The Cyber Chronicles 04: Cyborg

by T C Southwell

  Tarl turned to the machine and removed the flat screen from the end of the flexible arm, replacing it with a U-shaped instrument, which he placed around Sabre's head, the ends over his ears.

  "I'm going to scan your brain now, through the gaps in your skull plating around your ears," he explained. "It won't hurt."

  Tarl switched on the machine, and a strange image appeared on the screen, which he studied. To Tassin it looked like a jumble of convoluted lines, but deep within it were three spikes of glowing barrinium tipped with spreading branches, like tiny trees. Tarl pointed at them.

  "Those are the hooks, as we call them. That's how the control unit accesses his brain." Swirls of multi-coloured light swept across the image, and Tarl tapped the screen, indicating them. "That's his brain function. Sabre, try to remember a time before you were free."

  Sabre frowned, and Tarl peered at the screen, which did not appear to change, the shimmers of light passing over it in random patterns. Then he pointed to a tiny flash of green light near one of the twisted hooks. "There. That's his memory, what there is of it. But look at that. It ends in an unnaturally straight line, like it's cut off."

  "What does that mean?" Tassin asked.

  "It means I'm right, but I want to make sure."

  Tarl switched off the machine and removed the instrument from around Sabre's head, then picked up a peculiar device from the cart beside him and turned to the cyber. "I'm going to examine the circuitry in the control unit now, but first, I have to switch it off."

  "Please do."

  "It's only temporary; the unit will reboot automatically after fifteen minutes." Tarl inserted the end of the instrument into the slot on the side of the cyber band and pressed a button on top of it. The brow band went black, and Sabre closed his eyes with a sigh.

  Tarl studied him. "You felt that?"

  "It's like a presence has gone. One that lurks in the back of my mind all the time."

  Tarl nodded. "Unfortunately, it might try to take over again when it reboots."

  "Great."

  Tarl bent and pressed the side of the device to the front of the control unit, pushing another button on it. Purple light filled the brow band, and, to Tassin's amazement, a network of tiny lines became visible within it, packed together in a dense maze of interconnected filaments so fine that it looked like intricately woven cloth.

  "That's the circuitry," Tarl explained, placing the instrument next to the hairline crack in the black crystal. "This isn't something I've done before. Control units don't break, but I made this instrument to try to find a way to break one. There, look at that."

  Tassin and Kole bent to peer at the tiny lines, but Tassin could see nothing unusual.

  Tarl nodded, looking eager. "That's it, right there. A break in the control circuit."

  "We know it's broken," Tassin pointed out.

  "Yeah, and I know what they did to fix it. That track right next to it is the memory-access circuit. The software patch they uploaded switched the control circuit to the memory-access circuit, which serves little purpose. All it does is allow the control unit access to Sabre's memories. They circumvented the break by diverting the circuit to the next port, then rerouting it back to the control hook in his brain."

  Tassin straightened, shaking her head. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

  "It doesn't matter. That's why he's lost his memories."

  "Why would -?"

  "Because it's blocking them. The control unit uses fields of insignificant electromagnetic energy to control the brain, dissecting it into areas of usage. When they diverted the memory-access circuit, it caused a null feedback field."

  Tassin stared at him blankly, and even Kole looked confused.

  Tarl sighed. "It built a bloody great wall."

  "But the software patch was removed," Kole said.

  "Which cut off the control circuit, but it didn't restore the memory access."

  "So all you have to do is restore the memory access -"

  "And the null field will vanish."

  Tassin smiled. "Then do it."

  Tarl switched off the instrument and swung away with a grunt. "It's not going to be pleasant, Sabre."

  "How bad?"

  "Pretty nasty."

  "Why?"

  Tarl put the instrument on the trolley. "I'll have to shock the control unit to open up the memory-access circuit."

  "I want my memories back."

  Tassin frowned at Tarl. "You're sure about this? It wasn't the shocks that the cyber used to try to subdue him?"

  "No. A cyber host's brain is far more resilient than yours or mine. They're designed to cope with the electromagnetic fields that are used to control them, or they would develop tumours and loss of motor control."

  "He's had co-ordination problems since his battle with the cyber."

  "That could be due to the shocks, if they were powerful enough, but memory is more difficult to affect, and it's not stored in the area the cyber would have attacked, since it's primarily hooked into his motor cortex."

  She shook her head. "I don't understand. Please just help him. But don't hurt him."

  "I have to hurt him. There's no other way. It's up to him."

  "Do it," Sabre muttered.

  "Okay. We just have to wait for the control unit to reboot." Tarl stood up and turned to a shelf full of instruments on the wall and took down a pair of wires with pointed metal ends.

  Chapter Fourteen

  A few tense minutes passed, and Tassin tried to prepare herself for what was to come, wishing she could leave, but unable to abandon Sabre. She caught her breath as a red light appeared on the control unit and flashed, then several more lighted, flashing in random patterns. The diagonal lights on the left hand side began to come on, and she counted them. As the seventh one lighted, the band blazed red, and Sabre's back arched. His hands flew up to grip the brow band, and Tarl stepped back with a curse, bumping into Tassin.

  "Bloody hell."

  Sabre writhed, his face twisted with pain, his fingers whitening on the brow band. Tassin chewed her lip, her eyes stinging with tears as he thrashed, then the lights on the control unit dimmed, several turning green and starting to flash. Sabre relaxed, opening his eyes, and released the brow band. Tassin's heart pounded with dread until he turned his head and looked at her, sending a gush of relief through her that made her legs turn to rubber.

  "Sabre."

  He managed a wan smile. "Yeah, it's me."

  Tarl swung on her. "There was a risk of it taking over again?"

  She nodded. "It has been able to re-establish control in the past, even though it's damaged, then Sabre has to fight his way free again."

  Tarl’s brows knotted. "Why didn't you tell me? I would never risk that! Never!"

  "You knew it would try to take over when it came back on. You said so."

  "Try, yes, but I didn't think there was any chance it would succeed. And I didn't think it would be so bad." Tarl cursed and swung away. "I won't risk it."

  "You won't give it the shocks?"

  "What if it takes over?" Tarl shook his head. "It's too risky. He's not strong enough."

  "Will his memories come back on their own?"

  "No, never."

  "But he remembered something from his past just a little while ago."

  Tarl turned to Sabre. "Do you remember it now?"

  Sabre looked confused. "I remembered something?"

  "The slave girl?"

  He frowned, shaking his head. "I don't remember that."

  "You don't even remember that you remembered it?"

  "No."

  Tarl sighed, looking depressed. "This will happen from time to time. A small portion of a memory will surface, leak through the wall, if you like, then get sucked back behind it. He'll even lose some of his new memories, especially bits about remembering stuff from his past."

  "What about the injections Shasen gave him?"

  Tarl snorted. "Those are designed to help re-establi
sh connectivity in a damaged brain. His isn't damaged, it's partitioned."

  Tassin looked away, sorrow filling her heart.

  "Do it," Sabre said.

  "You'd risk it?” Tarl asked. “You could lose control."

  "I'll get it back."

  "If I caused it to take over again, I'd never forgive myself. You're the only free cyber ever. How can you jeopardise that?"

  "It's my choice."

  Tarl frowned. "It's too dangerous."

  Sabre sat up and swung his legs off the couch. "I want my memories back. Either you do it, or I'll do it myself."

  "You can't. You don't know how. You'll do more damage than good."

  "If it damages the cyber, so much the better."

  "It won't. It will only damage your brain."

  "But you said..."

  "The cyber can only use minute amounts of power,” Tarl explained. “I'll have to use a great deal more. If it's done wrong, and it gets into your brain, it will do damage, mostly to your motor cortex."

  Tassin went over to Sabre and placed a hand on his arm. "Perhaps we shouldn't risk it."

  "No." He stood up and approached Tarl. "I want you to do it. The cyber hasn't been able to take over since the software patch was removed. It’s only tried once, so it knows it can’t re-establish control or it would have kept trying. The techs on Myon Two must have known I could get free, otherwise they wouldn't have bothered to upload the software patch, would they?"

  "No,” Tarl said. “The break in the control circuit is plain to see, even though it's only a micron wide. When the control unit tries to re-establish dominance, it sends a surge along that track, but it can't operate at that level of power without draining its backup batteries, so it gives up. The break in the control circuit weakens it, and your mind prevents it from regaining control, but if it does regain control, it will re-establish the electromagnetic fields that hold your psyche prisoner -"

  "I know that. I've lived it. The sucking darkness that holds me in a cold black sea. I've freed myself before. I can do it again."

  Tarl touched the brow band. "If you're sure."

  "I am."

  "All right. Lie down."

  Sabre returned to the couch and stretched out. Tarl went over to the machines and took down the wires again, touching the ends together in a flash of blue sparks.

  Tassin gulped. "What did you make those for?"

  "I thought I could fuse the tracks in Alpha's control unit, crippling it."

  "That sounds like it should have worked."

  Tarl smiled. "I thought so, but I soon realised that there's no way to fuse those tracks."

  "What about the broken track? Could it fuse back together?"

  "No. If that was possible, the techs on Myon Two would have done it instead of uploading the software patch. Maintenance techs only deal with damaged hosts, so all I know about control units I learnt from Alpha. When Sabre was taken back, he must have gone to research and development, where I'm sure they studied him minutely. If he'd been a B or C grade, they'd have scrapped him and replaced him.

  "I learnt a lot from Alpha, and one of the things I discovered is that the tracks inside a control unit aren't made from barrinium, which I thought was pretty strange, since it's an ideal superconductor. The reason for that is simple: barrinium is a chemical blocker. It doesn't allow its chemistry to be changed one iota, especially by electrical means, and that's how the control unit commands the brain, with a combination of chemical signals and electrical impulses.

  "So resling was used, a metal that easily changes its chemical signature, in fact, it's capable of discharging a wide range of chemicals, which it then reabsorbs from the host. But resling only melts at super-high temperatures, not with electricity, which was a bonus for the cyber designers, otherwise cybers would be vulnerable to electrical weapons like stun guns, which might conceivably fuse the tracks in the control unit if they were made from barrinium."

  Tassin glanced at Kole. "I hope you understood that."

  He nodded. "Fascinating stuff."

  "And all highly classified." Tarl said.

  "Could we get on with this?" Sabre asked.

  "But aren't the hooks made from barrinium?" Kole enquired.

  "Yes, encasing the resling filaments. Only the ends are exposed in the correct places in the brain, otherwise they wouldn't work." Tarl turned to Sabre. "It took twenty-seven years to develop the control unit in all its complexity."

  "But there's so much room for error," Kole pointed out. "The slightest mistake and it won't work."

  "That's why sixty per cent of the one-year-old hosts are destroyed after the cyber is fitted, because it fails." Tarl touched one of the electrodes to the cyber band, close to the crack. "Now please be quiet for a moment. Sabre, this is going to hurt, and it will probably make the unit try to take over."

  Sabre gripped the edges of the couch and closed his eyes. "Okay, do it."

  Tarl hesitated, his expression tense, and Tassin wondered how they had come to trust him so much, so quickly. Something, she decided, about the open honesty in his eyes, and the way he spoke his mind without hesitation. She held her breath when he leant over the cyber, bracing himself by placing his arms against the sides of Sabre's head. He lowered the second electrode, aiming for a spot close to the first, then touched it to the flashing brow band.

  A fat blue spark leapt between the two, passing through the black crystal, and Sabre stiffened, his eyes snapping open. The cyber band blazed red, and Tarl recoiled, looking concerned as Sabre's back arched in a powerful convulsion. Tassin stepped closer, watching the brow band's lights, her stomach knotting as the seventh control light flickered green. Sabre's lips drew back in a snarl, and his hands snapped up to grip the band, tugging at it until his back bowed and his arms bulged.

  Tarl swung away and hooked the electrodes back on the machine, then picked up the odd device he had used earlier. Hurrying back to Sabre's side, he braved the cyber's thrashing to grip one of his wrists, then glanced up at Kole.

  "Help me! Hold him still!"

  Kole took hold of Sabre's arms, pushing him down on the couch as he continued to writhe, groaning. Tarl tried to fit the end of the device into the slot on the side of the brow band, cursing when Sabre moved his head about, foiling him. Tassin realised what he was trying to do, and for a moment it seemed like a brilliant idea, then she stepped closer.

  "No! Don't!"

  Tarl looked up, his face slack with surprise. "I'm trying to shut down the control unit."

  "I know, but when it reboots, it'll try to take over again. Let him win this battle, instead of having to fight another."

  Tarl released Sabre and stepped back. "You're right."

  Kole let go of Sabre's arms and nodded, turning to Tassin. "It seemed like a good idea until you pointed that out."

  The brow band's lights dimmed, several turning green and starting to flash, but the seven lights on the left hand side remained a steady red, to her relief. Sabre relaxed, his mouth open as he gasped, sweat sheening his brow. He released the brow band, and his hands fell to his sides. Blood oozed from around two of the struts, running down the sides of his head. Tassin moved closer, gazing at him with deep concern.

  "Are you all right?"

  He pulled a face. "What is that smell?"

  "What smell?"

  "It stinks. And I can taste it too. Ugh."

  Tassin swung to frown at Tarl. "What's going on?"

  He smiled. "It's worked. That's a side effect."

  "Explain that."

  "A portion of his brain has just been released from an electromagnetic cage, and it's overcompensating. He may have hallucinations, too. Whatever he smells, it's part of his memories. It's the first sign of their return."

  She turned to Sabre. "What do you smell?"

  "I don't know." He rubbed his nose. "Smells like... rotten... corpses. It was the swamp outside that city in Olgara. When they dumped me after I put myself into cold sleep. It was where they dumped
their dead."

  Tassin's heart leapt with joy. "You remember!"

  He frowned, rubbing his head. "Bits and pieces. I have a splitting headache."

  Tarl turned to a cabinet and rummaged in it.

  Sabre closed his eyes, grimacing. "My mouth's full of stinking mud. Tastes like shit."

  "It's just a memory," Tassin assured him. "There's no mud in your mouth."

  "I can taste it."

  Tassin touched his arm, trying to distract him, and Sabre recoiled as if she had stuck a pin in him. He leapt off the couch like a spring-loaded cat and landed on his feet on the other side of it, yanking a laser from its holster. Kole swore and dropped flat as Sabre fired a quick succession of shots at the far wall, and Tarl threw himself down with a tinkle of broken glass as he dropped a bottle. Tassin cowered beside the couch, her heart pounding. Sabre swung around, searching for an enemy only he could see, his eyes glazed. The brow band blazed red briefly, and he dropped the laser and clutched his head with a grunt.

  Tassin peered around the corner of the couch, her mouth dry. Kole crawled into its shelter beside her. Sabre ducked an invisible blow and whipped around, smashing his fist right through the wall.

  "God, he's going to wreck my ship," Tarl groaned.

  Sabre backed away, looking around. "Tassin?"

  Tassin tried to get up, and Kole grabbed her arm. "Are you nuts?"

  "Let me go!" She shook him off and stood up. "I'm here."

  Sabre turned to her, and her heart leapt with joy at the recognition in his eyes. A slight, hesitant smile tugged at his lips. "You found me. You did it. You freed me, just like you promised."

  His face twisted, and his eyes filled with anguish. He took her hands and pressed them to his lips, and she tugged them free to slip them around his neck. Sabre buried his face in the side of her neck and enfolded her in a gentle embrace, and she held him close, stroking his hair. Her heart ached and she blinked as tears stung her eyes. After a few moments he held her away and bowed his head, rubbed his face and blinked.

  "Thank you."

  "You would have done the same thing. How many times did you save my life?"

  "Five, I think." He glanced behind him as if he had heard a noise.

  Tarl sat up. "He needs a sedative."