The Cyber Chronicles IX - Precipice by T C Southwell Read Free Book Online Page B

your ship."
    The commander
bowed and backed away, and Fairen's men escorted him out. The
Overlord pulled off his hood and went over to join Sabre, gazing
out of the screens.
    "You're very
calm."
    The cyber
frowned. "I don't know how I'm supposed to react. This is new to
me."
    "How do you
feel?"
    "Numb.
Detached. And it hurts, here." He tapped his chest.
    "You're in
shock. It will pass."
    "I'm not sure
it will. I... I feel like my reason for living just disappeared.
She could be dead."
    "I doubt it,"
Fairen said.
    "They might
hurt her."
    "Possibly, but
you'll save her."
    "I don't want
her to be hurt, but I can't prevent it. I don't know where she is.
I don't know how to find her. There is no way. There are a hundred
and eighty-seven planets within three days’ travel of Omega Five.
Forty-two of them are outlaw worlds. She could have been taken by
Myon Two, or slavers, or hitched a ride on a friendly yacht, or
paid for passage on a merchant vessel. The possibilities are
endless. She could have travelled as much as eighty-two light years
in any direction. There's no data to base a working theory on.
There's no way to find her."
    Fairen frowned
and glanced at Shrain, who hovered nearby as usual. "Bring me the
tech, Martis."
    "At once, My
Lord."
    Fairen replaced
his hood before Martis was ushered in, looking nervous. Estrelle
followed him, and the Overlord beckoned them over. They stopped
beside Sabre, who continued to stare out of the screens.
    "Cyber Tech
Martis," Fairen said. "Sabre has just received news that his
betrothed has been abducted, and he appears to be dealing with it
badly. What's wrong with him?"
    Martis studied
Sabre with a frown, waving a hand in front of his eyes. The cyber
ignored him, not even blinking. "You have no information about
where she might be, My Lord?"
    "No."
    The host tech
looked worried. "I think his brain block just failed."
    "What is that,
and what does it mean?"
    "Most of his
emotions and human instincts were locked away behind a wall in his
mind, which has been gradually weakening. I think this shock has
caused it to fail, and he's gone into emotional overload."
    "So he's in
shock?"
    Martis nodded.
"Of a sort, My Lord. He has a machine-trained mind that has just
been swamped by a huge amount of illogical human feelings,
instincts and urges, and he can't handle it."
    "Can you help
him?"
    "If I can get
him to focus on something. Right now he seems to have gone into a
sort of illogical loop." Martis hesitated, then gripped the cyber's
arm and shook it. "Sabre. Snap out of it. Focus."
    The cyber's
eyes flicked down to him. "What?"
    "What are you
going to do to save her?"
    "I don't
know."
    "Is there a way
to find her?"
    "I don't
know."
    "She needs your
help, what can you do?"
    Sabre's brows
drew together. "I don't bloody know!"
    "What about
going to Omega Five and finding out what happened to her?"
    "They won't
know anything, they're peasants."
    "What about
tracking the ship that took her?"
    The cyber shook
his head. "It's too late; the ion trails have faded by now."
    "There must be
a way to find her."
    Sabre's hands
flashed out and gripped Martis' shoulders, making him wince.
"Listen, you bloody little shit, she's gone! Get that through your
head! She could be anywhere in the damned galaxy, a hundred light
years away by now."
    "Or she might
be close by, waiting for you to rescue her."
    Sabre's face
twisted, and he released Martis, reaching up to grip the brow band.
"I can't think straight. I don't know what to do."
    "Okay, calm
down. Everything's going to be all right. We're going to find
her."
    The cyber swung
away, releasing the brow band, and stalked towards the screens,
shaking his head. "No one can find her."
    Martis looked
at Estrelle, who chewed her lip, then at Fairen, who had turned his
head to watch Sabre. "My Lord, to be honest, I don't know if there
is a way to find her, and he knows it. I think he's experiencing a
whole host of emotions, the strongest of which, I would imagine,