The Cyber Chronicles V - Overlord (30 page)

"No, you leave
him." Tassin stepped around the cyber to confront Trina, who rose
to face her. She gave the girl a shove that made her stagger back,
and Trina's eyes glinted, then she buried her face in her hands and
gave a childish wail of woe. Tarl grabbed Tassin's arm and yanked
her away, his expression furious.

Kernan stepped
closer, scowling. "Don't hurt Trina!"

Tassin frowned.
"I didn't hurt her. The stupid cow's putting on an act for your
benefit."

Shoving Tarl
aside, she approached Trina, intending to end her wails with a
shake.

Trina shrieked
and raised her hands. "Sabre! Help me!"

Tassin spun as
Sabre rose. He gripped her arm and pulled her away from the weeping
girl. Kaylar hurried to Trina's side and tried to soothe her,
stroking her hair.

"She wants to
hurt me!" Trina wailed. "Don't let her hurt me, Sabre! Help
me!"

Tassin gazed up
at Sabre, who looked confused. She became aware of Pryan rubbing
his head like a man possessed, muttering loudly enough now for her
to make out the words.

"We all love
Trina; we all love Trina; we all love Trina..."

"Pryan, shut
up!" Trina yelled.

He cowered and
fled.

Tassin met
Sabre's eyes, her heart twisting at the bewilderment in them.
"What's wrong with you?"

He shook his
head. "You mustn't hurt Trina."

"Fine, I won't.
Let me go."

Sabre released
her with a nod, and she rubbed her arm, stepping closer to Trina,
who continued to weep. Kernan joined Kaylar, trying to soothe her,
but Tassin was not fooled. Whatever powers the girl had, she had
cast her spell over all the men, and it was up to Tassin to free
them if she could.

"Come, Trina,
let's be friends. I'm not going to hurt you."

The girl
lowered her hands, her chin wobbling, her eyes filled with
mistrust. "You hate me." Her expression became cunning, and her
eyes flicked to Sabre. "You want to hurt me because I stole your
man, and now you want him back. Well, you can't have him. He's mine
now."

Tassin studied
her. "What are you?"

"She's
special!" Kaylar announced, and Tassin realised that he said those
words far too often.

"I'm special,"
Trina agreed. "And I don't like you anymore. You're not one of us.
You don't belong here. I want you off my ship."

"Your ship?"
Tassin glanced at Kernan, who smiled and shrugged.

"She's going to
hurt me, Kernan. She's bad," Trina said.

Kernan took
hold of Tassin's arm, addressing Trina. "Don't worry, sweetheart,
we won't let her hurt you. We'll lock her in the brig until we get
to Toron."

Tassin jerked
away from him, retreating. "Don't touch me."

"Come on, don't
make this any worse. The brig's not so bad, and you'll have time to
think about how nasty you've been to Trina."

"I don't know
what Trina is, but she's got you all under some sort of spell.
Where I come from, we'd call her a witch."

His brows drew
together. "There's no need for insults."

"It's not an
insult; it's a statement of fact." Tassin bumped into the wall and
sidled along it, staying out of his reach and wondering if Trina's
influence would wane if she was unconscious. It had not when the
sand runners had kidnapped her, however, so Tassin doubted it.
Kernan made a grab for her, and Tassin yanked out her dagger,
brandishing it.

"Back off.
You're not locking me in the brig."

Kernan smiled.
"You really think that will do you any good against a cyber?"

"Sabre won't
help you to lock me in the brig."

"Oh, I think he
will if Trina asks him to."

"She doesn't
know him as well as she thinks." Tassin glanced at the girl,
wondering if she could be goaded into saying something rash,
something that would reveal her true nature. She was not as sweet
and gentle as she pretended to be, of that Tassin was certain. "You
don't just want to lock me in the brig, do you, Trina? You want me
off your ship, right?"

The girl's eyes
narrowed. "Yes. You hate me."

"And you hate
me. I'm female, and therefore immune to whatever powers you've used
to ensnare the men. Sabre won't help you, though."

"He will! He's
mine now, not yours!"

"I never
claimed to own him, but he won't hurt me."

"Don't be so
sure," Trina said.

"Why don't you
try it then? Go on, I dare you."

Trina's eyes
glinted. "You think you still have power over him? You're
wrong!"

"He cares about
me genuinely, not because of a spell like the one you've woven over
him these past four days. That's something you can't simply erase
with your magic tricks."

"He'll do
whatever I want now. He already hurt you to protect me."

Tassin nodded.
"Yes, I'm impressed. How do you do it?"

"It's my
talent! It's all I had, growing up on that shithole planet; the
child of a slave prostitute, destined to become one too. But I
escaped my fate! Now men serve me. They worship me!"

"So, you were
born on Endroad."

Tassin looked
around at the men, amazed that none of them objected. They smiled
adoringly at Trina, except for Sabre, who stared at his cold
porridge, looking like he had just swallowed a ten-centimetre
maggot. The only one who seemed to have a real problem with what
was going on was Pryan, but he had fled.

"So it's some
sort of mind thing? Stronger than empathy, I assume?" Tassin
asked.

"Far stronger!”
Trina said. “Kernan, take her to the brig!"

Tassin held up
her hands as he approached. "Wait. I won't give you any trouble, I
swear. Just don't throw me in the brig, please."

"Not so
confident now?" Trina smiled, her eyes sparkling with glee.

"I just don't
want anyone getting hurt."

"The only one
in danger of getting hurt is you."

"Precisely.
Let's be friends. You've won. I'll behave."

Trina looked
smug. "Good. You'll do as I say, and we'll let you go on
Toron."

"Fine."

Kernan relaxed,
turning to Trina with a smile. "We all love you, sweetheart. No
need for fighting."

"No, no need
for fighting," Tassin agreed.

Trina smiled
and embraced Kernan, kissing him passionately. Tassin glanced at
Sabre, then went in search of Pryan. After almost an hour, she
found him in the engine room, huddled next to a nest of pipes,
which, she discovered when she approached and sat beside him, was
pleasantly warm.

"Hello,
Pryan."

He glanced at
her, then away. "Tassin."

"Are you all
right?"

"It's quiet
here. No fighting."

"Yes, it's nice
here. You spend a lot of time here, don't you?"

"It's
quiet."

"Yes. Do you
love Trina?"

He nodded, his
stringy hair flopping into his eyes. "We all love Trina."

"Does she love
you?"

"She loves all
of us." He rubbed his head, his face twisting.

"But does she
love you as much as Kernan and Kaylar?"

"I'm not as
good as them. I'm weak."

Tassin studied
his narrow, bowed shoulders and thin frame under his loose
jumpsuit. "She likes strong men, doesn't she?"

"The stronger
the better."

"But you're
clever, aren't you?"

"Too
clever."

Tassin
considered her next words carefully. "Do you know how she does
it?"

"No." He rubbed
his head. "Don't know that."

"But she's not
an empath."

"No. Stronger
than an empath. Special. Very special."

"All right. So
she needs you because you're clever, right? You help to fly the
ship."

"Fly it, fix
it. Lots of things need fixing. Old ship." He frowned. "My
ship!"

"Not
Kernan's?"

"No! Mine." He
glanced at her, his eyes hunted. "She's going to kill you, just
like Riana."

"Who's
Riana?"

"My
sister."

Tassin stared
at him, stunned. "How did she come to be here?"

"She was a
passenger. Her and Kernan. Bought passage off Endroad to Toron.
Then she took over. I..." His face twisted again. "I couldn't stop
her. Just like Sabre can't help you now. He wants to, but he can't.
She told Kernan to kill Riana. She wanted my ship."

"I'm sorry,
Pryan. Maybe I can help you to get it back, if you'll help me."

"I can't help
you." He rubbed his tangled hair again, snarling it more. "Just
like Riana."

"I just need
you to ask Tarl for a frequency, that's all."

"Can't. He
won't tell me if Trina doesn't want him to."

Tassin let her
head fall back against the pipe behind her with a bonk, staring at
the roof. "Could you sabotage the ship? Stop the engines from
working?"

He shook his
head. "You don't want to do that. We need them to stop. Without
them, we keep going forever. Nothing stops in space... unless it
hits something."

"I need more
time."

"No you don't.
You need to get off the ship now, before it's too late."

"I won't leave
Sabre."

"He's no good
to you now. She has him."

Tassin sat up
and turned to him. "But she doesn't have you, does she? Not like
the others. You're stronger than them."

"She hurts me."
He rubbed his head again. "Hurts my head."

"You don't love
her as much as they do, do you?"

"We all love
Trina." He grimaced. "She killed Riana!"

"How can she be
stopped?"

"She can't."
Pryan clutched his head and groaned. "You... you'd have to... kill
her. Can't think about that... hurts. We all love Trina!"

Pryan jumped up
and reeled away, gripping his temples and gasping with pain. Tassin
gazed after him, saddened by his hopeless situation, which was even
worse than hers, in her estimation. How terrible it must be to be
forced not only to serve, but to love the girl who had murdered his
sister. She had not thought it was possible to force someone to
love, but then, was what Trina inflicted upon the men really love?
If only she could contact Fairen, or Ravian, they might come to her
aid, given the strange nature of the problem. Surely they would be
interested in a girl who could control men's minds? Perhaps Ravian
would be a better choice, for she would not be susceptible to
Trina's spell, as Fairen might, with catastrophic consequences.
What could she do?

When she
returned to her cabin, she found Sabre sitting on the bunk, waiting
for her. He rose when she entered, avoiding her eyes.

"I'm going to
stay in Tarl's cabin."

"Trina's
orders?"

"She asked me
to."

"And you
couldn't say no."

"Why would I
want to?"

Tassin moved
past him to perch on the edge of the bunk, since there were no
chairs. "Because she plans to kill me."

"She wouldn't
do that."

"Yes, she
would. She wants me out of the way, so she can finish enslaving
your mind."

"It's not like
that."

Tassin snorted.
"Of course it is. Can you even think for yourself anymore? How do
you feel?"

"Fine." He
raised a hand to rub his brow. "I'm a bit hazy, and I have a
headache, that's all."

"Fight her.
She's trying to control you."

"She wouldn't
do that. She's a good person, and she's special."

"Now you sound
like Kaylar. And Pryan recites 'we all love Trina' like a prayer.
Haven't you noticed that the men on this ship all act a bit
strange?"

"No."

She slumped.
"Please give me the Overlord frequency."

"Why do you
want to call an Overlord?"

"Because we
need help."

"No we don't.
We're fine."

She shook her
head. "I'm not fine. Trina wants me off her ship, remember? Maybe
she will let me off at Toron, and maybe she'll have Kernan flush me
out with the garbage."

"That's
ridiculous."

"Even if she
deigns to let me leave on Toron, won't you miss me?"

"I..." He
hesitated, and her heart leapt. "I'd like you to stay."

"But Trina
wants me to leave."

"Maybe she'll
let you stay if you're nice to her."

"I don't think
so. She can't seem to control me like she does you and the
others."

He shook his
head. "She doesn't control us, she loves us."

"No she
doesn’t. Will you come with me?"

"I can't. She
needs me."

"I need you
too."

Sabre rubbed
his brow again, grimacing. "I have to protect her."

"Do you love
her?"

"I don't know.
I guess so."

Tassin bowed
her head to hide her misery, then wondered why she was concealing
it from him and looked up, letting him see the anguish in her
eyes.

He averted his
gaze. "You mustn't feel bad. I'm sure Trina will forgive you. She's
a wonderful person."

"I don't think
so. She doesn't want me around. Help me."

He raised a
hand to clasp his brow once more. "I... I can't. But... the
cyber... can." He struggled to speak the words, just as Pryan had,
and she realised that it hurt him to say anything against
Trina.

She touched his
arm. "It's all right. I understand."

"I have to
go."

Tassin nodded.
"Of course."

For a long time
after the door closed behind him, she stared at it, thinking about
what she would have to do to enlist the cyber's aid. Tears stung
her eyes at the prospect, and the sacrifice Sabre was prepared to
make for her. It proved that his feelings for her still lived
beneath Trina's control, strong enough to make him force those
words out. In order to make the cyber try to take control, her life
would have to be in danger. Then Sabre would step aside and allow
it to gain the upper hand to save her as he knew only it could now.
Trina was in for a nasty surprise.