Chapter Eight

 

Kole leant against a console on Pathos’ bridge and stared out of the screens at the massive ship in orbit at Vendal Four, some of his triumph leaking away. Imperial was an ill-disguised warship that far outgunned Pathos. Arrays of lasers were visible on its flanks and stern, cannons in its bow. He gestured at it, turning to Thestan, who stood beside him.

"Well, there she is. Told you I'd find her."

"It took you a week. And just how do you propose we get your man off it?"

"I thought that was your department?"

Thestan shook his head. "She's twice our size and firepower. It would be suicide to attack her. And anyway, your man might be killed if we did."

Kole rubbed his chin. "I suppose we could offer to buy him."

"Whoever owns that ship has more money than he can ever spend. He probably uses it to wipe his arse."

"Then... we could ask for his services, offer to pay, then kidnap him when he comes aboard."

"They won't let him off that ship. I don't think they're stupid. Anyway, isn't this something Sabre should decide?"

"You're right, he should." Kole nodded. "I'll go and ask him." He headed for the door, then stopped when Thestan followed. "No one asked you to come."

"This involves my ship and my men. I should be included in the planning of it."

"No, you'll follow orders. We don't need your input."

Thestan glowered, but remained behind when Kole strode from the bridge. He made his way to the hospital, where Martis and Estrelle were glued to their screens as usual. They looked up when he came in, their expressions expectant.

"Well?" Martis demanded.

"Imperial is a damned flying fortress. Thestan says we can't win a fight with it." Kole walked over to the padded table and frowned down at Sabre. "Wake up, old chum. I've found Tarl, now we need your help to free him. Do you hear me? Wake up, damn it!"

Martis glanced at his readouts. "He's not listening."

"Bugger it! We need a plan to get Tarl off that ship." Kole swung away and paced in a circle. "I thought perhaps we could get him here by telling them that we needed his services, and offering to pay a large amount for them, but Thestan doesn't think they'll let him leave the ship."

"Probably not, but we could take Sabre to him, and if he can fix him..."

Kole snapped his fingers. "That's it! But it will mean Thestan will see us carrying Sabre over there."

Martis shrugged. "So? We tell him that he's pretending to be comatose."

"Yeah, that would work. Then when he's fixed, he can come up with a way to free Tarl."

Martis nodded. "Yeah, he's more intelligent than you are."

"Piss off, Martis. I'm the one who found Tarl. Sabre's the one who copped out, remember?"

"He's got a lot on his mind right now."

"So do I." Kole swung away. "I'll send the message."

"Are you sure Tarl's on that ship?"

"Yeah, Endrovar won't part with a cyber tech." Kole touched the door panel, letting himself out.

 

 

As the door slid shut behind Kole, Estrelle turned to Martis and raised her brows. "You really think this Tarl guy is going to be able to wake Sabre up?"

"Let's hope all it takes is for Sabre to hear his voice."

"What if he's not listening?"

"Then I hope Tarl is as amazing as Kole thinks."

She snorted. "If a host researcher and a control unit researcher can't wake him up, you really think a repair tech can?"

Martis shrugged and sighed. "Let's hope so."

Kole returned an hour later, looking excited. "They went for it. Wanted a fortune, but they've agreed to let us aboard with our damaged cyber."

Martis glanced at Sabre. "Now?"

"Yeah, the shuttle's waiting."

"Our shuttle?"

"Yeah, why?"

"It's safer."

Estrelle removed the drip from Sabre's arm, and they draped a sheet over him, activated the table's antigravity and retracted its legs, turning it into a floating stretcher. Kole towed it to the door, Martis following. Estrelle remained behind, since it would seem suspicious if more than two people accompanied a damaged cyber. Kole ordered the cybers who guarded the door to follow, and headed for the shuttle dock. Thestan waited there with the other two cybers, and Kole groaned.

"Shit."

The sub-commander marched over when he spotted them, scowling at Sabre, then at Kole. "What's the idea, taking all the cybers?"

"We may need them for protection."

"They're not going to let four cybers on board."

"It's worth a try, and if not, they can guard the shuttle."

Thestan looked down at Sabre. "Why do you need all four?"

Kole snorted. "He's not going to talk to you. He thinks you're a moron."

"I don't like letting all four cybers off the ship."

"Too bad, those are Sabre's orders; now get the hell out of the way. They're waiting for us."

The sub-commander stepped aside, staring at Sabre. "He looks like he's really asleep."

"That's the idea, dimwit."

Martis followed Kole and the stretcher into the ten-seat, grey and white shuttle. Kole ordered the cybers to join them, leaving Thestan fuming on the dock. The hacker anchored the stretcher, and they strapped in as the shuttle undocked with a slight jerk. Martis glanced past Kole at the pilot and leant closer, lowering his voice.

"He's right, you know. They'll never allow four cybers aboard, probably not even one, except Sabre."

Kole frowned, nodding. "Yeah, I've been thinking the same thing. I think we should leave the cybers in the shuttle. They may still come in handy, depending on what happens. Always good to have some backup close by."

"Better still, we should hide them, then it'll be a surprise."

"Yeah, good idea."

Kole glanced around at the cybers. "Cybers, find places to hide and remain hidden unless called upon, understand?"

They turned their heads towards him, and one replied, "Understood."

Unstrapping themselves, they moved to the rear of the shuttle to find cargo webbing and lockers to hide in or behind. Within a couple of minutes there was no sign of them. Kole stared out of the screens as the shuttle approached the huge warship, tapping his fingernails on the arm of his seat. Martis fidgeted and chewed his lip. He tensed when the shuttled docked and the door opened to reveal five armed men waiting in a gleaming white dock, hands on their laser hilts.

The soldiers entered the shuttle and glanced around. Kole and Martis unstrapped themselves and freed the stretcher, towing it onto the dock. An officer approached and frowned at Sabre, then beckoned to a couple of soldiers.

"They'll take you to the lab."

Kole towed the stretcher after the men, who led them down a plush, well-lighted cream corridor carpeted in burgundy. They marched around a few corners and descended in a lift, arriving at a door that slid open. The soldiers gestured for Kole to go in, and he towed the stretcher into a bright lab lined with workbenches, data screens, analysis equipment and glass-fronted cabinets filled with surgical instruments and drugs. Long tables covered with more equipment were arranged around the grey-tiled floor. Two men in white jumpsuits were bent over a table, engrossed in some sort of experiment. Another rolled his chair away from a workstation, rose and turned to face them.

Tarl's face stiffened when he recognised Kole, who waggled his eyebrows and gave an imperceptible shake of his head. The cyber repair tech swallowed and coughed. Martis lowered the stretcher's legs, turning it back into an examination table. Tarl's eyes became riveted to Sabre's face, and his struggle to hide his reaction resulted in an expression that Martis likened to one a man might wear if he had just spotted a deadly spider crawling up his leg.

Tarl coughed again, placing a hand on Sabre's brow. "What happened to him?"

Kole shrugged. "Don't know, really. Maybe he overheated, or overloaded or something. Just lay down and went to sleep, damned if he didn't. Was the weirdest thing we ever saw. Maybe the brow band's malfunctioning?"

The soldiers approached to peer at Sabre, and the other scientists looked up.

Tarl glanced at them. "I don't need any help, but I could use some room." He turned to the soldiers. "You two should wait outside. This is a sterile environment."

The soldiers glared at him, then frowned at Kole and Martis. "We're supposed to guard them, and they're not sterile either."

"They're his owners. I'll need them here if I fix him."

The soldiers looked irritated, raked Kole and Martis with disparaging eyes and wandered out. The two scientists stood irresolute, clearly curious, and Tarl shot them a frown.

"Like I said, I don't need any help. Isn't it almost lunchtime?"

One man glanced at his timepiece and shrugged, and they left. Tarl turned to Kole, lowering his voice to a rasping whisper.

"Am I glad to see you! What are you doing here? How did you -?"

"We don't have a lot of time. We're here for you, and Sabre does need your help. According to Martis, he overloaded on stress or something. Oh, yeah, Martis is a host researcher from Myon Two. Don't worry," Kole added when Tarl looked alarmed. "He's on our side. Long story. Can you wake Sabre up?"

Tarl gazed down at the cyber. "What happened?"

Martis leant closer. "His brain block failed, and he overloaded on emotional stress because of Tassin's disappearance. He seems to have withdrawn into a catatonic state. He's accessing his memories, but he's not listening to us."

Tarl felt for the pulse in Sabre's neck. "He's in a semi cold sleep."

"Yeah."

"I don't have the equipment to do a brain analysis here, or much of anything else, for that matter. Endrovar’s only managed to get some drugs so far."

Kole said, "We were hoping the sound of your voice would be enough to bring him out of it. If he knows we've found you, he'll know we'll find Tassin too. Then he can figure out how to get you off this ship."

"He can't hear me if he's not listening."

"Then make him listen. You can do that, can't you?"

Tarl shook his head. "Not without the right equipment."

"We have all the equipment you need on our ship."

"Endrovar will never let me leave."

"If you tell me what to do," Martis said, "I'll do it when we get back to Pathos."

Tarl glared at him. "I'm not letting some amateur do anything this dangerous to Sabre."

"I'm a host researcher, not a damned -"

"Hey, guys, let's save the pissing contest for later, huh?" Kole said. "What can we do, Tarl?"

"Without equipment? Nothing."

"Then we have to get you off this ship now."

"Like I said -"

"Yeah, well, we need a plan."

"That's going to be tricky."

"Come on, Tarl, you can think of something, can't you?" Kole urged.

"Why don't you come up with something?"

"Hey, I found you, and that's my bit. Time for someone else to do a bit of the thinking around here."

"Maybe we could clamp him under the table," Martis suggested.

Kole shot him a scornful look. "That's the dumbest idea I ever heard."

"Did you come here in your own shuttle?" Tarl asked.

"Yeah."

"Did you bring any men with you?"

Kole nodded. "Four cybers hidden aboard."

"Okay, I might have a plan, but you'll have to be prepared for some fireworks right afterwards." Tarl turned to a cabinet and opened it, selected a bottle and filled a syringe. "I'm going to give him a powerful convulsant. It will send him into convulsions, and it's going to look spectacularly alarming. It'll take about ten minutes to take affect once I inject him, so you must be at the docking port when it does.

"When he goes into convulsions, ask them to call me. Make it seem like life or death, like he's going to go berserk and kill people. There's a chance they'll let me come to the docking port, then we pile into the shuttle and get the hell out of here. Endrovar will attack you, so get your ship out of here as soon as the shuttle docks." He glanced at Kole. "Think you can manage that?"

"Yeah, I think so." He consulted his flashy gold watch. "It must have taken us seven or eight minutes to get here from the dock, so the timing should be almost perfect."

"Good. Sabre will convulse for about ten or fifteen minutes, then he'll metabolise it, so act terrified when he starts, so they send for me right away."

"I can do that."

Martis chewed his lip. "It won't harm Sabre?"

"I wouldn't do anything that will harm him,” Tarl said. “He might get a few bruises, that's all."

"No chance it will wake him up?" Kole enquired.

"No, he won't even be aware of it, in the state he's in."

Martis asked, "Can't you give me a hint about what you think might work, in case we don't get you off this ship? We need Sabre if we're going to free you."

Tarl shook his head. "Giving you a hint would be even worse than telling you. I won't risk it."

"Then how will we free you if this doesn't succeed?"

"This will work if you do your parts right, and, if not, you have cybers."

Martis raised his brows. "Board this ship?"

"Don't be an arsehole, Kole will figure it out." Tarl glanced at the hacker. "Are you ready?"

Kole looked at his watch again. "Wait. All right... now."

Tarl pushed the needle into the vein in Sabre's elbow, muttering, "Sorry, bud."

 

 

Kole yanked the sheet up to the cyber's neck, and Martis pushed the button that retracted the table's legs. Kole towed it towards the door, which opened to reveal the soldiers who waited outside.

The hacker brushed past them, grumbling, "Bloody useless arsehole, wasting our time. Come on, we're in a hurry to get back to our ship. Your so-called cyber tech's about as much use as hair on the end of my willy, and almost as annoying."

The men chuckled and led the way back through the huge ship. Kole checked his watch in the lift. Five minutes had already passed. One of the soldiers peered at Sabre.

"So what's wrong with him?"

"Some sort of brain buggering virus or something."

The man recoiled. "Is it contagious?"

"How the hell should I know? Do I look like cyber tech to you?"

"What did Tarl say?"

"He didn't know, but he couldn't fix him either."

As they approached the docking port, Kole slowed, glancing at his watch again. Two minutes remained before the convulsions would begin, and at the speed they were moving they would be aboard by then. He stopped and bent to study Sabre's face. The soldiers came back, frowning.

"What's the problem?" one asked.

"I don't know... Something's not right, though," Kole said.

"I thought you were in a hurry?"

"Yeah, well that tech of yours gave him a jab, and it looks like it's doing something weird. If it's going to cause a problem, your guy had better be able to fix it. This is a valuable piece of equipment, you know."

The man stepped closer, scrutinising Sabre. "I don't see anything odd."

"And how much do you know about bloody cybers?"

"Nothing, I guess."

Kole glanced at his watch and continued towards the docking port. "Maybe I was imagining it."

As they entered the staging area, Sabre's spine arched and the brow band filled with red lights. The stretcher wobbled, and Kole grabbed the edge of it. Martis tried to steady the other side.

"Bloody hell!" Kole yelled. "Get that tech of yours down here right now! He's going berserk!"

Sabre remained rigid for a second, then flopped about. Kole pretended to be knocked down, and Martis yelped in alarm as the stretcher swayed, almost tipping Sabre off.

"Get your tech!" Kole bellowed at the gaping soldiers. "Now!"

The men glanced at each other, looking alarmed, but reluctant. "He's not allowed -"

"Goddammit! Get him now, or this will turn into a bloodbath! This bastard could kill us all! Move it!" Kole shouted as he jumped up and grabbed the edge of the wobbling stretcher. Sabre writhed and thrashed, and Kole leant on it, dipping one side. Sabre rolled off, and Martis shot Kole a horrified look. Kole stepped back as Sabre lashed out with flaccid arms, his eyes open to reveal the whites. Foam oozed from his mouth, adding to his horrific aspect. One of the soldiers went over to a com-link on the wall and touched it.

"Tarl, get down to the docking port now. We have a problem with this cyber."

Kole tried to pick Sabre up, and Martis went to help him, struggling to hold onto the writhing cyber.

Kole scowled at the soldiers. "Give us a hand."

The men glanced at each other again, and one said, "Not if he's going to turn violent."

"He's not at that stage yet, so help us!"

The man came over, while the other remained by the com-link, frowning at them. With the soldier’s help, Kole and Martis lifted the cyber onto the stretcher, which wobbled and swayed. Kole cursed, wondering what was taking Tarl so long. Relief washed through him as the cyber tech trotted into view down the corridor.

"Cybers, to me!" Kole yelled.

Four cybers emerged from the shuttle, and the hacker pointed at the soldier who stood by the com-link. "Two and Three, take him, One and Four, get him." Kole indicated the soldier beside the stretcher.

The man at the com-link made a stab for the send key, but the cybers were upon him in a flash, gripped his arms and twisted them behind his back until his joints popped and he yelled in pain. The other soldier ran, but the cybers overtook him in three strides and bore him to the floor.

Kole dragged the stretcher into the shuttle. Martis tried to hold Sabre down as he writhed. Tarl sprinted in at their heels, adding his weight to Martis' efforts.

Kole yelled, "Cybers, bring them aboard! Close the port! Pilot, ready to undock!"

The cybers dragged the soldiers in, one hitting the docking door control. Imperial's hull door slid shut. If the hull door was left open when the shuttle undocked, alarms would sound and pressure doors would close to seal off the dock. The shuttle door closed and the craft moved away as the pilot unclamped and activated the thrusters. Kole joined Martis and Tarl, alarmed by Sabre's contortions. His lips drew back and foam dribbled down his cheeks.

"Tarl, you sure he's okay?"

"Yeah, he'll be fine. That went well. No alarms raised, and no one left to raise them." He jerked his head at the soldiers.

"Yup, we might even get away without a shoot-out."

Martis cursed as Sabre's flailing hand hit him in the face, grabbed it and tried to pin it down. The stretcher wobbled, foiling Kole’s attempts to clamp it to the bulkhead.

"Cyber Two, get over here and hold this," he ordered.

A cyber gripped the edge of the stretcher, steadying it while Kole secured it. Tarl leant over Sabre and held him down, his expression despondent.

By the time the shuttle docked with Pathos, Sabre's convulsions had stopped. Kole hoped Thestan was not waiting in the dock to ambush them with more questions and demands to speak to Sabre. Tarl wiped the foam off the cyber's face just before the shuttle doors opened. Only four soldiers hung around in the dock, to Kole’s relief. He unclamped the stretcher and dragged it out, pushing one man aside when he stepped closer to peer at Sabre.

"Get out of the bloody way!"

Martis got behind the stretcher and pushed it along the corridor, the three men running with it. The enforcers stared after them with obvious confusion, then the cybers emerged with their captives, distracting them.

Kole yanked the stretcher into the hospital, digging in his heels as it raced across the room. Estrelle jumped up in alarm, but the three men stopped it before it hit the wall, and slumped, panting.

Tarl glanced around at the equipment and smiled. "You've got it all. Bloody marvellous."

Kole went over to the com-unit. "Thestan, we've got Tarl. Get us the hell out of here before they start shooting."

"Right," Thestan's tinny voice replied.

Kole sagged against the wall. "We did it."

Tarl pushed the stretcher to the centre of the room and deployed the legs, yanking the sheet off. "Time to get you back on your feet, bud."

Estrelle stood up. "You must be Tarl. I'm Estrelle."

The cyber tech nodded at her. "Right."

"What are you going to do?" Martis asked.

"I'm going to wake him up."

Tarl positioned the brain scanner around Sabre's head, plugged the access cable into the brow band's port and sat down in front of the analyser to study the data that scrolled up the screen.

Kole rubbed the back of his neck. "Tarl, where's Tassin?"

"Huh? Oh, she's on Imperial."

"What? Shit!" Kole turned to the com-unit. "Thestan, get us out of range, but don't lose Imperial."

"Range?" Thestan sounded puzzled. "Lasers don't have -"

"Get us behind a moon or something, damn it!"

"Okay... What's going on?"

"Just do it."

Kole locked the door and joined Martis behind Tarl, watching data scroll up the screen. Tarl frowned at it, typing in various status commands.

"Everything's pretty much normal. His brain block failed?"

"Yeah," Martis said.

"What caused it, and how did he react?"

"It happened when he heard that Tassin was gone. At first he seemed to go into shock. He was unresponsive for a little while, then he was - seemed okay. But then he got really really angry. He wrecked the exercise room after we came aboard Pathos. We figured he was venting -"

"What did he say?"

"That he didn't want the feelings, and he couldn't cope with them," Estrelle said.

"Then Kole said that he didn't have to help find Tassin," Martis added, "and Sabre just... went to sleep."

"He became passive just before that?"

"Yeah."

"Okay." Tarl tapped on the keyboard again. "He's put himself into a deep state of withdrawal; his own little world of memories."

"Yeah, we figured that much, but how do we get him out of it?"

"Not easily," Tarl said. "At least his bio-status is at ninety-four per cent. You had him on a drip?"

Martis nodded. "Yeah."

Tarl rubbed his chin, looking thoughtful. He turned to the bed and twisted a pinch of skin on Sabre's arm until Kole winced, watching the brain scan. "No reaction to pain." Tarl leant closer to the cyber. "Hey, Sabre, bud, it's me, Tarl. I'm here now. Kole found me. We're going to get Tassin back. She's close by."

The repair tech glanced at the brain scan as another area of Sabre's brain flashed briefly. "Slight reaction to my voice. It's as if he can hear me, but he doesn't believe me, or he doesn't want to. He's retreated to that dark place where he used to live."

"Why would he do that?" Kole asked. "He hated that place, surely? That was where the control unit imprisoned him."

"Yes, but it's also familiar and comforting, in a strange way. All those unwanted feelings can't find him in there. It's his little cocoon."

"Bloody cop out," Kole muttered.

Tarl turned to glare at him. "Have you ever felt despair? Real, gut-wrenching dread that someone you love is going to die, and you can't stop it? It's like being crushed in a vice, emotional torture, inescapable, mind-bending anguish, like being torn apart inside. Your heart labours, you can't breathe, and you just want to die too."

The hacker shrugged, looking uneasy. "Maybe."

"Well, think about that, then double it, and then imagine you've never felt anything like it before."

"Yeah, it's shitty, but he didn't have to -"

"Yes, he did, to save his sanity. He doesn't know how to deal with it, and you didn't help, did you?"

"I didn't know!"

Tarl turned back to the screen. "Then you should have been more careful, and tried to support him. You did know he was having a problem, right?"

"Yeah." Kole threw up his hands. "If I'd known -"

"Hindsight is always perfect, isn't it?" Tarl sighed. "How long has he been like this?"

"Two weeks," Martis supplied.

"Unfortunately, insulating himself like this hasn't helped him to come to terms with his feelings. The fact that we know where Tassin is, and can free her, should help a lot."

"How are we going to free her?" Kole asked.

Tarl shrugged. "You could offer to buy her, but you're on Endrovar’s shit list now, for freeing me. We need another person to do the buying for us."

"Oh, we're more than on his shit list; we're at the top of it. If we stick our noses out he's going to try to blow us away. Why didn't you tell us Tassin was aboard when we came for you? We could have freed you both."

"No, you'd just have lost me, too. I don't know where she is, and that's a big ship."

Kole frowned. "When was the last time you saw her?"

"Not for a while. About a week and a half. They wouldn't let me, and when I got too insistent they threatened to sell her. I couldn't risk that."

"So you don't know for sure that she's still on that ship. They might have sold her already."

Tarl inclined his head. "It's possible. I don't know. I wasn't exactly in the loop."

"Man, if anything's happened to her, Sabre's going to kill you."

Tarl turned to gaze at the cyber. "No, he's more likely to try to kill himself."

"Well let's wake him up, at least."