Another jungle shimmered into being, different from the previous ones, but unpleasant all the same. Giant trees towered into the sky, their blood-red bark festooned with creepers and fungi. Myriad strange creatures inhabited the canopy, filling the jungle with raucous cries, and flitting, brightly coloured shapes skipped about the trees, swinging through the dense foliage with gravity-defying ease. The donkeys feasted on anything within reach, and Sabre hoped they knew what was poisonous. He had to clear a path with his sword, which made their progress slow and torturous.
After two hours of sweaty, insect-bitten slogging, they emerged into a strange clearing just big enough to allow some light to filter through the branches of the trees around it. Mist covered the ground, and the glade was filled with fine silken strands strung from the ground to high amongst the trees. Jewels of moisture beaded the white silk, which shone in the dappled sunlight like diamond lace. Tassin and Dena gazed at it in awe, their eyes wide, and even Sabre was struck by its beauty. Although loath to destroy something so lovely, he did not wish to make the arduous detour around the clearing, and prodded it with his sword. The weapon became trapped in the sticky strands, and he yanked it free, sending a ripple through the web. Realising his mistake, he swung around and waved Tassin away as he pushed the donkeys backwards.
"Get back! Go!"
Her eyes widened at his urgent tone. "What is it?"
"Go back!"
Tassin's eyes focussed on something behind him, and she yelled. He whirled, sheathing the sword as he snatched the laser from his hip. Hundreds of crimson, hand-sized, spider-like creatures dropped through the web, relinquishing their camouflaged niches on the tree trunks to descend upon their prey. They moved with amazing speed, spinning web as they went. Sabre fired a sweeping laser blast that burnt dozens to ash and cut a swathe through the silken nest. Hundreds survived, however, and the first of them dropped onto his shoulders.
Tassin dragged the donkeys backwards, and Dena already stood further down the path, her eyes wide, her lower lip caught between her teeth. Spiders fell onto the donkeys, which reversed with alacrity, braying in distress. Sabre's skin prickled as the spiders bit him, and he brushed off the arachnids, but more dropped onto him. Backing after the donkeys, he razed the huge web-nest with laser fire, burning the silk away in tattered streamers that fell with ghost-like stealth into the mists below. Spiders clung to him, biting again and again, their silk sticking to him in a fine veil.
The ground at his feet teemed with the ones he had brushed off, already intent on crawling back up his legs. He gyrated like a madman, scraped against tree trunks and smeared spiders to yellow ooze while he retreated, leaving a trail of writhing or squashed arachnids behind him. Tassin slapped at the spiders on the donkeys as the beasts lashed their tails and kicked out in irritation.
Several metres from the nest, the spiders stopped attacking, and the ones on the ground headed back towards their wrecked web-nest. Sabre halted beside the donkeys and looked back at the yellow-smeared trail and the tattered web still visible through the trees. He wiped the goo off, putting away the laser.
"I thought it would be one big one, not a whole army of little buggers."
"Are you all right?"
"I seem to be. Perhaps their poison only works on indigenous creatures." Even as he spoke, a creeping numbness invaded his limbs. "Let's find somewhere to rest."
Sabre glanced inwards at the cyber’s information, which indicated a slowing heartbeat and neural deficiency, but, since the spider poison was from the flux, could not detect the reason for it. The control unit countered the symptoms with adrenalin and elevated his temperature, and he hoped the next Change came soon.
They cleared a small area and sat beside the cart while the donkeys tore at the available foliage. Two spiders had bitten Tassin on her arm before she brushed them off, but the bites were not painful, just tiny pricks that smarted for a moment. Tassin examined the bites, which were no more than red spots. Sabre rested against a cartwheel, his eyes closed. The cyber band sparkled with a lot of red lights, and she frowned at him.
"Are you sure you're all right?"
He sighed. "I seem to be going a bit numb, but it will pass. Those spiders probably like to feed on their prey while it's still alive, so chances are their bites aren't deadly. If a Change comes soon, I'll be fine." He turned to her. "I think we're heading in the wrong direction. The Changes are coming slower and slower. We're not crossing the Zone, like last time, I think we must be moving away from the Core, parallel to the desert outside."
"We could wander in here forever, with no way to navigate. Each world's sun is in a different place."
Sabre nodded, closing his eyes again as if fatigued. "Of course, we could be heading towards the Core. Changes would slow in either direction, as long as we're not crossing it. The way I see it, it's like a spiral, sections of worlds radiating from the Core. When we're crossing them, the Changes are quite quick, but when we're heading towards or away from the Core, they slow down."
"So why do you think we're heading away from it?"
He shrugged. "The Changes are slowing more and more. If we were heading towards it, they would be starting to speed up."
"They would if we started to cross it, too."
"I know."
"So how do we know where we’re going?"
Sabre opened his eyes and glanced at her. "We don't. That's one of the dangers of the Zone, I reckon, getting lost. Even if we had a compass, it would probably point to the north of each new world."
"A what?"
"Never mind."
"We need a guide."
He smiled. "If you see one, let me know."
"Surely there might be other friendly creatures like Purr?"
"Maybe, but he did say that he was unique. Even if there are, the chances of finding one are slim to nil."
"So what do we do?" she asked.
"We turn around and see if the Changes speed up slowly. If they suddenly speed up, we're crossing it."
"But we could be angling across it, which would also make them speed up slowly."
He sighed. "Yeah, I know. It's a chance we'll have to take. Any better suggestions?"
Tassin shook her head, and Sabre closed his eyes again, looking tired. Dena seemed to have recovered from her shock, and was catching butterflies the size of her head with gentle hands, admiring their iridescent colours, then releasing them to hunt others. Tassin watched her, marvelling at the resilience of youth, which so quickly shrugged off horrors. She waited for Sabre to wake, slapped at insects and kept a wary eye on the web-nest.
After several hours had passed to the tune of Sabre's soft snores, she decided to wake him. Instead of starting awake like he usually did, as if someone had poured a bucket of ice down his shorts, he merely grunted and rolled over, shrugging her off. She shook him harder, but only a snort rewarded her efforts. The control unit still sparkled with a lot of red lights, and she experienced a twinge of fear.
The spiders' bites had done something to him, for, although she was all right, she had only two bites while he had dozens. She tried to rouse him again, but he muttered and brushed her off, settling more comfortably. The spiders were certainly humane, she reflected. Their victims fell into a deep slumber while the arachnids feasted, never to wake. Sabre was not in danger of being drained of blood, but would the poison wear off, and if so, when?
Dena must have noticed her worried look, for the child came over and peered at the cyber. "Is Sabre sick?"
Tassin shook her head, but then admitted, "The spiders made him sleep. I can't wake him up."
The child squatted with the loose-jointed ease of the young. "But he will wake up?"
"When the Change comes, I think."
"How long till then?"
"I don't know."
Dena sighed. "I don't like this place much, it's hot and sticky."
"I agree. I hope the next one is better."
Dena shot Sabre a disappointed look, then went back to insect hunting while Tassin sat and fanned herself with a large leaf. Several hours passed before the brown and green flickers shot through the land.
Sabre woke underwater, his lungs burning for air. Shaking off the last of the spider venom's effects, he kicked for the surface, erupting into a world of raging sea and grey, windy skies. Tassin clung to the cart, her face twisted with terror.
Spotting him, she cried, "Dena! Get Dena!"
The cart floated despite its load, and the donkeys swam towards a distant rock. Tassin was safe for now, but there was no sign of Dena. Cursing the scanners' failure to work in the Death Zone, he swam in the direction of Tassin's frantic pointing. Diving, he opened his eyes to search for a small, struggling child. A movement caught his eye, and he turned. Dena sank slowly, her eyes wide, a stream of bubbles issuing from her mouth. He closed the gap with powerful strokes and took hold of her arm, hauling her to the surface.
The cold wind chilled him, and spume-capped waves rolled by, lashing salt spray into his face. Dena was not breathing, and the cart moved towards the rock, too far to swim to in time. He turned the limp child in his arms and put his mouth over hers, blowing air into her lungs. Her lips were tinged with blue and her skin was pale and cold. He blew air into her again, and she gave a retching cough. Foam oozed from her mouth, then she took a wheezing breath and coughed again. She wound her arms around his neck, still coughing, her breathing a painful rasp.
"Hang on, kid," he murmured.
Sabre supported her with one arm and struck out for the rock. The thought of the depths below made him shiver, and the barrinium plating weighed him down, forcing him to swim strongly to stay afloat. The extra weight destroyed a cyber's buoyancy, and reaching the rock would be a feat of strength, nothing less. Dena clung to him, small enough to be of little hindrance, but the waves reared up to slap him in the face, usually just as he was taking a breath, making him splutter and cough. The troughs swallowed him, trying to pull him into the ocean's icy embrace, and wind-driven spray stung his eyes. He hoped nothing lurked in the dark water beneath him. Each swell was a hill to climb, fighting to stay afloat and propel himself forwards.
When he reached the rock, Tassin pulled Dena from him and hugged the shivering child while he crawled onto dry land. The donkeys had been unable to haul themselves from the water due to the weight of the cart, which tugged at them as it surged in the swells. They clung to the island with flinty fore hooves, their hind legs braced against it underwater. The cart threatened to drag them away from the safety of the tiny island, yet they remained calm, fighting the waves.
Sabre surveyed the raging sea with a shudder. This was the worst Flux-reality world yet. Some distance away, he spied another rock, and something swam close to it. A shaggy Real-reality monster climbed onto the rock, roaring rage and defiance at the elements. Lucky it had not chosen their rock, he mused. A small, cold hand crept into his, and he looked down into Dena's salt-reddened eyes.
"Thank you, Sabre," she croaked.
He crouched and rubbed her hands, trying to share his warmth. "It's nothing, little one; you'd do the same for me."
"I would." She nodded solemnly.
Sabre pulled her onto his lap and hugged her, and she snuggled up to him with a smile. Tassin stomped her feet and rubbed her arms, striving to warm herself in the freezing wind and wishing Sabre's arms were big enough for two. Spray cascaded over the rocks as waves broke against them, hurling sheets of water onto her. Fortunately the donkeys had landed on the more gently sloping leeward side, so the huge waves did not batter them.
Tassin gave up flapping her arms and squatted with her back to the spray, hugging herself to try to preserve her warmth. The wind plucked at her clothes, slicing through the leather dress as if it was cotton. Sabre looked around and beckoned her over, and she noted as she approached him that the cyber's lights were normal once more. Dena was curled in his lap, but he put an arm around Tassin and drew her close. She smiled at him, meeting grey eyes that sparkled with humour.
"Don't get the wrong idea," he said.
She raised her brows. "Have I ever?"
He looked away with a soft laugh. "Of course not."
"Are you okay now?"
"Yeah. I fell asleep, huh?"
"I couldn't wake you up."
Sabre nodded, his eyes distant. "It was the spider venom. I'd have neutralised it eventually, but it was alien, like so much else around here. Lucky you didn't get bitten."
"Yes," Tassin agreed, leaning against him to soak up his warmth.
The monster on the other rock roared and howled, pacing its tiny island. It had seen them, and Sabre knew that when Flux-reality changed he would have to deal with it. For the moment it was loath to leave its haven and brave the frigid sea again, and he did not blame it. At this distance, he could see little except that it was brown, shaggy and spiny. He watched it while they waited for the next Change, trying to ignore Tassin's slender form huddled against him.
By the time the Change came, Sabre was dozing. The monster had fallen silent, probably hoarse from hours of roaring its rage and defiance at the odd world in which it lived. Tassin and Dena had fallen asleep, and, when the brown and green flickers appeared, he woke them. The Change washed over them, and a world of spiny succulents shimmered into being, hot and arid. The monster roused and gave vent to guttural roars, abandoning its boulder. The donkeys slid off the rock and turned to the prickly sustenance around them.
Certain that it would attack them, Sabre drew his laser and waited for the monster to put in an appearance. The growls turned to squeals of pain as the beast discovered the prickly nature of the new terrain. Tassin took Dena to the other side of the rock, clutching her laser. Sabre winced at the crashing in the thorns, wondering how even a monster could inflict such torment upon itself. The beast howled with pain and rage while it blundered through the spines towards them. The succulents in front of Sabre were smashed down, and the huge, shaggy creature appeared. Dagger-like claws tipped its paws, and black, shiny spines bristled in its pelt. Its maddened red eyes glared from a pushed-in face with too many whiskers. Sabre blew its head off. The corpse collapsed, dead before it hit the ground. Behind him, Tassin heaved a sigh.
They made camp and settled down to slake their thirst and hunger while Sabre surveyed the spiny barrier with resignation. It would take a lot of work to move in this terrain at all, since he would have to clear a path with the sword, and even then the thorns might penetrate their shoes. He watched in amazement as the donkeys chewed the plants, their delicate lips skilled at avoiding the thorns. Postponing the onerous chore of moving, Sabre sat on the rock and pondered the situation. If the Changes had been coming more quickly, he would have waited for a new Flux-reality and in the hope that it was a better one than this. It could not be much worse. With a sigh, he rose to his feet and hefted the sword, heading for the nearest thorny barrier.
"I wouldn't do that if I was you," a soft voice said behind him.
Sabre whirled, the sword ready. A cat-sized, black-masked creature regarded him from the rock, its yellow eyes twinkling with mischief.
"Purr!" Sabre and Tassin exclaimed in unison.
The mosscat gave a purring chuckle and preened his whiskers.
"Where did you come from?" Sabre asked, lowering his sword.
"I've been tracking you since you entered the Zone. You've been walking in such an erratic path I thought I'd never catch up with you."
"We're glad to see you, Purr. We need a guide." Tassin grinned.
Purr regarded her. "Oh, so you no longer suspect me?"
"No. You didn't lead us astray last time."
"How did you know we were back in the Zone?" Sabre enquired. "Did we pass close to you?"
"No. You forget, the Zone is my home. The moment you entered it, I knew you were here, and where. I just had to reach you before you fell prey to something, like those poisonous thorns you were about to plunge into. One scratch and you would have been dead. Change would not have saved you, since you're heading towards the Core, instead of across the Zone. It's too slow in coming."
Sabre glanced at the thorns with a shudder. "Thanks. How do you know?"
"I sense things like that."
"Lucky for us. Will you guide us again?"
"Why do you think I tracked you down? Of course I will, even with all the extra baggage." He eyed Dena and the donkey cart.
Sabre introduced him to the mutant girl, and the two regarded each other somewhat suspiciously.
Purr settled on the rock and groomed his belly fur. "So, friend Sabre, didn't you realise something was wrong when the Changes slowed?"
"I'm going in the right direction. We're going to the Core."
The mosscat looked up, his yellow eyes wide. "Are you crazy?"
"No. When we came out of the other side of the Zone, we found out what all those beasts that leave the Death Zone are doing outside. It's not a pretty story. I'm going to destroy the Zone."
Purr chuckled. "You are? How?"
"I'm not sure yet. I'll figure it out when I get there. At the moment, I haven't the foggiest idea what the Core is."
"You and everyone else." Purr tugged at a matted knot in his fur. "I don't know what it is either, but it's got to be pretty big and powerful to create all of this, don't you think?"
"Sure, but that doesn't mean it can't be destroyed."
"You'll never even get there." The mosscat teased a burr from his pelt and tossed it away. "Take some friendly advice, forget the Core and go home. I'll guide you."
Sabre shook his head. "I can't do that, I have to try. The Zone's getting bigger and more powerful all the time. The monsters are wreaking havoc outside. Soon they'll destroy everything, and the Zone will expand to swallow up the whole world."
Purr fluffed his fur. "But this is my world."
"I know, and I'm sorry, but you'll be welcome outside, you're not a monster like that." Sabre gestured to the slain shaggy beast. "I think you'll like it better outside, it's terribly predictable."
The mosscat sighed, shaking his head like an aged professor faced with a particularly dim student. "Maybe so, but you'll never be able to destroy the Core. I'll be leading you to your deaths, and probably mine too. But if, as you say, the Zone is swallowing the world, something must be done." He glanced at Tassin and Dena. "Although I hardly think this is a likely bunch to do it with. We need another five of you, Sabre, not a girl, a child, and a donkey cart."
Tassin scowled. "I'll have you know I'm not some helpless female, Purr, I'm a -"
"Warrior queen," Purr finished for her. "Is she still convinced of that?" he asked Sabre.
"She seems to be." Sabre grimaced. "I tried to talk her out of coming already, but she's determined."
"So I see." The mosscat clasped his chubby hands around his belly, staring into space. "It's a crazy idea. The likelihood of succeeding is nil, I would say. If the Zone's growing, it would seem to indicate that whatever is creating it is growing too, and therefore alive, not some ancient machine as I believed. If that's the case, then it's probably intelligent, or sentient, at least, which increases the danger too. Once it deduces your intent, the Core will strive to stop you, and it has many weapons."
Sabre considered this. "It's not necessarily alive; it could be a machine that's growing more powerful as it draws more energy from its surroundings. The ancients had machines that drew power from the air, wind or sun. Have you ever known it to do anything deliberate?"
"Well, it creates the creatures that live here, if that could be called intelligent."
"How does it create them?"
"I don't know." Purr looked thoughtful. "I have a vague memory of being near the Core, but it was a long time ago, and I moved away quickly. Being near the Core is very nasty."
"How so?" Tassin asked.
"Well, my memory of it is hazy, but it seemed that the Changes were very fast, very dangerous and disorientating. A mad whirl, really, and a tugging... pushing ... like wild magic... very wild."
"But you survived," Sabre pointed out.
"Yes, most of us do, I suppose, but we move away as fast as we can; we're pushed away. I think to approach the Core would be far more difficult."
Sabre glanced at Tassin, then back at the mosscat. "I guess we'll just have to try. If we don't, this world is doomed, or at least, the world outside is, and maybe this one too, since there's not enough food in the Zone to feed the monsters it creates. Once there's no more normal world outside, what will they do? Hunt each other? Starve?"
"They hunt each other now, though not with much zest, I must admit. Most leave, as you know," Purr said.
"Yeah. So you'll guide us?"
Purr blinked, gazing around while he considered. "It seems wrong for me to help you destroy my world. I should be trying to stop you, you know. The world outside means nothing to me; I've never seen it, never wanted to."
"It's nice, Purr," Tassin said. "It's like one of the nice Flux-realities; like the one where the monster was attacking the village, remember? Only it never changes, and once this place is destroyed, there will be no more monsters. You'll be safe all the time."
"It's like that? With trees and grass, and animals?"
She nodded. "Yes, and people, houses, castles, all sorts of wonderful things."
The mosscat twiddled his whiskers. "I guess it sounds better than this place. Anyway, I still don't think you'll be able to destroy the Core. I'll guide you as close as I can, and still be safe, after that you're on your own."
Sabre smiled. "It's a deal."
Purr picked up his striped tail and began to pull burrs from it. "In the meantime, have you got food? I'm starved."
On Purr's advice, they settled down to wait for the next Change. They discussed the Core, speculating on what it might be. Sabre questioned Purr about what he had seen when he had been close to it, but the mosscat's explanation was vague.
"You don't want to remember it, do you?" Sabre asked.
"Would you like to recall the details of your birth?"
The cyber winced. "Not particularly, no."
"And you intend to destroy the Core, my creator, one could say, my mother." The mosscat glared. "How would you like to aid the death of your creator?"
"I'd love to."
Purr hissed, and Tassin said, "Sabre was not born normally, Purr. He also has no parents.
Sabre studied the mosscat. "How do you even know about mothers and fathers, since you were created by the Core, which is certainly not a small fluffy creature like you? It didn't raise or nurture you. You don't even know what it is. How do you understand the word 'mother'?"
"I'm not sure. I seem to remember something..." Purr shook his head. "A very faint memory, of another like me... a burrow... a warm nest."
Tassin frowned. "How is that possible?"
"I don't know. It's not; it must have been a dream."
Sabre shook his head. "A creature who has no concept of such things couldn't dream about them. Is that all you can remember?"
The mosscat shrugged. "I have a vague memory of grass and trees, that's all."
"Whatever it is, you can't regard the Core as your mother any more than I can call my creator my mother. You can't love it, Purr. It doesn't deserve it. Evil spawned us, but at least we can put an end to this one. It brings these creatures into the world to suffer, and to inflict suffering on others, just like I was. It's got to be stopped."
Purr huffed. "I don't believe you can stop it, friend Sabre. I believe I'm leading you to your doom, yet I suspect that you'll go anyway. So my help makes no difference to the outcome, that's why I'll guide you. Whether you die at the Core or on the way there makes little difference, but I do enjoy your company."
Sabre glanced at Tassin. "If I fail, will you guide Tassin to safety? She insists on coming with me, but if I die, I hope she at least has the sense to leave, if she can."
"Sure. I'll guide her from the Zone if she wishes it."
Tassin glared at them with equal ferocity. "You're not going to fail, Sabre."
He shrugged and sighed. "Nothing's certain."
The mosscat looked sad, apparently as convinced that Sabre would fail as Tassin was that he would succeed.