The Cyber Chronicles VIII - Scorpion Lord

by T C Southwell

  "It wasn't her fault!"

  "Did he seem dangerous?"

  "How should I know? These people are nuts."

  Sabre stepped into the booth. "I'll get her back after I send my message."

  Martis fumed as Sabre shut the door in his face. Three girls approached him, and he retreated until his back was pressed to the side of the booth, raising his hands. Their faces were painted to resemble cats, and they wore fur bikinis with long fluffy tails. Martis yelped as they pressed against him, ran their hands over him and purred. One licked his cheek as the large woman had done. Another unfastened his shirt, and he fastened it again as her hands moved down it.

  "Uh, you ladies shouldn't be doing this, you know,” he said. “I really don't want to play."

  "Sure you do," she purred, smiling. "Everybody plays at the Feline Festival."

  "No, not me, I'm... I'm here on business, really."

  "You're in Festival Street, you play."

  "I - we just needed to use the Net booth."

  The cat girl smiled, revealing pointed canines. "Lots of Net booths outside Festival Street."

  "Yeah, well, this one was empty. Please don't do that."

  Martis yelped as another girl bit his earlobe, trying to wriggle free. They had him pinned, and his efforts to push them away only brought his hands into contact with soft areas that made him snatch them back. The girls giggled and purred, nibbled and stroked him, running their fingers through his hair. He jerked back as one groped below his belt, banging his behind against the plasti-glass booth.

  Sabre glanced around in annoyance at a thud on the side of the booth, surprised to find Martis pressed against it, three girls doing their best to pull off his clothes. He stared at them in surprise, then turned back to the screen, where information scrolled past at a speed that only a machine-trained mind could read. He searched the vast universal database for two names, Kole Arvan and Vershasen Korazon. The scrolling data froze when he found Kole's name, and he activated the contact interface and sent a brief message, then continued to search for Shasen.

  More thuds and yelps from outside came through the plasti-glass, and he looked around again. Martis was now partially unclothed, his shirt undone and pulled off one shoulder, a girl licking his chest. Sabre watched them, intrigued. He turned back to the screen as it beeped, finding Shasen's name. A red word flashed beside it. ‘Deceased’. Cursing, he closed the connection and deactivated the cyber, covering it with the strip of silk before he opened the door and stepped out. Martis gave a yell of relief and tried to struggle free as Sabre faced him.

  One of the girls spotted the cyber, licked her lips and smiled as she walked closer with hip-swaying grace. She reached for him, but his hand flashed up and gripped her wrist hard enough to make her hiss, and her smile vanished.

  Sabre shook his head. "No touching. I bite."

  The girl stepped back, and he released her. He took hold of the other two girls’ tails, pulled them away from Martis and tied their tails together. The young tech looked relieved and tugged his shirt closed as the girls tried to untie their tails. Sabre walked away, checking the scanners for Estrelle's life sign, which had moved deeper into the melee. Martis fell into step beside him, fastening his shirt.

  "Did you send your message?"

  "Yeah."

  "Who to?"

  "An acquaintance."

  "Will he help?"

  Sabre inclined his head. "I think so. I doubt he'll pass up a chance to contact an Overlord."

  "And if he doesn't?"

  "Then I'll have to steal a ship."

  "Okay. So where's Estrelle?"

  "Up ahead."

  A woman stepped into Sabre's path and reached for him with a smile. He sidestepped her, and Martis fell prey instead. He tried to fend her off while Sabre waited, looking impatient. The cyber stepped up behind the woman, who released Martis with an indignant yelp and swung around. Sabre was already striding away, and Martis trotted after him.

  "What did you do to her?"

  The cyber shrugged. "Pinched her."

  Martis chuckled, then jumped sideways as two youths accosted him from the side, avoiding them. Sabre looked around as he caught up again.

  "You're learning."

  "These people are nuts! This is something called the Feline Festival. Apparently it's a free for all."

  "Evidently." Sabre stopped as a throng of pompom-waving girls ran across his path, some doing flick-flacks, then walked on. Martis stayed close to him, jerked free of grasping hands and yelped when girls pinched his bottom. Someone patted his cheek from behind, and he ducked, rubbing it as a stinging sensation pulsed from the spot. Sabre evaded a similar attempt to pat him, elbowed the offender and sent him staggering away into the crowd.

  Moments later, Martis' vision clouded. The light became soft and hazy, the colours bright and smeared together. A strange floating sensation invaded him, making him euphoric. He grabbed Sabre's arm as he staggered, his legs rubbery.

  "I've been drugged," he mumbled, hanging onto the cyber.

  "Great." Sabre frowned, scanned the street and headed for a building beside them, hung with flashing neon signs and erotic pictures. Martis reeled along behind the cyber, who towed him by his wrist into the dark confines of a bead-hung doorway. The stench of narcotic smoke filled the air. Sabre led him deeper into the drug den, pushed open a door and pulled him into a room strewn with cushions. Martis flopped onto them with a groan, and Sabre swung away.

  "Stay here."

  Back on the street, Sabre avoided a fat woman in a purple leotard and headed for Estrelle's location, moving faster without Martis. He passed through a fruit fight and a group of fire eaters, entering an area covered with plastic pools filled with bright jelly. Naked people played in them, and he paused to watch their antics, fascinated. They seemed to enjoy the slippery groping, and he wondered what the attraction was, tilting his head with a frown. A girl stepped in front of him and tried to unfasten his uniform. He shoved her away, turned and strode into the crowd.

  Someone grabbed his arm, and he swung around. A lovely girl with ebon hair and dark blue eyes smiled at him. His heart leapt and pounded, and he froze, allowing her to step closer and slip her arms around his waist. A soft mist settled on the crowd, sprayed from above. He looked up, disliking its scent, which told him it was a powerful narcotic. He pushed the girl away as her eyes rolled back and her face went slack. All around him the crowd sank down, piled together, squirming and laughing. Wherever he tried to step he found soft flesh. Hands gripped his ankles, and he tottered, tugging them free.

  People yelped when he stepped on them on his mission to move out of the drugged zone. Picking his way through the writhing, moaning revellers, he reached the edge and plunged back into the crowd, wiping the moisture from his face. It soaked his clothes and ran down his back. People glanced at him with startled expressions, and he realised that the brow band's lights now shone through the wet silk, and switched it off. He forged through the crowd towards Estrelle, who was not far ahead.

  Emerging into a less crowded area covered with an immense mattress, he spotted Estrelle lying topless in the arms of a hairy man, engaged in a passionate kiss. He pushed the man aside and scooped her up, breaking her hold on the stranger. She latched onto Sabre, wound her arms around his neck and tried to kiss him, and he jerked his head up to avoid her. Hoisting her over his shoulder, he headed back towards the drug den. Estrelle pushed a hand down the neck of his overall and stroked his back. He bounced her, making her grunt, but she only renewed her efforts. He moved to the side of the street, where doorways offered sanctuary from the mob.

  Dumping her on her feet, he caught her as she staggered back, holding her away when she reached for him. Sabre tried to tow her along, but she staggered and fell, saved from skinning her knees by his grip on her wrist. He pulled her upright, and she grabbed him, pressing against him.

  "Bugger it," he muttered, hoisting her over his shoulder again. The establishments that l
ined the road dealt in erotica, and men accosted him as he strode past, offering him the delights within. As he brushed past them, one sprayed a cloud of perfume in his face. It made him sneeze, his eyes watering. A few minutes later he realised he had been sprayed with something other than perfume, and it was causing some strange sensations. There was not much a cyber was not immune to, and he wondered what it was. It did not impair his judgement or co-ordination, but avoiding people was more difficult with his burden.

  On the other hand, not so many tried to accost him while he carried Estrelle, although her groping hand down his back was annoying. People squirted bright liquid over each other, some catching the stuff in their mouths, and several shots hit him. By the time he reached the drug den, he was irritable, sticky and thoroughly fed up with Estrelle's fondling. Pushing through the bead curtains, he yanked open the door to Martis' room, entered and locked it, then dumped Estrelle on the cushions. He sank down with his back to the wall and soaked up the peace and quiet.

  Estrelle crawled over to him and tried to climb onto his lap, and he held her at bay with a hand on her shoulder. Martis lifted his head and groaned, raising a hand in greeting.

  "You found her."

  "Yeah. How are you feeling?"

  "It's starting to wear off, I think."

  Sabre jerked his head aside as Estrelle tried to hook her fingers into his brow band. Lifting his foot, he placed it on her chest and gave her a good shove that sent her flopping back onto the cushions with a grunt. Martis glanced at her, shooting Sabre a frown.

  "What's wrong with her?"

  "Drugged."

  Estrelle crawled back towards Sabre, who placed his foot on her shoulder and shoved her away again. Martis sat up and rubbed his head.

  "Hey, take it easy."

  "I've had just about enough of her for one day."

  Martis grabbed Estrelle as she headed for Sabre again. She latched onto him and tried to kiss him. The young tech flushed with embarrassment, fended her off and pinned her down.

  "What happened to her shirt?"

  Sabre shrugged. "How should I know?"

  Martis took off his shirt and put it on Estrelle, who continued to try to hug and kiss him. Holding her down, he studied Sabre.

  "Did you get drugged too?"

  "I think so."

  "What do you feel?"

  "Weird."

  Martis pondered. "There aren’t many drugs that will work on a cyber, but, given where we are and the few that do, I'd say it's probably an aphrodisiac."

  "It's not affecting me too badly."

  "Affecting you? You mean impairing your fighting abilities?"

  "Yeah."

  Martis shook his head, prying Estrelle's hand out of his hair. "You've got to stop thinking like a cyber. Try to relax. This is something you're supposed to enjoy."

  "Well I'm not. It's irritating."

  "Okay, it's probably too soon. You - Ow!" Martis yelped as Estrelle yanked his head down with a hank of his hair and kissed him.

  Sabre watched them, tilting his head, then looked away with a snort. The sight of them increased the strange sensations, and he stared at the ceiling, trying to distract himself by switching on the brow band. The familiar tactical information calmed him, and he glanced down again when Martis extricated himself, his hair sticking out.

  "This would be fun, if there were no drugs involved," he muttered, gazing at Estrelle. "She's been given an aphrodisiac too, but I had a euphoric, mixed with a hallucinogenic, I think."

  "We've got to get off this damned planet."

  "We'd have been okay if we'd avoided the Feline Festival."

  "How was I to know?"

  "You weren't, of course," Martis said.

  "Now we're stuck here until it calms down outside."

  "Or until the drugs wear off. The festival could go on for days. Hell, it could even be a permanent thing."

  "I don't think so."

  "Still, it will probably be a while, so we should get some rest."

  Sabre sighed and stretched out on the cushions. "Just keep her the hell away from me."

  "No problem."

  ****

  Kole Arvan glanced up from his lunch as the screen in front of him beeped, alerting him to an incoming message. Setting aside his half eaten pre-prepared meal, he leant forward to tap on the keyboard, and read the missive with growing amazement, raising his brows.

  "Bloody hell. Sabre? Now there's a guy I never thought I'd hear from again," he muttered to no one in particular, since he was alone. "Me send a message to Overlord Fairen? Don't be daft, old pal. Trapped on Eden Five, hey? Well that's a world most people would love to be trapped on, though not with Myon Two after them. Those guys never give up, do they?"

  Kole sat back in the plush contoured chair and picked up a small, hissing medicine ball that provided his only entertainment, tossed into the air and caught it again. He wondered if Tassin was still with Sabre, but doubted it. She must be tired of him by now. She should have more sense, but who knew? He frowned at the screen. He would have thought he was the last person the cyber would ask for help. Odd. Sabre must be desperate.

  Kole tossed the ball again, pondering, then let his eyes wander around at the cramped, dingy computer room with its rows of consoles and screens and pulled a face. Maybe some adventure would not be a bad thing. Since he had parted ways with Sabre and Tassin, life had not treated him well. The government of Ferrinon Four had eventually traced and confiscated all his funds, although he had retrieved Striker. He now made a living as a sentinel, guarding a large company's supercomputer from hackers on a remote mining colony on the Rim. Edge Seven was a bleak, cheerless chunk of rock orbiting an ailing red giant due to go supernova in a few years. While the miners stripped the planet of its mineral wealth, he and his fellow sentinel stood guard over the massive AI that ran the refinery. Despite its numerous security measures and firewalls, bored rich kids with cybers still tried to sabotage anything they could gain access to, and the refinery was a dangerous place if it malfunctioned. Cyber attacks were swift and hard to defend against, and required the ingenuity of a first-rate computer boffin to counteract.

  Basically, all he could do was identify the threat before any damage was done and throw up several emergency firewalls, then disconnect from the Net by jamming the signal until the kid grew bored and moved on to an easier target. The tricky part was identifying the threat, since the AI was in constant contact with several off-planet company facilities, and could not identify the machine code intrusion of a cyber. Once, out of curiosity and boredom, he had tried to counter the attack himself and send a virus to the computer the cyber was using, but had lost the battle in a few seconds. Fortunately, the jammer had cut off the attacker’s access before much damage was done, but several important data files had been corrupted and his boss had not been pleased.

  The job was boring but the pay was good, and he had saved up a bit of capital, with nothing to spend it on. Striker was in orbit, fully fuelled. All he had to do was resign and leave. He could be at Eden Five in twelve hours. Kole tossed the ball. Life had certainly been exciting with Sabre around, perhaps a little too exciting. He would like to see Tassin again. He still thought of her a lot. Sending a message to an Overlord sounded like a really bad idea, though. They were scary guys, inclined to shoot first and ask questions later. It seemed odd that Sabre wanted him to contact one. Tossing the ball again, he caught it and jumped up, his decision made.

  In the room he shared with his fellow sentinel, Kole shook the plump, pimply boy awake and informed him of his departure. He found his remote and tapped in the code that summoned Striker to the landing pad. Stuffing his clothes into a bag, he marched down to the manager's office and handed in his resignation, then made his way to the landing pad where Striker waited. Climbing into the ship's cool confines, he returned the AI's greeting and flopped into the command seat.

  "Striker, set course for Eden Five, Beta Quadrant."

  "Powering up. Eden Five, a
rrival in twelve hours, forty-five minutes. Sufficient fuel aboard. Three corridor changes. Preparing for take-off," the ship said in a dulcet feminine voice.

  Kole leant back. "Let's go."

  Chapter Ten

  The insistent flashing of a red proximity violation warning roused Sabre, and he became aware that someone lay close beside him, an arm across his chest. Sitting up with a jerk, he freed himself from Estrelle's embrace and moved away. Martis sat beside the wall, watching him with a faint smile.

  "Now that was surprising," the host tech murmured.

  Sabre rubbed his eyes. "What?"

  "She's been cuddled up to you for at least half an hour, and it didn't wake you up until now."

  "I... What did she do?"

  "Nothing; I think she's just cold. The drugs have worn off. So tell me, why didn't it wake you up straight away?"

  "None of your business," Sabre said.

  "Your girlfriend?"

  "I said -"

  "You slept with her."

  Sabre shook his head. "No. Yes. Just sleep."

  "Of course. Interesting, though."

  "Why interesting?"

  Martis shrugged. "What woke you up now?"

  "The cyber."

  "After half an hour?"

  Sabre frowned. "I was tired, I guess."

  "Tassin was your owner, wasn't she?"

  "Yes. No. She owned the cyber."

  "Right. That's why she was able to sleep with you. Estrelle's not, so it warned you."

  "We should get out of here," Sabre said.

  "And go where?"

  "Find another empty hotel room to wait in. And food."

  "How long before your friend comes?"

  "A few hours, if the message was received."

  The door handle rattled, then a thunderous knocking reverberated around the little room and a voice shouted, "Time's up! Out! Now!"

  "I guess we don't have a choice," Martis muttered, rising to go over and shake Estrelle awake.