The Cyber Chronicles IV - Cyborg (20 page)

Tassin stared
at him in horror. "I thought you'd just lost your memories of Omega
Five, not your entire life. You said you remembered the chestnut
horse."

"I did?" He
frowned, thinking, then shook his head. "Not anymore."

"Then why did
you fight so hard to get free when I spoke to you?"

"I knew your
voice, and you told me I could get free, so I tried. You kept
calling me. You gave me a name, and somehow I knew it was mine.
That was important."

Tassin bowed
her head. "And the first time I spoke to you, you still had some of
your memories. You lost them on Rashid."

"Yes, I must
have."

"I'm
sorry."

"No, don't be.
You freed me. It was worth it."

"I hope you
get them back."

"Me too."

She took his
hand again, caressing it. "How do you feel, now that you know I
care about you?"

"I don't know.
You're important to me. I want to protect you. It's strange, but...
good. It's also wrong."

"Why?"

He closed his
eyes, plainly exhausted. "Because I'm a cyborg."

"You're still
a man, just with a few... additions, which makes you special."

He snorted.
"I'm not special; there are thousands just like me."

"No, they're
not. You're unique. Is a man any less because he has a twin?"

"He might be,
if he had thousands."

"No, he
wouldn't. He'd still be an individual, with his own unique
spirit."

He opened his
eyes to study her. "If I stood beside one of my clones, who was the
same age, would you be able to tell us apart?"

"Yes. The
first time I saw you, I knew it was you. I didn't have to see the
cracked brow band or the scars, I just knew."

Sabre looked
away, then closed his eyes. "I must rest."

"I'll sleep on
the floor. You stay here; you need a soft bed more than I do."

"Thank
you."

Tassin
released his hand and stood up, dithered for a moment before going
into the bathroom to wash her face, then returned to lie down on
the floor, taking a blanket from the bed.

Sabre listened
to her soft movements, glancing at the cyber's tracking information
within the darkness of his mind. It showed a multitude of people
all around them, the scanners penetrating the thin walls. None of
them appeared to be threatening, and he thought about their
conversation, marvelling at the revelation of Tassin's admission.
It surprised him, and he did not know how to cope with it.

His first
reaction was to ignore it. His training told him that such things
were irrelevant, and did not warrant consideration, but part of him
clung to the precious wonder of it. Another part of him rejected
the notion that a beautiful young woman like Tassin could care
about a broken killing machine. What could she possibly see in him?
His feelings also puzzled him, since he had never experienced any
before, and had no idea what they meant. He wanted to stay with
her. He liked to watch her, especially when she smiled. If only he
knew how to make her smile. What was affection, anyway? Was he
capable of it? How was he supposed to show it? What was its
purpose? He glanced at the cyber's bio readout, noting the areas of
his body marked in red, indicating injuries. His ribs ached despite
the painkillers, and his elbow burnt, but it was not as badly
injured as the doctor had diagnosed. He was not a cyber technician.
The blessed darkness of sleep washed over him, and he welcomed
it.

****

When Tassin
woke, Sabre still slept, and she lay still, knowing that if she
tried to leave the room the cyber would wake him. He woke a couple
of hours later, and she gave him two more painkillers, alarmed by
his pallor. He seemed to have lost weight overnight, but then,
after that amount of physical exertion, he probably had. When the
painkillers had worked, he sat up, grimacing, and tried to take the
cast off his arm. She shook her head, alarmed.

"Leave
it."

"I must bathe.
I stink."

"No you
don't."

"You need your
nose checked. The smell woke me up. Besides, pink isn't my
colour."

Sabre eased
the strap over his head, and she helped to remove the plastic cast,
then took off the bandages around his chest, revealing massive
bruises. His elbow had turned a peculiar shade of puce, and the
laser burns were angry red. When she had removed all the dressings,
he went into the bathroom.

A few minutes
later, there was a knock on the door, and Tassin opened it to find
Kole waiting outside, holding three silver packages. He brushed
past her and set the packages down on the table beside the bed,
glancing around.

"Where's our
hero?"

"Bathing.
What's this?" She nodded at the packages.

"Food. You
must be hungry by now, I'm guessing."

"Starved;
thank you. How did you persuade Ravel to let you visit me?"

"I told him
I'm your husband. It got me visitation rights."

"It's good to
see you. Are you all right?"

He shrugged.
"Apart from the hard bunks and smell, not too bad. The engineers
have been working on Striker. She should be ready in a few
days."

"Sabre says
Ravel's going to hand us over to the enforcers as soon as we leave
Rashid."

"Undoubtedly.
That's why I want Striker repaired fast."

"But can you
trust Ravel's engineers?"

He shook his
head. "I've been watching them, and I'll check their work before we
try to leave. I'll have Striker run a full diagnostic check. You
can't fool an AI."

"Ravel must
know that too."

"Of
course."

"Then..."

Kole sat on
the bunk. "I think his engineers will fix her okay, but leave out
some vital part. When I discover it, he'll say he hasn't got a
replacement. He's hoping we'll have left Rashid before I discover
the problem, then he can hand us over to the enforcers."

"So what are
we going to do?"

"We might have
to rely on Sabre again."

"He's
hurt!"

He nodded.
"I'm hoping he'll have recovered enough in a few days."

The bathroom
door slid open, and Sabre emerged, his hair spiked with water, his
trousers clean, but damp.

Kole smiled at
him. "Hey chum, how are you doing?"

"A bit
sore."

"Not
surprising. That was a bloody amazing fight."

"Thank
you."

Kole handed
him a package. "Brought you some food."

Sabre took it
with a nod and tore open the silver material, releasing a cloud of
steam and a delicious smell that made Tassin's mouth water. Kole
handed her another package, and she tore it open, finding eating
utensils inside as well. Tassin and Kole sat on the floor while
Sabre sat on the bunk and ate his food one-handed, his injured arm
hanging at his side.

"Are you going
to be up to helping us get off this rust bucket in a few days?"
Kole enquired around a mouthful of food.

Sabre glanced
at him. "Ravel won't take me on. Telling him that you're Tassin's
husband was a mistake. Now he knows he has two potential
hostages."

Tassin looked
up. "Hostages?"

"There are
only two ways he can prevent me fighting him. One way is if he
threatens your life, since a cyber won't endanger his owner, and
the other is to threaten the life of someone you care about, so you
won’t allow me to fight. Since Kole is alone, now he'll be the
target."

Kole shot
Tassin a sheepish glance. "It was the only way I could get to see
you."

"I need my
weapons," Sabre said.

"Ravel's not
going to give them back, I can tell you that right now."

"I know. I'll
have to get them, and you'll have to stay here from now on, so he
can't take you hostage."

"You can't do
it now, you're injured," Tassin protested.

"No, not just
yet."

"Well at least
I don't have to go back to that stinking bunk room," Kole
muttered.

Chapter Ten

Several hours
later, a knock on the door made Tassin start, and Sabre, who was
asleep on the bunk, opened his eyes. He sat up, grimacing, and
Tassin handed him two more painkillers. When he had swallowed them,
she opened the door. A scruffy crewman stood there, whose eyes
darted around the room and came to rest on Sabre.

"Captain wants
you to eat with him," he said.

"How kind of
him." Tassin forced a smile. "We'll be ready in a little
while."

"I'm to show
you the way."

"Good, you can
wait for us then."

Tassin closed
the door, and Sabre sagged back with a groan.

Kole frowned
at Tassin. "I don't think accepting his invitation was such a good
idea."

"We have to
eat. If you go out to fetch food, you might be taken hostage. This
way we stay together."

"We could have
gone to fetch food together."

"If you
thought it was such a bad idea, why didn't you say something?"

He shrugged.
"You were too quick."

"So I'll tell
him we've changed our minds."

"No," Sabre
said. "Ravel mustn't know we suspect him, or he'll act sooner."

"What if he
drugs our food?"

"He won't. A
cyber can detect drugs and poison."

"Oh, good."
Tassin went over to the bunk and picked up one of the adhesive
dressings Sabre had removed prior to his shower, pressing it over
one of his wounds. When she had replaced all the dressings, he sat
up so she could bandage his chest, then she helped him don the cast
and sling.

The
disgruntled crewman waited outside, looking sour, and frowned at
Sabre before leading them down a dingy corridor with peeling grey
paint and a worn brown plasfoam floor. Ravel's dining room turned
out to be a sort of officers' club, and seven thuggish men awaited
them, seated around a plastic table. The bare walls appeared to
have had a more recent coat of shiny pale blue paint, and a couple
of scruffy rugs adorned the scuffed floor. Two chairs stood empty,
and Ravel indicated them with a wave of his hand, smiling.

"Welcome. I
trust you've had a good rest."

"Your bunkroom
stinks," Kole said. "You should have your men wash more often."

"That’s a
luxury on a spaceship, Son."

"Oh, I don't
know about that. A clean ship would boost your men's morale."

"There's
nothing wrong with my men's morale, and besides, they're settlers.
I don't command them."

Tassin eyed
the two chairs. "We seem to be a chair short."

"We do?"
Ravel's brows rose.

"Yes. My cyber
will be joining us."

"We can
provide him with a plate of cyber rations, but he can eat in the
corner."

Tassin shook
her head. "You'll provide him with a plate of real food, and he'll
sit at the table."

"That's hardly
appropriate."

She raised her
chin. "I don't care. He eats with us, or we dine in our room."

"Very well."
Ravel waved a hand, and a crewman brought another chair.

Tassin sat
down and ordered Sabre to sit between her and Kole. Crewmen brought
plates of steaming grey protein sticks and rehydrated vegetables
and placed them before them, then poured glasses of cheap red wine
for all of them. Ravel raised his glass.

"To a safe
journey."

Tassin sipped
her wine and started on the food, watching Ravel out of the corner
of her eye. Ravel watched Sabre, his eyes glinting.

"I'm curious,
Tassin. You don't look like a wealthy woman, yet you can afford a
cyber."

"What does a
wealthy woman look like?"

His eyes raked
her. "Fine clothes, jewels perhaps."

"I have plenty
of those where I come from."

"And where's
that?"

"None of your
business."

Ravel smiled.
"Okay. Why are the enforcers after you?"

"Also none of
your business."

"Actually,
that is, since I granted you sanctuary and helped you to defeat
them. Now I'm on their shit list too, and I'd like to know what
for."

"I doubt
they'll bother about you," Kole commented.

"I'd still
like to know. I'm guessing it has something to do with your
cyber."

Kole shook his
head. "We're dissidents. We spoke out against the immoral treatment
of cyber hosts. We even put up a Net site, and we're friends of
Vershasen Korazon."

"That idiot?"
Ravel snorted. "If you're anti Myon Two, why do you own a
cyber?"

"Shasen wanted
to examine one, so he could put the information up on a new
site."

"But you kept
him."

"In case you
hadn't noticed, we're being hunted, and he's useful in that
regard."

Ravel nodded.
"A plausible story."

"You think I'm
lying?"

"You could
be."

Kole shrugged.
"Believe what you want." Silence fell, broken only by the scrape of
cutlery on plastic, then he added, "I want the dead cyber's armour
and weapons."

Ravel shook
his head. "The armour, okay, but no weapons are allowed out of the
armoury."

"None of your
men are armed?"

"No."

Kole turned to
Sabre. "Cyber, how many of these men have concealed weapons?"

"Nine."

Kole raised
his brows. "That's all of them, Ravel."

The captain
scowled and shrugged. "Only my crew is allowed. No passengers."

"If you want
my cyber to break up fights amongst your settlers, he'll need his
weapons," Tassin pointed out.

"No he won't,
since they don't have any."

"If your crew
is armed, why do you need him to do it, anyway?"

Ravel's mouth
thinned, and he frowned at his food. "My crew has duties to
perform. They can't spend their time breaking up fights."