The Cyber Chronicles VIII - Scorpion Lord Read Online Free PDF

"What the...?"
    "He's not
under cyber control," Jorran informed them. "He intends to wipe out
-"
    Sabre smacked
Jorran on the back of the head, making him wince and clasp it,
grimacing. "Shut up. You lot, get over here, now!"
    The technician
who was furthest away turned and bolted down the row, his white
coat flapping. Sabre cursed and picked up a com-unit from the
console, hurling it at the fleeing man. It hit him on the back of
the head, and he went sprawling.
    "Go fetch him
and bring him here. Now!"
    Two techs ran
to the unconscious man and dragged him back, dumped him on the
floor and joined the little group of hostages. Sabre nodded. "Good,
now stay there. Anyone moves, they die."
    Jumping onto
the console again, he continued to rip out cables, while Cyber
Fifteen started on another row of wombs. More than half the wombs
were dark now, and he worked faster, knowing enforcers would arrive
soon. The metal-sheathed cables scraped his palms, but he ignored
the pain, intent on his mission. Reaching the end of the console,
he walked back to the other side, where the last eight cables
remained intact. Pulling them out, he jumped down and approached
the group of hostages. Estrelle’s eyes shimmered with tears.
    Sabre frowned
at her. "What the hell are you blubbering about?"
    "They're just
babies."
    "They're unborn cannon fodder! Destined for nothing but
suffering and slavery until they're incinerated at age forty!
Do not presume to
judge me. I wish someone had done this for me. When you've worn a
control unit for your entire life, then you can judge!" He turned
away, then swung back. "Do you go and play with the toddlers in
their pens? Huh? Have you ever dandled a cyber host on your
knee?"
    She shook her
head, bowing it.
    "But now,
they're babies! Give me a break, you hypocritical cow! They're
better off dead."
    He started to
stride away, then turned back. "Get over here! Surround me and take
me to the sensory deprivation department, and get a move on!"
    The group
gathered around him, Estrelle moving in front to lead the way out
of a side door and into another vast chamber filled with rows and
rows of incubators, as they were called. They were the pods in
which the new-borns were encased in form-foam until they were a
year old. As they passed along one of the rows, heading for the
door at the far end, Sabre stopped and broke open a pod. Lifting
out a baby, he handed him to Estrelle.
    "Here, have a
baby. Now tell me he's not normal."
    Estrelle held
the child in trembling hands, tears running down her cheeks. The
baby gazed up at her with wide grey eyes and raised a chubby hand
to try to touch her face, a smile dimpling his cherub visage. To
Sabre's surprise, she cooed to the baby, who giggled and waved his
arms in delight.
    "That's the
first human contact he's ever had," he said. "Does he look
brain-dead to you?"
    She shook her
head, then shouts came from behind them, and he shoved her towards
the door in the far wall. "Get moving."
    The next door
slid open when they reached it, and they entered yet another vast
room, this one dark. Rows of tanks filled it, each one containing a
five-year-old boy floating in viscous fluid, tubes feeding him air
and nutriments. Each boy had glinting golden control unit on his
brow, the lights flickering in bright patterns of red and green.
Some moved with torpid lethargy, their faces twisted in grimaces,
their eyes wide at the light that shone in through the open door
behind Sabre. He went over to a bank of switches beside the door
and swept his hand across it, flooding the room with light.
    "This is where
they lose all hope," he said. "This is where their lives are
finally stolen away."
    Sabre went
over to the control panel beyond the light switches, but there were
no exposed cables to rip out. He glared at the panel of flashing
lights and digital readouts, gripping the edge with a growl of
fury.
    "Bastards!" he
shouted.
    Sabre's face
twisted, and his brow band turned electric blue. Jorran gaped