southwell

Chapter Eighteen

  Sabre gazed at the distant city, wishing he could explore it. There might be water in it, but it would be radioactive, like the city itself. It could not harm him, but Tassin’s presence forced him to detour around it. Two nights ago, they had left the well and headed across the desert once more. Now, they passed the ruins of a great city destroyed by bombs, its crumbling walls rising like jagged teeth from the sea of sand that lapped at their feet. The city was the reason such a vast area had been irradiated. It had been the focal point of the war, and its destruction had ended the holocaust.

  When Tassin asked him about it, he explained the ancient war that had created the Badlands and the Death Zone. Now and then, they encountered ruins half buried in the sand, but they were radioactive and had to be avoided, to Tassin’s chagrin. Sabre surmised that there had once been a river running through the centre of the Badlands, and the city had been built on its banks. Huge residential areas must have surrounded it, but these had been bombed out of existence, leaving behind the scattered ruins they passed.

  Four nights after leaving the well, the horses were too weak to be ridden, and they were forced lead the stumbling animals. Tassin complained about the added hardship, but Sabre ignored her. He had noticed that the water supply was dwindling far too rapidly, and knew she was helping herself to it while he slept. This annoyed him, but instead of rebuking her and starting a row, he used the last two water skins as a pillow.

  The next day, he was woken by her tugging at a water skin, and cursed the fact that the cyber’s flashing red warning light had not roused him sooner. He sat up and wrenched the skin away.

  She glared at him. “I am thirsty, Sabre!”

  “So am I. So are the horses. There’s not enough for any of us, and I have no idea how long it will be before we find more. If you drink it all now, you could die before we find any.”

  “We might never find any!”

  He sighed. “There you go with that fatalistic crap again. It has to last as long as possible, to give us the best chance of finding more, okay?”

  “No! I want some now!”

  “Tough shit,” he snapped.

  “How dare you speak to me like that? You got us into this mess, now you expect me to suffer because of your stupidity! This is all your fault, so you should go without, not me.”

  “I’m already going without.”

  “Then it is all mine, and I may drink it when I please.”

  Sabre’s concern for her welfare decreased with every barbed remark she made. Deciding that she would argue until she got what she wanted, no matter what he said, he tossed the water skin to her.

  “Just a little,” he warned.

  Tassin shot him a triumphant smile and lifted it to her lips, the gurgling making his mouth burn. The horses nickered and shuffled closer, and Sabre sympathised. The only thing worse than being thirsty was being forced to watch someone else drink.

  The food had run out, and he considered slaughtering one of the horses, for it would provide moisture as well as food, if eaten raw. The animals now had protruding ribs and shrunken bellies, their eyes sunken.

  When he rose at dusk, he found that the bay had died in its sleep, sparing him the onerous task of killing the hapless animal. Sabre butchered it and ate the liver, kidneys and heart, but Tassin refused to eat any of it. The chestnut whinnied for its friend, a lost and lonely sound. Sabre cut thin strips of meat from the horse’s haunches and packed them away to be laid out to dry in the sun the next day. While he chewed on the raw liver, he considered their predicament again.

  After ten days, they must have covered over nine hundred kilometres, yet still no end was in sight. They had passed the ruined city on the eighth night, and, if it was at the centre of the Badlands, they should only have another six days to go. There was only enough water for two more days, however.

  That night, they trudged onwards, leading the shambling chestnut. Close to dawn, Sabre stopped, and Tassin stumbled into him. The cyber’s scanner information showed a band of radiation that stretched across the desert in front of them, blocking the way. Tassin lay down and fell into an exhausted sleep. Sabre left the horse beside her and approached the radiation belt to see how thick it was. The scanners found it to be over a kilometre wide, and there was no way to tell if it was moving. He returned to the Queen and set up the tents, then settled down to sleep through the heat of the day.

  When Sabre woke at dusk, he caught Tassin helping herself to water and snatched it from her. “Don’t be bloody stupid! You’ve got to make it last.”

  She scowled. “We are going to die anyway. Why suffer more than necessary?”

  “We’re not going to die.” He put the skin away. “Another four or five days and we’ll be out of it.”

  “You think. Maybe we will just find the sea.”

  Sabre’s throat was too dry to argue, so he rose and collected what little equipment they had left. The cyber told him that the radiation had dispersed or moved away during the day, and he frowned, studying the information again. A mauve dot pulsed at the limit of the scanners’ range, directly in their path, and the colour indicated an unidentified life form. He had not expected to encounter any life so far out in the Badlands.

  Sabre persuaded Tassin to start walking and headed towards it, hoping it was something he could kill for food. The life form remained stationary, and, as they drew closer, he slowed. Even with infrared vision, the desert ahead appeared empty, although they were within two hundred metres of the life form now.

  He turned to the Queen. “There’s something out there. You stay here. I’m going to look.”

  Tassin opened her mouth, but he strode away. He approached the life form warily. The brilliance of the mauve dot indicated that the creature was large, but the terrain remained empty. Unless the scanners were malfunctioning, which he doubted, the creature must be underground. He scrutinised the sand, wondering if he would have to dig it up, and if so, whether it was worth the effort. He was tempted to detour around the spot, for the only weapons he possessed were the knife from the packs and Tassin’s sword. The possibility that it could provide food was too tempting, however. He crept nearer, then swung around at the sound of footsteps.

  Tassin approached, looking annoyed. “What are you sneaking up on? There is nothing here. You must be going mad, Sabre.”

  “I’m not – go back to the horse, now!”

  She folded her arms. “Not until you tell me what you are doing, creeping around in the middle of an obviously empty desert as if you were stalking some sort of animal.”

  “There’s something here, under the sand...”

  A red warning light flashed in his brain as a grating came from behind him. Tassin’s eyes focussed on something beyond him and widened. Sabre whipped around as she turned and ran.

  A huge beige creature arose, sand streaming from its scaly hide. Massive clawed feet heaved a sinuous body from its hiding place, and it shook sand from its head, opening eyes and ears. Long horn blades framed a narrow, fierce-eyed head crowned by a cluster of curving spines. It reared up with a sibilant hiss, its beak-like jaws opening to reveal a blue tongue covered with backward-curving spikes. A bright red frill opened around its throat, adding to its formidable air. Dropping to all fours, it moved towards him with a lizard’s twisting, pigeon-toed gait.

  Sabre backed away, hefting the knife as he assessed its weaknesses. Only its eyes, and maybe its ears, were vulnerable, tough scales covered the rest of it. This was a truly alien animal, a remnant of the indigenous species that had once lived on this planet. Perhaps it had always been a desert dweller, or maybe humans had forced it to live in this radioactive land.

  As it stalked him, he considered his options. It seemed confident, not hurrying after its prey. The sword in the horse’s pack was far away, and if he went after it the creature would follow, endangering Tassin. There was nowhere to run or hide, and the beast appeared to be well aware that it had the advantage. He would need the cyber’s help
to overcome such a formidable foe without injury. He could not afford to waste energy on a protracted battle.