"Bugger."
Releasing her arm, he bent and slid his fingers under the edge of the slab, settled his feet wider apart, and lifted. The rock sheet rose with a soft ripping, then cracked several metres along its length.
Sabre turned to them. "Get under it, quick!"
Tassin hesitated only for a moment, thinking of the numberless creepy crawlies in the darkness, before she crawled under the slab. Kole rolled in beside her. Sabre knelt, trembling under the strain of holding the slab up in such an awkward position. Kole placed his palms against it, trying to help. Sabre ducked under the slab's edge and crawled in, letting it scrape across his armoured back. An explosion made the ground shiver, and Tassin turned to Sabre, who remained on his hands and knees, supporting the slab. Moments later, two air-cars hummed overhead, slowing.
Tassin breathed in short, jerky gasps as she fought the urge to crawl out from under the slab, which would crush her if Sabre failed to support it. The distant hum of the air-cars steadied and time crept past as the tension rose. She watched Sabre, whose brow became sheened with sweat.
"They're searching the wreckage," Kole muttered.
"How long is that going to take?" Tassin whispered.
"Not long. They have scanners."
The hum of the air-cars rose, then grew louder until they passed overhead again, flying slowly.
"They're searching for us now," Kole said.
"If we were on their scanners, how could they have failed to see us jump out?" Tassin asked.
"They didn��t, but their mission is to retrieve the money, so they had to check the wreck, and now we've vanished."
Something crawled into Tassin's dress, and she squeaked, trying to brush it out.
Sweat ran down Sabre's face to drip from his nose and chin, veins stood out on his brow. The air-cars circled, moving further away, and Tassin scratched the crawling sensation in her blouse. Something bit her, and she yelped. The air-cars' hum faded, but Sabre waited for several more minutes.
"All right, out," he said.
Tassin crawled into the open, Kole close behind. He gripped the edge of the slab, straining to hold it up while Sabre edged out until it rested on his shoulders, then raised his arms and lifted it, ducking out from under it.
"It's okay, I've got it," Kole assured him.
"Oh, good." Sabre released the slab, whose weight yanked Kole downwards, slamming his fingers into the soft earth.
He pulled them free, straightening. "Bloody hell. How much does that weigh?"
"No idea." Sabre swung away. "Come on, move."
Tassin struggled to remove the helmet, and he gripped her arm and pulled her forwards. Something still crawled around in her blouse, making her shudder.
"Wait! There's an insect in my clothes."
"It can wait."
She gasped as he dragged her along so fast her legs could barely keep up. "What's the rush? They've gone!"
"They'll be back."
Kole limped after them, cursing, and they ran through tracts of leafy woodland, leapt streams and clambered over areas of slippery, lichen-covered stone. Tassin's legs soon ached, and the fragile high-heeled sandals threatened to twist her ankles. She stumbled beside Sabre, his grip on her arm supporting her. Her lungs burnt and her legs turned to rubber, then gave way. The cyber swung around, took her other hand and pulled her back to her feet, then bent and lifted her onto his shoulder in a smooth movement, sprinting onwards even faster. His shoulder pummelled her midriff and made her queasy, and her head spun as she hung upside down on his back.
Several miles further on, Kole slowed, clutching his side. Sabre veered to the right, and, moments later, put Tassin down in the darkness of a cave. She sank onto the dry, sandy floor, rubbing her ribs. Kole staggered in and fell to his knees, panting. Tassin struggled with the helmet again, and Sabre unclipped it and took it off. He sank down, breathing deeply. Sweat ran down his face, dripped onto his chest and spiked his hair.
"Are we safe?" she asked.
Sabre shook his head. "We're out of the immediate area, but they'll search here, too."
Kole groaned and flopped onto his back. "I can't... run anymore."
"We'll rest here for a while."
Tassin clutched her ribs, grimacing.
Sabre eyed her. "Are you hurt?"
"Maybe a bit bruised."
"Sorry."
"God, don't apologise."
He unclipped his armour and stripped it off.
"You should keep that on," Tassin advised.
He shook his head. "It's hot."
"I think I twisted my ankle," Kole muttered.
Tassin gazed at the cave entrance. "Now what do we do? We're on foot with no food or water, miles from anywhere."
"We walk to the next estate and hope they'll help us," Sabre said.
She looked down at her silk dress, now smeared with dirt and sprinkled with detritus, her sandals caked with mud. "I wish I hadn't worn this stupid dress now."
"I thought you liked it," Kole said.
"I do, but it's not very practical, is it? If we have to spend the night here, I'm going to freeze." She rubbed her bare shoulders.
Kole pulled off his jacket and held it out. "Here."
"Thank you. Now you'll freeze."
"I'll live."
Sabre rose and went to the entrance to gaze out, then returned. "If you've recovered, Kole, we should keep going."
"No, not yet."
"Mandure will send his cybers out to search for us."
"We're under stone."
"They'll be on foot, and they can see."
Kole groaned. "Aren't we far enough away? We ran for bloody kilometres."
"No."
"Do we even know what direction to go in?"
"We're twelve kilometres from the border."
Kole rubbed his ankle. "Just a bit longer."
Sabre squatted down. "Every minute increases the danger. The cybers will be dropped off from air-cars, each one searching a grid area."
"Okay, okay. Just a few more minutes."
Tassin plaited her hair while they waited, wishing there was some water to drink. Time crawled past, and Sabre put his armour back on, clipping the helmet to its holder on his hip. Kole rubbed his ankle. Tassin found the insect in her blouse and evicted it with a gasp of relief. Sabre rose and went back to the entrance.
"Come on, let's go."
Kole stood up with a groan, hobbling after him. Tassin followed, cursing the high-heeled shoes that sank into the soft ground.
Sabre raised his hand. "Go back."
"What is it now?" Kole grumbled.
"A cyber, two hundred metres away, heading this way."
Kole and Tassin retreated, and Sabre flattened himself against the side of the cave entrance. Tense minutes passed, and she wished she could see the approaching menace. Sabre moved back a pace, drew a laser and held it ready. The soft crunch of footfalls made Tassin tense, then a shadow moved into the cave entrance, the lights of a brow band flashing. Sabre's arm snapped up to press the laser's muzzle to the cyber's ear, and a flash lighted the gloom, accompanied by a vicious buzz. The cyber crumpled, his control unit blazing red. Sabre holstered his weapon and knelt beside the body. Tassin and Kole came forward, and she gazed at the corpse, her heart heavy with sorrow and relief.
"He's just a baby."
Sabre nodded, stripping off the young cyber's lasers and medical pouch. "Brand new. Only twenty years old and damned inexperienced. You don't enter a dark cave around the side like that when you've got infrared vision and scanners."
"Lucky for us," Kole said.
"Yeah." Sabre pulled off the cyber's shoes, and Tassin studied his handsome, youthful countenance. She recoiled when Sabre held out the shoes and said, "Put these on."
"They're too big."
"They're better than those stupid sandals."
Tassin took them and sat down to remove her shoes and don the narrow boots while Sabre searched the body for anything useful, th
en dragged it further into the cave. As he dumped it in the gloom, the brow band dimmed, the lights flashing less and less until the last one flickered and went out.
"I guess you did him a favour," Kole commented.
"Yeah. Let's go." Sabre held out the dead cyber's weapons’ harness and holstered lasers, and Kole took them with a nod.
Four hours later, Sabre held up a hand, and Tassin stopped and leant against a tree, her legs aching. It seemed as if they had been trudging through the forest for days, and the dead cyber's boots chafed her feet. Surely they were over the border by now? Kole squatted beside her, rubbing his ankle again.
Sabre turned to them. "There's a ship ahead. Quite a large freighter, unarmed."
Kole groaned. "So now we have to detour?"
"No, I want to see who it is. Maybe they'll help us."
"We haven't had a lot of luck with people," Tassin said.
"Whether it's this bunch or the owner of the next estate, we're going to have to find help from someone. Whoever this is, they don't want to be found, or they'd be parked at an airfield. They might be willing to give us a ride, since we can pay."
Kole dug in his pocket and drew out the translucent wafers. "Here, I think you should look after these."
Sabre took them and stowed them in his medical pouch, then led them onwards. Half an hour later he stopped again, his eyes distant.
"There's only one man, and he's outside the ship."
"Good," Kole muttered.
Sabre walked on for another few metres, then paused to don the helmet before continuing. A clearing appeared ahead, and a rusty ship filled it, built like a box with odd protuberances and bulges. Sabre stopped beside a tree and studied it.
"He's probably a smuggler."
The man next to the ship caught Tassin's attention. He sat beside a fire, holding a sausage over it on the end of a stick.
Sabre studied him too. "He's not armed." He turned to Kole. "Tell him the truth, and ask for a lift off world. Chances are, he doesn't like the moguls either."
"He must work for them. What else is he doing here?"
"That doesn't mean he likes them. Few do."
"And we know why."
"Right." Sabre gestured. "Off you go."
Kole limped towards the ship, and Tassin hobbled after him. To her surprise and delight, Sabre picked her up and carried her cradled against his chest. The man looked up from his perusal of his sausage, his pale blue eyes narrowing in a craggy, care worn face. His dark brown hair was shorn as short as Sabre's, and a day's stubble darkened his chin. His motley collection of clothes comprised a worn brown leather jacket, faded grey trousers, a frayed grey shirt that might have once, a decade or so ago, been white, and scuffed brown boots. Despite his rough look, sharp intelligence filled his eyes, which flicked over the trio, noting their weapons. Kole stopped a metre away and smiled.
"Afternoon."
The man nodded, appearing remarkably unconcerned. "Afternoon."
"We've had a spot of trouble, and we were hoping you might be able to help."
"What sort of trouble?"
Kole stepped closer and held out his hand. "First, allow me to introduce myself. Kole Arvan, and this is Tassin Alrade and... her cyber."
The man nodded to Tassin. "Tarl Averly."
Kole lowered his hand. "May we join you?"
"It's a free country."
The hacker nodded and settled on the other side of the fire. Sabre put Tassin down, and she sat on the grass beside Kole. Tarl studied them, doubtless noting their dirty clothes and fatigue. His eyes lingered on the cyber's shoes on Tassin's feet, flicking to Sabre's feet. His observant gaze also noted the lasers strapped to Kole's thighs, and the fact that Sabre still had his set.
"So, what trouble are you in?"
"Well, we had a business transaction with Jerrad Mandure, after which we left his mansion with a... some money, and he sent his cybers after us. We crashed our air-car and hid, and we've been on the run ever since. We were hoping to purchase a ride off world."
Tarl turned his head and spat. "Mandure's a dog. Worse, he's an insult to dogs."
"I tend to agree."
"I'm sure you do. Lucky for you, you have a cyber, and I bet he pulled your butts out of the shit, hey?"
Kole nodded. "Yeah, he sure did."
"What did you do with the body of the cyber he killed?"
"Hid it in a cave."
"Good." Tarl studied Sabre. "Tell the poor bugger to rest, for pity's sake, and take off that damned helmet."
Tassin glanced up at Sabre. "Cyber, rest, and remove the helmet."
Sabre sank to his knees and back onto his haunches, unclipped the helmet and removed it. Tarl studied him some more, then put down his sausage and rose, approaching him to examine him closely, noting, no doubt, the streaks of dried sweat on his face.
"Well, you've certainly put him through the wringer, haven't you?" He turned to Tassin. "I bet he carried you for kilometres."
She nodded, puzzled. "Yes, he did. You seem very concerned about him."
Tarl squatted beside Sabre, gazing at the flashing cyber band. "Yeah, I suppose I do."
"Will you help us?" Kole asked. "We can pay."
"Sure, on one condition."
"What's that?"
"You tell me why his control unit isn't controlling him."
Kole scowled, and Tassin said, "I don't know what you mean."
"Sure you do." Tarl reached for the brow band, and Sabre's hand flashed up to grip his wrist.
"You are not authorised to approach," he intoned.
Tarl glanced at Tassin. "Tell me."
She gulped. "There's something wrong with him?"
"Don't give me that."
"How... how could you know something like that?"
Tarl looked at Sabre again. "Before I became a smuggler, I was a cyber tech on Myon Two. A bloody good one. I worked there for fifteen years, then one day I found out the truth. Cyber hosts are fully cognitive human beings, held in torturous captivity by their control units. It sickened me so much that I sabotaged seventy-four artificial wombs and destroyed a hundred and fifty-four incubator pods before they caught me and sentenced me to death by cyber kill. I escaped."
Tassin asked, "How do we know that's the truth?"
“Ask him.” Tarl nodded at Sabre.
“Is he telling the truth, Cyber?”
“Yes.”
Tarl pointed at Sabre’s brow band. "You see those lights on his control unit? Well, the seven diagonal ones on the left-hand side indicate the level of control over the host. Up to six may turn red under extreme duress, when the host is subjected to a lot of pain, and the control unit has to increase its power, but they're never all red. That means the control unit no longer controls the host, so cut the crap."
"Show us your tattoo."
"Oh, you know about that, huh?" Tarl smiled. "That’s classified, so how did you find out?" He pulled open his shirt with his free hand, revealing a flame-like red tattoo on his shoulder.
Sabre released Tarl's wrist, and his eyes focussed on his face. "You were a torturer."
Tarl recoiled, paling. "Bloody hell!" He gaped at Sabre, stunned, then a slow, broad smile stretched his lips. "Bugger me sideways! You are free!"
Sabre frowned. "You knew that."
"Hell no! I only knew your control unit was malfunctioning. And you... when you looked at me... Shit I've never seen a cyber actually look at someone before! I thought these two had escaped from one of Mandure’s garden parties after pissing him off by shagging in his champagne fountain or something, and I wanted to give them a bit of a fright. This is amazing. How the hell did it happen?"
"Impact at terminal velocity."
"The control unit's broken?"
Sabre raised a hand to finger the brow band. "Yes. Cracked."
Tarl brushed aside his hand to peer at the band. "So it is. Right in the middle of the control circuit. Why do you still serve them?"
Sabre glanced at Ta
ssin. "They freed me."
"But you -"
"It's a long story, and we're all hungry and thirsty."
Tassin scowled at Sabre. "He doesn't serve us. We're friends."
Tarl jumped up and went to the fire, hardly able to take his eyes off Sabre. He placed a metal grid over it and threw a handful of sausages on it, then picked up a bottle and a cup. Returning to Sabre, he filled the cup and held it out.
"Here."
Sabre took it and handed it to Tassin, who drained it and gave it back with a smile.
Tarl watched him with avid fascination. "You're normal? No side effects? No problems?"
"I have... problems."
Tarl held up his hands. "No, wait, I want to hear the whole story, from the beginning."
"Then you'll have to ask Tassin."
"Why?"
"Because I don't remember any of it."
Tarl's face fell, and he turned to Tassin. Sabre poured a cup of flavoured drink and drained it, then passed another to Kole.
Chapter Thirteen
Tarl stared into the fire, poking it with a stick. A few minutes had passed since Tassin finished relating the entire tale. They had consumed all the sausages and two more bottles of cool drink, and dusk spread gloomy fingers across the clearing. He looked up at Sabre, and Tassin tried to read his expression, but failed.
"I can help you."
"With the memories?" she asked.
"With everything." Tarl stood up, brushing grass from his trousers. "Come aboard, it's getting dark."
Tarl led them into the ship and along a grubby, well-worn corridor with flaking grey walls and a floor whose black rubber matting had been worn to bare metal in the middle. He entered a brightly lighted, white-painted room with a mauve pseudo-leather medical examination couch on one side, a swivelling, cushioned chair on wheels, and a bank of odd machines against the far wall. The room had clearly been recently repainted and upgraded, with modern glass cabinets containing shelves full of shiny metal equipment and rows of little bottles. Sabre paused in the doorway, eyeing the equipment.
The Cyber Chronicles 04: Cyborg Page 18