The Cyber Chronicles 09: Precipice

by T C Southwell

"I shall lodge a complaint with Myon Two, and they'll hunt you down."

  "I'm already on their shit list, trust me. But they won't, so don't bother."

  Tarvin scowled at him. Clearly his shock had worn off, and now he was angry. "If we try to leave, Endrovar will attack. He's already demanding to see me, because of him." He jerked his chin at Tarl.

  Sabre glowered at Tarl. "He's right."

  "What are you going to do then?" the cyber tech asked.

  "If we try to leave in Pathos,” Sabre said, “Endrovar will attack us too."

  Sabre pondered the situation, disliking it. No matter what he did, someone would attack them, and, although they stood a better chance in Shadow Hawk, Endrovar would follow. Threats to Tarvin's life would mean nothing to the Emperor, but they would to Tarvin’s crew. He turned to the young King.

  "This is what's going to happen. We're leaving on Pathos, and you're going to tell your men to keep Endrovar here. I hope they're loyal, because your life will depend on it. Endrovar doesn't want to destroy Pathos, because he wants Tarl back, but he'll do his best to blow up your ship, so your men had better be prepared to die to keep you safe."

  "They will," Tarvin said. "But how do I know you won't kill me when you're safe?"

  "You'll just have to take my word for it. You don't have a lot of choices.” Sabre pulled Tarvin over to the com-station and keyed it. “Give the order to your commander."

  "Commander Andon," Tarvin said, "I have been taken hostage. I will be leaving on Pathos. Ensure that Endrovar does not fire on us, or follow."

  "Sire? Are you unharmed?"

  "For the moment, yes. I have been assured that I will come to no harm, and they will release me when you take the girl hostage!"

  Sabre slapped the coms-key and jabbed the laser into the side of the King's head. "If anything happens to her, you will die."

  "If anything happens to me, so will she. Did you think I would just do as you wanted?"

  "You would have, if you weren't so bloody stupid."

  "You can do nothing to me now. Release me, and I'll consider allowing you to live. I might even let you go, so Endrovar can use you for target practice. She called you her fiancé, so I think you won't endanger her. She's the reason you came here, and tricked me into giving you sanctuary. With the aid of enforcers, too, which is strange."

  Rage and despair made Sabre’s heart labour and his head pound. The situation was at an impasse, since both sides now had a critically important hostage. He had not thought the crippled King would have the courage to defy him, but then, Tassin was mostly to blame, for if Tarvin had not known how important she was he would not have taken her hostage. Sabre would not have mentioned her at all, except that Tarvin already knew about their relationship. Now she was in grave danger, and the black tide of his emotions threatened to overwhelm him again. He dug in his medical pouch and took two more yellow pills, ignoring Tarl's alarmed look.

  "So you had best release me," Tarvin went on in a calm tone. "My commander will also have summoned an Overlord. Threatening a planetary leader, especially a high king, is a grave crime. If I'm killed, it will plunge the Estron System into an interstellar war."

  Tarl sidled closer to Sabre and muttered, "Call him."

  "Not yet. He might be the one who comes, anyway."

  "And he might not. There's no way out of this situation."

  "Maybe there is. I'm going to find her -"

  "They'll kill her."

  Sabre released Tarvin and swung away, rubbing his head. Tarl was right, unless Tarvin's men thought Sabre was one of the Shadows. He swung back to face Tarl.

  "I'll find a uniform. They won't know who I am."

  "You don't have time."

  Sabre knew he was right again, and growled with fury. Emotional dross clogged his mind, and he could not think straight. He longed for the calm, logical thinking he had had before, now buried under a mountain of useless, painful feelings. Grimacing, he gripped the cyber band.

  Tarvin sneered, "A cyber will never be able to outwit a free man. You don't have the brains for it."

  "You'd be well advised to keep your trap shut," Tarl said.

  Sabre swung back to Tarvin, gripped his hair and jerked his head back, ramming the laser under his chin. "How will you commander feel when he hears your girlish shrieks of pain? I think maybe he'll do as I say then, hmmm?"

  Tarvin tried to shake his head. "He'll do as I ordered. Once an Overlord arrives, your little escapade will be at an end. Harm me, and you will pay."

  "Sabre," Tarl murmured. "Calm down, bud. Bad idea."

  The cyber released Tarvin, who slumped. Swinging away, he raised a hand to rub his throbbing brow again. The ship shuddered. He knew what it meant. An Overlord had arrived, and Shadow Hawk was in a grappler beam, as was, undoubtedly, Endrovar. He waved the laser at Tarvin.

  "Ask your commander which Overlord it is."

  "What difference does it make?"

  "A big one, to me."

  Tarvin shrugged and touched the coms key. "Andon, which Overlord has just arrived?"

  "None, Sire, it's Imperial."

  "What? He's attacking us? What's happening?"

  "He's trying to board us. I'm attempting to get free of his grappler."

  Tarvin's scowl deepened. "That bloody fool!"

  "Do you want to fire on him, Sire?"

  "No. An Overlord will arrive soon."

  "Odd that one isn't here yet if you're so important," Sabre observed. "Perhaps they're all too busy."

  "One will come soon."

  "You hope."

  "It makes no difference to you,” Tarvin said. “If you surrender now, I might be lenient."

  "Give Tassin to me, and I'll leave."

  Tarvin looked smug. "You're in a poor bargaining position, and you know it. Get the hell off my ship, and I'll consider flushing her out with the garbage."

  Sabre shook his head. "Not a chance. I'm not leaving without her, and I know you and Endrovar will use us for target practice. If anything happens to her, you will die, and I'll blow up your ship, too, just for shits and giggles." He stepped closer to Tarvin and wagged the laser under his nose. "Because you know what, Your Majesty? If she dies, I won't care if I follow her, got it? You know what a cyber can do. Hell, you've had first-hand experience, which is testament to your stupidity. So just imagine, if you will, how much destruction a suicidal cyber bent on revenge can wreak. Scary thought, huh?"

  "This is why cybers are computer controlled."

  "Yeah, but I'm not, so perhaps you'd like to rethink your little plan. Your troops won't be able to stop me reaching this ship's armaments and setting them off, and, once you're dead, your cybers won't do a damn thing. You see," Sabre went on conversationally, "the problem with computer controlled soldiers is they only do what they're told. They have no loyalty; they'll feel no rage when you die. They won't give a shit. In fact, they'll be happy, deep down, where they think. Which they do, you know. It's a dark prison, insulated from the world, but we do think, and have feelings, mostly anger and despair, but emotions nevertheless."

  Tarvin eyed him. "My commander will also have sent a distress message to Myon Two, so any ships in the area will come to my aid."

  "Will they now? They might find it strange, then, that Pathos is docked with you. But I can trump that." Sabre shot Tarl a hard look before returning his attention to the King. "You see, my mission was sanctioned by an Overlord. The Scorpion Lord, to be exact." He held up his left arm, so the bracelet glinted in the overhead light. "Do you know what this is?"

  Tarvin stared at it, then inclined his head. "It is an Overlord's friendship bracelet."

  "Yeah, funny how everyone knows what it is, yet I didn't at first. But now I do. So, all I have to do is press it, and Fairen will be here in a couple of minutes. Unless he's busy blowing up a planet, in which case it might take him a couple of minutes longer. He will come, though, and even if your summons brings another Overlord, he's not going to go against Fairen, or harm h
is friend. So I'm not in such a bad bargaining position after all, am I?"

  The King's expression hardened. "In that case, take your harpy and leave. She’s more trouble than she’s worth, anyway."

  Tarl slumped with a sigh, leaning on the com-station.

  Sabre smiled. "I see you got to know her a little bit. Tell your men to bring her here, then order your ship to set course for Pallin Two. Also, tell Endrovar to stay the hell out of your way, and not to follow."

  "He won’t do what I say."

  "Then if he does try to follow, you fire on him. There's an enforcer outpost on Pallin Two, so once Thestan identifies himself, he'll have a few more warships to back him up and send Endrovar packing if he follows us."

  Thestan said, "Or you could tell Endrovar that Pathos is a Myon Two enforcer ship, and Tarl has been arrested. Then he'll know there's no way he can get him back."

  Sabre shot him a scathing look. "He already knows that. Apparently Endrovar isn't afraid of enforcers, at least not if they don't outgun him." He glared at Tarvin. "I didn't hear you give those orders yet."

  The King turned to the com-station and touched a key. "Commander Andon. Bring the slave girl to my meeting room, unharmed, and lay in a course for Pallin Two. Tell Endrovar to... not to follow us, and if he does, fire on him."

  "We're still in his grapples, Majesty," the commander's voice replied. "He's unable to lock on a boarding tube, but he's still trying."

  Tarvin frowned. "I thought you would have broken that by now."

  "Sorry, Sire, not yet."

  "Then fire on him, Commander, until he releases my ship."

  "Sire... at this proximity, our weapons will do a great deal of damage -"

  "Good."

  "And so will his."

  "No more than ours, surely?" Tarvin asked.

  "Possibly not, Sire, but -"

  "Just do it, Commander."

  "Yes, Sire. Are you unharmed?"

  "I’m fine. I have reached an agreement, of sorts."

  Sabre nodded when Tarvin turned to him again. "Good. Now you can tell me why Tassin is in your hospital."

  "How do you...?" Tarvin's eyes flicked up to the brow band. "Of course. She’s unharmed, I assure you. She just needed some calming medication."

  "I'll bet." Sabre glanced at the door, longing for Tassin to arrive. He looked at the scanners, where her life sign was moving now, escorted by two others, towards his location. His heart seemed full, as if some strange emotion clogged it. He had felt it before, in a far milder form, and knew what it was, but he had not known it could become so strong.

  The ship shuddered, and he glanced at Tarvin, who looked pensive, scowling into the darkness where his cybers had stood. Doubtless this experience was humiliating for the youthful King, and Sabre analysed the new emotion that had prevented him from calling Fairen. Pride, Tarl had called it. Something he had not had before. Yet using Fairen's name had been enough to resolve the situation, and for some reason he resented that, too. Odd. He did not understand the reason for it. Vibrations ran through the floor, and Tarvin turned to the com-station, tapping the key.

  "Commander, report."

  "It's Endrovar, Sire, he's firing back, and -"

  A dull boom rattled the ship, and the floor seemed to tilt. Tarvin grabbed the com-station as his floating chair started to drift across the room, and the enforcers flinched. An alarm wailed outside, and the com-station beeped, many of its lighted keys flashing. Sabre found that he was leaning, his boots’ rubber soles preventing him from sliding across the smooth floor.

  "He's hit our main stabilisers!" Andon yelled, his voice distorted. "The explosion has broken into the port armoury! We're venting! Artificial gravity is malfunctioning... Sire, we're going to break up!"

  "Abandon ship, Commander," Tarvin said with remarkable calm.

  Sabre glanced at the scanners, where Tassin's life sign was now moving towards the far side of the ship. The area of destruction in the vessel's port side was between her and the meeting room, and whoever was with her had evidently decided to retreat. If the ship broke up, however, she would be trapped in the stern, reliant on Tarvin's crew to get her to a life pod.

  Sabre turned to Thestan. "Take him to Pathos. I'm going to get Tassin."

  Chapter Twelve

  The golden doors opened with a groan as Sabre reached them, jamming halfway. He pushed one aside and sprinted down the corridor. Ships as large as Shadow Hawk were structurally fragile within their armour plating, built in space where they only had to deal with inertia, and the explosion had weakened the framework sufficiently for the ship to warp. It had been underway at the time, too, since spaceships rarely came to a complete halt without a good reason, so inertia would be causing it to twist and bend. In addition, the explosions had caused shockwaves in the interior atmosphere, pushing the surrounding areas of the ship in opposing directions, effectively tearing it apart. The scanners showed him Tassin in the stern, moving away. Behind him, Tarl and the enforcers emerged with Tarvin, pushing him along. Panicked crewmen and women raced towards the nearest escape pods, pushing and shoving. The malfunctioning gravity field caused Sabre to lean to his right, making it appear that the floor was tilted.

  Another massive explosion ripped through the ship, making him stumble as the floor rippled. Imperial’s lasers would have been devastating at such close proximity, and hitting a soft target like the main stabilisers had been pure luck, but it spelt Shadow Hawk's doom. A battleship commander had more sense than to do what Imperial had done, since there was a good chance the explosion had damaged Endrovar’s ship as well, but when an egomaniac like the self-styled emperor got his hands on a weapon as powerful as a battleship disaster was just an idiotic order away.

  A wind blew past him, and he ran faster, his feet barely touching the floor as the gravity field weakened. He raced down a plush blue and grey corridor whose glowing ceiling flickered. The schematic in his head showed him the quickest way to Tassin's location. Rounding a corner with the aid of the far wall, he leapt through a pressure door as it slid shut. Another alarm joined the wailing siren as the ship's internal sensors detected the drop in air pressure and triggered the compartment doors that would seal off all the areas of the ship. If the last one had been closing, the next one would be sealed by the time he reached it. A group of panic-stricken people ran to the pressure door he had just come through and wailed in despair when they found it closed. They looked like servants, and he wondered if they would find an escape pod. Tarvin's evacuation procedure seemed lax, but then, he probably never expected to have to use it.

  Sabre checked the schematic in his head again, mapping the quickest direct route to Tassin's location. She was five hundred metres away via the corridor route, but only three hundred metres away if he went through the walls. He turned into the next door, which slid open with a screech, and entered what appeared to a recreation room. Velvet and chrome chairs huddled against the wall to his right, a few tables still clung to the sloping floor, and gaming machines beeped and whirred. The floor quivered as he sprinted for the far wall, the scanners telling him that it was only two-centimetre-thick plasteel, commonly used for interior bulkheads.

  Sabre leapt at it, concentrating all his power into his right foot. He hit the wall with a terrific bang, smashed through it as if it was cardboard and stumbled into the next corridor, catching himself on the far wall. The floor trembled and heaved, and several wailing people scrabbled for footing as they tried to run in the direction whence he had come. He wanted to stop them, but he did not have the time. He had to reach Tassin before it was too late. The air was growing thin, and his heart speeded up to compensate, his breath coming in rapid gasps.

  Sabre entered another room, whose door jammed halfway, and raced across a dormitory lined with tiers of bunks, each one with a tiny fold out table and recessed cupboard beside it. The plush décor continued, only now in blue and cream. He ran towards the far wall, noticed a red light flashing in his brain and glanced at the s
canners. A group of people was crammed against the other side of it, and if he smashed through it he would kill some of them. Unable to stop in time, Sabre slowed and ran up the bulkhead, somersaulting back to the floor. He approached the wall, wondering what the hell a bunch of people was doing squashed up against the far side.

  Consulting the scanners again, he switched to infrared and discovered that the room beyond was on fire. He was getting close to the explosion sites, and evidently the people had become trapped against the bulkhead. Banging and shouting came through it, but they had no hope of breaking it, even with tools. Not in time, at any rate. The automatic fire extinguishers must have failed, or been exhausted, and it surprised him that they had survived. The interior panelling and much of the furnishings were fireproof, so the armaments that had caused the explosions must be fuelling the fire. Exod-X, a vital component in photon entrapment and acceleration, was highly volatile and extremely toxic. He needed to get through the wall, however.

  Stepping closer to it, he bellowed, "Get away from the wall; I'm going to break through!"

  Shrieks and screams came from beyond it, then the life signs on the scanners moved aside, clearing an area. Sabre loped to the far end of the dormitory, turned and sprinted at the wall. This time he hit it at full speed, his foot smashing through it with a tremendous crash, splintering the brittle plasteel. He landed on his feet on the far side and skidded to a halt in a smoke-filled room in front of a wall of flame. The fifteen crewmen and women gave cries of relief and gratitude as they climbed through the hole he had made. The last one paused to glance back.

  "Hey, buddy, you can't stay here, you'll..." He trailed off as Sabre turned, looking puzzled, then climbed through the hole after his fellows.

  Sabre faced the wall of fire again, considering his options, and the man's reaction. Indeed, it would seem strange for a cyber to rescue anyone other than his owner. He did not doubt that Tarvin's cybers sought the King even now, and Thestan would be well advised to undock before they found him.

  According to the scanners and heat imaging, the burning area was five metres wide, and appeared to be where the explosions had breached a corridor and part of the room beyond. Tassin was to his right, fifty metres further down the burning corridor, in a room that appeared safe, for now. Two people were with her, and he wondered how they had got trapped there. How stupid were Tarvin's crewmen? Why had they not taken her to an escape pod yet? He turned to the wall beside him. The room beyond was not on fire, and he did not fancy braving the flames. Trotting away as far as he could, he sprinted at it and smashed through into the next area. It was a bathing room, with rows of glass shower cubicles shivering in the vibrations, some already cracked.