The Cyber Chronicles 08: Scorpion Lord

by T C Southwell

  "A drone ship."

  Estrelle looked up at him. "How?"

  Martis sat on the low tubular plastic table. "The drone ships take new cybers to the drop-off points for sale. They're unmanned. We swap him with another cyber, put him in a casket and take him aboard. No one will think it's strange. When a drone ship's docked, there's no security. Workers load it up with cybers, then it leaves. We just wear worker's uniforms, take him aboard and hide. They'll never know."

  "That's brilliant. Then we mingle with the workers at the other end and take him off."

  "Yeah, well, they might wear different uniforms, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Sabre can help. As soon as the ship undocks, we release him. When it comes to tactical decisions, he's the best man for the job."

  Estrelle smiled. "Martis, you're a genius. When can we do it?"

  "There's a drone ship docked right now, due to leave tomorrow. It's been four days since the demonstration, so Sabre's injuries have healed a lot. We take a new cyber from storage, unpack him, make him look more like Sabre... His hair is a problem, though. Jorran must have someone shaving Sabre every day, but he hasn't cut his hair. Probably to make him appear more abnormal, more aberrant. Sabre's hair is a lot longer than a new cyber’s. You'll have to cut it."

  "Me? How will I explain that?"

  "I don't know, think of something. It's untidy or unsanitary. Just shave it off, okay?"

  She nodded. "All right. If I do it a couple of hours before we take him, maybe I won't have to explain it."

  "Good idea. But the drone ship leaves tomorrow, so we have to do it tonight, like right now."

  "But I have to pack -"

  "Don't be daft. If you do that, they'll know straight away that you've left the centre. We take nothing but the clothes we're wearing and any money that's lying around. Leave the rest to Sabre."

  Estrelle hesitated, a little reluctant to give up everything on the spot. "Okay. It's just so sudden."

  "I know. But if we do this, it must be now. Are you in?"

  "Yes. I can't watch him being burnt again, or reduced to a drooling idiot."

  "Me either. I almost got sick at that demonstration. You really think management will approve the drug-induced brain damage?"

  "Probably. They're more afraid of him getting loose than they are of damaging him. Jorran will persuade them." Estrelle stood up. "Let's do it then."

  "I'll need about five minutes to do the swap, and I'll have to get the codes for the clamps."

  "Sabre can unlock them."

  "Right." Martis nodded. "I'll go and get a cyber and prepare him, you go and shave Sabre."

  Chapter Five

  Sabre watched the human life sign approach his cell. It was tagged as Estrelle, and he wondered what she was doing visiting him so late. He had not seen her in the two days since the experiment, and he was still weak and drained from the ordeal, his bio-status only at sixty-one per cent. The door slid open, and he sensed her come to his side. Opening his eyes a slit, he found her standing over him, holding a glinting metallic object. He tensed, then resigned himself to whatever she was about to do. If she was going to kill him, so much the better.

  She leant closer and whispered, "It's okay, I'm just going to shave you." Pressing the clipper to his scalp, she ran it over his head. "I have to make you look like a new cyber otherwise they'll notice the swap. We're getting you out of here tonight."

  "We?"

  "I found help. Martis is going to come here in a couple of hours with a new cyber, who will take your place while I distract the guards. It's okay, he's trustworthy."

  "How do you know that?" he enquired.

  "He wants to help."

  "How do you know he's not informing on you right now?"

  She hesitated, biting her lip. "I don't, but I think he's going to help."

  "How well do you know him?"

  "Not well, but... he came up with the plan and everything. I'm sure we can trust him." She gripped the brow band and lifted his head so she could shave the back of it. "You'll have to go into a casket. Is that okay?"

  "Whatever it takes."

  "Good." She switched off the clipper and studied him. "There. You look ten years younger. Martis is making the other cyber look more like you. They won't know the difference."

  "Until they look closely, or burn him."

  "By that time we'll be gone." She put the clipper in her pocket. "I must go. When Martis gets here, do as he says, okay?"

  "Okay."

  Sabre closed his eyes as she moved away, watching her on the scanners as she left his cell and moved off along the corridor. Hope burnt like a joyful flame in his chest, lifted the dark shroud of depression that had enveloped him and filled him with energy. A part of him wondered if this was some diabolical test, another part wondered what kind of plan the two young techs had come up with and whether it would work.

  It seemed like an eternity before two life signs, one of them a cyber, approached the door to his cell and paused outside. He wondered what they were waiting for, then the door slid open, and Sabre opened his eyes a slit. One of the young techs he had seen before with Jorran and Estrelle came in. He sidled along the wall to the corner where the surveillance camera was, jumped up and stuck something over the lens. Returning to the door, his poked his head out and beckoned. A young cyber, whose chest was reddened and smeared with regeneration jelly, came in and took up a resting pose beside the table. Martis leant over Sabre.

  "Unlock the clamps and get up. We don't have much time."

  Sabre raised his head and aimed the cyber at the clamps, activating it. A second later the clamps unlocked and fell open. Freeing his wrists and ankles, he sat up and swung his legs off the table. Martis stepped back, looking a little nervous. Sabre bowed his head as a wave of dizziness washed over him. When he raised it again, the young tech had retreated to the wall. Sabre slid off the table and moved away from it.

  "Cyber Twelve, lie down on the table," Martis ordered.

  The young cyber obeyed, and Martis clamped his wrists and ankles, the locks automatically engaging. "New designation: Cyber Twelve is now designated Cyber Seventy One."

  "New designation, Cyber Seventy One," the cyber intoned.

  Turning to Sabre, Martis gestured to the door. "Come on, hurry."

  Sabre went out into the corridor, where he waited while the tech presumably removed whatever he had stuck over the surveillance camera. He emerged and locked the door, then hurried along the corridor for quite a distance. Grey and white signs gave directions, for the cyber centre was a maze of interconnecting passageways, all uniformly pale grey with dark grey floors and glowing ceilings, so it was easy to get lost. The tech turned into another corridor and almost trotted to a door at the end, which opened into a room full of caskets. One stood open on the floor, mist filling it. Martis gestured to it.

  "Get in."

  Sabre hesitated. "Do you want me in cold sleep?"

  "That's up to you."

  "How long will I be in it?"

  "A few hours." Martis glanced at the timepiece on his wrist. "Five, maximum."

  Sabre nodded and climbed into the casket, fighting his instinctive dislike for the situation and his intense hatred of caskets and cold sleep. "I won't go into cold sleep unless I'm in here for more than five hours, so don't use the unlock sequence if you open it before then, okay?"

  Martis nodded. "Okay."

  "You know how to override it?"

  "Yes."

  Sabre lay down and folded his hands on his chest in its cramped, silken confines. Martis closed the lid, shutting him in the cold darkness. Closing his eyes, Sabre concentrated on slowing his metabolism. Caskets were designed to support cybers in cold sleep, so the oxygen level was insufficient to sustain him at a normal metabolic rate. The hard lumps in the lid that dug into his chest and belly told him that this was a fully armed casket, undoubtedly the one the young cyber had been in. The casket wobbled a little as it floated up on antigravs, and he turned
his attention to the scanners as it began to move.

  Martis paused in the doorway to glance up and down the corridor that ran parallel to the storage room. It was at a T-junction, and the corridor along which he had come was directly ahead. Turning left, he headed towards the docking port, towing the casket. He wore a worker's uniform he had donned after Sabre had climbed into the casket. He had stolen two from the laundry while Estrelle had shaved Sabre's head. The preparations had been hurried, but sometimes the best plans were those that were implemented swiftly rather than thoroughly. While there were flaws in it, there had been no time for any suspicions to be aroused. All that remained was for Estrelle to join him, and to get past the enforcer station on the way to the docking port.

  Halfway to the security station, footsteps behind him made him glance back, his nerves jangling. Estrelle trotted up to him, panting, her hair a little dishevelled. He handed her the other worker uniform, and she pulled it on over hers.

  "What happened?" he asked.

  "The guard got a little amorous, that's all. Nothing I couldn't handle. He seemed to think I was there to seduce him, not to check the outer station locking delay system. It proved to be a better distraction, anyway."

  "Are you okay?"

  "Fine." She fastened the uniform, falling into step beside him as he started forward again. "He was quite a handsome fellow. What about you, any problems?"

  "No. It all went like clockwork."

  "It almost seems too easy."

  "I don't think anyone's actually tried to run away before. Everyone knows it's impossible."

  "Maybe it's not."

  Martis jerked his chin at the glass-walled enforcer station that had just come into view ahead as the corridor curved. "We're about to find out."

  A bored looking enforcer tore his attention from his vidscreen when they approached the station, rose from his chair and stretched. He eyed them, glancing at the casket.

  "Working late?"

  Martis consulted his timepiece. "Early, actually. Day shift's about to start."

  "So what's the occasion?"

  "Special last minute order. We have to get this unit aboard the transport before it leaves."

  "It takes two of you to take a casket to the docking port?" the enforcer asked Estrelle.

  "Of course not,” she said. “I'm reporting for my shift, but, since we're in couple's quarters, he woke me up banging around, so I figured I might as well get an early start."

  "I see." He held out a hand. "IDs."

  Martis dropped the casket’s tether and groped in a pocket, frowned and patted himself all over when he came up empty handed. "Shit! Where's my ID, Lenar?"

  "How should I know?" Estrelle hunted through her pockets. "Where's mine?"

  "You had these uniforms laundered, didn't you? Did you remember to take the IDs out of the pockets?" he asked.

  "Of course I did. What do you think I am, an idiot?"

  "Well, where are they then?"

  "How should I know?” she demanded. “You're supposed to look after our IDs, not me!"

  "You forgot to take them out, didn't you? I'd have remembered if you'd given them to me, and you didn't."

  "I took them out!" Her voice rose.

  "Then where did you put them?"

  "On your desk!"

  Martis cursed. "If they were on my desk, I'd have put them away."

  The enforcer sighed, lowering his hand. "I can't let you pass without IDs."

  "Shit! You'll have to go fetch them, Lenar," Martis said.

  "Why me?” Estrelle asked. “You're the one who left them behind!"

  "This is going to make me late with this special order. Chief Darvit will be pissed!"

  "And that's my fault?" She stepped closer and prodded him in the chest. "If you hadn't been out whoring last night with that slut Sherin, you'd have found the IDs and put them away, and we wouldn't be in this shit!"

  "I was not out whoring! I was with Deran and the boys, playing hop-ball!"

  "Bullshit, you stank of cheap whore perfume when you came home last night!"

  "That's your own stink you smelt, because you were draining the cold-bin of anything alcoholic!" Martis thrust his face closer, pretending to be on the verge of slapping her.

  "Okay! Okay!" The enforcer held up his hands. "Cut it out. I'll let you pass this once, but you'd better have your IDs with you tomorrow, or I’ll call your chief myself."

  Estrelle glowered at Martis. "Whoring bastard."

  "Boozing slut," he growled back, picking up the tether.

  The enforcer returned to his chair and flopped down. "You two should split."

  "I intend to!" Estrelle flung over her shoulder as they walked away.

  "Good!" Martis said. "At least I won't have to put up with your endless nagging and drunken tantrums!"

  They kept the argument going until they were out of earshot of the enforcer station, and Martis shot her a smile. "Good pickup, well done."

  "I'm surprised it worked. I thought you got IDs."

  "At this time of night? Not a chance."

  The docking port came into view ahead, lined with stacks of caskets ready to be loaded onto the shuttle, the door open. Martis boarded and went to the back of the craft. Choosing a rack, he floated a casket from the bottom row and clamped Sabre's in its place while Estrelle towed the other one out. When she came back, he showed her a cramped area behind the last rack.

  "We'll have to hide here until the shuttle leaves."

  "That's an awfully narrow space."

  "There's nowhere else."

  "They won't check here?"

  He shook his head. "This part of the shuttle has already been loaded; they won't come here."

  "Aren't there any sensors or security cams?"

  "Nope."

  "You're sure?"

  "Positive."

  Estrelle squeezed into the narrow gap and sidled along it. "How do you know?"

  "It was my backup profession, if I didn't make the cut into host research."

  "A worker?" She raised her brows. "That's about as far from a host researcher as you could get."

  "Yeah, that was the idea. Host researcher was my dad's choice. I didn't want a stressful job. A worker may be badly paid, but they don't have to deal with the kinds of shit we do. I never fancied the idea of cutting up human beings, even if they were hosts."

  "And your dad let you take it as a backup?"

  He eased in beside her. "He wasn't happy, but the deal was that I got to choose my backup profession if I went along with his as first choice. Unfortunately, despite all my efforts to fail, I graduated third in my class."

  "That's too bad. You'd have made a good worker," she teased.

  "Shush, day shift has just arrived."

  They crouched behind the rack as voices came from the shuttle door. Men brought in more caskets and clamped them to the racks in the front.

  Two hours later, the last casket was loaded and the workers left. The shuttle door slid shut and sealed with a soft hiss. Martis stood up and wormed out of the narrow space, helping Estrelle. She stretched the kinks out, glad to be free of the confinement, and wondered how Sabre was doing in the casket. She turned to Martis.

  "Do you think he's all right? Should we let him out?"

  "Not yet." He checked his timepiece. "Still an hour before I said I would. Let's wait until we're hitched to the drone ship."

  They sat on the floor while the shuttle left the docking port, then moved to the control centre to gaze out of the screens at the drone ship as it drew closer. The shuttle made a perfect docking-lock, and the drone ship powered up, broke orbit and headed for its assigned photon corridor. Martis went back to the rack at the rear of the shuttle and unclamped Sabre's casket, floated it out of the rack and settled it on the floor. Estrelle bit her lip as he tapped the override code into the unlock pad. The lid popped up with a hiss, a hairline crack appearing around it. Martis hooked his fingers into it and lifted the lid, fanning away the mist that arose
to peer within.

  Sabre's face was impassive and the brow band's black crystals unlighted, as if it had shut down for cold sleep. Martis placed a hand on Sabre's chest and gave him a little shake. The cyber's eyes opened, looking distant and sleepy, then the control unit's lights came on. His gaze sharpened, but he remained prone.

  "Is he all right?" Estrelle asked.

  "He's speeding up his metabolism," Martis explained. "It will only take a minute."

  Several moments passed, then Sabre sighed, and his breathing quickened. He sat up, gripped the sides of the casket and lifted himself to his feet, stepping out. Martis retreated, and Estrelle smiled at the cyber.

  "We did it. We're off Myon Two."

  Sabre glanced around. "Good... We're on a transport ship?"

  "Yes."

  "Whose idea was this?"

  "Mine," the young host tech admitted proudly.

  Sabre went into the control room, the two puzzled techs following. The drone ship was entering a photon corridor, the stars ahead starting to brighten. Sabre leant on the console and bowed his head, then faced the young techs, resting against the panel.

  "Are you all right?" Estrelle asked, alarmed by his pallor.

  "I'll be okay. I'm not that great, right now. Only sixty-one per cent and still a little dizzy after Jorran's experiment, but otherwise fine."

  "It was horrible, what he did to you. I'm so sorry -"

  Sabre held up a hand. "You did what you could to stop him. I don't blame you."

  "I wish I could have stopped him, I -"

  "I know. Let's leave that behind, it's in the past. Right now, we have bigger problems."

  Estrelle frowned. "What problems?"

  "Our biggest problem is that we're on a drone ship."

  "Why is that a problem?"

  "It's a drone ship."

  She shook her head. "I don't understand."

  "A drone ship, also known as a UV: an unmanned vessel?"

  "Is this a quiz?"

  He smiled, and she was struck by the gentle sadness in his eyes. "There's a reason why it's unmanned."

  She noted Martis’ frown and asked, "To save Myon Two the cost of pilots and crew?"

  "Mmmmmm." He nodded. "As well as food, water, heating, ablution facilities, waste disposal, not to mention... air."