The Cyber Chronicles VI - Warrior Breed (35 page)

As the sound
of the generators died away, Sabre turned to Atrel. "I want every
warrior who can be spared to come with me. A skeleton crew will
remain on the ship. If a Spraylander comes within a hundred metres
of it, shoot him dead. Send my armour to my cabin. I'm going to
prepare."

Sabre found
Tarl waiting with Tassin in his cabin, seated beside her on the
couch, the burns on his face half healed. The technician wore an
odd collection of new clothes, although only a little less peculiar
than his original outfit had been, which comprised one of the loose
off-white shirts Trykon non-coms wore, a tough brown cloth jacket
and matching trousers. Tassin’s black leather jacket had been lost
in the explosion, but she still wore her grey blouse and black
jeans, which had only suffered a little damage. Tarl rose when
Sabre entered, looking nervous and concerned.

"You really
shouldn't be walking around on those ankles yet," he
admonished.

Sabre glared
at him. "No kidding? Oh, and don't bother to thank me for saving
your life."

"I was about
to..." Tarl shook his head. "You always have to make it difficult
for me, don't you?"

"That should
have been the first thing out of your mouth, not complaints."

"I wasn't...
I'm just concerned."

"I still have
to get us out of this mess,” Sabre said, “and I can't do that
sitting around."

"A few more
days wouldn't make any difference, except to your ankles."

"Leave my
ankles out of it, okay?"

Tarl sighed.
"Fine. I don't want to fight with you."

"I aim to keep
my word. Count on it."

"Why the hell
do you hate me so much?"

"If you don't
know that, you're stupider than I thought."

"All I've ever
done is try to help you."

Sabre sank
down on the sofa. "No, mostly you've carped about my bio-status,
shovelled that cyber ration crap into me and generally treated me
like a bloody cyber."

"Okay, I
admit, I've found it hard to ignore the fact that you are still a
bloody cyber, no matter how much you hate it."

Sabre jumped
up and grabbed the front of Tarl's jacket, almost lifting him off
his feet. "That's the best way to piss me off."

"What are you
then? A human being with a few additions? An ex-cyborg who still
has all his enhancements? No matter what you call it, you can't
change what you are. You require specialised care, special
nutrients, and someone who understands you. That's what you hate
about me, isn't it?"

Sabre dragged
him closer. "No, I just don't like having my nose rubbed in it all
the time. I managed fine without a damned technician looking after
me before you came along."

"No, you
didn't. On Omega Five you were so run down and undernourished you
lost a fight with a normal man."

"He had help
from a magician."

"The guy who
owned your cyber back then was an idiot," Tarl said. "You don't
send a cyber to a primitive world on a prolonged mission. Okay, you
survived, as a cyber will, but he put you in a lot of unnecessary
danger. Perhaps he didn't care if you survived, but I do. When
someone buys a cyber, they're taught the basics of looking after
one, what to feed him, where to take him when he's injured, what
he's capable of, and so on. Tassin doesn't know any of that."

"You have no
idea about the ill treatment cybers suffer, do you? I was fed
bloody dog food by one of my supposedly educated owners."

"The universe
is full of idiots, okay? The point is, while I'm around, I'll see
to it that you get the correct treatment."

"To keep me in
peak fighting condition."

Tarl nodded.
"Yeah. If I hadn't done it, Ramadaus' cyber might have killed
you."

"I know how to
look after myself. I don't need a bloody technician."

"Oh really?
And who would have helped you to overcome the Corsair poisoning?
Huh? Who would have overridden Cybercorp’s reprogramming of your
control unit?" Tarl demanded. "I was glad to do it. I want to help
you."

"To assuage
your guilt? So you can study me?"

"At least I
have guilt. And yeah, you're a fascinating anomaly." Tarl's eyes
flicked to the brow band. "And I'd like to know what the hell is
wrong with your control unit now."

Sabre shoved
him away, making him stagger back. "I have control of it, that's
what."

"That's
impossible. The control circuits only work one way."

"Well now they
work the other way. If you want to know how, you'll have to ask the
being who healed me."

"Or I could
study you."

"You just
don't stop, do you? I should have chucked you in that fire."

Tarl smiled,
tugging his jacket straight. "But you didn't, because you couldn't.
You're too damned human now for that."

"Humans do
shit like that all the time."

"But not you.
You're a good guy. That's why you don't scare me with your threats.
I know you're bluffing."

Sabre rubbed
his brow. His fingers encountered the brow band and gripped it,
tugging at it as if trying to rip it from his head. He growled in
frustration and swung away to smash it into the wall, leaving an
oblong dent in the metal and making Tassin jump.

Tarl shook his
head. "You're also still a cyber. You always will be. And I, for
one, am very grateful that you are. If you weren't I'd be
dead."

"If I was a
cyber, I wouldn't have rescued you unless Tassin ordered me
to."

"Okay." Tarl
held up his hands in a placating gesture. "You're free. I don't
know if Tassin would have risked your life to save me, and I
wouldn't blame her if she hadn't. It's a privilege having you as a
friend."

"I'm not your
friend."

"Then why did
you save me?"

Sabre stepped
closer and gripped Tarl’s throat. "Ask me that question again, and
I'll break your neck."

"No you won't.
Why did you save me?"

Sabre released
Tarl and punched him in the solar plexus, making him double over
with a grunt. "So I could do that."

"Sabre, stop
it," Tassin said.

Tarl
straightened, clutching his chest. "That was just a tap. You can do
better than that."

"Tarl, stop
goading him," she admonished, frowning.

"Stay out of
it," Tarl said.

Sabre scowled.
"Don't tell her what to do."

"Come on,
Sabre," Tarl said. "You said you were going to beat the crap out of
me. What are you waiting for?"

Sabre gripped
Tarl's arms, lifted him off his feet and slammed him against the
wall. Tarl chuckled and grimaced. "That didn't hurt much. Try
harder. Are you angry yet?"

Sabre released
him and smashed his fist into the wall beside his head, making him
flinch.

"You missed,”
Tarl jeered. “My head's over here, dummy."

"A little
while ago, you were too scared to spar with me, now you're trying
to make me hurt you?"

"I'm proving a
point. Cyborg."

Sabre's fist
skimmed Tarl's cheek and hit the wall beside his head with a bang
that made him wince.

"Come on! Do
it!" Tarl goaded.

Sabre drew
back his fist, gripping Tarl's throat with his other hand.

"Go on," Tarl
squeaked.

Sabre's fist
quivered, then he lowered it, releasing ex-cyber tech. "No."

"Why not?"

Sabre shook
his head, his nostrils flared.

"Come on,”
Tarl said. “What happened to beating the crap out of me?"

"I don't want
to."

"Why not? You
don't mind doing it to the odd Trykon who's stupid enough to
challenge you, do you?" Tarl's fist shot out and hit Sabre on the
cheek hard enough to jerk his head to the side.

Sabre
retreated, rubbing his face. "Piss off."

Tarl advanced,
punching Sabre in the ribs. "What are you, a wimp?"

Sabre turned
and walked away. To Tassin's amazement and horror, Tarl grabbed him
around the throat from behind, pulling him into a choke hold.
Instead of hurling Tarl to the ground, as she expected, Sabre
merely snorted.

"You of all
people should know you can't choke a cyber," he said.

"Oh, so you
are a cyber!"

Sabre reached
up and gripped one of Tarl's fingers, twisting it. Tarl released
him with a yelp, nursing his finger.

Sabre turned
to him. "Count yourself lucky I choose not to beat the crap out of
you, and quit trying to provoke me, it won't work."

"But why?
That's what I'm trying to make you see. Why won't you do it to me?
Think about it."

Sabre
shrugged. "I don't want to."

"Why?"

"I don't
know."

"But I do,"
Tarl said. "It's the same reason you wouldn't hurt Tassin, isn't
it? Not exactly the same, of course. You don't mind hurting me a
bit, whereas you’d never dream of intentionally hurting her,
right?"

"No."

"Do you want
to know why you don't want to beat me up, no matter how much I
provoke you?"

"Another of
your bullshit theories?"

Tarl shook his
head, nursing his finger. "No. Pure fact. Something you feel, but
don't understand."

"So what is
it?"

"I'm your
friend."

Sabre snorted
again. "You wish."

"No, I just
proved it. If you really hated me, you wouldn't have hesitated to
punch out my lights as soon as I started irritating you. If I'd
been a stranger, what would you have done?"

Sabre frowned.
"Thumped you."

"Right. But
you didn't. And that's why you saved me, because I'm your
friend."

Tassin said,
"I recall a little while ago you telling me that Sabre didn't even
like you."

"He
doesn't."

"I don't,"
Sabre agreed.

"So how can
you be his friend?"

Tarl
hesitated, then asked, "Ever heard of a love-hate
relationship?"

Tassin raised
her brows. "Now you're really going to confuse him."

"That's why I
wasn't going to bring it up."

"Now you'll
have to explain it."

"Yeah.
Thanks." Tarl sat on the sofa.

"If Tassin
hadn't brought it up, I would have," Sabre said.

"Okay, it's
like this. We've been together for a while, been through a few
scrapes, helped each other out, and generally bonded. You don't
like me because I'm a cyber technician, and I bug you about taking
care of yourself. But deep down, you've come to trust me, and rely
on me to a certain extent. In fact, I don't think you dislike me
all that much anymore, do you?"

Sabre looked
noncommittal. "I guess."

Tarl smiled.
"I had hoped so. I can't tell you how glad I was when you came to
my rescue, bud. Thank you."

"So if you
knew this when Sabre saved you, why did you goad him now?" Tassin
asked.

"To prove to
him that he didn't want to beat the crap out of me, and why. It's
important that he understands his feelings."

They looked
around as the door chimed, and a warrior entered, carrying Sabre's
armour. Ignoring the non-coms, he approached his commander.

"Would you
like me to help you put this on, Commander?"

"No."

The soldier
placed the armour on the table and left.

Tassin eyed
it. "What are you going to do?"

"I have to
convince a bunch of really unpleasant guys to sell me some
fuel."

"You're in no
condition to fight," Tarl said.

"I wasn't
planning to. That's why I'm taking most of the Trykons with
me."

Sabre stripped
off his jacket and shirt, picked up the chest armour and tried to
strap it on, discovering that it was impossible to do it alone.

Tarl rose and
helped him, glancing at the brow band. "Do you now control every
aspect of the cyber's functions?"

"Yeah."

"That seventh
control light must indicate some sort of feedback. It's the only
implant that goes directly into the cerebral cortex. Maybe they
reversed the polarity of the implants, but I still don't see how
your brain could be controlling the cyber."

"Well it
does." Sabre bent to strap on a shin guard.

"Can you
activate the cybernetic interface?"

Sabre
straightened, and the brow band filled with electric blue light,
its hum thrumming the air.

Tarl nodded,
looking perplexed. "That shouldn't be possible."

The light died
and the hum faded. Sabre bent to strap on the other shin guard.
"Well it is."

"Any side
effects? Headache, nausea, dizziness?"

"Nope."

"Just a
three-day coma."

Tarl sat on
the sofa again and watched Sabre adjust the armour, tightening the
arm guards until he was satisfied. As he slung the huge sword
across his back, Tassin rose and approached him.

"Let me come
with you."

"Not a
chance."

"Then promise
me you'll be careful."

"I will."

She hugged
him, and Sabre kissed her brow, then strode to the door, where he
found Tarl waiting and eyed him.

"What, you
want a hug too?"

Tarl smiled.
"Your ankles are still weak. You should avoid putting any stress on
them, which means no jumping or running."

"Wasn't
planning to, but thanks for the tip, bud." Sabre thumped Tarl on
the back, making him stagger, flashed Tassin a smile and vanished
through the door.

Tarl
straightened with a groan, clasping his back. "Shit, that
hurt."

She shook her
head. "You've opened a whole new can of worms. You know how
childish he can be. He's going to make you pay now."

"What did I
do?"

"You made him
realise that he's friends with a cyber technician. What did you
expect?"

"So he's
pissed off with me now?"

"I would say
so, yes."

"Bastard."
Tarl eased himself onto the sofa. "He almost broke my bloody
back."