The Cyber Chronicles VIII - Scorpion Lord (18 page)

Dumping her on
her feet, he caught her as she staggered back, holding her away
when she reached for him. Sabre tried to tow her along, but she
staggered and fell, saved from skinning her knees by his grip on
her wrist. He pulled her upright, and she grabbed him, pressing
against him.

"Bugger it,"
he muttered, hoisting her over his shoulder again. The
establishments that lined the road dealt in erotica, and men
accosted him as he strode past, offering him the delights within.
As he brushed past them, one sprayed a cloud of perfume in his
face. It made him sneeze, his eyes watering. A few minutes later he
realised he had been sprayed with something other than perfume, and
it was causing some strange sensations. There was not much a cyber
was not immune to, and he wondered what it was. It did not impair
his judgement or co-ordination, but avoiding people was more
difficult with his burden.

On the other
hand, not so many tried to accost him while he carried Estrelle,
although her groping hand down his back was annoying. People
squirted bright liquid over each other, some catching the stuff in
their mouths, and several shots hit him. By the time he reached the
drug den, he was irritable, sticky and thoroughly fed up with
Estrelle's fondling. Pushing through the bead curtains, he yanked
open the door to Martis' room, entered and locked it, then dumped
Estrelle on the cushions. He sank down with his back to the wall
and soaked up the peace and quiet.

Estrelle
crawled over to him and tried to climb onto his lap, and he held
her at bay with a hand on her shoulder. Martis lifted his head and
groaned, raising a hand in greeting.

"You found
her."

"Yeah. How are
you feeling?"

"It's starting
to wear off, I think."

Sabre jerked
his head aside as Estrelle tried to hook her fingers into his brow
band. Lifting his foot, he placed it on her chest and gave her a
good shove that sent her flopping back onto the cushions with a
grunt. Martis glanced at her, shooting Sabre a frown.

"What's wrong
with her?"

"Drugged."

Estrelle
crawled back towards Sabre, who placed his foot on her shoulder and
shoved her away again. Martis sat up and rubbed his head.

"Hey, take it
easy."

"I've had just
about enough of her for one day."

Martis grabbed
Estrelle as she headed for Sabre again. She latched onto him and
tried to kiss him. The young tech flushed with embarrassment,
fended her off and pinned her down.

"What happened
to her shirt?"

Sabre
shrugged. "How should I know?"

Martis took
off his shirt and put it on Estrelle, who continued to try to hug
and kiss him. Holding her down, he studied Sabre.

"Did you get
drugged too?"

"I think
so."

"What do you
feel?"

"Weird."

Martis
pondered. "There aren’t many drugs that will work on a cyber, but,
given where we are and the few that do, I'd say it's probably an
aphrodisiac."

"It's not
affecting me too badly."

"Affecting
you? You mean impairing your fighting abilities?"

"Yeah."

Martis shook
his head, prying Estrelle's hand out of his hair. "You've got to
stop thinking like a cyber. Try to relax. This is something you're
supposed to enjoy."

"Well I'm not.
It's irritating."

"Okay, it's
probably too soon. You - Ow!" Martis yelped as Estrelle yanked his
head down with a hank of his hair and kissed him.

Sabre watched
them, tilting his head, then looked away with a snort. The sight of
them increased the strange sensations, and he stared at the
ceiling, trying to distract himself by switching on the brow band.
The familiar tactical information calmed him, and he glanced down
again when Martis extricated himself, his hair sticking out.

"This would be
fun, if there were no drugs involved," he muttered, gazing at
Estrelle. "She's been given an aphrodisiac too, but I had a
euphoric, mixed with a hallucinogenic, I think."

"We've got to
get off this damned planet."

"We'd have
been okay if we'd avoided the Feline Festival."

"How was I to
know?"

"You weren't,
of course," Martis said.

"Now we're
stuck here until it calms down outside."

"Or until the
drugs wear off. The festival could go on for days. Hell, it could
even be a permanent thing."

"I don't think
so."

"Still, it
will probably be a while, so we should get some rest."

Sabre sighed
and stretched out on the cushions. "Just keep her the hell away
from me."

"No
problem."

****

Kole Arvan
glanced up from his lunch as the screen in front of him beeped,
alerting him to an incoming message. Setting aside his half eaten
pre-prepared meal, he leant forward to tap on the keyboard, and
read the missive with growing amazement, raising his brows.

"Bloody hell.
Sabre? Now there's a guy I never thought I'd hear from again," he
muttered to no one in particular, since he was alone. "Me send a
message to Overlord Fairen? Don't be daft, old pal. Trapped on Eden
Five, hey? Well that's a world most people would love to be trapped
on, though not with Myon Two after them. Those guys never give up,
do they?"

Kole sat back
in the plush contoured chair and picked up a small, hissing
medicine ball that provided his only entertainment, tossed into the
air and caught it again. He wondered if Tassin was still with
Sabre, but doubted it. She must be tired of him by now. She should
have more sense, but who knew? He frowned at the screen. He would
have thought he was the last person the cyber would ask for help.
Odd. Sabre must be desperate.

Kole tossed
the ball again, pondering, then let his eyes wander around at the
cramped, dingy computer room with its rows of consoles and screens
and pulled a face. Maybe some adventure would not be a bad thing.
Since he had parted ways with Sabre and Tassin, life had not
treated him well. The government of Ferrinon Four had eventually
traced and confiscated all his funds, although he had retrieved
Striker. He now made a living as a sentinel, guarding a large
company's supercomputer from hackers on a remote mining colony on
the Rim. Edge Seven was a bleak, cheerless chunk of rock orbiting
an ailing red giant due to go supernova in a few years. While the
miners stripped the planet of its mineral wealth, he and his fellow
sentinel stood guard over the massive AI that ran the refinery.
Despite its numerous security measures and firewalls, bored rich
kids with cybers still tried to sabotage anything they could gain
access to, and the refinery was a dangerous place if it
malfunctioned. Cyber attacks were swift and hard to defend against,
and required the ingenuity of a first-rate computer boffin to
counteract.

Basically, all
he could do was identify the threat before any damage was done and
throw up several emergency firewalls, then disconnect from the Net
by jamming the signal until the kid grew bored and moved on to an
easier target. The tricky part was identifying the threat, since
the AI was in constant contact with several off-planet company
facilities, and could not identify the machine code intrusion of a
cyber. Once, out of curiosity and boredom, he had tried to counter
the attack himself and send a virus to the computer the cyber was
using, but had lost the battle in a few seconds. Fortunately, the
jammer had cut off the attacker’s access before much damage was
done, but several important data files had been corrupted and his
boss had not been pleased.

The job was
boring but the pay was good, and he had saved up a bit of capital,
with nothing to spend it on. Striker was in orbit, fully fuelled.
All he had to do was resign and leave. He could be at Eden Five in
twelve hours. Kole tossed the ball. Life had certainly been
exciting with Sabre around, perhaps a little too exciting. He would
like to see Tassin again. He still thought of her a lot. Sending a
message to an Overlord sounded like a really bad idea, though. They
were scary guys, inclined to shoot first and ask questions later.
It seemed odd that Sabre wanted him to contact one. Tossing the
ball again, he caught it and jumped up, his decision made.

In the room he
shared with his fellow sentinel, Kole shook the plump, pimply boy
awake and informed him of his departure. He found his remote and
tapped in the code that summoned Striker to the landing pad.
Stuffing his clothes into a bag, he marched down to the manager's
office and handed in his resignation, then made his way to the
landing pad where Striker waited. Climbing into the ship's cool
confines, he returned the AI's greeting and flopped into the
command seat.

"Striker, set
course for Eden Five, Beta Quadrant."

"Powering up.
Eden Five, arrival in twelve hours, forty-five minutes. Sufficient
fuel aboard. Three corridor changes. Preparing for take-off," the
ship said in a dulcet feminine voice.

Kole leant
back. "Let's go."

Chapter Ten

The insistent
flashing of a red proximity violation warning roused Sabre, and he
became aware that someone lay close beside him, an arm across his
chest. Sitting up with a jerk, he freed himself from Estrelle's
embrace and moved away. Martis sat beside the wall, watching him
with a faint smile.

"Now that was
surprising," the host tech murmured.

Sabre rubbed
his eyes. "What?"

"She's been
cuddled up to you for at least half an hour, and it didn't wake you
up until now."

"I... What did
she do?"

"Nothing; I
think she's just cold. The drugs have worn off. So tell me, why
didn't it wake you up straight away?"

"None of your
business," Sabre said.

"Your
girlfriend?"

"I said -"

"You slept
with her."

Sabre shook
his head. "No. Yes. Just sleep."

"Of course.
Interesting, though."

"Why
interesting?"

Martis
shrugged. "What woke you up now?"

"The
cyber."

"After half an
hour?"

Sabre frowned.
"I was tired, I guess."

"Tassin was
your owner, wasn't she?"

"Yes. No. She
owned the cyber."

"Right. That's
why she was able to sleep with you. Estrelle's not, so it warned
you."

"We should get
out of here," Sabre said.

"And go
where?"

"Find another
empty hotel room to wait in. And food."

"How long
before your friend comes?"

"A few hours,
if the message was received."

The door
handle rattled, then a thunderous knocking reverberated around the
little room and a voice shouted, "Time's up! Out! Now!"

"I guess we
don't have a choice," Martis muttered, rising to go over and shake
Estrelle awake.

The cyber tech
woke with a gasp and looked around in confusion, her eyes wide.
Sabre stood up and stretched, his stomach growling. Martis helped
Estrelle up, and Sabre unlocked the door to find a large, scowling
man in a bright green dress waiting outside. He glared at them as
they sidled past him.

"I suppose
it's no good asking you lot to pay for the room, is it?" he
asked.

Martis made a
helpless gesture. "No money, sorry."

Outside, the
Feline Festival was still in full swing, and they fought their way
through the crowds to the more peaceful areas away from the orgy.
Sabre chose another glass-plated spire and found an empty suite,
this one decorated in cream and grey, with wood and glass tables
and grey and white striped sofas, a glass bar counter in the
corner. After a steak and vegetables meal, he showered in the shiny
cream and chrome bathroom, then relaxed in the lounge with Martis
while Estrelle used the bathroom.

The tech
frowned at him. "Sooner or later we're going to get caught, using
hotel rooms without paying, and I don't fancy going to prison."

"What do you
suggest?"

"We need to
make some money."

"How?"

Martis
shrugged and smiled, glancing up as Estrelle emerged from the
bathroom, towelling her hair. "We could pimp out Estrelle."

"Over your
dead body," she retorted.

"You were a
lot friendlier earlier."

"What
happened?"

"You don't
remember?"

She scowled at
him. "Not much."

"Ah well, it
was fun. Most enjoyable."

"Bullshit."

Martis raised
his brows. "How would you know?"

"Sabre
wouldn't have let you."

The cyber
looked up, also raising his brows. "Why would I care?"

"You're a pair
of pigs."

"Relax."
Martis chuckled. "We're just teasing you. Or at least, I am.
Sabre's just being his usual dour self."

Estrelle sat
on a sofa opposite. "So what's this about making money?"

"Well, we need
more clothes, since you lost your shirt, and Sabre can't keep
stealing them for us. We also have to pay for this room, or the
cops will be after us soon, and we don't want to be in jail when
Sabre's friend arrives."

"I definitely
need some clothes, preferably women's ones this time," Estrelle
agreed, looking pensive. "We could always sell Sabre."

The cyber
snorted, and Martis shook his head. "Cybers aren't allowed on Eden,
remember?"

"Well then
let's pimp you out."

"You wouldn't
get much for me."

"Then you'll
just have to work really really hard, won't you?"

Martis eyed
the cyber, who closed his eyes and leant his head back against the
chair. "I bet people would pay a lot of money to see a cyber go
through his paces."

Estrelle
followed his gaze. "Cybers aren't allowed."

"They won't
know. A performance. An exhibition of fighting skills. The ladies
will find it very erotic."