"No! I don't think that at all, I -"
"Bullshit." Sabre smiled. "You forget, I know when you're lying. You saw me kill two of your cohorts, and you're downright terrified of me. Even though you helped to free me, and you trust me to know how to save you, you still think I might get angry enough to snap both your necks in a... what? Fit of uncontrollable rage?"
"I... I saw how you snapped when they were burning you the first time. It was scary."
"Well, yeah, they were burning me." Sabre opened his eyes. "And if you do it again, I will break your neck, but if you think I'm going to let you die because Estrelle's a bit too talkative, that's an insult. Right now, you're more irritating than she is. Is that why you claimed to trust me so quickly? Because you were afraid that if you didn't, I'd let you die, or kill you?"
"No, I... I knew you could save us, that's all."
"Right, you're a host tech. A good one, I'd say, right?"
"Yeah, pretty good."
Sabre sighed and closed his eyes. "You're right, I do hate host techs."
"How do you feel about control unit techs?" Estrelle asked.
"They're even worse."
"So you hate us both."
"That doesn't mean I'm going to kill you."
Estrelle shivered. "May I ask you something?"
"When did you stop?"
"How are you going to stop us from freezing?"
"Ah." He smiled. "How cold are you, exactly?"
"My fingers and nose are going numb."
"Okay." He raised his bandaged hand and beckoned. "Come here."
Estrelle hesitated, glancing at Martis, who averted his eyes with a frown. She rose and approached Sabre, who looked up at her. Lowering his hand, he patted the floor beside him.
"Sit."
She folded her legs and sank down next to him, chafing her arms.
"You'll have to come a bit closer,” he said. “I don't bite, in spite of what Martis thinks, and if he wants to stay over there and sulk, he can freeze. I'm prepared to help you two, but a little trust is definitely called for in this situation."
"I don't think you're a killer."
"But I am a killer. A very efficient one. That's what I was designed to be. Ask Martis."
Estrelle shifted a bit closer to him, tensing when he slid his hand around her shoulders and drew her against his chest. He was still only clad in a pair of silk shorts, and when she put out a hand to hold herself away, the contact with his warm skin surprised her.
"You're hot."
"Mmmm." Sabre leant his head against the console behind him and closed his eyes again. "One of the many uses of a cyber: foot warmer."
"But how...?"
"He raises his metabolism," Martis said. "A cyber can survive without clothing for seventy-two hours at minus thirty degrees Celsius, then he pretty much runs out of fuel. He doesn't have to warm his skin all that much though; he's doing it so he can keep you warm."
"Fascinating stuff, isn't it?" Sabre asked. "And you don't want to know how they discovered how long a cyber can survive."
"They froze him?" Estrelle hazarded.
"I would assume so."
"That's horrible."
"More horrible than designing the supercomputer that controls him?"
She nodded, relaxing against him, his warmth soaking into her. "Yeah. I never actually tortured a cyber."
"Neither did I!" Martis denied.
"You do host research; you must have experimented on them."
"No, not a live one. I was researching the retrovirus that Jorran's going to use to retrofit cybers with Sabre's genes."
"That won't work, by the way," Sabre commented.
"Why not?"
"Because the changes were made to me on a molecular level, not genetic."
"How do you know that?"
Sabre shrugged. "I just do."
Estrelle reached out and pulled the silk Sabre had ripped out of the casket over herself, draping it over his chest as well.
He smiled. "I'm not cold."
"No, but it will keep me warmer, with your heat."
"Ah."
"Aren't you cold?" she asked Martis.
"I'm okay." He hugged himself, trying to hide his shivering, but his nose was red and his breath steamed in the chilly air.
"I'm quite prepared to keep you warm, Martis, but if you want to stay over there and freeze, that's your problem," Sabre said.
"I guess he's afraid you'll snap his neck." Estrelle giggled.
Sabre turned his head to glance down at her. "And you're not?"
"No, not a bit."
"Good. But Martis would rather freeze than risk it."
"I'm just not comfortable with cuddling up to a man," Martis grumbled.
"Trust me, freezing is much more unpleasant."
"You seem to have overcome your conditioning to avoid close contact, which I can understand with a woman, but how do you feel about a man?"
"Much the same as you, I would imagine, but I'm prepared to bear it, and I'm not the one who's cold."
Martis grunted and stood up, spread his hands and turned around. "I'm unarmed, okay?"
Sabre snorted. "My scanners already told me that. You're just a youth, hardly more of a threat than Estrelle. But I tell you what. If you continue to treat me like a bloody cyber, you can stay there and damned well freeze."
Martis hesitated, frowning. "Sorry."
"Right."
The young tech approached and sat down beside Sabre, shifted closer and tried to pull the silk over himself. Estrelle growled and yanked it back, glaring at him.
"Go rip some more out of a casket. This isn't big enough for the two of us."
Martis sighed and rose, went to the nearest casket and floated it down, then overrode the locking codes and opened it. Gripping the silk inside the lid, he tried to rip it out as Sabre had done, and almost succeeded in yanking himself into the casket. Estrelle giggled, and Sabre smiled. Martis looked embarrassed as he levered himself upright again.
"Damn, this stuff is tough."
"Use the knife from the cyber's kit," Sabre advised.
Martis found the knife and cut the silk free, then returned to Sabre's side, putting the knife in his pocket without thinking. Sitting beside Sabre, he followed Estrelle's example and draped the silk over the cyber and himself, trapping Sabre's warmth under it. For several minutes peace reigned, then Martis swore and pulled the knife out of his pocket, throwing it away.
Sabre chuckled. "Relax, Martis. I don't mind if you keep the knife. I could break your neck before you could use it."
"I'd rather not have my neck broken when you wake up and think I'm a threat."
"What did I just say about treating me like a damned cyber?"
"Sorry."
"So cut it out. And for future reference, yanking the knife out like that was more dangerous than having it in your pocket."
"Sorry."
For a while all was quiet, then Sabre became uncomfortably aware of Estrelle's hand on his chest, stroking him.
"Estrelle," he muttered, "cut that out."
"What? Oh. That."
"Yeah, that."
"It's just... you're very soft."
"I don't like being stroked," Sabre said.
"Okay."
This time the peace and quiet lasted about half an hour, then the soft hissing from the oxygen cylinder stopped. Estrelle raised her head, which had found its way onto Sabre's chest, and glanced over at the cylinder.
"The air's stopped."
"It's okay, there's enough in the ship to last a while still."
"How long is a while?"
"A few hours," he replied.
"When are you going to change course?"
"Soon."
"Where are we going?"
Sabre yawned. "Esten Five is the closest inhabited world, but it's not ideal. It's a mining colony with no long-range transmitters and a transport that comes annually to collect the samerite and swap crews. Vental Seven would
be better, but it's three hours further down the corridor. It's not great either. It's a colony of religious fanatics who hate technology, so they might not have long-range communications either. The best would be Eden Four, a pleasure world, but that's another nine hours away."
"How long do you think before Myon Two gives chase?"
"That depends on how well you two covered your tracks."
"We left no clues," Martis said. "I persuaded Estrelle not to pack."
Sabre chuckled. "It's a miracle you two pulled it off."
"I persuaded Martis to help me to free you," Estrelle said.
"I'm grateful to you."
Martis said, "She was going to swap you with another cyber for a couple of hours, so you could send a message, which wouldn't have worked."
"Actually, it would. All I needed was two minutes in a Net booth."
"But they would have caught you, and her."
"That wouldn't have mattered. If I'd sent a message, we'd have been freed in a matter of hours."
"How?" Martis asked.
"Overlord Fairen."
"Why would he have come to save you?"
"He's my friend."
"The Scorpion Lord? Overlords don't have friends."
Sabre shrugged. "This one does."
"Don't you know anything, Martis?" Estrelle demanded. "Overlord Fairen forbade Myon Two to hunt Sabre. When he finds out they kidnapped him, they're going to be in a world of shit."
"Why are you so important to him, Sabre?" Martis queried.
"He judged me and found me innocent, and I saved his life."
"Wow. How did you do that?"
Sabre yawned again. "He was attacked by a Corsair. Now will you two shut up so I can get some sleep?"
"How did -?"
"Shush."
The flashing red warning light deep in Sabre's mind dragged him from the soft, dark pit of sleep, and he forced open leaden eyes. His heart hammered and his breath came in rapid gasps. Alarm sent a rush of adrenalin through him, and he jerked up his head, banged it on the console behind him and brought himself fully awake. The amber host status warning light told him that his oxygen level was dangerously low. He pushed Estrelle off his chest, sitting up. His head swam, and he quickened his breathing, then checked her pulse. She was alive, but her lips were blue and her heart raced.
Freeing himself from Martis' leaden bulk, he crawled to the casket and reached inside to rip out the second oxygen cylinder. Gas hissed from the broken hose, and he brought it over to the comatose youngsters, waving it around to disperse the oxygen near them. His heart slowed as his lungs absorbed the oxygen, and he waited while Estrelle's colour returned. Martis was in a worse condition, being larger. Sabre placed him on the floor and pushed on his chest a few times to force more air into his lungs. Still he remained ashen, his lips blue, and his heart raced. His breathing was too slow; the oxygen deprivation had started to affect his metabolism.
Grimacing, Sabre leant over the young man and gave him mouth to mouth, forcing air into his lungs. After several large breaths, Martis' lips turned pink, and Sabre sat back. A few minutes later, Estrelle woke, looking dazed. Shivers racked her, and Sabre cursed and pulled her into his arms, pressing her to his chest. His metabolic rate had slowed when the oxygen level had dropped, and now he increased it to warm his skin. Martis was also cold, and he dragged the tech close, pulling the silk over him.
Estrelle squirmed and raised her head, looking alarmed. "What happened?"
"We fell asleep, and the oxygen ran out. I opened the second cylinder. You'll feel better soon."
"I'm frozen."
"Yeah."
She wriggled closer, slid her arms around him and hugged him. "Is Martis all right?"
Sabre glanced at the tech, whose colour was good, but his shivering had stopped. "No, he's got hypothermia. Move up."
The cyber dragged Martis closer and pushed Estrelle aside so he could rip open the front of Martis' uniform to press him to his chest. Estrelle clung to his back, dragging the silk over herself.
"We've got to get off this ship before we freeze, Sabre."
"Yeah. We've been asleep for eight hours. Three more and we're at the pleasure world. It's our best bet."
"Okay."
Chapter Seven
Tassin stared into the depths of the apparently bottomless pit, despair swamping her. Tarl stood beside her, his face carved in lines of furious anguish. Tall trees surround them, and a chill wind nipped at Tassin through her cloak. Spring had barely begun to chase away the winter cold, and patches of snow lingered in the forest's gloom. It had taken three days of riding to reach the remote glade to the east of her castle, and this bottomless pit.
Tarl muttered, "Those bastards."
"It's down there?" Tassin turned to him. "You're sure?"
Tarl nodded, moving the receiver around. "Yeah, it's down there. We'll have to climb down with ropes."
"You jest. This is the Orvalin Pit. It's full of water."
"Ah crap!" Tarl swung away, swearing.
"What are we going to do?"
"How the bloody hell should I know? Damn it!"
"Could you build a... thing to call Fairen with?"
He turned back to her, his brows raised. "An intergalactic transmitter? Oh sure, I'll just slap one together when we get back to your castle. Don't be daft! If I could, don't you think I would have by now, instead of wasting my time trying to find that damned thing?"
"But if that tiny bracelet is an inter... thing, why is it so hard to build one?"
Tarl ran a hand through his hair. "Because that little bracelet is a high-tech work of art. It's a charged particle wave generator with a reactive fusion power unit and a synchronised crystal emitter. None of which you understand. Suffice it to say, I can't build one with the bits from Sabre's monitoring equipment."
"Could you build one that could transmit a shorter distance, and perhaps summon someone else who could help us?"
"I don't know. Maybe. Why can't your mage just summon the bracelet up from the bottom of that pit?"
Tassin shook her head. "His magic doesn't work like that."
"Is there anyone who could?"
"Perhaps another mage."
"Well then, maybe you should try to find one, because our best chance of saving Sabre is at the bottom of that pit!"
She frowned. "There's no need to shout at me. It won't help."
He rubbed his face. "Sorry, I'm just... fed up, tired and frustrated."
"As am I."
"They could kill him. They probably will. It's just a question of when."
"You think I don't know that? You think I don't lie awake at night haunted by his screams? And when I sleep, I dream of him, suffering, tied to a rack, burnt... it's so real. I see his eyes, pleading with me to help him... and I can't!"
"Hey." Tarl put his arm around her shoulders. "It's not your fault."
"We should have asked Fairen for a ship, or a transmitter."
"No one knew... Ah shit, there's no point in even going there. It's useless. We don't have a ship, or a transmitter, and we're stuck here while those bastards are torturing Sabre."
"We have to do something!" Tassin gripped the front of his shirt and tried to shake him, but only succeeded in yanking herself into his chest.
Tarl hugged her. "We will. We will. I'll start building a transmitter. You find a mage who can get that bracelet. Something's got to work."
Tassin nodded and sniffed, turning to the platoon of troops that waited a short distance away. Emral stared into the depths of the pit, shaking his head, then walked back to his horse as Tassin mounted, her shoulders slumped in defeat.
****
Sabre gazed out at the blue and white planet in the screens, and Estrelle, who stood beside him wrapped in silk, smiled.
"It's pretty."
"It's a cesspit."
"You chose it."
Sabre nodded. "It's got Net booths, and intergalactic communications. But it's not a nice place. An
d cybers aren't allowed."
"Then how will you...?"
"I'll wear a disguise. A strip of silk to hide the brow band and Martis' worker uniform, and they won't know what I am."
Martis rubbed his head, still bleary-eyed and foggy from his near asphyxiation. "Good thing I'm wearing two uniforms."
"Yeah, and you're bigger than me. Enough room to hide some weapons."
"Is it a dangerous place?" Estrelle asked.
"It can be, but the greatest danger is of being drugged and dragged off to an orgy. Not life threatening, but something we would want to avoid."
Martis shook his head. "It wouldn't do them any good to drag you off to an orgy."
The cyber turned to him. "And why is that?"
"You're not... um."
"Um?"
"Well you can't be drugged, anyway, or dragged."
Sabre tilted his head. "Tell me about the 'um' part."
"I'd rather not."
"I'd like you to. I really really would. A lot."
"Why?"
"It's important to me."
Martis glanced out of the screens. "Shouldn't you be undocking and landing the shuttle?"
"It can wait."
"Why is it so important?"
"It just is."
Martis fidgeted, looking nervous. "Um... well... Your friend Tarl, he was a tech, didn't he explain it to you?"
"He tried, but he's a repair tech. You're a host tech; I'll bet you know more about it, and how to fix it, don't you?"
"It can't be fixed."
Sabre stepped closer to him. "Tell me. Finish the sentence. I'm not... what?"
"Normal."
"Right. Why not?"
"Do we have to do this in front of Estrelle?"
Sabre glanced at the control unit tech, who was agog. "I don't think she'll mind. What's wrong with me?"
"What did Tarl tell you?"
"That the cyber damaged my brain so it couldn’t develop normally."
"Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. Your wires are crossed. You react to social behaviour as if it was a threat."
Estrelle gaped at him. "Well I'm glad you told me that, Martis."
He turned to her. "Why, were you planning to seduce him?"
"Maybe."
"Well don't."
"How do I fix it?" Sabre demanded.
The Cyber Chronicles 08: Scorpion Lord Page 9