The Cyber Chronicles IV - Cyborg (7 page)

“
Will there be any in his medical kit?” she asked the tech,
jerking her chin at Sabre.

“
Y-yes, but you’ll have to give me permission to touch him, and
take the instruments from his kit.”

She nodded.
“Sabre, allow this man to touch you and use your medical kit.”

The air-car
lurched and tilted as Kole navigated the forest of skyscrapers, the
enforcers still close behind. For the moment, they had stopped
firing, perhaps realising that they were endangering the public
after the hit on the skyscraper. She wondered how long Kole could
keep going or if he would eventually have to stop for any reason.
Surely the vehicle used some sort of fuel? For the moment, he was
leading the enforcers a merry chase.

The tech dug
in Sabre’s medical kit and took out a scalpel and what looked like
a miniature pair of scissors. He glanced at Tassin. “He must turn
his back to me, so I can reach the locator.”

“
Where is it?”

“
In the back of his neck, just below his skull.”

“
You’d better not be lying, or try to disable him,” she said.
“Any funny stuff, and your brains become a red mist, got
it?”

He nodded.
“Look, it would be better if we weren’t being tossed around in
here. This is a delicate operation. The locator is attached to a
micro-wire that encircles his spinal cord. It’s a safety feature to
prevent unauthorised removal of the tracking beacon. One tug and he
dies.”

“
If he dies, you end up a smear on the wall,
understand?”

“
Yeah, I know. I won’t hurt him; I just need a steady
environment.”

Tassin glanced
over her shoulder. “Kole?”

“
Yeah, I heard. I’ll do my best. Tell it to the shits who are
chasing us.”

She faced the
tech again. “Sabre, turn your back to the tech and allow him access
to the back of your neck. What about anaesthetic?” she asked the
youth as the cyber obeyed.

He shook his
head. “He’s a cyber.”

“
He feels pain.”

“
I don’t have any anaesthetic. Are you going to stop at a
hospital?”

“
How much will it hurt?”

“
He doesn’t –”

“
He feels pain!” She glared at him.

“
Okay, okay. It’s just a little cut, it won’t hurt
much.”

“
All right. Make sure it doesn’t.”

“
Right.” The tech faced Sabre and reached up to touch the back
the cyber’s neck, just below his hairline. Apparently finding the
right spot, he raised the scalpel, his hand shaking a little. The
vehicle remained level and steady, and a glance out of the front
windscreen showed her that they were flying straight across the
city, down a broad avenue between the skyscrapers. The tech pressed
the scalpel to Sabre’s skin, and a little blood oozed from its tip,
making her wince. The cyber stared impassively ahead. The tech put
down the scalpel and dug his fingers into the cut, groping for
something. After a few seconds he carefully pulled something
towards the surface, then picked up the snips and pressed them into
the cut. The blades snipped, and he pulled out a tiny, gleaming
silver ovoid, about the size of a grain of rice. He held it out to
Tassin.

“
There it is.”

“
That?”

“
Yeah.”

She took it
and tossed it out of the window. “Great. Patch him up.”

While the tech
stuck a plaster over the cut, she glanced out of the front
windscreen again, saying to Kole, “Okay, you can lose them
now.”

The air-car
tilted as he veered between the buildings, rejoining a stream of
flying traffic. Tassin clung to her seat and turned back to the
tech, who put the scalpel and snips back in Sabre’s medical
kit.

“
Okay, Sabre, guard him again,” she said.

The cyber
turned to face the tech, who looked panicky. “Look, I’ve done what
you asked. Are you going to let me go?”

“
Sure, as soon as we lose the enforcers.”

He slumped,
forcing a feeble smile. “Thanks.”

Tassin turned
to face the front again, hanging onto her seat as Kole swooped and
swerved through the towering glass spires, crossing lanes of
traffic in what she assumed was a highly illegal manner. If the
enforcers had only been after her before, she did not doubt that
the local authorities would be after him now, too, for traffic
violations. Her heart warmed to the brash hacker. Why were the
enforcers after her, though? She frowned, pondering. Buying Sabre
should not have raised any red flags, unless Manutim had still been
his owner, and returned to find that his employee had sold Sabre to
her. He would most probably have informed the enforcers, perhaps
told them that she intended to try to free the cyber, or something.
She had not parted from him on good terms. He had undoubtedly done
it out of revenge, even if he did not believe she could free Sabre.
He had not been certain that the cyber had been free when he had
returned to collect him on Omega Five. Perhaps the techs on Myon
Two had discovered Sabre’s freedom, though, when they had examined
him. Only Sabre could tell her that, and she longed to talk to
him.

Kole said, “I
think I’ve lost them. Ask him.”

Tassin glanced
back at the empty sky behind them. “Looks like it. Sabre, where are
the enforcers now?”

“
Out of scanner range.”

“
Let’s get rid of this guy,” she said to Kole.

“
Good idea.”

He swooped
towards a shorter building with a landing pad on its roof and
stopped the air-car.

Tassin turned
to the tech. “Out.”

The youth
climbed out with alacrity, and Kole guided the car back into the
sky, circling around the city.

“
Now what?” Tassin asked.

“
Well, we can’t stay on Ferrinon. The enforcers will have
staked out my apartment and they’ll track me as soon as I spend any
money. That means we can’t stay at a hotel, buy food, fuel, hell,
anything. We have to get off this planet.”

“
Buy passage on a ship?”

He snorted.
“If we did that, they’d track it, too. Luckily there’s no need. I
have my own, and she’s fully fuelled.”

“
You own a spaceship?”

“
Yup. She’s an armed explorer. Her name’s Striker.” He
smiled.

“
Wow. I guess you fleeced a lot of corporations,
huh?”

“
I told you I was the best hacker in the galaxy.”

“
Where will we go?” she asked.

“
Friend of mine. Thanks to you and your cyber, I’m deep in the
poo with Cybercorp, since they tracked the pair of you to my
apartment. I need to access the Net to create a new alias and
transfer my money to new bank accounts so they can’t catch me when
I use it, or worse, confiscate it. Trevare’s a pal, and he’s got
all the equipment I need. He lives on an abandoned mining
moon.”

“
I’m sorry I’ve caused so much trouble for you, and I really
appreciate your help, Kole. It means a lot to me.”

He shot her a
faint smile. “Hey, I’m not the sort who dumps a girl in the shit
when the going gets tough. I’ll hack my way out of this just like I
always do. No biggie. What I’d really like to know is; why are the
enforcers after you?”

She explained
her theory about Manutim, and added, “That means there must be a
way to free Sabre again.”

“
Right. Well that’s good news. That makes sense, too, because
as far as I know, only someone with the right code can activate a
cyber’s tracking beacon. It stands to reason that his previous
owner would still have the code and gave it to the enforcers. We
could have changed it, but we’d have had to take Sabre to a repair
station to have it done, and they keep records, so in fact the only
way to give them the slip was to remove the beacon. Lucky we found
a cowardly tech who believed you when you said you’d shoot him if
he didn’t do it, or if he hurt Sabre. He was supposed to give the
beacon that tug, I reckon, and kill Sabre, so he’s going to be in a
world of trouble now. Okay then, next stop, spaceport.”

Half an hour
later, Kole landed the air-car on a vast concrete apron and parked
it amongst a host of others. The trio climbed out, and Kole led the
way along a row of parked spaceships, most of them shuttles and
leisure yachts, along with a few transports and tourist barges.
Tassin gazed at them in wonder, marvelling at the amazing machines
that could fly through the void. The majority were shiny and looked
fairly new, but a few were battered and pitted with thousands of
tiny scars. Kole strode ahead, and gestured to a sleek silver ship
with a needle nose and stubby wings, four big hollow tubes housed
in its tail that she assumed were engines.

“
There she is.”

Kole hurried
up to the ship, and Tassin got the impression he would have hugged
it if he could. He stroked the smooth hull, and the door beside him
whined open, a set of three steps unfolding. He vanished inside,
and Tassin followed. The interior was plush, decorated mostly in
white, grey and cream, with occasional splashes of deep crimson.
She entered a corridor that opened out further down into a lounge
with cream seats around a glass-topped table. Grey carpet covered
the floor, and shiny metal fittings hinted at odd devices. At the
far end of the lounge, a speckled white bar counter fronted a glass
cabinet full of bottles. She glanced in the other direction, where
Kole hurried towards a small room full of screens and consoles
covered with buttons, where two padded black chairs that faced a
wide, curved window. As he entered the room, the consoles came
alive with little lights, screens flickered on and filled with
writing, and subdued lighting came from behind the consoles.

“
Hello Striker,” he said.

Tassin
wondered who he was speaking to, then jumped as a soft, dulcet
female voice crooned, “Hello Kole.”

She glanced
around in bewilderment, meeting Sabre’s blank gaze. Entering the
bridge as Kole settled into one of the chairs, she enquired, “Who
was that?”

“
That, my dear, was my ship.”

“
It speaks?”

“
Yup. It’s like that thing on his forehead. An AI: an
artificial intelligence. Of course, it’s not as sophisticated as
his, but it’s not a monster, either. It runs the ship.”

“
I see.” She slid into the chair beside his, gazing out of the
windows.

Kole pushed
buttons and tapped keys. “Striker, prepare for take-off.
Destination, Drellin Moon.”

“
Engines online, preparing for take-off. ETA to Drellin Moon,
seven hours. Corridors X436 -32 and U860-50 optimal.”

“
Go ahead,” Kole said.

A soft hum
came from behind Tassin and rose to a deep throbbing, which she
assumed was the engines. “Corridors?”

“
Yeah. That’s how we travel between the stars. We use photon
corridors.”

“
Photons?”

“
Ah… particles that stars emit. They form sort of rivers, in
deep space, between the stars. Photons travel at the speed of
light, obviously, and photon ships use vast sails or wings of
electromagnetic power that’s specially polarised to capture photons
and push them backwards, which pushes the ship forward. Once it’s
going faster than the speed of light, it captures the photons it’s
overtaking and pushes them backwards, which makes it go even
faster. Technically, the speed of a photon ship is limitless, but,
like everything else, what speeds up must also slow down, and the
faster you go the more time you have to spend decelerating, which
is done with normal engines. Nothing stops in space if it doesn’t
have brakes. If we don’t decelerate, we keep going
forever.”

Tassin was
fascinated, and watched the ground fall away below as the ship had
left the apron and rose into the sky. “So why do you use these
photon corridors to go faster and normal engines to slow down? Why
not use the normal engines for both, or the photons?”

“
Well, changing the polarity of solar wings is impossible,
apparently, and normal engines would never get us faster than
light, because the energy they produce would be left behind faster
than they could produce it, you see? Normal engines, however, have
a profound effect when a ship’s travelling faster than light
because the energy they produce is sort of compressed, if you will.
That’s the best way I can explain it. It’s way more effective, at
any rate.”

“
Okay.” She did not understand completely but it seemed to make
sense. “So who’s this friend of yours?”

“
He’s a fellow hacker. We go way back, but he hacked the wrong
corporation and got into huge trouble. He had to go into permanent
hiding, and he’s been there ever since.”

Tassin glanced
at Sabre, who stood in the corridor just outside the room where she
sat with Kole, in a guard stance. “Go and sit in the lounge, find
food and drink if you require it,” she ordered him, annoyed.

Kole glanced
at her. “He really bugs you, doesn’t he?”

“
Yes. I remember him as a free man, not a… machine.”

“
What will you do if you can’t free him?”

“
I’m going to free him.”

He nodded,
turning to gaze out of the window. “Sure you will.”

The blue sky
outside turned black with startling swiftness, and stars became
visible as the ship turned away from the planet’s glow and headed
into deep space. Tassin stared at the mesmerising view, entranced.
Billions of stars sprinkled the inky void like miniscule diamonds
on black velvet, each one a sun, and in some areas what looked like
clouds glowed faintly. She pointed them out to Kole.