The Cyber Chronicles VIII - Scorpion Lord (30 page)

"Which is
never."

Fairen
chuckled. "Hardly ever."

"Does he ever
argue with you?"

"Rarely."

"My friends
will argue, remember. I know you've been an Overlord since you were
three -"

"No, I was an
apprentice until I was ten."

"Right,” Sabre
said. “Well, now you're just a member of the crew."

"I know."

"So try to act
like it. And don't talk to the ship."

"I'm the one
who's concerned about protecting my identity. I won't make a
mistake."

The boy
stopped outside a door, and Sabre turned to him. "You're so damned
grown up. It's not right. You never had a childhood, did you?"

"Neither did
you."

"Well, try to
act like a fourteen-year-old, okay?"

Fairen smiled
and pressed the entry-call beside the door, which buzzed, then slid
open a moment later to reveal the spacious lounge of a luxurious
suite, decorated, like the rest of the ship, in grey, black and
red. Back-lighted crimson curtains hung against the grey walls, and
soft white sofas surrounded a glass coffee table on a gleaming
black marble floor. Martis and Estrelle lounged on a couch while
Kole paced. They all looked around when Sabre entered, and Kole
confronted him.

"Where the
hell have you been? What's going to happen to us now? This place
gives me the heebie-jeebies. Are we under arrest or something?"

"I've been
talking to Fairen,” Sabre replied. “We're going to Myon Two, and no
one's under arrest. You're guests, so relax. I'm joining you for
some dinner. We'll talk."

"So glad you
could tear yourself away from your Overlord buddy."

"We had a lot
to discuss."

Kole's eyes
flicked past him. "Who's this?"

Sabre reached
back and drew Fairen forward. The boy hung his head, looking shy.
"This is Emrin," Sabre said. "He's my friend too, and I've invited
him to join us for dinner."

Kole inclined
his head, smiled and stepped forward, holding out his hand. "Good
to meet you, Emrin."

Fairen
recoiled, and Sabre said, "He has an immune deficiency. He's not
supposed to come into contact with strangers."

"What about
you?"

"I'm a cyber,
remember?"

"Right. Well,
let's eat then, I'm starved. How do we order food around here?"

"Speak to the
auto-chef. Order what you want," Fairen supplied.

"Right,
auto-chef."

Fairen went
over to the far wall and pressed a button. A panel slid aside,
revealing a recess with a console beside it. "What do you
want?"

"What's on the
menu?"

"Anything."

Kole's brows
rose. "Really? In that case I'll have Gerentian egg balls and veran
salad with garalt sauce."

Two seconds
later, a loaded plate appeared in the recess. Fairen moved away as
Kole went over to take it. The others ordered less exotic dinners,
and they settled down around the polished ebony dining table in a
crimson-curtained alcove. Fairen sat beside Sabre, an empty chair
next to him. Kole spoke around a mouthful of food.

"So what's
Fairen going to do to Myon Two?"

Sabre
shrugged. "He'll punish those who abducted me, and anyone else who
was involved."

"He should
just blow the bloody place up. Bunch of creeps."

"That's a bit
harsh," Martis protested. "There are a lot of good people on Myon
Two. Most of them don't know that hosts are aware, like Estrelle
and me before we met Sabre."

"Maybe someone
should tell them then."

"Probably. But
management will just convince them it's lies."

"Not if an
Overlord told them. Everyone knows Overlords don't lie."

Sabre said,
"That would be the same as if he ordered them to stop, which he
could, but that would ruin the economy of two planets and cause
poverty and starvation."

Kole's brows
shot up. "I never thought I'd hear you championing their
cause."

"I understand
Fairen's reasons, and I'm not championing their cause. I want cyber
production to stop, but... not at the expense of billions of
lives."

"Bullshit,"
Kole said. "You wish Fairen would stop it, too."

"Of course I
do, but he won't, so that's the end of it."

Estrelle leant
towards him. "What's he like?"

"Fairen? I
can't tell you that."

"But he's
human, right?"

"I can't tell
you that either, and you don't have to whisper."

Estrelle
looked disappointed. "Why all the secrecy and disguise?"

"To hide his
identity, of course."

"But why? He
can't be kidnapped or anything."

Sabre
shrugged. "To preserve his air of mystery I guess, so he seems more
formidable."

Kole snorted.
"With a ship like this, who cares if he's just a runty little guy
with a lisp? No one's going to mess with this beauty."

"You'd have to
ask him."

"I don't
suppose he'll speak to us," Estrelle remarked.

"I could ask
him for you."

"Would
you?"

"What do you
want to speak to him about?"

"I'd just like
to meet him," she said.

"You already
did."

"I was
introduced, that's all. I'd like to get to know him a bit. Is he
such a recluse?"

Kole said, "He
won't mix with the likes of us, we're just riffraff to him."

"He mixes with
me," Sabre pointed out, "and I'm just riffraff too."

"No, old pal,
you're special; the only free cyber in the universe."

"Is he
married?" Estrelle enquired.

Kole chuckled.
"You can see where this is going, can't you?"

"No, he's
not." Sabre smiled, glancing at Fairen, who concentrated on his
dinner, his cheeks flushed.

Estrelle
followed his gaze. "Have you met him, Emrin?"

"No, Miss,"
the boy replied, growing redder.

"But you live
on this ship."

"So do a
hundred and fifty-six thousand other people," Sabre said.

"So what do
you do?" Estrelle asked Fairen.

"He's just a
boy," Sabre said. "He goes to school, don't you Emrin?"

"Yeah."

"But you must
have dreams," she said. "What do you want to be when you grow
up?"

"A pilot."

Estrelle
smiled. "That sounds exciting. Are you training to be one?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Overlord
Fairen doesn't need pilots."

She looked
puzzled. "So why don't you leave and become a pilot?"

"Our people
serve the Overlords."

"So...
Overlord Fairen won't let you leave?"

"We don't want
to leave," Fairen said.

"But you want
to be a pilot."

"It's just a
dream."

"Which could
easily be a reality, if you could leave."

"Leave the
boy," Sabre said. "Emrin's people are dedicated to serving the
Overlords. That's all they want."

"It just
doesn't seem fair, that's all."

"Did you want
to become a control unit tech?"

She pulled a
face. "Okay, point taken."

Sabre turned
to Kole. "I have to go to Myon Two with Fairen, but I'm worried
about Tassin. Would you go to Omega Five and tell her what's
happened, and that I'm okay?"

Kole nodded.
"I guess. Striker needs her engine fixed, though, and the rest
overhauled, thanks to your driving."

"I'll ask
Fairen."

"What's going
to happen to us now?" Martis asked.

"That's up to
you,” Sabre replied. “Get your tattoos removed, find a nice planet
and start a new life."

"They'll send
cybers after us. We won't be safe anywhere."

Estrelle leant
forward again and asked Sabre, "Could we stay with you?"

"Ah... Why
would you want to do that?"

"Well, you
could protect us. Myon Two's after you as well, and we can help you
with your adjustments and... things."

"I really
don't need more cyber techs. I have Tarl."

"He's just a
repair tech,” Martis said. “He couldn't have done what I did for
you."

"Well what you
did is done, so what do I need you for now?"

Kole raised
his brows, patently intrigued. "What did he do?"

"None of your
business."

"Ah come on,
don't be such a wet blanket. It sounds fascinating."

"It's still
none of your business."

"What do you
say, Sabre?" Martis insisted. "We need your protection, and you're
probably the only one who can keep us safe from Myon Two."

"I don't know
about that. I got caught, and they're going to keep coming after
me. You'd probably be safer on your own."

Martis shook
his head. "We can't defend ourselves against a cyber."

"And in return
for my protection, you'll look after me, is that it? You weren't
any help after the fight."

"I didn't have
the necessary drugs. If Fairen can provide them, I'll fix you, no
problem."

"Already done,
and you could have got them on Eden Five, if you'd tried. Instead
you went shopping for those ridiculous clothes."

"Okay, I
should have,” Martis admitted. “I didn't think of it at the time.
It won't happen again."

Sabre pushed
away his empty plate and leant back. "I'll think about it."

Estrelle put
down her napkin and rose. "Let's sit in the lounge and have
drinks."

Everyone moved
to the lounge and flopped down on the couches. Fairen stayed close
to Sabre, sharing his sofa, and Estrelle sat on the other side of
the cyber.

She smiled at
the boy. "So, how did you meet Sabre?"

"In the
hospital."

"You were
sick?"

"He gets sick
a lot," Sabre said. "I was injured. He was in the next bed. We kept
each other company."

"Were you born
on this ship?" Estrelle asked Fairen.

He hesitated.
"Yes, Miss."

"And you've
never left it, your whole life?"

"No,
Miss."

"Please stop
calling me 'miss', okay?"

Fairen smiled.
"Okay."

"What do your
parents do?"

"My dad's a
cook and my mum's a cleaner."

Estrelle
tilted her head. "A cook? What about the auto-chef?"

"Overlord
Fairen only eats food the cooks prepare."

"Ah, of
course. And since you can't be a pilot, what will you be?"

"A cook."

"Are you happy
here?" she asked.

"Yes."

"There are
many wonderful worlds. Wouldn't you like to see them?"

Sabre frowned
at her. "Quit grilling the boy."

"I'm just
chatting to him. Why so protective?"

"Sounds like
you're grilling him. He's happy here. Why ask him if he wants to
see the universe? I expect he's seen more than you, living on an
Overlord ship."

"I expect he's
seen quite a few getting blown up," Kole muttered.

"You don't
like Overlords?" Fairen asked, surprising Sabre.

"I don't like
anyone who goes around blowing up planets."

"But they
needed to be blown up."

"Why?" Kole
demanded, rather belligerently.

“
They broke the law, or they were dangerous."

"They could
have been reformed."

"No, not if
they were determined to keep doing it, or were the source of
terrible plagues."

The ex-hacker
considered the boy. "Well of course you'd stick up for the
Overlords, you live to serve them."

"I think the
universe needs them, or it would fall into debauchery and crime.
Terrible diseases would spread and wipe out many worlds instead of
only one."

"What gives
them the right to judge people? What makes them better than the
rest of us? They're dangerous."

"They're
empaths."

Kole's brows
shot into his blond fringe. "Are they? Bugger me. So they know when
someone's a crook?"

"They sense
emotions. They know if a person is corrupt, or a liar."

Silence fell
as everyone except Sabre and Fairen digested this, then the cyber
put down his empty glass and stood up. "It's time Emrin went home.
His parents will be starting to worry, it's late."

In the
corridor, the young Overlord fell into step with Sabre, who asked,
"Did you enjoy yourself?"

"Yes, it was
interesting. Strange, but interesting. I would like to do it
again."

"How long is
it going to take us to reach Myon Two?"

Fairen
addressed the air. "Arrival time at Myon Two?"

"Fourteen
hours," Scorpio informed him.

"Time for a
couple more meals with them then," Sabre said. "Will you fix
Striker and refuel her?"

Fairen nodded,
addressing the ship again. "Send engineers to the ship in berth
five, repair and refuel her."

Chapter Seventeen

The young
Overlord turned into an unfamiliar corridor, and Sabre wondered
where they were going. The mystery was solved when they entered the
well-equipped exercise room he had been to before. He smiled and
wandered over to a rack of weights, leant against it and folded his
arms. Fairen grinned at him, his eyes sparkling.

"Come on, spar
with me."

"Show me what
you can do first."

"Okay."

The boy did a
handstand and dropped into a backward roll. Leaping up, he did a
flick-flack across the floor, landing on his feet next to the wall.
Next he did a cartwheel and twisted into a backward flick-flack,
bouncing up in front of Sabre with a grin.

"How was
that?"

"Excellent.
But that's just gymnastics. The foundation of cyber combat, to be
sure, but not much use on its own."

"I know; I
learnt other stuff too."

"Show me,"
Sabre said.

“
Okay. Are you ready?”

“
I’m always ready.”

Fairen punched
Sabre in the solar plexus, and then grimaced, wringing his
hand.