The Cyber Chronicles 02: Death Zone

by T C Southwell

  The farmers redoubled their efforts and attacked it with their puny weapons, making it turn and hiss. Sabre moved closer with light, dancing steps and stabbed it in the neck. It whipped back towards him, spraying saliva in a stinging rain that burnt his skin. He dived aside and rolled to his feet with the elastic, apparently effortless grace of an acrobat, years of intense combat training making his moves instinctive. The beast snapped and lunged at him, and Sabre inflicted more wounds, which, although not fatal, cost the monster a lot of blood and caused it a great deal of pain. As he leapt away after a successful foray, he glimpsed a running figure in a faded pink dress.

  "Tassin!" His gut froze with horror as the girl ran to the monster's flank, her dagger raised to strike. "No!"

  The beast turned as her blade sank in, locking the dagger between two scales. She tried to yank it out, but it was jammed, and the animal's head swung towards her. As it focussed on its new, and, in Sabre's opinion, incredibly stupid target, he knew that he had to do that which his training forbade. To engage such a large and powerful alien creature in full contact combat was inadvisable at best and potential damaging at worst, even for a cyber. It took away the advantage of his speed and agility and pitted his strength, which, although massive when compared to a normal man's, was puny compared to this vast animal's, against its many tonnes of brawn.

  Sabre ran to its side, grabbed a spine and pulled himself onto its sinuous neck, causing it to dip. His action distracted it, and Tassin released the dagger and ran. The beast, unable to reach him, went after her with a burst of speed that closed the gap in an alarming rush. Sabre almost dropped the sword in his haste as he hauled himself up the four-metre neck in a desperate bid to reach the monster's head in time. Hampered by the weapon, he paused, hanging on with one hand, and tucked the sword into his belt to free the other.

  The creature tried to shake him off as Tassin darted behind a house. He clung to a spine, pain shooting up his arms from his abused joints. The monster flattened the house with the ease of a bulldozer, and Tassin reappeared ahead of it, sprinting for the forest. Sabre shinnied up the last stretch of slippery neck and arrived behind its head. The creature smashed through two more houses and a shed, gaining speed as it closed in on its chosen prey. Sabre cursed the idiotic girl afresh. If she swerved, the animal would be forced to slow in order to turn its massive bulk, and its momentum would hamper it, but she kept going straight. The village men chased it, waving their implements, but it ignored them.

  Sabre yanked the sword from his belt, almost slicing his ribs in his haste. Raising the weapon, he plunged it into the soft area where the creature's neck joined its skull, directly into the monster's brain. It gave a whistling shriek and flung back its head with the violence of a whiplash. Sabre's hands were ripped from the sword hilt, and he flew through the air. He tried to get his feet under him, but there was not enough time, and he forced himself to go limp as he had been trained to do. The earth rose to strike him a hammer blow, and everything went black.

  The monster's shriek made Tassin glance back as it tossed its head, sending Sabre sailing through the air, as limp as a rag doll. He hit the ground with a sickening thud, raising a small cloud of dust. The beast staggered forward for a few more strides and collapsed, ploughing into the ground. It flopped onto its side, its legs flailing. Filled with dread, she ran to Sabre, who lay on his back, the cyber band flashing erratically. She fell to her knees beside him and leant over to grip his shoulders.

  "Sabre!" She shook him, making his head loll. "Sabre, wake up!"

  Tears stung her eyes as she stared down at him, not knowing what to do. Red welts marred his skin, but he seemed otherwise uninjured. The surviving villagers gathered around, chattering in a strange tongue. A man in a blue shirt, who carried a brown bag, pushed through the crowd and knelt beside the prone warrior. He checked the pulse in Sabre's neck, exclaiming in apparent surprise when he found one, and a murmur went through the crowd. The man took a vial from his bag and waved it under Sabre's nose, which wrinkled, then the cyber convulsed in a massive sneeze and opened his eyes.

  Tassin cried, "You're all right!"

  He looked dazed, then frowned. "You!" He sat up with a grimace. "You pea-brained bloody idiot! I told you to stay with the damned mosscat! You could have been bloody well killed!"

  Tassin gasped at his ingratitude, her brows knotting. Sabre became aware of their audience as the men cheered, and he forced a tight smile, raising a hand in acknowledgement of their unintelligible accolade. He fingered the back of his head, then shook it a few times and climbed to his feet, evoking more amazed mutters from the crowd. Someone handed him his sword and the rather bent dagger, and he gripped her wrist. Men clapped him on the back, to congratulate him, she assumed, and he smiled as he walked away, dragging Tassin. She tried to free her wrist, but he tightened his grip until she yelped. Sabre towed her back towards the wood, leaving the villagers waving and smiling, but clearly puzzled by his sudden exit.

  Sabre addressed his captive as he forced her to trot beside him. "Just exactly which one of us were you trying to get killed?"

  "I was trying to help!"

  "Help?" He stopped and glared at her. "How can you be so stupid? What do you think you are?" He strode on, ignoring her squeaks at his vice-like hold on her wrist. "I have never met anyone so moronic, stubborn and downright contrary in all my life!"

  "At least I tried!"

  "All you did was almost get me injured, since I had to stop the bloody thing from killing you!" He stopped again, leaning down to glare into her eyes. "Didn't I tell you to stay with Purr? Did you not understand the order? Should I have spelt it out? Do you need it written down in triplicate?"

  Tears burnt her eyes at his harsh words. "I am not stupid! I was afraid for you! I wanted to help you!"

  "Oh that's right, have a good howl! Tears don't work on me, Your Majesty. I'm immune to female wiles, didn't you know that? As for being afraid for me, that's ridiculous! Fighting is what I was bred for! No, not bred... designed, created, manufactured, trained. All of the above. Haven't you figured it out yet? Wasn't I described as a weapon when or before I arrived in my natty case? That's what I am; a weapon, understand? That means I don't need anyone to rescue me, least of all a flea-brained little girl who thinks she's a god dammed warrior queen!"

  Tassin covered her face and burst into tears. Sabre swore and released her, turned away and ran a hand over his hair. She howled louder, and he swung back, looking harassed.

  "Stop it!" He made a helpless gesture. "Bugger it!"

  Tassin drew a shuddering breath and wailed some more, her hands clamped over her face. He cursed again and swung away, striding towards the wood. Tassin lowered her hands and stared after him, confused and angry. If Sabre noticed that the howls stopped abruptly, he did not turn to see why, and she swore under her breath. She had played her trump card, and he had walked away. No one had ever done that before, not even her father. His imperviousness intrigued and annoyed her, and she wondered why she was attracted to such a heartless man.

  Sniffing and wiping her eyes, she followed, and found him sitting on a log with Purr. The mosscat's eyes gleamed as Tassin approached, and she suspected that he had witnessed the whole scene, the nosey little snoop. Sabre looked haggard, his eyes shadowed. He kept rubbing his forehead, and she deduced that he had a splitting headache from his fall. He started to hand her the dagger, then noticed that it was bent and straightened it.

  When she enquired about his head, he glared at her, and she realised that she was deep in his bad books. The mosscat looked smug, and she pulled a face at him. They rested until Sabre's headache had abated, then he led them around the village and into the woods on the far side, marching along with a stony countenance and allowing Tassin to dawdle in the rear.

  Late in the afternoon, they encountered a Real-reality stream and camped on its bank, dining on fish again. Sabre remained aloof, ignoring Tassin's overtures, to her intense chagrin. He bathed the welts from the
monster's spit in the stream, but they stayed red.

  Gearn hunched over the fire and stared into the pot he stirred. The sun sank in a pale, cloudless sky, and Murdor snored a couple of metres away. The spell was not going well. For a day and a half, he had struggled to make the correct potion, but all he had succeeded in doing was creating several bangs and clouds of noxious smoke. The Death Zone barrier shimmered, mocking him. The landscape had suffered from his efforts, which had drained any energy from it, turning the coarse sand to black powder. He had shielded his companions from the effects of his spell-casting, but it had depleted his strength and made him nauseous.

  The pot bubbled, and he lifted it from the fire, studying its seething surface. Sighing, he stood and walked around the camp, sprinkling the potion, then set down the empty pot and began a complicated chant. The translocation spell was a difficult one, but he was sure he would succeed this time.

  His chant ended, and he made the odd gestures that invoked the spell. The sand around the camp glowed eerie green, and a surge of triumph ran through him. A thunderclap shattered the stillness, accompanied by a flash of sickly light, and a cloud of green smoke billowed up. The horse shied, and Murdor leapt to his feet with a curse. The wolf raised his head and looked around in alarm. Gearn swore, ignoring Murdor's string of curses. He glared at the Death Zone barrier, admitting defeat for now, and settled down for the night. Murdor muttered some derogatory comments under his breath as he lay down again. Gearn snorted. Tomorrow he would get it right.

  Chapter Five

  After several more hours of walking through the park-like wood, the flickers of brown and green streaked through the land, warning the trio of the coming Change. They dashed for the nearest Real-reality looking boulder, which turned out to be Flux-reality. The world warped and Changed to a barren landscape of smooth grey rocks interspersed with stony areas and an occasional patch of sand. The icy wind that blew across it tugged at Tassin's skirts and sent chills through her. Leaden clouds scudded overhead, blocking out the weak sunlight.

  Sabre glanced back at her, then walked away across the new terrain. She stumbled after him on numb legs and throbbing feet, longing to stop and rest, but Sabre set a gruelling pace. The rocks twisted her ankles and barked her shins as she tried to keep up, and she muttered curses. The mosscat adapted to the new world with a soft sneeze, his legs lengthening and his paws sprouting stubby claws. For a while Tassin followed, then she decided that she had had enough and sat down on a boulder. She watched Sabre march away, wondering how long it would take before he noticed that she was no longer following.

  Sighing, she rubbed her aching legs, pulling up her skirt to massage her calves. Something stirred amongst the rocks, so well camouflaged that only its cautious movement betrayed it. Alarmed, she stood up as a slender head shot out of a cranny, and pain lanced up her leg. She leapt away with a yell, but the creature had already vanished back into the stones. Sabre ran back to her as she tottered towards him, desperate to reach the security of his presence. Agony shot up her leg, then her back arched in a spasm and she gave a choked cry. The grey world spun around her, and she fell into darkness.

  Sabre reached Tassin as she collapsed and swept her up. Her head flopped back, and he sat on a boulder and cradled her with one arm while he patted her cheek to try to rouse her.

  "Tassin! Come on, wake up!"

  Purr appeared nearby, sniffing the air. "Something nasty here, come away."

  Sabre rose and moved to another rock. "Something nasty? Like what?"

  "Venomous."

  "Why didn't you warn us when we passed this way?"

  Purr huffed. "We didn't. She was far behind, and you were doing your best to ignore her."

  Sabre glared at him. "She's been bitten?"

  "Probably."

  "How bad is it?"

  "How should I know? All these worlds are new to me. I've never seen the same one twice."

  Sabre found a black swelling on Tassin's ankle, and red streaks already spread from it. Cold dread squeezed his heart as he laid a hand on her brow, finding her skin cold and clammy.

  "She's gone into shock."

  Purr glanced around. "We must make camp and await the next Change. She'll have to fight the poison until then."

  Sabre carried Tassin to a sandy area, which Purr declared was safe after he sniffed around it. Sitting on a rock, the cyber wrapped her in the bedding, alarmed to find her hot and flushed, yet she shivered.

  He looked at the mosscat. "What can I do?"

  "Hope for Change."

  "What if it's hours away? She could die."

  Purr shook his head. "There's nothing we can do."

  Sabre stared down at the Tassin, whose blackened eyes and swollen nose were mute testimony to the hardships she had endured in the Death Zone. Yet she hardly complained anymore, and kept up even though her strength was so much less than his. Why had he let her lag behind? He had been angry with her for coming after him at the village, then ending his tirade with the ultimate female weapon. That had struck a raw nerve, for he had wanted to comfort her when he should have felt nothing, and the feelings were alien and unwelcome.

  Sabre was not even certain how to comfort a weeping girl, since he had never encountered such a situation in his vaguely perceived former life. All his reactions were based on that second-hand impression of the world, and his limited repertoire of social interactions lacked a great deal. Not knowing how to do something did not prevent him from wanting to do it, however, and he found it confusing, which made him inclined to withdraw from the situation rather than try to figure out what to do and possibly make a mistake.

  There was no place in his life for a girl, and he had thought that his heart, so long deadened by the cyber, was immune. Tassin was a real person, even if she was impulsive, impetuous and strong-willed, or perhaps because of it. What was he? Just a damaged cyborg. A freak. A broken killing machine. He had failed her. His job was to protect her, not to leave her stumbling in his wake, vulnerable to attack. The cyber would not have done that. It would have done a better job, unburdened by human emotions, and he cursed himself.

  Tassin shivered and moaned. Sweat sheened her flushed skin, and she pushed away the bedding with trembling hands. Sabre held the blankets in place, foiling her efforts to be free of them. He stroked her cheek as she relaxed. Her strength drained away with alarming speed, and he willed her to live until the next Change. He would do better, he vowed. He would keep her safe, if only she would survive. The cyber drew his attention inwards to a scrolling display of Tassin's vital signs, which showed her heart rate to be elevated and her blood pressure dropping while her temperature soared. It could not detect the reason for her sickness, however. Everything in and from the Death Zone seemed to be invisible to the scanners.

  Even so, with modern equipment, he could have made a serum for her in less than an hour. All he would have to do was find another creature like the one that had bitten her and be bitten himself, then transfuse some of his blood into her. His ability to manufacture a serum for just about any kind of venom twice as fast as a normal man would ensure that he could provide anti-venom before she died. He would also become ill, though not as badly, and not for long. Without the necessary equipment, however, he could not help her.

  By the time the Change came, her breathing was laboured and he was sure he would soon be holding a corpse. At Purr's warning he stood, and the world Changed. Sabre glanced around at a rolling meadowland dotted with spreading trees. Tassin shuddered and gasped, then breathed normally again.

  Purr looked up at him. "She'll be all right now. The Flux-poison has been left behind in the stone world."

  "I've got to get her out of this place. Come on."

  The mosscat bounded ahead, and Sabre strode after him. The rolling fields remained for many hours, and he made swift progress. The Changes came a lot slower now, and the sound of birdsong was faint. He did not stop to eat or rest, driven by a powerful urge to get out of the Death Zone before
it killed Tassin. They had come too far to fail now, and the sooner he could get back to reality, the better. Tassin remained in a deep sleep or coma, he was not sure which, but at least she breathed easily and her colour was good. The cyber told him that her vital signs were almost normal, but her energy level was low.

  Fatigue forced him to stop and sleep while Purr stood watch, and he woke to find that the mosscat had dug up some shrivelled tubers, which he claimed were Real-reality. Purr grumbled about the lack of food and water on this side of the Death Zone. He had been unable to find any pools to hunt in, and the water skins were almost empty.

  When Sabre had consumed the sparse fare, he walked on with his burden, and the mosscat ranged ahead in search of food and water. The scenery Changed to another rocky world, this time brown stone swept by endless winds, which had carved the rock into weird shapes. Towering pillars were capped with oddly balanced boulders that seemed ready to fall at any moment. Sabre threaded his way through them, alert for danger, but apart from a wandering Real-reality monster in the distance, the world was lifeless. The incessant wind moaned through the worn landscape in a miserable dirge that matched his mood and chilled his skin with its icy touch. He set a fast pace, no longer slowed by the Queen, and his long strides ate up the ground. Purr panted as he trotted ahead, casting astonished glances back at Sabre.

  They encountered a Real-reality pool at last, and Sabre filled the water skins. The pool was devoid of fish, to Purr's disgust. The Flux-reality sounds became fainter, and the scenery grew more tenuous as Sabre walked. The moaning wind became a ghostly whisper and its touch a zephyr's caress. Flux-reality Changed to a world of rust, filled with crumbling, blood-red iron ruins through which oily rivers ran. Nothing lived in this world either, and Sabre wondered if it was a planet that mankind had ruined. The seeping corruption and acid smog seemed likely to have been caused by rampant pollution. Too little remained of the rusting artefacts to identify them as the leavings of humanity's senseless plunder, however.