The Cyber Chronicles V - Overlord

by T C Southwell

  He frowned. "That's not ethical."

  "Ramadaus has sworn to kill him."

  "Ramadaus is involved in this too? How many Overlords does it take to worry about a single man?"

  "Quite a few, by the looks of it,” she said. “Why are you involved?"

  "Premier Alrade claims that you kidnapped him, and it sounds like you did. Overlords don't do that."

  She sipped her wine. "We do as we please."

  "We don't break the law. Unless he's committed a crime you can't hold him, and if he has you must punish him."

  "I'm saving his life."

  "It's his choice to live or die, not yours."

  Ravian moved away, miffed. "You're going to lecture me now? How old are you again?"

  "My age has nothing to do with it. I know the law."

  "Do you also know loneliness?"

  He averted his eyes. "Yes. But if you want a companion, choose a willing one."

  "There's nothing you can do about it, so you're wasting your time."

  Fairen sighed. "Do you remember why I've got a reputation as a hothead?"

  "Of course, you get away with murder because you're so young, and there's no one to replace you."

  "I've just destroyed two planets."

  "Why?" she asked.

  "They were infected with a deadly plague, and they refused to impose quarantine, but were allowing infected people to flee to uninfected worlds. One of those worlds asked for my help. I forbade them to allow any more people to leave. They disobeyed. Now there's no more plague."

  "What are you insinuating?"

  "I want to speak to this man,” he said, “and if he's your prisoner, I will take him from you."

  "You're threatening me?"

  "Call it what you will."

  Ravian giggled. "Oh Fairen, you're such a child. This is none of your concern. He's only one man, and you've just killed billions."

  "I had good reason to do what I did, as I have to do this. They were going to die anyway, and you can't break the law."

  "Apart from that wretched girl, no one cares what I do with him."

  "I do."

  She eyed him, annoyed. "Ramadaus wasn't prepared to go against me. Are you sure you want to?"

  "Compared to me, Ramadaus is a gentleman. He would have blockaded those worlds and destroyed any ships that tried to leave. I don't bother with things like that."

  I know. Your reputation is fearsome." She pouted. "And you're just a baby."

  "Take me to this man."

  "He's unconscious." She moved closer and put a hand on his arm. "Let's not fight over him."

  Fairen jerked away. "Don't do that."

  Ravian picked up her wine glass. "You're a silly boy."

  An officer entered and bowed. "Overlord Ravian, the cyber has awoken. He's having fits."

  Fairen stood up. "Let's go and see him."

  "He's having fits."

  "Then give him a drug. I want to see him now."

  She glared at him, but put down her glass and rose. "I've already told you that he's reluctant. Why do you want to speak to him?"

  "Because I do."

  "Fine." She headed for the door, Fairen following.

  Outside Sabre's cell, she touched the panel beside the steel door and it slid open. The cyber lay on the hard bunk at the back of the room. Sweat sheened his brow, and his chest heaved. The seizures had stopped, but he looked exhausted. Fairen approached the shimmering blue force field, and Ravian switched it off with a curse before he touched it. He stopped beside the bunk and studied Sabre, his gaze lingering on the trickles of blood that ran down the cyber's brow. Sabre sat up, eyeing the boy.

  "What's wrong with you?" Fairen enquired.

  Sabre glanced at Ravian. "She sedated me. Sometimes when I fall unconscious the cyber re-establishes control, and I had to free myself again."

  "You do this at will?"

  "Yes, it's damaged."

  "How intriguing. Are you a prisoner here?"

  Sabre gestured to the cell. "As you see. I wanted to leave, but she put me in here."

  "A simple ‘yes’ or ‘no' will suffice."

  "Yes."

  Fairen cocked his head, and the strong lights caught his eyes and made them glow. "Then you are now free. Your planetary leader is on her way here."

  "My... Oh. Thank you." Sabre looked at Ravian again. "How are you able to release me?"

  "I am Overlord Fairen."

  Sabre blinked, patently surprised. "I'm honoured to meet you."

  Fairen smiled. "Of course you are."

  "I thought Overlords were equals."

  "We are, but I am not to be trifled with, and my peers know it. You are impertinent. Have you a name?"

  "Sabre."

  "We will go to my ship,” Fairen said. “Do not attempt to use violence in my presence. Overlord Ravian's crew will not try to stop me, and I don't think she will be foolish enough to do anything herself."

  "May I ask why you're helping me?"

  Fairen shrugged. "Ravian broke the law, and because I can."

  "Fairen enjoys using his power, and the greater the challenge, the better," Ravian said, frowning. "Humiliating a peer must be the highlight of your week, Fairen. Even better than destroying planets."

  "In a way."

  "You're a spoilt brat, drunk on power."

  Fairen turned to face her. "I've only done what needed to be done."

  "No other Overlord would have bothered. You do this just to humiliate me."

  "You humiliated yourself, keeping a man prisoner as your companion. How pathetic is that?"

  "When you grow up, loneliness will take on a whole new meaning. Then computer games and killing billions won't suffice anymore."

  "I still won't have to imprison someone to keep me company."

  Ravian glared at him. "No. Unfortunately you won't."

  Chapter Eight

  Fairen headed for the door, and Sabre rose to follow him. Ravian watched them leave with deep frown. All the way through the silk-hung corridors to the docking port, Sabre expected some form of attack. Fairen was right, however. Apparently Ravian did not dare to go against him, and Sabre wondered if he had jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. Ravian's crewmen bowed low to Fairen and parted the silken curtains that covered the doors along their route. They arrived in a colossal hangar lined with dumpy cargo ships and bustling with busy crewmen.

  A sleek scarlet shuttle stood on landing skids in the middle of it, a black scorpion emblem emblazoned on its side. Several black and gold-uniformed soldiers stood beside the steps that led into the craft, and snapped to attention when Fairen reached them. He nodded to them and mounted the steps, leading Sabre into a luxurious interior with deep grey carpets and sleek white walls. Fairen entered a plush sitting room decorated in shades of grey and sank down on a salmon-pink couch. He gestured for Sabre to sit on the settee opposite. Three screens in one wall gave a view of the dock outside, where Ravian's men filed out prior to depressurisation.

  The flight to Fairen's ship was achieved in silence. The boy concentrated on a tiny hand-held com-unit, and Sabre gazed out at the crimson ship that filled the screens, wondering what was in store for him next. When they landed in the Scorpion Ship's cavernous docking hangar, with its complement of cargo ships and shuttles, Fairen disembarked and marched off without a backward glance. Sabre would have followed, but a crewman stepped into his path and gestured for Sabre to accompany him. The man showed the cyber to a bare grey room equipped with a bunk, a table, a chair and a bathroom, and told him to wait.

  Whatever else Fairen was, Sabre mused, curiosity did not appear to be amongst his traits. He welcomed the boy's efficiency, however, and deduced that he strived to appear aloof and incurious to combat the negative impression of his extreme youth. He wondered if Ravian would still enforce her order to Myon Two, and pondered afresh the reasons for her allowing Fairen to take him without resistance. It seemed to indicate that Fairen was more respected than most, an
d her mention of his killing billions was probably a clue.

  Several hours later, a crewman came to inform him that Overlord Fairen wished to see him, delivering the message in a manner that told Sabre it was not a request. He followed the man through a maze of smooth black corridors with grey carpets and luminous white ceilings. The many doors that lined the passages had glowing red frames, and the overall impression was fairly daunting. Fairen awaited him in a massive black room with four circular portals that gave a view of an alien star field. Crimson lights glowed behind the thin black curtains that hung against the walls at regular intervals, giving the room a hellish ambience, and four unlighted, pedestal-mounted torches surrounded a shallow dais. The boy sat in a carved onyx chair inlaid with serpentine patterns of gold intermingled with precious stones, which looked a lot like a throne. It dwarfed the young Overlord, and overhead lighting threw deep shadows across his face. Sabre stopped in front of the dais and bowed.

  Fairen regarded him for several moments. "Your planetary leader has arrived. Her mode of transport leaves much to be desired."

  "We encountered some problems on our travels."

  "Yes, the enforcers. It seems you have many powerful enemies. Myon Two wants your capture, doubtless so they can experiment on you, and Overlord Ramadaus wants to execute you for being what he calls 'an abomination'. He has judged you, and claims that you are a danger to society."

  "He's wrong. I just want to be left in peace."

  Fairen shrugged. "Two Overlords have judged you now. One finds you innocent, the other guilty. You are the centre of a controversy. Both are waiting for me to release you so they can capture you."

  "You told Ramadaus you have me?"

  "As a matter of courtesy."

  "Are you going to judge me too?"

  Fairen shook his head. "You have been judged quite enough, and I have no interest in your fate."

  "But you forced Ravian to release me."

  "She broke the law by keeping you prisoner when she had judged you to be innocent."

  "So you're just going to let her recapture me?"

  The boy laced his fingers. "No. Ramadaus has a legitimate claim on you, she doesn't."

  "You're going to hand me over to Ramadaus."

  "No. I take no interest in his judgements, but if he captures you I will not intervene. If Ravian does, I shall, but she knows this, so she won't try." He sighed and looked down at his hands. "It's hard to be impartial."

  "You're doing a good job." Sabre considered. "So you're just going to let Ramadaus grab me as soon as you release me?"

  "Yes."

  "But you'll prevent Ravian from taking me."

  "Yes. Unless you decide that you wish to stay with her. There's a limit to how much I can do against my peers. I am only concerned with Ravian breaking our laws. Apart from that, I will not concern myself with the fate of one man."

  "I see. Is there any way I could change Ramadaus' judgement? He didn't read me as Ravian did; he decided to kill me based purely on Atrashka's opinion. His reasons were selfish. He was trying to force Ravian to change her order that cyber hosts should not be caused unnecessary pain. I'm not the reason for their dispute, just a pawn in it. If you judge me, surely that would hold some weight with Ramadaus?"

  The boy rose and stepped down from the dais, clasping his hands behind his back as he approached Sabre. "What do you know about me?"

  "Only the cyber's historical data."

  Fairen nodded. "As I thought. I was taken from my family when I was just four years old, and I'm the most powerful empath of all the Overlords. They call me the Wild Child, for I tend to shoot first and ask questions later. It's a character flaw. I seldom read people, their touch disgusts me. I see them too clearly, and too deeply.

  "I find other Overlords especially repugnant. They're filled with the smug satisfaction of their high station, coupled with the terrible loneliness we all suffer from. If Ramadaus based his judgement upon the opinion of another and his own personal wishes, he was in error."

  He stopped in front of Sabre. "If I judge you and find you innocent, Ramadaus will be out voted, but that won't stop him from capturing you if he chooses to disregard my judgement as well as Ravian's. Only a vote of all the Overlords can bind one of us, and that's not going to happen for one man. If, however, I find you dangerous to society, I will execute you myself. Are you prepared to take that risk?"

  "I know what I am, but if it does me no good, I don't see the point."

  Fairen shrugged. "Ramadaus might accept my judgement."

  "So if you don't judge me, my death is a certainty, and if you do, I might survive."

  "Basically, yes."

  "Then judge me."

  Fairen frowned, considering, then removed his right glove, tucking it away in a pocket. He met Sabre's eyes. "The last time I read a criminal, it gave me nightmares for a month."

  "I thought Overlords didn't concern themselves with individuals."

  "We don't. We read people to decide the fate of millions. That particular criminal was a planetary leader, and my judgement of him saved his world and brought about his execution."

  "How so?"

  "He was corrupt," Fairen said. "A madman with a heart of ice. It was like touching evil. The crimes committed by his people at his instigation, namely piracy and slavery, were due to his leadership. After he was removed, his world became peaceful and moral."

  "Why did Ravian allow you to take me without resistance?"

  Fairen smiled. "She could do nothing. We don't use physical violence against each other, and our crewmen will not harm another Overlord. Ramadaus could not take you because it's forbidden for us to bring our crewmen onto another Overlord's ship."

  "I see."

  "Now I will judge you." The boy raised his hand and held it before Sabre's face, his eyes becoming distant. For several minutes he stood unmoving and expressionless, then he lowered his hand and his eyes focussed upon Sabre once more. "Interesting."

  "What?"

  Fairen turned away. "You are indeed impertinent, Sabre. You have not once used my title, and you ask questions of me as if you're my equal. But now I understand why. Sharing your emotions was like walking in a stiff mountain breeze, which I've enjoyed upon occasion. Refreshing. Untainted. You're a killer who hates to kill. A man who feels like a machine. You feel love, but you don't understand it. You feel hate, but you reject it. You are, to all intents and purposes, a blank slate. Never before have I read someone without a hint of corruption or selfishness in them." He faced the cyber again. "I find you innocent."

  "Thank you."

  "This is why Ravian wants to keep you. She is attracted to you because of it. She couldn't read you as deeply as I can, so she doesn't know that your love for this girl is too profound to ever be overcome."

  Sabre raised his brows. "It is?"

  "Yes. And you would be a lot happier if you just gave in to those feelings instead of trying to hide them away under the inadequacy and emotional conditioning you learnt as a cyber host."

  "How do you know what Ravian feels for me?"

  "She touched me." Fairen went over to a pale circle on the floor, one of a ring of seven in front of his dais. Clasping his hands before him, he said, "Request contact with Overlord Ramadaus."

  Sabre glanced around at the empty room, wondering who Fairen was giving the order to. Evidently someone was listening, for a few moments later a shaft of golden light engulfed him. A second appeared on the circle nearest to him, forming a glowing pillar. Ramadaus appeared in the light, and turned the face the boy.

  "Greetings, Ramadaus."

  "Fairen. How are you?"

  "Well enough. I have judged the free cyber, and I find him innocent."

  Sabre watched Ramadaus, surprised by Fairen's casual and abrupt announcement. The older Overlord's face stiffened a little, as if it surprised him, too. "So, you're against me in this."

  "Yes. You should have read him."

  "I did not see the need. He's not entir
ely human. He's just a clone created to serve a machine, and has no rights."

  Fairen tilted his head. "I judge him to be human, and entitled to all the rights of a free man."

  "Do you intend to protect him?"

  "If you execute him, you'll be going against my judgement as well as Ravian's. That wouldn't be wise."

  "We all judge as we see fit."

  "You didn't read him, and that's required."

  Ramadaus frowned. "I'm not required to read a thing that's nothing more than a biological tool created to -"

  "Serve a machine," Fairen finished for him. "So you've already said."

  "You can't prevent me from carrying out my judgement."

  "That's true, up to a point. But, should I receive a plea from a planetary leader to save an innocent from unjust execution by an Overlord, I may choose to answer her."

  "So you intend to protect him."

  Fairen spread his hands. "Perhaps."

  "What is it about this abomination that has stripped two Overlords of their good sense?"

  "Read him and find out."

  Ramadaus nodded. "We shall see."

  Fairen stepped out of the pillar of light, and a moment later the two faded away, taking Ramadaus with them. Walking back to his huge throne, Fairen flung himself into it and regarded Sabre pensively.

  "He doesn't wish to read you because then he'll never be able to think of his cybers as mere machines again. This doesn't sit well with him. He draws almost all his entertainment from them in one form or another. Ramadaus has a penchant for violence."

  "A strange trait for an empath."

  "He's the weakest of us in that regard, something that irks him greatly. It makes him a moderate Overlord, ever erring on the side of caution, while I am the most extreme, and inclined to make sweeping judgements that result in many deaths. Odd, isn't it?"

  Sabre shrugged. "I suppose so, but since I have trouble understanding my feelings, I'm a poor judge of those who do."

  "Your conditioning and training have given you profound logic, the most powerful of all mental tools, and as yet you are barely sullied with the turmoil that comes when emotions play a part in our decisions. I like that about you, though it stems from a painful past."