The Cyber Chronicles 04: Cyborg

by T C Southwell

  Kole sipped his coffee. “What is it with you and her, huh?”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  The hacker shook his head. “The sad thing is, that’s the truth, isn’t it? You’re clueless.”

  “I guess so.”

  Kole leant closer, his attitude belligerent. “She’s got feelings for you, doesn’t she?”

  “I think she likes me, yes.”

  “Likes you! You really think she would have gone to as much trouble as she has to find and free you just because she likes you?”

  “I don’t know. She said I saved her life a few times. Perhaps she thought she owed me?”

  “Oh, she thinks she owes you, all right, but that’s not it, either. Cybers save loads of people every day, and some women do fall in love with them, despite Myon Two’s best efforts to prevent it. Hardly surprising, really, when cybers are so good at protecting and taking care of their owners, and they do exactly as they’re told. For some women, that’s the perfect man, if they’re not bothered by the lack of intelligent conversation or affection. Difference is, you’re free, so you can give her those things, and you’ve got a personality, of sorts. Presumably you had more of one before, because you sure as shit don’t have much of one now.”

  He waved a hand. “Anyway, I reckon she does a lot more than like you. She’s got the hots for you, and that’s going to confuse the hell out of you when it rears its ugly head, which it will, trust me on that.”

  Sabre frowned at his coffee. “So what should I do?”

  “How the hell should I know? I’m not a bloody killing machine with a girl who has the hots for him. You’ll just have to figure it out, won’t you?”

  “I’m not really equipped to deal with human emotions.”

  Kole raised his brows. “You’re not, huh? Nothing in your database?”

  “No.”

  “Come on, I was kidding. You don’t really have a database. Do you?”

  “I do.”

  “No shit?” The hacker smiled. “At least there are some drawbacks to being you, or you’d have everything, wouldn’t you?”

  “You think being me is fun?” Sabre shook his head. “It’s not. Whenever there’s shit, I’m the one who has to deal with it, and it usually entails lots of pain and strain.”

  “Oh, I don’t think that will be a problem once you’re safe on Omega Five with her, although getting back there with enforcers on your tail will be a mission and a half. If they find out you’re free of your control unit, they’ll never stop hunting you. You do realise that, don’t you? Come to think of it, you won’t even be safe on Omega Five unless you can get there without them knowing about it. Even then, they’ll probably search there, and you won’t be able to hide what you are from their cybers’ scanners. I doubt the restrictions will stop them. All in all, I’d say the two of you are royally screwed. And when they find out about Malatar… Well, murder carries a death sentence on Myon Two. That was not a bright idea.”

  “I had no choice,” Sabre said. “If I’d knocked him out and he’d recovered while I was fighting the cyber he would have killed her, and me. I didn’t even know if I was going to win the battle that time. And even if everything had gone according to plan, if we’d released him he’d have told them about me being free.”

  “You really think they won’t find out?”

  “Maybe not.”

  “Even if they don’t, it’s still illegal for a cyber to be on a restricted world, and I’m sure your previous owner, this Manutim guy, has told them where Tassin’s from.”

  Sabre considered this for a moment. “So what do you suggest we do?”

  Kole sat back, looking a bit smug. “Like I said, I reckon you’re up shit creek. They’ll catch you eventually. They always do. Sad thing is, now Tassin’s in the poo too because of you.”

  “Yes. Did you help her to find me?”

  “Yeah.” Kole sighed. “She’s a hard one to say no to, and I never thought it would come to this. There was no harm in tracking down a cyber and buying him. I wasn’t expecting that to go pear-shaped. Even kidnapping a Cybercorp executive, while pretty dumb, wasn’t all that idiotic, and I figured I’d just change my identity and vanish again. But I never thought you could actually get free, and now that you are and he’s dead… well, it’s a whole new ball game.”

  “Will you help me?”

  Kole stared at him for a moment. “You… Ugh, sure. I’m already in the crap. I can still disappear, though. It’s a big galaxy, and I’m just an accomplice.”

  Silence fell, and stretched, while Sabre sipped his cooling coffee and fiddled with his cup. Eventually curiosity got the better of him, and he asked, “So… why do Tassin’s feelings for me bother you, anyway?”

  “They don’t.” Kole rose and stomped out.

  Sabre pondered what the hacker had said. He already knew all about Myon Two and enforcers, more than Kole, in fact, so nothing he had said about them was news. He wondered what ‘the hots’ were, and why Tassin had them for him. That she was grateful to him for saving her life in the past, and had saved him because of it, made perfect sense. She was clearly a sweet, kind girl who had gone to great lengths to repay her debt, and he assumed that the warmth he experienced in his chest in her presence was a symptom of the friendship they had shared. It must have been strong for him to feel it even without his memories of her.

  It had all added up until Kole had thrown doubt on it, and he knew the hacker had lied about not being bothered by Tassin’s feelings for him. Kole’s animosity apparently stemmed from the fact that Sabre was a cyber, as the hacker’s comment about killing machines made clear. Sabre had wondered about it, too. Why would a girl want a cyber for a friend, even a free one? The only explanation was her gratitude, and perhaps she still wanted, or needed, his protection, although her current danger was due to the fact that she had freed him. Perhaps she had not realised the kind of trouble she would get into for doing it, since she came from a backward world, according to his information on Omega Five. That she was now in so much danger because of him depressed him.

  Tassin’s earlier closeness had made him extremely uncomfortable, and he hoped she would not do it too often. Her reaction to Kole’s embrace had been negative, so clearly she did not welcome such familiarity from her friends, yet she seemed to want to be close to him, so why not Kole? Sabre sighed. Why did friendship have to be so complicated?

  Sabre drained his coffee and placed his cup in the auto-washer, then headed for his cabin to get some sleep. His best course of action was probably to stay away from Tassin as much as possible, and hope she and Kole worked out whatever differences they had so the hacker would, hopefully, stop resenting her friendship with Sabre.

  Chapter Six

  Kole spent most of the next day sleeping off a hangover. Sabre also rested in his cabin, and Tassin longed to spend time with him, but now was too embarrassed to face him. She lay on her bed and stared at the dimpled plastic ceiling, remembering the previous evening. What must he think of her? She had not tried to hide her feelings from him, but he seemed oblivious to them. Now he must think the worst of her intentions, and there was so much more to it than that. Without his memories, however, he had no way of knowing that, and Kole had blundered into a delicate situation, ruining it. She cursed him and rolled onto her side, trying to sleep to escape her thoughts.

  At dusk they left the ship, Sabre clad in his new clothes. Tassin avoided looking at him, and Kole nursed a sore head and belly from the fight. They entered the gaming room and searched the dark corners for Shasen, finding him in the same place. He eyed Kole with deep suspicion, but relaxed when she introduced him and sat down.

  Tassin leant close to say, "We've decided to help you, in return for your help with the memory problem."

  "Great! When can we get together, and who's got the amnesia, him?" He nodded at Kole.

  "No. We can do it whenever you can."

  "How about now?"

  "That would be wonderful
. Do you have a room here?"

  He shook his head. "We can go to the lab. I have all the passkeys and codes; I often work late. No one else will be there now."

  "Fine."

  Shasen rose, and Tassin studied him when he stepped into the light. Close-cropped dark brown hair topped a high-browed, intelligent face with a receding hairline and bright green eyes. His nose had been broken at some stage, and three scars ran down one cheek, ending at the side of his mouth. He turned away and led them out of the gaming room. Kole suggested that they take his air-car, and they went to the parking area. The flight to the lab was short, since it was housed in a squat white building not far from the club. This was clearly the reason the gaming room was Shasen’s hang out. Kole landed the air-car on the roof and they entered through a lift that carried them down several floors. Soon they tramped through a harshly lighted, gleaming white corridor with doors leading off it at regular, widely spaced intervals. Sabre looked uneasy, and she wondered why.

  Shasen opened three security doors with a card and a code, preceding them into a sizeable white room with more of the same harsh lights in the ceiling, cluttered with an assortment of strange paraphernalia. It had a sterile smell, and a wide table with several workstations on it ran all around the walls. Data wands stood in containers beside each station, along with clipboards and racks of vials. Other tables in the centre of the room held a variety of devices whose purpose she could not divine, square boxes with holes in them and others with buttons on them. Some glass boxes contained small animals, and a padded reclining chair stood in one corner, cables festooning it from an overhead arm. A black screen on a jointed arm hung over it, connected to what looked like a helmet with bunches of wires protruding from it, which were attached to a box at the base of the screen’s support. Sabre eyed the equipment as Shasen turned to her.

  "May I ask a few questions before we get started on the amnesia? Who has it, anyway?"

  Tassin nodded at Sabre. "He does. Ask him, then."

  Shasen turned to the cyber. "What interface is used between the control unit and the host brain?"

  "Barrinium sheathed resling implants with psychotropic enhancers and virtual memory input nodes."

  Shasen's brows rose. "Wow. You don't sound like you've got amnesia."

  "It's selective. My older memories are intact."

  "What you just told me is highly classified information. If it's correct, how the hell do you know it?"

  Sabre looked away. "I'm from Myon Two."

  "A technician?"

  "No."

  "Okay. Can the host access his memories?"

  "Yes."

  Shasen looked excited. "What brain capacity does the host possess?"

  "A genetically enhanced, but otherwise normal brain with an IQ of a hundred and eighty-four."

  "With normal function?"

  "Yes." Sabre hesitated, a slight frown tugging at his brows. "No. Not under cyber control."

  "But if it was released...?"

  "Then yes."

  "So the host is unaware?"

  "No."

  Shasen nodded and turned to a computer, typing on the keyboard. "As I suspected. This is great stuff. Does the host feel pain under cyber control?"

  "Yes."

  "Does he know what happens to him?"

  "Yes."

  "Are all his senses intact?"

  Sabre cast Tassin a rueful look. "They all work, but some not very well."

  "So pain is dulled?"

  "No."

  Shasen typed on the keyboard. "Could you elaborate?"

  "He can't focus his eyes, but he can see blurred images. He can hear pretty well, and pain is not dulled at all."

  "And he has absolutely no control over any part or function of his body."

  "Yes."

  Shasen turned to face him. "That's remarkable. I thought only a technician would know that stuff. Okay, that will do for now. Let's start on the amnesia. When did it start, and what sort of electric shocks caused it? Were they applied directly to the skull?"

  "Technicians don't know what I just told you." Sabre leant on a table.

  "Then how do you know?"

  Tassin said, "Let's concentrate on the amnesia. I think you'll find the answers when you ask more questions about that."

  "Okay." Shasen looked puzzled. "So how did it happen?"

  Sabre looked away, his expression unreadable.

  Tassin murmured, "It's okay." She untied the cloth that hid the cyber band and pulled it off. "The shocks were applied directly to his brain, and they were caused by that."

  Shasen eyed the band and sighed. "It's a remarkably good imitation, but really, this isn't something I find amusing."

  "It's not a joke. Have a good look at it."

  Shasen walked over to Sabre and peered at the band. "The flashing lights are great, very realistic. Plastic? Black crystals and aluminium?"

  "No. Lorasium cobalt and barrinium," Sabre said.

  "That's..." Shasen touched the brow band, then tugged at it. His eyes widened, and he recoiled. "Bloody hell!"

  Kole chuckled. "That's what I said."

  Shasen stumbled back into the chair rigged with cables, gasping in shock. "You... you're..."

  "A cyber-bio combat unit, grade A," Sabre said.

  Shasen groped for the seat and sank down on it, his face chalk white. "You're a cyber. A free cyber."

  "Yes. I was born from an artificial womb on Myon Two. I was fitted with the cyber at one year old and spent... a long time in a sensory deprivation tank. I was trained in every conceivable combat art and force taught all the skills to operate every weapon or ship. I've spent twenty-seven years as a prisoner in my mind."

  Shasen gaped at him, and Kole cocked a brow. "A hundred and eighty-four IQ, hey? That's almost genius, pal."

  Sabre glanced at him. "The cyber needed a good tool."

  "This is incredible," Shasen gasped. "Impossible, too. How did it happen?"

  "The cyber band is damaged," Tassin said.

  "The control circuit," Sabre added.

  "Can you help him?"

  Shasen closed his mouth and swallowed. "Yes, sure. Why did the cyber shock you?"

  "It was trying to force me into submission."

  "But you got free. So others could be freed."

  Sabre shook his head. "Not unless their bands were broken exactly as mine was, and that was a fluke."

  "But you're living proof of my theory. Cyber hosts are capable of cognitive thought."

  "Yes, we are. We're just not allowed to think."

  "My god... That must be hell." Shasen stared at Sabre, his expression awed and excited. "May I... examine you?"

  "That was the deal."

  Tassin frowned. "You've seen cybers before."

  "Not up close. They don't object, but people would think it odd if I went around peering at cybers, and they won't let a stranger touch them. Anyway, a cursory examination like that won't tell me much."

  "That's a defence mechanism," Sabre explained. "Cybers are still vulnerable to a few drugs and poisons."

  "Why must you prod and poke him?" Tassin demanded. "He's a man."

  Shasen shook his head, approaching Sabre. "Oh no, he's not a normal man. Cyber hosts are genetically enhanced, but that's all top secret."

  "Why hasn't any other scientist, one with more money than you, ever examined one?"

  "Because scientists with wealth and a reputation have too much to lose, and yeah, probably a few have bought cybers and examined them, but they can't tell anyone what they found, or Myon Two would hear about it. Any attempt to discover cyber secrets is dealt with swiftly and harshly."

  "What do they do?"

  Shasen picked up an instrument and used it to measure a pinch of Sabre's skin, typing the results into the computer. "That's almost normal. They ruin them, like they did me." He turned to Sabre again. "Okay, I know the list of genetic enhancements in a cyber catalogue, and it's pretty impressive. I want to know the classified stuff. Like how
they get the barrinium implants into your brain without scrambling it. There's got to be a network of wiring at the end of those hooks to interface with the brain."

  Sabre eyed him. "How does that help your cause?"

  "I need to be able to tell people about the cruelties."

  "Cyber implantation wasn't painful. I don't remember it, but I do know how it was done." He sighed. "Barrinium is a pneumonic mimicker; it remembers the shapes it formed when it's heated and then cooled. The hooks are formed in a mould with molten barrinium, then flash frozen. They're then squashed into simple pointed spikes and inserted through the holes drilled in my skull. The metal reverts to its former shape inside the brain, but it doesn't open like a flower, it flows, and it takes the resling with it. In six hours the metal has returned to its moulded shape, and the hooks are in place. They can never be removed."

  Shasen typed the information into his computer. "And the rest of the reinforcing?"

  "The same way, for the skull cap, the rest is simply inserted by surgeons."

  "Is the host anaesthetised?"

  "No, they don't bother."

  "God." Shasen looked sick. "Do you remember that?"

  "Vividly."

  "Surely the shock should kill them?"

  "The cyber controls all bodily functions, including reactions to pain. In some, the control is imperfect, and they sometimes die during the operation unless it's stopped."

  Shasen nodded, typing rapidly. "Were you given any drugs when you were growing up?"

  "Lots. Steroids to promote muscle development, sedatives to keep the mind pliable, growth hormones and a few others."

  Shasen picked up a cable with a sensor on the end of it and turned to Sabre. "May I?" The cyber shrugged, and Shasen approached him. "I need you to open your shirt."

  Shasen stuck the sensor onto Sabre's chest and switched on a nearby screen, studying it. "Your resting heart rate is less than thirty beats per minute. That's slow."

  Tassin glanced at Kole while Shasen asked questions and Sabre recited technical details she could not understand. Shasen's hands flew over the keyboard. For over an hour, Sabre gave Shasen all the answers that he craved, and the neurologist looked more and more stunned. Kole wandered around the room, examining the equipment and specimens. Tassin sat on the cable-hung chair. When Sabre fell silent, Shasen stopped typing and turned to him.