The Cyber Chronicles V - Overlord (16 page)

"Naturally."

"What did you
see?"

Ravian studied
her drink with a sigh. "A lot of blank spaces. Pits of darkness
covered with shields of pain. Confusion. Terrible inadequacy,
and... gentleness. Deep, profound compassion mingled with ice-cold
logic. It was like nothing I've ever sensed before, a mixture of
human and machine. Above all, honesty and innocence."

Fairen nodded.
"You only brushed the surface of his mind. The dark pits hide his
true essence. Those blank spaces are where his intellect died of
loneliness and despair, and he abandoned the world outside. He has
no ego, no sense of self-worth. It was beaten from him by cruelty,
and all that's left is pure... I don't think there's a word for it.
If people are wood, he's duronium. Have you ever read a child?"

"A
six-year-old."

"Even they have
more guile and vanity than him. Yet he hates himself above all
others, even those who made him what he is."

She raised her
brows. "He blames himself?"

"No, he's not a
fool. He blames them, he just hates himself because he's not like
the rest of us, and he considers himself beneath us."

Ravian stared
across the room, pondering his words, and the silence thickened
until she broke it. "What's in those pits of darkness?"

Fairen frowned
into his glass. "Sorrow."

Sabre turned
his head towards Tassin, the lights on the brow band flashing.

"They're
coming. Keep still and don't make a sound. They have extremely keen
hearing."

Tassin nodded,
wondering if he could see her, and tried to keep her breathing even
and silent. The doors at the end of the hold slid open, letting in
a shaft of light. Lanky forms moved into the hold with gliding
steps, making soft snarling sounds. Some fiddled with the access
panel, then they waited until more came, bringing powerful torches
that slashed the gloom with brilliant beams. Ten of them passed
below, searched the aisles and pushed over stacks of cargo. Looking
down made her dizzy, and she closed her eyes, glad of Tarl's back
pressing her to the wall, although she wished it was Sabre's.

A crash of
falling boxes made her start, and she strived to calm her racing
heart. She opened her eyes to search for the reassuring flashing of
the cyber band, but Sabre must have been looking away. More crashes
made her tension rise, then screams erupted as one of the women was
found, ending abruptly.

"Bastards,"
Tarl whispered.

A beam of light
flashed upwards, illuminating the roof not far from them, and
wandered towards them. Sabre's brow band became visible as he
turned his head towards them. Tassin thought her heart would burst
with terror. The light wandered past and dropped back to the cargo
as another woman screamed, this time mixed with the thud of
footsteps and snarls from the Corsairs. Her brief flight ended in a
shriek, and near silence followed as the Corsairs continued their
search. Several minutes passed, and the lights moved back towards
the door. A crash of falling cargo was followed by a wail of
terror. Tassin burnt with anguish and rage as three Corsairs
dragged the pregnant girl into the light from the doorway, and she
struggled hysterically. They held her down and examined her,
apparently curious about her distended belly.

In the faint
light, Tassin could make out Sabre's profile as he gazed down at
the scene below, his brows drawn together. She knew he wanted to
save the girl, and only his concern for her safety prevented him.
He glanced at her, and she shook her head, although she, too,
wanted to rescue the girl. Sabre looked down again, and she guessed
that he was weighing his chances against ten Corsairs. Killing them
would only give away his presence and bring more, however. She
closed her eyes and plugged her ears as the girl's screams rose to
shrieks of agony.

Tarl cursed and
drew his laser. His first three shots hit two Corsairs. One died
with a yelp, the other grunted and leapt into the air. Beams of
light flashed upwards, and Tassin almost slid off the beam as she
tried to duck out of their path, grabbing Tarl. Sabre jumped up and
loped away along the beam, drawing his lasers. He fired several
shots in quick succession, and three more Corsairs collapsed before
the rest dived for cover.

The girl
scrambled up and fled out of the door. The Corsairs' weapons made
soft pops as they fired deadly missiles that hissed past to hit the
roof. Sabre fired again, hit several cargo boxes and set them
ablaze, drawing the Corsairs' fire. Projectiles whizzed past him as
he trotted further along the beam. Corsairs ran from the fire, one
falling as Sabre shot him. Tarl fired again, and more missiles hit
the bulkhead behind them with soft clangs. Tassin gasped and
grabbed his arm to try to stop him.

Sabre shot
another crate, set it ablaze and forced three Corsairs to break
cover. One collapsed with a black hole in his back as the cyber
shot him. Beams of light swept over Sabre, who fired at them,
knocking two out. Acrid black smoke billowed from the burning cargo
to fill the hold with choking fumes. An alarm buzzed, and clouds of
white gas jetted from the roof.

Tarl cursed.
"The fire extinguishers have been triggered."

"Isn't that a
good thing?" Tassin asked, coughing.

"No. It's
toxic."

Tassin glanced
at Sabre, and her blood chilled as he holstered his lasers, bent to
grip the beam and stepped off it, swinging by his arms before
dropping into the white mist. The fires were extinguished, and the
gas swirled below, rising slowly. The force of the extinguishers
had sent the deadly gas past them, leaving them unscathed for the
moment.

Coughing
Corsairs staggered into the open, and Sabre moved amongst them,
killing them. The surviving women ran towards the door, coughing
and stumbling as the gas overcame them. Sabre sprinted to the
nearest and swept her up, threw her over his shoulder and gripped
another's arm, dragging her to the door. Dumping them outside, he
dashed back to rescue two more, then returned for another two while
one staggered out by herself.

Tassin watched
the deadly gas rise, her heart pounding in her throat. Sabre ran
about below, dragging out more women. He returned again, pausing
beneath them to scan the room. Evidently there were no more life
signs in it, for he glanced up at them. Tassin's nose burnt and her
head spun as the gas rose to engulf her. Tarl coughed and clamped a
hand over his mouth.

"Don't
breathe!" Sabre shouted, and she nodded, her lungs burning. He held
out his arms. "Tassin, jump!"

Tassin's eyes
burnt, and tears obscured her vision. His order seemed insane.
Surely even he could not catch her from such a height. Could
he?

"Jump!" he
yelled.

Tarl turned his
head. "Do as he says!"

"It's too
far!"

"Do it!"

There seemed to
be no choice. If she stayed on the beam she would die. Throwing
caution to the winds, she eased her grip and let herself slip
sideways. Her vision grew dark from lack of air, and her lungs
spasmed. Her weakened hands lost their grip, and she slid off the
beam, flailing wildly.

Chapter Eleven

Sabre braced
himself as she fell towards him, stepping forward to catch her. He
bent to absorb the force of the impact, and her hair brushed the
floor, then he straightened, holding her cradled against his chest.
He sprinted into the corridor and put her down beside the other
women, most of whom were recovering. Assuring himself that she was
all right, he took a deep breath and loped back into the hold. Tarl
had lowered himself off the beam and hung by his arms.

Sabre stopped
under him. "Let go!"

Tarl obeyed,
and again Sabre braced himself for the impact, stepping back. Tarl
weighed more than twice as much as Tassin, and his bulk almost
forced Sabre to his knees. He straightened and set the technician
on his feet, dragged him out and slapped the access panel outside
to close the doors, cutting off the gas that crept into the
corridor.

Tarl gasped and
coughed, wiping his watering eyes. Sabre went over to kneel beside
Tassin and place a hand on her shoulder as she coughed and rubbed
her streaming eyes.

"Are you all
right?"

She nodded.

"We've got to
get out of here," Tarl said.

"And go where?"
Sabre turned to him, his expression grim. "Thanks to you, we're
exposed."

"I couldn't
just sit there and watch them -"

"Did you think
I was enjoying it?"

"No, of course
not, but -"

"If you want to
play hero, do it when you don't endanger others, especially
Tassin," Sabre said.

"You could have
let them -?"

"Yes. To keep
Tassin safe, I could have watched them butcher that girl and her
baby. Does that make me a monster?"

"No." Tarl
hesitated. "I don't know what it makes you, but..."

"I'll save who
I can, when I can, but when I can't, I'll save Tassin. Everyone
else is expendable, including you."

"But you did
save most of them, because I -"

"Oh, you want
credit for that now? You almost got us all killed. The Corsairs
were leaving the hold, so that girl would have been their last
victim. Thanks to your heroism, seven more women died from the
gas."

"You triggered
the extinguishers by starting the fires!" Tarl said.

"Because if I
hadn't, we'd all be dead. I could have killed them, but not before
one of them called for help. Did you think I wasn't considering all
the options? I wanted to save her just as much as you did, maybe
more. Now she's run off and she'll probably be killed anyway. You
seem to have forgotten what I am. This is what I'm trained to do,
and I'm a hell of a lot better at it than you."

Tarl nodded.
"You're right, I know. I just... I couldn't bear it."

"That's why
cybers have no emotions. Their decisions are based purely on logic
and strategy. I guess I've inherited some of that dispassion."

The women
stared at Sabre, and one asked, "What are you?"

He glared at
her. "How the hell should I know?"

Tarl glanced
around. "Shouldn't we find somewhere else to hide?"

"We don't have
many options left, now that the hold is full of gas. The hunters
will search every room, cupboard and locker. The rest are going to
get suspicious about their missing comrades and come looking for
them. They might think the gas killed them, but if they get close
enough to see the wounds, they'll start hunting us. There are over
three hundred Corsairs on a horde ship."

"So what should
we do?"

Sabre shrugged,
shooting a glare at a woman who leant closer to peer at his brow
band. "We have no choice now. We'll have to hide in a cabin, and
I'll have to kill any hunters that find us."

"Corsairs are
superstitious. They might think their comrades’ disappearance is a
bad omen and leave."

"Maybe. Or they
might think there's someone killing them and band together. They're
not stupid. Our chances before were slim, now they're almost
non-existent." Sabre turned to Tassin as she put a hand on his
arm.

"I can’t
believe you caught me like that..."

Tarl snorted.
"Of course he did, he's capable of -"

"Why don't you
get her a bloody brochure?" Sabre asked.

Tassin rubber
her brow with a shaking hand. "You caught him too?"

"Yeah." Sabre
glared down the corridor. “Although I’m starting to wish I
hadn’t.”

Tassin turned
to frown at Tarl. "What were you thinking, shooting at those
creatures?"

"They were
-"

"I know what
they were doing, and, if not for Sabre, they'd have done the same
thing to us."

"I knew he
could deal with them."

Tassin's frown
deepened. "You deliberately put us in danger so he would have to
fight them?"

"I know what
he's capable of! Okay, I should have realised one might call for
help before they were all killed. I made a mistake!"

Tassin shot
Sabre an alarmed look. "Did they call for help?"

"No, the gas
stopped them."

"What do we do
now?"

"Find somewhere
else to hide and hope the Corsairs think those hunters in the hold
started the fires and were all killed by the gas."

Tarl scowled at
the floor. "I don't know how you could stand it."

"I wanted to
live," Tassin said. "I didn't think there was any way to save her
without getting ourselves killed. That may seem heartless and
selfish, but sometimes sacrifice is necessary. If it had been me, I
wouldn't have wanted anyone to risk their life to save me."

"Yeah, you
would, if you'd thought there was any chance they might
succeed."

Sabre stood up
and held out a hand to Tassin. "Let's go."

She took it,
and the cyber pulled her to her feet, then stepped towards Tarl as
he rose, but one of the women distracted him with a hand on his
arm.

"Thank you, for
saving us."

Sabre inclined
his head, turned to Tarl again and gripped the front of his jacket,
hauling him closer, so they stood toe to toe.

"I'm going to
be watching you now. Try a stunt like that again, and I'll kill you
myself, got it?"

Tarl nodded,
staggering back when Sabre shoved him away. The cyber walked off
down the corridor, and Tassin hurried to catch up. After just a few
metres, he opened a door and entered a medium-sized room lined with
shelves full of cleaning equipment and boxes. The women filed in
and drew together in a corner, comforting each other for the loss
of their friends and children.

Tarl turned to
Sabre. "Shouldn't we hide further away from the hold?"