The Cyber Chronicles VII - Sabre Read Online Free Page A

fifty-five thousand people, caused
some spacial distortions as it outstripped light speed several
hundred times over. In fact, the Scorpion Ship was not really
designed as a light ship, since it was too large, and it had solar
wings primarily as a backup system, in case his translocation
generators and the tunnel drive failed. In order to capture a ship
in a photon corridor, however, he had to enter it and match its
speed. The solar wings, vast webs of negatively charged
electromagnetic power confined in a stasis field, propelled the
ship by capturing the speeding photons and reversing them, which
provided basically unlimited forward thrust, since the faster the
ship went, the more the streaming photons were overtaken and the
inverted particles moved backwards quicker.
     
    ****
     
    Tassin stared
at the worn metal floor in Tarl’s cabin and blinked back the tears
that stung her eyes, determined not to cry. She sat on a bunk,
which was a little more comfortable than the cold metal chairs. The
cabin’s dull greyness and cramped confines were depressing, but a
relief after the tension of the bridge and the Trykons’
ill-concealed scorn and hostility. Without Sabre’s protection, only
his former status with the warriors kept them safe, and she
wondered how long that would last. If he had died on the enforcer
ship, she did not give much for their continued freedom or good
health. The possibility that he was gone did not bear thinking
about, however, and she refused to believe it. Tarl sat on the bunk
opposite, looking stunned and forlorn. She raised her head and
glanced at the door.
    "I'm going to
ask Atrel if I can call Fairen. The enforcers must have stopped
jamming us by now; we've been in a corridor for two hours."
    "He won't let
you."
    "He wants to
save Sabre, doesn't he?"
    "If his pride
doesn't get the better of him," Tarl said.
    "I don't think
Atrel's as bad as the rest. He seems reasonable." She stood up. "If
he won't, we'll just have to use the lasers again."
    "They
confiscated them after the last time, remember?"
    "Didn't Sabre
get them back?"
    Tarl shook his
head. "I didn't tell him that they'd taken them. Did you?"
    "No." She sat
down again, slumped with dejection. "Then I'll just have to hope
Atrel will let me. Last time I asked, he didn't say no."
    The door
opened, and Atrel filled it, two warriors flanking him. Tassin's
heart leapt with hope that he had good news, or was here to give
her permission to use the communications device. His gaze swept
over them.
    "Overlord
Fairen requests your presence on his ship. We'll be docking with it
shortly."
    "He came!"
Relief made Tassin dizzy, and she wanted to laugh. "Sabre must have
activated the distress beacon when he was taken. Has Fairen rescued
him already?"
    "He didn't
say. Bring your possessions. You will not be returning." Atrel was
clearly disgusted that Fairen had requested two non-coms instead of
him.
    Tarl went over
to a cupboard and pulled out his bag, stuffing his few spare
clothes and oddments into it. Tassin brushed past Atrel and ran to
her cabin to collect her things. When she returned, Atrel was gone,
leaving the two warriors to escort them to the docking port, where
four black-uniformed soldiers waited. She was amazed to discover
that the Trykon warship was berthed in a docking bay so vast that
the destroyer seemed like a toy. Quite a large one, but the sheer
size of the docking bay dwarfed it. Fairen's crewmen guided her
through the Scorpion Ship's black-walled corridors to his control
room, where the young Overlord sat on his massive throne, his
bright blue eyes filled with worry and his level black brows drawn
together. Tassin ran to the dais, dropped her bags and inclined her
head. Behind her, Tarl bowed.
    "Where's
Sabre?" she burst out, unable to control her desperate need for
news of him.
    Fairen's brows
rose. "Greetings, Queen Tassin."
    "Forgive me,
Overlord Fairen, I'm so worried about him. Thank you for
coming."
    "Regrettably,
I don't know