The Cyber Chronicles 09: Precipice

by T C Southwell

  "I don't feel threatened."

  Kole eyed him. "Sure you do. You're as tense as an acrobat's high wire, old chum."

  "What did you find out on Omega Five?"

  "Not much. Just what I already told Overlord Fairen. They're a bunch of peasants, that lot. So what's the plan?"

  "I need you to hack into the local network and plant some information."

  The hacker smiled. "What sort?"

  "There's a new outfit in town, selling cybers, repair equipment, drugs and repair services. We also buy and sell high-quality slaves."

  "So you're after Tarl. I wondered how you'd find Tassin. Good plan. It might even work."

  Sabre looked away. "There's a chance it will."

  Kole's gaze dropped to the cyber's bandaged hands. "What happened to you?"

  "I vented some frustration."

  "Wow, what does the poor slob look like? A red smear on the floor?"

  Estrelle shot him a sharp look. "Sabre didn't hurt anyone."

  "More's the pity. These enforcers give me the willies. All scowls and glares. You should rip off a few heads, get them in line."

  "Sabre's tense because his brain block has failed, so don't antagonise him, okay?" she said.

  Kole's eyes flicked over the cyber. "And what does brain block failure do?"

  "It means he's got feelings now. A lot more than he's ever had before, and stronger."

  "Really?" Kole leant forward. "So he's not a cool dude anymore, huh? He's what, a hothead?"

  "He's very angry, yeah."

  Sabre said, "And he's getting angrier the longer you two discuss him like he's part of the furniture."

  "You seem calm enough to me, old pal."

  "It's an illusion."

  "Ah."

  Sabre eyed the hacker. "So how long is it going to take you to get off your backside and get to work?"

  "You know, a little civility wouldn't go amiss here, old chum. I don't have to be here, or help you. I already did you a big favour getting you off Eden Five, and, while I admit it was fun for the most part, it doesn't mean I work for you."

  The cyber nodded, ignoring Estrelle's anxious look. "You're right. If you want to piss off, then do. If not, start hacking."

  Kole glanced at Estrelle. "He doesn't seem any different to me."

  "Are you trying to make him angry?"

  "Just pushing buttons."

  "Well, I don't advise it. He's got a lot of boom buttons now."

  Kole's brows rose. "Boom buttons?"

  "Yeah, the kind that you really shouldn't push."

  Sabre bowed his head and gazed at his hands. "He's right, Estrelle, he doesn't have to help."

  She shot him a concerned look. "What's wrong?"

  "Nothing.”

  All the fight had drained out of Sabre, taking with it his resolve to find Tassin. The emotion Estrelle had named earlier had taken hold, and he could not shake it off. Despair. He was not meant to be in charge, and he was not good at it. As had happened on Triumphant during the Corsair attack, he did not want to be in charge of such a hopeless situation. He was plugging holes in a boat that had already sunk. Despair, he discovered, was an oddly numbing emotion. It took away his hope and gave him permission to give up. The situation was hopeless, anyway. Who was he trying to kid? His machine-trained mind had calculated the odds of finding Tassin and returned a decimal so small he did not want to count the zeroes in front of it. She was lost, and he would never find her.

  After all they had been through, fate had dealt a final, crushing blow. A small voice nagged him that Tassin had not given up when Manutim had taken him, but she had had the sword, which had found him and brought her to him, while all he had were his wits, an enforcer ship full of men who hated his guts and a bunch of annoying, argumentative companions. He was just a broken killing machine, and now he was a broken killing machine with a shitload of really crappy emotions he did not know how to deal with. It was so unfair, and he was tired of all the struggle and strife.

  Estrelle turned to Martis, who adjusted some instruments, and he looked up at the same time. "Martis, get those command privileges, now."

  He jumped up and trotted out, and Estrelle faced Sabre again, her brow furrowed with worry.

  Kole straightened, frowning. "What is it?"

  "He's withdrawing."

  "What does that mean?"

  She shook her head. "I'm not sure. I've never had to deal with a free cyber before, have I? But he's not himself, that's for sure."

  Sabre stared at the floor, his mind blank. Kole rose and followed Martis. Estrelle sat down and peered at Sabre's face.

  "What are you feeling?"

  He sighed. "Nothing much."

  "Come and lie down, please." She held out her hand.

  Several moments passed before he raised his gaze to her hand. He took it, allowing her to tug him over to the padded examination table that would be used to repair injured cybers. He lay down on it and stared at the ceiling, then closed his eyes. Within the darkness of his mind, he scanned the cyber’s scrolling data and found no answers in it. He flinched from the emotional storm going on in the dark corners where he had stuffed all the useless feelings, unable to deal with them. He wanted out, just as he had done when Ravian had made him step out of the airlock and Tisha had tried to seduce him. He was not designed to deal with this shit. He let the peaceful darkness in the centre of his being wash over him with soothing waves of sorrow.

  Estrelle waited, chewing her nails, for several minutes until Kole and Martis returned, looking cross but triumphant.

  "We got them," Martis announced. "How is he?"

  "Not good."

  Martis approached the cyber and gazed down at him, placing a hand on his brow. "He's cold."

  "Oh, god," Estrelle muttered.

  "What?" Kole demanded. "What the hell is going on?"

  Martis frowned and went to lock the door. "He's withdrawn from reality. He's trying to shut down. It's almost as if he's going into cold sleep."

  "Why?"

  "It's a way of avoiding the situation, and his feelings. It's the stress."

  Kole looked alarmed. "But without him -"

  "We could be in danger, yeah. But the enforcers don't know, and we have to keep it that way."

  "For how long?"

  Martis shook his head. "I don't know."

  Estrelle glared at Kole. "You did this. You pushed an off button."

  "How the hell did I do that?"

  "By telling him that you didn't have to help him. It was the last straw, I think. Without you, his plan fails."

  "I didn't say I wouldn't do it!"

  She nodded. "But he was on a razor's edge, and a bit of reluctance on your part was all it took to push him off."

  "He could do the hacking himself."

  "That's not the point. Right now he needs your support, even more than ours. He's already deep in despair, now he's either given up, or he just can't cope with the situation anymore."

  Kole muttered, "I thought he was a tough guy, not the sort to wimp out when the shit hits the fan."

  "Yeah, well none of us really knows what he's going through, but try to imagine this: he's lived his entire life controlled by a computer, unable to make any decisions at all, not so much as when he can go to the toilet. He gets free, and suddenly he can do what he wants, but what does he do? He does what Tassin wants, maybe partly because he likes her, maybe because he has no purpose of his own, and probably partly because she was his owner and the control unit punished him if he didn't. So he was still taking orders, just not from the control unit anymore.”

  Estrelle paused, shaking her head. "Then he gets to go back to Myon Two, and is put under cyber control again. He gives up. He thinks it's all over, but Tassin frees him again. Wonderful, right? Sure, but again he does what she wants. He protects her, so he has a purpose. But this whole time, he has very few emotions, some vague feelings of love, some anger, a bit of hatred, nothing serious. He still has a cool, analytical
mind.

  "Then he's taken to Myon Two again and tortured, but we free him. Wonderful, and he has a purpose, to return to Omega Five and be with Tassin. Now she's been taken, and there's an excellent chance he'll never find her. When he hears that, he suddenly gets a shitload of full-strength emotions that he doesn't know how to deal with dumped into his mind. He tries to vent it, and that helped a bit, then you come along and tell him you don't have to help him. God, Kole, wouldn't you want to cop out? His only purpose now is finding Tassin, without that, he has no reason to live, and he's not used to being in charge, either."

  Martis nodded, gazing at Sabre. "He's checked out. He can't cope."

  "He said he couldn't," Estrelle agreed. "I guess he's had enough of trying."

  Kole scowled at the recumbent cyber. "I don't buy it. He's a take-charge kind of guy. He revels in dangerous situations; that's when he starts kicking butts, barking orders and taking over. This isn't like him."

  "That was before he had to deal with all the feelings as well. If his block hadn't failed, he'd be fine, but now... he can't cope with the despair of losing Tassin, or the anguish of not knowing if she's alive or dead."

  "So isn't there a way to make him snap out of it?"

  "What do you suggest?"

  Kole threw up his hands. "I don't know! Smack him around a bit, maybe he'll get angry enough to defend himself."

  "Are you volunteering?"

  "Then try talking to him."

  "And tell him what?" she asked. "That we've found Tassin? That's the only thing that would bring him out of it I think, but only if he could hear it, which, right now, I doubt. And all your talk about the enforcers drugging him or gassing him or knocking him out didn't exactly help his stress levels either, did it?"

  Kole swung away, running a hand through his hair. "Without him, we're in big shit."

  Martis looked up. "We've got to stop the enforcers from finding out what's happened, and we can't move him. You need to get cracking on the hacking, Kole, and send two cybers down here to guard the door. We just tell the enforcers that Sabre's staying here so he doesn't have to be around them because he doesn't trust himself not to break a few heads. I reckon they'll be happy to leave him alone. All orders will come through us."

  "Right," Kole said. "We need to find Tarl. He can fix him."

  "How's he going to do that?"

  "You don't know Tarl. He's a whizz with cybers. You're just researchers; he was a repair tech for fifteen years. You two are fresh out of the academy, aren't you?"

  Martis raised his chin. "I have two years’ experience."

  "Big deal. Tarl was the one who restored his memories."

  "And I was the one who reprogrammed him so he could deal with the brain block failure."

  "Well, you didn't do a very good job, did you?" Kole retorted.

  "If I hadn't he'd be much worse than -"

  "Okay!" Estrelle raised her hands. "Cut out the pissing contest! Kole, we're in a hurry, so please get to work."

  The hacker glared at her, then turned and strode to the door, letting himself out. Martis pulled an analyser over to the table and plugged it into the brow band's port. Estrelle sat beside the table, gazing down at the cyber.

  "At least he's at peace now."

  "I think that was the idea. I thought Kole would make him angry, but this is even worse."

  She stroked Sabre's hair. "I wonder how he did it?"

  Martis shrugged, studying the information that scrolled up his screen. "Took a swan dive into the darkest pit in his mind he could find."

  "But that's not normal. We can't do that."

  "Stress can make a person pass out."

  "This isn't a simple fainting spell. It's way more."

  Martis typed on his keypad. "I'm sure he found lots of ways to escape from reality when he was cyber controlled, and who can blame him? He's almost in a cold sleep now, brain function minimal, heart rate at ten beats per minute. The control unit's fully functional, but useless, since it's not in control."

  "He must love her very much."

  "Yeah." Martis turned to her. "I'll hook up a drip to keep him fed and hydrated."

  ****

  Tassin wielded the scrubbing brush, slowing her efforts while no one was watching, since she had discovered that the harder she worked, the more tasks she was given. For a week her life had been one of endless drudgery and vile food. Blisters had formed on her hands and burst, leaving painful sores, her back ached and her head pounded. There seemed to be no end to the work. Endrovar had parties almost every night, and she had to clean up the mess.

  The sound of footsteps made her speed up her scrubbing, and she glanced up as a shadow fell on her. Ashmond stood there, looking smug.

  "Well, Your Majesty, how low the mighty have fallen, hey?"

  "I'd rather scrub the bilges of this filthy tub than rut with that fat pig."

  "Good thing spaceships don't have bilges, or doubtless you would be. Endrovar was peeved to be forced to give up the pleasure of your company, but Tarl is proving to be worth his weight in gold. Get up, you're coming with me."

  Tassin rose, rubbing her knees. "Where are we going?"

  "You'll find out soon enough."

  The Queen followed him along the passage to her tiny cabin, where he instructed her to change into her own clothes. When she was ready, he led her to a plush room carpeted in purple shag and furnished with white suede settees and a glass-topped coffee table. He ordered her to wait, and she sat and fidgeted, disliking the situation and wondering what the purpose of this was. After almost an hour, the door slid open and Ashmond beckoned to her, taking her elbow when she joined him in the corridor.

  "Well, now I can tell you where you're going. You see, Endrovar finds your continued presence annoying, a constant reminder of what he can't have, so he just sold you. Right now we're in orbit at Forge Prime, and your new owner's sending a shuttle to collect you."

  She jerked her arm from his grip. "You can't do this! Tarl won't work if I'm sold."

  "He won't know. He's been asking to see you, but I just say no, and he has to accept it. And even if he finds out, it'll be too late. All he'll do is earn himself punishment. Nobody blackmails Endrovar."

  Tassin glared at him. "I won't co-operate. Whoever just bought me will be demanding a refund within the hour. I'll -"

  "You'll do as you’re told, and Endrovar explained your truculence to the buyers. Your new owner is prepared to deal with you. Maybe he even enjoys it. Some do, I've heard."

  "Please, don't let him do this. I thought you were a decent man, a noble, not a pig like Endrovar."

  He shrugged. "Alas, I do as I'm told. I need this job to support a very large and penniless family."

  "Let me send a message, please! Just a minute at a transmitter; Endrovar will never know."

  "Oh, he'll know, especially if whoever you call comes looking for you."

  She shook her head. "You'll be safe, I swear."

  "But I'll be out of a job, won't I?"

  "I can take care of you and your family. You’ll never have to cow-tow to anyone again."

  Ashmond regarded her with chilly eyes. "Easy to make promises, but how do I know it's the truth? No, far safer to keep the income I've got than take a gamble on your ability to make good on your promises."

  "My betrothed is the friend of an Overlord, Ashmond. If you help me, you'll win his favour."

  "You know, the promise of boundless wealth was easier to swallow; now you just sound ridiculous. Come on." The baron took hold of her arm again and tugged her along the passage.

  "I've met Overlord Fairen. I've been aboard the Scorpion Ship."

  "You'd make a fine storyteller. Perhaps you should try it on your new owners."

  "I'm telling the truth, ask a cyber."

  "I don't have command privileges, and I'm not going to tell Endrovar about your ridiculous claims without proof. Do you have proof?"

  "How could I?” she asked. “Do you think Overlords hand out kee
psakes or something?"

  "They do, actually, to their friends."

  "Yes, the bracelet! Sabre has one, or he had, until Myon Two abducted him. They took it off."

  "An Overlord bracelet can't be removed, so now you've just proved that you're lying," he said.

  "It's the truth, I swear. Myon Two found a way to remove it."

  "Impossible. And why would Myon Two want to abduct your betrothed, anyway, especially if he's an Overlord's friend? They'd be signing their death warrants."

  "I can't tell you that,” Tassin said, “but you and Endrovar are signing your death warrants right now, by handing me over to some brutish pig."

  "You're not an Overlord's friend, so even if your betrothed is one, which I highly doubt, we're not."

  "Oh, Sabre won't need Fairen's help to deal with you and Endrovar, trust me."

  Ashmond snorted, pulling her through a door into a space dock, where four men in smart azure uniforms waited. "Then it's a good thing we're getting rid of you, isn't it?" He stopped and faced the men. "Here she is, full of fire and brimstone, as promised."

  The foremost man eyed her, then gestured to the open airlock. "Come on, let's go."

  Tassin shot the baron a last killing look and followed her new jailers into a silver shuttle with deep crimson floors and pale cream bulkheads, her head held high. The door clunked shut as one man strapped her into a seat, and the craft undocked with a slight jerk. There were no screens, and when the door opened at the end of the journey, a dim corridor yawned ahead. Her gut clenched with trepidation. Gloom was associated with dark minds and evil ways, in her estimation, and the dark ship boded ill.

  The men took her to a spacious sitting room, where she waited for an hour, then one returned to usher her into a significantly dimmer adjoining room. Soft golden lights glowed from recesses in the walls, which appeared to be hung with dark cloth. A slender man with a gaunt, narrow face and short dark gold hair looked up from where he reclined on a huge black sofa. His cobalt jacket and trousers were unadorned, yet tasteful and expensive. Putting down a vidbook, he raked her with golden eyes and gestured to the settee opposite.

  "Have a seat. Are you thirsty or hungry?"

  Tassin sank down on the couch, shaking her head. "Thank you, no."