The Cyber Chronicles VI - Warrior Breed

by T C Southwell

  "Why can't you use the cyber, like you did on the passenger ship?" Tassin asked.

  "This circuitry is too out-dated. It has no external interface access, and, even if it did, it's too old to interface with the cyber."

  "How old is this thing?"

  "A hundred and thirty-four; it should have been scrapped at fifty." Sabre studied the inside of the panel, and then shook his head. "It's hard wired. It can't be changed."

  "Is it working?"

  "Yeah, seems to be."

  "Try the cyber."

  "Already done."

  Tassin slumped, her last shred of hope draining away, and groaned as her ribs jabbed her. Sabre opened the medical box and brought her another pill, but she frowned at him.

  "I hope that's not going to make me sleep again."

  "No, it's just a painkiller."

  "That's what you said about the last one."

  "And it was. I put the sedative in the water you drank later."

  Tassin swallowed the pill, and Sabre moved across the pod and opened a hatch, pulling out two white suits with helmets.

  She watched him with a puzzled frown. "What are those for?"

  "They're atmosphere suits. When our air runs out, there's another six hours in these tanks. At least Pryan invested in new suits about ten years ago. I want you to put one on while you're still lucid."

  Sabre unfolded the silken one-piece suit and took a sleek helmet from the locker, coming over to her. The pain in her ribs had dulled, but flared when he unstrapped her and helped her to don the suit. By the time she had it on, she was queasy and light-headed. She clung to him while he fastened the suit, and when he finished he held her close, stroking her hair.

  "Sorry."

  "It's not your fault." She pressed her cheek to his chest. "When I think of all the pain you've suffered to help me, this is nothing."

  "Pain is never nothing."

  "How ironic, after all we've been through, that it should end like this."

  "It's not over yet."

  "Do you really think there's any hope?" she asked.

  "As long as we're alive, there's hope."

  "If only I still had the sword."

  "Yeah, I'd welcome it right now."

  "Do you think it might be watching us?"

  He pushed them away from a wall as they drifted close to it. "I doubt it. But even if it is, it won't help us. More likely it's enjoying our predicament."

  Tassin closed her eyes. "There's so much I wanted us to do… and share..."

  "It's no use having regrets. I'm grateful for what we've had."

  "Me too."

  "I never thought you'd be able to come after me, never mind find me and free me."

  "If you hadn't hidden the sword, I'd have come a lot sooner."

  "Hush now, try to rest."

  Tassin clung to him, hot tears burning her eyes. Only a soft beeping broke the silence, like a mechanical heartbeat that marked the slow passage of time, each beep bringing them closer to the end. She recalled the year they had spent together on Omega Five and the stormy beginning of their relationship, when she had not known that she was dealing with a machine and not a man.

  Their friendship had blossomed during an even stormier period after he had become himself, and she had come to know the gentle, but strong-willed man who had been the cyber's slave. They had been through so many trials and dangers, and he had saved her life so many times. She had fallen in love with him, but then Manutim had taken him away. Three years of misery had ended with the joy of finding and freeing him, and now, just when it had seemed that they would be able to find happiness, fate had intervened again.

  Chapter Two

  Tassin became aware that she was gasping again, and her head seemed to be stuffed with cotton wool. Sabre snagged the floating helmet and tried to put it on her, but she pushed it away.

  "No, not yet."

  "It's time."

  Tassin clasped his face and kissed him, anguish tearing her heart. Sabre's arms tightened until her ribs protested, forcing a gasp from her. He eased his hold, then held her away and put the helmet on, ignoring her protests. She gazed at him through the tough invisible barrier, fighting back tears. Fresh air hissed into the helmet from a tube attached to two cylinders, reviving her. Sabre had not donned the other suit, and a suspicion formed in her mind.

  "Sabre, put your suit on."

  His tinny voice spoke in her ear. "I will, later."

  "Now."

  "There's no hurry. I can survive in this atmosphere for several more hours."

  Tassin frowned. "You have no intention of using the suit, do you?"

  "Sure I do. I just don't need it yet."

  "You're a lousy liar, you know. I want you to put it on."

  He looked away. "You need it more than I do."

  "Don't make me watch you die."

  "You'll have six more hours. You could be rescued."

  "No!" She grabbed him and tried to shake him. "Put it on!"

  "I want you to live. I want you to go home to Omega and be a queen. Live your life, be happy."

  "I won't! I can't! Not without you."

  "Sure you can."

  "No!" She thumped his chest. "Put the bloody suit on! I won't watch you die. Don't do that to me, please."

  "There's no point in both of us dying if one can survive."

  "I'll take off my helmet and die with you when the time comes."

  "Okay, okay." He turned and plucked the second suit from the air, pulling it on. "There."

  Tassin nodded and moved back into his embrace, cursing the helmets that kept them apart. Once more the soft beep marked the passage of time, but now there was a hiss of air each time she drew a breath. She prayed to whatever gods might be listening to send a ship to save them, and silently called out to the sword to rescue her. Sabre continued to pant, and she became aware of it after a while, glancing up at him.

  "Why hasn't your breathing slowed down?"

  "I've got the oxygen turned down, so it will last longer."

  "You'd better not be lying to me."

  "It's the truth."

  She held him tighter. "Talk to me. I don't want to spend our last hours in silence."

  "That uses more air."

  "What difference does it make now? No one's coming."

  "What would you like to know?"

  "Anything you'd like to tell me."

  He shrugged. "There isn't much you don't already know."

  "There's lots I don't know."

  "You mean my life before you met me? I don't want to talk about that."

  "What would we have done if this hadn't happened?"

  "We'd have gone back to Omega Five."

  She sighed. "And lived happily ever after."

  "Something like that."

  "Tell me."

  "I don't know. Whatever people do, I suppose. Had a farm, raised some animals and vegetables, ridden in the forest, swum in the lake. Most of all just sat in the sun and relaxed. Gone fishing perhaps; I hear that's relaxing."

  "It's boring." She smiled. "And you don't like water."

  "I'm not afraid of it. I can swim perfectly well, unless I’m dragging a hysterical female who's trying to get us both drowned."

  She snorted. "I was not hysterical."

  "Really, what would you call it then?"

  "Scared."

  "Okay. I hope you've learnt to swim since then."

  "Yes, I have. Although the lake by the castle is cold year-round, so it wasn't much fun. And my master-at-arms was horrified with the idea, especially since I paid a local fisherman to teach me. Arlin has no coastline, so there are few people who know how to swim. Dena learnt, too. She enjoyed it far more, although I think her greatest pleasure was splashing me."

  He chuckled. "I bet she's grown into a lovely young woman."

  "Yes, she has. She's an excellent princess, and spends a lot of time ministering to the poor, which has made her very popular. She'd make a good queen, but, unfortunat
ely, my cousin will inherit."

  "Hey, it's not over yet. Tell me more about Arlin, and Dena."

  "She missed you terribly, you know. The way you left, without even saying goodbye, really hurt her. She wept for days, so I'm told, while I was out looking for you."

  "I did say goodbye." His voice grew husky. "But she was asleep. I thought it would be easier for her, having a reason to resent me."

  "Well it didn't work. She loved you too much to resent you."

  Sabre pushed them away from the wall again. "It was easier for me. I didn't want to go through the ordeal of a tearful parting. It might have undermined my determination to leave. That was hard to do, you know. I wanted to stay so much, but I wanted to spare you the pain of seeing me put into that casket even more."

  "Were you angry when I found you?"

  "Angry and glad. I longed to see you again, and it was wonderful when you came. And when you wanted to attack Manutim..." He chuckled. "That was really dumb."

  "I couldn't just sit there and do nothing. At least I would have proved to myself that I couldn't save you, otherwise it would have haunted me. It did haunt me, after he took you. I kept thinking what if… what if I’d been able to kill him… you could have taken his ship, and then returned when it was safe."

  He shook his head. "It wouldn’t have worked, but that you were willing to try made me feel important, and special. I was grateful for that."

  "I'll never forgive Manutim."

  "What did you do, after I left?"

  She shrugged. "Cried a lot."

  "That's not what I meant."

  "After I stopped crying, I started hunting for that damned sword. I knew it was my only hope of finding you. I appointed several advisors to deal with less important matters of state. I was too distracted to be bothered with it. Torrian made a few threats and caused a bit of trouble on the border, so I sent some troops to keep him happy. All the other kings kept very quiet, and, of course, none of them knew you were gone."

  He rubbed her shoulder. "It must have been hard."

  "It was, but mostly all I could think about was what was happening to you, and how terrible it must be for you. I wish you hadn't hidden the sword. If I'd taken it with me the day Manutim came, I could have stopped him."

  "You couldn't trust that thing. It might just as easily have killed you."

  "He might have taken it in trade for you, since it was so valuable."

  "So many ifs and maybes... It's no good regretting it now."

  "I know." She rested her helmet’s visor against his shoulder. "I just wish things had been different. We could have been so happy..."

  Tassin told him how she had taken Dena to the clearing where the spaceship had landed, because the girl had wanted to see it. She told him about finding the sword, and travelling to Ferrinon to find him. How she had met Kole and found Sabre with the smugglers. A red light flashed inside Tassin's helmet, distracting her, and she realised that a lot of time had passed. He continued to pant, and, when she placed her hand on his chest, she found that his heart was racing.

  "Sabre, what does this red light mean?"

  He appeared to shake himself from a daze, and glanced down at her. "It's your oxygen supply..." He paused, gasping. "It's finished."

  Releasing her, he unclipped his helmet and pulled it off, then unclipped hers.

  "What are you doing?"

  "I'm giving you mine, what do you think?"

  "But it must be finished too, and anyway, it's yours!"

  He shook his head. "I haven't been using it. You have another six hours."

  "No!" The despair she had kept at bay with her meaningless prattle for so long overwhelmed her. "You said... No, I don't want you to die."

  "Neither do I, but it seems to be inevitable. This will just buy you some more time, and a little more hope."

  "No!" She pushed him away, sending herself crashing into the wall. Lances of pain flashed from her ribs, making her gasp and clutch them. Sabre drifted over to her and tried to put the helmet on her again, but she slapped his hands away. He let the helmet drift and grabbed her wrists, even as her straining lungs sent alarm signals to her brain and a wave of dizziness washed over her.

  "Don't be silly. You can't fight me, and you'll pass out in a minute. You can't survive in this atmosphere."

  "Put the helmet on. I want to die in your arms, not alone."

  "Oh, and you really think I want to watch you die?"

  A red haze clouded her vision, and her strength drained away. Sabre clipped the helmet onto her suit, and fresh air rushed into her lungs. She studied him. His skin was abnormally pale, and his lips were tinged with blue.

  "Share it with me, please."

  He shook his head. "No. I'll still be here in six hours."

  "You don't look so good."

  "I don't feel so good, either, but that's beside the point. The cyber is doing marvellous things with my body. It's been burning sugar for quite some time now, releasing the reserves from my liver and slowing down my metabolism."

  "How much longer can you survive?"

  He shrugged. "I don't know. A while, probably."

  "You were almost dead when I found you in that room in the mutant city, and that was after only twelve hours or so."

  "I wasn't actually, I was just... unconscious, but that was because I'd been exerting myself trying to get out. This time I'm relaxed, so the cyber's been able to make adjustments."

  Sabre pushed himself away from the wall, and Tassin found herself drifting past him towards the same wall. She recalled that while they had been talking they had ended up resting against that wall, after Sabre had given up fending it off. It seemed as if gravity was returning in a small way, and she cast him a puzzled look.

  "Why do we keep drifting to this wall?"

  "Do we?" He frowned, looking confused. "Yeah, I guess we have been. It can only be a gravity well."

  "What's that?"

  "It means we're close to something big. A planet or star."

  Her heart leapt. "Isn't that good?"

  "Not if it's a star. We may just be passing it, though, the chances of us -"

  "Is there anything you can do?"

  He looked vague, and turned to the wrecked panel, flicking a switch. "I guess I could switch on the autopilot."

  "What will that do?"

  "Well, if we're close enough, and if it's not a star, it will... should be able to get us on an entry vector..."

  The pod lurched, and it seemed as if it spun, although it was hard to tell, since Tassin was floating in the middle of it. The floor rushed towards her, and she would have hit it hard if Sabre had not fielded her in time and imposed himself, cushioning the impact. She ended up lying on top of him, her ribs aching as he supported her shoulders. A muted roaring filled the pod, which vibrated.

  "What's happening?" she asked.

  He eased her onto the floor beside him and sat up. "The retro rockets have fired. Evidently whatever's out there is a suitable landing place. Doesn't mean it's suitable to live on, though."

  "This autopilot thing, is it like the cyber?"

  He snorted. "Hell no. It's little more than an overgrown calculator."

  "But it's going to land us?"

  "It's going to try."

  "How does it know it's safe?"

  "It doesn't. It has primitive scanners, little better than old-fashioned radar, and it's weighed and measured its target, using a set of parameters to determine that it's a planet, not a sun, and it's solid. Other than that, it's pretty ignorant. We could land in a volcano for all it cares." He rubbed his brow. "No, I'm exaggerating. It wouldn't do that. It can identify large formations and detect whether it's an ice planet or a molten one, but not if there's food available or if the atmosphere's breathable. It can only determine that once it's entered the atmosphere."

  "What about the cyber?"

  "By the time we're within two kilometres, it will be far too late."

  "But there's a chance?"

&n
bsp; "Yeah."

  Joy washed through her. "That's wonderful! Now you can share the helmet."

  "No. It's going to take at least five hours of braking to bring us to re-entry speed, and another hour or so to get down. You'll be lucky if you make it."

  "What about you?"

  "I'll be fine," he said.

  "Tell me the truth."

  "I am. What difference does it make, anyway? You might make it."

  "How long do you think I'll survive on a strange planet without you? If there are animals, they might be dangerous, and if there aren't there might be no food that I can find, or identify. I need you to survive."

  "I'll do my best, okay? But if I share your air, you won't, so drop it."

  Tassin slumped, unable to argue with his logic. "I wonder how Tarl and Kernan are doing."

  "Hopefully better than us."

  "Do you think they'll land on the same planet?"

  "Maybe, if their pod was also hit by debris. We were very close to the ship when it blew up, so it’s possible."

  "How will we land? Does this thing have... whatever makes air-cars float?"

  "Repulsors. No. That technology wasn't invented a hundred and thirty years ago. It has retro-revolution antigravity."

  "What's that?"

  “I’d rather not explain it now, talking uses air,” he said.

  Sabre looked irritable, and she realised that he suffered from the same thing she had earlier, which made him aggressive. His chest heaved, and he clearly found talking difficult. Considering how bad she had felt after being in the pod’s toxic atmosphere for just a few moments, she could not imagine how much he must be suffering, after breathing it for so many hours. After several minutes he took her hand, and she moved closer to slip her arms around him.

  Tassin raised her head to study Sabre's face, her concern for him growing acute. His eyes were closed and he breathed in deep gasps through blue lips. The roaring of the retro-rockets went on and on, the pod vibrating. How much time had passed? Three hours? Four? It did not look like he was going to last much longer, and she wondered what she could do. The temptation to share her air with him was overwhelming. She had no wish to survive him, anyway.

  Turning away, she groped for the helmet's release catch, snapped it open and took a deep breath before she pulled it off. Slipping it over his head, she clipped it to his atmosphere suit's collar and waited, holding her breath. Colour rushed back into his skin, turning his lips a healthy shade of pink. His eyes opened wide, and he stopped breathing while he found the catch and released it. He pulled the helmet off and placed it over her head again.