The Cyber Chronicles VIII - Scorpion Lord (17 page)

"Sabre?"

"Yeah.
Something's got to work. Next I'll be trying to build a bloody
ship."

She glanced at
him. "Could you?"

"No bloody
way."

"We can't give
up."

"There's
nothing left to try if this doesn't work and your mage fails.
Unless I try to dive into that pit."

"It's far too
deep." Tassin looked pensive. "There are old cities, on the far
side of the Badlands, that still have ancient technology from the
founders. Perhaps there's a transmitter in one of them?"

"Did you ever
see anything that might have been a transmitter?"

"I wouldn't
know. I remember there was a building full of weapons, where Sabre
got the light guns and cannons; would that have transmitters?"

"It might.
Sounds like a weapons' shop, or a military storage facility."

"Then if this
fails, we will travel there and see."

Tarl nodded,
watching the workmen climb down, their tasks complete. When they
were all on the ground, he switched on the power to the ramshackle
console resting on a wooden box. The neosin compiler that had
powered Sabre's monitoring equipment came to life, flashing green
lights. He twisted the tuning knob to select the universal distress
frequency and leant down to speak into the tiny microphone that had
provided the oral interface with the monitoring equipment.

"This is Omega
Five, calling all ships. We require assistance. This is Omega Five,
calling all ships. We require assistance. Please respond."

The speaker
hissed, and Tassin chewed her lip. Tarl repeated the message after
several minutes, and they listened to the static. He sent the
message three more times before he switched off the equipment.

Tassin asked,
"What now?"

"Now we wait
and see if someone comes. I'll try again tomorrow. I'm transmitting
on a narrow beam, so it'll be sheer luck if we actually contact a
ship."

"Our luck is
due for a change."

"You'd think
so."

****

Sabre entered
the Net booth and slid the door closed, shutting Estrelle and
Martis out. Pulling off the silk that covered the brow band, he
aimed it at the Net interface and activated it. Lines of writing
scrolled up the screen as the control unit circumvented the user
interface and communicated directly in machine code, as it was
designed to do. The Net portal accepted the cyber's request for an
intergalactic connection, initiating the protocols with a
satellite. Sabre requested the Overlord frequency, and two flashing
red words appeared halfway up the screen, which froze.

‘
Access denied’.

Sabre cursed
and tried to break the codes with the cyber, which caused flashing
amber warnings to appear.

‘
Warning, unauthorised override attempted. Warning, access
codes invalid. Warning, access forbidden’.

It went dead
as the booth shut down.

"Shit!" Sabre
opened the door and stepped out, and Estrelle and Martis turned to
him. "No good," he said. "Someone's shut down access to the
Overlord frequency."

"Myon Two?"
Martis asked.

"Probably.
Guess you didn't cover your tracks as well as you thought. They're
probably on their way here right now."

"What are you
going to do?"

Sabre looked
around with a frown. "We have to get off this planet, but we can't
use the drone ship and we don't have any money. I could hack into
the local ticket vendor and get tickets on a liner, but that will
leave a trail any fool could follow. They'd catch us before we
reached our destination. Maybe I can get a message to someone I
know, who might help. I have to find another booth, though."

The cyber set
off towards a crowded street filled with flashing neon signs and
screens showing suggestive vidimages. Music blared from public
speakers and revellers danced with erotic abandon, many of them
naked. Martis followed, puzzled by Sabre's choice of direction,
since cybers disliked crowds, then spotted the empty Net booth
ahead. Sabre seemed oblivious to the carnival atmosphere or the
people who cavorted around him, making directly for the booth.
Martis was jostled and stroked, even kissed by passing revellers.
Estrelle had to fight free of groping hands, which she did with
yelps of indignation.

A big woman
with braided hair and feline features stepped in front of Sabre, a
net body stocking revealing her statuesque figure. Huge earrings
framed her cheeks, and bangles clinked on her arms as she tried to
slip her arms around his neck, purring. Sabre evaded her, leaving
her clutching air, and she tottered on ten-centimetre heels,
looking startled. Martis tried to avoid her too, but she latched
onto him and licked his cheek. When he fended her off, his hands
encountered embarrassing regions of her soft anatomy. She giggled,
pressing closer.

A resounding
slap on her rear end made the woman jerk in surprise, and she swung
around.

Estrelle
glared at her. "Hands off."

The woman
tottered away, rubbing the red mark on her behind.

Martis smiled
at Estrelle. "Thanks."

"You weren't
trying too hard to avoid her."

"I was!
She..."

Estrelle
marched away, and he hurried after her. A man swooped past on a
pair of hover boots, scooped Estrelle up and shot away into the
crowd. Martis gave chase as she was tossed, flailing and yelling,
into the air and caught with well-practised ease. He soon realised
he stood no chance of catching her abductor on foot. With a groan,
he turned and raced after Sabre.

The cyber was
about to step into the Net booth when Martis ran up, and swung
around with a frown.

"Estrelle!"
Martis gasped. "Some guy grabbed her and took off!"

Sabre raked
him with hard eyes. "And you couldn't catch him?"

"He was
wearing hover boots!"

The cyber's
expression became vague as he glanced at the scanners, then he
glared at Martis. "What did I say about you two staying out of
trouble?"

"It wasn't her
fault!"

"Did he seem
dangerous?"

"How should I
know? These people are nuts."

Sabre stepped
into the booth. "I'll get her back after I send my message."

Martis fumed
as Sabre shut the door in his face. Three girls approached him, and
he retreated until his back was pressed to the side of the booth,
raising his hands. Their faces were painted to resemble cats, and
they wore fur bikinis with long fluffy tails. Martis yelped as they
pressed against him, ran their hands over him and purred. One
licked his cheek as the large woman had done. Another unfastened
his shirt, and he fastened it again as her hands moved down it.

"Uh, you
ladies shouldn't be doing this, you know,” he said. “I really don't
want to play."

"Sure you do,"
she purred, smiling. "Everybody plays at the Feline Festival."

"No, not me,
I'm... I'm here on business, really."

"You're in
Festival Street, you play."

"I - we just
needed to use the Net booth."

The cat girl
smiled, revealing pointed canines. "Lots of Net booths outside
Festival Street."

"Yeah, well,
this one was empty. Please don't do that."

Martis yelped
as another girl bit his earlobe, trying to wriggle free. They had
him pinned, and his efforts to push them away only brought his
hands into contact with soft areas that made him snatch them back.
The girls giggled and purred, nibbled and stroked him, running
their fingers through his hair. He jerked back as one groped below
his belt, banging his behind against the plasti-glass booth.

Sabre glanced
around in annoyance at a thud on the side of the booth, surprised
to find Martis pressed against it, three girls doing their best to
pull off his clothes. He stared at them in surprise, then turned
back to the screen, where information scrolled past at a speed that
only a machine-trained mind could read. He searched the vast
universal database for two names, Kole Arvan and Vershasen Korazon.
The scrolling data froze when he found Kole's name, and he
activated the contact interface and sent a brief message, then
continued to search for Shasen.

More thuds and
yelps from outside came through the plasti-glass, and he looked
around again. Martis was now partially unclothed, his shirt undone
and pulled off one shoulder, a girl licking his chest. Sabre
watched them, intrigued. He turned back to the screen as it beeped,
finding Shasen's name. A red word flashed beside it. ‘Deceased’.
Cursing, he closed the connection and deactivated the cyber,
covering it with the strip of silk before he opened the door and
stepped out. Martis gave a yell of relief and tried to struggle
free as Sabre faced him.

One of the
girls spotted the cyber, licked her lips and smiled as she walked
closer with hip-swaying grace. She reached for him, but his hand
flashed up and gripped her wrist hard enough to make her hiss, and
her smile vanished.

Sabre shook
his head. "No touching. I bite."

The girl
stepped back, and he released her. He took hold of the other two
girls’ tails, pulled them away from Martis and tied their tails
together. The young tech looked relieved and tugged his shirt
closed as the girls tried to untie their tails. Sabre walked away,
checking the scanners for Estrelle's life sign, which had moved
deeper into the melee. Martis fell into step beside him, fastening
his shirt.

"Did you send
your message?"

"Yeah."

"Who to?"

"An
acquaintance."

"Will he
help?"

Sabre inclined
his head. "I think so. I doubt he'll pass up a chance to contact an
Overlord."

"And if he
doesn't?"

"Then I'll
have to steal a ship."

"Okay. So
where's Estrelle?"

"Up
ahead."

A woman
stepped into Sabre's path and reached for him with a smile. He
sidestepped her, and Martis fell prey instead. He tried to fend her
off while Sabre waited, looking impatient. The cyber stepped up
behind the woman, who released Martis with an indignant yelp and
swung around. Sabre was already striding away, and Martis trotted
after him.

"What did you
do to her?"

The cyber
shrugged. "Pinched her."

Martis
chuckled, then jumped sideways as two youths accosted him from the
side, avoiding them. Sabre looked around as he caught up again.

"You're
learning."

"These people
are nuts! This is something called the Feline Festival. Apparently
it's a free for all."

"Evidently."
Sabre stopped as a throng of pompom-waving girls ran across his
path, some doing flick-flacks, then walked on. Martis stayed close
to him, jerked free of grasping hands and yelped when girls pinched
his bottom. Someone patted his cheek from behind, and he ducked,
rubbing it as a stinging sensation pulsed from the spot. Sabre
evaded a similar attempt to pat him, elbowed the offender and sent
him staggering away into the crowd.

Moments later,
Martis' vision clouded. The light became soft and hazy, the colours
bright and smeared together. A strange floating sensation invaded
him, making him euphoric. He grabbed Sabre's arm as he staggered,
his legs rubbery.

"I've been
drugged," he mumbled, hanging onto the cyber.

"Great." Sabre
frowned, scanned the street and headed for a building beside them,
hung with flashing neon signs and erotic pictures. Martis reeled
along behind the cyber, who towed him by his wrist into the dark
confines of a bead-hung doorway. The stench of narcotic smoke
filled the air. Sabre led him deeper into the drug den, pushed open
a door and pulled him into a room strewn with cushions. Martis
flopped onto them with a groan, and Sabre swung away.

"Stay
here."

Back on the
street, Sabre avoided a fat woman in a purple leotard and headed
for Estrelle's location, moving faster without Martis. He passed
through a fruit fight and a group of fire eaters, entering an area
covered with plastic pools filled with bright jelly. Naked people
played in them, and he paused to watch their antics, fascinated.
They seemed to enjoy the slippery groping, and he wondered what the
attraction was, tilting his head with a frown. A girl stepped in
front of him and tried to unfasten his uniform. He shoved her away,
turned and strode into the crowd.

Someone
grabbed his arm, and he swung around. A lovely girl with ebon hair
and dark blue eyes smiled at him. His heart leapt and pounded, and
he froze, allowing her to step closer and slip her arms around his
waist. A soft mist settled on the crowd, sprayed from above. He
looked up, disliking its scent, which told him it was a powerful
narcotic. He pushed the girl away as her eyes rolled back and her
face went slack. All around him the crowd sank down, piled
together, squirming and laughing. Wherever he tried to step he
found soft flesh. Hands gripped his ankles, and he tottered,
tugging them free.

People yelped
when he stepped on them on his mission to move out of the drugged
zone. Picking his way through the writhing, moaning revellers, he
reached the edge and plunged back into the crowd, wiping the
moisture from his face. It soaked his clothes and ran down his
back. People glanced at him with startled expressions, and he
realised that the brow band's lights now shone through the wet
silk, and switched it off. He forged through the crowd towards
Estrelle, who was not far ahead.

Emerging into
a less crowded area covered with an immense mattress, he spotted
Estrelle lying topless in the arms of a hairy man, engaged in a
passionate kiss. He pushed the man aside and scooped her up,
breaking her hold on the stranger. She latched onto Sabre, wound
her arms around his neck and tried to kiss him, and he jerked his
head up to avoid her. Hoisting her over his shoulder, he headed
back towards the drug den. Estrelle pushed a hand down the neck of
his overall and stroked his back. He bounced her, making her grunt,
but she only renewed her efforts. He moved to the side of the
street, where doorways offered sanctuary from the mob.