The Cyber Chronicles V - Overlord (14 page)

"What does that
alarm mean?" she asked.

"It's a
proximity warning; there must be a ship very close to us."

"Can't you use
your scanners?"

"There's
nothing unusual on them yet."

"What should we
do?"

"Wait and see.
If it's Ramadaus we'll know soon enough, and if it's pirates we're
better off staying here."

Sabre rose and
went into the bedroom, returning a few moments later wearing his
armour, his lasers strapped to his thighs. Since returning from the
Scorpion Ship, he had worn his combat clothes, and pretended to be
a cyber in public. At those times he donned the armour and helmet
to make the pretence easier. Tassin had purchased an outfit of
stretch black jeans, a dark grey long-sleeved blouse, flat-heeled
ankle boots and a black leather jacket, which she deemed to be
suitable fugitive attire, and wore her hair in a practical French
braid.

Sabre returned
to the couch, still looking tense, and she switched off the
vidimage to listen to the distant alarm. After a couple of minutes,
a louder alarm joined in, and a flat, artificial voice ordered the
passengers to abandon ship. Sabre stood up and held out his
hand.

"Let's go."

Tassin took his
hand and rose, tension making her stomach knot. "Is this what
usually happens when pirates attack?"

"No. Normally
they're only interested in the cargo, and leave the passengers
alone." His eyes became distant as he consulted the scanners.
"Corsairs."

"Who are
they?"

He led her to
the door. "Aliens. Humans invaded their territory thirty years ago,
but couldn't wipe them out. They'll kill everyone if they can."

Tassin jumped
as the door chimed, and Sabre pressed the panel beside it. It slid
open to reveal a white-faced Tarl.

"Let's get out
of here," he said.

Sabre nodded
and clipped on his helmet, leading Tassin into the bright,
blue-carpeted corridor, where panic-stricken passengers ran past in
confusion, shouting.

"They don't
know where the life pods are," Tarl yelled over the din.

Sabre glanced
around. "This is a Bell-Durrum class liner, the life pods are two
decks down, in the outer corridor."

Tarl shouted
over his shoulder, "Follow us to the life pods!"

"A ship has
just docked with this one," Sabre informed them, breaking into a
lope. Tassin clung to his hand and Tarl followed close behind, as
did a number of passengers who had heard him, their eyes wild with
terror. Young women clutched wailing children, and their husbands
tried to shield them from the pushing throng. None dared to get too
close to Sabre, and Tassin was glad she was spared the shoving that
was going on behind them. They reached the three lifts at the end
of the corridor, and Sabre pressed the button of one. The
passengers activated the other two.

Tassin stood
close to Sabre's reassuring presence and glanced up at him. "What
are these aliens like?"

"Like a cross
between a human and a cat," Tarl supplied. "They move like
lightning, and they have a lot of teeth and claws, not to mention
the weapons they use."

Sabre turned
his head. "There's no need to frighten her."

"What kind of
weapons?" Tassin asked, shivering.

"They fire
pellets of acid and venom, deadly on contact."

A woman close
to them sobbed, and the man with her cursed. "Shut your gob, idiot,
before I shut it for you!"

Tarl stepped
back. "Sorry."

"Yeah, you
should be, scaring the womenfolk like that. I should knock your
lights out and leave you for them to find, might hold them up a
bit."

Tarl made an
appeasing gesture and turned to the sobbing woman, who held a
weeping toddler. "We won't even see them. I'm sure the captain
sounded the alarm before they boarded."

The man thrust
his pugnacious face close to Tarl's. "I heard they eat people, so
leaving a body for them would help the rest of us escape."

"Now you're
scaring the womenfolk," Tarl said.

"No I
ain't!"

Tarl shook his
head and turned away. "Fine, have it your way."

The man grabbed
Tarl's shoulder and swung him back, yanked a laser from his trouser
pocket and stuck it in the ex-cyber technician's face. "Don't turn
your back when I'm talking to you, arsehole!"

Sabre turned to
face the man, who glanced at him and released Tarl, retreating with
a black look at Tassin.

Tarl said, "I
think the lifts are too busy. We should take the stairs."

Sabre nodded
and led Tassin through the crowd, which parted before him. The door
beside the lifts slid open when he reached it, and he headed down a
steep stairwell, Tarl close behind, followed by the passengers. The
next deck was deserted, which brought wails of anguish from the
passengers.

"They've left
without us!" the pugnacious man yelled, inciting greater panic.

Sabre headed
for the next emergency door, but stopped halfway there, the brow
band flashing. "Aliens are on the deck below."

Some of the
women shrieked, and the crowd bolted down the corridor. Tassin
turned to Sabre, her alarm growing when he turned his head from
side to side. She knew what that meant.

"There are more
down the corridor," he said.

The fleeing
passengers skidded to a halt and ran back to him, the pugnacious
man at their forefront. "Where do we go? Ask the cyber! Tell him to
protect us!" he shouted, reaching for Tassin as if he intended to
shake her. Sabre punched him, sending him flailing into the crowd
with a grunt.

Tassin gazed up
at the black visor that hid his eyes. "Why are you only sensing
them now?"

"They were
detected even before they boarded this ship, but only entered the
deck below a moment ago."

"Where do we
go?"

Sabre nodded
towards the opposite end of the corridor. "That way."

Taking her hand
again, he broke into what, for him, was a lope, but for Tassin was
so fast that she could barely keep up. Several male passengers
overtook them, abandoning their women. Tarl ran alongside,
scowling.

"They're
herding us into the centre of the ship, away from the life pods.
I've heard about them doing this."

"I know," Sabre
said. "But there are too many behind us."

A little
further down the corridor, he stopped and kicked open a door with a
terrific bang, leaving the men who had overtaken them to race on to
certain death. Sabre led the remaining passengers, all of whom were
women, across a rather shabby crew mess hall with yellow floor
tiles, cheap plastiform chairs and worn green tables. He ran
through the adjoining kitchen and into another corridor, turning
back the way they had come. Tassin's lungs and legs burnt by the
time they reached another bank of lifts. Sabre slammed open the
door beside them and descended the stairwell. Tassin stumbled after
him, only his grip on her hand preventing her from falling. Tarl
helped a pregnant woman who could barely keep up, earning grateful
smiles from the other women who were trying to support her.

Sabre stepped
out of the door at the bottom of the stairwell and into another
identical corridor, heading for the life pods at the end of it. He
released Tassin's hand and drew his lasers. "Stay behind me and
hold on."

Tassin hooked
her fingers into his belt, her heart hammering. None of the women
appeared to have noticed Sabre's slip-ups, and she was beyond
caring if they did.

"Why will we
be... safe in the life pods?" she panted. "Surely they'll attack
those, too?"

"There are
hundreds of them, some will escape."

"It sounds like
poor odds."

"Better than
staying on the ship."

"What about
calling for help?"

Tarl, who
trotted beside her, said, "The captain's done that already, but no
one wants to take on a Corsair horde."

"So no one's
going to help us?"

"Unlikely.
Unless there's a full squadron of warships within range."

"What about an
Overlord?" she demanded. "Surely one of those ships could -"

"Overlords
don't bother with insignificant matters."

"Ravian might,
if Sabre was in danger, wouldn't he?"

Tarl glanced at
the cyber. "That depends on how fond he is of Sabre, doesn't
it?"

"It's worth a
try."

"Yeah, but we'd
have to find an interstellar transmitter. The cyber's isn't strong
enough."

Tassin shot him
a scandalised look. "It has a transmitter, too?"

"A short range
one, only a few light years in space, then the signal will break up
due to background radiation. But it can interface with the ship's
computers to get access to its transmitter."

Sabre stopped,
causing Tassin to bump into him, and turned his head. "Everyone get
down!"

The women threw
themselves down, and Tassin released her hold on his belt to drop
to the floor. Tarl fell to his knees beside her and drew his
weapon. A moment later, three creatures bounded out of a door down
the corridor and raced towards them with soft snarls. They moved so
fast that Tassin could hardly make out their shapes, but they were
bipedal, clad in bright orange clothes and had long tails. They
carried stumpy black weapons that made soft pops when they fired
them. Sabre leapt sideways as the projectiles flew past, firing
back. Two of the aliens died with keening shrieks, black holes
appearing in their chests. The third ran up the wall with amazing
agility and leapt at Sabre, firing its weapon. He flung himself
sideways again, spun at the same time and shot the alien from the
side. It collapsed, a hole burnt through its head.

Sabre swung
around. "Let's go!"

Tassin
scrambled up, shaking with shock. The women followed more slowly,
clinging to each other and sobbing. Sabre holstered a laser and
grabbed her hand, dragging her down the corridor. She stared at the
dead aliens as she passed them, glimpsing round faces with short
snouts and split-lipped mouths, wide blue eyes staring in death.
Golden fur covered them and pointed ears were flattened against the
sides of their heads. Sabre raced down the corridor, the women
falling behind and Tassin barely able to keep up. She was glad when
he slowed and turned into a side corridor, descending a stairwell
three steps at a time.

"I thought the
life pods were on this deck?" she asked, holding onto his
shoulder.

"They are, but
the aliens are guarding them. We can't reach them."

"So where are
we going?"

"There are two
shuttles docked in the cargo hold, and no aliens there yet."

"You knew we
couldn't reach the life pods, didn't you?"

He glanced back
at her and nodded. "Since a few minutes ago. They're taking over
all the vital areas of the ship, but the cargo hold isn't high on
their list of priorities."

Sabre slowed to
allow the exhausted women to catch up, then led them deep into the
ship's bowels. At the bottom of the stairwell, he thrust open the
door and entered a vast room stacked with boxes, crates and bags,
loping along a broad aisle towards the back of the hold. Tassin's
heart leapt with relief when two docking ports came into view, open
to reveal the interiors of the shuttles attached to them. A group
of men carried boxes into them, and she recognised the paunchy
figure of Captain Brodal directing them. Sabre stopped a few metres
away, and they ceased their activity to stare at him and the
passengers bunched at his heels.

The captain
stepped forward. "What are you doing here? Go to the life
pods!"

"The life pods
are guarded by aliens," Sabre informed him.

"Well there's
no room on the shuttles for any more people. These are for the
crew."

"If you unload
your loot there will be."

The captain's
florid face hardened. "Those are vital supplies, which we'll need
to reach an inhabited planet."

"Those boxes
are full of prederax, and the closest inhabited world is Atron
Four, two days away under standard impulsion when we pass it in
three days’ time."

"What's
prederax?" Tassin asked Tarl.

"A very
expensive drug."

"The passengers
should have got into the life pods while they could," the captain
said, clearly annoyed that all his lies had been exposed in one
curt sentence.

Sabre shook his
head. "The order to abandon ship was given too late, and you know
it. And the Corsairs will kill most of the people in the life pods
before help arrives. That's why you're here."

"I followed
protocol. The alarm was sounded. It's not my fault they didn't have
time."

Sabre released
Tassin's hand and stepped closer. "The passengers are supposed to
be evacuated first."

"Not on my
ship. My crew is more important." Brodal gestured, and several of
his men drew their lasers. "Come any closer, and I'll kill them
myself, cyber. Especially that one." He nodded at Tassin, then
turned his head to address his men. "She's his owner, guys. He
won't do anything to jeopardise her, so keep her covered. She might
have ordered him to help the others, but she's the only one he'll
protect."

The crewmen
aimed their weapons at the passengers and Tassin, and the captain
smiled. "I know better than to try to kill you, cyber. Go find a
life pod, or fight the Corsairs, I don't care, but you're not
coming aboard a shuttle."

Sabre glanced
at Tassin. "Go."

"No!" Brodal
barked, realising his mistake. "Nobody move! The first one who does
dies. You can find a pod after we're gone."

Sabre dropped
into a forward roll and leapt up beside the captain, pressed a
laser to his head and addressed the crew. "Throw down your weapons
or your captain dies."

Brodal
grimaced. "Bloody cybers! I should never have allowed one on my
ship. Nothing but bloody trouble!"