The Cyber Chronicles Book II: Death Zone (36 page)

"Yes."

"I didn't feel
a thing."

Sabre nodded.
"You were asleep."

"It felt
funny. Like I was sinking into a warm black sea."

He knew the
sensation all too well, only his sea had not been warm. "How do
your legs feel?"

She pulled her
skirt up to reveal a broad, mottled red mark across her thighs,
then covered them again. "They don't hurt too much, just a kind of
throbbing."

"You're lucky
they're not broken."

Tassin sighed.
"I guess I was pretty stupid, huh?"

Sabre held up
the blue crystal weapon he had found beside her in the wreckage.
"You set this off, didn't you?"

Tassin shot
the weapon a guilty glance. "What is it?"

He hefted it.
"It's called a sonlar. It's a cross between a sonic gun and a
laser. It's designed to destroy solid matter, like buildings. It's
only really effective at short range. The combination of amplified
light and subsonic waves will destroy just about anything. It'll
kill a person too, of course, but mostly it's used to break through
fortified walls. A sonlar will make a hole big enough to drive a
bus through a reinforced concrete wall."

He turned the
weapon and pressed the green button, deactivating it. "Had you
chosen an ordinary laser, it would have melted a hole through the
walkway, and maybe a few bits would have fallen on your head. But
no, Tassin has to choose a sonlar, guaranteed to bring the entire
bloody structure crashing down on her."

"I didn't know
that."

His frowned,
and his voice hardened. "So why the bloody hell were you playing
with it? You're incredible, you know that?" He shook his head. "If
there's a log to cross, you'll fall off it. If there's a hole in
the ground, you'll step in it. If a bunch of men raid the village,
you'll get caught, and if there's a rotten bloody walkway over your
head, you'll bring it down on top of you."

Tassin had the
grace to look ashamed, although still a little mutinous. "It wasn't
my fault."

His scowl
deepened. "Damn it, Tassin, do you have a bloody death wish?"

"No!"

"Then don't
play with things you don't understand!"

"I was just
looking at it. It's pretty."

Sabre groaned
and rolled his eyes. "Pretty! It's a bloody ugly little weapon when
you know what it can do. I didn't even take any of these." He
hurled the sonlar into the trees. "Another two centimetres, and
you'd have had no head! Those things vaporise flesh. Do you
understand now?"

She nodded,
and he scowled at her. "The next time you find something pretty,
like a goddamned deadly snake or some bloody poisonous flower, show
it to me before you play with it, okay?"

Tassin nodded
again and looked down at her dusty hands. He wrapped her in a
blanket with brisk efficiency, then carried her back to the
building where they had spent the night.

For a week,
they waited for Tassin's wound to heal. Her bruises blossomed to
blue-black, then faded to green. Sabre hunted the scrawny chickens
that inhabited the abandoned buildings, not straying far from his
charge. He had glimpsed several cat-like predators prowling amongst
the ruins, although he did not mention this to the Queen. Tassin's
wound kept her immobile for a while, but, as it healed, she grew
restless, longing to return to Arlin with the weapons and reclaim
her throne.

Sabre used the
cyber to tame two donkeys to pull the cart, and fashioned a
harness, working slowly and using that as an excuse to delay their
departure. He told himself that he did this because Tassin was
still weak, but deep down he knew his reluctance to return to Arlin
stemmed from his fear of losing his freedom. By the end of the
week, the harness was complete, and he could procrastinate no
longer. Tomorrow he would set out on the return journey and, once
Tassin was safely restored to her throne, wait for the spacer he
knew would come for him. His owner, who would return him to a life
of slavery as a cyber host, and there was nothing he could do to
prevent it.

*****

The
Cyber Chronicles
saga continues in Book III,
The Core,
Book IV,
Cyborg
, Book V,
Overlord,
Book VI,
Warrior Breed
, Book
VII,
Sabre,
Book
VIII,
Scorpion Lord,
Book IX,
Precipice
, and many more as yet unwritten.

About the
author

T. C.
Southwell was born in Sri Lanka and her family moved to the
Seychelles when she was a baby. She spent her formative years
exploring the islands – mostly alone. Naturally, her imagination
flourished and she developed a keen love of other worlds. The
family travelled through Europe and Africa and, after the death of
her father, settled in South Africa. T. C. Southwell has written
over forty novels, ranging from fantasy and science fiction to
romance and adventure, as well as five screenplays. Her hobbies
include motorcycling, horse riding and art, and she earns a living
in the IT industry.

All
illustrations and cover designs by the author.

Contact the
author at [email protected]

Acknowledgements

Mike Baum and
Janet Longman, former employers, for their support, encouragement,
and help. My mother, without whose financial support I could not
have dedicated myself to writing for ten years. Isabel Cooke,
former agent, whose encouragement and enthusiasm led to many more
books being written, including this one. Suzanne Stephan, former
agent, who has helped me so much over the past six years, and
Vanessa Finaughty, good friend and business partner, for her
support, encouragement and editing skills.