Slave Empire - Prophecy

On Vengeance’s bridge, Marcon looked up from his holograms and announced, “We’ve just received another signal, Commander, dead ahead again.”

  Tallyn’s expression was grim. “Time delay?”

  “Still more than two days.”

  “The same heading.”

  “Do you want to call for an escort before we go any further into this area, sir?”

  “No, continue.”

  Rawn asked, “What’s so dangerous about where we’re going?”

  Tallyn turned to him. “The signal is leading us into an area of space that’s notorious for outlaws and petty tyrants. That in itself isn’t of great concern, since Vengeance is a battle cruiser and few can hope to match her. But we’re heading into the territory of a particularly nasty and... powerful tyrant. Since we left Gergonia, the trail has led straight here, so there’s little hope that it’s going to change its heading now.”

  “So who is this tyrant you’re so concerned about?”

  “He’s known as the Shrike, and he has a particularly bad reputation of hostility towards intruders. He has a large fleet, and is considered dangerous. No doubt one of his buyers purchased Rayne on Gergonia and took her to one of his bases. They have no reason to harm her, I assure you. As a valuable slave, she’ll be treated well.”

  Rawn studied the commander’s tense face. Since Rayne’s abduction, Tallyn had put on a convincing façade of bluff confidence and unconcern, but Rawn could tell he was worried. He wondered how much of Tallyn’s concern came from Rayne’s abduction, and how much was because she had fallen into the hands of this particular slaver. Putting aside his worries, Rawn asked the question that had been burning in his mind since they left Atlan.

  “Just how are you tracking her? What’s this signal you’re following?”

  Tallyn hesitated, shooting him a guilty look. “When you were brought to Atlan, you were both fitted with cyber implants. It’s standard procedure, so one day you can be trained to use them to link with our data nets and such, but they also serve as beacons.”

  Rawn rubbed the spot above his left ear, which, although he had no scar there, was where the terrible headaches had started in the weeks after their testing and immunisation. He quelled the hot words that sprang onto his tongue. “Beacons. So you can always track us down.”

  “For your safety. We’re your guardians. We have to be able to keep you safe.”

  “You didn’t do a very good job with Rayne, did you?”

  “A slip. It won’t happen again, and we’ll find her.”

  Rawn glared at him. “When you do, we’re having these things taken out of our heads. Got it?”

  “If not for the beacon, we’d have very little chance of ever finding her again. That implant will save her life.”

  “You put these things in our heads without our permission, and you’ll remove them if we tell you to!”

  Tallyn made a calming gesture. “You can’t have them removed. They’re considered compulsory in our society. Without them, you wouldn’t be able to use the space net, drive a car, hell, even some doors won’t open for you. We all have one.”

  Rawn frowned at Marcon. “You do?”

  Marcon nodded. “Most of the interfacing done here is through the implants. Atlanteans have them fitted at a young age, and they’re used for most everyday transactions between us and machines. Cars, databases, medical facilities, purchasing, selling, whatever’s done through the space net or with machines requires a cyber implant’s codes. It’s also how we convert our thoughts into signals that machines can understand.”

  “Then we’ll keep that part of them, but the beacons must go.”

  “That’s not for you to decide,” Tallyn said. “Yours will be deactivated if that’s what you want, but it’s up to Rayne to make her decision. After what she’s been through, she might want to keep it.”

  “Fine. As long as she knows what you did to her and has a choice, which she should have had in the first place. I don’t like the fact that we were never consulted about it, asked if we wanted it, or even told we had the damned things. You treated us like animals.”