The Cyber Chronicles VIII - Scorpion Lord (15 page)

"She's
demented!"

"Let me go,
you moron!" Estrelle said, kicking his shin.

Martis hopped
and cursed. "Sabre, come on; what the hell are you doing?"

"She's just a
girl." The cyber unclipped his harness and dumped it on the
bed.

"She's bloody
strong!" He yelped as she smacked his face, trying to pin her
flailing arm. She jerked her knee into his gut, and he doubled over
with a coughing grunt. Still he managed to keep a hold of her arm
as she punched, slapped and scratched him.

"Sabre! Help
me damn it!"

The cyber
stripped off his vest and pulled down his trousers, then realised
that he had not taken his boots off and sat down to remove
them.

"Just hang on
a minute."

"Ow! Godammit,
what the hell are you doing?"

Estrelle
glanced at Sabre, and her mouth fell open. She renewed her efforts
to get free, pummelled Martis' chest and smacked his face while he
tried to grab her arm. Sabre removed his boots and stripped off his
trousers, then stood up. Estrelle jerked her knee into Martis'
crotch, and he folded over with a groan, releasing her. She raced
for the door, but Sabre reached it just as she yanked it open and
slammed it shut with one hand. He gripped her arm with the other,
and she tried to punch him. Twisting her arm behind her, he yanked
her into a throat hold and lifted her off her feet. She flailed,
trying to reach him, but his hand flashed out and pinned her wrist.
Swinging her up, he held her to his chest, ignoring her struggles
as he carried her into the bathroom.

Entering the
shower cubicle, he turned on the cold tap, gasping a little as the
stinging, icy water sprayed over him. Estrelle shrieked and
writhed, but he tightened his grip until she stopped fighting and
shouted insults instead, gasping as the icy water soaked her.
Martis came in, still a little bent over and grimacing with pain,
flushed with embarrassment as he strived not to clutch his offended
nether region. Sabre shot him a martyred look as he held Estrelle
under the cold spray, blinking water from his eyes. Estrelle's
verbal abuse continued for a few more minutes, then trailed off
into sobs of pain and confusion.

"You're
hurting me!" she wailed.

"Are you going
to behave?"

"Yes! I'm okay
now."

Sabre put her
down, and she sagged against the wall, clasping her ribs. The cyber
ejected her from the shower cubicle and shoved her at Martis.

"Try to keep
hold of her this time."

Slamming the
sliding door, he turned on the hot tap and stripped off his shorts,
reaching for the soap. When he emerged, warm and refreshed with a
towel around his hips, Estrelle sat on the bed, wrapped in a hotel
bathrobe, Martis beside her. They were engaged in a murmured
conversation, and fell silent when he entered the room, looking up
at him. Sabre wandered over to a chair and flopped into it.

"I do hope you
two aren't plotting behind my back."

Martis
frowned. "Did you have to hurt her?"

Sabre sighed.
"You know, I'm always in the shit, aren't I? First I'm the bad guy
if I let her go; now I'm the bully because I made her stay. I
didn't mean to hurt her, okay? I thought I was doing just enough to
stop her from smacking me around like she did you, and if she got a
few bruises, I'm sorry. She wouldn't have if she hadn't fought
me."

Estrelle shook
her head. "It's okay, Martis. It's not Sabre's fault. It's just a
cracked rib, I think."

The cyber
rubbed his face, fingering the brow band. "I'm sorry, Estrelle, it
was an accident. I wasn't trying to hurt you."

"I know." She
managed a wan smile. "I guess I'm lucky you didn't break
anything."

"If that Vork
character had kept you, you'd probably be drugged out of your mind
right now, or on your way to get an implant to turn you into a
pliable moron." He glanced at Martis. "And you owe Martis an
apology for almost making him speak in a high voice for a
week."

She eyed the
young man, who blushed. "I kicked you?"

"Yeah, but
it's okay."

"Oh, right,"
Sabre muttered, "it's okay if she kicks you in the nuts, but I'm in
the shit for squishing her a bit."

"I don't
remember doing it, I was... drugged, I suppose."

"Yeah, you
were. I did try to warn you, but the first handsome git who comes
along and flashes some false white teeth at you, and you're hanging
all over him. I'm not going to keep pulling your butts out of the
fire; I have more important things to do."

"Like pulling
your own butt out of the fire," Estrelle retorted. "Which we helped
you to do."

Sabre nodded.
"Yeah, you did, which is the only reason I got you back and calmed
you down. The difference is, I was kidnapped in my sleep, and you
couldn't just stay away from him."

"We wouldn't
be here if not for you!"

"No, you'd be
safe on Myon Two, torturing cybers. But then, I guess that didn't
bother you, huh?" He leant forward. "Or better still, you'd be
dead, because you had that bright idea of stowing away on a drone
ship."

Martis raised
his hands. "Okay, let's not play the blame game. Thank you for
saving Estrelle, Sabre."

"We only
stowed away on a drone ship in order to free you," Estrelle said.
"You asked for my help. You begged me!"

"I did," Sabre
agreed. "I asked you to free me for a couple of hours, but no, you
had to come up with a better plan, and that's what landed us
here."

"We gave up
our livelihoods and families to save you!"

The cyber
turned his head and gazed across the room, a slight frown furrowing
his brow. "Okay, you've definitely got more ammunition. I hate
cyber techs, but the two of you saved me, so now I have to save
you. There must be a name for what I feel right now, but I'm not
sure what it is. I don't think I've felt it before, though."

"It's called
resentment," Martis supplied.

"That must be
it. I don't like saving my enemies, but I owe you two, so I
must."

"We're not
your enemies. We stopped being that when we decided to save
you."

Sabre tapped
his brow. "Up here, you're still cyber techs. It took me a long
time to like Tarl, although he helped me a lot, too. Are you glad I
got you back from Vork?"

She sniffed,
rubbing her nose. "Yes."

"And I'm glad
you got me off Myon Two. Let's just agree that, until we go our
separate ways, I'll look after the two of you, but try not to get
into too much trouble, okay?" He paused, pulling the wet bandage
off his hand. "And I'm sorry I hurt you. It was unintentional. A
miscalculation on my part. My training didn’t include females, and
when I had to restrain Tassin... I was very careful. I wasn't
careful enough with you. It's my fault."

"Who's
Tassin?"

Sabre frowned
at his injured knuckles, flexing his hand. "The girl who freed me
from the cyber after Myon Two put me back under its control."

"You... feel
something for her?"

"Yes."

"And she cares
for you."

He nodded.
"She must be going out of her mind with worry. She's trapped on a
world with no intergalactic communications."

"She's the one
you spoke about before, the queen?"

"Yeah. I have
to get back to her." Sabre looked up, his eyes raking Estrelle.
"Are you still wearing those wet clothes?"

"Yes."

"Get out of
them, and I'll strap your ribs."

"Martis can do
it."

"Sabre will do
a better job,” the tech said. “He's trained in first aid."

Estrelle shot
Sabre a doubtful look, then got up and went into the bathroom.
Sabre stared across the room, pondering, and Martis watched him
with worried eyes.

"You
okay?"

The cyber
nodded, looking down at his hands, which gripped each other with
white-knuckled force. "Yeah. Fine."

Martis shook
his head. "No you're not. What is it?"

"I was angry.
She's a cyber tech."

"It was an
accident."

"It’s just too
easy for me to hurt people. I never used to get as angry as I was
earlier. I wanted to kill Jorran. I’m still angry, but not with you
or Estrelle."

Martis leant
forward. "You're feeling remorse, that's good. And, I think,
self-pity too. Maybe that wall is failing faster than it should. I
think I must hypnotise you soon, otherwise...."

"Jorran’s
right, isn't he? I'm becoming psychotic."

"Not if I can
help it. You've never felt like this before, have you?"

"No. I used to
feel very little. I used to get angry, but I never wanted... I
still don't want to hurt people, but the feelings are stronger. And
there's others too, new ones." Sabre touched the brow band. "I
don't want to help you, but you helped me. I don't want to hurt you
either, but yet... I do, I think, deep down, because of what those
shitheads at Myon Two did to me."

"Hey, it's
okay. You're confused, that's normal. You've been numb your whole
life, although I think you learnt how to hate. You have to let me
hypnotise you."

"How do I know
I can trust you?"

Martis
inclined his head. "And now you're discovering suspicion. You know
when I'm lying. I only want to help you get better. Am I
lying?"

"No."

Estrelle
emerged from the bathroom, wrapped in a robe. "What's going
on?"

"I'm going to
have to hypnotise Sabre very soon. Right now, if possible. That
little fracas has brought a bunch of ugly emotions to the
fore."

"Like
what?"

"Remorse,
anger, self-pity, vengeance, mistrust... self-loathing and hatred,
which he's always had, but they're getting stronger."

Estrelle
stared at the cyber, clutching the robe around her. "Is he becoming
dangerous?"

"No. He's calm
enough." Martis shot her a frown and shook his head. "You need some
dry clothes. I have a little money. I'll go and buy some."

Sabre raised
his head. "No. That's Myon Two money."

"She needs
clothes."

"Use the
auto-washer."

Martis
grimaced and nodded at Estrelle. "He's right."

"Okay."

When Estrelle
returned from putting her clothes in dryer in the bathroom and sat
on the bed, Sabre rose and took two rolls of bandage from his
medical kit. He knelt in front of her, and she opened her robe so
he could wind the bandage around her ribs, holding it closed across
her chest for modesty's sake. He had to come close to her to reach
around behind her, and she fought the urge to touch him, biting her
lip as his warm hands clasped her ribs.

"That's
awfully tight," she remarked.

"It has to
be."

"I have to
breathe."

Sabre glanced
up at her and then continued with his task, making it a little
looser. When he clipped the end in place, she reached out to stroke
his face. He jerked away, rising to his feet to frown down at
her.

"Don't do
that."

"Sorry, I
just... wanted to thank you, that's all."

Martis peered
out of the window. "Is that an enforcer down there?"

The cyber
swung around, consulting the scanners. "No, no enforcers."

"It looked
like one."

Sabre eyed
him, shaking his head. "You're lying."

"Look, I
really think it's time I hypnotised you. Seriously, you're starting
to act paranoid."

Sabre
hesitated, glancing from him to Estrelle and back again. "All
right."

"Good. Sit
down."

Sabre went
over to one of the grey and white striped comfy chairs by the
coffee table in the lounge and sank into it, leant back and closed
his eyes. Martis pulled up another chair, facing him, and leant
forward.

"Cybers aren't
susceptible to hypnosis, so you're going to have to be very
co-operative. Listen to my words, concentrate on my voice, and
switch off the control unit."

The lights on
the brow band went out, and Estrelle chewed her fingernails, hoping
Martis knew what he was doing. Sabre had been angry on Myon Two,
with good reason, but he had appeared to be in control of his
emotions. Now he was free to vent them, and she wondered if he was
going to become dangerous. The thought scared her. Martis murmured
soothing words, telling Sabre to sink into a deep, peaceful sleep.
His hushed tones had a strong calming effect, and she grew sleepy
in spite of the fact that she was not the subject of the hypnosis.
Martis appeared to have a talent for it, and she wondered where he
had learnt the skill as she fought the urge to close her eyes and
fall asleep. Despite Martis' proficiency, it took several minutes
before Sabre's breathing slowed. The tension left his face, and
Martis straightened and glanced at her, then looked at Sabre
again.

"Sabre, you're
deeply asleep now, nothing can disturb you."

Martis stood
up and came over to her, took her arm and tugged her into the
bathroom. "Okay, we can talk now," he whispered.

"Is that why
you put him under?"

"No, I have to
do this; he's becoming unstable. But I have to talk to you, too.
Listen to me. You've got to stop antagonising him, and for god's
sake, don't bloody touch him. Are you an idiot?"

"What's wrong
with a bit of affection?"

"Nothing,
except he doesn't like it. He’s still a cyber, with all the
conditioning that prohibits contact, and you don’t have command
privilege. I distracted him with the enforcer ploy, but he knew I
was lying. He's getting dangerous. I know I said he wasn't, but
that's because he was listening. I hope the hypnosis will help him,
but he's still going to have problems, so don't piss him off, okay?
He's on a razor edge at the moment, and under huge stress, having
us around. He already had to hurt himself quite badly to save us,
because of my stupidity, now he had to rescue you because of your
stupidity. He must think we’re complete idiots, and he’s still
angry about what Jorran did to him. He’s also very confused.
Remember, we both have tattoos, so it’s not like he can forget what
we are, even in ordinary clothes. One good push and he could lash
out."