The Cyber Chronicles VI - Warrior Breed (11 page)

Kernan
scowled. "That seems inevitable." He raised the last chunk of bark
towards his mouth. Sabre uncoiled like a striking cobra, snatching
it from him. He settled back beside Tassin and tucked the piece of
bark away in a nearby pack. Kernan's scowl deepened, and he made a
grab for the pack. Sabre yanked it away, confronting Kernan, who
sat down again.

"Bloody cyber.
I need that damned food!"

"You'll get
some when we find a civilised planet and make a substitute, but
without a sample that will be impossible."

"You know
what's in that stuff."

Sabre shook
his head. "The chemicals are alien."

"I could
starve before we find a planet."

"And if you
eat the last of that food, you'll starve anyway. At least this way
you have a chance."

"You don't
know what it's like to be this hungry."

"Actually, I
do. Drink some water, it will help."

Kernan cursed,
glaring at Sabre. "How long have we been cooped up in this chunk of
animated metal? A week? How long before we find a planet?"

"It's only
been three days." Sabre turned to the robot, studying him with a
frown. Pog's extremities and half of his torso had melted into the
wall and floor. "Pog, what's happening to you?"

"My mother no
longer needs me. I am being reabsorbed."

"How will I
communicate with Asys?"

"That part of
me will remain until you leave."

"How long
before we leave?"

"Asys has
finished feeding. She seeks a world for you now."

Sabre nodded,
glancing at Kernan. "Let's hope it doesn't take too long. That
little bit of bark won't do you much good anyway."

Kernan grunted
and flopped back, making the floor flinch. Sabre tucked the pack
under his head and settled down. Tassin used his shoulder as a
cushion.

"Asys has
found a suitable world for you." Pog's deep voice jerked Sabre from
his doze, and he sat up. Tassin yawned and rubbed her eyes. Kernan
stretched and scratched, and Tarl rubbed his face.

"Does she know
what it's called?" Sabre enquired.

"No. But the
inhabitants appear to be engaged in one of your kind's favourite
pastimes."

"Ice ball?"
Kernan hazarded.

"Conflict."

"Then it's not
suitable," Sabre said.

"It is
civilised, and inhabited by humans. It fits the criteria of the
agreement."

"It's
dangerous. We could be killed."

"That was not
a criterion."

"It should
have been," Tarl said.

"But it was
not. Asys longs to be rid of you. She is most grateful for your
help, man-machine, but your presence causes her great
discomfort."

Sabre shook
his head at Tarl when he opened his mouth to protest further.
"Leave it."

"But -"

"She could
kill us easily. Be glad she's stuck to the agreement."

"You could
force her to take us somewhere safe, you -"

"No." Sabre
frowned. "We'll take what she gives us."

"Asys does not
wish you harm," Pog rumbled.

"Will she take
us somewhere safe?"

"She regrets,
you must leave here."

"Will she land
on the planet?"

"No. Now that
she has power, she will transport you to one of the ships
nearby."

Sabre glanced
at Pog. "She can translocate us?"

Only the
robot's head remained. The walls and floor had absorbed the rest of
him. "Yes."

"Does she have
weapons?"

"She can form
destructive forces, yes."

"Could she
translocate us to the planet?"

"No, that is
too far. You should stand up now, and gather your possessions."

The cyber rose
to his feet, drawing Tassin up beside him, and the two men stood,
picking up the packs. "I ask Asys to send us to one of the smaller
ships."

"As you wish.
Asys bids you farewell."

"I thank her
for her aid."

Chapter Seven

Sabre pulled
Tassin into his arms as the glowing room vanished in a swirl of
dark dizziness and biting cold. They floated in nothingness, then a
floor hit the soles of his boots. He bent his knees to absorb the
impact, cushioning Tassin as he fell. His elbow struck the floor,
sending a shocking pain up his arm, and Tassin gave a soft grunt.
Sabre released her and sat up, glancing around at an empty mess
hall, then inwards at the scanner information. Glowing dots marked
the movement of men in the corridors outside, some running. Smoke
fouled the air, and the thuds of explosions shook the ship. He
stood up and helped Tassin to her feet, and she hugged her ribs.
Tarl and Kernan sat up, rubbed bruises and looked around at the
pale grey walls, black plasfoam floor and multitude of metal tables
and chairs. A glowing yellow ceiling cast uniform light over
black-topped counters and food dispensers, and two closed doors had
access panels next to them.

"Now we're in
the shit," Tarl muttered.

Sabre turned
to Tassin. "Are you okay?"

She nodded,
biting her lip.

He studied the
drab, functional room again, his eyes lingering on some bold red
writing on the wall. "We're in deeper shit than you think,
Tarl."

"Why?"

"These are
Trykons."

"Oh, god.
That's just great."

Tassin glanced
up at Sabre. "What are Trykons?"

"Madmen," Tarl
said.

Sabre nodded.
"Pretty much. They're descended from a warrior caste that broke
away from mainstream civilisation decades ago, because it was too
peaceful. They live to fight. And they use cyber enhancements."

"Like
you?"

"Not exactly.
You'll see."

"So what's the
plan?" Kernan asked. "Take over the ship and get the hell out of
here?"

Sabre shook
his head. "Impossible. There's got to be several hundred seasoned
warriors on this ship."

"Great. Bloody
marvellous. So what do we do?"

"There's only
one thing Trykons respect. And I doubt they've ever encountered a
cyber before."

"What do they
respect?" Tassin asked.

"Prowess."

"You
mean..."

He nodded. "My
kind."

Tarl looked
concerned. "You're not at full strength, are you?"

"Eighty-four
per cent."

Tarl dug in
his pack and pulled out several food bars. "Here, eat these."

"There's no
time."

"Who knows how
long we have before we're discovered? Just bloody eat it, will
you?"

Sabre took a
bar and ripped off the plastic covering, biting off half of it.

Tassin gazed
at him with anguished eyes. "Isn't there another way?"

"Not that I
know of."

"You can't do
this. There's got to be another way. Find a life pod and escape...
something."

"Even if this
ship has life pods, which I doubt, where would we go? They'd use us
for target practice."

"Why don't the
Overlords stop this fighting?"

"They can't,"
Tarl replied. "The only way to stop Trykons fighting each other is
to kill them all, and, since they only fight each other, there's no
point. When Overlord Tobaron came to this system several decades
ago, the Trykons stopped fighting each other just long enough to
explain it to him, then challenged him to wipe them all out or piss
off. He left, and declared an embargo on the planet.

"No ships come
here, and the Trykons aren't allowed to leave. Since they're
constantly killing each other, they don't have a problem with
overpopulation, so they have no need to invade other systems or
colonise new worlds. They're mad, all of them. Even their women are
warriors. If they don't fight, they don't breed, that's the law.
Weak, malformed or handicapped infants are killed at birth, and any
weaklings die during their childhood warrior training, which starts
at five, I believe.

"Only the
strongest of either sex breed, which also means the largest,
resulting in a race of near giants. I don't think there are any
Trykons less and two metres tall. They also use growth hormones and
steroids, causing low fertility. There are four clans, which
constantly fight for superiority. There used to be six, but two
have been wiped out. The strongest clan rules the planet and makes
the laws. Leadership within the clans is also decided by
combat.

"All disputes
are settled by it, and even pair bonding. A woman may choose a
spouse she likes, but if another warrior defeats the man she's
chosen, she must bond with the victor. Unless, of course, she can
beat him, but that's rare. The good news is that Trykons don't use
lasers. They consider them to be weapons for weaklings. They use
bladed weapons, crossbows, and occasionally, projectile
weapons."

Tassin turned
to Sabre with wide, horrified eyes. "We've got to find another way
out of here."

"There is no
other way."

"Surely if we
asked them for help...?"

Tarl shook his
head. "We'd be branded as weaklings and used for sport."

"What if Sabre
loses? He's not at full strength."

"Even at
eighty-four per cent, a Trykon stands no chance against him. It's
what he's..." He trailed off, shooting Sabre a guilty glance.

"It's what I'm
designed for," Sabre finished for him. "And he's right, it's the
only way."

"It's not
fair," Tassin said. "It's always you who has to suffer every time
we get into trouble. At least we must rest here until we're found,
so you can regain some more strength."

Tarl shook his
head again. "Bad idea. If they find us here, we'll lose status. We
have to take the fight to them to prove our courage."

Sabre finished
the last food bar and drew his lasers, handing one to Tarl and the
other to Kernan. "If I use these, I'll lose status, but you'll
never have any, so it won't matter if you do."

"What about
me?" Tassin demanded.

"You're going
to be a non-combatant. Females are allowed to be. They just can't
breed if they are."

Tarl tucked
the laser into his pocket. "Sabre, I know you're a gentleman, but
here you're going to have to act like a tough guy. You realise
that, right?"

"I'll do
what's necessary."

"Good."

Sabre turned
to Tassin and held out his hand. "Ready?"

She took it,
looking sad. "As I'll ever be, I suppose."

Tarl eyed
them. "Sorry, guys, but public gestures of affection are considered
a sign of weakness."

Tassin tugged
her hand free, and Sabre headed for the door, which slid open as he
neared it. He entered a narrow, poorly lighted corridor, Tassin
close behind, Tarl and Kernan flanking her. The thuds of distant
explosions had lessened, and only occasional shivers ran through
the floor. Black scorch marks marred the utilitarian dull grey
walls, and their boots clicked on a scuffed metal floor. Many
glowing dots moved on the cyber's scanners, none close enough to be
a threat yet, but Sabre watched them.

The scanners
went blank, and he stopped, frowning. The cyber changed the
frequency to try to rectify the problem, and Sabre caught a glimpse
of five dots closing in on their position.

"What's
wrong?" Tassin asked behind him.

He turned his
head. "They've detected us, and they're jamming my scanners. Two
men are approaching from behind, three from in front. Don't do
anything unless they attack."

Kernan and
Tarl nodded, fingering their lasers. Sabre watched the scanners'
blank field while the cyber continued to change frequencies in an
attempt to circumvent the jamming. Another brief flash showed the
men's position, almost on top of them. Sabre focussed on the real
world as two men stepped out of a doorway a couple of metres ahead
of him, and a third appeared around a corner further down the
corridor. They were all clad in full body armour, only their heads
bare.

Their brutish
features bore the scars of many battles, and one had a scanner
emitter sprouting from the side of his head. The other had an
ocular enhancer over one eye and a robotic arm. They stopped and
eyed the intruders without hostility or alarm. Sabre glanced around
when two more men appeared from a doorway behind him. One had a
jammer attached to the armour on his left shoulder and a synthetic
eye; the other had a partially metal-plated skull and a robotic
leg. The fifth man joined the first two, and Sabre turned to face
them. Narrow scars covered the newcomer's face, which looked like
it had been shoved into a combine harvester or flay field. He had a
brow band similar to Sabre's, except it had a tiny red light that
traversed from one end of it to the other in a scanning motion.

The man with
the scanner emitter on the side of his head smiled, revealing metal
teeth. "Well, it seems we're being invaded by midgets, Hallel."

The Trykons'
harsh, guttural language, Mortrek, was a mutated form of Anglo, and
not easily understood without a cyber's training.

Sabre met the
man's eyes with a cold look and replied in the same tongue, "Take
us to your commander."

"Or what?"

"I'll have to
find him myself."

"Who says
we'll let you?"

"Who says you
can stop me?"

The man's eyes
raked Sabre, and he chuckled, his smile pulling at his scars.
"You're a bit small to be making threats, little man. What the hell
are you doing on this ship, and how did you get aboard?"

Sabre
shrugged. "I need a ship. This one will do."

"So you're
just going to take it over, I suppose?"

"Something
like that."

The warrior
guffawed, elbowing the man with the brow band, whose name seemed to
be Hallel. The man with the optical enhancer was less amused, and
his lip curled.

"You have a
big mouth for such a weakling, and you're the smallest of your
midget army. Apart from the female, who looks too weak to even
provide us with much sport."