The Cyber Chronicles VI - Warrior Breed (7 page)

"You have
surprisingly sophisticated defences. Asys is impressed."

"Good. Why did
you choose to attempt verbal communication in Charil, when you knew
I was human?"

"What you call
Charil was inherited by the lizards from the Vramians, an advanced
species. They are similar in form to humans, but use cybernetic
enhancements like yours. Before that I tried Trellian, a species of
android that became autonomous from their Andrazi creators, and
also bear a similar form. Asys did not know that humans were so
advanced."

Sabre nodded.
"Well, they weren't, a thousand years ago. Perhaps we can help each
other. I want to leave this planet, and Asys needs aprilan
crystals. Are you equipped with ground scanners?"

"No, but Asys
is. There are no aprilan crystals in this solar system."

"Could she
consume something similar?"

"Yes, but if
you wish her to carry you, she cannot."

Sabre glanced
at the slumbering ship. "If she wants to leave this place, she'll
need to make it possible."

"You have
something she could consume?"

"Perhaps.
She's dying, isn't she?"

"Yes."

"Will she be
willing to help me in return for her life?"

The bot turned
its head towards the ovoid, then faced him again. "Even if she had
food, it is impossible to escape this anomaly. She tried many times
before she became too weak."

"Perhaps she
can with my help."

"How could you
help a creature who has navigated space for five thousand
years?"

"That remains
to be seen, but we'll never know if we don't try."

The bot turned
its head towards the forest where the pods were anchored. "She has
no need to make bargains with you. The source of energy must be in
the two machines you came in."

"Without my
help, she'll remain trapped here."

"She does not
think you can help her to escape, but the energy will extend her
life."

"I think I
can, but she'll have to take me and my companions with her."

"Unacceptable.
That would require changing her form."

Sabre's brows
rose. "She can do that?"

"Yes. But she
would find it uncomfortable sustaining biological beings within her
body."

"It would only
be for a short time. Just take us to the nearest planet inhabited
by humans."

The bot was
silent for several seconds. "She refuses. The imposition is too
great."

"So she's just
going to sit there until she runs out of power?" Sabre stepped
closer to the ovoid, sensing his chance to make a bargain with the
ship slipping away. "I know how to escape this system. I know how
we got in here."

"How?"

"I'd have to
be pretty stupid to tell you that, wouldn't I?"

"Or you could
be bluffing."

"I could be,
but I'm not. Is she going to throw away the chance to escape?"

Pog was silent
for several seconds again. "Asys could not find the way out,
therefore she does not consider you capable of finding it. She has
searched the entire system, and sensed nothing."

"No, she
wouldn't sense it unless she entered it."

"Asys does not
believe you. She instructs me to bring her the energy you speak
of."

"I won't allow
you to take it."

"You are an
insignificant organic being. Your cybernetic enhancements and
metallic inner structure are insufficient to prevent me from taking
the energy. Asys does not wish me to harm you."

Sabre shook
his head and turned to the ship. "You really want me to prove that
I can defend the pods' power crystals? Your bot has no weapons. It
won't succeed. If I destroy it, you won't be able to communicate
with me, and any chance of gaining the energy you require or
escaping this place will be gone."

"Asys asks
that you give her the energy crystals," Pog said.

"If she agrees
to transport my friends and me to an inhabited planet."

"No."

Sabre faced
Pog again. "She has no weapons. She needs power for that. That's
why you don't have any either. Is the last of her power in the
defensive array? Why does she need it, with only these primitive
creatures around?" He nodded at the bird-like aliens.

"When she
became unable to fly, she erected the defences for any
eventuality."

Sabre sighed.
"I don't want to fight you, Pog. It's stupid and pointless.
Persuade Asys to agree to my bargain."

"She is far
older and wiser than I."

"Then I guess
there's nothing more to say. Unless she agrees, we'll all die on
this planet."

"Tell her
where you think the exit to this anomaly is, and, if you prove to
be correct, she offers to send aid from your kind once she's
free."

Sabre shook
his head. "That won't work. The time-space twist that brought us
here doesn't stay in the same place. It doesn't even exist
continuously on the outside. No one will find it."

"Then I must
bring her the energy crystals from your craft. She hungers."

Pog turned and
clumped away towards the forest where the pods were anchored. Sabre
drew one of his lasers and glanced at the ship. It remained unmoved
by his threat, and he aimed at the war bot's head and fired. The
beam struck the join between head and torso in a shower of sparks,
and molten metal sprayed. Pog swung around and raised its curved
arms, its pincers opening. Sabre fired again as it started towards
him. The bolt hit the joint once more, leaving a molten hole in the
edge of the head, but only a glowing spot on the rim of the torso.
The ground trembled as Pog lumbered towards him, and the grey
aliens gave booming hoots, spreading their wings.

Sabre drew his
second laser and fired them together. Several bolts hit Pog's head
in quick succession, each one leaving a glowing hole in the war
bot's plating. As the bot reached him, its long arms swinging,
Sabre skipped aside, ducked under one arm and fired at its head
again. Pog turned with unnerving speed, its steel-clawed feet
digging into the ground. It lashed out with an arm, the pincer
whipping over Sabre's head as he ducked and fired again. Sparks
flew, and wisps of smoke emerged from the holes.

****

Tassin gripped
Tarl's arm when the distant war bot attacked Sabre, her heart
pounding. He grunted, holding a strange instrument to his eyes.

"This isn't
good."

"Can he really
beat that thing?"

"Oh yeah, war
bots are far too slow to take on a cyber, but he's not at full
strength, and they don't get tired."

Tassin tore
her eyes from the battle to glance up at him with a frown. "What
does that thing do?"

"They're
called binoculars. They magnify distant objects."

"I want to
see."

"In a
minute."

Tassin stared
across the valley, her breath catching. Sabre eluded the war bot
with ease, making it rip up the ground in its attempts to reach
him, its steel arms coming too close for her liking. Several grey
birds floated overhead and landed not far from the battling pair,
hooting. Tarl turned and handed her the instrument, showing her how
to look through it, and she recoiled as the combatants leapt closer
inside the device. Streaks of molten metal dribbled from the bot's
head, and sparks and smoke streamed from the holes. Sabre fired at
it again and again, most of his shots hitting its head, a few
striking its torso. Lowering the binoculars, she started down the
slope.

"I'm going
closer."

Tarl hurried
after her. "Yeah, good idea."

A movement
caught her eye, and she glanced sideways. A group of four-legged
beasts emerged from the forest and stood gazing at the battle with
large, limpid eyes set in long-snouted heads, their small pointed
ears swivelling. Black tiger stripes patterned their plump brown
bodies, and cloven hooves tipped their slender legs. Some had
dapples of white on their backs and legs, others had russet spots
and golden manes and tails. They nickered softly, as if talking to
each other, their eyes bright with interest and intelligence.
Several glanced at her and Tarl, their demeanour calm and
friendly.

As Tassin drew
closer to the battle, she relaxed somewhat. Clearly Sabre easily
outmanoeuvred the lumbering bot, which could not stop and turn as
quickly as the cyber, due to its mass. When they were about ten
metres away, Tarl stopped and put a hand on her arm.

"This is close
enough."

The bot
staggered as yet another laser bolt struck its head. It slowed,
then stopped. Sabre lowered his weapons and glanced at the ovoid.
The bot also faced the ovoid before turning to Sabre again.

"You are
indeed a worthy opponent, man-machine. My mother wishes to make the
bargain with you now."

"Good. I'll
bring her the energy, and she must lower the defensive array and
make provision for me and my companions."

"She will
comply."

"Then we have
a deal." Sabre holstered his lasers and swung away, shooting Tassin
and Tarl a frown.

Tarl stepped
forward. "Wait. How do we know we can trust -?"

"Shut up,"
Sabre said.

"No, it could
just -"

"I said shut
up, Tarl."

"But..."

Sabre strode
up to him, drew a laser and pointed it at him. "What did I just
say?"

Tarl spread
his hands. "Hey, there's no need -"

"Yeah there
is, if you don't shut up right now."

"Okay,
okay."

Sabre put away
the laser and headed for the forest, Tarl and Tassin hurrying after
him. The group of grey birds kept pace with them, several metres
away, and Tassin studied them. When they were halfway to the
forest, Sabre slowed, allowing Tarl and Tassin to catch up.

He glanced
back at the distant ovoid. "That was bloody stupid, Tarl."

"What the hell
do you mean?"

"That's an
alien life form. A living ship, if you like. She's probably never
encountered the concept of deceit before, but you were about to
give her a good education. Machines learn really fast, and I'm sure
she's no exception."

"You trust
it?"

Sabre nodded.
"Yeah, I do. If she was planning to double-cross us, she would have
agreed to the deal straight away, not tried to take the power
crystals by force. Once you'd contaminated her mind with your
doubts, I wouldn't, and then we'd be dead."

"How do you
know it's not capable of deceit?"

"I just told
you."

Tarl said,
"That doesn't prove anything except that it thought its bot could
take you out, and maybe it thought that was an easier option."

"Even you
don't know as much about machines as I do. I've been forced to live
with one all my life. Granted, it's primitive compared to that
ship, but I'm certain the basic principles apply. Humans evolved
through struggle and strife, survival of the fittest, competing
against each other in wars and against the forces of nature. We
evolved deceit, and some animals did too, but a machine that
evolved like that one did would not."

"How do you
know how they evolved?"

Sabre shook
his head. "I have no idea, but they feed on aprilan crystals, one
of the commonest elements found in star systems. They couldn't have
had competition in deep space, where they must have evolved. She's
not equipped to live on a planet. She's afraid just being here, and
I'm surprised she chose to land instead of staying out in
space."

"Then why do
you think it did?"

The cyber
shrugged. "Who knows? Loneliness, perhaps. Even these beasts are
company of a sort. Or fear of falling into one of the suns when she
ran out of power. A peaceful end is always preferable."

"It's
dying?"

"Yeah."

"So you're
going to give it the pods' power crystals."

"Yeah."

Tarl frowned.
"They're not aprilan."

"They'll
do."

"How did she
get stuck here, anyway?"

"This system
is in a time-space distortion caused by those binary suns. The
point of entry is midway between them, where the gravitational
forces are vast. They warp space-time and form a vortex that sucks
things in, but is almost impossible to find. She couldn't find it,
and she ran out of energy searching for it."

"But you think
you can?"

Sabre nodded,
thrusting aside a tree branch as they entered the forest. "Machines
lack imagination. There's no logic to my theory. It's pure
conjecture, but it's the only thing that makes sense."

"It's pretty
far-fetched. No scientific basis, that's for sure."

"That's
because science hasn't encountered it."

"It could be a
wormhole."

"Natural
wormholes are so rare only two have ever been found, and they
ceased to exist soon after, proving that they're unstable anomalies
incapable of existing for any length of time."

"Yeah, I guess
the chances of one forming in just the right place and for just the
right amount of time to bring us here are pretty unlikely, and for
it to happen twice is damn near impossible."

Sabre held a
branch aside for Tassin. "Binary systems with planets are rare, and
those suns are blue giants, which means they're orbiting each other
at a fantastic speed in order to stay apart. That's causing massive
fluctuations in space and time around them, cutting them off from
the rest of space."

"So what
prevents that... ship from leaving?" Tassin asked.

"I'm guessing
she finds herself heading back whenever she reaches a certain
distance from those suns."

"Why?"

"Probably
because there's a field of super-charged gravity around this entire
system. Those suns are far too close together, so close that their
electromagnetic and gravity fields have combined into a vast
barrier. But right between them, there's got to be a place where
space is literally being torn apart. That's the only way out."