The Cyber Chronicles 04: Cyborg

by T C Southwell

  Kole touched her arm and pointed at a gilt-framed door on the right hand side of the room, set into a glass wall through which an assortment of gaming tables was visible. The music was too loud to allow him to be heard, but she knew what they were here to do. Kole had searched the local Net and found a man who might be able to help Sabre with his memory and co-ordination problems. His impairment was barely noticeable, but his hands still had a slight tremor and his neck muscles jerked occasionally. His last battle with the cyber, she knew, had been the worst ever. Since then it seemed to have given up, for now, at least, to her relief. She sensed, however, that it waited, like a beaten, but not dead beast, in the back of his mind, just waiting for the opportunity to spring to the fore and take over again. It did not try while he was asleep, since any such attempt would immediately wake him up and the battle would be on, but the moment he was knocked unconscious it would be ready.

  Kole was here to try to make some money gambling, so they could buy the fuel to reach Charon Six. She and Sabre were here to find the neurologist Kole had located, who was anti-Cybercorp. The man they were looking for was called Vershasen Korazon, and they had all seen an image of him from his personnel file at the experimental lab where he worked. He had put up several anti-Cybercorp sites, which had been hacked down within hours, but had still earned the wrath of the enforcers, who hunted him now. He had come to Rashid Four to escape them, since enforcers were not welcome on the outlaw world, and had been in hiding here for several years. This club, apparently, was where he hung out, which Kole had found out by hacking through several firewalls into the lab’s servers and finding Shasen’s online avatar and the chat room he frequented. He had then gone into it pretending to be a young girl and asked to meet Shasen. The process had taken several hours, and she hoped it was worth it. Kole headed for the gaming room, and Tassin wandered towards the bar, searching the dim corners for the young renegade neurologist. Sabre followed her, his presence immensely comforting.

  At the bar, she handed over one of the translucent wafers that were used for money in this modern society, which Kole had given her earlier. Staggered cloudy glass barriers cut down the volume of the music around the bar, making it possible to talk, and she ordered two mild, fruity drinks that Kole had recommended. A bar stool became vacant beside her, and she settled upon it, still scanning the dim recesses. Sabre leant against the bar and sipped his drink, glancing around. Tassin had also purchased new clothes on Kole’s shopping trip, since her Omega Five garments were hardly suitable. She now wore a pair of slim-legged black jeans and a stretchy sleeveless black top under a short grey velvet jacket, a pair of black suede ankle boots making her almost as tall as Sabre. She thought her new outfit was extremely fetching, and Kole’s eyes had lingered on her with blatant appreciation when she had changed into it on the ship, but Sabre had not seemed to notice. That had always been the way of it, she thought with a frustrated sigh, and now they were back to square one. Not that they had got very far beyond it before Manutim had taken him away, she thought, except in those final few minutes.

  Struck by an idea, she beckoned to one of the bartenders, a giant bald man with a ring through his nose, and he came over to lean on the bar counter and cock an ear at her.

  “We’re looking for Vershasen Korazon,” she bellowed.

  He shook his head. “Never heard of him.”

  “We need his help,” she added.

  “Still never heard of him.”

  Tassin drew a translucent wafer from her pocket and pushed it across the counter. “We’re sympathisers.”

  The barman tucked the wafer away, leant closer and bellowed, “Never heard of him!”

  Sabre’s hand flashed out, gripped the man’s neck and slammed his head down on the counter. While he struggled to free himself, the cyber took hold of the bartender’s nose ring with two fingers.

  “Shasen Korazon,” he said.

  The barkeep pointed. “He’s in the gaming room, corner table.”

  Sabre released the man, who glared, rubbing his neck, and retreated to shout at one of his cronies.

  Tassin cast the cyber a grateful smile and slid off the barstool, picked up her drink and headed for the dim corner of the gaming room. The man who sat in it was a mystery in the shadows, and she could not make him out even when he straightened at their approach. She sat on the chrome and black velvet chair opposite, Sabre beside her. The gaming room’s glass wall blocked the sound from the dance floor and made it possible to talk.

  “Shasen Korazon?” she asked.

  “Who wants to know?”

  “We’re friends. We need your help.”

  “With what?”

  “A friend of mine has amnesia.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t consult. I’m a researcher, not a practitioner.”

  “We can’t go to a regular doctor.” She leant closer. “We’re also wanted by Myon Two.”

  “And that’s supposed to make me want to help you?”

  “We hoped it would.”

  “Unless you tell him Myon Two is after you, a doctor won’t know, will he?”

  She shook her head. “We can’t let a regular doctor examine him. You’ll understand why when you see him.”

  He was silent for several seconds, as if considering. “What are you offering?”

  “Offering?”

  “I don’t do stuff for free, you know. With amnesia cases, there are expensive drugs involved, too.”

  Tassin’s heart sank. “We don’t have any money.”

  “Well, then, why should I help you?”

  “Is there something else you want?”

  “Classified information about Myon Two, or cybers.”

  She glanced at Sabre. “We might be able to help you with that, but I need to speak to my friend first.”

  He shrugged. “Fine. The information had better be good, though, and genuine. The only stuff I don’t know is highly classified.”

  “Oh, it’s the best,” she assured him. “The type of thing no one else has got.”

  “About cybers, or Myon Two?”

  “Both.”

  “Okay, I’m interested. Bring me the information, and I’ll help your friend with his amnesia. Do you know what caused it?”

  “Electrical shocks.”

  He leant back and sipped his drink. “That should be curable. Come back when you have the info.”

  Clearly he was not interested in further conversation that did not include the information he craved, so she rose and made her way back to the bar, sidestepping drunken or drugged patrons who stumbled into her path. Those she could not avoid, Sabre shoved aside. The barman with the nose ring stayed away, and a different barman served them another round of drinks, which they sipped while they waited for Kole to finish in the gaming room.

  A couple of hours later, Kole emerged, looking smug and more than a little drunk. He beckoned to them and headed for the club entrance, and they exited it into the parking lot to find him waiting for them.

  “I did it!” he crowed. “Man, did I get lucky!”

  “You won?” she asked.

  He scooped her up and swung her around. “Did I ever!”

  She squeaked in surprise. “Enough to buy fuel to Charon?”

  “And then some.” He lowered her feet to the ground and held her close, then glanced at Sabre and released her. She had the impression that he would have done something they both would have regretted, if not for Sabre’s presence. She tugged her jacket straight and forced a smile.

  “That’s great. So we can leave as soon as Sabre’s memories are fixed?”

  “Sure.” He shrugged. “I don’t see a need to rush, though. I like it here.”

  “I must sell the sword and go home. I want to go home.”

  “Right.” He frowned and swung away. “Let’s get back to the ship.”

  Kole marched away towards the hired air-car, which was on the far side of the car park. Tassin followed, the cool air making her a little light-hea
ded after the four drinks she had consumed. Kole had clearly had far more. Sabre had switched to fruit juice after two of the mild drinks. An approaching hum made her glance to the right as two air-bikes with no lights shot towards Kole, two big men aboard each one.

  “Kole! Look out!” she shouted.

  The hacker turned as the vehicles reached him, and Sabre sprinted past her. The passengers jumped off, and one punched Kole in the gut while the other grabbed something from inside his jacket. The thugs swung around as Sabre reached them, and one took a swing at him. He ducked and lunged, sending the beefy mugger flying backwards with a double fisted blow to his chest. The other thug dashed towards the air-bikes, and the two men aboard them drew lasers and opened fire. Sabre threw himself aside, and Tassin yelped and crouched as shots hissed past her.

  Due to the ban on weapons in the leisure club, the cyber was unarmed. He dropped and rolled towards the men, and his headband came adrift. The exposed control unit’s lights sparkled in the darkness, and one of the mounted men shouted, “Shit! It’s a cyber!”

  Sabre leapt up beside the mugger who was scrambling aboard a bike and sent him crashing to the cement with a punch. The other two snapped off a few more shots, one of which hit the cyber’s thigh as he dived aside. The muggers gunned their bikes and shot away with a scream of engines. The two thugs Sabre had hit lay unmoving, and Tassin wondered if they were dead. Kole sat up, clutching his head, which he had evidently banged on the concrete, his expression thunderous.

  “Bastards!” he bellowed after the muggers.

  Sabre rose to his feet and searched the clothes of the last man he had knocked out, coming away empty handed.

  Kole turned to him. “Well? Did you get it?”

  The cyber shook his head. “He must have tossed it to one of his friends.”

  “Why didn’t you stop them?”

  Sabre’s brows rose. “I tried.”

  “I thought you were a bloody cyber?”

  “I am.”

  “So?”

  “I’m unarmed, and my reflexes are very slow. And I can’t run faster than an air-bike.”

  “Shit!” Kole groaned and rubbed the back of his head. “Now we’re back at square one. Worse, since now I don’t have any seed money to go gaming again. We’re screwed!”

  Tassin hurried up to Sabre, who clasped his thigh. “You’re hurt!”

  “I’m okay. It’s just a laser burn.”

  She bent and pushed aside his hand to reveal a black-edged hole in his trousers that oozed blood. Picking up his headband, she tied it over the wound.

  “We are so screwed,” Kole muttered again.

  Tassin shot him a frown. “What about the local authorities?”

  “The cops?” Kole snorted and climbed to his feet. “Waste of time. Those guys are long gone. What I can’t believe is that I was just robbed while in the protection of a bloody cyber!”

  “I wasn’t protecting you,” Sabre said. “I was protecting Tassin, and if you want valuables kept safe they need to be in my keeping.”

  “You knew I had a lot of money! Why didn’t you see those guys with your scanners, or whatever the hell it is you’ve got?”

  “I did, but why would I be suspicious of four men on air-bikes in a leisure club parking lot?”

  “They were armed!”

  “So were half the men in the club.”

  The hacker glared at him. “You saw four armed men on air-bikes coming at me at high speed and you didn’t think that was suspicious? Were you born yesterday?”

  “In a manner of speaking; and only two of them were armed.”

  “Hey!” Tassin said. “Quit blaming Sabre, it wasn’t his fault. You stomped off alone. If you’d stayed close to him you’d have been safe, and now he’s hurt.”

  Kole growled and swung away, heading for the air-car again.

  The journey back to the ship was achieved in silence, and when they arrived Kole vanished into his cabin and Sabre went into his. Tassin followed and found him seated on his bunk, his trousers around his ankles as he examined the wound in his thigh. He glanced up at her entry, looking uncomfortable, presumably because of his state of undress, although he still wore his undershorts. She sat beside him and inspected the oozing red spot on his thigh and the blistered skin around it, then looked up at him.

  “Are you okay?”

  “It’s just a laser burn; painful, but not serious.” He dug in his medical kit and took out a tube of ointment.

  “Here, let me,” she said, taking it from him.

  “I can do it,” he assured her.

  “Well I want to help, okay?”

  He leant back while she smeared the ointment on the wound and stuck a dressing over it. When she was finished, she replaced the ointment in his medical pouch and studied him. Once again he looked ill at ease, his eyes avoiding hers.

  “Thanks.” He stood up and donned his trousers. “I need a cup of coffee. Want one?”

  “Sure.”

  Sabre limped into the galley, and she leant against a counter while he tapped the instructions into the auto-chef.

  “How badly are your reflexes impaired?” she asked.

  “About fifty per cent.”

  “Have they improved at all?”

  “Not much.” He held out his hands, which still trembled.

  “Maybe this neurologist can help you.”

  “Maybe, but he’s not a cyber technician.”

  She frowned. “You’re still human.”

  “Not entirely.”

  “Your brain is, surely?”

  “Mostly, except for the software in it… and the hardware. And I think that’s what’s caused the problem.” He took two steaming cups of coffee out of the auto-chef and handed her one. “Even if he figures out what’s wrong, he won’t have the equipment to treat it.”

  “But surely whatever will help a human brain to recover will also help yours?”

  “I don’t know. Perhaps. Mine’s human, too.”

  “I didn’t mean -”

  He smiled. “I know.”

  She blew on her coffee. “Are you okay with telling him classified Myon Two information?”

  “Sure, but I think it will get him killed.”

  “It’s the only way to get him to help you.”

  He nodded and sipped his coffee. “Yeah, he does seem to have a death wish.”

  An awkward silence fell, and Sabre leant against the opposite counter, sipped his coffee and avoided her eyes.

  “I wish your memories would come back,” she blurted finally.

  “Yeah, me too.”

  “You still don’t remember anything?”

  He hesitated. “I remember a desert… and a chestnut horse.”

  “Yes! That was on Omega Five, when we were fleeing from Torrian.” Hope flared in her heart. “Anything else?”

  “No.”

  Tassin put down her cup and stepped closer to him, desperate to find a way to jog his memory. Then things could go back to the way they had been before he had left Omega. She placed a hand on his chest and raised the other to stroke his cheek, surprised at her own boldness, which the alcohol she had consumed bolstered. Sabre frowned at his coffee cup, which he still held in front of him.

  “We went through so much together,” she said. “I lost count of how many times you saved my life.”

  He shot her a wry smile. “I think that was my job.”

  “No. You were free. You chose to do it.” She leant against him, wincing as her hand smarted, and ran her fingers along the scar on his cheekbone. “We shared a lot. We were… close.”

  He put his cup down and cleared his throat. “I don’t remember.”

  “Have you tried?”

  “How do I try to remember stuff I can’t remember?”

  “You fought a monster on an alien world… a skifgar. We had a friend in the Death Zone, called Purr, and a mutant girl, Dena. She’s a princess now. She was about twelve then.” She traced the scar on his cheek into his
hair, where it continued as a line of white amidst the dark gold. “You were trapped in a room once, with no air, and I blew a hole in the wall with a sonlar and saved you. Do you remember any of that?”

  “No. But I’m sure it will come back to me.”

  “I would have done anything to find you.” Her eyes grew moist, and she cursed inwardly. She did not want to blubber all over him. “I missed you so much… It’s so unfair that you don’t remember me now.”

  “Sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault. I just wish things could go back to the way they were, before, you know.”

  “Maybe this Shasen guy can fix me.”

  She met his eyes. “That’s not what I meant. You’re not broken; you just need to try to remember.”

  He looked away. “I’ll try, okay? I think you should go and sleep now. You’ve had too much to drink.”

  “I’m not -”

  “Hey, what’s going on here?” Kole stood in the doorway, his hair sticking out in all directions, frowning at her.

  “Nothing.” She stepped away and leant against the opposite counter, picking up her cup of coffee. “We’re just having coffee.”

  Kole snorted and headed for the auto-chef, pushing past Sabre, who moved over to sit at the table. Tassin gulped the rest of her coffee and escaped to her cabin.

  Sabre eyed Kole when the hacker sat opposite. He found the emotions of his shipmates confusing, to say the least. Undercurrents of tension thickened the air, especially when Tassin was around, and Kole’s embrace earlier seemed to have made it worse. Sabre was still adjusting to his newfound freedom, and wished, like Tassin, that he could remember his former life. His gratitude to her was immense, but he knew she was disappointed in him for some reason, and unhappy that he had no memory of her. He tried his best to please her, yet she seemed to want more. His heart warmed in her presence, and he knew, deep down, that she was important to him. Sometimes his heart quickened when she looked at him, and, while he longed to be with her, he also found her unnerving.