The Cyber Chronicles IV - Cyborg (3 page)

“
I need your help to find someone. I don’t have any
money.”

His stretched,
his white shirt rising to expose his belly. “Who told you I’d help
you?”

“
Horwin… somebody.”

“
That old fart? He’s got a nerve.”

Tassin
slumped, her last shred of hope draining away, and blinked as tears
stung her eyes.

Kole looked
concerned. “Hey, don’t cry. Come in, let’s talk about it.”

“
I’m not crying,” she stated, annoyed.

“
Right, you’ve got allergies. Come in.”

Tassin entered
a smart apartment furnished with fawn leather sofas, glass topped
tables, and silver pots that held dried grass and branches. Soft,
shaggy grey carpet sank under her boots, and odd, angular paintings
hung on the black, gold-speckled marble walls. Kole flopped down on
a sofa and she perched on the one opposite, holding the sword on
her lap when it hampered her. The weapon was heavy, and her legs
shook after the nine-flight climb.

“
So,” Kole said, “who do you want to find that Horwin couldn’t?
Or was it the lack of money?”

“
Both, I think.” Tassin wondered if, after coming this far, her
quest was hopeless after all. “I’m looking for a particular cyber,
and I don’t know his serial number.”

Kole whistled.
“In the city?”

“
On the planet.”

“
Whoa! That’s… impossible, I’d say.”

“
I can identify him if I see him; does that help?”

“
Not really. Not much, anyway.”

She sagged,
her eyes stinging again. “I have to find him. Please.”

“
Look, what will you do if you find him, if you’ve got no
money?”

“
I don’t know.” She bowed her head and rubbed her eyes. She had
not thought that far ahead, and now the problem loomed like a vast
barrier. The concept of buying Sabre was so alien it had not even
crossed her mind. She looked up at Kole, who studied her with a
puzzled expression. He probably thought she was mad.

She said, “I’m
going to free him.”

“
Free him? What do you mean?”

“
From slavery. From that thing of his head.”

“
The control unit?” His brows shot up. “How?”

“
I don’t know. I just know I must.”

“
Is this Horwin’s idea of a joke? He really doesn’t know me
well enough to –”

Tassin jumped
up, opening her mouth to tell him to forget it, and the room spun.
Darkness slammed down.

A persistent
patting on her cheek woke Tassin, and she opened her eyes to find
Kole bent over her, too close for comfort. She scrambled away,
glancing around in alarm. She lay on the cream sofa in his
apartment. He retreated and raised his hands.

“
It’s okay, relax,” he said.

She sat up.
“How long was I out?”

“
Not long. A couple of minutes. When was the last time you
ate?”

“
Yesterday, I think. It was a long climb to get here,
too.”

“
Climb?” His brows rose. “You used the stairs?”

“
How else would I get here?”

“
The lift?”

“
Lift?”

He nodded.
“Small room, sliding doors, goes up and down?”

“
I don’t know what that is.”

“
Right. Okay, let me make you a sandwich and something to
drink. Coffee?”

“
Anything, thank you.”

Kole went over
to the other side of the room, where a counter separated a kitchen
area from the lounge, and banged about in it. He took a plate from
a cupboard, put a kettle on to boil and dug in a large white
cupboard with a light in it. The strange devices fascinated Tassin,
and she watched him work, her throat dry and her stomach growling.
Several minutes later he returned with a plate that held two slices
of bread and a cup of something brown and hot. He went back and
fetched another cup of brown liquid for himself, then flopped down
on the sofa opposite again. Tassin picked up the sandwich and
nibbled it, sipping the brown liquid, which had a pleasant
taste.

“
So,” he said, “you want to find a cyber. May I ask
why?”

“
I… owe him my life. He’s my friend.”

“
We are talking about a cyber-bio combat unit, right?” he
asked.

“
Yes. But he’s different. He was free of his… control
unit.”

“
Really? I thought that was impossible. I mean, they’re not
supposed to have any higher brain function. At least, that’s what
Myon Two says. A few people believe otherwise. There have even been
a few Net sites that protested cyber production, but they didn’t
stay up long. Anyway, that’s all beside the point. How did he, uh,
get free?”

“
He fell off a cliff and damaged the cyber band. It has a
crack, here.” She pointed at the centre of her brow.

“
I see. Sort of. I really don’t know how I can help you,
though.”

“
Can you tell me where the cybers are in the city?”

He nodded.
“Yeah, sure, they’re all in the database. I guess that’s a place to
start, but then what?”

“
I shall go and look at them until I find him.”

His brows
rose. “How will you get there? It’s a big city.”

Her shoulders
slumped again. “And I have no money for taxis. Will you help?”

He sipped his
coffee. “Hmmm. You don’t want much, do you? What’s your name?”

Tassin
introduced herself, omitting her title, and ate her ham sandwich
while he appeared to consider. “I have gold, and some jewels, if
that will help,” she said.

“
Not really, but what the heck, I’m a sucker for a girl in a
grind. Come on; let’s see what we can find out.” He rose and headed
for a door in the wall next to the couch upon which she
sat.

Tassin
finished her sandwich and followed, carrying her cup. He led her
into a spacious room with cream walls, a pale grey tiled floor and
recessed lighting. A wide bench ran around it, and five flat black
square devices filled with swirling light stood upon it, a keyboard
in front of each one. It reminded her of the room Sabre had almost
died in on Omega Five. Two curved, padded chairs on wheels faced
the glowing squares, and Kole sat in one, placing his cup on the
table. He leant forward and tapped the keys on the board in front
of him, and the square beyond it filled with writing.

“
What are these?” she asked.

“
Computer screens?” He shot her a surprised look. “You’ve never
seen a computer before? Where are you from?”

“
Omega Five.”

“
Huh. Never heard of it. Let’s see.” He tapped on the board
again and read the writing that filled the screen. “Omega Five…
Outer Rim world, abandoned seven hundred years ago after nuclear
war… Restricted. Wow. How the hell did you get to Ferrinon
Four?”

Tassin’s hand
sought the sword’s hilt, and she wondered if she should tell him
about it. “I have… magic.”

He raised his
brows with a smile. “Magic, huh? Okay, whatever. Let’s see about
the cybers.” He tapped on the keyboard again. “Okay, there are
nineteen in Mogalon. Quite a few. Five of them belong to the
Ministry of Defence; three belong to a downtown hire company, four
belong to a corporation uptown, and the rest are privately owned. I
guess we start with the Ministry of Defence. Trouble is, even if we
find your cyber, you can’t buy him.”

“
I can free him, and then he’ll come with me.”

He turned to
her and sighed. “Look, I don’t know how you got your hands on a
cyber on a restricted world, or why you think he was free, but
stealing a cyber is definitely impossible. Even if, by some
miracle, you can free him from his control unit and he actually
does have a fully functional brain, they’ll track him down, or call
Cybercorp, and you don’t want to mess with those guys. You’ve got
to be able to buy him, and hope whoever owns him wants to sell
him.”

She chewed her
lip. “How could I get enough money to do that?”

Kole leant
back and clasped his hands behind his head. “We’re talking about
more than half a million credits. That kind of boodle doesn’t grow
on trees. Tell me more about this ‘magic’ that brought you here.
Did it bring you straight from Omega Five?”

“
Yes.”

“
How long did the trip take?”

She shrugged.
“Just a moment.”

“
A moment, huh? Sounds interesting, and impossible. And it’s a
thing? An artefact?”

“
Yes.”

“
Okay. In that case, it would be valuable, and your chance of
getting the money.”

“
How so?” she asked.

“
Well, scientists have been trying to invent instant
intergalactic travel for decades. If you have something that can do
that, it would be priceless.”

Tassin had the
impression that he did not really believe her, which annoyed her.
It seemed that, like Horwin, he thought she was mad. There was only
one way to prove him wrong and, if he was right, get the money to
buy Sabre. Her hand caressed the hilt of the chaos weapon, then she
made her decision and drew the sword with a hiss of steel.

Kole jumped up
and backed away. “Hey! Whoa, easy there, no need to get angry. Put
it away, okay? What’s a little chick like you doing with a bloody
great sword, anyway?”

Tassin lowered
the point of the sword to the floor. “You asked to see the
artefact.”

“
The…” He stared at the weapon. “That’s a sword.”

“
Yes. It’s also what brought me here.”

“
Okay… how?”

“
It’s magic.”

Kole ran a
hand through his hair. “Back to the magic again, hey?”

“
Yes. Watch.” Tassin raised the weapon. “Sword, become
crystal.”

The sword
chimed and flashed to crystal, and Kole stepped back, his eyes
wide. “Bloody hell. How did it do that?”

She shrugged.
“It’s magic.”

“
Right.” He sidled closer and peered at the glowing crystal
blade, which emitted a soft ruby radiance shot with rainbow hues.
“And it understands you.”

“
Yes. It contains a… thing. It was once a great crystal that
created an area on Omega Five called the Death Zone. It drew in
other worlds and turned animals into monsters. Sabre… the cyber,
destroyed the crystal with this sword, and the… entity… became
trapped in it. It’s called the Core.” The sword hummed softly,
vibrations running through it, and she longed to put it
away.

Kole reached
out to touch it and snatched his hand back, shaking it. “It’s got
some sort of power in it.”

“
Yes. Sabre called it neo… neosin?”

“
Neosin, yeah, that’s the stuff they use to power most things…
the city runs on it, but how does it get the neosin?”

“
I don’t know. Sabre said the Core was a power crystal from an
ancient power station that was bombed during the war on Omega
Five.”

Kole sank back
onto his chair, gazing at the sword. “A neosin storage crystal
bombarded with nuclear radiation. Huh. That might cause some weird
stuff. Who knows? Anyway, it’s definitely valuable. Priceless,
even. Will you sell it?”

“
I will do anything to free Sabre.”

“
Okay. I’ll put an ad up on the Net and see how much you’re
offered. It will take a while, though. It’s not the sort of thing
we could flog to a scientific institution; they’d take one look at
it and laugh, and the chances of making another one with the same
properties are probably slim to nil. There must have been some
really weird factors at play when that thing was created. But it’s
an oddity, and a pretty impressive one. There are plenty of filthy
rich guys who would pay a lot to own something as unique as that.
In the meantime, we can look for your cyber. And, since you do have
the means to get your hands on a lot of money, I’ll take you to
look for him. You can reimburse me when you sell it.”

Tassin smiled
and sheathed the sword. “Thank you.”

“
Sure. Where are you staying?”

“
Staying?”

“
Yeah. Do you have a room at a hotel in the city?”

She shook her
head. “I only arrived this morning.”

“
Okay, well, you can stay here if you want. I have a spare
room.”

“
Thank you. When can we start searching for Sabre?”

“
Ugh, tomorrow, I guess.”

She sat on the
other chair, studying the screens and strange boards. “I have much
to learn about your world. Will you teach me?”

“
Yeah, sure.”

Chapter Two

Tassin climbed
out of Kole’s sleek silver air-car and gazed at an imposing
structure with sweeping white walls and tall panels of pink-tinted
mirror glass. It towered over them, fifteen storeys high, and three
multi-coloured flags flew from its uppermost floor. The building
was just outside the city, surrounded by a sizeable parking lot.
This was the Ministry of Defence, which owned five cybers, and the
name was emblazoned above the double doors at its entrance in
shiny, metre-high steel letters. Kole came to her side, studying a
small flat silver device that he had explained was a sort of
portable computer, which he used to store and access
information.