The Cyber Chronicles Book II: Death Zone

  The Cyber Chronicles

  Book II: Death Zone

  T C Southwell

  Published by T C Southwell at Smashwords

  Copyright © 2010 by T C Southwell

  Smashwords Edition, License Notes

  This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Prologue

  When the King of Arlin died, Tassin, inherited the largest and wealthiest of the five kingdoms in the western Life Zone of Omega Five. The post-holocaust world, which has been abandoned to its fate and regressed to a medieval society, is divided by a radioactive desert called the Badlands.

  King Torrian, ruler of a neighbouring kingdom, proposed marriage to annex Tassin's realm, but she refused. With the support of two other kings, Torrian declared war, and Tassin was on the brink of defeat when the strange wizard who had agreed to help her father destroy the Death Zone offered her a weapon. Monsters from the Death Zone ravaged Arlin, and the wizard assured her that his weapon, intended for the Death Zone, would also save her from the kings. The man who stepped out of the strange casket did not impress her, however. She mistook ‘cyber’ for ‘sabre’, and thus he gained a name. Filled with the foolish bravado of the very young, she resolved to die when her castle fell, but her senior advisor ordered Sabre to save her.

  The cyber-bio combat unit is the ultimate hi-tech fighting machine. Sabre is a cyborg with metal-plated bones and internal body armour, controlled by a micro-supercomputer embedded in a brow band attached to the skull plating under his scalp. A cyber’s built-in equipment includes bio-scanners and ground-penetrating scanners, plus a cybernetic interface capable of controlling animals over a limited distance. In his natural environment, the advanced world that created him, he is able to interface with other AIs and break security codes and firewalls with ease.

  A cyber is considered to be the most dangerous weapon ever created. His reactions are honed to split-second precision, and he is trained in every art of combat, able to use any weapon, speak every language and operate any craft, plus the data stored in his brain, intended for the supercomputer’s use, is updated at regular intervals. He is so dangerous, in fact, that his creators have ensured that no cyber will ever gain a sense of self, with all the ramifications that stem from it.

  The cyber saved Tassin, who, while she disliked his blank stares and clipped tones, enjoyed his utter obedience. He helped her to flee her kingdom, but, during the pursuit over the mountains, he was attacked and fell several hundred metres, damaging the brow band. The host, enslaved almost since birth, gained his freedom, and Tassin met a gentle, unassuming man. The damaged control unit was unable to regain control, and Sabre agreed to help Tassin escape her pursuers, whereupon host and cyber reached an uneasy truce.

  Now two intellects share a body, one a cold, analytical AI, the other a kind-hearted man who hates what he is and longs to be free of the supercomputer. The cyber is still able to cause him pain, and denies him access to its scanners and data. Sabre has suffered all his life as a spectator, unable even to focus his eyes, enduring terrible pain and abuse. He knows, however, that his freedom is only temporary, for his owner will return for him one day. Cybers are extremely expensive.

  In the Kingdom of Olgara, King Xavier betrayed Tassin, but Sabre rescued her again. When she ordered him to kill the soldiers that recaptured them, however, he refused, and entered into a monumental mental battle with the cyber. The supercomputer succeeded in robbing Sabre of all motor control, and he was certain he would die a slow and painful death.

  The cyber’s mission is to obey Tassin and keep her safe, and it offered Sabre a bargain, its help in return for his co-operation. Sabre agreed, freed Tassin from Torrian, and forced her to flee with him into the desert, since, thanks to his actions, two angry monarchs wanted his head parted from his shoulders, impossible though that may be.

  Tassin believes the Death Zone to be a deadly, accursed place, but Sabre is certain it is nothing more than an area of radioactive desert. Sabre's scanners allowed them to avoid the radioactivity in the Badlands, and they set off across the desert. Torrian, however, refused to admit defeat, and sent his mage after them. Gearn, with the aid of a magically enhanced ex-gladiator and an enchanted wolf, tracks them towards the most feared area on Omega Five: the Death Zone…

  Chapter One

  Sabre squinted across the burning wasteland that surrounded him, the sun’s fierce light stabbing his eyes. The heat shimmer made the desert sand dance and filled the barren expanse with silver mirages. He had slept through the worst of the day’s heat, and the sun sank towards the horizon. Beside him, Tassin roused and sat up, rubbing her eyes. She drank the last of the water, and Sabre knew they must get out of the desert within the next two or three days. The dried horse meat was tough and stringy, and they had lost a lot of weight, although Tassin had lost more. Another genetic enhancement, he reflected, which made a cyber less inclined to burn energy as long as he did not partake in strenuous activity. Walking did not qualify. Compared to the amount of exertion a cyber was capable of in full combat mode, it barely taxed him at all. On the other hand, in combat, a cyber burnt energy approximately twice as fast as an unaltered human, due to the speed and strength he employed.

  Sabre knew, from a glance at the virtual dashboard in his mind, that the control unit had switched on several dormant genes to conserve his reserves, and had lowered his metabolic rate to a crawl. It meant he would have little energy, if called upon to fight without warning, but the advantages outweighed that drawback. It would take the micro-supercomputer about ten minutes to raise his metabolism back to normal, which was a good deal higher than a man's. Even he did not fully comprehend the intricacies of cyber design, Sabre mused. A mental barrier prevented him from delving too deeply into the classified data stored somewhere in his brain.

  By the end of the second night after the chestnut's death, their thirteenth in the desert, Tassin could barely walk. They trudged onwards, but she clearly had little strength left, for she no longer complained or protested, even when he helped her. He gave her a pebble to suck to ease the dryness of her mouth, wishing he could do more. Dust filmed her ridiculous pink court dress and ink-black hair, and grubby marks smudged her delicately featured face. Her dishevelled state did not detract from her beauty, however, Sabre thought. If anything, she was lovelier than ever, with her new golden tan. His skin, already golden from the anti-radioactivity treatments he had undergone during cyber preparation in his youth, had darkened, and his dark blond hair had grown a bit since he had arrived on Omega Five. In Olgara, he had had his first clear look at his own face, in a mirror in the inn where they had stayed, and knew that he possessed silver-grey eyes, a st
rong chin and a well-shaped mouth. The thin, pale scars that ran along his high cheekbones and halfway down his narrow nose were a legacy of operations to implant barrinium reinforcing on his skull, and he had hated that glimpse of himself.

  As the sky paled with the first blush of dawn, Sabre became aware of a strange phenomenon ahead. At first it looked like a low band of mist, faintly luminous in the weak light. The scanners showed nothing unusual, and he plodded towards it, wondering if he was hallucinating. As the light increased, the mist began to look more solid, and he realised that it rose into the sky in a weird, translucent wall that skirted on the edge of invisibility.

  It played tricks on his eyes, and he could not see exactly what it was until he found himself standing only a few metres from it. The sun rose over the horizon, and its first golden rays shot across the sand to illuminate the misty barrier. A shimmering wall confronted him, gleaming like mother-of-pearl in the dawn light. Rainbows flickered within it, twisted by billowing water vapour. He tugged at Tassin's arm, rousing her from her stupor, and she raised glazed, dark blue eyes to the beautiful barrier. She stared at it blankly, then comprehension dawned, and her eyes widened.

  "The Death Zone!"

  Sabre caught her as she collapsed and lowered her to the ground, then turned to study the strange phenomenon. If this was the Death Zone, it was more than a stretch of radioactive desert. The iridescent mist looked moist and inviting, making him long to walk into its cool dampness. Mother Amy had called it evil magic, but he did not believe in magic, and it did not look evil, only cool and wet. Whatever it was, they had to cross it, and there must be water where there was mist.

  Scooping Tassin up, he walked through the iridescent wall. The terrain changed as soon as he crossed into the Death Zone, and when he looked back, there was nothing behind him but misty whiteness, no sign of the desert outside, although it was only a few metres away. The sand was replaced by cool, damp grey rocks striated with bands of brown and white. Boulders loomed out of the mist ahead, forcing him to follow the narrow path between them, and stunted, gnarled bushes grew in the clefts of the rocks. He was too tired to try to figure out how this moist land could exist in the middle of a desert, but was glad it was there. The sun shone dimly through the haze, robbed of its fierce heat.

  When the path widened, he stopped and put Tassin down, squatted beside her and patted her cheek until she opened her eyes. She glanced around at the weird landscape, then scowled at him.

  "You brought me into the Death Zone."

  "There's got to be water here."

  She closed her eyes. "What is the use? We will die anyway."

  "We'll get across it. Come on." He stood up and pulled her to her feet. "Can you walk?"

  She nodded, peering into the mist with deep dread. "We must arm ourselves."

  Sabre sighed and unstrapped the leather-bound bundle that contained the sword and dagger from his back, handing it to her. She staggered under its weight, shooting him a glare, then took out the dagger and handed back the sword.

  "You take it, it is too heavy."

  Sabre replaced the sword on his back while she buckled the sheathed dagger to her belt, then he led the way through the rocks, following the path that seemed to open before him. The thick mist caressed his skin with damp, silken skeins, beading his eyelashes with water.

  Flickers of green and brown shot through the landscape as if coloured lights shone within the rocks, and the terrain changed. Sabre stopped and gazed around at an eerily silent jungle. Soft, lawn-like grass sank under his feet, and glimpses of movement flitted amongst the trees. Behind him, Tassin hissed. Sabre glanced back, but the jungle surrounded them, and there was no sign of the rocks they had just come through.

  He frowned, lowering his gaze to her wary, amazed eyes. "Spooky."

  "Magic." Her expression was that of a condemned woman standing on the gallows.

  Sabre walked on, the grass cushioning his footfalls, and the silent jungle ignored them. He pushed past some bushes and gave a glad cry, striding forward. A deep, inviting pool nestled amongst lush tropical plants bearing bright crimson and yellow flowers. Falling to his knees, he scooped up the cool liquid and raised it to his parched lips. Tassin did the same, splashing it over her face with gay abandon and gulping it from her hands. The water was wrong somehow, though, for it did not quench his thirst, it seemed to only dampen it. He scooped up another handful with the same effect. Tassin splashed in the water, sucking up handfuls without any apparent relief.

  Sabre sat back and gripped her arm, pulling her away. "Wait, there's something wrong here, leave it."

  She stared at him with desolate eyes, her face set in lines of misery. "It is magic, not water at all, just an illusion to torture us. What could be worse than dying of thirst surrounded by water you cannot drink?"

  He nodded. "This is a weird place."

  Sabre's head jerked around at a purring chuckle close by. A strange creature sat atop a moss-covered rock less than a metre away. Tassin grabbed the hilt of her dagger, and Sabre looked inwards at the scanners. There was nothing on them. He double-checked, surprised. The jungle teemed with life, so why were the scanners not picking it up? He studied the creature, whose bright yellow eyes watched him from a black mask on a furry grey face. Pointed ears swivelled on top of its head, and a plump, fluffy grey body hunched forward, supported by monkey-like hands. The size of a cat, it bore a strong resemblance to a racoon.

  "That water won't do you any good," it stated, its soft voice emanating from it without the aid of its mouth, which remained closed. It was not telepathy, for Sabre distinctly heard it speak aloud, but it seemed to throw its voice like a ventriloquist. He relaxed, perceiving no threat from such a small creature.

  "What are you?"

  The racoon-like animal sat up, clasping its hands. "I'm a mosscat. I live here."

  "What's wrong with the water?"

  The mosscat's ears flicked. "It's Flux-reality, and you're too close to the fringe for Flux-reality to be solid."

  Sabre's parched throat burnt, overriding his curiosity. "Is there any real water around?"

  "Sure." The mosscat's ears pricked.

  "Will you take us there?"

  "I guess so." It sprang down from the rock, glancing over its shoulder. "Follow me."

  Sabre strode after it, his thirst driving all thoughts of danger from his mind, and Tassin was close behind him. The mosscat skirted the pool and dived into the undergrowth with Sabre crashing in pursuit. Soon it stopped by another, smaller pool that looked out of place in the scenery. It did not seem to belong, located, as it was, in the middle of a patch of moss-grass with no water weeds or rocks around it. Sabre scooped up the tepid liquid, which this time was truly wet, and slid down his throat like nectar. Tassin gulped it down as if afraid it would vanish before she had slaked her thirst, and Sabre pulled her away.

  "Not too much, or you'll be sick."

  "But I am thirsty!"

  "Wait a little while, then have some more." He turned to the mosscat to distract himself from his thirst. "Why is this water real, when that other pool wasn't?"

  "This is Real-reality; the other was Flux-reality."

  Sabre sat back on his haunches and regarded the creature. "Can you explain that more clearly?"

  "You're outsiders, aren't you?" Its lips drew back in a smile, revealing small, pointed white teeth.

  "Yes. So what?"

  The mosscat shrugged. "No matter." It settled more comfortably in the moss and scratched its chest. "Here in the Flux, things change all the time, you may have noticed." It waved a chubby hand. "This that you see is Flux-reality, and it will change again. Real-reality is hidden beneath it for the most part, but things like rocks and pools are often visible, if a little out of place, like that."

  It pointed at a tree that appeared to have a grey rock growing out of its trunk. "The rock is Real-reality, the tree is Flux, you see. Now, we're on the fringe of Flux, so Flux-reality is a bit unreal here. You can see an
d feel it, but it's not entirely there. In the middle of the Flux, Flux-reality is as real as Real-reality."

  The mosscat regarded them with large yellow eyes, awaiting a response, while Sabre tried to make sense of it.

  "So... there are two types of reality here, one that's real, and another that's not so real?"

  The mosscat nodded. "Correct."

  "Which do you belong to?"

  It gave a purring chuckle. "I'm real. If I was Flux, I would hardly be able to see you. You'd be like ghosts here, and you wouldn't be able to hear me."

  Sabre glanced around at the silent jungle. No wonder the scanners did not detect the life forms, but then, why were they unable to detect the mosscat either? He scooped up another handful of water and drank it, glancing at Tassin. She had dampened her skirt, and wiped the grime from her face, her eyes resting doubtfully on the mosscat.

  He turned back to it. "Is it dangerous here? Outside, they call this the Death Zone."

  "Life here is always dangerous, especially further in. Things change with little warning, and there are odd beasts too. I choose to live here on the fringe, where Flux-reality is not a threat, but still there are Real-reality creatures that are almost as bad, though not as common."