Grundel nodded. "I suppose so."
"Change the owner registration, then you can release him and do your experiments."
Grundel typed in the command that deleted Fairen's name from the registration information and replaced it with Myon Two, then gave command privileges to himself and Barrin.
Commander Barrin glanced up from a routine vidreport as one of his officers entered his study. Unlike the functional blandness of the rest of the ship's décor, his cabin owned a number of creature comforts and personal decorations, including family holoimages on the sideboard and several plush rugs on the floor.
The officer looked anxious. "Sir, we've received a message from Myon Two. It seems..." He cleared his throat. "An Overlord has... is in orbit at Myon Two, and he's demanded the return of the rogue cyber."
Barrin frowned. "What do they want us to do?"
"We're to stop and give them our location."
"They're giving him back? They've admitted that we took him? Why would they do such a thing?"
The officer licked his lips. "Apparently the Overlord has threatened to destroy Myon Two if they don't obey him."
Barrin's mouth dropped open, and he sat in stunned silence for a full minute, staring at the officer, who shifted under his gaze.
"Bloody hell." Barrin stood up and walked around his desk, rubbing his brow. "Overlord Fairen."
"Yes, sir. How did you know?"
"A wild guess. He's the one who forbade us to hunt the rogue cyber, you idiot."
"Yes, sir. What do you want to do?"
Barrin glared at the luckless man. "Let him destroy Myon Two, what do you think? Leave the corridor and send the damned co-ordinates."
"Yes, sir."
The officer left, and Barrin hurried to the examination room where Grundel was still experimenting on Cyber Three. The new cyber stood in front of a heatproof board, and Grundel fiddled with a laser. Reliant’s original two cybers waited nearby. Several red marks marred Cyber Three's chest, one oozing a trickle of blood. Grundel glanced up when Barrin entered, his eyes gleaming with excitement.
"Commander, you have to see this. It's amazing."
"Put him in a casket."
Grundel looked astonished. "Sir?"
"Overlord Fairen's on his way. We have maybe an hour to hide him."
"Oh, shit. Okay, but watch this first. It'll only take a minute."
"What? He's fireproof now? We know that."
"Yeah, but not to what extent. A full power, one-second laser bolt does absolutely no damage. A needle gun cuts him, but only after several seconds, and it takes almost six seconds for a normal laser to do significant damage. Watch this."
Grundel pointed the laser at the impassive cyber and pressed the trigger, aiming at an unmarked area of Cyber Three's chest. His skin glowed golden, almost glimmering, and for several moments nothing happened, then the area reddened, and a moment later, oozed blood. Cyber Three stared into space, expressionless, but the smell of burning flesh irritated Barrin.
"That's enough. Yeah, it's great, now pack him away."
"This means he's practically invincible, Commander."
"Yay. Pack him away!"
"Yes, sir." Grundel paused, frowning. "You said Overlord Fairen's on his way here?"
"Yes."
"Then you'll have to report to him yourself. You won't be able to lie to him."
"That’s why I can’t do it myself. I'm sending my second officer, Montral. He doesn't know what's happened to Cyber Three, so if I tell him he's dead, he'll think it's the truth. I'll tell him I'm unwell."
Grundel's brows rose. "You think that will work?"
"It'll have to, won't it?"
****
"You've run out of time, President Naire," Fairen said.
Niare bobbed, his eyes darting. "I need more time, My Lord. I'm not sure my message got through. Please, another day, I beg you."
"Your two days are up." Fairen glanced at the hooded figures of Tassin and Tarl in the shadows beside the dais, then at Shrain. "Commander Shrain, prepare the main gun."
"Yes, sir."
"Please, My Lord, another six hours!" Niare pleaded, wringing his hands.
"No." Fairen turned to gaze at the pale globe. "I think your enforcer factions are trying to call my bluff, which makes them either incredibly audacious or monumentally stupid. My presence here is something they cannot have failed to notice. Your message got through."
"Perhaps they can't locate the ship. Please My Lord, just another four hours!"
"No. Report, Commander Shrain."
"Main gun arming, My Lord. It will reach firing capability in two minutes."
Fairen turned to Niare. "The main gun takes a while to prepare, President Niare. Shall I tell you why?"
Niare nodded miserably.
"It fires bursts of superheated plasma, combined with particle disintegrator beams. The particle disintegrators fire first, boring a hole to the planet's core, which takes about twelve seconds. The ship is in geosynchronous orbit, naturally. Once the planet's core is reached, the gun fires the superheated plasma, which combines with the molten core, raising its temperature to that of a sun. Myon Two will be consumed from the inside. It's quite spectacular. First the volcanoes erupt, then giant earthquakes tear the mantle apart. Finally the entire planet becomes molten."
"Please, My Lord Fairen, just one more hour!"
"You will live to see it, Niare, then you'll join your people."
"One minute to main gun firing, My Lord," Shrain said.
"I did everything I could!" Niare cried. "I tried! Don't punish us for the actions of a few. We'll hunt them down and exterminate them all, I swear it!"
"Main gun's vent doors opening, My Lord," Shrain said.
Fairen nodded. "That means the plasma is almost ready, Niare. When it reaches this kind of temperature, it's a threat to the ship itself, so vent doors open to allow the heat to disperse into space. Even though we're on the day side, this ship is now a bright star in the sky, visible even through your cloud cover. If your rebel factions thought I was bluffing, they know I'm not now."
Niare looked pale and sick. "My Lord..."
"The main gun is ready to fire, My Lord," Shrain said.
"Good."
Niare's com-link beeped, and he snatched it from his pocket, almost dropping it. He juggled with it for a moment before he got it under control and held it up. "Wait! I have the co-ordinates, My Lord! The ship is called Reliant, and her position is 693-945-1124. She's left a corridor and stopped." Niare sagged, panting.
Fairen waved a hand. "Get him off my ship. Commander, power down the main gun and prepare for translocation to those co-ordinates."
"Yes, sir."
Two guards gripped Niare's arms and dragged him, weeping with relief, from the room. As the doors closed behind him, Fairen pulled off his hood and turned to Tassin, who pushed hers back. She smiled, her eyes stinging with unshed tears.
"You did it."
"That was close."
"Thank you, My Lord."
"Don't thank me yet, we haven't got him back."
She nodded, rubbing her eyes.
Fairen rose to step down from his dais, coming over to her. "Hope for the best."
"I do, most fervently."
Distant booms and groans echoed through the Scorpion Ship, and the pale globe moved off the screens as it turned away from Myon Two, breaking orbit.
****
Sabre opened his eyes in the pitch darkness of a casket. Its silken confines pressed in on him from all sides. The fully loaded armament array in the lid dug into his belly and thighs. The paralysing agent he had been injected with when he had lain down robbed him of all movement, and would only wear off in five hours. To speed it up, he ordered the cyber to increase his metabolism. Warmth suffused him, counteracting the freezing cold inside the casket. His dream now seemed like a portent, except that in it, he could see. He had considered resisting being put into the casket, but with two cybers able to be
at him unconscious, had decided against it. When the time came, he needed to be able to get out, and hoped with all his heart that Fairen would not give up too soon.
****
"No!" Tassin strode towards the enforcer officer who stood before Fairen's dais, a cyber beside him. She glared into Second Officer Montral’s eyes, her hands clenched, and he stepped back, looking nervous. Reliant was docked with the Scorpion Ship, and she had just finished listening to his halting account of Sabre’s demise with growing disbelief. According to him, Reliant had picked up a malfunctioning cyber on a routine sweep and, after attempting to fix him, had deduced that he was irreparably damaged and euthanized him. They had confirmed that Sabre was Fairen’s cyber by his serial number, and Montral had offered his regrets for the bungle, but pointed out that Cybercorp had performed a service for Fairen and registered a replacement in his name. He was an earnest young man with a lean, handsome face, brown hair and green eyes, whose impeccably fitted dark grey uniform bore the red trim of his rank.
"You lie!" Tassin gritted. "He's not dead!"
"He's not lying," Fairen said.
"Then he’s telling someone else’s lie!" Her heart pounded with rage and anguish. "Who told you Sabre was dead?"
“Commander Barrin.”
Fairen asked, "What ails your commander?"
"He - he didn't say. He sends his apologies."
"So it was all a mistake."
"Yes, My Lord."
"How regrettable. I also make mistakes, sometimes. I think I might mistake your ship for a piece of space junk. That would be unfortunate for you, don't you agree?"
"We've done our best to make amends."
"How do you make amends for killing my friend? You cannot replace him with this cyborg."
"I don’t believe it," Tassin said. "You should search his ship, My Lord."
Fairen turned his veiled head towards her and nodded. "Yes. I want to see his body."
Montral shook his head. "It's been spaced.”
"Liar," Tassin growled. "You wouldn't space a cyber’s corpse, it’s too valuable!"
"I only know what I was told, Miss."
"Yes, that's the problem," Fairen said. "Shrain, scan the enforcer ship."
Shrain tapped his com-link and studied it. "We're picking up one cyber on the enforcer ship, but there are some areas that are impervious to our scanners."
"My men will search your ship,” Fairen informed Montral.
"You own this cyber now, My Lord,” Tarl said. “You could ask him. He won't lie."
The young Overlord turned to the cyber. "Cyber Two. How many cybers are aboard the enforcer ship?"
"Two."
"The usual complement is two, but they should be missing one, and according to the scanners, they are. If there are still two cybers aboard that ship, one is hidden from our scanners. Do you know where he is?"
"No."
Fairen turned away. "Prepare for your ship to be boarded, Second Officer Montral."
"Yes, My Lord."
"I want to go," Tassin said. "Please."
"Of course you may. Shrain, prepare a boarding party at once. Search that ship from stem to stern, leave no part unexplored."
"Yes, My Lord."
"And take a medic to examine their commander."
“At once, My Lord.”
Fairen dismissed Montral with a wave, and the young officer bowed low before marching out. Shrain headed for the door, Tassin and Tarl behind him.
Tassin sank down on a box in one of the enforcer ship’s many sleek grey storage rooms and bowed her head. After two hours of fruitless searching, her feet throbbed and her head ached from tension and worry. She had lost count of how many glowing, grey-carpeted corridors she had traipsed down, or the bright, ultra-modern rooms she had searched. Reliant appeared to be brand new, spotlessly clean and equipped with all the latest technology.
Commander Shrain oversaw a group of Fairen’s men that removed boxes from one pile and created another, to ensure there was no hidden access point to a crawl space or door behind it. She was fairly sure they had searched this storage room before, and maybe even moved the pile of crates, but she could no longer be certain.
She rubbed her brow. "He's got to be here somewhere, Shrain."
"We've searched every part of this ship, My Lady."
She looked up. "There must be somewhere we've missed... A hiding place. They must have drugged him and stuffed him into some small space."
"We've even been through all the crawl spaces."
"There's got to be somewhere!"
"But we can't find it." Tarl leant against the wall, shaking his head.
"I wonder if Fairen could help."
"How?"
"He's... he's an Overlord. He has powers."
"What sort?"
"Never mind." She turned to Shrain. "Would he help?"
"I don't know, My Lady. You'd have to ask him."
"Then let's go." She jumped up and headed for the door.
In his private chambers aboard the Scorpion Ship, Fairen gazed up at Tassin from his voluminous white couch and tilted his head, clearly surprised by her request. "You're asking me to go aboard the enforcer ship?"
"Would you? Could you sense him?"
"Possibly, if he was near enough. But Overlords never leave their ships, except to visit other Overlords."
"They're hiding him, I know it," she said. "Their commander isn't ill. Your medic says he can find nothing wrong with him."
"I could have him brought here for questioning."
"He'll never tell the truth now. He'd be digging his own grave."
"As he would by lying to me," Fairen said.
"He's dead whether he tells us the truth or not now."
"I could offer to spare him in return for the truth."
She nodded. "Yes, that would probably work."
"But I dislike the idea of sparing a guilty man. Your suggestion appeals to me. It's something I can do myself, not merely by giving commands and threatening to destroy worlds. I will find him."
"He'll appreciate it."
"Considering how much trouble I've gone to already, I should hope so." Fairen rose to his feet turned to Shrain, who hovered in the background, as always. "I will go aboard the enforcer ship. Prepare an escort."
"Yes, My Lord."
"Have the enforcer crew brought aboard and confined until I return."
Shrain nodded and spoke into his communications link.
Almost an hour later, Fairen led a group of his men aboard the empty enforcer ship, Tassin and Tarl at his heels. As Fairen entered Reliant, he removed his gloves and gestured for his escort to move away. Stretching out his hands, the young Overlord paced along the corridors, leading them towards the centre of the ship. At the end of a half-hour walk, he entered a cramped room, glancing around at the sparse furnishings, which comprised a table and four hard bunks.
"This is the cyber quarters," Tarl supplied.
"Hush. He's here somewhere. Close." Fairen spread his hands towards the far wall. "He's confined. He can't move. He's... afraid."
"Sabre!" Tassin bellowed.
Fairen swung around. "Be quiet."
"Sorry."
Fairen turned back towards the far wall. "He's afraid… probably that we'll abandon him. He must have heard you, but you've only added to his anguish." He walked up to the wall and placed his hands against it. "He's behind here." He turned to the cyber at his side. "Cyber Two, burn a door in this wall."
The cyber drew his laser and aimed it at the wall, holding the trigger while he moved the beam over it in a door-sized rectangle. The sheet of metal tilted as he burnt along the bottom of it, then fell outwards with a clatter. The inside had a grey glitter, and Shrain said, "Lined with trinium; impervious to scanners."
Tassin brushed past Fairen and entered a tiny, bare room that a solitary yellow light illuminated. A casket lay on the floor, the lights on its side glowing red. Her throat closed, almost choking her.
&nbs
p; "Oh, God, he's in the casket.” She crouched beside it and yelled, “Sabre! We're going to get you out!"
"He can't be awake in there," Tarl muttered, coming to her side.
"He is," Fairen said.
Tassin reached for the button on the side of the casket, but Tarl grabbed her wrist. "Wait. If he's awake, you don't want to do that."
"Why not?"
"It starts the wakeup sequence, raises the temperature and injects him with stimulants, then the antidote to the paralysing agent. If he's been awake in there for more than five hours, he's already metabolised the agent, and the stimulants will have an adverse reaction if he doesn't need them."
"Then how do we get him out?"
"They've sealed it, so we'll have to pry open the lid. Cyber Two can do it."
Tarl turned away, then paused as the casket creaked. A dull thud issued from it, and the lid was dented outwards in a fist-sized area.
Tarl bent and gripped Tassin’s wrist, pulled to her feet and tugged her away. "Stand back."
The ex-technician led her out of the tiny room as another bulge appeared in the casket’s lid with a thud. The seal broke, allowing a wisp of mist to escape. Tassin swallowed a lump as a third bulge popped up in the middle of the lid, and the flow of mist increased.
"We have to help him!" she said.
Tarl shook his head. "You don't want to be close to that thing when he breaks the lid."
"He could be weak, or injured. He may not be able to do it alone."
"He's not weak," Fairen said. "But he is in pain."
The casket's lid flew up with explosive force, ripped free of its hinges and hit the wall with a terrific bang. It clattered to the floor as mist swirled up out of the satin-lined interior and streamed over the edge. Sabre sat up, gripped the sides of the casket and climbed out. Tassin stared at him in horror. The lights on his brow band were in an in-control configuration, and Tarl grunted with shock. She shot him an alarmed look, which he met with an anguished glance. Sabre straightened, clasping his right wrist. She hesitated, then approached him. His eyes met hers, dispelling her fears, and she ran the last few steps to embrace him, sobbing with relief. His arms enfolded her, and he bowed his head.
The Cyber Chronicles VII - Sabre Page 5