Tassin gazed around at the bio dome on the Drellin Moon, wondering how anyone in their right mind would want to live there. Then again, no one said this Trevare character was sane. Even Kole had his foibles. Striker stood behind them in the hangar section of the bio dome, fortunately small enough to fit in the gargantuan hangar. Disembarking had taken a few minutes, and Kole had explained that they had to wait for air to cycle in before he could open the ship’s outer door, then he had led the way outside. Sabre stood behind her as usual, staring into the distance. Beyond the semi-transparent dome, a harsh, cratered grey lunar surface stretched away to the horizon. The faint haze of a slight atmosphere coloured the sky a dull grey, but she doubted it was breathable, hence the bio dome. A few plants grew in pots beyond the translucent wall ahead of them, where corridors stretched away. The shadowy forms of several people approached the wall, and the door in it opened.
A tall, thin man with a bland face and a shock of red hair, who looked about Kole’s age, led in a trio that comprised two women and a short, stocky man. They all wore dark blue one-piece suits with red emblems on the chests, and the tall man approached, grinning at Kole.
“Kole! You old bugger! It’s good to see you!”
The hacker stuck out his hand. “Trevare old pal, glad you could accommodate me.”
“What are buds for, hey?” Trevare wrung Kole’s hand and slapped him on the back, then glanced at Tassin, his brown eyes twinkling. “And you brought company!”
“Yeah, this is Tassin.” Kole said. “She’s in a bit of a bind, too.”
“Same bind as you, huh?” Trevare shook her hand, his grip firm. He gestured to the trio behind him. “These are Ellis, Mag and Botham.”
The two pretty young women had brown hair, green eyes and sharp features, and might have been sisters. The young man was rather rotund, with dark hair and blue eyes in a refined face that would have been handsome if not for the excess weight. Everyone shook hands with everyone else, and then Trevare led the way into the corridor beyond the hangar, which took them into a sizeable atrium filled with plants, birds and insects, where a curvy wrought iron table and six chairs stood. The girls went off to fetch refreshments, and the rest of the little party settled on the chairs. Trevare eyed Sabre, who took up a guard stance behind Tassin.
“So, you have a cyber. For protection?” he asked Tassin.
“No. I’m going to free him.”
Trevare snorted. “Wow. That’s quite an ambition.”
She glanced up at the cyber. “Sabre, sit down.”
He settled in the chair beside hers, his back ramrod straight.
Trevare turned to Kole. “So, who have you pissed off this time?”
“Cybercorp.”
“No way!” Trevare laughed. “How the hell did you do that? You didn’t hack them, did you?”
“Nah, I’m not an idiot. Tassin’s in trouble with them, and she was staying at my apartment. Now I’m in the poo too.”
“So for once you didn’t cause the shit. Can’t say I blame you, though.” He chuckled and looked at Tassin. “How did you manage to piss off Myon Two?”
Tassin explained her suspicions about Manutim, and Sabre’s past.
Trevare leant forward, clearly intrigued. “So he was free before?”
“Yes. But now he’s been back to Myon Two for repairs and he doesn’t seem to be able to free himself anymore.”
Trevare looked disappointed, and sat back as the girls returned with two trays, one laden with bright drinks, the other covered with plates of finger food. They handed out the drinks, offered everyone the finger food and sat down. One had to go and fetch another chair. After checking that it was non-alcoholic, Tassin gave Sabre a glass of the juice and a plate of sandwiches.
Trevare turned to Kole. “So what do you need?”
“Just access to the Net so I can set up a new alias and transfer my funds.”
“No problem! Wait till you see my setup, you’ll be green with envy.”
Kole smiled. “You’ve never seen mine.”
Tassin sipped her fruity drink and listened to the two hackers chat, not understanding most of talk about computers and systems, data storage and other strange stuff. The girls soon grew bored and wandered off, and the plump young man listened to Kole and Trevare raptly. Evidently he was an apprentice or something, learning from a master, hence his subservient attitude and close attention to his mentor’s words. Tassin yawned and glanced around, her eyes drooping after the excitement of the chase on Ferrinon Four and the seven-hour trip.
“Tassin!” Trevare said, making her jump. “Sorry, you must be bored stiff listening to us ramble on about technical shit. Botham, show her to a guest room. We dine at eight. Botham will show you the dining room. We’re very informal around here.”
Tassin smiled and thanked him, following Botham to a comfortable room furnished with a largish bed, two plain brown chairs and a bedside table with a lamp on it. A bathroom led off it, and she showered, wishing she had clean clothes. When she emerged, wrapped in a towel, Sabre stood in a guard stance beside the bathroom door, his eyes closed. He opened them when she passed him, but he probably needed to sleep, she guessed, only the cyber would not let him. She cursed her thoughtlessness in forgetting that the cyber would force him to stand guard unless she ordered him to relax. The sword lay on the bed, and she pushed it under it, out of sight.
“Sabre, you are off duty. Go and shower.”
The cyber vanished into the bathroom, and soon the hiss of running water came from it. Tassin sat on the bed and brushed her hair, drying it. Ten minutes later, he emerged clad only in his shorts, his clothes draped over his arm, and proceeded to hang them up on the chair backs. They appeared to be clean and damp, and she asked him how he had washed them.
“There is an auto washer in the bathroom.”
“Show me.” She picked up her clothes and went into the bathroom. Sabre followed and indicated a white, metre-square device on the wall that she had assumed was a water heater. He opened the door and took her clothes from her, hanging them up inside, then turned a dial and pushed a button. The auto washer hummed, and she turned to find herself nose to chin with him. He stared over her head, and she gripped the brow band and pulled his head down.
“Look at me,” she said. “I know you can hear me.”
Sabre closed his eyes in a slow blink, and when he opened them again, they were focussed on her face. She gasped, and her heart pounded. Several of the brow band’s lights flickered red, then turned green again, and his eyes glazed. Only some of her joy ebbed away, however. It proved he could hear her and was able to respond, even if only for a split second. She took his hand and led him back into the bedroom. Sitting on the bed, she patted the covers beside her, and he sat down. Tassin leant closer, trying to gaze into his eyes, but they stared through her.
“Sabre. I want you to try to get free. You hear me? You can get free. You did it before and you can do it again. I crossed the void to find you, just as I promised, and now you need to free yourself. I never gave up, and you must not, either. Free yourself! I know you can do it. Try!”
As she spoke, it seemed to her that the awareness in his eyes increased, as if he could hear her calling from far away and sought to swim up from the bottom of a dark pool. She stroked his cheek, hoping her touch would help to stimulate his imprisoned psyche.
“Come on, Sabre, please try,” she said.
“Order not understood.”
Tassin’s breath caught as several of the brow band’s lights turned red, including the seventh control light, which flashed. A few seconds later, the sixth control light flashed, then turned red, and she chewed her lip. The fifth control light flashed red, then turned green again, and her heart sank. The control unit was fighting back. The fifth control light flashed and turned red. Sabre’s brows drew together and his hands snapped up to grip the brow band. She recoiled as his spine arched and he keeled over backwards. He slid to the floor, his lips drawn back in a grimace of pain and his eyes screwed shut. He hauled on the brow band, his fingers whitening under the strain. Muscles bulged on his chest and arms, and his breath came in harsh gasps. He rolled sideways as his back arched again, his face twisted.
Tassin’s heart hammered with excitement and anguish. Sabre groaned, a sound of intense pain that made tears flood her eyes, and she stood up and stepped back as he writhed, his brows knotted and teeth gritted, muscles writhing in his jaw as he struggled against the micro-supercomputer in the brow band. The sixth control light, which his hands did not hide, turned red and flashed. Then Sabre convulsed once more as all seven control lights flashed three times in unison and turned green. He slumped, releasing the cyber band. The rest of the brow band had regained its normal configuration. His eyes opened, unfocussed, and he sat up.
She shook her head in numb disbelief. “No… Sabre… God, what have they done to you? Damn them!”
Tassin bowed her head, brushing away the tears that trickled down her face. Myon Two had done something that made it impossible for him to get free, just as he had said they would.
****
Kole’s smile faded at her expression when she entered Trevare’s computer room the next morning, and he looked concerned.
“What’s happened?”
“Myon Two has done something to Sabre. He can no longer get free of the cyber.”
His eyes flicked past her to the cyber who had followed her in. “He tried?”
“Yes, last night, but that damned… thing stopped him. It shocked him into submission or something. He had a seizure.”
Trevare swivelled his chair to face her. “If he could free himself before, and went back to Myon Two for repairs, you can be quite sure they fixed him so he can never get free again. A free cyber is, like, their biggest fear. In the early days, their detractors used to say it would happen one day. A cyber would get free and go on a killing spree. So if your guy could get free…”
“He could, but now he can’t. I have to find a way to fix it.”
“Have you tried asking him?”
“He can’t tell me when he can’t get free.”
Trevare nodded. “No, I don’t mean the host, I mean the control unit.”
“I’m sure it will be classified, like every other aspect of cyber design.”
“But it’s not part of cyber design, is it? It was a repair, and, as the new owner, surely you have a right to know the maintenance history of your unit?”
Tassin glanced around at Sabre. “I don’t know.”
“What harm can it do to try?”
“None, I guess. What do I say?”
“Just ask him. The AI is designed to be extremely user friendly.”
“I bet it’s a software patch,” Kole murmured. “The brow band is a sealed unit. There’s no way they could have repaired the hardware.”
Trevare smiled at him. “I agree.”
“Sabre, come here,” she said.
The cyber approached and stopped before her, assuming a guard stance. Trevare pushed a spare chair over to her, and she sank onto it, gazing up at Sabre.
“Cyber, have you ever been repaired?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“When? What was done?”
The brow band flashed. “Three years ago, this unit experienced a malfunction in the host control interface.”
“How was it repaired?”
“A software patch was installed.”
“Software patch!” Trevare and Kole said in unison, and Kole reached over to bang his fist against Trevare’s in some sort of congratulatory ritual, she assumed.
“How does that help?” she asked.
“Well, it’s more than we knew five minutes ago. Ask him if it can be uninstalled.”
Tassin looked up at Sabre again. “Cyber, can the software patch be removed?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“A Myon Two control unit technician can uninstall it.”
She frowned. “I order you to remove it.”
“Unable to comply.”
“Why not?”
“Erasure of the software patch is forbidden. It requires high-level access codes.”
She slumped, turning back to Trevare and Kole. “So what do I do now?”
“The only people who have that kind of access are cyber techs,” Kole said.
“Then I need to find a cyber tech and make him remove this software patch.”
Kole shook his head. “Impossible. I think they swear an oath or something.”
Trevare glanced at him. “He might if you held a laser to his head.”
Tassin nodded. “The tech on Ferrinon did.”
“He was just a low-level host repair tech. I don’t think a repair tech could fix a control unit problem,” Kole said.
“Then we need to find a high-level control unit tech.”
“Easier said than done; the security on Myon Two is airtight.”
“But there’s a world they go to on holiday,” Trevare said. “It’s called Dojan Five, in the same solar system as Myon Two. There’s way less security there. If you grab a senior tech, he’ll be able to remove the patch, I reckon. Look, usually it’s impossible even for a tech to disable a cyber, because the control unit is hardwired into the host brain and it can’t be reprogrammed to release him. The core programming must be inaccessible, even with high-level codes, or someone would have done it by now. It might be possible for a control unit tech to modify it and maybe even erase parts of it, but not the actual interface, which gives the control unit domination over the host brain. People have tried to free cyber hosts before, and it’s never worked. But this guy’s hardware was damaged, right? That’s why the unit lost control of him. So if you remove the patch they uploaded to fix the problem, he should be free again.”
Kole inclined his head, looking thoughtful. “It’s certainly a scenario that’s never happened before, because the control unit is impossible to break without killing the host – or at least, everyone thought it was impossible until now. This was one hell of a freak accident. Maybe his control unit was always flawed, and that’s why it broke.”
“Maybe,” Trevare said. “It doesn’t matter, though; the point is, he can be freed, and, unless the tech you grab knows why the patch was installed, he’ll probably remove it to save his skin. He’ll think removing it would just make the cyber malfunction.”
“Which could make him dangerous,” Kole pointed out.
“True, but that’s what the override is for, although there’s never been a case where a cyber has become dangerous because of a malfunction – in fact, I’ve never heard of a cyber malfunctioning, come to think of it. The override is primarily used for transfers, to ensure the new owner can’t use the cyber to kill the guy he just bought him from, or, if they do the transfer the other way, to kill the guy who just bought him. Either way, whoever doesn’t own the cyber before the funds are transferred has the override.”
“Yeah,” Kole nodded. “The only time I’ve heard of an override being used for anything else was when an owner flipped out and ordered his cyber to murder innocent civilians. Then enforcers were called in to arrest the guy and get his override, and they ended up killing him.”
“Well he’s fair game if he uses a cyber to commit mass murder,” Trevare remarked.
“Do enforcers have overrides that work on all cybers?” Tassin asked.
“God, no! That would make owning a cyber pointless, wouldn’t it? There’s no such thing as a general override. They’re always keyed to a particular brow band, and they can’t be hacked, either.”
“Hard coded,” Kole agreed.
“So you can’t hack something that’s hard coded?” she enquired.
“Well, you can,” Trevare said, leaning back and clasping his hands behind his head, “but what would be the point? No one knows what code overrides what cyber. So, let’s say you hack your own override – and only someone who owns a cyber has one – and you change the code. You don’t know whose cyber that code belongs to.”
“What about if you found out the code of your enemy’s cyber and changed your override’s code to disable his cyber?”
“How would you get his cyber’s code?”
“From his override?”
Trevare chuckled. “I suppose it’s possible, in theory, but anyone who doesn’t keep his override locked up in a super-secure place is an idiot. A lot of people give their override to the cyber it controls for safekeeping.”
“But if he malfunctions…”
“As I said, that’s never happened.”
“I heard an override will self-destruct if you try to tamper with it,” Kole said.
“That would make sense.” Trevare nodded. “That would eliminate any risk at all.”
“The guys at Myon Two have thought of everything, I reckon.”
“Couldn’t you capture the code, somehow?” Tassin asked. “I mean, if you had a receiver? Wouldn’t that tell you the code without tampering with the override?”
Trevare grinned. “She’s a smart girl, this one. Beauty and brains! I love it.” He sobered. “Again, in theory, that would work, but you’d need to know the frequency in order to get the code, and that’s highly classified. To find the frequency through trial and error would take… years, probably. There are a massive number of frequencies to search, and you’d have to change your receiver’s frequency by a micro-wavelength each time. And even if you found it, you’d still have the huge problem of getting your hands on the other guy’s override. Nah, no one’s ever tried it. If you want to kill a guy who owns a cyber, the best way is to get your own, or hire an assassin. I mean, even a guy who has cyber protection isn’t completely invulnerable.”
“Pretty close, though,” Kole remarked.
Tassin sighed. “This is all very interesting, but it’s not helping with my problem.”
“You only have one option, the way I see it,” Trevare said. “You’ve got to go to Dojan Five and kidnap a high-level control unit tech and make him remove the patch.”
She nodded. “That sounds like an excellent idea.”
“Sure, why not?” Kole looked a bit sour. “I’m deep in the shit with Myon Two now, anyway. Why not add kidnapping to the list?”
“I’d be really grateful,” Tassin said.
Trevare shot Kole an unreadable smile. “She’d be really grateful.”
“I heard.” The hacker turned to face his screen again. “I’ll see who’s on holiday right now.”
“How did your identity change go?” she asked.
“All done. Transferred my funds and even made a profit.” He typed on his keyboard. “Let’s see… Well, there’s one bigwig on Dojan right now. A guy called Previd Malatar. He’s a department head… Yup, head of control unit research. Maybe not ideal, because he’s such a bigwig he’ll be missed soon and searched for diligently, but there isn’t another contech going on holiday on Dojan for another month.”
“I can’t wait that long.”
“Yeah, didn’t think so. Still, we have a cyber, I guess, and that makes stuff like this so much easier.”
“We’re going to use Sabre to grab him?”
“That’s the idea. We might as well use him. We’re doing it for him, after all.”
She nodded. “I guess so. When can we go?”
“Not just yet. I want the furore to die down a bit, and besides, I still have stuff to do here.”
“Tomorrow?”
He shot her an amused look. “Maybe.”
“Please?”
“Pretty please with a cherry on top?”
“Two cherries.”
“How can I say no to that?”
She smiled. “I hope you won’t.”
“I wouldn’t,” Trevare said.
****
Tassin followed Kole out of the ship and onto the spaceport apron on the resort world of Dojan Five. Numerous shiny leisure craft were parked around the edge of the spaceport, and Striker did not look out of place amongst them, being an expensive leisure craft herself, although armed, unlike most of the others. Her armaments were well concealed, however. Sabre walked a pace behind Tassin, and they passed through the port without a problem, due to Kole’s new false identity. He hired an air-car, and they headed for the resort where the Myon Two department head, Previd Malatar, was staying. Tassin was glad she had found and befriended the hacker; she would have been lost without him. He was not quite so pleased with their association, due to the trouble it had caused him, she knew. She wondered why he continued to help her.
Kole parked the air-car outside a plush resort and they passed through a glamorous black marble foyer where a giant golden palm tree seemed to uphold the ceiling and uniformed employees tended to the needs of well-dressed guests. They crossed a massive, bright lounge full of tinkling water features, lush tropical plants and soft blue couches around low wooden coffee tables. They exited through sliding doors in a glass wall into the gardens at the back, where palm trees shaded loungers and waiters served drinks to the people who splashed in the pool and lay under the umbrellas around it. Kole had hacked into the hotel’s database, and, according to that, Previd was not currently in his room. The hacker had an image of him, which he had shown to Tassin. The technician was a short, wiry man with a receding hairline and a bulbous nose, and she gazed around in search of him as they wandered amongst the hotel’s patrons.
“There he is,” Kole muttered, pointing.
Tassin looked in the direction he indicated and spotted the scrawny executive sprawled on a lounger, shirtless, a bright blue drink in one hand. Kole led the way back to the hotel’s glass-walled rear entrance, which Previd would have to pass through to return to his room.
“Now we wait.”
About an hour later, Previd finished his drink, rose and donned a loud pink shirt, then headed for the hotel, and Tassin turned to the cyber.
“Cyber, when that man passes us, I want you to take him prisoner, and prevent him from making an outcry. Understand?”
His blank eyes stared through her. “Understood.”
Tassin chewed her lip as Previd approached. He smiled and winked at a couple of bikini-clad girls, who giggled. She tensed as the technician drew close to where she, Kole and Sabre stood. Kole pretended to read a brochure he had picked up off the reception desk earlier, and she hoped the three of them did not look too conspicuous, being fully dressed in a tropical leisure resort, with an armed cyber, to boot. As the senior technician was about to pass through the doors beside them, Sabre stepped forward. Previd gaped at him in the instant before the cyber pulled him into a throat hold, clamping a hand over his mouth. Previd mumbled and flailed, but Sabre dragged him to her side. Kole turned and led the way around the side of the hotel, since they could not pass through it while dragging the struggling Myon Two department head.
They piled into the air-car in the parking lot and the hacker guided it into a skyway, heading for the spaceport. Previd sat quietly beside Sabre, which, she assumed, meant he knew the futility of trying to fight. Most people did in this modern society, but Myon Two techs probably more than most. He did not look all that scared, though, which bothered her.
In the ship, Sabre pushed Previd onto a sofa in the lounge and Kole ordered Striker to take off.
The tech frowned at Tassin. “What do you want?”
“My cyber had a software patch installed three years ago. You’re going to remove it.”
Previd studied Sabre, who had assumed a guard stance beside her. “And if I don’t?”
“We start blowing bits off you.”
“I see. What does the patch do?”
“That’s none of your business. Just remove it.”
He shrugged. “All right, whatever you say. I’ll need his serial number to update his software.”
Tassin looked at Kole. Previd’s agreement seemed too easy, but then, perhaps he was just exceptionally cowardly. He still did not look all that scared, though, and she was unable to shake off her disquiet. She wished Sabre was able to tell her what to do. He would know the dangers of this plan, if any. “That doesn’t sound like a good idea.”
The hacker shook his head. “No, I don’t like it either. We don’t know what he’ll be able to do once you give him access. He could disable Sabre for all we know.”
“I can’t, I swear,” Previd said, “but I can’t update his software without his serial number.”
Kole held out his hand to Tassin. “Give me one of Sabre’s lasers.”
She drew one and gave it to him, and he stepped closer to press it to the side of Previd’s head. “Okay, let’s get something straight; if you don’t do what we want, or try to do anything to the cyber other than what we told you, your brains end up all over my nice clean bulkhead, which I’d hate to happen, so no funny business, got it?”
The technician raised his hands. “Okay. I’m not going to take on a cyber, am I?”
“Maybe you think you can mess with him, but I’m a programmer so I’ll know if you try anything, and then I blow you away. Do as you’re told, and we’ll let you go afterwards.”
“I’ll only do what you want, I swear. I don’t have a death wish.”
“Good.” Kole nodded at Tassin. “All right. Go ahead.”
“Where did you put that code sheet?” she asked.
“In the drawer in my cabin.”
“Just ask the cyber,” Previd said. “He’ll only tell his owner or someone with command privilege.”
“Right.” She turned to Sabre. “What’s your serial number?”
"This unit's serial number is XCA-6352-JY9019."
Previd winced as Kole jammed the laser harder against the side of his head. “Cyber XCA-6352-JY9019, initiate software update, authorisation code Myon Two ZZ416.”
“Code accepted. Authorisation for Senior Control Unit Technician and Department Head Previd Malatar. Access granted,” Sabre intoned.
“Enquiry: name of update patch installed three years ago.”
“Core update patch file name: MC201.”
Previd hesitated, frowning. Evidently something about what Sabre had said bothered him. “Erase core update file: MC201, control alpha priority one.”
“Erasure forbidden.”
"Override code, Myon Two, ZZ416. Erase, erase, erase," Previd said.
“Input security access code XZ384.”
“Code XZ384 security access PM499. Erase, erase, erase.”
"File erased."
Previd glanced up at Kole. “There, it’s done.”
The hacker frowned at Sabre, who stared into space.
“That’s it?” Tassin asked.
The tech nodded. “Yes.”
She studied Sabre. “How do we know you did the right thing?”
“Sounded right,” Kole said.
“I removed the patch,” Previd glanced up at Kole again. “So you don’t need to hold a laser to my head anymore.”
Kole lowered the weapon and looked at Tassin. “It doesn’t seem to have made a difference.”
“He has to free himself.” She turned to the cyber. “Sabre, you can free yourself now. Please try. The patch that prevented you is gone.”
Previd snorted and chuckled. “Free himself from the control unit? Are you from La-la-land? A cyber host can’t free himself.”
Tassin eyed the man. He looked smug, as if he had won the round, and she wondered why. Then again, perhaps it was just because he did not believe Sabre could free himself, in which case he was in for a nasty shock. She wished Sabre would try to get free, but he did not seem to have heard her. “I guess you weren’t around when Sabre was taken back to Myon Two three years ago, then.”
“I was at Cybercorp three years ago, and I’d remember something like that. One came in with a damaged control circuit, but there’s never been a cyber who got free.”
Tassin glanced at Sabre. “Maybe he didn’t reveal his ability.”
Kole nodded. “That would have been wise.”
“You two are complete morons,” Previd said. “Cyber, disable and disarm the male individual.”
Sabre strode towards Kole, whose eyes widened. He backed away, raising his hands. “Shit! Tassin, do something!”
As she opened her mouth, Sabre gripped Kole’s throat and his hands tightened. The hacker’s eyes rolled up, and the cyber took the laser from his lax hand as he folded over and went down. Tassin stared at him, stunned. Sabre returned the weapon to its holster, and she shook her head in horrified disbelief.
Previd rose to his feet, his expression triumphant. “You didn’t really think you could get away with this, did you?” He smirked. “I’ve never heard of such an idiotic plan. Of course, you weren’t to know that as soon as you gave me his serial number, you granted me full access. I’m a Myon Two technician. He obeys me now. Meddling with a cyber is illegal, you know. I need your cohort to fly the ship, since it’s an AI, but I don’t need you. Of course, I could order the cyber to hack it, but that’s Kole Arvan, isn’t it?”
She nodded, her mouth dry.
“I thought so. Several major corporations have bounties on his head, but they want him alive. So this little venture of yours will even make me a nice profit. Cyber, kill her.”
“No!” Her blood chilled as Sabre drew a laser and aimed it at her forehead. She stepped back, shaking her head. “Sabre… no… please.”
Previd scowled. “Kill her!”
The cyber’s finger tightened on the trigger, and his hand trembled. She gulped, glancing at the brow band. Several lights had turned red, including the seventh control light, which flashed.
“Sabre… please! Help me!”
Previd said, “I’ll have to do it myself then.” He reached for the laser in Sabre’s holster, but the cyber’s hand clamped over it, preventing him from drawing it. The sixth control light flashed and turned red. Sabre stood like a statue, and Previd’s scowl deepened. He yanked the big knife from the cyber’s webbing and turned to Tassin, who fled. He pursued her towards the bridge, but there was nowhere to run or hide. She turned to face him, and he grinned, feinting at her with the knife. She raised her hands and backed away.
“Sabre!”
The cyber lowered his arm and turned his head towards her, the brow band ablaze with red lights.
Tassin tripped and fell backwards with a grunt, banging her head on the floor. Stars danced in her eyes.
Previd giggled. “Actually, this is more fun.”
The technician straddled her and bent to slash at her face. Tassin shrieked and threw up her hands. The weapon sliced into her palm, making her snatch her hand away with a yelp of pain. Previd sniggered and tried again, but she imposed her hands, glanced around for a weapon and cursed the fact that she did not carry a laser. Then again, Previd would have just ordered the cyber to disarm her. Now that the technician had control of Sabre, her fate was sealed unless he could get free in time.
“Sabre!” she shouted. “Help me!”
“He won’t help you, stupid girl!” Previd sneered. “I’m a Myon Two department head. No cyber will harm me. Did you really think this would work?”
A thud came from beyond Previd, and she raised her head to glance past him. Sabre writhed on the floor, gripping the brow band.
“Sabre!” she yelled again.
Previd grinned and feinted with the knife, obviously enjoying her fear and pain. She yelped, trying to fend him off and keep her hands out of harm’s way at the same time. He glanced around, but Sabre still lay on the floor, his back arched in a convulsion. Previd turned back to her and lowered himself to his knees, pinned her legs and loomed over her. She flailed at him, sprinkling him with drops of blood, but he caught her right wrist and forced it to the floor. He stabbed at her throat, and she grabbed the blade, which grated on bone as she twisted it away. He growled, yanked it free and lunged, the razor edge barely missing her throat when she flung up her arm to deflect the blow. A red haze clouded her vision as panic squeezed her heart and terror clogged her throat. Blood ran down her arms and her strength dwindled. The pain made her gasp and whimper, her eyes locked with single-minded intensity on the weapon that menaced her, her heart racing with panic. She shrieked as Previd stabbed at her face.
A strong arm snaked around Previd’s throat and lifted him off her. Sabre placed his other hand on the side of the Previd’s head and twisted. The technician’s neck broke with a dull pop, and the cyber dropped the corpse, staggered back and fell to his knees, gripping the brow band again. Tassin raised her head to stare at him in amazement, concern and relief, her breath coming in harsh gasps. The control unit sparkled with waves of flashing red lights, and thin trickles of blood ran down his brow from the battle he had just won. He keeled over backwards, his spine arched in a powerful spasm that raised his entire torso off the floor, his teeth bared in a snarl of agony.
Tassin’s heart ached with horror and anguish as Sabre rolled onto his side, the muscles on his arms and chest bulging as he hauled on the brow band. He breathed in shuddering gasps, his eyes rolled back to expose the whites. She levered herself to her feet, cradling her hands against her chest. Blood oozed from her lacerated palms and trickled down her arms to drip off her elbows. She stepped over Previd’s corpse on shaking legs, jumping back as Sabre thrashed, his boot barely missing her leg.
Reaching Kole’s huddled form, she nudged him with her toe. “Kole!” Her voice emerged as a croak.
After two more nudges, the hacker groaned and opened his eyes to frown up at her. “What the hell happened?”
“Sabre knocked you out somehow.”
Kole sat up and glanced around, rubbing his throat. “Shit! What happened?”
“Previd tried to kill me. Sabre got free to save me, but now the cyber’s… trying to kill him, I think.”
The hacker stared at Sabre for a moment, then shook his head. “I’m pretty sure it can’t do that.” He turned to her, and his eyes widened. “What happened to your hands?”
“Previd got hold of Sabre’s knife.”
“Bloody hell. You need a hospital. We have to stop the bleeding, or you’ll be in trouble just now.”
“I’m okay.” She clenched her hands and gritted her teeth, watching Sabre.
Kole followed her gaze. “The unit can’t keep that up for too long. It’s obviously trying to shock him into submission, but soon it’s going to run out of power.”
She pressed her burning fists to her chest. “He must be in agony.”
“I’d say that’s going to give him a bit of a headache, yup.”
Veins stood out on Sabre’s neck and brow, and waves of red lights ran through the brow band’s black crystals. Fresh blood seeped from around the two outer struts. Tassin swallowed bile, sickened by the sight of his suffering, hardly able to bear it.
“Come on, Sabre,” she urged.
Kole stood up and patted her back. Sabre groaned, writhing.
Tassin stepped closer. “Come on, Sabre, fight!”
The cyber twisted, gasping harshly through gritted teeth, and blood ran down his forehead to drip onto the carpet. He convulsed, his head cracking against the floor. His back arched again, and then he relaxed, his eyes closing. She thought he had passed out, but he only lay still for a few moments, then he released the brow band, his hands falling to his sides. The seven diagonal control lights were a steady red. His frown eased and he opened his eyes to stare at the ceiling. She went over and knelt beside him, her throat tight.
“Sabre?”
He turned his head towards her, and a shaft of pure joy pierced her heart when his eyes focussed on her. He licked his lips, looking dazed. “Tassin?”
She smiled, her breath catching in a sob. “Yes.”
Sabre sat up and clutched his head with a groan, then glanced at Kole.
The hacker recoiled, muttering, “Bloody hell.”
Sabre turned to her again. “I’m free,” he said, as if he could not believe it. “I’m really free. I…” His eyes flicked to her hands. “You’re hurt.”
She looked down at them, swallowing a lump. “I’m okay.”
“Let me see.” He took hold of one of her fists and opened it, drawing in a quick breath at the sight of the deep cuts. “These need immediate treatment.”
His hands trembled, and his touch made her stomach quiver, even though it was entirely impersonal. He shot Kole a wary glance when the hacker approached.
The cyber rose, staggering a little, and went into the galley, opened a locker in the bulkhead above the auto-chef and pulled down a sizeable white box. He brought it over to Tassin, knelt beside her again and opened the emergency medical kit. Tassin wondered how he had known where it was. Kole sat on the sofa nearby, watching him with blatant fascination. Sabre’s hands shook as he took out a small spray bottle.
“Open your hands,” he instructed.
Tassin did so, gritting her teeth, and he sprayed her palms, making them sting with renewed fury and bleed afresh. She whimpered, and Sabre picked up a sterile swap in a sealed packet, tore it open and dried her palms, which the spray had numbed, to her relief. Then he took another bottle out of the kit and sprayed her palms again. This time the spray dried to a thin skin, and he repeated the procedure several times, thickening the layer of transparent substance until it formed a flexible protective skin. She watched him with growing disquiet, and he shot her occasional shy glances, clearly ill at ease with her scrutiny.
When he had sealed both her palms with the artificial skin, Sabre dug in the medical kit again and withdrew two adhesive dressings, peeled off the backs and stuck them onto her palms. Tremors ran through him, making his head twitch and muscles jump. When her injuries were dressed, he dug in the medical kit once more and took out a pill bottle, flipped open the lid and tipped four little white pills into his palm, offering them to her.
“Painkillers,” he explained.
Tassin popped them into her mouth, discovering that they had a minty flavour and slid down her throat easily when she swallowed. He tipped another four into his own mouth, and she gazed at him, becoming more and more convinced that something was horribly wrong. His reactions were off, even after three years apart. There was no recognition in his eyes, even though he knew her name, and his behaviour was clinical and detached. A dread grew in her, snuffed out her joy and filled her heart with despair. Sabre did not remember her. What had the barbarians at Myon Two done to him?
Tassin wondered how fate could be so cruel. This was not how she had envisioned their reunion at all. He still looked slightly dazed, either from aftermath of the mammoth mental duel, or because he was missing large chunks of memory. Clearly he had not lost all of it, since he knew how to treat her wounds and where the ship’s medical kit was, which still mystified her, although it did not seem to have surprised Kole. Sabre’s drawn, pallid countenance and the lines of strain around his eyes and mouth indicated that he was in a lot of pain, and she guessed he had a pounding headache.
“What the hell went wrong?” Kole asked, shooting Sabre a guarded glance. “Why did he obey Previd?”
“It wasn’t his fault,” she said. “It wasn’t him, it was the cyber. Previd said when I gave him Sabre’s serial number it gave him control.”
“I thought it was risky, but when he removed the patch I figured I must be wrong.”
“I guess he couldn’t order the cyber to attack you while you had a laser to his head. Or at least, he wasn’t willing to take the risk that you might shoot him before Sabre killed you, and he wanted you alive. But we had to take the chance. It was the only way.”
Sabre looked up. “What you did was worse than foolhardy, it was insane. You can’t use a cyber against a Myon Two technician. They have a tattoo that identifies them to cybers. If you had ordered the cyber to kill Previd, or even hurt him, it wouldn’t have obeyed.”
“It worked, though,” she said.
He nodded. “He obviously didn’t believe I could get free, or he’d never have removed the patch. He thought he could order me to kill you afterwards, once he had control of me. He almost succeeded, too. I only just managed to prevent the cyber from shooting you. If he’d given the order five seconds sooner, you’d be dead and Kole would be on his way to Myon Two now, to be convicted of aiding in cyber tampering and given a life sentence.”
“Why did the cyber grab him, then, and where’s this tattoo?”
“A cyber will obey his owner first and foremost, and will kidnap a Myon Two official, but he won’t hurt him. It’s a delicate trade-off the programmers had to make in order to satisfy customer demands for complete control while still ensuring some level of additional safety for Cybercorp executives. It also prevents criminals from gaining immunity to cybers by using Myon Two techs as shields. The tattoo is here.”
Sabre turned to the corpse, which lay against the corridor bulkhead, its head twisted at an impossible angle, and pulled aside its garish pink shirt, exposing a coin-sized, flame-like tattoo on its right shoulder. “The registration number gives off ultraviolet light, which cybers can detect even through clothes. Enforcers don’t have them, because they’re out in the field and easier to kidnap, and also because they’re more likely to turn against Cybercorp or become criminals. They don’t take an oath and sign a lifelong contract like technical personnel.”
A short silence fell, then Tassin forced a weak smile. “Thank you for saving me.”
Sabre lowered his eyes, nodded and smiled. His reticence spoke volumes of confusion and uncertainty. It reminded her of when she had first met him in the cave on Omega Five four years ago, and she hoped it would change soon. Then, it had only taken a few days for him to adjust to his newfound freedom. He had been through a lot since then, however, and she longed to talk to him alone and find out what had happened after he had left Omega Five.
Sabre climbed to his feet and helped Tassin to hers, and she sat on the sofa and hugged herself, trying to quell her trembling, while he returned the medical aid kit to the galley locker. When he came back, he glanced at Previd’s body.
“Space him?”
“Definitely,” Kole said.
Sabre carried the corpse to the back of the ship, returning a minute later empty handed to sit on the sofa opposite.
Kole sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “We can’t stay here now. Soon Malatar’s absence will be discovered and all traffic stopped. This is still one of Myon Two’s worlds, and they won’t be happy about losing a Cybercorp department head.”
“Where will we go?” she asked.
“Well, your highest bidder is on Charon Six, and he’s offering one and a half million credits for the sword, but I don’t have enough fuel to get there. We can make it to Rashid Four, which is quite a lawless place, and then we’ll have to make enough money to buy fuel, since I can’t access my accounts without giving away our location.”
“I thought you had a new identity?”
“I do, but if I refuel the ship’s name is logged, and I’m sure they’ve found out everything about me by now.”
“How will we make money?”
He shrugged. “I’ll think of something.”
“Okay.” She stood up. “I want to talk to you, Sabre.”
Tassin did not care if Kole thought she was rude, she needed to find out just how bad Sabre’s memory problem was. She headed for the cabin down the corridor, and he followed, glancing around as he entered the cream and grey compartment. There were no chairs, so she sat on the bed and patted the crimson cover beside her, and he settled upon it. She wanted to take his hand, but the dressing made it impossible, and it hurt, so she just gazed at him.
“I’m so glad you’re back. I missed you so… much.” To her horror, her chin wobbled and her throat closed.
“Hey, don’t cry. It’s okay.”
The concern in his soft, husky voice brought a rush of memories, and tears flooded her eyes. She shook her head. “No it’s not. You don’t know who I am, do you? Do you remember me at all?”
He hesitated, looking down. “You’re my owner.”
“No, I’m not!”
“According to the cyber’s information, you are, since –”
“No!” Her throated closed, and she raised a hand to cover her mouth.
He looked confused, and bowed his head.
She swallowed the lump. “Sabre... I bought the cyber to free you. I didn’t buy you! I… I came to free you. Don’t you remember? Please try to remember.”
He shook his head. “I know you, but I don’t know how.” He raised his eyes and studied her. “I think my heart remembers you. You were important to me, weren’t you?”
“I like to think so.” Her tears overflowed. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I never thought…” She gulped, drew a shuddering breath and brushed at her cheeks.
“Careful,” he said. “Don’t hurt your hands. I’ll get you a tissue.”
Sabre started to get up, but she put out a hand. “No. Stay.”
He sank back down, looking uneasy, and she forced a tremulous smile. Clearly her distress troubled him, so she said, “It’s okay. I’m just glad you’re finally free. You did it. I knew you could.”
“You got the software patch removed, or I wouldn’t have been able to. You did it.”
“What did those bastards do to you on Myon Two?”
“I don’t remember, so I guess they took away my memories.”
She rubbed her nose with the back of her hand, recovering her aplomb somewhat. “Maybe it was the shocks the cyber used to try to stop you freeing yourself. You had to do it twice, too, in quick succession.”
“Yeah. I did the unthinkable when I killed a Myon Two technician.” He lowered his eyes to his hands. “Thank you for freeing me.”
“God, Sabre, did you really think I would abandon you? I swore I would find you, and I meant it.” Her throat closed again, and she shook her head. “But you don’t remember that, do you?”
“No. Still, I’m amazed that you succeeded.”
“It wouldn’t have taken me so long to come looking for you if you hadn’t hidden that damned sword. I spent three years searching for it, because you hid it.”
“Sword?”
“Yeah, the one with the Core in it, from the Death Zone.” She sighed. “It doesn’t matter. You’ll remember when you get your memories back.”
“I hope so.”
Tassin picked at the dressing on her hand, hating how awkward things were between them now, as if they were strangers again. She did not know what to say, and he seemed ill at ease. She had envisioned their reunion as a joyous one involving hugs and tears of happiness, and cursed Myon Two afresh. Clearly he would do anything she asked of him, since she had freed him, and was trying hard to please her, but it was not working. They no longer shared anything. She was a stranger to him.
She stood up. “We should get back. Kole will be wondering what we’re up to.”
“Yes.” His eagerness to quit her company hurt her.
Tassin found Kole on the bridge, sipping a drink. She flopped into the co-pilot’s chair, and Sabre leant against the wall in the corridor just behind them.
“So, have you figured out how we’re going to make enough money to get to Charon Six?” she asked.
“Yeah, I hope so.” He shot Sabre a sidelong glance. “A free cyber is unheard of, but, since Sabre is one, he can enter arena fights and make a lot of money. Enough to buy the fuel.”
“No. I don’t want him to have to fight. There must be another way.”
“Well, I could try my hand at gambling, but that’s a risky business, obviously. I could lose what little cash we have.”
“I’d rather try that first. I don’t think he’s in any shape to fight now, anyhow.”
Sabre glanced up. “Not really. My co-ordination and reflexes are severely impaired.”
“Which means you could kill a man in three seconds instead of two, right?” Kole asked.
“He’s not fighting,” Tassin said, scowling at him. “He just got free, and already you want to shove him into an arena so he can have his brains battered some more.”
“He’s a cyber.”
“That doesn’t mean he won’t get hurt. In order to pass as a free man, he’d have to fight like one, and that means he’d have to let his opponents hit him. He’s not doing it.”
The hacker raised his hands. “Fine, I’ll have a bash at gambling.”
“It’s okay,” Sabre said, “I understand the necessity, and I’ll do whatever I can to help, of course.”
“You’re not fighting,” she told him as fiercely as she had told Kole. He looked away, and silence fell for several moments, then she said, “We also need to find someone who can help with Sabre’s co-ordination and memory problem.”
Kole raised his brows at her. “He has a memory problem, too?”
“Yes.”
“So… He doesn’t remember you?”
“No. Yes. Sort of.”
Kole glanced back at Sabre. “Wow. That’s got to suck. After everything you did –”
“Yeah, I know. That’s why we need to find someone who can help.”
“Well, that’s not going to be easy, is it? It’s not like we can take him to a regular doctor.”
“Exactly.”
“Right, so this would be my job, I guess.”
She smiled at him. “You’re the best hacker in the galaxy.”
“It doesn’t take a hacker to track down a neurologist.”
“One who can treat a cyber?”
“That just takes a bit of researching skill.”
“And you’re good at that, too, huh?”
He snorted and shook his head. “No need to butter me up, Tassin, I’ll find you a neurologist who will treat our cyber friend, although he’ll obviously be a back street kind of guy. There are a few sympathisers to the anti-cyber cause. I’ve heard of some Net sites that went up, protesting cyber host treatment, but Cybercorp took them down within hours, and their owners were doubtless hounded till they fled known space, just like Trevare. Only difference is, he made mega-millions from his naughtiness, while these guys just drop themselves in the shit, and for what? No one listens to them. Very few care, and the ones who do are inevitably silenced one way or another.
“Anyone who goes up against Cybercorp is going to get flattened. Those guys practically run the galaxy. Anyway, we’re going to Rashid Four, that’s all we have fuel for. It’s a safer place for us, since we’re now fugitives. I gave them a false ship identity when we arrived, but once the shit hits the fan about Malatar’s disappearance, Myon Two will investigate. They’ll check the videos from the security satellites and realise that Striker isn’t Dejan Vordon’s rather pretentious yacht.
“Once they figure out who she really is, they’ll put it together with Malatar’s disappearance. Killing him wasn’t part of the plan. I wish Sabre had just knocked him out; then we could have released him. We’d still have been in major trouble, but not as much as we are now that we’ve murdered a senior Cybercorp executive. I reckon that’s put us at the top of their shit list. We need somewhere to lie low for a while.”
She nodded. “All right, but… if you’re docked here with a false ship identity, why can’t you buy fuel here instead of at Rashid?”
“It wouldn’t fit.” He sighed. “The ship runs on neosin, okay, same as just about everything else, and it comes in power crystals, right? Well, the crystals that fit Vordon’s yacht won’t fit Striker.”
“Oh. I see. Pity.”
“Yeah.”