The Cyber Chronicles IV - Cyborg (16 page)

She nodded.
"All right. It's the least we can do."

Tassin made
her way to the pits, where Sabre leant against the wall, sipping
water. A medic moved amongst the fighters, examined their injuries
and applied first aid to those who needed it. Only a few men
remained in the pits; evidently the losers had left. Sabre
approached her, raising his brows.

"Are you all
right?" she asked.

He shrugged.
"Of course."

"You were
bleeding."

"It's nothing.
I wasn't paying attention."

"Kole wants
you to win the main prize so he can refuel again on Charon
Six."

Sabre cocked
his head. "Once you've repaid him, he'll have plenty of money."

"That's true.
Maybe he forgot. I did."

He smiled,
making her heart flutter. "Yes, I suppose he must have."

Tassin knew
from his tone that he did not believe it for a moment, and returned
to her seat beside Kole, who glanced at her.

"How is
he?"

"Fine. But he
doesn't have to win the main fight. You'll have plenty of money
when I sell the sword on Charon Six."

"Ah. Yeah,
well, he doesn't have to win it, but he has to fight, because by
then there will only be two fighters, so he can't withdraw."

She frowned.
"Even if he forfeits?"

"Not allowed.
The crowd will want a final match between the two best fighters.
The only way he can get out of it is if he's too badly injured. If
he withdraws, he'll lose all his winnings."

"Why didn't
you tell us this before?"

"It didn't
come up, and I didn't think it was important, since it wouldn't
have made any difference. He'd still have had to fight."

"He could
pretend to be injured."

"No one's hit
him."

"That young
man hit him in the face."

Kole snorted.
"Even if he pretended to have a sudden bout of appendicitis, you
don't want the doctors examining him."

Tassin nodded
and turned to watch the next contest, finding it hard to
concentrate on the show. The fight proved to be a particularly
violent and bloody one, and the loser was carried off unconscious.
Sabre toyed with two more opponents before beating them, giving a
good impression of a normal, but skilled fighter, even though he
had yet to break a sweat. After the second fight, she went down to
the pits again to break the news about the final, which he accepted
with a philosophical shrug. The only other man in the pits was the
brutal looking individual who had beaten his opponent unconscious.
He glared at Sabre's back, and the savage glint in his eyes made
her shiver.

Tassin
returned to her seat, only to find that they had to wait fifteen
minutes before the last match, to allow Sabre, who had been the
last of the two to fight, to rest. The crowd murmured, and money
changed hands as bets were laid. Tassin wished she had some to
wager on Sabre to make his effort more worthwhile. When at last the
two men entered the arena, Sabre looked relaxed, while his opponent
shouted insults at the crowd, which roared and threw paper
cups.

"Bloody
Gorag," the man behind Tassin muttered. "He's a bastard, but he can
fight."

"He's never
been beaten," the other man replied. "My money's on him."

"I don't know.
That little chap's done pretty well for himself."

"He'll have
his work cut out. I don't think he'll win this one. The odds are
twenty to one against him."

"Yeah, but I'd
sure like to see Gorag lose."

In the arena,
Gorag tired of goading the crowd and turned to face Sabre, a nasty
smirk on his brutal countenance. He towered over the cyber, flexing
his muscles in an attempt at intimidation that made the crowd boo
and Sabre smile. Tassin found that she was holding her breath and
let it out as the men bowed. Gorag lunged at Sabre, who skipped
back. Gorag scowled and mouthed obscenities, following Sabre around
the arena. He lunged again, trying to punch Sabre in the throat.
The cyber swayed aside, allowing the blow to skim past his neck,
and punched Gorag in the solar plexus. The big man doubled over,
and the crowd roared its approval.

Sabre punched
him in the ribs again; a blow she assumed was calculated to hurt
without doing serious damage, allowing Gorag time to recover. Gorag
renewed his attack, but his attempts to grab the cyber gleaned him
only empty air, and his rage grew. Sabre landed blows on Gorag's
torso and a few on his head, slowing him down without ending the
fight too soon. Gorag grew more and more frustrated, but it did him
no good. Sabre bloodied his opponent's nose and split his lip,
blackened one eye and opened a cut above it, yet Gorag did not land
a blow. When Sabre had evidently calculated that enough time had
been spent and enough blood spilt to satisfy the crowd, he knocked
Gorag down and pinned him with an arm lock until he submitted.

Officials
hurried into the arena and made the announcement, and one raised
Sabre's arm in victory, making the crowd cheer. The officials
presented the cyber with a golden belt, then he was allowed to quit
the arena. Tassin and Kole met him in the pits, where another
official handed over four credit wafers in a transparent pouch,
which he tucked into his jacket pocket as soon as he had donned it.
To Tassin's dismay, a crowd had gathered to congratulate Sabre when
he left the arena, but uniformed men helped them to escape,
escorting them to their air-car.

Back on the
ship, Sabre gave Kole half his winnings, and he left to organise
the fuel. Sabre poured a flavoured drink and flung himself into the
command seat, gazing out at the spaceport. Tassin settled on the
other chair, studying him.

"Your reflexes
seem to have improved."

He glanced at
her. "Not really."

An awkward
silence fell, and he finished his drink in a few gulps, then stood
up. "I'm going to have a shower."

Three hours
later Kole returned, and they left Rashid Four. As the ship moved
towards the nearest corridor that would take them near their
destination, Kole glanced at one of the instruments and cursed.

"Striker, full
burn."

"Maximum burn
in four seconds," the ship's honeyed voice replied.

Tassin glanced
at him. "What is it?"

"We've got
company. Four ships, probably pirates."

"What do we
have worth stealing?"

"Two hundred
thousand credits, and a ship, if they can hack her," he said.

"What are you
going to do?"

"Try to outrun
them."

The soft hum
of the engines rose to a muted wail, and a few minutes later Sabre
padded into the bridge, clad in his cyber's garb of camouflage
trousers and grey vest, which looked freshly laundered.

"What's going
on?"

"Pirates."

Sabre studied
the instruments over Kole's shoulder. "How far to the
corridor?"

"Too far, and
once we're in it, they'll catch us. Two of them are bigger than
Striker."

"Then you'd
better lay down some mines."

Kole nodded.
"Striker, deploy four star mines, full spread."

"Star mines,
deployed."

Kole studied
the various screens and readouts on the console, and Tassin wished
she could understand the strange instruments with their moving
amber lights and blue lines.

"They're
taking evasive action,” Kole said. “Striker, detonate mines."

"Mines
detonated."

A screen’s
lights flashed, and Kole leant closer to peer at it, his expression
intent. "One's breaking off. We must have damaged her."

"Entering
corridor in two minutes," Striker announced.

Kole scowled
at another screen as more dots, lines and words appeared on it.
"Damn! There's another ship intercepting us. It's an ambush.
Striker, get me a visual on that ship." The dots and lines on a
monitor beside him changed to an image of a sleek black ship with a
red emblem emblazoned on its side. "Shit. Enforcers."

Bolts of red
light streaked past outside, and the ship shuddered. Kole swore.
"They're firing at us."

"Who?" Tassin
asked, alarmed.

"The
pirates."

"Entering
corridor," Striker murmured.

"Deploy solar
wings to maximum."

The engines'
wail died away, leaving an eerie silence as the scintillating wings
of blue-shot electromagnetic power sprang from the ships flanks,
and the stars ahead brightened. Kole studied the instruments, his
face tense.

"The enforcers
are firing on the pirates."

Bolts of red
light streaked past again, further away, and Kole touched some
keys, changing the image in the screen beside him. It showed three
points of silver light emitting red flashes, which shot past at an
angle.

"The pirates
are firing back," Kole said.

"Maybe they'll
kill each other," Tassin commented.

Sabre snorted.
"The enforcer's an M-class battle cruiser; those ships will retreat
or be destroyed."

Kole glanced
up at him. "We don't stand a chance either."

"Not if you
stay in the corridor. Turn back to Rashid now."

Kole
hesitated, then nodded. "Striker, damage report."

"Auxiliary
drive impaired; output at seventy per cent."

"Exit
corridor, emergency burn."

"Emergency
burn in two seconds, two minutes to exit corridor."

"New
destination: Rashid Four."

Striker
repeated the order in her sweet, calm voice, and the engines' muted
wail broke the tense silence. The stars ahead swung to the right as
the ship turned, and Tassin clung to her seat, fighting dizziness.
The movement stopped, and the stars returned to tiny points of
light.

"Retract solar
wings," Kole ordered.

"Solar wings
offline."

"If we go back
to Rashid, we'll be trapped," Tassin pointed out.

"Not quite.
The enforcers won't be stupid enough to follow us there, they'll be
eaten alive. We just won't be able to leave Rashid Four with
Striker. We'll have to buy passage on a freighter or passenger
transport. Or we could try to get a ship clamp ride."

"What's
that?"

"We find a big
ship and ask them to clamp Striker to their hull. The enforcers
won't be able to see her, but it will be expensive."

"How
expensive?"

"We'll
probably have just enough, if I do some creative bargaining." Kole
frowned at the monitors. "Damn, the enforcer's driven off the
pirates. They're coming after us."

The engines'
wail died away. "Corridor exited," Striker announced. "Deceleration
burn initiated."

The distant
howl started again, lasted for a few minutes, then softened. "Zero
velocity achieved," Striker said. "Course change burn
imminent."

"This is
awfully complicated," Tassin muttered.

"In space,
inertia rules."

Tassin closed
her eyes as the stars ahead drifted upwards as if they were diving
into the darkness below, and the engines wailed again. When she
opened them, the stars had steadied and a brilliant sun filled the
screens, making her squint even though dark shields had slid across
them. The ship accelerated towards the distant grey planet, then
decelerated into a high orbit, drifting past other ships. Kole
studied them as they passed below until he spotted a huge,
space-scarred transport that looked like an elongated box covered
with metal scaffolding and giant cranes.

Kole nodded.
"We're in luck. That's a settlement ship."

"It won't be
going to Charon," Sabre remarked.

"No, but it
will get us away from Rashid. We can unclamp when we're far enough
away."

"What's a
settlement ship?" Tassin asked.

"It's full of
people going to settle a new world. They probably stopped at Rashid
to refuel."

Kole studied
the pitted hulk, searching for its name, which appeared as they
drifted past, painted on the bow. Striker slowed at his command,
matching the settlement ship's orbit.

Kole pushed a
button on the console beside him. "Hail, Ragman's Joy."

After a
moment, a tinny voice replied, "What do you want, Striker?"

"Requesting
ship clamp out of the Rashid solar system."

"Not a chance.
But I recommend that you get the hell out of the way, because in
about four seconds all hell's going to break loose around
here."

Kole glanced
at the monitor beside him. "Bloody hell! The enforcers have
followed us! Are they mad?"

"They're going
to try to get a grappler on us," Sabre said. "If they do, they'll
tow us away."

"Striker,
manual override," Kole ordered.

A section of
the console in front of Kole’s chair slid aside, and a peculiar,
curved instrument, rather like a knife handle with buttons on it,
rose through the hole. Kole grasped it, and the ship dived towards
the planet, narrowly missing a protruding segment of scaffolding on
the settlement ship. As they passed it, pulses of red light shot
from it, and other well-disguised gun placements unleashed a
barrage of ruby light. More lines of laser light came from behind
them, flashing past in streams of deadly brilliance, some striking
the settlement ship with flashes of fire. Striker shuddered as she
turned towards the settlement ship, and an alarm beeped.

"Engine two
has sustained damage. Shutting down," Striker crooned. "Proximity
alert. Manoeuvrability compromised."

"Shit." Kole
hauled back on the stick, and tongues of fire plumed from either
side of Striker's nose.

"Manoeuvring
thrusters will be insufficient to avoid collision," Striker
said.

"Bring engine
two online now!"

"Danger of
explosion -"

"Just do
it!"

The tinny
voice shouted from the console, "Veer off, Striker!"

"I'm trying!"
Kole bellowed back. "I've lost an engine!"

"Turn, or I'll
blow you away myself!"