The Cyber Chronicles IV - Cyborg Read Online Free PDF

the sword in its crystal form and posted it for sale
online, explaining how it all worked. So far, she had received only
one low offer for it, which he had advised her to ignore. Today, he
wore black leather trousers and a natty black leather jacket over a
scarlet silk shirt.
    He glanced at
the sign above the door of the warehouse in front of them. “This is
the place. Bartam’s Import and Export. Probably a smuggler. He’s
got two cybers.”
    Tassin sighed.
Over the past two days they had inspected fifteen cybers, and this
was the fourth place they had visited that day. She wondered if
Sabre was in the city at all, and the prospect of searching the
entire planet was unappealing, to say the least. She would never
give up, but seeing so many men who looked so like Sabre, but were
not him, was disheartening. They had all stared through her with
unfocussed eyes, and none of them had looked exactly like him. Some
had had scars or tattoos or disfigurements, one had had a milky eye
and another had been missing an ear. All the privately owned ones
had been battle scarred, even the ones who were younger than Sabre.
She dreaded that when she found him, he would be horribly
mutilated. Kole headed for the door, then paused and glanced
back.
    “ Coming?”
    Tassin nodded
and followed him into a dim, cavernous interior whose farthest
reaches were hidden by piles of crates and boxes. Just inside and
to the right of the door, a muscular man sat behind an untidy desk
in a tatty office with a glass door and big windows, which a
flickering light illuminated. Swirling, abstract tattoos decorated
his bald scalp and a scar pulled the edge of his left eye down. He
wore a grimy sleeveless black leather jacket and tough brown
trousers, a laser strapped to his thigh. Kole shot her a meaningful
glance, and she knew what he was thinking. Such a disreputable
looking man might be dangerous. He munched a sandwich, and looked
up with a scowl as she and Kole approached.
    “ We’re closed,” he said.
    “ You must be Bartam?” Kole asked.
    “ Nah, he’s away. I’m Vorn.”
    “ We’re not actually here to buy any goods. We want to see your
cybers.”
    “ What for?”
    Kole cleared
his throat and glanced at Tassin. “Well, we’re looking for a
particular unit, which has sentimental value to the lady. We’ll pay
top price.”
    “ They’re not for sale. Anyway, they’re away.”
    “ When are they due back?”
    “ They’re not for sale.”
    Kole leant
closer. “Like I said, if one of them is the one we’re looking for,
we’ll pay whatever you ask. Price is no problem.”
    “ Like I said, they’re not for sale, and they’re not
here.”
    “ We’ll wait, then.”
    “ What part of ‘they’re not for sale’ don’t you get?”
    “ The part where you said ‘at any price’,” Kole
replied.
    Vorn, whom
Tassin was now convinced was a smuggler, grunted and returned his
attention to his sandwich. “Why would you want a beat up
second-hand cyber when you can afford to buy a new one?”
    “ The lady’s attached, like I said.”
    Tassin gazed
through the windows into the warehouse while they argued, content
to let Kole fight the battle. She was tired. Every time she
inspected another strange cyber, her heart sank a little more and
despair took a firmer hold of it. Leaving the office, she headed
back out of the front doors and paused, then went around the side
of the warehouse, drawn by the sound of voices.
    Tassin rounded the corner and stopped. A shuttle had just
landed about fifty metres away, and four men climbed out of it. Two
of them were cybers, and her eyes were drawn to one as he slung a
laser rifle over his shoulder, turning his head to scan his
surroundings. Her breath stopped and her heart hammered with a
strange mixture of joy and anguish. She swallowed the lump that
threatened to choke her and walked closer on shaking legs. He was a
little thinner than she remembered and his hair was shorn to
stubble, but she did not need