Free The Cyber Chronicles IV - Cyborg by T C Southwell Page B

out the code of your enemy’s cyber and
changed your override’s code to disable his cyber?”
    “ How would you get his cyber’s code?”
    “ From his override?”
    Trevare
chuckled. “I suppose it’s possible, in theory, but anyone who
doesn’t keep his override locked up in a super-secure place is an
idiot. A lot of people give their override to the cyber it controls
for safekeeping.”
    “ But if he malfunctions…”
    “ As I said, that’s never happened.”
    “ I heard an override will self-destruct if you try to tamper
with it,” Kole said.
    “ That would make sense.” Trevare nodded. “That would eliminate
any risk at all.”
    “ The guys at Myon Two have thought of everything, I
reckon.”
    “ Couldn’t you capture the code, somehow?” Tassin asked. “I
mean, if you had a receiver? Wouldn’t that tell you the code
without tampering with the override?”
    Trevare
grinned. “She’s a smart girl, this one. Beauty and brains! I love
it.” He sobered. “Again, in theory, that would work, but you’d need
to know the frequency in order to get the code, and that’s highly
classified. To find the frequency through trial and error would
take… years, probably. There are a massive number of frequencies to
search, and you’d have to change your receiver’s frequency by a
micro-wavelength each time. And even if you found it, you’d still
have the huge problem of getting your hands on the other guy’s
override. Nah, no one’s ever tried it. If you want to kill a guy
who owns a cyber, the best way is to get your own, or hire an
assassin. I mean, even a guy who has cyber protection isn’t
completely invulnerable.”
    “ Pretty close, though,” Kole remarked.
    Tassin sighed.
“This is all very interesting, but it’s not helping with my
problem.”
    “ You only have one option, the way I see it,” Trevare said.
“You’ve got to go to Dojan Five and kidnap a high-level control
unit tech and make him remove the patch.”
    She nodded.
“That sounds like an excellent idea.”
    “ Sure, why not?” Kole looked a bit sour. “I’m deep in the shit
with Myon Two now, anyway. Why not add kidnapping to the
list?”
    “ I’d be really grateful,” Tassin said.
    Trevare shot
Kole an unreadable smile. “She’d be really grateful.”
    “ I heard.” The hacker turned to face his screen again. “I’ll
see who’s on holiday right now.”
    “ How did your identity change go?” she asked.
    “ All done. Transferred my funds and even made a profit.” He
typed on his keyboard. “Let’s see… Well, there’s one bigwig on
Dojan right now. A guy called Previd Malatar. He’s a department
head… Yup, head of control unit research. Maybe not ideal, because
he’s such a bigwig he’ll be missed soon and searched for
diligently, but there isn’t another contech going on holiday on
Dojan for another month.”
    “ I can’t wait that long.”
    “ Yeah, didn’t think so. Still, we have a cyber, I guess, and
that makes stuff like this so much easier.”
    “ We’re going to use Sabre to grab him?”
    “ That’s the idea. We might as well use him. We’re doing it for
him, after all.”
    She nodded. “I
guess so. When can we go?”
    “ Not just yet. I want the furore to die down a bit, and
besides, I still have stuff to do here.”
    “ Tomorrow?”
    He shot her an
amused look. “Maybe.”
    “ Please?”
    “ Pretty please with a cherry on top?”
    “ Two cherries.”
    “ How can I say no to that?”
    She smiled. “I
hope you won’t.”
    “ I wouldn’t,” Trevare said.
     
    ****
     
    Tassin
followed Kole out of the ship and onto the spaceport apron on the
resort world of Dojan Five. Numerous shiny leisure craft were
parked around the edge of the spaceport, and Striker did not look
out of place amongst them, being an expensive leisure craft
herself, although armed, unlike most of the others. Her armaments
were well concealed, however. Sabre walked a pace behind Tassin,
and they passed