Tassin climbed out of Kole’s sleek silver air-car and gazed at an imposing structure with sweeping white walls and tall panels of pink-tinted mirror glass. It towered over them, fifteen storeys high, and three multi-coloured flags flew from its uppermost floor. The building was just outside the city, surrounded by a sizeable parking lot. This was the Ministry of Defence, which owned five cybers, and the name was emblazoned above the double doors at its entrance in shiny, metre-high steel letters. Kole came to her side, studying a small flat silver device that he had explained was a sort of portable computer, which he used to store and access information.
Kole wore a smart dark grey jacket with paler grey cuffs and collar, a white shirt under it. Black jeans and boots completed his outfit. She had come to realise that he was quite a wealthy man, with an upmarket apartment, two expensive vehicles and an extensive wardrobe of top-quality clothes and accessories. His vehicles were parked in a garage next to his apartment, with direct access to the airways. Horwin had called him a hacker, and, when she had asked about it, Kole had explained that he broke into the computer systems of high-powered corporations and stole their information to sell to their competitors. He was the best on Ferrinon Four, he claimed, although he had been in trouble with the authorities several times and was now semi-retired.
Kole had parked close to the building, and she spotted two cybers standing outside the entrance. They wore black and silver uniforms, and stood in a typical guard stance, hands clasped behind their backs, legs slightly apart. Her mouth went dry and her heart pounded. The prospect of finding Sabre filled her with joy, but the thought of seeing him back under cyber control, and unable to free himself, weighed her heart with sorrow. Kole headed for the cybers, then paused to glance back. She gathered her courage and followed him, approaching the two warriors. They wore shiny black helmets, and tinted visors covered their eyes. Their brow bands, however, were exposed through slots in their helmets, as they must be, she knew, or the control unit would be blind.
Tassin stopped in front of the closest cyber and studied his brow band, but she knew in her heart it was not Sabre even before she failed to find the hairline crack in the crystals. Although his features were so familiar that they made her breath catch, the clone was younger, and had a small scar on his right cheek. The other one was a little older, but she knew he was not Sabre, either, and the lack of a crack in his brow band confirmed it. She turned to Kole and shook her head. He walked up to the doors, which slid open ahead of him, admitting them into a bright, cool interior. Two more cybers stood at the bottom of a broad staircase, and she approached them to peer into their faces. They were both younger than Sabre, and she shook her head at Kole. He sighed and ascended the staircase. They found the fifth cyber standing outside an office, apparently of a high-ranking official, and again, he was a stranger. Tassin turned away, and Kole led the way back to the car. She wondered if the cybers stood at their posts all day, unmoving, save perhaps when they had to relieve themselves or eat. It seemed cruel.
The next stop was the hire company, deep in the city centre on the ground floor of a towering skyscraper, as Kole called them. It had a flashing sign outside, and they had to walk from a parking lot down the street. A beeping announced their arrival when the door slid open ahead of them, and a pimply young man with pink hair, clad in a shiny shirt, popped up from behind the counter. Tassin did not want to know what he had been doing before they walked in. He smiled and smoothed his hair.
“How can I help you?” he enquired.
“We’re looking for a cyber,” Kole said.
“Ah, well, you’ve come to the right place. We have just what you’re looking for. There he is.” The youth gestured to his right, and only then did Tassin notice the motionless cyber who stood beside the far wall. He was clad in a grey vest and matching trousers, standard cyber issue and exactly what Sabre had been wearing when she had met him. His webbing was full of grenades and power packs, and a laser-grenade launcher combo was clamped around his right wrist. Once again, her throat closed with sorrow and her heart ached as she approached him. He stared over her head, and, if not for his imperceptible breaths, he might have been a statue. A glance at his face told her he was a stranger, and she turned to shake her head at Kole. He asked the youth if they could see the other cybers, which seemed to puzzle the pimply boy. It must seem odd to him, Tassin mused, since one cyber was as good as another to these people. They probably could not even tell them apart, but she could.
The shop boy showed them two cybers in the back room, packed in caskets, and Tassin swung away after studying them for only a moment. As they made their way back through the front of the shop, she turned to the youth.
“Can’t you let him sit down, at least?”
He gawked at her. “Huh? Who?”
“The cyber.” She gestured to the motionless man.
“Him? Why?”
“How would you like to be forced to stand there all day?”
“Uh, he’s a cyber, Miss. That’s kind of what they do, ye’know. Sometimes we make him do a fighting stance, though.” He turned to the cyber. “Hey, Cyber Seven, fighting stance!”
The cyber dropped into a semi crouch, raising his right arm, his left cocked. The youth grinned. “See? Neat, huh?”
Tassin glared at the boy, sickened. “He’s a human being, not a damned machine.”
“No he isn’t, he’s a cyber.”
“He has feelings! He must be in agony standing still all day, and you shouldn’t make him do undignified things like that. It’s not right!”
The pink-haired youth goggled at her. “You’re nuts, lady.”
Kole gripped her arm. “Hey, cool it. You’re wasting your breath. Come one, let’s go.”
Tassin allowed him to tug her away, knowing that berating the youth was pointless. Kole headed for the door, and they left the shop to return to the air-car. The more she saw of this so-called modern society and its cruelties, the less she liked it. The thought that such cruelties, or worse, were being perpetrated on Sabre, and had been for the past three years, horrified her. They inspected the two cybers at the large corporation, then returned to Kole’s apartment. He had given her his spare room to sleep in, a pleasant, airy space with huge windows overlooking the city and the comfiest bed she had ever slept in. She had discovered the joy of a hot shower and scented soap and lotions, and the delights of the sweet foods Kole served at mealtimes. He had explained computers and air-cars and many of the other strange mechanical devices the night before, and she understood most of it. The fact that she was no closer to finding Sabre, however, depressed her.
****
The following afternoon, Tassin disembarked from Kole’s air-car for what seemed like the twentieth time, by now used to this form of high-speed transport. They were in a rundown part of the city, where old warehouses with peeling paint predominated, surrounded by parking lots, some stacked with old boxes and containers. Kole had taken a picture of the sword in its crystal form and posted it for sale online, explaining how it all worked. So far, she had received only one low offer for it, which he had advised her to ignore. Today, he wore black leather trousers and a natty black leather jacket over a scarlet silk shirt.
He glanced at the sign above the door of the warehouse in front of them. “This is the place. Bartam’s Import and Export. Probably a smuggler. He’s got two cybers.”
Tassin sighed. Over the past two days they had inspected fifteen cybers, and this was the fourth place they had visited that day. She wondered if Sabre was in the city at all, and the prospect of searching the entire planet was unappealing, to say the least. She would never give up, but seeing so many men who looked so like Sabre, but were not him, was disheartening. They had all stared through her with unfocussed eyes, and none of them had looked exactly like him. Some had had scars or tattoos or disfigurements, one had had a milky eye and another had been missing an ear. All the privately owned ones had been battle scarred, even the ones who were younger than Sabre. She dreaded that when she found him, he would be horribly mutilated. Kole headed for the door, then paused and glanced back.
“Coming?”
Tassin nodded and followed him into a dim, cavernous interior whose farthest reaches were hidden by piles of crates and boxes. Just inside and to the right of the door, a muscular man sat behind an untidy desk in a tatty office with a glass door and big windows, which a flickering light illuminated. Swirling, abstract tattoos decorated his bald scalp and a scar pulled the edge of his left eye down. He wore a grimy sleeveless black leather jacket and tough brown trousers, a laser strapped to his thigh. Kole shot her a meaningful glance, and she knew what he was thinking. Such a disreputable looking man might be dangerous. He munched a sandwich, and looked up with a scowl as she and Kole approached.
“We’re closed,” he said.
“You must be Bartam?” Kole asked.
“Nah, he’s away. I’m Vorn.”
“We’re not actually here to buy any goods. We want to see your cybers.”
“What for?”
Kole cleared his throat and glanced at Tassin. “Well, we’re looking for a particular unit, which has sentimental value to the lady. We’ll pay top price.”
“They’re not for sale. Anyway, they’re away.”
“When are they due back?”
“They’re not for sale.”
Kole leant closer. “Like I said, if one of them is the one we’re looking for, we’ll pay whatever you ask. Price is no problem.”
“Like I said, they’re not for sale, and they’re not here.”
“We’ll wait, then.”
“What part of ‘they’re not for sale’ don’t you get?”
“The part where you said ‘at any price’,” Kole replied.
Vorn, whom Tassin was now convinced was a smuggler, grunted and returned his attention to his sandwich. “Why would you want a beat up second-hand cyber when you can afford to buy a new one?”
“The lady’s attached, like I said.”
Tassin gazed through the windows into the warehouse while they argued, content to let Kole fight the battle. She was tired. Every time she inspected another strange cyber, her heart sank a little more and despair took a firmer hold of it. Leaving the office, she headed back out of the front doors and paused, then went around the side of the warehouse, drawn by the sound of voices.
Tassin rounded the corner and stopped. A shuttle had just landed about fifty metres away, and four men climbed out of it. Two of them were cybers, and her eyes were drawn to one as he slung a laser rifle over his shoulder, turning his head to scan his surroundings. Her breath stopped and her heart hammered with a strange mixture of joy and anguish. She swallowed the lump that threatened to choke her and walked closer on shaking legs. He was a little thinner than she remembered and his hair was shorn to stubble, but she did not need to see the scars from his battle with the Core or the crack in his brow band. Vorn and Kole rounded the corner of the building behind her, and Kole trotted to catch up with her.
“Hey, what are you doing? You’re making these guys nervous, and that’s not a good idea.”
“It’s him.”
“Who?”
The cyber turned his head towards Tassin as she approached. He wore standard issue grey combat clothes, a holstered laser strapped to each thigh, power packs and grenades in his webbing. Two black-edged holes in his vest seeped blood. Her heart ached as she stopped in front of him and gazed up at his face. He stared over her head with pale grey eyes, and she studied his lean visage with its sculpted lines, level brows, narrow nose and sensitive mouth. Sweat and dirt made his dark blond hair spikey. Somehow, he was unique in a way only her heart seemed to know.
“Sabre,” she whispered, and several lights on his brow band flashed.
“This is him?” Kole stopped beside her, eyeing the cyber.
“Yes.” She nodded jerkily, raising a hand to her mouth as it twisted with grief and her eyes overflowed.
“How do you know?”
She took a deep breath and blinked, brushing away the tears that escaped down her cheeks. “I just do. It’s Sabre.”
He glanced back. “Okay, well I don’t know how happy these guys are with us right now. They’re definitely smugglers, and we’re butting into their operation big time.”
“We just want to buy a cyber.”
“Like he said, they’re not for sale.”
“Everything’s for sale at the right price.”
“Let’s hope so.”
She stepped closer and reached out, longing to touch him.
Sabre said, “You are not authorised to approach.”
Tassin’s throat closed again at the sound of his soft, husky voice, and she gulped.
Kole gripped her arm and pulled her away. “Are you nuts? You can’t go around patting cybers. They’re not pets, they’re dangerous. Come away.”
Tassin let him lead her away, looking around for the bald man, who was deep in a discussion with the two newcomers. One stepped away from the huddle and turned to the shuttle to shout, “Cybers! Offload!”
Sabre entered the craft and re-emerged a minute later with a box and headed for the warehouse. The other cyber did the same, and Tassin followed them towards the group of smugglers, Kole beside her. Vorn turned to them as they approached.
Kole gave him a cheerful nod. “Well, we found the one we want.”
“Have you now?”
“Yes; the one with the two wounds on his chest. Name your price.”
Tassin gazed past them at the doorway through which Sabre had vanished, wishing he would come back. The other cyber strode out and went back to the shuttle to fetch another box. Faint scrapes and thuds came from the warehouse’s gloomy depths, as if Sabre packed crates or moved boxes, and she was drawn to the sounds. She needed to see him again, desperately, to assure herself that he was not just a dream of a figment of her imagination. Having found him after all this time, she could not bear to let him out of her sight for another moment. She headed for the door.
Behind her, the Vorn said, “Hey, you can’t go in there.”
Tassin walked down one of the untidy aisles between the crates. Towards the back of the building the illumination increased, overhead lights casting a harsh glare. As she rounded a stack of crates, her breath caught. Sabre moved a pile of boxes from one side of the warehouse to the other, his golden skin gleaming in the lights. Her vision blurred as fresh tears seeped into her eyes. Swallowing hard, she stopped a pace away and gazed at him, her heart aching with profound joy. She had found him. It seemed as if she had dreamt of this day for an eternity, perhaps because she had spent so much time lost in impossible imaginings that she had not thought would come true. Now he was right there, within reach, and she longed to touch him.
The cyber crossed the warehouse, picked up another crate and carried it over to the stack beside her, placing it on top of the previous one. She reached out, her hand brushing his arm as he swung away.
Tassin had known it would be difficult seeing him returned to cyber control, but this was far worse than she had imagined. His face was so familiar, so dear, yet blank and uncaring. A strange mixture of elation and grief tore her heart, and she scrubbed the tears from her face as footsteps approached from the direction of the door. She turned to face Vorn as he marched up, quailing a little at his thunderous expression.
“You’re not allowed to be here,” he said.
Tassin followed him back to his ratty office, where Kole waited, looking worried. Vorn returned to his seat and picked up his cup of coffee, slurping it.
“That’s the cyber I want. We will buy him,” she said.
The smuggler raked her with hard brown eyes, snorted and pushed a button on a device on his desk. “Cyber One, come to the office.” His voice boomed around the warehouse.
After a minute, Sabre appeared in the aisle between the stacks of crates, striding towards them with his lithe, graceful gait. He entered the office and stopped in front of the desk, assuming a guard stance, hands clasped behind his back, legs slightly apart.
Vorn jerked his chin at him. “You sure this is the one you want?”
“Yes.” Tassin gazed at Sabre, wanting to hug him, but acutely aware of Kole and Vorn watching her. “How was he injured?”
“Tassin…” Kole’s voice held a tinge of concern and warning.
Vorn sat back. “Well, now, that’s none of your business, is it?”
“No, absolutely not,” Kole agreed. “So, name your price.”
The smuggler looked disgruntled. “I really don’t want to sell him. I need him.”
“He’s not a common labourer,” Tassin said, “he’s a –”
Kole gripped her elbow. “Hey, cool it. We all know what he is.” He faced the smuggler again. “Look, you can buy a new one with what you get for him. He’s a bit banged up, like you said, and an older model. Surely you’d prefer a new one?”
A tense few seconds ticked past in silence, then Vorn shrugged. “Fine. Seven hundred thousand credits.”
“That’s what a new one costs,” Kole protested.
“So that’s what I need if I’m going to get a new one, isn’t it? You said price was no problem. That’s the price. Take it or leave it.”
“We’ll take it,” Tassin said.
“Yuh.” Kole looked unhappy. “We’ll come back in a few days with the money.”
“No!” She turned to him. “We have to take him now. He’s being abused!”
“Tassin…” Kole drew her aside and lowered his voice. “You don’t have any money. You have to sell the sword first.”
“We’ve only been offered five hundred thousand for the sword, it’s not enough!”
“You’ll get better offers.”
“I can’t wait. Look at him. He could be dead before we get that much money.”
“Oh, I doubt that.”
“Can’t you pay for him now, and I’ll pay you back when I sell the sword?”
Kole pulled a face. “That’s a hell of a lot of money.”
“The sword’s worth that much, isn’t it?”
“Sure, it’s worth much more than that.”
“I’ll give it to you, then you can sell it. You’ll make a profit.”
He shook his head. “No, that’s nuts.” He hesitated, shooting Vorn a quick glance. “Look, a few days won’t make a difference. He’ll be fine.”
“He’s not fine! Look at him. I can’t leave him here. Please, Kole!”
He raised his hands. “Okay, okay. You can pay me back.”
“Thank you.”
Kole returned to the desk and pulled his silver device from his pocket. “All right, let’s do the deal. Seven hundred thousand credits.”
The smuggler opened a drawer and took out a small black instrument that Tassin recognised, and a transparent sheet covered with writing. Kole fiddled with his device, and Vorn switched on the computer screen on his desk, typing something on the keyboard.
“I’m ready to transfer,” Kole said.
Vorn picked up the transparent sheet and squinted at it. “What’s the new owner’s name?”
Kole said, “Tassin Alrade.”
"Cyber XCA-6352-JY9019, command input, authorisation password, moonlight. Initiate transfer protocol."
"Password accepted. Transfer protocol initiated," Sabre said. "Proceed."
"New owner's name is Tassin Alrade, transfer codes are..." The smuggler peered at the sheet. "Midnight, enigma, velocity, image, brigand, starburn."
"Codes valid, transfer accepted. Proceed with voice imprint."
Kole and Vorn looked at Tassin, whose mind had gone blank. “Err… It’s a sunny day?”
"Voice imprint successful,” Sabre said. “Transfer complete."
Kole fiddled with his device. “Funds transferred.”
The smuggler frowned at the computer screen as a couple of seconds ticked past. “Funds received. Congratulations, you just bought yourself a banged up second-hand cyber for the price of a new one.” He smiled, holding out the transparent sheet.
Kole took it. “Yeah, great. Good doing business with you.”
Tucking the code sheet away, he headed for the door, and Tassin followed, shooting Vorn a parting glare. The man rocked back in his chair, looking smug.
Outside, they climbed into the air-car, the cyber taking the back seat. As Kole guided the vehicle into the air, she turned to gaze at Sabre, her heart aching with profound joy. She had done it, just as she had promised. She wondered if Sabre knew she had rescued him. There was no way to know, but she hoped he did. She knew he could hear her, for he had told her so. What had Myon Two done to him? How had they repaired the control unit? She remembered Sabre’s assertion that, even if she found him, she would not be able to free him from it again. There had to be a way, though, and she would find it. She refused to accept that he was right, in this instance.
She turned to Kole. “Can you… hack… a control unit?”
He shot her a disbelieving glance. “Now you’re really asking the impossible.”
“You said finding him was impossible, and getting here from Omega Five the way I did. But I’ve done both those things.”
“Well then, you’d better hack his control unit, too, because I can’t.”
“I thought you were a good hacker?”
“I am,” he said. “The best on Ferrinon, and possibly in the universe, but no one can hack a cyber.”
“Why not?”
“That’s a combat machine, Tassin. Do you really think he’d be much good if it was easy to hack him? People would be hacking and stealing cybers left, right and centre. There’d be a thriving black market in hacked cybers. But guess what? There isn’t. You want to know why? Because you can’t hack a bloody cyber.”
“So you know it’s supposed to be impossible, but you don’t know why it’s impossible?”
“I haven’t actually tried to hack one, no, but I do know why it’s impossible.” He guided the air-car around a tall glass building. “Apart from the impenetrable security codes, which, apparently, change every hour according to the time at Cybercorp, and consist of random numbers, if anyone tried to hack him, he’d defend himself. He has a cybernetic interface that will literally fry any computer you hook up to him. That thing on his head is the most sophisticated and powerful AI ever created, and it’s programmed to fight back.”
“Even against his owner?”
“Yeah, if his owner tries to hack him; it’s about the only thing an owner can’t do to a cyber. Also, you need the right equipment, because his unit can’t be accessed remotely, except by his override’s coded signal. That’s another security feature. You need a cable that fits into the brow band’s access port, and you can only get one from a cyber accessories store. Even so, they’re only meant for lower-level access, and you still couldn’t hack him unless you had the codes.”
Tassin turned to gaze at Sabre again, her joy spoilt by his blank gaze. It reminded her of the first time she had met him, when he had stepped out of his casket and stared through her as if she did not exist, like now. The warehouse where they had found him was far from Kole’s apartment, and it took almost an hour to reach it.
By the time they arrived, she was fuming with impatience, longing to be alone with Sabre and tend to his injuries. As soon as Kole parked the car, she climbed out and headed for her room, Sabre following. She closed the door and turned to him, taking his hand. She longed to embrace him, but shyness and decorum, as well as the wounds on his chest, prevented her.
“I found you.” Her throat tightened again, and she swallowed hard. “I almost gave up hope, Sabre. You hid the damned sword! Why did you hide the sword? I needed it to get here. It was the only way I could, and you hid it. It took me three years to find it!” She scanned his face for some sign that he had heard her, gripping his hand in both of hers. “Show me you can hear me. Squeeze my hand. Sabre? Please, give me a sign.”
His hand gripped hers, and her heart leapt, then sank again as she scanned his impassive features. “That wasn’t you, was it?”
“Question not understood.”
She blinked and lowered her gaze to the laser burns on his chest. “All right, let’s get you fixed up first. Remove your harness and vest.”
The cyber unclipped and stripped off the webbing and dropped it on the bed, then removed his vest. “How did you get these injuries?” she asked.
“Information about previous owners is classified.”
“Sit on the bed.”
He obeyed, and she fetched a bowl of water and soft clean washcloth from the bathroom, sat beside him and dabbed at the injuries, chewing her lip.
Sabre turned his head towards her. “This unit requires cleaning prior to medical attention.”
She lowered the cloth, realising that he was right. Dust filmed him, and dried sweat made runnels in it. Whatever he had been used for before she had rescued him must have been extremely taxing and dangerous. “Use the shower.”
Tassin sat on the bed and listened to the water run, thinking about what had happened so far and what still lay ahead. What if he was right about her not being able to free him again? What if he remained as he was for the rest of his life? Would she be able to bear it? Finding him had seemed like an impossible dream until she had found the sword, but then it had come true quite quickly and without too much mishap. The sword had made it possible to buy him as well, so she owed everything to it, but certainly it could not free him. Kole could not help her in that endeavour either, so she was on her own, but she had no clue how to go about it. If Myon Two had repaired the damage to the brow band, it might well be impossible. Then all she could do was take him back to Omega Five and give him a good life, as much as she was able. Certainly it would be better than the one he had had with the smugglers. Then there was the problem of how to get home without the sword, once she sold it to repay Kole. There had to be a way of freeing Sabre, though, and she had to find it. If only she knew what Myon Two had done to repair his control unit.
The hiss of running water stopped, and a minute later Sabre emerged, clad in his shorts, towelling his hair. She patted the bed beside her.
“Come and sit, so I can tend to your wounds.”
He settled beside her, and she dug the tube of antiseptic cream out of his medical kit and smeared it on the burns, then stuck dressings on them while he stared into space. Remembering his painkillers, she shook two onto her palm and ordered him to take them, then gazed at him.
“I know you can hear me,” she said. “It’s safe to free yourself now. I found you, just as I promised. Come on. Sabre? Free yourself.”
“Order not understood.”
She leant closer and stroked his cheek, tracing the tiny white scar that ran along it, a legacy of the brutal operations he had undergone to implant metal on his bones. “What did they do to you? Sabre… I’m going to free you. Do you hear me? I will free you. Just show me you can hear me.”
“Order not understood.” The cyber stared into the middle distance for several seconds, then his eyes closed in a slow blink.
Tassin’s heart pounded, and she smiled through her tears. “You heard me. I know you did. Can you free yourself? Will you at least try? Please?”
Several more seconds passed, a longer interval than the first one, and she wondered if he was trying or just thinking, or if he was listening to her at all. Now she wished she had paid more attention when he had explained what he could do and sense while under cyber control. She was sure he could hear, and see, but not focus, and he could not move at all, except, apparently, he could make that slow, almost seductive blink. He did it again, and a mixture of joy and anguish swamped her.
“Tell me how to fix you, Sabre.”
“This unit is operational. Bio status: seventy-nine per cent.”
“Oh, shut up, I’m not talking to you.” Tassin sighed and lay down, patting the covers beside her. “Lie down, Sabre.”
The cyber obeyed, and she pulled his arm away and cuddled up to him, rested her head on his shoulder and held him tight with a bittersweet mixture of bliss at being close to him again at last, and sorrow that he was unable to respond. Now that she owned the cyber – she refused to think of it as owning Sabre – it would do anything she ordered, but that thought only added to her sadness. She raised herself on her elbow and leant over him to kiss his cheek.
“I hope you don’t mind this. I missed you so much. I’m going to find a way to free you.”
Tassin gazed at him until his eyes closed in a slow blink that she took to be agreement, or at least acknowledgement, then lay down again with a sigh and hugged him.