The Cyber Chronicles VI - Warrior Breed (2 page)

"No, but
probably at an angle, which means we could pass right by it."

"But the
beacon..."

"If it's
working. I hope Pryan kept his equipment up to date. If it's
transmitting on an out-dated frequency, no one will hear it." He
glanced around as a red light flashed on the control panel and
drifted over to it, tapping the keypad. He cursed, then banged the
panel and turned to look around the pod.

"What now?"
she asked.

"Nothing for
you to worry about."

"Dammit, don't
try to coddle me!"

He turned to
her. "Okay. We've sprung a leak."

"Our air
is...?"

"Yeah. I've
compensated for it by increasing the flow from the reserve tanks,
if they aren't ruptured, and if Pryan kept them full."

"We're going
to... die?"

"No." He
pulled himself onto the couch beside her again. "We'll make
it."

"Call
Fairen."

"We're going
to make it."

"Sabre..."

He averted his
gaze and held up his left arm. The silver bracelet that glinted on
his wrist looked dented, and the long bloody scratch ended beside
it.

"It's broken?"
Tassin's heart sank.

"We'll be all
right."

"How? We're
stuck in a tiny sphere hurtling through space to who knows where,
and our air's leaking out. How long do we have?"

"A few days.
Plenty of time for someone to find us."

"If the
beacon's working." She covered her eyes. "Oh, god."

Sabre moved
closer and put his arms around her. "Hey, don't get upset. I'll
think of something."

"What are you
going to do, get out and push?"

He chuckled.
"If I have to."

"That's not
funny."

"Maybe
Ramadaus will find us again."

"That's even
less funny."

He sighed and
held her close, bending his head to lay his cheek against her brow.
"Hush, rest now."

A loud banging
roused Tassin, and she struggled to open her eyes. Her head pounded
and her eyelids were leaden. The walls seemed to warp in her
red-tinged vision, and she gasped as if she had been holding her
breath, her lungs burning for air. Her mouth was dry and her
stomach knotted with emptiness, yet it seemed like she had only
dozed off a few minutes ago. Sabre hammered on the wall opposite,
panting as if he had just run a hard race.

"Sabre... what
are you doing?" Her tongue did not appear to be working
properly.

He turned to
her. "We're running out of air. The leak was bigger than I thought,
and one of the reserve tanks isn't working."

"It's only
been a few hours."

"It's been two
days. I gave you something to make you sleep."

"You...
bastard." Now that she thought about it, she had hazy memories of
eating a tasteless paste and using the tiny cubicle at the back of
the pod, which housed the rudimentary ablution facilities. She
tried to shake her head. "What are you doing?"

"According to
the scanners, the defunct oxygen tank is next to this wall, and
it's full. I'm trying to puncture it without making too big of a
hole."

"Why are
you... not like me?"

He inspected
his bleeding knuckles, flexing his hand. "The cyber's compensating
for the lack of oxygen by increasing the speed of my breathing and
heartbeat and boosting the amount of haemoglobin in my blood. I
also have a larger lung capacity. Cybers are designed to function
in low oxygen atmospheres."

"Wonderful."

He turned back
to the wall. "Sorry, I had to sedate you to conserve our air."

"All the...
more for you?"

"No. I've been
resting too. I know you're feeling aggressive. It's a symptom of
hypoxia."

"What's that?"
She made an effort to enunciate her words clearly.

"Lack of
oxygen. It causes delusions, euphoria and aggression." He smashed
his fist into the wall, making her start. She closed her heavy eyes
as he continued to hammer on it.

The noise made
her head ache, and prevented her from slipping into the doze that
tugged at her. Silence fell, and she opened her eyes. Sabre frowned
at the wall, holding himself in place with one of the many hand
holds around the pod, and she became aware of a soft hissing.

"You did
it?"

He glanced
around. "Yeah. I've made a crack. You'll feel better soon."

Already she
was becoming more alert and her eyelids were not so heavy. "How
long do we have now?"

"A few more
hours. A day, maybe."

"Were you
planning to keep me sedated while we died?"

He looked
away. "It would have been easier for you."

"Well don't. I
want to be with you if it happens. You don't deserve to die
alone."

Sabre floated
over to her. "I would anyway. I'll outlive you by several
hours."

"So you admit
it could happen."

"It's starting
to look that way."

Tassin gulped,
rubbing her eyes. "At least we're together."

"Yeah. But
don't give up hope yet."

"The beacon's
on the wrong... thingy, isn't it?"

"Frequency.
Possibly."

"What about
the cyber?"

He shook his
head. "It's only got a range of a few light years in space."

"That's a long
way."

"Not out here.
It might reach Toron, but it will probably be too distorted to
understand."

"Could you
change the beacon's frequency?"

He shrugged,
glancing at the panel. "I could try, but they're usually hard
wired, and can't be changed."

"Try. And try
the cyber too."

"Okay. I guess
anything's worth a try."

Sabre drifted
over to the panel, hooked his fingers under its edge and ripped off
the covering. The inside was a tightly packed mass of wires and
crystals, some of them flashing. Sabre pulled out the wires,
unravelling them.

"Why can't you
use the cyber, like you did on the passenger ship?" Tassin
asked.

"This
circuitry is too out-dated. It has no external interface access,
and, even if it did, it's too old to interface with the cyber."

"How old is
this thing?"

"A hundred and
thirty-four; it should have been scrapped at fifty." Sabre studied
the inside of the panel, and then shook his head. "It's hard wired.
It can't be changed."

"Is it
working?"

"Yeah, seems
to be."

"Try the
cyber."

"Already
done."

Tassin
slumped, her last shred of hope draining away, and groaned as her
ribs jabbed her. Sabre opened the medical box and brought her
another pill, but she frowned at him.

"I hope that's
not going to make me sleep again."

"No, it's just
a painkiller."

"That's what
you said about the last one."

"And it was. I
put the sedative in the water you drank later."

Tassin
swallowed the pill, and Sabre moved across the pod and opened a
hatch, pulling out two white suits with helmets.

She watched
him with a puzzled frown. "What are those for?"

"They're
atmosphere suits. When our air runs out, there's another six hours
in these tanks. At least Pryan invested in new suits about ten
years ago. I want you to put one on while you're still lucid."

Sabre unfolded
the silken one-piece suit and took a sleek helmet from the locker,
coming over to her. The pain in her ribs had dulled, but flared
when he unstrapped her and helped her to don the suit. By the time
she had it on, she was queasy and light-headed. She clung to him
while he fastened the suit, and when he finished he held her close,
stroking her hair.

"Sorry."

"It's not your
fault." She pressed her cheek to his chest. "When I think of all
the pain you've suffered to help me, this is nothing."

"Pain is never
nothing."

"How ironic,
after all we've been through, that it should end like this."

"It's not over
yet."

"Do you really
think there's any hope?" she asked.

"As long as
we're alive, there's hope."

"If only I
still had the sword."

"Yeah, I'd
welcome it right now."

"Do you think
it might be watching us?"

He pushed them
away from a wall as they drifted close to it. "I doubt it. But even
if it is, it won't help us. More likely it's enjoying our
predicament."

Tassin closed
her eyes. "There's so much I wanted us to do… and share..."

"It's no use
having regrets. I'm grateful for what we've had."

"Me too."

"I never
thought you'd be able to come after me, never mind find me and free
me."

"If you hadn't
hidden the sword, I'd have come a lot sooner."

"Hush now, try
to rest."

Tassin clung
to him, hot tears burning her eyes. Only a soft beeping broke the
silence, like a mechanical heartbeat that marked the slow passage
of time, each beep bringing them closer to the end. She recalled
the year they had spent together on Omega Five and the stormy
beginning of their relationship, when she had not known that she
was dealing with a machine and not a man.

Their
friendship had blossomed during an even stormier period after he
had become himself, and she had come to know the gentle, but
strong-willed man who had been the cyber's slave. They had been
through so many trials and dangers, and he had saved her life so
many times. She had fallen in love with him, but then Manutim had
taken him away. Three years of misery had ended with the joy of
finding and freeing him, and now, just when it had seemed that they
would be able to find happiness, fate had intervened again.

Chapter Two

Tassin became
aware that she was gasping again, and her head seemed to be stuffed
with cotton wool. Sabre snagged the floating helmet and tried to
put it on her, but she pushed it away.

"No, not
yet."

"It's
time."

Tassin clasped
his face and kissed him, anguish tearing her heart. Sabre's arms
tightened until her ribs protested, forcing a gasp from her. He
eased his hold, then held her away and put the helmet on, ignoring
her protests. She gazed at him through the tough invisible barrier,
fighting back tears. Fresh air hissed into the helmet from a tube
attached to two cylinders, reviving her. Sabre had not donned the
other suit, and a suspicion formed in her mind.

"Sabre, put
your suit on."

His tinny
voice spoke in her ear. "I will, later."

"Now."

"There's no
hurry. I can survive in this atmosphere for several more
hours."

Tassin
frowned. "You have no intention of using the suit, do you?"

"Sure I do. I
just don't need it yet."

"You're a
lousy liar, you know. I want you to put it on."

He looked
away. "You need it more than I do."

"Don't make me
watch you die."

"You'll have
six more hours. You could be rescued."

"No!" She
grabbed him and tried to shake him. "Put it on!"

"I want you to
live. I want you to go home to Omega and be a queen. Live your
life, be happy."

"I won't! I
can't! Not without you."

"Sure you
can."

"No!" She
thumped his chest. "Put the bloody suit on! I won't watch you die.
Don't do that to me, please."

"There's no
point in both of us dying if one can survive."

"I'll take off
my helmet and die with you when the time comes."

"Okay, okay."
He turned and plucked the second suit from the air, pulling it on.
"There."

Tassin nodded
and moved back into his embrace, cursing the helmets that kept them
apart. Once more the soft beep marked the passage of time, but now
there was a hiss of air each time she drew a breath. She prayed to
whatever gods might be listening to send a ship to save them, and
silently called out to the sword to rescue her. Sabre continued to
pant, and she became aware of it after a while, glancing up at
him.

"Why hasn't
your breathing slowed down?"

"I've got the
oxygen turned down, so it will last longer."

"You'd better
not be lying to me."

"It's the
truth."

She held him
tighter. "Talk to me. I don't want to spend our last hours in
silence."

"That uses
more air."

"What
difference does it make now? No one's coming."

"What would
you like to know?"

"Anything
you'd like to tell me."

He shrugged.
"There isn't much you don't already know."

"There's lots
I don't know."

"You mean my
life before you met me? I don't want to talk about that."

"What would we
have done if this hadn't happened?"

"We'd have
gone back to Omega Five."

She sighed.
"And lived happily ever after."

"Something
like that."

"Tell me."

"I don't know.
Whatever people do, I suppose. Had a farm, raised some animals and
vegetables, ridden in the forest, swum in the lake. Most of all
just sat in the sun and relaxed. Gone fishing perhaps; I hear
that's relaxing."

"It's boring."
She smiled. "And you don't like water."

"I'm not
afraid of it. I can swim perfectly well, unless I’m dragging a
hysterical female who's trying to get us both drowned."

She snorted.
"I was not hysterical."

"Really, what
would you call it then?"

"Scared."

"Okay. I hope
you've learnt to swim since then."

"Yes, I have.
Although the lake by the castle is cold year-round, so it wasn't
much fun. And my master-at-arms was horrified with the idea,
especially since I paid a local fisherman to teach me. Arlin has no
coastline, so there are few people who know how to swim. Dena
learnt, too. She enjoyed it far more, although I think her greatest
pleasure was splashing me."