Ray Gun Revival Magazine, Issue 43, May 2008

Issue 43 May 2008
Pg. 2
Ray Gun Revival
Table of Contents
Overlords (Founders / Editors): 2 Table of Contents
Johne Cook, L. S. King, Paul Christian Glenn 3 Overlords’ Lair
Venerable Staff: 5 Golden Opportunity
by Andy Heizeler
A.M. Stickel - Managing Copyeditor 10 The Weight of the World
Shannon McNear - Lord High Advisor, grammar consultant, listening
ear/sanity saver for Overlord Lee by Gordon Ross Lanser
17 The One Chosen
Paul Christian Glenn - PR, sounding board, strong right hand by Robert Mancebo
L. S. King - Lord High Editor, proofreader, beloved nag, muse, 32 No Good Deed
webmistress An Aston West Tale
Johne Cook - art wrangler, desktop publishing, chief cook and bottle by T.M.Hunter
washer 35 Featured Artist - Bryan Dale Norton
41 Calamity’s ChildChapter Two, Part Two: Potlatch
Slushmasters (Submissions Editors): by M. Keaton
John M. Whalen 53 A Couple of Hours in Coreytown
David Wilhelms A Jack Brand Story
Alice M. Roelke by John M. Whalen
Scott M. Sandridge 62 Deuces Wild, Season Two
Shari L. Armstrong Chapter 3: Fractured Facets, Part Three
Jack Willard by L. S. King
Serial Authors: 67 The Adventures of the Sky Pirate
Sean T. M. Stiennon Chapter 22, The Confessions of Dangerous Men
John M. Whalen by Johne Cook
Ben Schumacher 77 Memory Wipe
M Keaton Chapter 20, On The Rails
Lee S. King by Sean T. M. Stiennon
Paul Christian Glenn 85 The RGR Time Capsule - April 2008
Johne Cook
Cover Art: “Cold Planet II” by Bryan Dale Norton

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Ray Gun Revival magazine Issue 43, May 2008
Pg. 3
Overlords’ Lair
W ith this issue, Ray Gun Revival magazine you a new artist with each issue with very few
switches from a biweekly format to a exceptions. I love uncovering fresh new talent
monthly format. There were a number of and exposing them to our faithful readers.
reasons for that, none of which are very
interesting. From a practical standpoint, going to a monthly
format makes it more likely that RGR will
It is true the burden to put out an original continue forward for the foreseeable future.
publication every two weeks is eased, but from A monthly magazine will be more sustainable,
my vantage, the most practical benefit is that and that’s good for everybody.
we won’t be burning through the pool of new
digital sci-fi artists at such an accelerated rate. We have one housekeeping announcement.
We’ve had such a great run of talented cover We are pleased to welcome aboard a new
artists that I was a little guilty of taking one of slushpile editor, or Slushmaster, as we call
our primary strengths for granted. However, as them. Alice Roelke has joined the staff and will
I looked around at the untapped sci-fi artists at be helping to shape what appears here in the
deviantart.com, I realized that the collection pages of RGR. Please welcome her onboard.
of really good sci-fi artists there is not infinite, RGR wouldn’t be what it is without the tireless
and we’d already chewed through a good efforts of a lot of people who love space
percentage of the ‘known’ artists. Reverting opera and golden age sci-fi. Even space opera
from biweekly to monthly should give us a isn’t created in a vaccuum, heh, and RGR is a
more realistic chance to continue offering the collaborative project, a joint effort produced by
kind of stunning cover art that we’re known for a community of smart, passionate readers and
without exhausting the well. authors and fans. If you enjoy the magazine
at all, it is because of their efforts. It is a great
I noticed that while there are a kabillion artists blessing and joy to take part in this project with
doing fantasy artwork, there is limited pool fellow dreamers and aficionados.
of really great sci-fi works and artists, and
the realization frankly spooked me. As much We have a lot of content in this issue, so let’s
as I love the stories of the past space opera get right to it.
masters, I’d underestimated the impact of all
those great covers. Even now, if you ask me to Johne Cook
picture my favorite books, I am likely to think Overlord, RGR
of the cover art as I think about those books. Breezeway, Wisconsin
Michael Whalen is responsible for many of May, 2008
my memories, and he is one artist. We bring

Pg. 4

Golden Opportunity by Andy Heizeler Pg. 5
Golden Opportunity
by Andy Heizeler
“Y ou can’t be serious!” said Captain Sedona,

crossing her arms. Dean leaned back in
the pilot’s chair of the Tachyon Valkyrie and
Dean nodded happily. “I suggest we set a
course for Planet Mall first.”
When they took their seats, Dean patted
Captain Sedona on her highly manicured
hand.
smiled. “Why there?”
“You did excellently on the carpet,
“Just because it’s impossible, doesn’t mean Dean looked her up and down, always a Sugarplum.”
we can’t do it,” he said, punching a few buttons pleasurable activity. Wearing the black leather
to magnify the map of New Londonium on the of an Echelon test pilot complemented all of “Call me Sugarplum again and you’ll see
view screen. It was the capitol city of Orson her generous curves. how sharp these heels are.” she whispered,
Two and was noted for having the tightest never dropping her smile. Dean tried not to
“Because I’m going to need a suit, and think about how well Arc was getting along
security of any neutral world. For that very you, my dear lady, are going to need a dress. with spaceport surveillance, and simply waited
reason it had been chosen as the site of the Captain, we‘re going to an auction.” in radio silence for the auction to begin.
Galaxy’s most prestigious auction house.
“We’ll start,” said Dean, “By calling in # #
a bomb threat to make the security even
tighter,” he finished, cycling up the transmis- One leg crossed in front of the other as “Nice to meet you Bob. Dick Evans, IntroSec
sion scrambler. she walked, stepping down on black stilettos Consulting,” said Arc, extending his hand. Bob
that echoed across the marble. Her dress was shook it and handed back Arc’s lighter. They
“You’re insane.” a swirl of violet lace against smooth dark skin stood outside the main surveillance tower
that left no heads unturned, which made Dean enjoying caffeinated cigarettes and talking
“The difference between insanity and nearly invisible on her arm. shop.
genius is defined by profit margin,” said Dean.
The lavish auction hall was crowded with “So, have you guys upgraded to the UniSpy
“And you think we can actually pull this the rich and famous from every corner of the Omnipresence Twenties yet or are you still on
off?” she scoffed. Dean had to forgive her. This galaxy: nobles from the Pure Human Coalition, the old Parabolics?” asked Arc, trying not to
was their first job together after all. representatives from the Post Martian Federa- sound too patronizing. Bob was obliging.
“It’ll take the whole crew, careful preparation, wealthy merchants from the Greater Star
tion and some good old fashioned piracy, but Republic, freeholders from the Independent “Neither. Thanks to last week’s bomb threat,
yes. We’ll not only pull this off, we’ll do it in Star Alliance and android avatars from the everything’s been upgraded last minute. Got
style,” said Dean slyly. Digital Theocracy of Echelon. the last mods installed just two days ago, and
we’re working off the new Gnat-Cam series
Captain Sedona shook her head. The event was being covered by the from Atom-Tech,” said Bob.
Galactic News Network as well as reporters
“We’re actually going to try to steal the from all the minor services. They had been “Really? I haven’t gotten to see those
Golden Record from Voyager One?” she said introduced on the red carpet as Mr. and Mrs. yet. Just between you and me my consulting
disbelievingly. Maxwell Von Brooklyn of New Sealyham. company’s corporate big wigs are in bed with

the vendors from UniSpy,” said Arc disgustedly, looked around at the thousands of ships. Their ago on July Seventh, Twenty Nine Fifty by a
blowing his smoke high as if he didn’t care what uniforms were grey and yellow with silver salvage team working for Mr. Harvey L. Dart of
happened next. Bob, as predicted, felt graced buttons and each carried heavy bags. Dart Industries.
with insider info.
“You look nice in uniform, Creon,” said Cloey, Today’s bidding on this fabulous time
“You should see the resolution on these being kind. A seven-foot-tall, scar-covered ex- capsule will begin at two hundred million Post
things,” said Bob eagerly. Arc shook his head. mercenary had a hard time looking nice in Martian Federation Standard Credits.”
anything. She liked Creon though; he was a big
“I wish I could. If they’re as good as I read teddy bear. Dean felt excitement rippling through the
about in GSW, I might just jump ship and gathered crowd. The bidding was fast, as this
become a vendor for Atom-Tech.” Arc had been “You too,” he said uncomfortably, pulling was one of the key items in today’s auction,
reading Galactic Security World Magazine for at the tie that was determined to choke him along with the Voyager spacecraft itself, the
years and he knew that anyone else who read to death. He peered around the lot, trying not remains of the Pioneer 10 and it’s dented plate,
it called it GSW as well. to wish they hadn’t stashed all their weapons and the laser pistol carried by Sam Dodge of
on an asteroid. With the inside-out searches of the Galactic Rangers.
“I don’t know about that. They don’t tell their ship by umpteen different security teams
you everything in those articles. Hey, why not from every backwater planet in the galaxy, they “I want Dodge’s laser pistol,” said Captain
come up and take a look at the monitors?” couldn’t afford to have anything incriminating Sedona longingly.
“I can’t. I lost my escort badge. This is our on the ship. It didn‘t mean he had to like it. “Never mind that, get ready to drive up the
last night here and I’ll never get a replacement All around them, walking through the lots, bidding,” muttered Dean.
in time,” he said with resigned discontent. Bob security teams from several different worlds
shook his head. The bids climbed higher and higher, with
patrolled. They were all hired to protect the the less wealthy dropping out early. After the
auction from bombers.
“Hey, you’re talking to a supervisor here. flurry died down, it came to the two bidders
I’ll get Terry to grab a visitor’s badge from the Tap…tap, tap. who were truly serious: Mrs. Maxwell Von
book for you. Come on.” Brooklyn and Lord Aaron Nigel Webster of the
Creon looked at Cloey and grinned. She Pure Human Coalition.
Arc felt a wash of relief as the surveillance looked back and nodded; she had picked up
supervisor led him into the building. He slipped the micro-receiver transmission too. Arc was “We have three point two billion from Lord
his hand in his pocket and tapped the lighter. A in. Webster. Do I hear three point three?” asked
little voice inside him was screaming this was the hopeful auctioneer.
a trap, but he ignored the voice. It thought #
everything was a trap. Dean tugged at his sleeve.
“Launched from Old Home Earth in “It looks like Lord Webster has beaten us,
# Nineteen Hundred and Seventy Seven of the my dear.” Captain Sedona adopted a mask of
Common Era, the Voyager One and Two space- defeat and shook her head ever so slightly.
Cloey adjusted the security officer ball crafts each carried one of these gorgeous
cap on Creon’s head before he got up off his golden disks. Voyager Two is lost forever and “Going once…going twice..”
knees from tightening his boot straps. They presumed destroyed by an interstellar asteroid,
walked down the ramp of the Tachyon Valkyrie but Voyager One was recovered just two years #
into the brightly lit spaceport parking lot and

“Sold!” heard Arc in his micro-receiver. a carrying handle marked as a P-23 Neutron company. The little black cube contained what
Radiation Scanner. In Creon’s was a cylinder was known as the Base Fifty Thousand Coordi-
“I like the real-time data interpolation,” marked Air Samples along with a micro-com- nates, from which all jumps were calculated by
said Arc enthusiastically, pointing to a bank pressor. the computer. Cloey unplugged it and quickly
of screens on the right. Bob crossed his arms, replaced it with one that looked identical from
glowing in pride at having coordinated the “Air samples?” asked Brent. inside her Neutron Scanner. But inside that
system configuration. brain box was only one location.
“Hey, I just get paid to take ’em, buddy. I
“So if I wanted so see the names attached don’t care what the lab does with it,” said “Hey, what are you doing?” asked the
to these space ships and their lot numbers, all I Creon. He was clearly discontent with the job, engineer, coming at her quickly. She dropped
would have to do is say ’display names,’ right?” which bought him sympathy from the guards the box into her bag and slipped the cover
said Arc. As he finished, the names all appeared on the ramp. closed on her scanner as she came up.
over the spaceships.
“Okay, you guys are clear. Wipe your boots “I was just admiring this bypass array,” she
“Well, there you have it!” said Bob happily. on the mat before you go in though, would said in a tone of deep reverence, which stopped
Arc nodded in genuine approval. you? The maintenance crew keeps chewing us him dead.
out about it,” said Brent.
“Nice, very nice,” he said, tapping the lighter “You know Bohm Drives?” he asked,
in his pocket, first eight, then three times. Once on board they headed for the rear sounding as if he were falling in love. Cloey
of the ship. Cloey was ‘scanning’ while Creon smiled with deep warmth.
# pretended to take air samples. They entered
the engineering bay only to find it occupied by “They’re my life,” she said honestly. “How
“I’m afraid we’re going to have to inspect the chief engineer. Great, thought Cloey. did you compensate for energy fluctuations in
your ship, gentlemen,” said Cloey politely. The the implicate-order transhifter?”
two ship security guards standing before the ing“Can I help you?” asked the flustered-look-
little man from behind his goggles. Creon listened to make sure they were
ramp of the Pure Human Coalition Star Yacht engrossed in techno babble before heading for
Limitless Endeavour in Lot 83 looked at each “Just doing a security sweep,” she said the environmental systems on the other side
other in exasperation. cheerfully. He rolled his eyes and looked ready of the engineering bay. Lined up along the wall
“Yea, yea we know. Standard procedure, to go back to wrenching on an injector. were several super compression tanks marked
bomb threat. We’ll have to see what’s in your Emergency Oxygen.
“Hey you! I need you remove this panel,”
bags before you go aboard,” said the one on said Creon near an air duct in the corridor just With the utmost care he unscrewed one of
the right, a young fellow with a shiny name around the bend. Cloey shrugged as the little the secondary tanks and put his own tank in
tag. engineer grabbed his tools in exasperation. its place. He peeled the label off the new tank,
“My pleasure, Mr. Brent,” said Cloey happily, revealing the Emergency Oxygen markings
“Fine! I’m coming,” he said as if he had done
opening up her bag along with Creon. These the same thing five times already that day, beneath. He placed it on the tank he had just
guys were Pure Human Coalition, which in which he had. Cloey got to work. She slid around taken and rubbed it to make it stick.
Cloey’s eyes were no better than the Nazi’s of behind the huge oblong cylinder of the Bohm He then took out his screwdriver and
her time. Drive and knelt down near brain box—each FTL removed the valve handle, shifting it ninety
In her bag they found a blocky device with jump engine had one, all made by the same degrees before putting it back on. He then

opened the valve wide, with it appearing still “Cloey, you ready with that valve control laughter. Some even pointed at the invaders
closed. Inside the tank a hidden valve kept transmitter?” asked Dean over the static-rid- as they stepped over them, searching for the
what was inside safely compressed. dled intercom. golden record.
“I’ve got my samples,” announced Creon. “Sure thing, Dean. Just give me the word.” They found it in Lord Webster’s private
quarters where he had been listening to it on
“Oh, I’ve got to go,” said Cloey with obvious Dean looked over at Creon, now in battle a specially made phonograph. Dean took the
displeasure. The engineer, whose name was armor and holding one of his favorite assault entire set-up as Lord Webster laughed so hard
“D..Del..Delbert” was devastated. pulsers. Captain Sedona was back in black he cried.
leather, and Dean was wearing jeans and a
“So soon?” he asked, having just started in tie-dye T-Shirt bearing the logo “Save The Before they left, Dean set their original
the explanation of how he had masterminded Endorphins.” On his hip he sported an ancient brain box module down on a table in the dining
a way to improve frequency shift efficiency. K-Series laser pistol acquired at a pawn shop. room. There was no point in stranding them
Cloey leaned forward and whispered in his He nodded to Captain Sedona. in inter-galactic space forever; without any
comms relays out this far, it would have been
ear. The little man turned a bright shade of red “All right, Arc. Jump!” As soon as she finished the end of them.
as she walked off, trailing a finger along his speaking, the Tachyon Valkyrie vanished from
chin. the explicate order and reappeared instantly in That’s when the trouble started. Dean’s
another part of space, only ten meters off the heart sank as he heard Creon’s big bass voice
# nose of the stranded Limitless Endeavour. break out in uncontrolled laughter. He spun
just in time to see Creon with his mask seal
“Cycle up the lifters and get us out of here, “Now, Cloey,” shouted Dean. broken, weaving towards him.
Arc,” ordered Captain Sedona, taking off her “Take us up to their airlock and dock,” “Creon, no!” screamed Dean, but it was too
heels in the cargo bay. The big ramp was closed ordered Captain Sedona. A few minutes later late. The ex-mercenary was on top of him in a
and Creon was hastily unbuttoning his shirt, the incoming transmission lamp was glowing
having thrown the tie up onto the railing. fit of giggles, and in moments Dean’s mask was
on the low band receiver. Dean looked to the torn off.
“Now for the fun part, Captain,” said Dean, Captain. She nodded, so he flipped it.
carefully folding his suit jacket. Cloey was Dean and Creon were still kicking their feet
“Hahahahaha, oooh, wooooo… Hey, this is... in laughter when the heel of Captain Sedona’s
already in her pink coveralls but had left the waaaa-hahahahah! Help.” laser pistol knocked them unconscious.
security ball cap on.
The sinister cocktail of THC gas and nitrous
They all held on as the Tachyon Valkyrie oxide #
lifted off, piloted by Arc, while sitting on the smiled were having a powerful effect. Dean
in satisfaction as the ships perfectly
old broken down couch in the mess lounge. “Friends of space, how are you all? Have you
lined up due to Arc‘s precision piloting. All
eaten yet? Come visit us if you have the time,”
Two hours later they had all changed three members of the boarding party slipped said the Golden Record in Amoy, translated by
clothes, recovered the weapons they had re-breathers over their mouths and noses the nanofibers in everyone’s ears.
stashed on the asteroid, and were now getting before entering the airlock, weapons ready.
ready to jump to the designated coordinates “Nice try, but I know what the restaurants
Inside the Limitless Endeavor, the crew and
where their prey would be waiting. passengers were rolling on the deck-plates in charge there,” said Dean, holding a bag of
frozen peas on his head. Captain Sedona made a

shushing motion as they all sipped champagne

in the mess lounge. Dean was between Cloey
Andy Heizeler artillery training radio-plane drones in the
swamps of Fort Stewart)enjoying the beauty
and Arc on the couch, while Creon sat at the
table with a sandwich. The THC in the gas had David Bridgette started writing at the age of our National Park System, debating the
given him a terrible case of the munchies. of ten in 1985 on a Tandy TRS-80 Computer. nature of the universe, and reading science
By 1995 he had enough rejection slips to fiction.
Despite the lump on his head, Dean was
pleased. The mission had been a success and account for the shrinking rainforests. Off and
they already had a black market buyer lined on he continued writing in spurts, submitting
up. As it turned out, the Greater Star Repub- randomly but mostly pursuing the art of daily
lic’s Museum of Science and Industry had a living (as opposed to the art of daily starving).
long chain of underground contacts with deep
pockets. He joined the Army in 2001 after the terrorist
“Hello to everyone. We are happy here and attacks of 9/11 and has deployed to Iraq a total
you be happy there.” said the Golden Record in of three times. During his third deployment, at
Rajasthani. the age of 32, he decided after a near miss—
Considering how things were going, Dean which is just as safe as a far miss, only more
didn’t think that would be hard to do at all. personal—by a mortar round that it was
time to achieve his dream of being published.
The pen name Andy Heizeler was created

as a conglomeration of the initials of his
favorite authors, under which he created
a series of stories about Dean the Space
Rogue. The first Dean the Space Rogue
story to be accepted will be appearing in
the anthology Star Stepping by Wild Child
Press. The second, but first chronologically,
Dean the Space Rogue, appeared in Ray
Gun Revival #40, with another Galactic
Saviors, that is set to appear in an upcoming
issue of Newmyths.com magazine.
David’s hobbies include amateur drone

hunting with his lovely wife Kit, mostly
stumbling upon downed 1940’s anti-aircraft

The Weight of the World by Gordon Ross Lanser Pg. 10
The Weight of the World

by Gordon Ross Lanser
T he observation station floated above

patches of purple clouds, and Tiffany Mar-
shall’s thoughts floated with the observation
shall’s eyes as she followed the others into
general bunk quarters, where they stripped
and transferred into flexi-suits. The vibration
cried as she watched the others struggling to
regain their orientation, snap pieces together
and climb into the pill-like structures made
station. While gliding fifty kilometers above of the craft worsened. They staggered against from bed cushions and frames. Already in her
the surface of the planet, she half-listened a whipping, wave-like motion that shot length- structure, Marshall snapped a final clip into
to Neil Becker and Freedom Long debate the wise down the craft. Over the blare of alarms, place and pressed a button that would inflate
aesthetics of the planet below. Her mind kept a general message came across the loudspeak- her balloon and provide a final seal. There
drifting back to her life before this one, to the ers. were several empty moments; she was deaf
life she had left in another solar system, in to the world, insulated by the inflated balloon.
another age. She peered down through thick “Proceed with Emergency Protocol One.” And then…the blow against the surface of
polycarbonate shielding as Becker and Long the planet rang like a clap of thunder. Black
Struggling to stand against the whipping
traded jibes. Memories came to her of her smoke and momentary flame spat and pushed
motion of the craft, Becker filled an emergency
father, whose journeys into space had created outward. Metal parts whisked upward, the
kit with food stuffs and Long grabbed atmo-
a longing for exploration in her. Suddenly a sharpest shavings planting like knives into
sphere mixers. Marshall grabbed three sonic
metallic clang thundered through the station. the soil when they returned to the planet’s
pump guns and handed out lightweight wrist
In its wake a persistent whine sang across the surface. Everything for nearly half a kilometer
beacons. They stumbled as they grabbed
supports and struts of their craft. round was blackened wasteland.
flares and ultra-thin heat blankets. In the
“What was that?” Marshall blurted. commotion, several other members of the
staff and crew pushed into the room and #
“I don’t like it,” said Long as the craft began began climbing into suits. Becker, Marshall
to vibrate. “I’m initiating emergency protocol.” and Long moved onto the bed frames as When the thunder of the crash subsided,
She started for the escalator. their colleagues attempted to maintain their Marshall found herself balled claustrophobi-
balance, and followed the simple illustrated cally in her cocoon-like balloon. She forced
“But why haven’t the alarms sounded?” texts that had brought laughter in training but herself to steady her breathing and waited for
said Becker, following Long down the were now deadly serious. Some genius at the the balloon to settle. Her mind ran wild, and
locked escalator stairs. “The alarms haven’t technical university had designed them; they she remembered what her mother had said
sounded.” had never been used in a real-world situation when she had departed on the mission that
before. Suddenly a tremendous roar shot skipped across fantastic lengths of space—the
“A malfunction, or a delay in a system last time she would see her mother: “You are
through the air wing. There was an explosion,
cross-check…I don’t know. You can wait for your father’s little girl, and you always will be.”
and the sense of once effortless floatation
the alarms if you want to—not me.” There was no doubt her mother had meant
collapsed into a horrifying plunge. Bodies shot
upward against the immediate loss of gravity; it hurtfully. She had always called her father
As the three descended into the main
equipment pieces and parts were flung scat- weak and self-destructive and had said he’d
portion of the hull the vibrations increased
ter-shot upward. gone into space to escape rather than explore.
until they became a raucous shuddering. The Maybe that was how she had explained away
red glint of flashing alarm lights shone in Mar- “Get into the emergency balloons!” Marshall the tragedy.

Marshall’s thoughts came back to the “Let me,” she said, taking the tape from his terrain. Through her suit she could feel the
present. She caught her breath, pulled a red shaking hands. She whipped the tape around cold creeping in. From her studies, her mind
lever, and heard a hiss as the balloon collapsed several times, then tore the tape and flattened held what her eyes were slowly losing grasp
about her. She pushed and dug at the synthetic the end stiffly down. of. The crusty soil of the planet was relatively
material until her upper body was freed, and barren, but portions were carpeted by clumps
she rested momentarily, staring upward at the “Who else?” he asked. of red, frost-dusted vegetation; hillsides were
rusty-brown sky. The others, she wondered, “Just us, and Long and Becker, so far.” Her weedsspotted
thinly with flowers and gnarled fibrous
the others. so large they passed for trees. Natural
eyes took in the panorama, searched for water sources were scarce and toxic, occasion-
She scrambled heavily to her feet, feeling movement. The sun was lowering, and the ally bubbling up in acidic springs and filtering
for the first time the full weight of the alien purpling twilight obscured details. along in muck-ridden creeks. Infrequent rain-
world. Gravity here was nearly twice earth’s, “There should be twenty-one,” said Wright, storms spattered the surface with fat drops of
and the atmospheric pressure was greater by acid rain, contributing to the land’s look of high
“twenty-one.”
fifteen percent. Her flexi-suit could help with desert. Yet, for all of that, the various scaveng-
the pressure, but not with the heaviness she “I know,” she said. “Can you walk?” ing beasts that inhabited the planet managed
felt with each step, nor with the sluggishness to eek out a living.
of her every movement. “Not well,” he said.
Life, after all, she considered, is defined
She began dazedly rummaging through “Okay. Okay.” She stood and clicked on her by its environment. Observing the native life
the remains of the craft, searching for bits helmet ‘mic’. “Hey guys,” she said, waving at here, in the midst of that environment, gave
and pieces of gear that might be useful. She Long and Becker, “Wright’s down. We’ll have a definite sense of vulnerability. And with the
gathered her senses and remembered the to make our camp over here.” cold emerging, and with being stranded in this
wrist beacon. She flipped it on, and sent the
There was a hiss of static, then, “Sure thing, worth ofugly
barren, land with only two or three days
weak high-frequency ping upward to the satel-
Tiff,” said Long, “as soon as we get the rest of on desperation. And mix,
atmosphere the feeling bordered
lites. If the satellites received the faint signal, now it was getting dark.
they would relay the distress call to workers the gear.”
on the more distant space station, who would She heard a rattle a hundred meters off
As a science communications officer,
then begin to assemble a rescue party. and stood.
Marshall worked closely with both Long and
Long and Becker emerged from their Becker. The two were opposites in looks and “Becker, Long, that you?”
balloons, and so did Wright, a systems engineer. demeanor. Becker was a short squarely built
Wright limped through the wreckage; a metal man; Long, in her mid-forties, was a tall, lean “Over here,” came a reply. She turned
shard had sliced through his balloon and lanced woman, with a generally relaxed disposi- slowly until she saw a hand waving far across
his leg. He sat and began rapidly applying tape tion. Long usually spoke in calm even tones, the terrain.
to the tear in the flexi-suit, his head wobbling while Becker’s rapid, clipped speech betrayed She turned back to scan the debris field,
as he fought against the toxic atmosphere a sometimes anxious mind. Long had a dry and saw a slab of high tension carbon fall to
that had leaked in. Marshall trudged across sense of humor; Becker was a man who relied the soil. Something low and hunched was
the hard soil and knelt beside him. Wisps of on facts. Marshall watched them examine the behind it.
smoke and steam rose around them from the wreckage while their images became silhou-
smoldering wreckage. ettes in the descending light. “We have company,” she said. “I’m getting
Her eyes drifted across the darkening the pump guns; and I suggest you join me.”

“We’ll be right there,” said Becker in his “It’s about time you showed up,” she said. “That’s yet to be seen. It’s probably closely
rapid, flat tone. related to those SGH species we’ve seen,
“Fashionably late,” said Long. but—”
Marshall moved heavily to the remnants
of her balloon, grabbed the edge, and began “There’s nothing fashionable about this,” The beast scuffed at the soil and scrambled
dragging it back toward Wright. The beast, said Becker. “I think we’d better drag some of forward several steps. Long raised her gun
probably a Semolian ground hog as they the pieces and parts we have in our vicinity and instinctively and fired a sonic wave across the
referred to it, was about two feet high at the make a barrier, in case it decides to charge.” field, nicking the heels of the creature, which
shoulder and built like a giant mole, except it They heard a snort and squeal from a screamed in agony and fell to its side.
was hairless, and tailless. Satellite images had different direction, then others. “Why did you do that!” said Becker.
revealed that the SGH’s preferred to dig and
root beneath the plains of weeds, which robot “In case ‘they’ charge, you mean,” said Long. From the gloom a swarm of beasts rapidly
explorers had shown to have deep, broad, and “How many guns do we have?” fell upon their wounded comrade and began
intricate root systems. Marshall yanked her ripping it apart. Their thick snouts and short
balloon to where Wright lay, and collapsed “Three,” said Marshall, “and six ammo squat legs, wicked claws and beady little eyes
next to him. units.” were straight from the other side of the river
“I didn’t realize how heavy everything would “At 30 a clip, that’s 180. That should do.” Styx.
feel,” she panted, “but the heaviness is horrible
“We’ll see,” said Becker. “I was studying “I’d rather have them eating themselves
down here, and in these suits, with the tanks
these things. Their families number sometimes than us,” said Long pointedly, “Don’t you agree,
and helmet, and dragging things around—”
in the thousands. But most of them stay under- Neil?”
“Try it with a bad leg.” ground.” Becker sat and put his hand to his headgear.
“No thanks,” she said, and reached up to “Are they carnivorous?” asked Wright. “Of course,” he muttered, “of course.”
snap open a storage hatch at one end of her
“We don’t think so, but that might be beside “How soon do you think they can get a crew
balloon. She grabbed the first pump gun and
the point. This might be a territorial problem down here for us?” asked Marshall.
a flare, snapped the flare and tossed it, then
readied the gun. we’re encountering, which could mean some “Might be a day-and-a-half, at the earliest,
pretty vicious attacks. Nevertheless, this is but probably more like two or three days,” said
“I’m not taking any chances,” she said. She a chance in a lifetime for biological observa- Wright. “They’ll have to fix their logistics, get
gave Wright a gun. tion—” the appropriate fuel, landers, the works.”
Wright grimaced as he turned toward the “There’s one,” said Marshall, pointing to The group fell silent, and listened to the gruff
SGH. where one of the creatures dug at the soil, fifty grunts of the beasts around them, knowing
meters away.
Moments later, Long and Becker slammed the beasts’ attention could not be diverted for
down a crate with supplies in it. Marshall “But that’s not an SGH,” said Becker. long.
turned in a startled fashion, caught her breath,
then turned back to where she had last seen “What is it then?” asked Marshall. #
the SGH. “Trouble,” blurted Long. Sometime in the middle of the night,

Marshall woke. She wasn’t sure how or when to fire another round and begin the violent horrible death, wasn’t it.”
she’d fallen asleep; the shrieks and grunts of squeals and vicious snarling all over again.
the beasts were loud and consistent, but it was “A coward,” her mother had said. “If he’d
Wright’s screams that woke her. # only been a real man—” She tore the papers
from Tiffany’s hands and left the room,
“What’s wrong, what’s wrong?” slamming the bedroom door behind her.
Marshall’s thoughts wound sleepily back to
“He’s got an infection,” said Long, kneeling the night her mother tossed down the papers.
“Read them,” she’d yelled at Tiffany. “Read #
beside a quieting Wright. “I’ve doped him with
synthetics, but …whatever it is, is eating his about your hero! Read about your father!”
Her eyes blinked open on a muddy dawn
flesh.” “What are you talking about?” creeping over the horizon. She looked dazedly
“No, oh, no. Isn’t there anything we can down at the ammo counter on her gun.
“These are the official transcripts of his…his
do?” death. Read them. Find out what kind of a “I’m out,” Marshall said, ejecting her
“If we had the ship’s computers, lab man your father really was.” cartridge, her face drawn from an exhausting
equipment and medical chamber, yes, I think night.
Young Tiffany had picked them up and read
we could save him. But here? Without any of them. There had been an explosion in one part “That’s over half the ammo gone in one
those things?” of the freighter—a hydrogen tank—and Jake, night,” said Long. “If we have to stay another,
“How long then?” her father, had been blown out the shattered we’ll run out.”
hull.
“I don’t know.” “We can’t stay here,” said Marshall. She
His body had been recovered only twenty snapped the final ammo clip into her blaster.
The last word was punctuated by a sonic minutes later, but he was asphyxiated. The
blast, which ripped the air and tore up the coroners had concluded that he had feared “But we can’t leave,” said Becker, “where
head of one of the creatures. There was the the worst that any space traveler fears, being would we go?”
familiar sound of the herd attacking the victim, tossed into space and drifting forever, with no “There’s an old robot lander,” said Long,
a sound which disgusted each of them. hope of any kind, waiting for his air supply to “about fifteen klicks west from here.”
be exhausted. So he had opened his helmet.
“I’ve studied something like this,” said They say the effect is like being hit in the solar “And what, we walk fifteen kilometers?
Becker, lowering his pump gun. “This occurs plexus with a sledge hammer, that every bit Here, in the weight of this world?” said Becker.
with Carcharinidae, on Earth.” of air is lost within seconds and that you lose
control of your movements by the count of ten “Yes. We can crawl into the storage com-
“Carcharinidae?” asked Long, a geologist by and lose consciousness by the count of fifteen. partment, protect ourselves from these animals
trade. After that, after gases are expelled from every and whatever else this planet offers up.”
“Sharks,” said Becker. orifice, the lungs collapse, and then, at some
point over the next two to three minutes, the “He’s right, Neil,” said Marshall. “And if the
They wrapped themselves into their foil heart seizes, and the body dies. bot’s batteries are still good, we can use the
blankets and shuddered against the night chill, bot’s beacon on top of our wrist beacons.”
waiting for the sound of the herd to fall silent, Tiffany held the papers in her hands the
longest time, then looked up at her mother. “A “I don’t know.”
for the subsequent scuff of clawed toe on soil,

“I’ve got a fresh thirty rounds,” said Marshall, Why had she tried to be so deliberately cruel? the muck.
“but you? How many do you have?”
Marshall looked up and noticed the sun They sat motionless for several minutes,
“Twenty-three,” said Becker. had lifted fully overhead in the putrid brown chests heaving and throats gulping oxygen. And
sky. Her breathing was slow and deep, and then Marshall curled to her knees and quietly
“Nineteen,” said Long. every sixty or seventy paces she paused to let recited that part of the common blessing she
oxygen flow to her tiring muscles. Long and could still remember. Afterwards, there was
“We used over one hundred rounds last Becker
night. We have what—” she paused briefly trailing.were fifty meters ahead, Becker slightly nothing to do but get up and walk on.
Suddenly Long staggered and fell
to calculate, “seventy-two remaining? Do we forward, splashed and skidded a few meters #
have a choice? I don’t think so. I’m leaving and then turned frantically, her arms bent and
with Freedom, heading for the bot.” her hands splattering muck that was already Hours passed, and the sun was creeping
“But what about Wright?” up to her waist. In a flash she knew: Long was down the ugly sky. She had used the last of
stuck; she was sinking. her water just after the quicksand, and now
“You didn’t notice, did you,” said Long. “He her tongue was swollen and her throat dry.
hasn’t moved for hours. He’s dead.” Marshall trudged forward, screaming as She clomped wearily up a steep slope behind
she went; Becker was ahead of her and was Becker, each traveler pausing every five or ten
Becker stared at the muddy soil. “All right,” beginning to sink. As Marshall drew nearer the steps to rest their leaden legs. As they crested
he said, “we stick together.” soil became soft, and suddenly became mush. the ridge, they spotted a dull metallic reflec-
She began sinking too. She looked up at the
With the sun rising and the landscape others; she couldn’t reach Long, but Becker tion on a hilltop across a narrow valley. In the
brightening, the beasts backed away into was only a few paces forward. She lifted her valley that lay between, some yellow vegeta-
their burrows, and hunched and snorted and leg and plopped it down, and lifted the other, tion waved in the cold slow breeze, and there
gnawed at things in their strange and dark stepping forward just far enough to reach were holes. Holes like the ones that had dotted
underground homes. The survivors merged Becker, who was trapped to mid-thigh. Long their crash site.
the contents of Wright’s atmosphere mixer was buried to her chest and trying to turn. “No, oh no,” Marshall said, collapsing onto
with their own, packed whatever small water Something whipped up from the quicksand, a bed-sized stone.
supplies they could, and began their hike. snapped quickly around her and tugged Long
The soil was sometimes slippery and hard backward. Her cries ripped through Marshall’s “Maybe we can go around—”
headset. Marshall grabbed Becker under his
and sometimes as soft as sand, a muddy gray armpits and yanked, “No,” she said abruptly. “We’ll have to walk
collapsed backward,
tone and dusted with an early morning frost, kicked, fought. They pushed two klicks to get around this valley. And my
and in this gravity, no matter the hardness, sank some, kicked again and fellbackward and
legs are about finished.”
every step weakened the legs and strained the a consistency similar to wet concrete. Withof
into muck
back. And they trudged on, hoping to arrive final heave they landed on solid ground. Bootsa “Then we go across,” said Becker, his eyes
and secure their position at the robot lander caked with wet soil, they watched bitterly as fixed on the valley. “You know,” he added, in
before sundown. his clipped manner, “I met one of the old-tim-
thick bubbles popped where Long had sunk, ers a few years back. He said when things went
the echo of her gurgling voice still resonating in
# south on them, during their expeditions, they
their headsets. The tentacle whipped up once used to say, ‘Do anything, but save one shot’.”
more, and they scrambled backward several
“You’re your father’s little girl!” she’d said. feet, before the arm blindly swung back under “Why?”

He stared at her through his clear face-mask. blasters and fired. The focused waves smashed “He went into space to escape,” her mother
“You’ll know when the time comes,” he said. against the monster, but did nothing to impede had said. And what of herself? Had she left
its movements. Marshall turned and tried her everything she had known behind forever just
She thought of her father, her mother, best to run; Becker followed. They crossed the to explore, or had she wanted something else?
lowered her head. She felt ill from fatigue, final meters of valley and staggered heavily up Had she wanted to escape a world of unhappy
her hands quivered, and her thoughts were the next hillside. They turned together and love affairs, and a mother sinking deeper and
agonizing over the purpose—the need—of a fired, but the thing kept coming. deeper into a medicated insanity? Or were
single round in the blaster. her intentions more pure? She only knew she
“Hurry,” Becker yelled. “Get to the lander.” wished she hadn’t come. “Save one,” Becker
Becker started off, his boots kicking some had said. Why not? She wondered. Why not?
shale ahead of him, and she lifted herself “Come with me!” she cried, but did not stop.
wearily, and followed him down the hillside She heard him behind her, firing his blaster,
and across the valley. cursing at the top of his lungs. She turned. #
The beast was nearly upon him but was oozing
# black bile from beneath its miserable hulking After nightfall the beasts began rushing the
form. lander, smacking their heads into the metal
siding, making the entire craft wobble. Her
The sound of their bootfalls created a stir in “Run, Neil, run!” nerves jagged and her body stiff, Marshall
the burrows and the nasty little beasts peered searched for some way out. She felt around and
from their holes, climbed to the valley floor, He turned and started up the hill toward her, found a ladder, and began climbing. The craft
snorted, and began stalking them. They’d only then slipped and fell as shale broke away. And had a small cubby hole at the top of the ladder,
gone a hundred meters when Becker stopped, then he was gone. “Neil!” She whipped up her just large enough for her to curl into, and she
turned, and fired his sonic blaster, ripping a leg blaster and began firing, watching the ammo found a little hatch to one side whose purpose
from one of them; the others descended upon gauge tick down, twenty-eight, twenty-seven, of releasing a small aerial drone was long since
it like sharks pursuing chum. twenty-six, as she backed up the hill toward served. She lifted the hatch and looked outside.
The screams of the beasts sent a rush of the bot. She fired again and again, unloading The blackness was nearly complete. She could
half her ammo cartridge into the front of the only make out faint movements moments
adrenaline into Becker and Marshall, and they charging monster, which began to slow, and before the crash of flesh on metal. She waited
hurried away from the melee. With every step then waver. There was a deafening shriek and for the sound of scuffling toes on soil, raised
they could see more clearly the glint of the the beast trembled,
robot lander at the top of the next hill. They cally, and collapsed. rolled forward spasmodi- the gun, stuck it through the hatch, and fired.
were nearly across the valley now, closer, closer, the snorting beasts began poking intheir
Then, below the valley, The shock wave thumped against the barren
heads ground. She heard a grunt and fired again. This
when suddenly the ground shook and gravel out. Marshall turned and struggled to the time she heard the familiar terrible shrieks and
spilled outward. A huge caterpillar-like beast lander, opened the hatch to the storage center,
was shaking loose from the soil—it was at least and began pulling out gear. Equipment was squeals of the swarming beasts, and closed her
twenty meters long, a fat, hissing monster. The piled around her feet when the first maniacal eyes, waiting for them to end their butchery.
dozen short hard protrusions that passed for shriek approached her. She fired, fourteen,
legs kicked at the soil, and muscles in the mole- thirteen, #
hunter’s body curled and rolled, and it gained center, andtwelve, climbed into the storage
pulled the hatch shut.
ground in herks and jerks. The snorting mole- Her air was thinning. The mixer would thin
animals squealed and scattered, diving into In the darkness of the hull she tried not to and keep thinning until the tank expired. She
their holes; Becker and Marshall lifted their cry. still had twelve or fifteen hours, she thought,

but hiking was sure to have increased the rate

of usage, and now…the beasts fell silent again. Gordon Ross Lanser
And then there were grunts, and then the bang
of heads on metal, and the lander wobbled. Gordon Ross Lanser’s writing has appeared
She waited as long as she could manage, and
picked up her gun. For a moment she held it in several webzines and magazines during
stiffly in her hand. Her thoughts traveled great the past few years, in genres ranging from
distances in that short time, but delivered little magical realism to science fiction blends. His
in the way of answers. The pistol was heavy, work has appeared in Café Irreal, Burning Sky,
lifeless. She sighed, choked back tears, pointed Gateway Science Fiction, Dark Moon Rising,
the gun through the hatch and fired again. It C/Oasis, Ascent, and AlienSkin Magazine. He
took her three shots to hit one. And she closed
her eyes, once more wishing it would end, the lives in Seattle with his wife and four children,
gun warm to her hand through the glove of her and works in the high technology field as a
flexi-suit. consultant.
#
The roar of the rescue jet woke her. She

blinked and stared through the blurry haze
of oxygen deprivation, her mind not quite
grasping her perceptions in an orderly fashion.
Events passed in chunks—the sound of blasters,
squeals and shrieks, banging on the compart-
ment hatch, some light, a body, a voice, being
pulled down the ladder, carried from the robot
lander, set into a medical chamber in the rescue
jet. Somewhere, she remembered, the blaster
had fallen from her hand. And in her daze, the
ammo count finally appeared: zero.
No, Mother, I’m not my daddy’s little
girl; even with the weight of the world on
my shoulders, I am my own woman. I am a
survivor.

The One Chosen by Robert Mancebo Pg. 17
The One Chosen

by Robert Mancebo
“G lenn, I’m reading a malfunction on the

regeneration sequence!” Stan wasn’t the
kind of spacer to overreact, so I knew when he
ligent species out here in the big empty and
they’re all humanoid, more or less.”
the sequence. “Look at the figure inside.”
The hazy blue outline of a humanoid form
yelled there was a good reason. “So, chances are, we can help this guy, was curled in fetal position on the screen. Stan
right?” looked and shrugged.
“I told you not to try to revive him.” Trust
Norm to waste time rubbing my face in a “If we get this sardine can open fast and get “Roll the pod so the cutting angle is away
mistake. “You’ve got no idea how intricate this him out of the cargo bay into medical, yeah, from his head, you doof. When the cutting laser
alien equipment is!” chances are.” volatilizes the cryogen, it could cook him.”
“My order—my responsibility,” I cut in I looked from Norm’s pale face to Stan’s “Right, sorry,” he apologized. With a
before he could really begin kvetching. “Stan, questioning eyes. I knew what Stan was flashing of keystrokes, he had the crane rotate
is it a hardware glitch or a software failure?” thinking; I was thinking the same thing. The the cryopod before initiating the cutting
guy might have been floating out there in sequence.
“Who knows?” He threw his hands up space for a century by the look of the pod, but
and pushed away from his monitor. “The life he deserved a chance. “How do we know he doesn’t have
readings are fading. I haven’t got time to—” something catching?” Norm whined.
“Right or wrong, I started the process.” I
“Open it.” I waved a hand at the fourteen told them. “Let’s see if we can finish it.” “We don’t.” I retorted. “Go get into a vacuum
foot, egg-shaped capsule we’d picked up suit, if you want, but shut your pie-hole if you
from amongst the geological debris orbiting “You should have waited for authorization,” haven’t got anything to say.”
Panoran VII. Norm told me. “It only would’ve taken a few
more hours—” He snapped his jowly jaws shut with a
“But there’s someone alive inside!” Norm frown like an overfed pug dog. I knew better
protested. “We don’t know if they even “Wrong time,” I brushed off his chastise- than to antagonize him. The Norman Rose was
breathe air. Maybe they were locked in stasis ment without any consideration while I studied never a big ship; with a member of our little
because they were a criminal or have some the object for the hundredth time. crew in a bad mood, the mining scow could
horrible disease.” I could see his vivid imagina- seem downright cramped. But sometimes my
“There are no exposed hinges.” I told Stan. patience just wore too thin to put up with his
tion beginning to work. In a few moments he’d “Where do the scanners suggest cutting?” complaining.
be wrapped in fantastical fears and I wouldn’t
get anything helpful from him at all. He hit a sequence of buttons before The cutters hummed and polished swaths
replying, “It’s amazingly dense. Scanners were cut in the strange silver metal. As the
“Stan?” I looked to a more stable crewman make minimal penetration but it looks…like… integrity of the vessel was breached, steam
for an opinion. there…” Holographic displays overlaid the pod, from the vaporizing cryogen vented almost
“It’s a crap-shoot, Boss,” he shrugged. “It’s marking where to cut. explosively.
sure not any technology we’ve ever run into in “Hold it!” I stopped him before he actuated “The beams are too hot!” Stan told me.
the galaxy. But then, we’ve found lots of intel-

“He’ll be parboiled before we can get him clear motors. “It rolls every time I lift. The hinges “Didn’t we just receive the authorization trans-
of the pod.” aren’t cut through yet. They can still support mission from the Rock?” We always called our
the full weight of the capsule.” home station on Panoran VII, ‘The Rock’.
“We can’t stop now that we’ve started,”
Norm said with a smugness that irritated me. “Okay, look,” I told him, “lift it off the deck, “But you didn’t know that when you
“The stasis systems are failing. He’ll be dead in and then counter-rotate the forks to add started—”
minutes anyway. Captain Brilliant here couldn’t motor-power to weight and leverage.”
just wait for authorization…” “But the outcome would’ve been the same.”
I swear I aged a year waiting to see if those I prompted.
“Shut-up, Norm,” I ordered. “Heat up hinges would break before the lifter’s motors
the cargo lifter and get it over here ASAP!” I burned out. The motors screamed and smoked, “Except Normy would’ve had to find
grabbed a fire extinguisher, ran to the cutting but in moments the hinges popped and the something else to obsessively gripe about,”
area, and let it have a blast where the laser was entire pod dangled from the power-lift forks by Stan cut in.
cutting through. its lid. Smoke and steam obscured the freezing “Gripe?” Norm whined. “I don’t gripe. There
black interior and I shoved a robotic cutting
“It’s not on fire.” Norm scoffed. are legal protocols to be observed. I just—”
head aside to rescue the victim of my poor
judgment. “Shhhh!” I hushed them. “She’s waking up.”
“Expanding gas cools,” I snarled at him. “It
doesn’t matter what I spray it with, so long as When I emerged from the gaseous cloud The graph on the remote sphygmoma-
it cools down the metal as soon as it’s cut. Get with about a hundred and forty pounds of nometer was showing normal blood and heart
that lifter over here and pry open this cover!” unclad, unconscious woman draped in my activity returning.
“Watch the cutting heads, Glenn!” Stan arms, not even Norm could manage to think of
anything to complain about. “Jeeze, look at the brain function!” Norm
warned needlessly. exclaimed. “It’s pegged the display!”
“How’s the reanimation sequence?” I called #
“What does that mean?” I asked.
as I gave it another blast from the extinguish-
er. “As usual, Glenn, you are luckier than any “It means the pick-up’s faulty.” Stan banged
fool deserves,” Stan told me as we looked down a hand against the display, as though it would
“Worse,” he replied. “Norm’s right; the heat at the bandage-wrapped form sleeping in our help.
from the cutting is making everything squir- medical compartment. “Our normal cryo-re-
relly. It was bad before, but…” animation techniques are working. Other than When the girl’s hand rose to touch the
the layers of skin she’s going to lose from the bandages covering her face, I caught it as gently
“Norm,” I didn’t wait for Stan’s gloomy cock-up
prognosis. “Jam the forks into the cut and lift!” traption,of having to cut her out of that con- as I could and held it in my own.
she’s reading perfectly fine.”
“You were scalded,” I said in what I hoped
At the motion of his intrusion, the cutting “Good to hear,” I mumbled. was a reassuring voice. “You’ll be fine in a
heads ceased and the computer’s safety couple of days.”
warning announced movement of the target. “You bet it is,” Norm chimed in. “I’m not
facing a manslaughter charge because my Since she scanned as completely humanoid,
“Pry it!” captain can’t wait for proper—” we’d given her some topical pain-killer and
“I am,” he yelled back over the whine of the I knew she wasn’t in physical distress. The
“Speaking of authorization,” I cut him off.

emotional trauma could still be devastating as well bring her back to the Rock with a full “Glenn. My name is Glenn.”
though. load.”
“G-lenn,” she mimicked hoarsely through
As far as we knew, there hadn’t been life Biological malfunctions frightened them. parched lips.
or life-supporting technology anywhere in They’d been out away from people for too
the Panoran system for thousands of years. long. I had too, but I’d spent two years in the “Yes, Glenn. Welcome to the Norman Rose.”
There was just the new terraforming project Dovan wars with the Mechanized Infantry. In I couldn’t think of anything else to say. We had
on Panoran III and our little mining co-op had war, the only ones you had to rely upon were no idea where she was from. I had to surmise
started working on Panoran VII. She’d probably your buddies. we wouldn’t have any language in common.
been jettisoned by a passing star-freighter or
When someone had a hole ripped through “G-lenn,” she took my hand and placed it
something. There was no way to know how
them, you didn’t hesitate to stick your hand against the bandages wrapping her own chest.
long ago, but the battered condition of the
inside them to pinch off the artery until a medic “Vella.”
cryopod showed it had been a long time ago.
could respond. When they went a little nuts you “Well, Vella, I guess you’re awake enough.
She started to sit up but lurched and bent calmed them down and covered for them. You You’ve been asleep for who knows how long. I
double, projectile vomiting a stomach full of did it because they were like family, because suppose you’re anxious for the grand tour.
some foul cryogenic chemical onto the floor. I there was no real family to do it. There had
caught her in my arms as she did and held her. only been us, a band of tired, grubby soldiers She let off a string of words I, of course,
trying to survive until the war was over. couldn’t understand. But it showed she was
“Whoa, the captain always gets to have
So I knew some of what she was feeling, and awake and cognizant. So I helped her off the cot
all the fun,” Stan said with a laugh, and Norm in our little medical compartment and wrapped
snorted in disgust. her misfiring bodily functions didn’t surprise a disposable gown over her bandages before
me. She was sick and scared—stuffed into that leading her through
“Shhhh,” I patted her back and rocked her. the rest of the ship.
capsule, not knowing if she’d ever wake up, not
“You yokels knock it off.” She was still cold to knowing what she’d find if she did wake up. It wasn’t a big tour and I took it slow for
the touch and probably terrified. I could feel her. The ship was mostly hold space, which
her shivering under the blanket we’d draped I waited until some of the desperation went was full
out of her grip, then pulled away and brought mining. of ore from the asteroid belt we’d been
her in. The ‘Stellar-wide’ mining company had
the unbandaged fingers of her left hand up to gotten the rights
touch my face. She was careful. She brushed had the rights to to
I wiped her unbandaged mouth with a wet Panoran III; our co-op only
rag from a bowl of water on the counter. dim little Panoran VII and its
her fingers delicately down my forehead, across associated asteroid belt. They got what would
my trimmed moustache, hesitated, feeling the one day be a fully habitable
Her breath hitched like she was crying, but lines in my cheeks, and down to my chin. She got to scavenge bits of ore fromplanet, and we
I doubted any tears would’ve come out of her a wide field of
made me very aware I hadn’t shaved yet—and frozen boulders. Oh well, no one ever said
scalded eyes…not for a couple of days. It would the
that I hadn’t had a woman touch me like that universe was fair.
take the regenerative we’d administered that in a long time.
long to work.
I took her through the various compart-
I was suddenly overwhelmed by emotions ments
“I’ve…I’ve got to get back to work,” Norm I usually switched off and on as the situation moving and she seemed very comfortable
said uncomfortably. “The hold’s almost full.” without sight. Several times I saw her
demanded. It caught me by surprise and I’m stop before hitting a bulkhead as though she
“Yeah,” Stan agreed, “me too. We might sure I was blushing. I took her hand away and could hear the change in the sound or feel its
placed her palm against my chest telling her,

presence in front of her. Like an experienced I listened to her continue in a methodical It was chow time, and I met Stan and Norm
blind person, her other senses seemed uncom- cadence for several moments before I told him, in the mess compartment. Stan was his usual
monly sharpened to make up for the loss of “I’ll run a diagnostic on the medi-scan system.” affable self, but Norm was strangely silent. That
sight. was like running a red flag up before a bull for
I worked while he recorded. She never Stan. If Norm was sulking, nothing could stop
When we walked through Norm’s overwatch hesitated to stop and think, never slowed to Stan from baiting him until he exploded.
station, he made a logical request. consider what she would say next. She just
droned on, one verbal piece of linguistic infor- “Nothing to complain about tonight,
“Have her say something I can record to mation after another. Normy?” Stan began.
run through the computer for a linguistic
break-down. We’ll see if I can’t decrypt her After a full hour she stopped, waiting. “Nothing off-hand.”
language.”
I stepped up and took her hand. “Is that “You’re not sulking because Glenn didn’t
I began talking to her and, after playing back it?” get his chops busted over waking up that little
her answer, she immediately grasped what we alien girl, are you?”
were trying to do. She coughed and raised a hand to her
throat. “She’s not an alien,” Norm corrected quietly.
Thinking back upon the incident, that’s “She’s completely human.”
when our world really began to get strange. “Oh, of course.” I pulled her to her feet.
“That’s it for now, Norm. I’m going to get her “Come on, no one knows what she is.” Stan
As she sat there, orating to the computer something to drink. Run what we have through argued. “She just came out of an alien cryo-
in a slow, clear voice, I didn’t know what to the computer when you get the chance.” chamber that may have been floating around
make of it other than she was being meticu- here for decades.”
lously careful. Norm picked it up in just a few I took her back to the medical compart-
minutes. ment and got her a big glass of water, which “I know who she is.” Norm replied in an
she downed without hesitation. I refilled it and enforced calm that was so unlike him I actually
“She’s teaching!” he hissed to me. “Listen she emptied a second. I thought we were going quit thinking about Vella and became inter-
to her. She began with simple sounds, her for a third, but she returned the glass and sat ested in the discussion.
alphabet. Now she’s graduated to compound- down upon the cot, obviously remembering its
ing those sounds into words. It’s like she’s location from when she’d woken up. “How?” I knew I was going to regret asking.
reciting a dictionary.” He’d probably drift off into some paranoid
She reached out her hand and held it there, diatribe about the government or how someone
“Her entire language?” waiting. was after him. Norm had conspiracy theories
about everything. But I was really interested in
“I told you her brain activity was off the When I took her hand, she lay down and his opinion, for entertainment value, if nothing
scale,” he accused. was sleeping in less than a minute. else.
“Medi-scan reports that she’s 100% human: “Yeah, I’ll bet you’re exhausted,” I told “The technology of that little self-contained
period.” I reminded him. “Maybe she’s a lin- her as I tucked her limp hand under the thin cryo-capsule is way beyond our 23rd century
guistics professor.” medical blanket I’d covered her with. I turned tinker-toys. She scans as human/normal in
on a medical link, so I’d know when she woke every respect, yet her brain is functioning on
“Yeah? And maybe the medi-scan terminal up, and left the compartment as quietly as I a level beyond anything humanly possible.” He
is what’s broken!” could.

was warming to the subject and getting excited. “People don’t—no. That would mean—” My ancestors. Find out where her home planet is,
His voice was getting louder. “Her language has thoughts were a whirl of erroneous timelines and you may just find the source of all human
been identified by the computer…” trying to mesh with new facts. I freely admit to life.”
sounding like something of an idiot.
“You mean deciphered.” I began. “Oh, come ON,” Stan scoffed. “Maybe
“It means,” he prompted, “that we just it’s a scam. Someone taught her this ancient
“I mean identified,” he insisted, “and blew out the theory of evolution and human- language—”
languages don’t just spring from the ity’s entire concept of our species in a single
dirt. Like-languages prove associ- moment.” “No! She taught the computer.” Norm cut
ation—they prove a relationship”. him off. “We only have pieces of the language.
“Okay, so who’s she related to?” Stan was “You mean because of this girl,” Stan broke
getting bored with Norm’s meandering line of in, “all those scientists who’ve been saying “In one hour of recording, she’s increased
reasoning. man evolved from monkeys for four centuries humanity’s information on our linguistic base
are going to be out of a job? Man, they won’t more than professional linguists have in five
“Us,” Norm told him. like that.” centuries of study!”
“So? Great. She’s related to us.” Stan almost “Monkeys?” Norm snapped. “I’ll tell you “So now we’re going to put the linguists out
yawned. “She’s a normal person and she’s about monkeys. You see—oh great brainy of business too?” Stan asked. “Man, we’re not
related to us. Wow, exciting.” one—on planet earth, ten-to-twelve thousand going to be welcome anywhere, are we?”
years ago, someone went and shook her family
I knew Norm better than that. He was tree and “It’s not funny!” Norm’s face began to turn
we are the monkeys who fell out!”
building to something, something smug, some purple. “This is going to rip academia wide
I-told-you-so idea that he could toss into our “Because she speaks—” open!”
faces.
“Proto Indo-European, yes,” Norm insisted. “Yeah, well I don’t care a fig about what a
“What language does she speak?” I was bunch of old professors teach in school.” Stan
curious enough to feed him the line he was “No one’s spoken Proto Indo-European refused to get excited. “We can give her a lift
waiting for. in more than six thousand years.” I informed back to the Rock and let her turn science on its
him. ear on her own time.”
“The computer has positively identified her
linguistic pattern,” he orated melodramatically, “If no one speaks it, then how do—” “But we have to do studies. You can’t
“as what’s commonly called Proto Indo-Europe- just—”
an.” “No, no one speaks it,” I admitted, not
waiting for him to finish, “but we have scraps “Norm,” I cut him off before he burst a blood
“So?” Stan disappointed Norm with his and cross references throughout a hundred vessel, “if you really believe it’s that important,
ignorance. other languages that indicate they all came you put what you’ve found out into a report and
from a single source.” I’ll forward it to the Co-op Regulator, okay?
“No.” I wasn’t as linguistically uninformed.
“No, because people don’t speak Proto Indo- “Proto Indo-European?” He looked at me “As far as I’m concerned, she’s simply a
European. That’s a…” and I nodded. “And she speaks it?” refugee we saved while mining in the belt.
She’s to be granted limited access throughout
“It’s a positive match!” he insisted. “Absolutely identified.” Norm assured him. the ship, and she’s not to be bothered with any
“Her people, wherever they come from, are our weird experiments.”

“But we should test her!” her stomach to try a different motion. When swift and precise. She made figures of fantasti-
she flinched at that, I mentally kicked myself. cal animals and of people draped in clothing
“You heard the skipper, Geek-boy,” Stan was of forgotten fashions. Each piece seemed to
happy to chime in, “no experiments—nothing “Of course, how stupid of me.” I had to have a life of its own—some happy, others
kinky, you know?” remember she was 100% human. “Two big sad, no few angry or tormented. She turned
glasses of water and an hour’s time.” I escorted out an army of human figures, doubtless real
“Enough!” I had to shut Stan up before he her to the restroom and took her hands through people whose lives had winked out on some
pushed Norm’s cringing nature too far and a review of the sink knobs and toilet handle, alien world.
they started a real brawl. “I’ll expect you both displaying how each worked before leaving her
to treat her like a VIP aboard this ship.” alone. “It’s eerie.” Stan commented with as much
awe as his flippant personality could muster.
“Or…?” Stan demanded mockingly. It was an odd feeling, her being so “Every little figure tells a story in a look or
dependent. When I heard the toilet flush, I position.”
“Or I’ll kick your ass up around your ears.” I knew her dependence wouldn’t last long.
warned him quietly. There was nothing slow about that woman. “They’re beautiful!” Norm exclaimed.
“That’s what I thought.” he said with a
# “They’re creepy.” Stan disagreed.
snicker. “Don’t let things get too personal,
Glenn.” he continued more soberly. “About a “We’re not getting any work done while
week from now she’s off-loading. Don’t start The computer had gained the ability to we’re sitting here watching,” I reminded them.
something you can’t finish.” translate simple requests for her and she had
asked for something to do with her hands while “Four days back to the Rock,” Stan said. “I
I don’t know what I was going to reply she continued recording her linguistic disserta- vote we head back now, before things get any
because the medical monitor went off warning tion. stranger.”
me that Vella was waking up. I left without a
word. Maybe I was letting it get too personal, We’d almost offered her a foam ball to “Have you finished that report you wanted
but she shouldn’t wake up to a cold, empty knead...which she might’ve accepted and me to send?” I asked Norm.
medical compartment. spared us another surprise. Instead, though,
we powdered some rock and made her a sort “It’s waiting on your screen,” he replied,
I took her hand when she butchered my of porcelain clay. She sculpted with it distract- “ready to go.”
name. “G-lenn?” She was swathed in a world edly while she spoke. She had smashed and
of calm darkness but I knew there were still re-used it three time before we began taking “All right,” I told them, “I can see when I’m
alien sounds and sensations surrounding her. out of my depth. Norm, make scans of all the
the finished figures away from her and giving items she’s sculpted and include them with the
“I’m here, Vella.” I told her, and I think she her more clay. They were masterpieces. report. Stan, point our nose for the Rock. Let’s
smiled under the bandages that covered most “She’s another Michelangelo.” Norm get her to someone who might be qualified to
of her face. whispered to me as he set one of the intri- figure things out.”
cately crafted pieces on a panel to dry. “Look
“I thought you’d sleep longer. Are you at In another day she’d turned out hundreds of
the life and movement she’s sculpted into
hungry?” She cocked her head, so I took her each figurines and taught the computer her language.
one.”
hand and motioned with it to her mouth. She With a medium of communication established,
shook her head and I didn’t know if she couldn’t Like her linguistic skills, her sculpting was she began to question the computer about
understand or wasn’t hungry. I put her hand to our technology. It was not wide-eyed, super-

ficial questioning. She researched our science, “Bracil,” she said. “My world is Bracil. It is found no matching area of space.
mathematics, engineering, biology, physics, time I returned.”
software— everything. “Could it be somewhere unexplored?” I
“Is there any way you can show us where asked.
“She’s like a military biological intrusion it is?” I asked. “We found you floating in an
device,” Norm commented as we watched a asteroid belt, in the remains of a shattered “Could Miss Perfect have made a mistake?”
display of her discussing physiology with the planet. Heaven only knows how you got there Stan needled.
computer in her own language, “and she knows or how long you’ve been drifting.” Vella stopped working and brushed
exactly what questions to ask.”
“The constellations I know,” she replied. “I sensitive fingers across the paper to feel her
“Maybe it’s time we asked some questions can create a map if for you wish.” She brushed work. “No,” she said, “my rendition is correct
of our own?” Stan suggested. a hand across her bandaged eyes and added, and complete.”
“But I must be able to—with my fingers see it.”
“Please do.” When she replied in English, “Maybe the computer just needs some
Norm’s eyes got big and Stan’s narrowed. Well, we gave it a try. We glued together more data,” I suggested.
some wide sheets of packing paper from a
“A little now your language abides in me.” crate and hung them up from the ceiling with “Or maybe she’s right and our current data
Her words were choppy and misconstructed, scavenged wire. Using a stylus made from a is wrong,” Norm mumbled.
but she was clear enough. piece of sharpened scrap steel, she began “Our navigational data might be wrong?”
poking holes in the paper. She sang a haunting Stan scoffed.
“You’ve learned English already?” I asked. melody interlaced with strange words as she
“Some I learn, yes.” worked. Her voice was a resonant contralto “Maybe,” Norm replied distractedly as he
with a lyrical, hypnotic quality to it. typed in commands, “or maybe we’re right, and
“You’re quite brilliant,” I told her. She cocked so is she.” Norm was watching the computer
her head in curiosity. She said something to the We were so lost in listening to the mesmer- screen as he talked. “Maybe her constellations
computer and it translated; then she laughed. izing song, it was several minutes before we just aren’t in the same place anymore.”
“Ah brilliant—not light—alternative meaning. comprehended the full scope of the project
Yes, I learn quickly. It is my nature. I am the she was creating. I was expecting a sort of “You think the stars moved?” I asked.
vessel.” diagram with some constellations; what she
was making was a complete map of all stars The computer beeped and flashed an alert
“You are the vessel?” I asked. visible from her planet. that it had a match. Norm pushed away from
the screen.
“My world dead. All people scattered. “This is going to take a while,” Stan
When ice come—came—when ice came, I was whispered. “Well, where do they match?”
chosen.”
“You have something more pressing to do?” Without a word Norm pointed to the
“Chosen?” Stan asked. “Chosen to survive?” I asked. He replied with a noncommittal shrug visiplate displaying the stars around us.
and found a seat.
“No, my people scattered through space. I “They don’t match here,” Stan insisted with
was chosen to stay. I am the vessel.” When she’d finished a huge swath that a snort.
covered maybe a quarter of the room, Norm
“What planet?” “No,” Norm agreed. “But they did twelve
had the computer scan it and try to match. It thousand years ago.”

“You mean Panoran III is Bracil?” I asked. to agree. “And if our people are in a bind, think getting killed over it.”
of the ‘Stellar-wide’ mining company who’ve
“It looks like it.” Norm said with a nod. “The put all their billions into terraforming Panoran “I’m afraid he’s right, Vella,” I told her.
planet did just come out of a mini-ice age. She III? In another decade they’ll be ready to sell “There’s no way we can get you there at this
said that’s what made her people leave.” it as prime real estate to five hundred million time. I’m sorry.” I could feel her disappoint-
ment and it made my guts wilt, but there was
“Well, that’s a long time to wait around for court.” They’ll never risk her getting to a nothing I could do about it.
people.
a planet to recover,” Stan mused.
“What do we do?” Norm asked in a panic. She didn’t sing or talk the rest of the
“Oh no,” Norm became more pale than I’d afternoon, and I found the ship very empty
ever seen him. “That report we sent—” “We just don’t tell anyone.” I said. “We’ll without the sound of her voice.
take her—“
“Yeah, it was okay,” I told him. “It was just
a report.” #
“I must go home.” Vella cut in. “I must return
“If they even suspect she’s indigenous, it’s to my world.” The insistent ringing of my video-link woke
a death warrant!” He looked as though he was “Not until we’re sure they’re not going to me in the middle of the night. It was Don
going to vomit. try and make you disappear.” I told her. “We’ve McClaren, my supervisor back on the Rock.
“Look, Glenn,” Stan smirked, “you’ve got got to think this out.” “Yeah?” I gave him a bleary greeting when
Normy back onto his conspiracy theories again. “I must return,” she insisted. I answered.
There’s people out to kill us because we sent a
report—” “They’ll kill you,” I told her bluntly. “Glenn? What the devil are you doing?”
“Not us,” Norm cut him off, “her! Her! The “All people die,” she said with a shrug. “My “I was asleep until you called.” I grouched
last survivor of the indigenous race of this world has been waiting for thousands of years. at him. “If you mean, why are we coming in, I
system! Don’t you see? Oh they could argue it I must go home. I am the vessel.” sent you a report. We found a refugee in cryo
out in court, but it’d be easier to just kill her!” amongst the rubble. We’re almost full anyway,
“What do you mean, you are ‘the vessel’?” so we’re coming back—”
“What are you talking about, Norm?”
She stroked a hand down the map she’d “I got that.” he cut me off. “I mean, why
“This system was classified as uninhabited, been creating and explained, “I am the vessel. have you diverted toward Panoran III? Stellar
you morons!” he explained. “If she’s a proven I carry the culture and knowledge of all the Wide’s been burning up the Regulator’s link
survivor of the indigenous population, she has people of Bracil. If I am to die, I shall die upon with all sorts of claims about a conspiracy for
prior claim! You don’t think our co-op is going the soil of my home world.” the co-op to take over the entire system.”
to lose out on mining rights because we found
a lone survivor of a people scattered over “What’s all this talk about dying?” Norm “Panoran III?” I wasn’t quite awake yet but
twelve thousand years ago, do you? “They’ll demanded. “Look, we can just smuggle her that caught my attention.
make sure she never reaches anyone who away on a transport out of the system.” He
“Look, they’re talking full planetary blockade.
might encourage her to exert her right of prior looked at Vella and added, “You can come back They’ve
in a year or so the same way. You show up on sent out patrol ships and everything.
claim.”
Bracil then, and no one even knows who you I know you’ve got some high-minded ideas
“He might be right.” I could tell Stan hated are, right? You’re home and no one ends up about right and wrong, but don’t take the

Norman Rose into some battle over planetary embrace for an eternity while wandering in gets out we’ll have Galactic Patrol troops all
sovereignty. You’d have no more chance than a frozen dreams. I must go home.” over this system!”
candle in a hurricane!”
She was an almost faceless stranger, “There’s no case against them if there are
“But I didn’t— “ his accusation finally regis- bandaged up like a mummy and wrapped in no witnesses.” I told him. “I’m re-transing the
tered. “Vella! She must’ve reprogrammed the an off-white disposable hospital gown, but signal to our folks on the Rock. They may not
ship’s course!” the pleading in her voice made my chest hurt. like what’s going on, but they haven’t tried to
Worse still, there wasn’t a thing in the universe kill us yet.”
“How could she do that?” he demanded. I could do to help her.
“Yet being the operative word,” Norm
“This woman can pretty much do anything “Norman Rose, this is the Fang,” a stern added.
she puts her mind to.” I told him as I pulled on voice came over our audio system. “You are
a shirt. ordered to heave-to and be boarded.” “Better get ready for a fight.” I ignored
Norm. “Pressure suits all around.”
“Well you’d better redirect before she gets “What?” I looked on-screen where an old
you all killed!” he ordered. class IV tug was approaching us at flank speed. “Do we have a plan?” Norm asked with big
It was a heap, but it out-classed the Norman eyes.
“Yeah, thanks.” I hit the off switch and ran Rose in both speed and range. I suppose it
for the bridge. “We’ll try not to get killed.” I told him.
worked as well as any ship in the system as an “Other than that we’ll play it by ear.”
Vella was there. She’d taken over the ship interceptor.
and scrambled the computer access codes. I thought he might be inclined to wet his
I felt my bile rise. I slammed a hand down pants at the prospect, but Norm gave a sort
She was sitting stubbornly in a chair in onto the transmit button of a comm panel. of a sigh and went to go collect pressure suits
front of the navigational console. Lucky for “Fang, we’re in open space; you have no right with Stan.
me the Norman Rose was a crude old tub to board us!”
with mechanical hatchways that the computer “You will fight?” Vella asked. “You will
“We have the right of superior speed and
couldn’t lock-down. protect me?”
firepower, sonny,” their captain replied. “You
“Vella…” I came in and pulled a chair up have a passenger we’ve been ordered to escort “As best as I’m able.” I told her. “We’re an
beside her to talk. “Honey, you can’t get home out of the system. We’re taking her whether unarmed mining ship.”
like this.” I took her hand and she let me you allow it or not.”
hold it while her back remained stiff and her “Why?” She asked curiously. “They have a
“This is piracy, Fang,” I warned him. “You bigger ship, and probably more men.”
bandaged face stared off into the darkness of want her? Try and take her!” I slammed off the
her current world. “They’ll just blow us out of transmit button with a fist. “Because it’s the right thing to do.” I told
the sky before we get there.” her.
“I was not fully asleep,” she told me, her thatBoth Norm and Stan were on the bridge by
time. The call to heave-to had been trans- After several moments of thought, she
language smoothing out through interaction. mitted all over the ship. stood up and waved for me to follow her. As we
“All the long centuries… For you, another year walked through the ship, she began unwrap-
may not seem to make a difference. For me it “Are you crazy?” Norm demanded. ping the bandages that covered her eyes.
is a lifetime. My world is almost close enough
to reach out and touch. I have waited for its “Are they crazy?” Stan corrected. “If this

“Careful,” I warned her, “you’re not fully to kiss me. Instead, she pulled her left-hand little scuffle either: good. This should be quite
healed yet.” weapon and fired a bolt of some sort of directed a surprise party for our uninvited guests.” He
electrical plasma that blasted a hunk out of her hefted a wicked wrecking axe he’d picked up
She ignored my concern and with dark eyes capsule hull. from one of the fire stations.
blinking at the glare of the lights, led me to
the cargo bay where we’d pulled her from her “These may help. Are you familiar with their “How many minutes?” I asked as I slid into
cryo-capsule. She went inside the dark husk use?” she asked. a pressure suit.
of her capsule and came out with a metallic
suitcase. We hadn’t really searched the capsule “Too familiar, I’m afraid.” I assured her. “Five or six,” Stan reported, “and they have
since evacuating her, and I suppose I hadn’t a boarding portal mounted forward.”
“Signature-safety.” she jabbed a series
considered that she’d have equipment stored of buttons on the side of the polished silver “All right, you two take care of any who
on-board. weapon, then pressed the grip firmly into my come through the airlock. I expect they’ll have
When she ripped loose the disposable right hand. “You can use it now, but no one their shock troops prepared to deploy through
dressing gown she’d been wearing, I sort of else can.” the boarding portal. Vella and I will stop them
started and turned my back in deference to the forward.”
I thrust the muzzle into my belt and we
unbandaged portions of her the act displayed. headed back to meet up with Stan and Norm. “Anything else?” Stan asked.
She took no time for modesty though. When Vella did some sort of a womanly flip with her
my curiosity piqued me to turn back, she was “Sure, they’ll have more men than we do,
hair and had it secured in a knotty-bun at the
dressed in a sort of body suit of golden liquid but not a squad of marines or anything like that.
back of her head in a few moments.
metal and was strapping on a gunbelt support- They haven’t had time to field a real warship.
ing a pair of holsters. The crew’s conversation stalled when we The Fang is just a routine security interceptor.
It was the first time I’d really seen her aentered, and I was surprised to see Norm with Their HQ sent her to stop us, and she’ll give it
.40 caliber Davis & General automatic belted a good try.
without a face full of smoke and steam or on over his pressure suit.
covered in burn gel. She was a handsome “My idea is to board her and capture her.
woman—not take-your-breath-away gorgeous “Where’d you get that?” I asked. With a faster ship, we have a chance to get
like a painted-up fantasy model, but with the Vella to Panoran III.”
‘girl next door’ sort of healthy good looks that “All the time Normy’s been badgering us
caught a man’s serious attention. Her black about following the letter of the law,” Stan “Now we’re taking her home?” Norm asked.
hair was long and straight, and her skin had a said, “he’s had a very illegal personal side-arm “What about the planetary defensive satellites?
dark, coppery tone to it. stashed aboard. Could’ve gotten us all in a What about…”
world of trouble, eh Norm?”
As we looked at each other, she stepped “I’m not asking you to come, Norm.” I cut
forward and brushed a hand down my cheek “I…I…” Norm began, but Stan didn’t let him off. “You men will be in enough trouble
asking, “Are you disappointed?” him finish whatever excuse he’d been going to with the co-op already. When we capture the
give. Fang, you’ll pilot the Norman Rose back to the
“In you?” It took me by surprise and I Rock while I take Vella on to Panoran III.”
realized I’d been staring. “Never.” “I like this side of Norm.” Stan slapped him
on the back. “Too bad we don’t see more of it. I held out a pressure suit to Vella and told
For just a moment, looking into her deep, her, “There won’t be any air.” But she smiled
dark eyes, I thought she was going lean forward “And I see our guest isn’t backward about a and shook her head. With a brush of a fingertip,

the liquid metal of her clothing swept up into our end, I heard the boarding portal latch on unarmed miners.
a helmet. just behind the bridge and the cutters whine.
There was an explosion, and a chunk of our hull We met Stan and Norm at the engine room
“That’s amazing!” Stan said seriously. blasted inward. I nodded and Vella and I raced with a final enemy holding them off by firing
from behind the cover of a bulkhead. Vella
“How does that work?” Norm asked while around to meet the boarding party. touched a control on the side of her weapon—
securing his helmet. I was in the lead and fired a blast into the obviously a power setting—and put a bolt right
“Your people have not gone beyond basic first soldier that dropped him in a twitching through the bulkhead to end the battle. The
nano-technology.” she explained. “Mine him, on heap our deck. The next man tripped over whole fight was over in a few minutes.
and Vella downed the third. Rushing
mastered transmutational molecular technol- forward, I gave “Clear the bodies, collect their weapons,
ogy five thousand years before your world was the helmet as I the fallen man a heavy boot in
fired through the hatchway to and seal the hatches.” I ordered. “I’ll make
colonized. a quick scan for the police report. Let’s go,
kill a fourth. Then I was aboard their ship.
people. There will be more on their way. ”
“This suit is not impervious to battle, but it I smoked two more in the corridor with
is stronger than skin and responds to my will.” only a single shot fired wildly in return. They A roaring volley of shots resounded in the
narrow hallway. We had let down our guard
“I told you,” Norm said, “this is a crime were expecting a turkey shoot rather than a too soon. It was the man I’d kicked. Inside his
against science! She needs to talk to our battle, and when I blasted the latch to their helmet I could see blood coming from his nose,
leaders and our scientists. She could advance bridge hatchway, the pilot and captain were but he was still alive and shooting. I heard
science and civilization by centuries in a single still scanning navigational panels. Norm yell and I pushed Vella out of the way
conversation!” As I kicked open the hatch, they wheeled as I drew and fired. The bolt caught him dead-
“Well, let’s hope she gets that chance,” Stan and grabbed for their sidearms. They were center, knocking him galleywaist and dropping
said earnestly. He waved to Norm and they much too slow on the draw. him to the deck like a lump of smoking clay.
headed back toward the main airlock to try “You are quite a savage person, G-lenn,” I Norm was cursing, holding his arm where
and hold off the boarding party. heard Vella say, but it was more of an evalu- his suit was venting air and spraying blood.
I secured my helmet and called over the ation than an accusation. “I would not have “Stan, patch his suit and get these hatchways
PA system, “I’ve turned up masking interfer- guessed.” sealed so we can repressurize—” I stopped as
ence fields to scramble their scanners and I’m “I am what I have to be.” I told her. Philoso- Vella slid slowly down the wall she was leaning
depressurizing for combat—now.” phy could be discussed another time. against.
If we were divinely blessed, they’d attack I picked up a spare pistol and waved her When she hit the deck, she folded forward
thinking we had atmosphere and board without toward the stern. I was out of practice but I with her hands clutching her ribs. There was
suits, but I doubted it. was still better than the rent-a-cops ‘Stellar- blood on the wall, but her suit had closed and
They latched on with both ships still roaring wide’ mining company had hired. They’d resealed on its own.
under full drive, a tricky combat maneuver I have never lasted a day in real combat. Vella
followed along watching my back. She didn’t I picked her up carefully and carried her
had to admit I could never have managed. I
have much to do because they came out of the toward the medical compartment, shouting,
heard the airlock blow toward the stern and
woodwork like lemmings jumping off a cliff. I “Lock-down this ship and bring Norm to
prayed Stan and Norm would be able to handle
can only presume they were used to bullying medical!”
whatever might arrive from that direction. At

# “Hmmm, and more…” Stan added. “That’s semantics!”

“G-lenn?” I was there when she opened her Along about that time I was really glad she “Anyway, call it what you like, Normy here is
eyes. was human, because I couldn’t imagine feeling an A-1 hacker.”
about some alien the way I felt about that
“I’m right here, Honey, you just relax.” I took woman. “Can you actually boggle their satellite
her hand and replied. defense network?” I asked.
“Well when you two get finished,” Stan
“That—that is what you call a ‘pet name,’ said, “I’ll let you know that Norm thinks he can “For a while…” he said. “I mean, they’ll
Honey?” She asked, taking my hand. “It shows disable their satellite defense grid.” sort it out in a few hours, but I can give you a
affection?” window.”
“What?” It surprised me out of my very
“Yes,” I admitted, “it shows affection.” warm, trance-like state. “That’s a better chance than we had before,”
I told him.
“Good,” she sighed and relaxed back into “You see, Normy’s been holding out on us.”
her pillow. “You are very savage, but I have “Yeah, now if it wasn’t for the whole fleet of
affection for you also.” “You never asked.” Norm said defensively. pesky old ships trying to catch us before we get
there,” Stan interjected with as much sarcasm
I laughed and told her, “I think my mother “Yeah, the reason he’s hiding out here in as he could squeeze out, “it’d be a piece of
said something like that when I was twelve.” the great inky, is, he’s running from the law.” cake.”
She drew me close to wrap her arm around “Nothing was ever proven in court—” he “Hey,” I told him, “you had a ride right back
my shoulders, putting her cheek next to mine tried to interject. to the Rock in the Norman Rose. No one made
to whisper, “I do not have feelings like I am
your mother.” “He skipped out with a warrant outstand- you stay aboard the Fang.”
ing.” “Yeah, well maybe I was just hoping for a
I pulled back just far enough to look into her plan with a little more chance for success than
deep eyes. My heart was thundering so loud “It had never been served—” simply butting into these folks head-first.”
I didn’t hear Stan and Norm come in behind “Stole a police vehicle.”
me. “I was planning on evasive maneuvering
“I couldn’t get a cab—” and speed,” I told them, “but I’m open to other
“Wow, he checked on me, what, once all the suggestions if anyone has any.”
time I was in here?” Norm said loud enough to “And hopped the first deepspace vessel to
distract me. “And he’s been sitting by her bed systems far-far-away.” “I’ve got one,” Stan said.
for twelve or fourteen hours. It shows how he
values his crew.” “I like to travel—” “Go.”
“Nawww,” Stan corrected, “it just shows Normy, Normy, Normy,” Stan said while “I suggest Norm and I find something to use
she’s a better hugger than you.” shaking his head. “When we hack into a bank’s as seat belts ‘cause I’ve got a suspicion this is
computer and have it transfer lots of money going to be one rough ride!”
I started to pull away from her to reply, but into our account before we go, we don’t call it
Vella took hold of the back of my neck and ‘travel,’ we call it running away.” “Really, Glenn,” he became serious, “I think
pulled me down to kiss me. you might want to reconsider heading back to

the Rock.” future generations will be up to posterity to us head-to-head and just kept coming. In the
judge, not Vella Deywòs of Mu.” end though, he decided he wasn’t getting paid
“It’s all well and good for us to get there,” to kill himself after all, and turned off close
Norm put in, “but how do we get away again? “You’re from Mu?” Norm broke the spell of enough for his retro-rockets to sear the paint
All those ships you evade will be on our tail. her voice to ask. from our hull.
The satellites will eventually come back under
their control. The guys with guns aren’t going “That is my home city,” she replied. Then we were through, and I nosed down
to like us busting into their territory.” to break atmosphere in a spiral that would land
“On the planet Bracil—Hy-Brasil!” Norm us upon the plateau Vella said was the location
“You can leave as soon as I am dropped said with a bellow of laughter. “Do you know of the city of Mu twelve thousand years ago.
off.” Vella assured them. “I do not ask you to how many human legends she explains?
stay. I plead with you only to deliver me to my Some of the wispy cloud cover nearby
“Count me in! It’d be worth immanent
home.” steamed and cleared in oddly perfect holes.
death if I can just imagine the look on my A graphic display of how close the lasers of
“You won’t be safe, you know.” I told her. college Humanities Professor’s face when even the defense satellites were shooting at us.
a fraction of what she knows gets published.” Norm’s hacking seemed to do the job, though.
“My love—” It gave me a thrill to hear her
We all stared at Stan. He shrugged his Wherever they were aiming, it wasn’t at us.
say those words. “No one in the galaxy is ever
truly safe. Safety is only an illusion. I will not be shoulders and said with a sigh, “Well, I guess I The Fang hit the dirt in a perfect landing
dissuaded by any fear of the future. I do what wasn’t doing anything else important anyway.” and settled down in a cloud of dust. Gravity
I must do, regardless of the cost. I will not be was normal but the air was hardly enough
And so we approached Panoran III praying
safe, but I will be home.” to support human life. It would be another
we could outmaneuver their screen of ships,
decade before the oxygen generators, as big
“I never had a home,” Stan said quietly, “not praying that Norm could outfox their satellite
defense network, and praying we wouldn’t as they were, could produce enough to allow
like that.”
crash and burn before we touched down. humans to breathe without life support.
“You will when you learn to fight for it,” she
It was nerve-wracking, but I’d been through It was a big, cold, dreary planet.
told him.
plenty of those type days before. It was new to Vella and I stepped down the ramp as
“If I’d fought to stay anywhere,” he told her, Norm and Stan, and I felt sorry for them. Vella though we owned the whole place, which in
“I’d probably be dead.” was different. The thought of death seemed reality, she probably did.
to have no hold upon her. Maybe she was all
“All humanity dies, but a few of us are human, but her emotional control was certainly There were six spacecraft coming down
blessed with a chance at a memorable death, more evolved than ours. right behind us, and I could make out three
a worthwhile death, a death that might mean armored transport planes approaching across
something to future generations.” I went into the first blockade ship like the desert landscape.
screaming death. Not wanting to have anything
“And you think dieing for this mud ball to do with an insane game of chicken, the “You may all go now.” she told us without
is going to inspire future generations?” he captain sheered-off. The second ship, which turning. “I am home.”
demanded. was cutting across our bow, was a little braver
“I think I am going home,” Vella replied but turned to avoid collision too. The fourth “So am I.” As I told her, I put my arm around
captain was almost as crazy as I am. He met her.
quietly, “and whether my journey inspires

“Thank you.” She pressed her helmet clothes going?” seemed to be where we had landed. But it
against my chest. “I…I wanted you here, but I was not simple volcanic activity. The volcanoes
was afraid to ask.” The liquid suit she’d worn was running off were blasting steam and oxygen, then settling
her skin like water, starting at her feet and back and cooling into mountain ranges.
“You don’t ever have to ask.” I assured her. sloughing off higher and higher as she walked.
“So your suit was the key?” Norm asked
“So…” Norm hitched at his gunbelt. “What’s As her helmet dissolved in a golden mist and Vella.
the plan?” settled into droplets over her naked shoulders,
she spread her arms wide in the caressing “No, I am the vessel. I hold the codes and
“The plan is—” Stan hefted a scavenged breeze of her world and called to the invaders, knowledge. The suit was only a simple connec-
pistol in each hand. “We shoot ‘em until they tion to the transmutational molecular technol-
quit coming.” “Welcome to my home!” ogy embedded within the planet.”
“You can’t think of anything else more When she spoke, it was not only the thin “Simple, she says.” Stan grumbled as he
important to do?” Vella asked him. air of Bracil that carried her voice, it was the looked out the viewport at the world of black
mountains, the canyons, and the plateaus that
“I figure,” he replied, “I’ve never had spread across the whole of the face of the smoke, storm winds and glowing magma.
anything more important to do in my life.” world. “And this is the rebirth of a world,” Norm
said in awe as we sat safely in the eye of a
She patted him on the shoulder and told The planet itself knew her! swirling hurricane, “all condensed into…?”
him, “Welcome home, Stan.”
The ground shook and shattered, storm “The stored underground water and air will
Ships were landing, encircling us. Dust winds howled, volcanic jets of magma and have been released onto the planetary surface
was kicking up and catching in the thin Bra- steam erupted from the landscape as far as in about forty days.”
cillian breeze. Armed men were offloading in the eye could see. The surface of the planet
streams. became a churning, boiling mass. Then the “Forty days and forty nights?” Norm asked
hurricanes hit, roaring with a force that swept with a laugh.
“Looks like they really turned out the dogs.” planes from the air and raked rising spaceships
Stan said. “Yes, why?”
from the sky. It all happened so quickly I barely
“Well,” I told him, “those anal-ized big-shots had time to run out and grab Vella before she “You didn’t perhaps know Noah, did you?”
over at ‘Stellar-wide’ always were heavy on tumbled to the ground.
cash and light on guts.” “I had an Uncle Noah—”
While the geological hell swirled around us,
We were talking ourselves up to the fight I placed an emergency tandem breathing mask “Another time, Norm.” I stopped his ques-
when Vella walked away from our group. She over her face and carried her back to the ship. tioning. “Another time.”
moved slowly, almost at a stroll toward where
troops were collecting. # “What about life?” Stan asked.
I didn’t have to do a scan to prove we were by “A

“Ummm, Glenn—” Norm’s curious tone was galactic resonance has been set up
completely incongruous with our situation, but the last living beings upon the planet. The the reawakening of Bracil.” Vella replied.
neither Stan nor I noticed; we were witness- entire surface was reforming in an impossible “Those people upon planets where we are
ing the same thing he was. “Where are Vella’s geological upheaval. The only stable section remembered will bring seeds and animals to

begin repopulation. This world will become a

bounteous garden in a few short years.
“My task is completed. I am no longer
critical to the regeneration process, although
my skills may be helpful.”
“So what about people?” I asked.
“They will come in time. I am not critical
to that process either—” she leaned close
and whispered, “although our skills may be
helpful.”
Robert Mancebo
I’m a former soldier, locksmith, and technician.
I’ve had dark and historical fantasy published
both on-line and in various magazines.

No Good Deed An Aston West Tale by T.M.Hunter Pg. 32
No Good Deed
An Aston West Tale
by T.M.Hunter
“N o new messages, Aston.” My ship’s

computer sounded apologetic, except
electrons and emotions didn’t mix.
What can I say? I’m a glutton for disap-
pointment.
I shook my head and sighed. “Just my
luck.”
I clasped my hands behind my neck. “Any “Shall I blow the hatch just to make sure?”
I leaned back and sighed. “Course still laid way to tell if someone’s aboard?”
in?” “Sure, why not?”
“The only signal is automated. No accom-
“Affirmative.” panying message.” The cargo door burst open between the
vertical fins, but there was no more excite-
A metal sphere hovered on my forward I smiled, taking it as a good sign. One of my ment to follow.
viewscreen against the backdrop of the galaxy. cargo bays was still available. Maybe fate had
I’d hoped to at least find a nibble of a job to been toying with me all along. “It does not appear any cargo is on-board.”
tide me over financially. That’s what I’ve come
“Move to intercept.” “Is the original course still laid in?”
to expect from hope.
The aft thrusters fired and we turned away “Affirmative.”
Jeanie drew my attention away from the
communication beacon. “I’m picking up an from the beacon. I almost uttered out my command to
emergency signal.” resume course, but a white flash filled the
# viewscreen before I had a chance.
I frowned and sighed. “How close?”
I was disappointed when the ship finally “What was that?”
“Approximately five megpars out.” came into range. Typhoons were short as far
as interstellar transports go, barely capable Jeanie ignored my question. “Incoming
It was just long enough for a hyperspeed
of space travel and definitely not designed transmission.”
jump, barely. I didn’t feel like wasting most
of my fuel, though. My bank accounts would for use inside an atmosphere. It only had one I blinked and cleared my vision. “Put it
never forgive me. bay on-board. Anyone hauling valuable cargo through.”
would have sprung for something bigger.
“How are we doing on time?” My viewscreen split into three sections.
“What a waste,” I muttered to myself. Along the left, two windows were stacked for
“Well ahead of schedule.”
The squat hull hung between a pair of the conversation. The other side showed me
Out of desperation, I’d agreed to carry stubby wings, while two vertical fins rose up two ships had just dropped in unannounced.
some family’s personal belongings to some diagonally on either side of the aft end. A single One was a small transport similar to mine,
far-off world I’d never heard of—not very exhaust nozzle stuck out, dormant against the while the other one was an AI-5 fighter-inter-
valuable cargo, and the final payment would starfield behind it. ceptor.
prove it. At least it would keep me afloat until
“I do not detect any life forms on the ship This couldn’t be good.
I found another source of income. So I hoped.
and see no listing of cargo in the manifest.”

“Shut down your navigation computer or “Tell us anyway.” The fighter pilot became red-faced. “Are
we’ll open fire.” you calling me stupid?”
I looked down at the bottom window, where
I looked up at the thin, wiry pirate in the two more pirates sat in a cockpit which mirrored The third pirate mimicked his tone. “Are
upper communication window. He sat in my own. The pirate in the second seat had to you calling my brother stupid?”
the fighter’s cockpit, his body covered with be a relative of the one in the fighter, based on
numerous markings and nothing else. I was his facial features and body type. Other than The transport pilot traded glances with
glad the screen only showed his upper body, ragged garments in place of the natural look, both of them. “I said the idea was stupid. Are
because there was no reason for me to find out the only difference was his colored moustache you two both brain-dead?”
whether his lower half was similarly exposed. and grey wisps of hair around his ears. I realized a window of opportunity had
He scratched his grey beard and growled. Their friend in the fighter became agitated. opened, and I needed to capitalize on the dis-
“Shut it down!” “It doesn’t matter!” traction. I eased my hand over and muted the
transmission. “Jeanie, are you still hacked into
My ship could probably hit hyperspeed The pilot of the second ship frowned. “It the stranded ship’s computer?”
before any significant damage was done, but won’t hurt to find out.”
there was no reason to chance it. My cargo “Yes, Aston.”
wasn’t valuable enough to sacrifice my life to He seemed reasonable, as far as pirates go.
It was a good indicator of my chances. “Get ready to bring the navigation computer
these fools. back up.”
“Jeanie, shut it down.” “A family hired me to transport three con-
tainers of personal belongings to their new “The flight plan has been stored in another
The navigation console went dark. home.” section of my memory. I thought we might
need it.”
He reached up and wiped his glistening “Are you kidding me?”
scalp. “Now, dump your cargo.” I smirked. “Good girl.”
The black stubble on top of his chubby
Even though it wasn’t valuable, this cargo head and under his multiple chins disappeared “Fire a rocket to distract them.”
was still my only means of financial support amidst a red tint of embarrassment. The stud “Shall I acquire a target?”
for the time being. I had no intention of letting through his nose almost glowed.
these fools deprive me of my livelihood. I thought about destroying all of them, but
He turned to his on-board partner. “We leaving them alive was punishment enough.
At least not without some effort on their wait all this time for someone to show up, and Putting them out of their misery would have
part. he doesn’t even have cargo worth taking?” been too easy.
“Don’t you even want to know what it is The one in the fighter responded. “We’ll “Just fire it blind. Try not to hit anyone.”
first?” take what we can get.”
I returned to the three squabbling, just as
They thought they had just ended up with a “And do what with it? Unloading the stuff a rocket ejected out of the Typhoon’s belly. It
glorious payoff. I almost smiled. won’t even cover the cost of the fuel for the launched out into the darkness between the
jump we just made. I told you this was a stupid
He snarled. “Doesn’t matter.” two pirate ships.
idea.”
The fighter pilot noticed first. “What the...”

He launched a pair of his own rockets which A rocket ejected from their belly and lit off. the first time I’d stumbled across bloodthirsty
impacted the Typhoon moments later. A huge Without targeting information pre-loaded, it pirates with only half a brain between them.
explosion ripped the ship apart and extin- guided itself toward the first contact it saw in There was a reason I stuck with less aggressive
guished itself a moment later. Debris scattered its immediate flight path. forms of piracy.
from the scene of the crime.
The fighter, fortunately for me. I wasn’t psychotic, and didn’t want to
I hadn’t expected this to happen. Sometimes become so.
fate does smile on me. “No!” The dead man’s eyes grew wide as his
inevitable fate drew closer.
His brother grew wide-eyed. “You just
destroyed my ship!” Screams were silenced as the fighter
became a second pile of scattered scrap metal.
“It fired a rocket! I reacted!” The viewscreen adjusted to show only one
image on the left. I watched the two remaining
“I’m going to kill you!” pirates bicker and fight. I didn’t plan to stick
This was the cheapest entertainment I’d around so they could fire off another blind
rocket. There was only one other ship in the
seen in a while; I smirked, because laughing vicinity.
would have been too obvious.
Mine.
The reasonable pilot grabbed his partner’s
arms as he scrambled for the weapons console. “Jeanie, start up the navigation computer.”
“Stop it. No one’s doing anything of the sort.
We can still...” “Done.”
“Don’t try to stop me!” The two pirates both stopped and turned
toward the screen.
They struggled some more, and the wiry
little man drew on hidden strength. He shoved The pilot became a little less reasonable.
the bigger pirate into the controls and thrusters “Stop right there! What’re you doing?”
started firing. The ship turned.
“It’s been fun.” I smiled, then turned dead
Suddenly, I didn’t have a good feeling about serious. “Hyperspeed.”
this.
He grew wide-eyed. “No, stop.” T. M. Hunter
The smaller pirate pulled an arm free and
stared into the screen. “You’re going to pay The communication window turned to T.M.Hunter has been writing space opera
for what you’ve done.” He slammed his hand static, then disappeared from the viewscreen for many years, and is currently trying to
down. as we made the jump. I watched the trails of
starlight race past. break into publication through his various
The fighter pilot’s eyes grew wide. characters, the most notable being Aston
“Brother!” It was hard to believe grown men could West and Gabriel Peters. Look for more short
resort to brother killing brother, but this wasn’t stories featuring these two coming soon.

Featured Artist: Bryan Dale Norton Pg. 35
Featured Artist
Bryan Dale Norton
Name:
Bryan Dale Norton
Age:
376 months
Country of residence:
The Republic of California
Hobbies:
Studying and making concept art, sculpture,
videogames, photography, history of science,
science of history, poker, hiking and camping,
and writing stories...
Favorite Book / Author:
Right now it’s The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho,
although I also immensely enjoyed Timothy
Zahn’s Star Wars series, Heir to the Empire,
Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command.
Before the prequels were ever announced, I
was so sure Lucas was going to make these
sequels to the original Star Wars saga. Hint!....
we’re still waiting for this! Michael Crichton is
also a favorite such as Sphere, Jurassic Park,
The Lost World, Disclosure, Rising Sun, The
Andromeda Strain, and The Great Train Robbery.
Favorite Artist:
Ashley Wood, Sparth, Craig Mullins, Ryan Church, Eric Tiemens, Dermot Power, Alphonse Mucha, John Singer Sargeant,
Howard Pyle, NC Wyeth, J.C. Leyendecker, Dean Cornwell...and so many more.

When did you start creating art?

As long as I can remember I have always loved creating art. It was encouraged in my family so it was as natural to do as
speaking. It wasn’t until I was 15 however when fate took it’s turn for the better. That is when I produced my first photo-
realistic pencil drawing...quite unconsciously. The discovery of that talent turned me onto to traditional drawing and later by
extension, painting.
What media do you work in?
I have practiced nearly every medium you
can think of from found object fine art
pieces, to highly rendered airbrushing, to
alla prima oil painting, and loose gestural
watercolors and everything in between.
I was trained traditionally, but as a left
college, the digital revolution was already
well on it’s way so more and more of my
started to done digitally. Currently most of
my work is digital, although I still have a
love of traditional materials and aesthetics.
In the end, tools are tools, and usually I end
up combining the best of both worlds.
Where your work has been featured?
My personal work has been featured at the Carnegie Art Museum, Art Center Student Gallery, and a host of other smaller
venues. I’ve had a Star Wars inspired piece featured in Stars Insider Magazine as well as the Caltech Undergraduate Reasearch
Journal not to mention having “Cold Planet II” featured as a Daily Deviant on deviantart.com.
Where should someone go if they wanted to view / buy some of your works?
I work as a professional concept artist so my work is not really seen by the public in general. Sometimes a piece might be used
for a promo spot or other marketing collateral such as websites or gaming magazines such as Game Developer Magazine. And
since most of my work is for unannounced projects that take years to develop most of it has never even been seen. I would
suggest my deviant space for now, even though I’m in the process of building the library of art for my print store there. My
username on Deviantart.com is Nortenyo.

How did you become an artist?

Draw, draw, and draw some more! Artists who do not practice are critics. I love drawing, it is my passion in life. The very act
of drawing is something very spiritual to me. What about painting?...well, to me painting is drawing with color. I got serious
about it when I was still in highschool. It was then I discovered a hidden talent to draw photorealism. I took advanced elective
courses in art all the way until junior college. By then I was working in film as a physical miniature model maker and set maker.
A great friend of mine got me on my way by suggesting, no...DEMANDING, I apply to Art Center College of Design which I did
and was thankful for reminding me of what I really love to do. Thanks Jason H! After design college, I got a job in the games
industry making concept art and I’ve been doing it ever since.
What were your early influences?
I’m a very visual person, probably because my generation has been so immersed in media so it should be no surprise they
have had a big impact on me.
Cartoons from the 80’s, like GI JOE
and Transformers, not to mention
the classics from Disney, Don Bluth,
Looney Tunes, and Tex Avery. As I
got older I was highly influenced by
the concept artists in film that were
responsible for Star Wars, Jurassic
Park, Terminator 2, Aliens, Predator,
and a host of other films in the
fantasy or sci-fi genre.
What are your current influences?
I think ever since Metal Gear Solid
came out for the original Playstation
I have been hooked on the artist Yoji
Shinkawa. And since then Ashley
Wood...so naturally....I pissed my
pants when I heard Ashley Wood

was doing a Metal Gear comic. Their influence

on my actual work is not so apparent in my
finished work, but in my sketches I do for
myself. I’m currently creating new pieces for
deviant art as well as my first graphic novel
where you will most likely see that influence
in the future. All in all, however, my taste in
art lie generally with the more illustrative
and expressionistic artist styles. That’s why I
am drawn to classic illustrators and modern
concept artist. There is something always
visceral in their work that I love. Maybe
its seeing the world from someone else’s
perspective...something concept art is all
about.
What inspired the art for the cover?
The work, “Cold Planet II” started as an attempt
to clean out my photo reference files. I had
this image of some clouds and just for fun, I
began to paint on top of them. This quickly turned into a landscape and from there it became an alien world of dust and ice
with massive colonial mining operations taking place. Now I imagine this whole story of a group of people struggling to survive
across the vast expanse of space, searching for a new home while fighting with each other. All I need is a seed crystal and
everything evolves from there. I have had such a great response to that piece that I have promised to make new paintings for
the Cold Planet series...this time in high resolution so people can get prints this time, if they so choose.
How would you describe your work?
There is no singular description that would capture what I would identify as my work since I like to change gears often and
try new and different approaches to my work. However with that said, I think as an artist, even though you are constantly
evolving, you start to notice certain themes keep coming back. For me you might say my work can be a bit on the dark side,
although not wicked, perhaps more contemplative than anything. Hopefully it is entertaining to say the least. No matter how

I make my art, or what I choose as my subject, I always strive to engage the audience one way or another in a way that has
some kind of lasting appeal. Sometimes you win that battle, sometimes you lose, but I find solace in knowing that I can always
make new art and try again.
Where do you get your inspiration / what inspires you?
More like where don’t I get my inspiration or what doesn’t inspire me... I have a profound love of nature, as well as man-made
things. That’s pretty much everything, right? I guess I love how things are designed either by natural means or by the logic and
reason of our brains. I’m a bit of a primitive and a futurist at the same time...a complete oxymoron of self. That might come
from my understanding and lack of understanding of the Tao te Ching as it were. That’s a whole topic that is unanswerable in
itself but one I completely accept.
Have you had any notable failures, and how
has failure affected your work?
To make art is to fail repeatedly as you improve
with each success. Every mistake is progress in
action. You never really stop learning. To that
effect, failure is a part of success in my work.
Sometimes you get what you are after in the
first try, other times you draw it repeatedly
until it feels right. Either way, I feel the artist is
responsible for his work, for any of his defeats
as well as his victories. I give credit to both.
What have been your greatest successes? How
has success impacted you / your work?
Success in games has really given me the
courage to continue improving my work. You
reach a plateau and then a new challenge
comes along and you take it on and learn
something new...over and over. I love that
aspect of my job as it keeps me humble

and keeps me on my toes. There are so many wonderfully talented artists in our industry and they are a constant source of
inspiration and guidance.
What are your favorite tools / equipment for producing your art?
At my job I currently use Photoshop CS2 and a Wacom Cintique for
almost everything. I’ll still do a traditional pen or pencil sketch now
and then, but so much of my workflow is digital because I don’t like to
waste time scanning and cleaning up. Recently I’ve been using Google
Sketchup and am learning how to use Zbrush as well as Maya. To me,
I’ll still draw everything, but those are great tools for illustrators since
they simplify some of our tasks and expand what we can do within
the context of making video games.
What tool / equipment do you wish you had?
I’m in the market for a Wacom Cintique (for my home studio) or a
motion computing LE 1700 Tablet PC. I love my M1400, but it is sorely
underpowered and lacking in storage, not to mention the screen can’t
be used in direct daylight. I wish this technology would improve to
the point where it totally replaces my desktop and sketchbook.
What do you hope to accomplish with your art?
A great question! Number one...entertain you! Number two...get you
to think more critically, if possible. And number three...to get to the
point in my career where I can teach all that I have learned to other
artists so the cycle can begin for a new generation.

Calamity’s Child,
Chapter Two, Part Two: Potlatch by M. Keaton Pg. 41
Calamity’s Child
Chapter Two, Part Two: Potlatch
by M. Keaton
Part Two and resultant mercury colored pupil-less eyes, level head.
she made her living as a professional duelist.
T hey started play with eleven. It took them
well into the afternoon to get that far.
Trademark flachette pistol cocked on her hip,
she moved with the liquid grace and efficiency
of a panther, her only wasted energy a nervous
Three pros, two amateurs, and one
complete unknown—the tally did not make
Ivan happy but it could have been a lot worse.
The morning was spent on technical Now he just needed to figure out which one
habit of pushing dark pink hair back from her
minutia. The players were scanned for weapons went with Kor.
face.
and escorted into the playing room while Ivan
and the five other bodyguards were forced to The man leaning against the wall between “Excuse me, please.” Another Hamatsa
wait, crowded into the hallway; the only real the two lightweights was an unknown, young priest stepped into the hallway from the
break in the monotony came when Ivan visited and thick-lidded like he was half-asleep. It was playing room. Unlike the others, rather than a
the roof to meet Pharaoh’s son. The scope was an affectation; the eyes behind the lids darted gold veil over his face, he wore a full headdress
beyond salvage, the boy explained, but he had constantly, back and forth. He only wore one and mask formed to look like a bird’s head.
stripped and cleaned the gun and everything gun visibly, a simple slug-thrower in a shoulder Combined with the billowing crimson robe, it
seemed in good working order. holster. His presence bothered Ivan more than made him look like a giant cardinal. “You will
Rose’s; the last thing he needed was some be allowed to enter shortly. We’re just about
Several players, Hoffield included, chose to get underway. I trust you understand these
hot-shot rookie trying to make a name for
to forgo personal protectors, relying on hotel delays have been necessary—before every
himself.
security and their own comparatively low- match, the sacrifices must be verified and
stakes style of play to shield them from danger. “I tell you, my dear, you would simply love valued and sometimes that takes a little longer
The gunmen studied each other as Hamatsa the summits of E-Three. The storm clouds than others. We’ve been additionally delayed
priests, red robed with faces hidden by veils of match your eyes. I remember one storm...” today awaiting our twelfth player. It appears
gold mesh, bustled through the passageway in The fossil chattering merrily at Rose was no he will not be attending.” The man folded his
and out of the room beyond. Ivan discounted newcomer. The old man looked like little more hands together in front of him. “Now, a brief
two of the mercenaries right away, reading than a kindly, red-nosed grandfather, but Ivan word about your behavior. We have our own
in their body language and mannerisms the knew better. He had worked with Oden before security personnel and, intending no disre-
telltale signs of hired muscle but not killers. and knew the man was as unflappable as the spect, your presence at this function is purely a
They would still be dangerous if pressed, but frozen granite peaks he climbed and twice formality. I would ask you to bear that, and the
predictable. as strong. Primarily a mountaineering guide well-being of your patrons, foremost in mind
on Everest Three, Oden worked as a hired and act accordingly.”
The woman hovering to his left disturbed gun only sporadically during the off-season.
him more. He knew of her by reputation, and “Yeah, at my rate, they always hire me
Capable of being as cold and deadly as the ice
nothing he saw indicated that the reputa- purely as a formality,” Oden rumbled.
he loved, Ivan was nonetheless relieved to see
tion was exaggerated. Called Quicksilver Rose the man. If all went well, there should not be
because of her cybernetically enhanced vision The priest ignored him and continued.
any shooting. Oden could be trusted to keep a

Calamity’s Child,
“You may speak to your patrons at any point or the lady want a drink?” The position money went straight under
outside of a hand and about any topic not the table and the take from the first hand
directly related to play. To be more specific—” Ivan shook his head and moved to stand alone was likely enough to cover the operating
behind Graves’ right shoulder, just behind the costs of the entire match. The Kwakiutl, and
“You may not say anything that could waist high rope. The dealer wore the same the Hamatsa in specific, obviously turned a
possibly be construed as giving advice or robes and corn silk shroud as the rest of the considerable profit from their religious cer-
causing advantage for any player. Should you Hamatsa and moved with robot-like precision emonies. Other than the outfits, the Kwakiutl
do so, your patron will be fined and forced to as he worked. The players were varied—men, rituals were present but easily overlooked.
immediately withdraw from the hand in play.” women, young, and old—each with a portable The dealer chanted faint, indistinct prayers as
Quicksilver completed the official’s sentence in data terminal sitting next to their chips. It he laid out the cards then revealed the final
a sing-song voice. “We’ve heard it before.” seemed the only thing they had in common table card with a clear “Praise U’melth.” As he
was money and a taste for gambling. reached to reveal the ‘Raven’s bid,’ he solemnly
“Not everyone has and there must be stated “For Kakwas, may he be appeased.” The
clarity,” the priest replied patiently. “In order Careful not to look directly at him, Ivan underside of the plaque showed a hologram
to stay out of the way of the recording crew, sized up Albert Kor. Photographs did not do of a small pile of money and Ivan watched
please stay behind the gold rope while play him justice; he looked even more like a weasel bemused as one of the under-priests brought
is in progress. Due to the late start and the in person. He was a small man who hunched the cash to the table on a platter. Half was
lighting, we’ve moved the play table away over his cards like a brooding hen, staring over given to the winner and the other half burned
from the center of the room and closer to them from apple seed eyes stuffed into a long, to ashes right at the table before the next hand
the inside wall, so you will probably be more weak-chinned face. Sausage fingers riffled his was dealt. Overhead fans whisked the smoke
comfortable closer to the window. The bar, of chips nervously. from the air.
course, is open. Do try to enjoy yourselves, but
please remember that our security personnel The game seemed enough like hold’em The actual hand being played was only a
will shoot if they have to.” Tossing off the last poker to follow the basics, albeit with too fraction of the action taking place. Ivan began to
sentence in a joking tone, he turned, leading many cards in the hole and on the table, but understand the game’s appeal to the hardened
them into the room. with telling differences. At the beginning of the gambler; players were free to place side bets
hand, the players bought their positions from on anything and everything, and the frenzied
The first thing Ivan noticed as he the dealer. That explained how casual players activity was almost impossible to follow. Players
entered was security detail; six figures in the like Hoffield could stay in the game for any bet between each other on the next turn of the
robes and veils of Hamatsa priests standing length of time; with enough cash, a player could cards, the actions other players would take,
around the edges of the room, automatic rifles avoid playing first and being forced to put up a even at one point on whether a cameraman
slung across their backs or cradled in their potlatch bid for quite a while. The black chips, would trip over a nearby cable; everything was
arms. Only the man who had led them in wore really plaques, each had a small blue number fair game. More money had changed hands by
a full headdress. As the he began narrating the on the back, indicating their value. From the the end of the first deal than in the entirety of
proceedings for the camera, Ivan assumed him look of things, every player would eventu- most poker tournaments. Hoffield in particular
the high priest or local equivalent. ally be forced to potlatch before the stakes seemed more interested in the side betting
were raised, and the plaques were numbered
“Is it always like this?” Ivan asked and folded every hand Ivan watched. Finally he
accordingly—everyone had a one, only a few
aloud. gave up trying to take it all in, retreating to join
had higher numbers. Ivan noted that Kor and Oden at the bar.
Graves both had markers up to seven.
“Oh, sure,” Oden volunteered on his
way to the bar. “Pomp and stupidstance. You The first break came after an hour. Graves

Calamity’s Child,
made his way through the press of bodies, his a pale blue suit and neatly trimmed van dyke. “You’re on tilt,” Ivan told him as they sat
face red and furrowed. down to eat in the second floor restaurant.
The other player shoved him away. “You “You’ve got to settle down or you might as well
Ivan drew him aside. “That bad?” misrepresented the state of play! I don’t owe cash out now.”
you anything.”
“I’m holding my own at the table,” Graves “I’ll be fine,” Graves snapped. “Got a little
answered. “But that empty twelfth chair was “And this is where we come in,” Oden said rattled, that’s all.”
supposed to be our other player.” softly. “The Hamatsa will get their pound of
flesh but the side stuff is not their problem.” “Cut back and play tight for a while.”
“I suspected as much. Any idea what As he spoke, Quicksilver stepped between the
happened?” two men. One of the muscle twins started to lift “I said, I’m fine.” They ate in silence for
his gun, and Rose shook her head, hair falling several minutes before Graves spoke again.
Graves shook his head. “Nothing concrete. “She didn’t have to kill him.”
into her eyes. Belatedly, the man realized her
I have my guesses though.” flachette pistol was already in her hand. With “I know.”
Ivan casually lifted a hand to tap the butt of a twitch of her wrist, the pistol muzzle moved
his .45. “Play the hand you’re dealt.” and she shot the bodyguard twice in the “Then why?”
stomach. As he fell, she placed the still warm
Play resumed with ten players then dropped barrel against the second player’s forehead. “Maybe to set an example, maybe to remove
to nine within minutes. There was tension one more unknown from a volatile equation,”
in the room now and the gunmen hovered “Just a misunderstanding,” he said hoarsely. Ivan answered. “Maybe because she wanted to
closer to the table. In the next half-hour the “I’ll pay.” Rose slid silently behind the yellow mix a little pleasure with her business. Let it
first non-cash potlatch saw the pepper half of rope, and a pair of under priests carried the go—that side of the rope I’ve got covered.”
a salt-and-pepper shaker set destroyed. The fallen bodyguard from the room.
items had been carved from soapstone by a Graves gave a dry chuckle. “Know your role
“Blue boy is hers,” Oden explained. and do your job. Got it, chief.”
now-extinct alien race.
“Who’s yours?” Ivan asked. Returning, they were down to nine players;
“How’s business?” Ivan asked, finding
himself standing next to Oden again. true night had fallen outside. Graves bet small,
“The Mouthbreather there,” the moun- folded early, and made headway via the side
taineer answered, gesturing toward the player
The older man rolled his shoulders in a slow pots. Another player dropped. A quick inspec-
seated next to Kor. “If you don’t mind my
shrug. “Lost another climber this year. Damn tion of the table told Ivan that only Hoffield and
saying, looks like your boy there is a bit green
fool went loopy from oxygen starvation and Kor remained with first round black chips. Two
around the gills.”
refused to come down the mountain. Other more hands and the round would be finished.
than that, I can’t complain. You?” Ivan glanced at Graves and suppressed a hiss Hoffield won, potlatched half of his own cash.
of frustration. The shooting had visibly shaken Ivan was not alone hovering at the edge of the
“I keep busy. House has been throwing a lot rope. The entire room was knotted around the
the ErSec agent. “He’s out of his depth,” Ivan
of work my way—” Their conversation ended table.
agreed. “Give him time, he might get caught
abruptly as chairs crashed backward to the up.” Graves’ stack of chips took a noticeable
floor and two players surged into each other’s “Final hand of the day,” announced the
hit before he regained his composure, and Ivan
faces. high priest as Kor slid his plaque to the center
was relieved when a break was called for the of the table. The other players folded in short
“You bet, you pay!” barked a man sporting evening meal. order, leaving Graves head-to-head with Kor.

Calamity’s Child,
The two raised each other aggressively, driven “I will kill you,” Graves repeated, studying that had been used to bring the shanghaied
more by ego than their cards. Suddenly Kor slid the plaque where it lay on the table. colonists to the world to begin with.
his cards to the center of the table.
The Hamatsa officials filed back into the The relief among the other players was
“I fold,” he said in a satisfied tone. “It’s all room, expressions invisible behind mask and tangible when the priest finally nodded and
yours, pick your half.” veils. pronounced, “Your offering is acceptable.”
The dealer turned the black plaque. “For “I am afraid,” began the high priest, “that “Just a moment.” It was Kor’s turn to raise
Kakwas, may he be appeased.” the original ruling must stand. Though living from his chair. “That transport is in orbit with
being are involved, their objective value is its cargo. If the transport is destroyed, I fear
Graves stared at the embedded hologram, virtually nil. As per information provided to us its current occupants, regardless of their value,
his face stricken. “People? You bet people?” and independently verified, these sentients are may have some difficulty breathing. Unless my
He jerked upright. “You bastard!” he roared, criminals, indigents, and low-skilled labor—” esteemed colleague has a ship of his own to
exploding out of his chair. Ivan grabbed his take these people on, I’m afraid his suggestion
shoulders and shoved him back into his seat. “Colonists, in other words,” interjected is unworkable.”
Graves. Kor smiled and bowed from the neck
“Think!” he ordered in a fierce whisper. up mockingly. Ivan’s hand came to rest on “There is an Earth Defense cruiser currently
the comfortable weight of the .45 custom. standing by,” Graves said wearily. “Mister Kor’s
Graves turned away from Kor’s smirking Catching his gaze, Oden gave a negative jerk of captives can be off-loaded and out of the
face toward the high priest. “I challenge the his head. system in a matter of hours.”
bet.”
“We regret the necessary ambiguity and The golden head nodded, comically over-
The giant bird head tilted to one side. “On subjectivity of this decision,” concluded the balanced. “This is acceptable. Mister Graves, if
what grounds?” priest, “but, again, the ruling must stand.” you will come with me, we will make the appro-
“Value.” Graves straightened in his seat, and priate arrangements. This day’s competition is
Graves took a slow, steadying breath. completed. We will resume in the morning.”
his tone grew firmer. “Yes, value. I challenge “Everything on the card is the bet?”
that a bet involving human life is too valuable The players began to shuffle from the room
to be accepted as a first round potlatch.” “That’s correct.” while Graves accompanied the priest through
“Your challenge has merit. We must confer.” the side door behind the langer shell half-wall.
“And you maintain that these human beings
The room emptied of red robes except for the Ivan moved to follow, saw Graves motion him
are almost valueless?”
dealer and the security detail. off with a head shake, and headed for his room
“That has been our ruling.” instead. After checking his own room, he let
Graves looked at Kor, pure ice now. “I’ll kill himself into Graves’, found a seat across from
you for this, you know,” he said flatly. The ErSec agent sighed in resignation and the door, and waited.
rapped the table with his knuckles. “I’ll take
Kor laughed. “Many have tried. Come now, the people. Kakwas can have the transport “I’m in here,” Ivan said loudly as the door
Earth man, if not this round, then the next, there in the background. Obviously a functional was unlocked, pistol aimed at the entry.
I’ll get this into play. And then you’ll have to transport is worth more than these worthless Seeing it was Graves, he holstered and stood.
choose, who lives and who dies. If you’re too living beings.” Graves placed his index finger on “Dinner.”
good for the game, walk away now.” the card, pointing to the personnel transport in “You go ahead,” Graves answered. “I’m not
the background of the hologram, the transport

Calamity’s Child,
hungry.” planet.” stream. “So I’ll kill him and then worry about
Earth.”
“Hunger should never affect when you eat. “We’ve got Kor. That cruiser was in place to
Let’s go.” Ivan steered the agent back into the hunt for Casey, if you failed.” “First reasonable thing I’ve heard you say
passageway and onto the elevator. He thumbed since this all started. You’ve got to stop thinking
the button for the roof. “It’s a nice thought, Ivan, but I know when Earth and realize you’re on the frontier now.
I’m licked. Maybe you’re right, maybe we can Stop relying on your precious Earth tech and
“Restaurant’s on the second—” grab Kor before he gets off world, but I’m not start using frontier tech.” Ivan tapped a finger
good enough for plan A. I can’t outplay him.” against his temple. “Don’t wait for the fancy
“Save it. We need to talk.” machine to spit out a number, make things
“You don’t have a choice.”
The roof was dark, unlit except for pinprick happen. Kor read you straight out of the book
walkway lights between the fliers. The two men The tip of Graves’ cigarette brightened to and handed you your lunch. You deserved it
walked to the railed edge and stood listening an angry red. “He knew. He knew I was an ErSec because you were playing by the book. Now,
to the hoots and cries of the jungle calling to agent, knew the cruiser would be there, knew go downstairs, get some red meat in you, and
them. what I’d do when he threw that hand into me. figure out how you’re going to go post-literate
And it’s not a leak somewhere because he had on his ass.”
Graves lit a cigarette, pulled on it, vented to plan it, that transport was hijacked weeks
a long breath. “I blew it, compromised the Graves gave a bitter laugh. “Never figured
ago.”
whole mission by giving that cruiser away. It’ll you one for giving pep talks.”
be days before it can ferry those people out “Because you’re predictable,” Ivan said. “Not a pep talk. You’re my only card in the
and get back into position here.” “ErDef run the transport number?” game, and I’m not giving up. You were good
“Saved a few lives.” Ivan stared straight “Slo-po out of Farnham. It’s about the enough to get me here—now work Kor the
ahead, into the darkness. eighth this year—somebody’s sitting on the same way.”
route and we can’t find them. Not enough
“Compared to what? How many more did Graves shook his head. “You’re just as pre-
ships on the frontier to do a decent search, no
I cost?” dictable as I am, probably more. That loyalty
survivors recovered.” kick of yours’ll get you killed someday.”
“Maybe some, maybe none. Hard to count “Until now.”
the future.” A deep croaking repeated in the “I’ll take my chances.” Ivan put one boot
distance answered by a crash of brush and “Kor’s too smart for that. I’ll bet those on the raised lip of the roof and leaned his
silence. “What’ve you really lost?” people never saw anything or anyone outside forearms against the railing. The low croaking
of that transport from the time they left began again in the shadowed foliage below.
Graves flashed Steponovich a perplexed Farnham. I can’t even tie Kor to it—according
look. “I’ve lost the cruiser.” “I’ll need access to his terminal, the
to him, his people found the ship floating dead portable he’s using at the game table,” Graves
in space and rescued it. Who the hell knows
Ivan nodded. “Which was here to do what? said thoughtfully.
what the jurisdiction is once they got tied up in
Eavesdrop, try to catch some bit of transmitted this Kwakiutl religious ceremony. The nutjobs “How long?”
data that might get ErSec a step closer to Edgar back on Earth will probably say live and let live.
Casey.” I’d never get a conviction on anyone.” Graves “Five, maybe ten seconds.”
“And to intercept Kor when he left the inhaled and blew the smoke out in a slow
“Seconds?”

Calamity’s Child,
“More Earth tech. It’s a nano-membrane, “That’s all right,” interrupted Graves. “I declaring, after half was poured away for the
takes a flash copy of the current state of a understand you had nothing to do with it.” King of Ghosts, that the remaining half should
system, where all the ones and zeros are mag- be shared among the players. Another player
netically. It’ll take them a month to reconstruct “Yes, well, thank you. But it’s not just lost the last of his chips to Graves, triggering
it all back on Earth, but it works. I’ve done it that. You see, even before we started playing, an hour break for the midday meal. As the
before—it swaps instant results for speed in Albert’s been about trying to buy up all the players filed toward the elevator, Ivan snagged
the field.” players, offering to stake them if they’d agree the elderly biologist, steering him aside for a
to play against you, get you out early. A lot private conversation before catching up with
“Any information you get...” of the lads, myself included I’m ashamed to the others.
say, didn’t see any harm in going along with
“I’ll get you a copy of what they end up it, you being a stranger, new player and all. After eating, Graves’ stack grew steadily
with. That was our agreement.” Graves finished But, after yesterday—” Hoffield straightened and the next two players went quickly, one
his cigarette, flipping the butt over the edge of his shoulders and pulled himself up to his running out of chips and Hoffield dropping out
the roof, watching until it winked out of sight. full height. “It looks to a lot of us that you’ve to avoid another potlatch. To Ivan’s surprise,
“Let’s go get something to eat.” got the best chance of putting Albert out. If the younger gunslinger left as well, apparently
nothing else, you’ve certainly got his back up. not Kor’s bodyguard after all. They were down
Ivan did not move. “You go ahead. I think I We know we’re dead money, and I wanted you to four and four: Graves, Kor, Blueboy, and
might go for a walk.” to know, as much as we’re able, we’re going Mouthbreather—Ivan, Quicksilver, Odin, and a
“Where? Out there?” Graves motioned to be playing into you.” The biologist thrust his lump of muscle with the reactions of a tree sloth.
toward the jungle. hand forward. The incongruity of the mix set Ivan’s nerves on
edge; the unexpected was dangerous. Kor’s
“Maybe,” Ivan replied casually. “There’s a Graves shook it firmly. “I appreciate that, choice of guard was more than unexpected,
few things left out there that haven’t tried to sir. I’ll try not to let you down.” Hoffield walked it was irrational, out of character for the man
eat me yet.” out of hearing and he added, “Odd fellow, but so highly placed in Casey’s organization and
decent enough.” known for his caution.
# “I’m not convinced anyone who plays this Ivan wandered to stand near the door.
game can be called decent,” was Ivan’s grim Shrugging his shoulders beneath the weight of
Hoffield met them on their way to breakfast, reply. his holster, he loosened the gun. That done, he
nervous but determined. slid a hand into his pocket, pressing his thumb
Seven players passed through the weapon
“Gentlemen, I—about yesterday, some against a button on a tiny fob.
screening and into the second day’s play. Two
of the other players and I—what Albert did others had cashed out and departed during
yesterday, well, it’s most unsporting. I mean, the night. #
we’re not children, we know what happens late
in the game. But that’s the point, it happens With fewer players, rounds progressed The rifle, really just a pistol with an add-on
late in the game. We—it’s not our cup of tea, more rapidly and the sacrifices to Kakwas stock, was in his aircar right where Ivan had
you might say. We’re out by then—it’s not increased just as fast. The morning saw the said it would be. Hoffield grinned as he lifted it;
right to put a man on the spot like that so early end of a Descallus portrait—a forgery but one it was a very nice gun. And a gift, he reflected,
in the game. Technically acceptable or not, it’s of the few done in oils and, with the original for a favor he would have done anyway. For all
not proper—” lost, almost as valuable—and a three-hundred his dour looks and terse disposition, the man
year old bottle of wine. Hoffield won the wine, was quite the nice fellow.

Calamity’s Child,
The laser was light and lacked a scope. For- With amazing presence of mind, Kor had shredded, caked in blood and debris. “I expect
tunately, Hoffield had set up his binoculars on disconnected his terminal and now pushed it will take a few hours to, to put right whatever
a tripod; he should be able to hit something toward the exit with the black square clutched went wrong with the sonic field and repair the
as large as a langer—just line in the binoculars against his chest. Ivan shoved Graves behind playing area. Please, remain.” His tone was
and use them as a rest for the gun. He did not him, into the hallway, and moved as if to strangely contrite. “I realize that your confi-
even really have to be that close. Plus, since it follow, colliding painfully with Kor. Kor fell with dence in our, our facilities has been shaken and
was a laser, he could walk it onto his target if a grunt and Ivan hauled him to his feet by the you’ve every reason to leave but I would ask
he were really off. lapels of his tuxedo, knocking the computer that you remain and finish your game. I know
from his hands in the process. He pushed the that for you this is just a game but, for us, it is, it
He would have liked to see the results but gambler back and the muscle surged into the is a part of our religion.” The priest paused, his
Ivan had warned him that the hotel might be gap, shoving at Ivan. Steponovich stumbled, breathing ragged. “Please, honor us. Complete
angry if he were discovered. It really was a shuffling his feet to regain his balance, shoved the ritual. Return to your rooms—I will send
foolish risk. He would just shoot the langer and back. word as soon as possible.” He gave a shallow
pop into his flier. bow and the golden crest slide precariously
The langer hit the hotel and the building forward. The priest lifted a hand to right it and
To the south there was a hunting lodge, seemed to stagger. Metal screamed as giant stepped backward through the doorway.
and Ivan had promised him that the proprietor claws swept up, cutting through beams and
there could get Hoffield much closer to the sending fragments of glass showering across The players began to file toward the
local wildlife than he ever would staying here the room like a silicon rain. Security opened up elevators, moving upstream against a tide of
anyway. en masse now, the point-blank roar of their fire medics, hotel staff, and more cardinal robes
deafening, pierced by the whining of deflected that flowed into the room. Kor’s bodyguard
“Should one of those be so close?” Ivan bullets and the desperate cries of men caught started menacingly toward Ivan then veered
asked as casually, motioning with a lift of his too close to the raking claws. away to follow his patron. Graves and Ivan
chin toward the house-sized mass of shell watched them go, walking further away down
and muscle undulating toward the hotel. A Kor pushed his own man to the floor, the hall.
heartbeat later, the room was awash in chaos. scrambling over him as Ivan pulled them both
into the hallway by fists full of clothing. The trio “You get it?” Ivan asked softly.
“Please, stay calm!” shouted the high collapsed, panting. The shooting behind them
priest. “Please! Calmly!” He glanced back over “You could have warned me!” Graves forced
trailed off, stopping as it became apparent
his shoulder at the rapidly approaching bulk himself to suppress a shout. “Yes, I got it.”
the langer had finally succumbed to superior
and continued, in a shriller tone. “Get the hell firepower.
out!” Ivan rechecked his guns, making sure
Graves extended a hand, pulling Ivan to his nothing had been damaged in the melee.
The players were happy to comply, sprinting “Sometime before you leave, you should talk
feet. “You drop this?” he said, extending the
toward the door as the mercenaries moved to to the hotel. Tell them to use mines.”
black terminal toward Kor who snatched it
cover their retreat. Several members of the greedily.
hotel’s security detail were firing at the window, “For what?”
slugs ricocheting back from the bulletproof “If you would, please, return to your
glass. The high priest tried to harangue them “Langer. No protection is perfect—they
rooms.” The high priest stood in the doorway,
into some kind of order but his words were should have a back up. Way the hotel is shaped,
leaning against the jam. His headdress canted
swept away on the tides of noisy confusion. that main ballroom is about where the head
to the side at an angle and his robes were would be on a rival langer. They wouldn’t have

Calamity’s Child,
to mine the entire approach, just a strip in front claimed could play music—but the Hamatsa The golden head nodded. “Unusual, but
of it about halfway down the hill.” remained consistent. It was the magnitude of permitted. There is no requirement that the
the loss, not the amount of possible gain, that sacrifices be kept secret, merely no require-
Graves gave a noncommittal grunt. “Why determined an item’s value. ment that they be made public in advance of
mines?” the giving.”
“How long does this go on?” Ivan asked
“Hoffield’s idea. Langer carry most of their Oden. Kor prodded the edge of the plaque with a
muscle mass under the shell. Blow a directed finger, turning it to face him. “Weapon system,”
charge under one and, if it didn’t kill it, it The mountaineer shrugged and refilled his he muttered.
would at least slow it down.” Ivan paused, then glass. “Until someone gives up. I’ve seen ‘em
added, “Shouldn’t take long to fix the sonics.” go a whole week. Supposedly, thirteen days is “ErDef missile system,” Graves elaborated.
the record but—” He shrugged again. “Never “Two sets, one for the winner, one goes away.
“Only a little sabotage?” Graves asked seen a game go past seven Ravens though.” Ultra-light mount—it can go anyplace on a
caustically. ship you could mount a laser. Think about it,
“Why’s that?” Albert,” Graves smiled. “You could have Earth
Ivan shrugged and headed for the elevators. tech on your own ship.”
“For a man who gets his way, you complain a “What’s left to bet?” Oden chuckled and
lot.” walked back to the rope. Ivan followed. They “Installed? Immediately?” The question
all stayed close now. The side betting had dried was directed at the high priest.
# up but the tension in the room was palpable.
“That is part of the offering, yes.”
“I fold.” Blueboy slid his cards to the
Play resumed the next morning with all four dealer. Kor wiped his face with a hand, looked
men back at the table—same room and same at his cards, pinched his thin lips. If he lost,
table, only the heavy plastic tarp that covered “Me too,” followed the Mouthbreather, he would be down to his last stack but, if he
the outer wall gave any hint to the previous looking at Kor. won— “I call.”
day’s interruption. They played slower, taking
more time to place each bet, longer to study Kor stared at Graves, riffling his chips. He Both men revealed their cards, Graves
each turn of the card before acting, but the licked his lips, looked down at his cards again. with an ill-concealed smirk, and Kor with a sick
steady pace of “Praise U’melth. For Kakwas, “I’d better—” feeling in the pit of his stomach. The dealer
may he be appeased” ground steadily forward, turned another card, and Kor turned greener.
destruction in its wake. Video piped directly “You want this hand,” interrupted Graves.
to each player’s terminal confirmed diamonds “Praise U’melth.” The last card turned.
Kor raised his eyebrows. “Really? And why
lowered into nuclear reactors and the explosive would that be?” Kor raked chips and giggled like a child on
demolition of a city block of office buildings
a dozen worlds away. Challenges to value Christmas. “I win. I really win.”
Graves reached out and flipped over the
rulings came more frequently and were more black plaque of his potlatch. “That’s why.” Ivan Graves leaned back in his chair, scratching
heated—when a single branch was broken leaned in, trying to make out the details of the at the corner of his eye tiredly. “Everybody’s
off of a century old bonsai, when the Mouth- hologram. lucky once.”
breather bet the ashes of his late wife, her
only remaining picture, and his wedding ring, “That legal?” Oden asked aloud. “And we install it now?”
when Graves bet odd cylinders of wax that he

Calamity’s Child,
“Arrangements will be made immediately,” the elevators. “It was a good hand and a good They were too far away to hear, but they were
replied the priest. “There is the matter of your risk. I had a chance to put him away, and I took obviously arguing, heatedly. Blueboy broke
ship, however.” it.” under Rose’s metallic glare and stomped back
to the table.
Kor bobbed his head. “I’ll call it down now, “And lost. And now he’s got technology
just tell me where.” He froze, hand poised that nobody else on the frontier will even know “Cash me out,” he said bitterly. Kor laughed
above his terminal’s keyboard. “How can I be exists for another decade.” and let the pot go to the Mouthbreather as
certain there won’t be any sabotage?” the dealer silently dealt the final cards and
Graves smiled. “Earth tech. Perfect and displayed the sacrifice.
“As with all things, our own inspectors exact Earth tech, right down to the IFFT. Iden-
will be in place. The entire procedure will be tification Friend Foe Transponder,” he said in a Ivan felt rather than saw Quicksilver at
monitored.” The priest’s voice took on an edge. mocking tone. “Just like every good little piece his shoulder. “Whipsaw,” she said in a hissing
“I trust that this will be sufficient?” of Earth tech, it announces itself and locks whisper and was gone, sweeping her patron
itself out. Seriously though, Kor doesn’t realize from the room.
Kor snorted. “Your crazy religion—you it yet but, with the lockout, it can’t fire on any
couldn’t cheat me if you wanted, not without Earth or Earth-friendly vessel. It was a risk I Graves looked up from the table, eyebrow
losing your immortal soul or whatever.” was authorized to take.” raised.
“Eternal spirit,” Graves said wearily. “If the “That helps the rest of us out just fine. I’d “Does she smell like strawberries to you?”
boy wants his toy right now, it’s going to be almost forgot your masters,” Ivan said sourly. Ivan asked him in lieu of answering, moving to
hard to keep playing. I have to do part of the “You were starting to act downright human.” stand next to Oden. He watched the next two
installation.” hands closely. Rose was right; both of the other
“It won’t matter if he doesn’t leave the gamblers were playing into each other, whip-
“We will begin our midday break early and planet,” Graves countered. “No harm in giving sawing Graves between them, trying to drain
reconvene following the evening meal. Is this flowers to a dead man.” his reserves. Impressively, the ErSec agent was
satisfactory to all parties?” With no argument holding his own.
forthcoming, the priest gestured toward the Ivan was grateful for the sleep; the others
control room behind the curtains. “Let’s get were tired and tempers short. Twice in as Another hand passed, along with an
our arrangements underway.” many hands the Mouthbreather and Blueboy unusually mundane sacrifice of some form of
had to be separated, and the second time Ivan statuary carved from diamonds. Ivan tried to
Graves stood and looked at Ivan with a half-expected Rose and Oden to start fighting catch Graves’ attention, but the man was com-
grimace. “This will take me a while. On the themselves. Bridges burned—both suspen- pletely absorbed in his cards. Unless Graves
upside, the people that make certain I don’t sion bridges to an island on Australeus were could put the Mouthbreather away soon and
gimmick Kor’s ship also have to make sure sacrificed when Blueboy won ownership of the play Kor straight up, it would become impos-
nothing happens to me. You get an afternoon island itself. The Mouthbreather was remaining sible for him to win.
off.” in the game by the merest charity of sadistic
fate. He considered interrupting the game,
Ivan saw him off with a glare, decided he decided against it. Another hand was dealt,
had a point, and slept until Graves rapped on Blueboy folded out of the third hand, and bids made. Kor bet heavily, forcing Graves to
his door that evening. Quicksilver motioned him away from the table. match, playing into the Mouthbreather’s hand
Ivan tried to split his attention between the rather than to his own. Graves matched chip
“Don’t say it,” Graves said, walking toward game, and Rose as she spoke with her patron. for chip until Kor melted, leaving the pot for

Calamity’s Child,
his partner. The entire room seemed to hold from the table’s edge sprinkled the gray of his dying. This’ll be over soon enough.”
its breath. Wordlessly, the dealer laid the final balding head.
card. “How? They’re not hitting anything.”
“Swapped dealers!” Ivan shouted.
Ivan shot him, the force of the slug sending Oden muttered something about suppres-
the dealer’s body pitching backward. He let “Swapped everyone!” Graves mouthed, sion fire, but Ivan did not wait to listen. He rolled
the pistol’s kick carry his arm, turning to smash extending his hand. The palm was bright red to his side, cocked his legs against his chest,
the heavy barrel into Oden’s face, sending the and swelling. Ivan passed him the sonic pistol rolled onto them. One deep breath and he was
other man staggering back. then pulled another slug thrower from his boot exploding up, .45 held in both hands. His first
and handed that over as well. shot took Oden in the thigh, the second found
The sound of thunder cracked the room, his shoulder. For a split second, Ivan hesitated
and Kor’s hired muscle collapsed, a surprised The ballistic drum roll stopped. Ivan fired, at the top of his surge. He fired and a slug tore
look on his face and a hole in his chest. Graves straight up, and it began again. “How many?” through a red-robed shooter. He let his legs
cursed, throwing the blistering hot remains of go limp, dropping, fired twice more. At least
“Can’t tell!” Graves answered. “Running
his shattered glass derringer. Kor jerked to his one more shooter died, maybe two. The floor
out of table!”
feet, fell across his own chair. rose up, striking him brutally. Not as brutal as
“Stay down!” Ivan told the priest. The man the torrent of bullets that shattered the air he
Ivan kicked Oden in the head before he had occupied moments before. Even as they
answered by trying to draw himself into a
could recover. As Oden dropped, he spun back did, he could hear the higher pitched crack of
tighter ball.
toward Kor, free hand digging for the sonic his other gun—Graves firing now under the
pistol in his waistband. Kor was up, running. They dove from opposite sides of the cover of Ivan’s distraction, enfilading fire. Ivan
Ivan thumbed the sonic just as the gambler table, Ivan toward the langer shell wall, Graves crawled forward, burning his knees and elbows
barreled into him, both collapsing in a tangle toward the bar. Half crawling, half sliding, Ivan on the carpet, surging into a crouching run as
of limbs. Graves was shouting at him as he made it, snapping off shots blindly as he went. the shooters turned their attention toward the
crawled free. The ErSec agent put his shoulder Bodies littered the room; apparently not all of bar.
against the table and fought it onto its side. the security detail had been switched.
Not all of them had turned. Ivan shot one
Catching a swirl of crimson and a glint of The crack of a pistol shot told Ivan that of the men staring at him before the other two
gunmetal from the corner of his eye, Ivan dove Graves had reached cover, he hoped. Laying on opened up, bullets slapping into langer shell
forward, scrambling on hands and knees to get his back, he began to push himself along behind and whining past him. He shot another and
behind the table, the Mouthbreather climbing the half-wall with his heels. He was beyond the dove flat, the impact knocking his gun from
over him headed the other way. Graves threw midpoint of the room when he heard voices his hand. He scrabbled after it in something
an arm over the Hamatsa high priest, pulling through the splatter of gunfire. like panic, but far more urgent. Got it. Stood
him to the ground. again.
“You got to get me out of here. I’m dying—
Automatic weapons fire ripped the sur- I’ve got to be bleeding to death internally.” They fired at the same time, but Ivan was
rounding drapery to shreds and pounded Kor’s wheedling voice was harsh with pain that several feet away from where he had fallen.
hot slag into the walls beyond. Ivan cringed brought a smile to Ivan’s face. The shooter did not have time to walk his fire
next to Graves and the priest as the booming onto his target. With icy patience, Ivan sighted
continued in a long, unrelenting roll like the “Shut up.” The sound of Oden’s voice was the final gunman still firing at Graves and shot
crashing of surf on shore. The priest had lost not the surprise it would have been an hour him in the back.
his headdress and stared bedazzled as splinters ago. “You got hit with sonic. You’re hurt, not

Calamity’s Child,
“Graves?” he shouted, scanning the room, tentatively. “You think they’re set to be Earth
gun tracking along with his eyes. friendly?”
“Someone swapped out your dealer and
“I’ll live.” Graves stood slowly from behind most of your security people. If you’re lucky, Ivan barked a laugh of his own. “And there
the bar, his hair and clothing dusted with you’ll find the real ones tied up in a closet. he is with a ship screaming to anyone who’ll
glass, tiny scratches welling blood across his If not—what kind of fool idea was it to wear hear that it’s an Earth Defense ship. That’ll
hands and face. The Mouthbreather’s body masks to begin with?” groused Ivan. leave a bruise.”
lay sprawled partway across the bar. “Where’s
Kor? You hit him. He can’t go far—at that range, “So that the ghosts cannot see our faces, “I told him I’d kill him,” Graves sighed. “I
sonic powders bone.” otherwise they would haunt us.” The expla- didn’t specify whose gun I’d use.”
nation was matter of fact. “But, how did you
Ivan’s eyes swept the room again. “Was know?” Ivan walked to the cratered bar, gently took
Oden wearing a vest?” the guns from Graves. “Ain’t a damn thing left
Graves answered. “No praise Um’leth.” to drink.”
“What? No, yeah.” Graves started across
the room. “Like a light duster maybe.” “You noticed?” Ivan asked. “I could use one, Mister Steponovich, I
surely could,” whispered the ErSec agent.
The plastic covering the shattered window “Ever since the break.”
was shredded and streaked with blood. Ivan They waited in silence as the high priest
“I thought it was just the tension,” the wandered the room, moving gingerly from body
cursed, running toward it. “What’s the closest priest said. “I was going to speak to him later to body, separating the just from the unjust. “A
entrance back to the hotel?” about it.” great tragedy,” he said at last. “You men have
“One on either end and one in the center,” done a great and holy thing this day.”
“He’s been spoken to,” Graves said and
said the high priest in a quavering voice, began to laugh. “How’d you figure that, padre?” Graves
crawling out from behind the remnants of the
table. “About fifty feet that way.” asked from the floor.
“Stop it,” Ivan snapped.
Ivan spun and headed toward the other “You have cleansed the temple of U’melth.
“But you don’t understand,” gasped Graves,
end of the room. “Cut him off at the roof,” he We were lax—I was lax—and our sanctity was
pulling himself up just short of hysteria. “I did
snapped aloud. compromised. You two this day were the claws
what you said. Forced the issue. Frontier tech.” of the Raven. You have done us a great service.
He laughed again, choking to a stop. “I gave
“Him who?” Graves demanded. We are in your debt. Ask and if it is in our
him an ErDef IFFT.” power, we will repay you.”
“Oden. If he was wearing a vest, I must “What does—”
have just hurt him. Carrying Kor, he could—” “Anything?” Ivan asked, his tone suspi-
Graves waved him to silence. “What do cious.
“Let him go.” Graves sagged against the bar, you think the chances are that Casey, or even
shaking his head, and Ivan finally registered “Ignore him. You don’t owe us anything.”
Kor himself for that matter, uses an automated
the other man’s exhaustion. “Just let him go.” defense system to protect their sensitive The priest shook his head. “But we do,
He let himself slide to the floor and sat there, bases?” Earth man, we do.”
guns in his lap.
“About 100 percent.” “A future favor then,” Graves said.
“What, what happened?” the priest asked

Calamity’s Child,
Ivan walked to the broken remains of the

large camera. With a fingernail, he pried out
M Keaton
the recording crystal. “Mind if I take this? I’ve
got a friend might like to have it.” Growing up in a family with a history
of military service, M. Keaton cut his
“It is yours.” linguistic and philosophical teeth on
“Graves, you ready to go home?”
the bones of his elders through games
of strategy and debates at the dinner
“What’re you talking about?” table. He began his writing career
over 20 years ago as a newspaper rat
Ivan slid a communicator from his pocket. in Springdale, Arkansas, U.S.A. before
“Max, you there?” pursuing formal studies in chemistry,
“Right here,” crackled the speaker. mathematics, and medieval literature
at John Brown University. A student
“You get everything?” of politics, military history, forteana,
“Every bit and byte of data and every little
and game design, his renaissance
message, oh crazy one.” education inspired the short television
series: These Teeth Are Real (TTAR).
“Come pick us up, smart alec.” Ivan dropped
the comm back into his pocket. His literary “mentors” are as diverse
as his experiences. Most powerfully,
“You’ve had somebody out there recording the author has been affected by the
the entire time?” Graves asked. “Why didn’t
you tell me—forget I asked that.” works and writers of the “ancient”
world, including the Bible, Socrates,
Ivan reached down and pulled Graves to his and (more modern) Machiavelli, Tsun
feet. Tsu, Tacitus, and Von Clauswitz. (This
horribly long list only scratches the
surface; M. Keaton reads at a rate of
over two books per week in addition
to his writing.)

A Couple of Hours in Coreytown
, A Jack Brand Story by John M. Whalen Pg. 53
A Jack Brand Story
by John M. Whalen
C oreytown was little more than a collection
of ramshackle buildings scattered along
a wide dirt road that ran four miles south of
“Don’t mind if you do,” Wilson said. He
smiled and Brand noticed a tooth missing.
“Hey, Fred, another glass,” he shouted at the
the straw hat, gave him the look of a dandy.
He was openly staring at the two men at the
table.
the Jordeen oil fields. The fields were still in barkeep. “You still working for the Trans-Exxon
operation but only on a reduced production people?” “You know that boy at the bar, Ran?” Brand
basis. The Big Shutdown of the oil industry on asked.
Tulon had only just begun. Virtual atomic fuel “Off and on,” Brand answered. The
bartender brought a glass and Wilson poured The old man glanced over at him and
had been discovered back on Earth and the
some whiskey into it for him. “Right now it’s snorted. “Yeah,” he said. “Young punk. Comes
price of oil was plummeting. It would be only
on. I’ve got to deliver some pink slips to the in here most every night. Fancies himself good
a matter of months until the Shutdown closed
foreman of a new oil field out at Shyman. It’s with a laser pistol. A wannabe. You’ll find him
all the fields.
going to hurt them. The company’s shutting amusin’.”
Jack Brand swung in through the batwing the project down. The demand for new oil is “I don’t like being stared at,” Brand said.
doors of the Coreytown Saloon and looked the dropping fast. Looks like the company wants to He took another drink. They resumed their
place over. Only half a dozen people occupied cut its losses.” conversation, but Brand could feel the young
the place. It was about four in the afternoon.
“That’s business,” Wilson said. man’s eyes all over his back. He was tired and
The lunch trade had all gone back to work and half baked-out from a long ride in the Tulon
the nighttime crowd hadn’t started to show up “Here’s to business,” Brand said sarcasti- desert sun. He half-turned around. “Hey, boy,
yet. There was a fresh-faced kid in blue jeans cally. The two men clinked glasses. “What have there something you want? The way you’re
and a straw hat standing at the bar. He had a you been doing since you quit the Security looking at me, seems like there’s something on
laser pistol strapped down on his leg, in a way Force?” Brand asked. your mind.”
that was supposed to mean something. Brand
looked over at a table in the corner and saw a “Not much,” the old man said. “Drifting The young man took his elbows off the bar
much older man in a black coat sitting alone, mostly. Right now I got me a spot right here. and strutted toward the table. He was blonde
playing solitaire and drinking synth-whiskey. Sort of keep the peace in this dump during the and blue-eyed and had what some might call
night hours. They get a pretty unruly crowd in baby-face good looks. He walked with a bit of
“Ran Wilson,” Brand called out. The man here most nights. Just came on my shift.” a swagger and kept his right hand low, close to
looked up from his cards with a frown and then the pistol on his leg.
smiled through a thick black and grey beard. Brand gave him a look.
“You talkin’ to me?” he asked.
“Brand?” He shook his head. “What are you Wilson shrugged. “I know. It ain’t much but
doing in this hell-hole of a town?” it gets me by.” “I don’t see anybody else standing in the
space you’re taking up,” Brand said.
“Just passing through on my way to Brand turned to his left and saw the young
Shyman’s Bluff,” Brand said. “Mind if I sit a man in the straw hat standing with his back The boy came up to near a foot or two from
spell?” He noticed the way the kid at the bar to the bar, his elbows on the edge. The white Brand’s chair and stopped, folding his arms
kept eyeballing him. shirt and black vest he wore, combined with across his chest. He half-chuckled at Brand’s

last statement. “Sorry, Mr. Brand. Didn’t mean nothing. All I down someday.”
wanted to do was say hello. Tell you how much
“That’s a good line, I’ll have to use it I admire a man like you. You and Ran Wilson, Brand’s frown grew even deeper as he
sometime.” there. Why it’s unbelievable. Maybe most listened to Jordeen. “How is it you know so
folks don’t know it, but you’re both legends. much about what I’ve done? Somebody write
Brand looked up at him with a frown. Wilson a book about me?”
Between the two of you, I figure you must have
rocked back in his chair watching the exchange killed at least fifty men. Maybe more.”
between the two, a bemused expression on his “No,” the boy said. “Maybe I will someday,
bearded countenance. “That’s pure exaggeration, boy,” Brand if I live a long life and become an old man.
said. “And anyway, you think that’s something Somebody should. I just know all this from
“Don’t you know it’s not polite to stare at reading the papers. Watching the telenews
to be proud of?”
people?” Brand asked. when I can. I don’t know why, but from the first
“Damn straight!” Jordeen said. “If I live time I read your name in a news story, I just
The boy’s blue eyes gave him an icy look, long enough to have even half that tally, I’d die became fascinated by you.”
and then he laughed. a proud and happy man.”
He raised a finger and jabbed the air for
“Sorry, Mr. Brand,” he said. “I didn’t mean Brand looked across the table at Wilson. emphasis.
no offense. You are Jack Brand, aren’t you?”
“You hear that, Ran?” he said. “You’re a “I’d almost have to say you probably have
“That’s right.” legend in these parts. The kid thinks you’re a been the most influential man in my life,” he
“You’re a pretty famous man on this god- hero.” said. “Notice how I wear my gun tied down on
forsaken planet,” the boy said. “Stories of your my leg, low like that. Just like you. I saw how
“No,” Wilson said. “I think he’s got his eyes you did it in pictures. Course I use a Smith &
exploits over the last ten years have almost set on being more like you. I’m just a grizzled Wesson Laser Pistol, not the Beretta Electro
grown to legendary proportions. I never old man now. But you’re something he can still Gun you always carry. The S&W is a more
thought I’d ever get the chance to meet you. look up to. Ain’t that it, kid?” modern weapon, lighter weight, faster. That
I’m Rafe Jordeen.” He held his hand out eagerly.
“I’d just like to shake your hand, Mr. Brand. It’s Beretta is old technology, still good, but not as
The boy nodded sheepishly.
a real privilege to meet you.” good as this.”
“I reckon so,” he said. “You see I’ve been
Brand glanced over at Wilson, whose Jordeen’s right hand flashed down and up
following your career, Mr. Brand. I know every
amusement seemed to have grown even and the bore of the laser pistol’s muzzle gaped
gunfight you been in. I know the story of every
further. a few inches from Brand’s face.
town you cleaned up. I know the story of Black
Creek and Jason Burnett. How you turned the “See that?” Jordeen said. His arm moved
“Son,” Brand said. “I’ve had a long hot trip town into a black pile of cinders and destroyed and the gun was back in its holster. “And now?”
all the way from Tulon Central to his jerkwater, Burnett and his whole lousy gang just to rescue The gun was out, twirling around his finger,
I don’t cotton to being stared at while I’m trying the daughter of an old friend. I heard about again only inches from Brand’s face. Jordeen
to have a private conversation. Why don’t you how you saved a town full of religious people twirled the gun four times and reholstered it,
go on back over to that bar and have yourself a from Cal Thorson and his men. I heard it all. the gunmetal slapping softly into the leather.
nice quiet little drink and leave us alone.” And I heard about how you lost your sister in
The boy’s smile disappeared. He pulled his that ambush by the Wilkerson gang. I’m sure “You shouldn’t pull a gun unless you mean
hand back and looked like he’d been slapped. sorry about that. I hope you track them coyotes to use it,” Brand said. “Some people might get

the wrong idea. And if you mean to use it, you back in the holster, and we’ll see how good you face with the back of his hand. His lips quivered
shouldn’t stand so close. Somebody could just are.” in rage. “You shouldn’t oughta done that,” he
reach right out and grab it from you.” said. He looked down at the gun in her hand.
“That’s enough, Rafe,” a female voice said. Crystal had it pointed at his stomach.
“Oh,” Jordeen said. “You mean like this?” “Quit bothering the customers.”
“Just go out and cool off,” the woman said.
He backed away several steps, his hand Brand turned around further in his chair
hovering over the pistols’ ivory grips. He drew and saw a woman standing on the steps leading The kid glared over at the men at the table
again and aimed the gun at Brand. up to the private rooms on the second floor. and then stomped out of the saloon.
She was in her thirties, had dark hair, a heart-
“How’s that? Better?” he asked. “Think I’m shaped face, wore a bright red dress and a lot Wilson chuckled dryly. “Nice move, Crystal,”
fast? Think I’m as fast as you? Think that Beretta of makeup. The kid stayed where he was, still he said.
could come out quicker than my laser?” holding the gun. The woman strode over to the table, twirled
“Sonny.” It was Wilson who spoke now. “This old man disrespected me,” he said. the gun so that it ended butt first in her hand
“Don’t go waving that gun around in people’s “Thinks he can get by on his laurels.” and set it on the table.
faces. It’s damn annoying. Put it away.”
The woman came down the steps and “Ain’t that what I’m paying you for?” she
Jordeen stood for a moment looking at walked along the bar to him. The barkeep and said. She looked down at Brand. “Who’s your
Wilson, the weapon still in his hands. the few other patrons in the place sat or stood friend?”
still, eyes watching, waiting to see what would
“What’s that, old man?” he said. “You say “This here’s Jack Brand,” Wilson said.
happen.
something?”
She gave him an appraising look. “So you’re
The woman stopped next to Jordeen and
“I said put that pea shooter away.” Wilson’s Jack Brand,” she said. “I’d thought you’d be
picked up the synth-whiskey bottle he’d been
voice had gotten a hard edge to it. “Before I older. I’m pleased to meet you.”
pouring from. She poured a drink into a glass
take it off you and make you eat it.” and held it out to him. “Always a pleasure to meet a lady,” Brand
“You know, Wilson,” the kid said. “I don’t said.
“Have a drink, Rafe,” she said. “Cool off.”
have to take that kind of talk from you. I know
you killed a lot of men. But that was back in the She eyeballed him to see if he was trying to
Jordeen glared at Wilson. “I know he works
day. You ain’t as young as you used to be. You be funny. Brand sat straight-faced. She pulled
for you, Crystal,” he said. “But that don’t give
can’t be half as good as you once were. Not a chair out and sat down. “Fred, bring me my
him no right.”
like Brand, here. He’s still in his prime. I don’t special bottle and a glass,” she yelled at the
reckon you fit that description. Otherwise you “I said have a drink,” the woman said. bartender. “So what brings you to Coreytown,
wouldn’t be settling for a job like the one you Her hand moved fast and the booze splashed Brand?”
got here. Maybe you ought not talk to me that into the kid’s eyes. She threw the glass down, “Afraid it won’t be good news for you,”
way. Especially not in front of Brand here.” slapped him across the face several times, and he said. “If you get any trade from Shyman’s
grabbed the gun out of his hand. “Go on,” she
“Listen, you wannabe son of a bitch,” Wilson Bluff, looks like you may lose it. It’s being shut
barked. “Get out of here. You can have this
said, his voice low, not nervous sounding at all, down.”
back when you settle down.”
and still with an edge to it. “You got a play to “Not surprised,” Crystal said. “Price of oil
make, why don’t you make it? Put that gun The kid wiped the synth-whiskey off his

down to $20 a barrel and falling. Pretty soon “Me and just about every other male first and said, “We want some drinks, barkeep.”
won’t be nothing left on this big sandbox. walking on two feet. Even old Fred there’s had The fourth one had long braids of brown hair
With so many men laid off, business is down a favor or two from you.” hanging down on his chest and sided the man
to nothing. It’s gotten so bad, we used to keep with the Mohawk. All four of the Nomads had
Nomad scum out of here, but now we’ll even She poured another drink. “Can I help it if weapons.
serve them if they want a drink. “ I like men, and they like me?” She lifted the
glass to her lips and tossed it down, then threw Brand took note of gun the man with the
Fred the bartender set a fresh bottle and a her eyes on Brand. She set the glass down and Mohawk carried. It was old technology; a Colt
glass down on the table. She poured herself a reached out and touched him on the sleeve. .45, the kind they used back on Earth in the
drink and freshened up the two glasses already “You’re pretty likeable yourself,” she said. previous century. Many of the desert scaven-
on the table. gers wore guns like that. They were cheaper to
“See what I mean, Brand?” Wilson asked. get and lasted longer out in the desert where
“Well, anyway, that doesn’t mean we can’t plasma charges and laser refills were hard to
make the most of what is still left. Here’s to “No need to fuss over me,” Brand said. “I come by. The other three had beat-up looking
progress and to those who get mowed down won’t here more than a couple of hours.” laser pistols. The man with the braids wore a
by it.” shoulder rig, and from the snake embossed on
“That’s long enough for what I have in
mind,” Crystal said. the black grip of the pistol, Brand knew it to be
The three of them raised their glasses and a Python X-2.
drank. A loud commotion erupted out in the
street. The sound of combustion engines. The bartender looked over at Crystal. She
# gave him a nod and he pulled a bottle and
“Damn!” Crystal said. “Nomads. Get ready four shot glasses out from under the counter.
“Hope Rafe didn’t bother you too much,” for a show, Brand.” He poured the synthetic whiskey and set the
Crystal said, smiling at Brand. “He’s just a kid bottle down. “That’ll be four even,” he said.
on the prod. Trying to be a man.” Brand knew all about Nomads. The Wilk-
ersons were a Nomad gang. They’d ambushed The man with the Mohawk picked up the
“He keeps acting that way, he might kill him five years ago, left him for dead, and shot glass and held it out. “Put it on a tab,” he
himself trying,” Brand said. “Who is he?” kidnapped his sister. He knew about Nomads. said, and slugged the booze down. “And give
Tulon was full of them. Some were the original me another.”
“His daddy’s owner of the Jordeen,” she settlers of the planet who had been displaced
said. “Kind of a spoiled kid. Neglected mostly by the oil companies. Others were oil field Fred the bartender glanced over at Crystal.
by his old man. Maybe that’s why he’s always workers who’d been laid off and left to survive “It’s all right,” she said.
trying to get somebody’s attention.” on their own. They were a dirty, savage bunch The four Nomads turned and looked over
and he’d as soon fire a blast of his Electro-Pistol
“He gets enough of your attention,” Wilson at her. The man with the Mohawk raised the
into one of them as look at them.
said. refilled glass and toasted her. “Much obliged,
The batwings swung back and four scruffy- ma’am.” The man with the braids and the
She grinned. “He’s a good looking boy,” she shaved heads did the same, their eyes moving
looking men dressed in jeans, torn, black
said. “You jealous, you old walrus? You know over her like hungry wolves.
T-shirts, and motorcycle boots stomped into
I’ll always have a place for you in my heart, the Coreytown saloon. Two of them had shaved
Ran.” Crystal got out of her chair and walked
heads. One with a Mohawk came up to the bar over to them. Brand lowered his hand under

the table and surreptitiously undid the leather too. #

restraining strap that kept the Beretta secure in
its holster. Wilson picked up the deck of cards “And who might you be?” Chino asked. An hour went by. It was still daylight
and resumed his game of Solitaire. outside, but it would soon be quitting time out
“Ran Wilson.”
at the oil fields, and the drillers, and riggers,
“You’re good for it,” Crystal said to the man and derrick monkeys would be pouring into
“I heard of you,” Chino said. “So you’re the
with the Mohawk. “Aren’t you?” the place. Brand had some slum gullion stew
bouncer in this place, old man? Thought you’d
He looked down at her with a toothy grin. be dead by now.” He looked at Brand, who sat to eat along with the whiskey and was feeling
“I’m good for a lot of things,” he said. “Who’s back, relaxed in his chair. “What about you? pretty satisfied. He debated whether to move
askin’?” You in this too?” on to Shyman’s Bluff before it got dark, or just
get a room over at the hotel and leave in the
“Name’s Crystal,” she said. “I own this “That’s Jack Brand,” Crystal said. “He’s just morning.
place.” visiting.”
The four Nomads had been loud and bois-
“Oh, a lady proprietor,” he said. “My name’s Chino looked at the man with the braids. terous but hadn’t caused any real trouble.
Chino. Pleased to meet you.” “I’m impressed,” he said. “You impressed?” They’d taken turns running upstairs with the
working girls and were now sitting at a table
The man with the braids walked around The man with the braids smiled but said drinking with them at the other end of the
the two of them and came to rest on the other nothing. saloon from Brand, Wilson, and Crystal.
side of the woman. He leaned his back against “We got four girls working here,” Crystal “You remember Blue Mountain Pete?”
the bar and looked over at Brand and Wilson. said. “All upstairs just waiting for the right type Wilson asked.
Brand returned the look, and the man with the of customer to come along.” She smiled up at
braids turned away and leaned forward on the Chino and reached a fingertip up to his jutting, “Sure I do,” Brand said. “Whatever
bar. stubble-covered chin, and stroked it. “You’re happened to that old reprobate?”
“The reason I ask,” Crystal said, “is that we kind of cute, in a low-down sort of way.”
get some trash in here sometimes that ain’t “In jail,” Wilson answered. “Seems he—”
Chino chuckled. “We come in here to have
got no money. You don’t look like that kind. A The batwings crashed open loudly and
a good time,” he said. “We ain’t looking for any
man with enough money can have a good time Brand looked up to see Rafe Jordeen in the
trouble.”
in this place. If he behaves himself.” doorway. He still had his straw hat on his head
He reached into the pocket of his jeans and and Brand noticed he wore a fresh laser pistol
“And what if he don’t,” Chino asked. threw two large gold coins down on the bar. in the holster that was down low on his leg.
“Wouldn’t be a smart thing to do,” Ran Jordeen stood there a minute sort of swaying,
“Fred, give them whatever they want,” peering across the saloon like a man trying to
Wilson said from the table. In his hand was a Crystal said. “And have those girls come down see through a fog.
sawed-off Ruger Plasma Rifle that he’d pulled here. Time they went to work.”
from a special rig holster Velcroed to his right
leg. “Wilson!” he shouted. “Ran Wilson!”
Brand moved his hand away from his holster
and let it rest on the table top. Wilson put the “Bad news is back,” Wilson muttered.
The man with the braids turned to look at sawed-off away and went back to his solitaire.
Wilson. The two shaved heads put their drinks “He’s drunk,” Crystal said.
down and gaped at the old man with the gun

“Wilson!” The room got quiet. The Nomads Jordeen turned around to face the Nomads. “I’m Rafe Jordeen,” the boy said. “My father
who’d been chattering among themselves, “Wha—Who asked you to butt in?” owns the Jordeen oil fields. I could buy and sell
hadn’t noticed Jordeen before, but watched you a hundred times over and not even use up
him interest now. “I’m here to call you out, “What’s that, boy?” Chino got up from his my lunch money. So why don’t you run along?
Wilson. Get up out of that chair.” chair. The painted girl sitting on his lap nearly I got no quarrel with you. I came here to settle
fell on the floor. “You say something to me?” something with that old man over there.”
One of the Nomad skinheads giggled.
“Whooee, listen to that.” Brand hoped the boy had the good sense Chino glared at him. He moved a little closer
to back off. to him. He outweighed Jordeen by at least fifty
Crystal got out of her chair. “Didn’t I send pounds and stood several inches taller.
you out of here once, Rafe,” she said. She “Who-who are you?” Jordeen asked.
walked over to him. “Why you have to come “I don’t much like the way you talk, Rafe
“Don’t make no difference who I am,” Chino
back and try making trouble?” Jordeen,” he said. “And I sure don’t like the way
answered. “I seen you knock that woman down. you treat a lady. Looks like I’ll have to teach
“You shut up!” Jordeen snarled. That ain’t a right thing to do. Now why don’t you a lesson.”
you help her up and tell her you’re sorry.”
The Nomads cackled behind Jordeen’s back “I teach the lessons around here, Chino,”
like a pack of drunken crows. “That’s tellin’ her, “No need,” Crystal said, getting up by Wilson said. He moved around the table. Brand
boy,” one of the shaved heads hollered. They herself. “This is just a private quarrel. Why wondered why he hadn’t pulled the sawed-off
all laughed. don’t you go back to your table and—” yet. It seemed a careless thing to do.
Jordeen turned and gawked at the four “Sorry, ma’am,” Chino said. “Where I come “You stay out of this, old man,” Jordeen
desert trash not fully cognizant of what he was from we don’t treat a lady like that. I can’t hollered. “I don’t need your help.”
looking at. just let it go, especially since you treated us so
good in here.” He stood cold-eyeing the kid, a “He’s right, Wilson,” Chino said. “You’d best
“Rafe, be a nice boy and get out of here.” twisted grin on his thick lips. stay out of it.”
Jordeen turned. His arm swung and he “Why, you ain’t nothing but Nomad scum,” “Can’t do that,” Wilson said. He stood a
backhanded the woman hard across the face. Jordeen said. “Who you think you are talking few feet to the side of Jordeen now. “This boy
She went to the floor with a yelp. to me that way? You know who I am?” may be a damn fool but he’s drunk. He ain’t no
match for you. Why don’t you forget it?”
“Did you see that?” Chino asked the man “Now how would I know that, when I ain’t
with the brown braids. The man nodded his never laid eyes on you before, boy?” “What I tell you, Wilson?” Jordeen
head. shouted.
The two skin heads laughed at that remark.
Wilson was on his feet. He hadn’t pulled the The man with the braids sat half drunk watching “Shut your mouth, you wet-nosed mule. Or
sawed-off yet, but his hand dangled down near with a dreamy expression on his face, his arm do you want to die?”
the butt of the plasma gun fastened to his leg. around the bare shoulder of a redhead.
He raised a hand and started to say something, “I ain’t afraid of no Nomad gutter trash,”
but was interrupted. Chino had taken several steps from the Jordeen said. He backed up a few steps. “You’re
table and stood only four or five feet from wearing a sidearm,” he told Chino. “Why
“Now that ain’t no way to treat a lady,” the kid. His grey eyes looked the boy up and don’t you use it? I’ll take you on. And then I’ll
Chino said. down. deal with this old man here. The old bastard

shamed me in front of this lady and that man “Not my fight, kid,” Brand said. “You started “Let go of it,” Wilson said.
over there. The one man who I would never it with your big mouth. And old Ran there, this
want to let see me shamed.” is his job. He gets paid for throwing these dirt Chino froze. A slow, wide grin crept across
bags out. And these particular Nomad dung his weather-beaten face. “You’re still pretty
“I’ll be most happy to oblige you,” Chino heaps aren’t the ones I’m looking for. I got no fast,” he said. “For an old timer. But there’s
said. He looked at Wilson. “And if you want in reason to mix in it. You got yourself into it. You four of us. You may get some of us, but you
on it, happy to oblige you too. And that goes for were throwing that gun of yours all over the won’t live to know about it.”
your friend over there. Mr. Jack Brand, famous place earlier. Let’s see what you can do with
Nomad-hater. Right, boys?” “I don’t know which is worse,” Wilson said,
it.” moving the sawed-off back and forth over the
The three at the table were on their feet The kid paled. His mouth hung open in four of them. “Wannabe’s like the kid there,
and moved around Chino. It stood four against disbelief. or drunken desert garbage that don’t have no
two. Brand remained seated at the table. respect for their elders. Drop your guns on the
“I ain’t got all day, kid,” Chino said. “How floor or start using them.”
“Yeah, I heard about you, Brand,” Chino about just you and me then? Leave the rest of
said. “Heard how you got it in for us Nomads. them out of it?” Nomads, Brand thought. They were the
It’s because of what happened to your sister. product of their times. Human refuse created
Some Nomads grabbed her. Nearly finished “Damn you, Brand,” the kid shouted. “You by the oil companies that had pillaged Tulon.
you. And what I hear you go around looking for ain’t nothing but a coward.” The instinct for survival had turned them into
Nomads to kill just to see if they know anything savage animals. He already had the Beretta
about that damn sister of yours. Well, we’re “I’m waiting,” Chino said. loose in its holster under the table. He was
Nomads. Why don’t you get out of that chair ready, whatever happened.
The kid recovered himself. “I ain’t afraid of
and see if we know anything?” you,” he said. It was the man with the long braids who
“You hear that, Mr. Brand?” Jordeen said. moved first. His hand swept the Python out of
The fingers of his right hand flexed over
He suddenly seemed sober. His eyes were clear the shoulder sling and aimed it at Wilson. The
the butt of his laser pistol. He licked his lips
and bright. “I know you’re not going to take old man swiveled. The laser pistol and plasma
nervously, his eyes were two blue orbs of
that kind of talk from this scumbag. Not Jack gun fired at the same time, a purple ray zapping
intense concentration. “Let’s get it on,” he
Brand. Man, oh, man. This is going to be the out of Wilson’s gun, a white beam crackling
said.
greatest day of my life. The day Jack Brand and from the X-2. The man with the braids flew
me stood up to four Nomad killers and made Chino’s hand moved for the Colt. Jordeen back and landed on the table where he’d been
them sorry they were ever born. Right, Mr. went for his pistol. Wilson lunged forward with sitting. Glasses crashed and shattered. The
Brand?” the sawed-off suddenly in his hand. He brought women screamed and ran to get behind the
the barrel down on the kid’s head. Jordeen fell bar. Wilson yelled in pain and took two steps
Brand sat slouched in his chair looking at back. He’d been hit in his left arm. Chino had
to the floor and Wilson spun, the nose of the
the tableau in the middle of the bar. He shook the Colt in his hand and aimed it at him.
plasma gun aimed at the Nomad gang leader’s
his head. “No thanks, sonny,” he said. “Believe chest. Chino was crouched, his Colt half out
I’ll pass.” “Chino,” Brand yelled. He was on his feet,
of the holster. The other three Nomads stood the Beretta held waist high. The Nomad turned
“What!” the kid was shocked. “What do you tensed, waiting, their hands ready to clutch the gun towards him. Brand saw his finger
mean? You’re not going to stand up to them? their weapons. squeeze the Colt’s trigger. Saw the iron hammer
You’re going to back down?” rise and fall. There was a burst of flame and a

loud explosion. Brand fired the Beretta. He saw the air. Three bodies lay bleeding. Rafe Jordeen Brand saw the kid’s hand tighten around the
the blue electric arc dart across the room and lay where Wilson had dropped him. Smith and Wesson laser automatic. There was
hit Wilson in the side. Brand felt the lead slug no stopping what was going to happen now.
from the .45 hit him in the thigh. It was like “You all right,” Ran Wilson asked, walking He spun, pushing Wilson away from him. The
a blow from a hammer. His leg went out from over to Brand. Beretta was in his hand. He had no choice. The
under him and he went down on one knee. kid was drunk, and he meant to kill them. The
“Doesn’t feel like it hit the bone,” he said. kid fired. A red laser beam cracked out of the
The two skin heads fired at Wilson. Wilson Wilson helped him to get up. They could hear barrel. Brand dove to the side and squeezed
sprayed Plasma rays in their direction. One of the skinhead’s motorcycle taking off outside. the trigger on the Electro-Pistol. The blue
them crumbled to the floor but the other kept “Had been a laser, I’d have lost the leg,” he bolt of electricity hit Jordeen in the chest and
firing at the old man. Crazy, Brand thought. said. “Didn’t know that Chino was so fast.” knocked him to the floor. His straw hat rolled
The Nomad couldn’t shoot. He kept missing and stopped when it hit the brass foot rail in
“We best get you over to the doc’s,”
Wilson. front of the bar.
Wilson said, draping Brand’s right arm over his
Chino stood wobbling, looking down at the shoulders. Brand saw Crystal and her girls standing
burnt flesh in his side. He glared at Brand and behind the bar looking down wide-eyed at his
“How’s yours?”
raised his Colt. “You’ll pay for that,” he said. sprawled body.
The pain in Brand’s leg was numbing. He gritted “Ain’t nothin’,” Wilson said. “Don’t hardly
his teeth and jerked the Beretta up from his feel it.” “Wannabe’s,” Brand said in disgust. He
kneeling position and got off another blast. It thrust the Beretta back into its holster.
hit Chino dead center of his chest. The Nomad They started for the batwings.
fired the Colt down into the floorboards, an Wilson helped him outside and they crossed
acrid cloud of blue smoke rising around him. He “Like the old days, ain’t it, Ran?” Brand the street to the doc’s office. It was 5:30 and
paled and stood for a moment looking at Brand said. the whistle had blown at the Jordeen oil field.
as his eyes began to fill up with empty. The gun The oil field crews were pouring into town,
“It’s always the old days,” Wilson answered. some in vehicles, most on foot. It was going to
dropped from his fingers and clattered to the “Things don’t change. Just the faces.” be just another night in Coreytown.
floor. His knees buckled and he fell down.
They pushed the batwings open.
The last Nomad kept squeezing the trigger
of his laser pistol at Wilson, but nothing “No, you don’t.” It was Rafe Jordeen’s
happened. The gun had run out of fuel. He voice. Brand and Wilson turned around. The
stood clicking the trigger, as if by some magic kid stood in the middle of the saloon floor, the
he could make it fire. Wilson lowered his laser pistol in his hand. “I’m going to kill you
plasma gun, shaking his head. two sons of bitches. Wilson, you shamed me,
hit me on the head with that sawed-off. Brand
“Get out of here,” he said. you would have let that scum kill me. You
The Nomad threw the gun away and ran just ain’t the man I thought you was. I always
out the door. thought I wanted to be like you. When you
showed up here, I thought maybe we could be
Wilson turned and looked down at Brand. friends. But you just ain’t fit to live. I hate the
The smoke from Chino’s revolver still curled in both of you.”

John M. Whalen
John M. Whalen’s stories have appeared
in the Flashing Swords E-zine, pulpand-
dagger.com, and Universe Pathways
magazine. His Jack Brand stories are a
staple here at Ray Gun Revival maga-
zine.
Contact the author here.

Deuces Wild, Fractured Facets, Part Three by L. S. King Pg. 62
Deuces Wild, Season Two
Chapter 3: Fractured Facets, Part Three
by L. S. King
Slap chewed his nails as Carter drummed something.” “The Medan natives? Those three-legged
his fingers on the console. The engineer was aliens?”
as frustrated as he was. Did he see Addie as a Carter shook his head. “I don’t know what
little girl who needed big brothers as Slap did? we can do. We don’t know where he is, or what “I think we’re the aliens on this planet,”
Perhaps. he’s doing.” Carter said with a chuckle. “But yeah. And their
men are already setting up something near the
He studied the thin, lined face. Carter’d “Where’s he likely to go? To where they docks’ west gate market.”
had some tough times, from the little he knew have Addie, right? The Confeds are here to buy
of him, and undoubtedly worried about the and transport arms and stuff for the war, so “For an ambush, I take it? I ain’t
Confeds getting him back. Did he have family? wouldn’t they have a ship?” surprised.”
Part of him wanted to ask, but Carter seemed Carter’s crooked smile slid onto his face, “But there’s been some chatter about cargo
about as willing to talk about his past as and he regarded Slap with an amused expres- that needs watching on the freighter Yangtze.”
Tristan. sion, finally saying, “Yes. Yes, they would. And
the location of their freighters is information I “Why would cargo need to be watched?”
He stared at the comm panel, willing Tristan
to call so they could leave—oh no! Slap sat bolt do have, among other interesting tidbits I want “Exactly—since they aren’t exporting
upright. “Brago’s Bands! We’re in trouble!” to pass on to Tristan.” livestock.”
“What?” Carter spun to stare at him. “Freighters? How’d you find out about Slap jumped to his feet. “I think Tristan
“How?” them?” needs to know this.”
“Tristan wants us ready to go, to meet with “I’ve been monitoring their communica- “But where do we find him?”
him.” tions and doing traces. And I...I really was
worried that Addie might already be dead.” “I don’t know, but we can’t look from here.
Carter nodded. “Yes. So?” We need to be outside the space port.”
“What!”
“Customs. They make you go through the Carter rose, a contemplative look on his
wait and search every time you leave the space “The Confeds don’t play games, and face. “I...I think you might be right. Let me grab
port. Tristan forgot.” they wouldn’t let her live if they got us, so I a few things, and I’ll meet you at the hatch.”
wondered if they were keeping her alive until
Carter frowned, running a hand through they do. But from what I’ve been hearing, I
his silvering blond hair. “It’s not like Tristan think she’s all right.” #
to forget things...” His eyes shone with fresh
concern as he met Slap’s. “He’s doing this Slap slumped in his chair in relief. “I hope “So do you have a plan?” Slap asked as
alone.” you’re right. So...what did you hear?” they headed toward the city after clearing
customs.
“We can’t let him! We have to do “To summarize, they’ve got locals guarding
a warehouse—locals meaning natives.” “Not really.” Carter sighed. “I’ve thought

and thought, but I’m not Tristan. I can’t think making Tristan’s heart ache for his past, for all about you. Do you get me back to the ship in
on my feet like he can. I really don’t know that was lost. “Go.” Zvi said. “Go!” time to stop that?”
where he might be.”
Keeping a death grip on Polk’s arm, Tristan “You think you have all the cards, don’t
“Scheme on his feet, you mean.” Slap’s shoved him past Zvi. Polk’s objections and wails you?”
attention riveted to the glow at the edge of brought him no sympathy or help.
the city to their left. His mind filled in what he “Unlike you, I’m not a gambler, I’m a card
couldn’t see at this distance, the huge multi- He wanted desperately to look behind, to sharp. I use false shuffles, false cuts, I deal
colored dome, the holo-banner, the bright see Zvi’s face just once again, but he dared not. from the bottom and the middle, I cull, I stack
lights. “Tristan was looking for Polk, and he As they crossed the backyard, Polk squirmed the deck—whatever it takes to make sure I’m
said Polk worked for the circus. Think we’d find to get out of Tristan’s grip, but a twist on the in control. So...” Tristan loosened Polk’s arm
him there?” man’s wrist stopped any struggling. “You forget enough to turn him around. “Are you going to
who trained me to fight—and to kill.” bet on me, or against me?”
“I guess it can’t hurt to look around.”
“Y-you said you need me, you can’t kill Polk snatched free and rubbed his shoulder.
# me.” “You’ve...won against the Confeds before, that’s
why they want you and your friend both.”
“I can do anything I want,” Tristan hissed,
Tristan took a slow deep breath, his eyes then whispered more softly in Polk’s ear. “How Ah. “Who? Who do they want?”
and Zvi’s locked. He dared not show emotion, I fell...this all brings it back—from the heights
dared not show weakness. of the Big Top to being Dray’s slave.” He jerked The gambler frowned. “Donegal, the
Polk’s arm, making him grunt. “And it puts me demented genius. I don’t know the name he’s
Zvi put a hand out toward the two youths, using now.”
in a particularly sour mood. So you’re going to
palm down, gesturing to lower their weapons. help me get that girl out of the Confeds’ hands
“You may go. This is a personal matter.” Carter. So they didn’t know Slap was along?
before their planned ambush at midnight.” Should he assume Polk was telling the truth—or
As their guns dropped to their sides, Polk knew everything the Confeds were up to? “And
“They’ll kill me if I help you!”
squealed, “Zvi, he’s going to murder me!” you said there’s three Confed agents here?
“I’ll kill you if you don’t.” That’s all?”
The penetrating gaze switched to Polk.
“Jacek, shut up.” Sweat seeped through Polk’s shirt and ran “Yes, see, they’re only here to move mer-
down his face. “I don’t see what I can do.” chandise along—Xanthus doesn’t like them
Before Zvi could say anything else, Tristan much, and they have to be on the q.t.”
cut in, “He’s involved in a young girl being “Get me in where they’re holding Addie.
kidnapped and is my only card to play in getting I’m going to take her from them.” Tristan began “So I imagine.”
her back safely.” moving again, pushing Polk into a high-stepping
trot. “But they hired some local thugs, so I’m not
“Cards. Such talk from you.” Zvi’s chin lifted, sure how many will be at the warehouse.”
and he sighed. “So go. Save this girl.” “That’s suicide.”
“And you know for certain this warehouse
Tristan hesitated, surprised Zvi would just “You’d better hope it’s not, because at one is where they’re holding her?”
let him leave like this. The old man waved a o’clock, an hour after their scheduled rendez-
hand in permission as he had a million times, vous with us, my message goes out to Dray “Yes. It’s where they’re storing the goods

while waiting for their ship.” The blood drained from Walczyk’s face. see a longing there? No, he was most certainly
“You!” projecting his own.
Tristan blew his breath out slowly. “Give
me the layout, and it had better be accurate Polk twisted his arm and bolted away. “Is there any way we can help?”
because you’re going in the door with me.” Tristan broke into a run, and in seconds closed
the distance. He dove through the air, hands We? “The Cirque? Mon Dieu, I am a
After Polk gave Tristan details and answered around Polk’s waist, and the two smashed into murderer, remember? And worse, a groundie.
questions, they exited the backyard and skirted the sawdust. What would the Cirque do for me?”
the edge of the almost-deserted midway, Polk’s
arm in Tristan’s firm grasp. An older man with As Tristan wrestled Polk into a hold, the “Ah, boy...” Zvi shook his head slowly. “You
greying hair and a slight stoop strode across gambler began blubbering. He dragged Polk don’t—”
grounds, and with a desperate cry, Polk yelled to his feet, then sharp pain crashed into the A shriek cut off what Zvi started to say.
in Polish, “Evžen! Help! He’ll kill me!” back of his head. Tristan fell to his knees, stars Tristan spun to see Slap and Carter walking
dancing before his eyes.
Tristan peered hard at the figure before toward him, Polk ensnared in the cowboy’s
recognizing the aged man. This was Walczyk? He didn’t need to see that Polk was getting arms, one around his neck, the other around
Yes, of course. Time was no man’s friend. But away, he could hear the pounding footsteps as his waist. The engineer looked a bit smug,
still, he remembered the man as tall, forbid- the man ran off. Rising and spinning, Tristan hands shoved into the pockets of his old, worn
ding, frightening—in truth, Walczyk wasn’t made out Walczyk’s face and aimed his fist at it jacket.
much taller than Tristan. with all his might. “Lose something, Tristan?” Slap called,
His one-time tormentor straightened a bit Glass jaw, old age, lucky hit—or all three, grinning.
with a frown. “What trouble have you gotten but Walczyk fell, crumpled unconscious to the Tristan glared in lieu of letting his mouth
yourself into now, Jacek?” ground. The moment of satisfaction faded, and drop open and switched languages. “I said for
Tristan turned to the direction Polk had run,
“Bigger trouble than you know, Walczyk,” you to wait until I contacted you.”
but the gambler was out of sight already.
Tristan replied in their language. “Stay out of “Yeah, but we wouldn’t have gotten
the way.” Tristan sighed and ran a hand through his through customs in time.” Slap’s innocent face
hair. He had the urge to kick Walczyk, but that
Walczyk’s frown deepened; echoes of old didn’t fool Tristan. And Carter’s told the story
would solve nothing. He took a deep breath,
memories, old fears from childhood night- anyway; they’d figured it out.
trying to decide what to do next, and saw Zvi
mares returned to Tristan. But now...he saw walking slowly toward him across the midway. So much for his original plan—he furiously
the reality—this man was nothing. began revising his strategy as his gaze bored
“He’s not dead,” he said in Russian before
“Who are you to know me?” Walczyk into Polk, another variable changed in his cal-
Zvi could say anything.
asked. culations. “We’re running out of time. Let’s
“I know. I saw.” His mentor nodded in the go.”
Hatred welled up in Tristan, boiled out direction Polk had gone. “So now, what about
before he could stop it. “Do you wish to abandon He strode forward, but Zvi’s voice arrested
this girl? What are you going to do?”
me on a planet now, hein? Or shove me out an him. “Boy?”
airlock? Zvi is not here. It is you and me. Can Tristan exhaled slowly. “Whatever I can.” He stopped and half-turned, his gaze on
you bully a man as you did a baby boy?”
Zvi’s eyes held his for a long moment. Did he the ground for a moment, but Zvi taught him

better than that. Lifting his chin, he met those me from high up. I’m certain they don’t realize “Wh-where are we going?”
dark eyes. Pain shone there, and it nearly broke how much they’re underestimating you.”
Tristan’s reserve. He’d never seen such open “To the warehouse—where else?” In the
emotion from the man. Tristan, as usual, seemed to know what dim lighting along the street, Slap couldn’t
was really going on, and from his knowing nod, really see Tristan’s face, but his teeth gleamed.
“Be careful,” Zvi murmured, his voice had picked up that Carter wasn’t betting, but “You are going to lead the way in the rescue.”
breaking. had facts.
“Lead the way? I don’t know how—I
Tristan swallowed twice and, finally, trusted They proceeded across the midway in can’t...”
his voice would remain steady. “Always.” With silence, unless you included Polk’s occasional
a nod to his companions, he said again, “Let’s grunts as Slap hefted him to shift position. A Tristan pulled Polk away from Slap and
go.” sack of grain was much less trouble; it didn’t companionably dropped an arm around his
have legs to kick out at people. shoulders. “Certainly you can. You’re going to
# walk in the door—a task none of us could safely
A few people stared at them, and Tristan do—and announce they are to give up the girl,
said, “Set him down before anyone asks or the whole building will be blown sky-high
Slap looked back over his shoulder at the questions.” within five minutes.”
silver-haired man with the cane as they hurried
away, a million questions running through his Slap obeyed, but still kept a grip on Polk’s “Blown up!” Rivulets poured down Polk’s
mind. neck—not an easy task; did the man sweat face now, glistening in the street lights. He tried
due to some medical condition or because of to stop walking, but Tristan kept his momentum
“So what are your plans?” Carter asked. nerves? As they left the midway and entered moving forcibly forward.
“Polk, here, claims they’re holding Addie at the city proper, Polk tried to twist out of Slap’s
hold, but squeaked and went still when he Slap bit his lips together and swallowed
a warehouse.”
found himself lifted from the ground by his hard to keep from laughing. From Carter’s
Slap glanced down at the pale, sweaty man collar. pursed lips, he was fighting to keep a straight
still trapped in his arms, feet dangling off the face too. The two men exchanged glances as
ground. How could he tell his buddy the man “You’re getting very annoying, you know their little procession continued on.
was lying without letting on what Carter had that?” Slap muttered. “If Tristan doesn’t think
found out? “Aw, Tristan, you gonna believe we need you anymore, I might use you for wit #
anything this slimy lizard says?” toss practice.”
Slap squinted into the dark as he placed
His friend snorted. “The question is, will the “What’s wit toss?” Polk asked, trying to the blast-disk Carter had given him on the wall
Confeds think we believe him?” Tristan turned twist to face Slap. of the warehouse. He slunk along the edge and
to Carter. “You know these people better than set another at the other corner, then ran in
“A game on my planet. You pick up a sack
I do.” the shadows to where Tristan waited. His two
with a large rock in it and whirl around a few
times to pick up speed then let go and see how buddies assured him they were reasonably
The engineer pursed his lips. “The men here
far away the rock lands.” Slap smiled broadly. certain Addie was on the one freighter, the
are mere smugglers, not their top agents, so I
“I usually win.” Yangtze, not here. He hoped they were right,
wouldn’t credit them with too much in the way although Polk would certainly let everyone
of brains.” Carter hesitated before continuing. Polk’s eyes grew large, and he wilted. inside know the place was going to blow up.
“I’d bet they received orders about you and

He joined Carter when his side of the “He’s not going to try to leave us out again, To catch up on previous episodes of
building was done, and the two squatted behind is he?” the adventures of Slap and Tristan, visit:
a large dumpster. Tristan had gone ahead. http://loriendil.com/DW.php
Carter shrugged. “Let’s not let him.”
“What if they kill Addie when they hear Deuces Wild is dedicated to the memory of
we’ve blown up their warehouse?” Three Medan natives with PB rifles stepped my best friend; my inspiration for an enduring
into their path, making the two men halt. friendship...http://loriendil.com/Starsky/
“Tristan feels—and I agree with him—that
if she’s not already dead, they want her alive as “Hold it right there,” ordered one, his voice
a bargaining token until they have us.” understandable despite a strange alien-guttur-
al quality.
“But what if you’re wrong?”
#
“Slap, look, this whole thing is full of ifs and
maybes. We’re playing it this way, believing it’s Tristan scrutinized the Yangtze, visible in
the best way to get Addie back alive. But there the hardstand lights shining up on the hull.
are no guarantees. The girl drives me crazy, but She was a true, full-sized freighter, not the
I don’t want her dead any more than you do. personal cargo ship the Giselle was. Many
And Tristan does want her back alive.” places to store living—or dead—merchandise.
“I really wonder about that.” But now she was quiet, slumbering in the night,
no workmen loading or unloading, no hatches
“He may not care for her, but he does have open for easy access.
his reputation, and what would his failure here
He glanced at his chrono. It would soon be
L. S. King
do to that?”
time for Carter to send the signal to detonate L.S. began martial arts training over thirty
Slap nodded. That he could hold onto. the blast-disks at the warehouse. He had to get years ago, and owned a karate school for
“Well, now we have to brave customs again.” inside the ship quickly. Luckily, getting inside
places was one of his specialties. a decade. When on the planet, she lives
“There are usually longer lines for entry, in Delaware with her husband, Steve, and
and at this time of night, probably no lines at He adjusted the collar of the dock worker’s
all going either way.” Carter rose and began coverall he’d appropriated and donned, and their youngest child. She enjoys garden
walking, and Slap fell into step with him. approached the rear hatch. Overriding the lock ing, soap making, reading, and all things
was easy. He jumped onto the ramp before it Myst. She also likes Looney Tunes, the
“We hope. Folks will be leaving the circus had completely lowered to find a Medani guard
soon.” waiting for him, PBG in hand. color purple, and is a Zorro aficionado,
which might explain her love for swords
“Those are mostly locals from the city. But
we’d better hurry—I don’t want to take any and cloaks.
chances. We have to be in place when Tristan
needs us.” Like Londo Mollari, she wants to know
“What does he have planned?” if the Hokey Pokey is really what it’s all
“Who knows? He didn’t say, just to head about.
for the Yangtze.”
Pg. 67
The Adventures of the Sky Pirate
Chapter 22, The Confessions of Dangerous Men
by Johne Cook
The story so far: something startling. As I went about perform- “Well you’re deep in thought.” The voice
ing the duties of a cleric of Cyl, the supposed was lyrical and wise, young but mature. It was
Alacrity’s R&R was interrupted by an over- omnipotent, omniscient, sovereign god of this becoming a comfort. To me, of all people.
whelming fleet of Sylvan warships. Flynn sold world, some force was actually assisting me.
the local merchant captains on a bold plan, I looked over to see Dr. Deena Prentiss
but the cleric did what clerics do, and Bola did It is understandable that Flynn doesn’t approach. She stood by the railing next to me
what Bola does. What happened next was understand who I am, but it is particularly and watched our descent. “Hello, Doctor,” I
clearly folly and possibly a miracle, but no less vexing that I don’t understand who I am. Now said.
a legend. It left Bola with her own mercenary my motivations are even an enigma to myself.
army and the cleric with some hard questions That can’t continue. “Preparing your thoughts for Holy Day
about the nature of his ‘faith.’ service?”
I’ve seen and done many things I’m not
proud of, and I’ve been involved with more I could have left her to her misconception,
than my share of death. But I’ve never seen but chose not to, for there is an equilibrium to
Part One anything like this, and despite my best inten- falsehood, and I did not want to lose my sense
Splash Down tions and my deepest thinking, I’m alarmed. of balance. It was a personal point of honor
that most would not understand, but the ones
M y motivations have always been a mystery
to captain Cooper Flynn.
Part of me wants to say “Cyl help me.” And
therein lies the conflict.
who give me pause are not those who don’t
understand, but rather those who do.
From the moment he laid eyes on me, he I smiled gently. “My good doctor, I have a
heard the title I used and saw the way I was #
far more serious demeanor when my musing
dressed and thought he knew what to expect is preparation for official discourse. On this
with regard to me. When he brought me It was dawn and I stood at the railing as occasion, I am simply thinking for the pleasure
aboard—a euphemism for kidnapped—the Eggplant brought Alacrity into port and as we of thinking.”
Haddirron airship Alacrity, he didn’t have the descended, I watched the approaching dock,
first idea the kind of trouble he was inviting the visual demarcation of land and water. There She nodded, playing along. “Grave frown—
onboard his quaint little gadget craft. Whether was always a moment when Eggplant shut off discourse. Peaceful gaze—musing for fun.
that trouble followed me or cursed me or was the power and the ship settled into the water. I Seems clear enough.” She smiled. “What is the
me didn’t faze him in the slightest in his naïveté both anticipated it and feared that moment for nature of your musing on this occasion?”
and ignorance. reasons I can’t quite name.
“I’ve been thinking about identity, about
He didn’t simply invite lethal trouble But that’s not what I was thinking about at what makes us who we are.”
aboard, he insisted on it. He asked for it. I could that moment. There is knowledge, and there
keep that trouble at bay for only so long. is thought. I knew Alacrity would splash down. “Oh?”
However, my thoughts were about a topic
But as events unfolded and battles occurred, much closer to me. I gestured to the dock workers lining up to
in my assumed guise, I started to perceive carry and cart things on and off the ship. “If I

, Chapter 22, The Confessions of Dangerous Men by Johne Cook Pg. 68
am one man when I leave the ship, who will I confess, you will be a cleric, and that is enough to me to stabilize her.
be when I return? I will be wearing the same for me.”
clothes, and people will address me with the The ship rocked a little and then settled
same greeting, but who is to say I will actually I concealed the troubled shadow that flitted in. Deena turned in my arm to face me, her
be the same man who left? It haunts me at across my heart. “I’m not sure the...skills I have face looking up to me. I could feel her breasts
night sometimes.” are suitable for the crew on this ship.” pressed against my chest as we regained our
balance. At that distance, she smelled slightly
She shrugged. “If you are hale and whole, I She was having none of it. “Your contribu- of sunshine and island flowers.
shall welcome you back with a smile. If you are tions to this crew are immeasurable. I saw you
not, I will bind your wounds.” pray for the dying and the dead. We know you “I will never get used to that,” she said, her
prayed for Bola, for the captain through this voice strangely husky.
I looked at her guileless silhouette, the very last battle. And you can’t argue that something
soul of common sense. “If I return wounded, unexplainable happened. Everyone knows “Some things get easier with the passage
you will heal me, whoever I am at that moment? what you did, even if we don’t know how it of time,” I said by way of reprise, and lightly
Can it be so simple?” works.” brushed a stray strand of hair from her face
with fingers. She didn’t tremble.
“It is that simple for me, yes.” She watched I had no answer to any of that.
Mr. Pitt pass without comment, neither of I took a half a step back. “Thank you for
them meeting the others’ eyes. Her voice grew She bumped my shoulder with hers. “Cleric, the discussion. I have business on shore.” I
distant. “Other things, however, are not so absolve yourself,” she said. I looked at her in half-bowed, not so low to be earnest, nor so
simple for me to heal.” alarm, for what she said made perfect sense to shallow to be ironic. It was gesture of an old
me. Or would have, had I been an actual cleric. friend, one to another. “Doctor.”
I nodded. “Some things are not yet simple, So much for maintaining equilibrium after all.
but everything changes over time. Some things And speaking of which... I turned and saw Mr. Pitt watching the
get harder. Some get easier. And others...we exchange, and knew the bow had been just
won’t know about them until we get there and A sailor at the bow yelled out. “Fifty feet! right to stay him. For now. My eyes flicked
take in the lay of the coast.” Twenty five feet! On your mark!” away as I demonstrated to him I wasn’t putting
on an act for his benefit, and went below. Yes,
She said, “What about me, then? Am I a Eggplant stepped out of the wheelhouse. it was a falsehood, but it was for his benefit,
doctor right now, or am I just a woman adrift “Last warning! Cutting power!” not his detriment, and I didn’t give it a second
amongst dangerous men?” thought.
We grabbed the railing and the bottom
I thought about it. We were both stranded, dropped out beneath us. The ship dropped Apparently, Mr. Pitt wasn’t getting used to
in a way, although the method of my estrange- into the water with a heavy, wooden sploosh, the splash down at port that any more than
ment was looking more complex all the time. water shooting up between the ship and the Deena was, but that wasn’t my problem. I had
Finally, I said, “What is important is that when dock and raining back down on us. Deena enough crises of my own to attend to. And I
you need to be a doctor, you will be, and that squealed and we fell a couple of feet to the knew who was responsible for those crises,
is enough for me.” deck. I landed lightly on the balls of my feet. and who I had to see next.
She landed awkwardly and started to fall.
She turned to face me and smiled trium- #
phantly, and I knew she had trapped me. Without thinking, my arm shot out, and I
“Very well, then. When we have something to grabbed her around the waist and pulled her
I served breakfast to Captain Flynn in the

galley that morning and quietly asked him if we Flynn leaned forward. I changed into something innocuous,
could speak privately after the meal. He looked slipped the leather strap of the small leather
guarded, but agreed to meet. That pretty much “I initially thought it was an anomaly, and bag over my neck to rest on my chest under my
sums up our relationship. then I thought it was a coincidence. However, casual bloused shirt, and left the ship shortly
the more time that passes without normal afterward. It was time to return to my past,
He tracked me down in the ship’s library activity, the more certain I am that something even if just for little while. I had the strangest
afterward, closing the door behind him. “Cleric is up, something so big they want to mask its feeling my future just might depend on it.
Vaneras. What can I do for you?” existence with artificial quiescence.”
I closed The Paradox of the Ship of the “What are they talking about, then?”
Seus and looked up. “Captain, I am a student Part Two
of people’s motivations. You might call it an “The usual—court politics, who’s sleeping The Hail, the Feint, and the Ambush
occupational hazard. Therefore, I’m very inter- with whom, the relative sanity of monarchs.”
ested when somebody does something they’ve On making landfall, I didn’t go to the local
He might have looked amused at this point, temple as I’d suggested. Instead, I borrowed a
never done before. And the corollary is likewise but he didn’t. He was taking me seriously. horse, rode to the far side of the island, and
true, when they stop doing something they’ve “Because there is a lack of violent crime and a there commissioned a catamaran, known for
always done before for no obvious.” wave of relative peace around the Mendaran, its speed, and left Roarke’s Island far behind.
“What are you getting at?” you’re suspicious? And not just a little We bypassed a number of medium-sized
curious, but suspicious to the point of genuine islands before spotting a tiny island between a
“There is a loose information network concern?” loose group of other nearby islands. There was
among the churches on the islands around the a well known, well-trafficked tavern there that
great Mendaran Ocean. And part of the duties I nodded. served as a central hub for the area.
that go along with my line of work is listening Flynn’s eyes were twinkling furiously.
to the confessions of dangerous men. Such is I wasn’t going there.
However, to his credit, he didn’t take it any
the effectiveness of this network that we fre- further, and when I said I wanted to take a We docked there, and I left instructions for
quently know things even before the navy.” quick tour of the nearby islands to speak to my the catamaran to wait for me, just as the horse
Flynn gestured for me to go on. He was fellow clerics, he waved his hand negligently was waiting for me back on the west side of
either aware of that network, or at least could and told me to return before they lifted off to Roarke’s Island. I found a one-person kayak
be convinced that such a network might exist. do battle at Yempher. that wasn’t in use at the moment and appro-
Interesting. Despite our sometimes tense rela- priated it.
He left the study, and I smiled to myself. His
tionship, he was learning to trust me. I tucked curiosity was at least as large as mine, and I I paddled to the furthest of the group of
that insight away, as is the way of my kind. had his attention. islands with the scraggliest beaches and no
I continued. “During our recent liberty on dock at all. There was nothing much of note
My smile faded, perhaps a trifle wistfully. A
Parrot Bay, I went ashore and spoke at length there except for a rather derelict watering hole
normal cleric might have felt a twinge of con-
with my peers at the local temple. Something known more for who didn’t frequent it than
science for lying to his captain, but I was not a
came up in conversation that arrested my anything, and a large, impassable ruins behind
normal cleric.
attention. The activity of that network has it.
gone curiously quiet in recent months.”
# There were some good reasons to come

to this group of islands, but no good reason to none of us spoke of that. of the word ‘room,’ but I was busy listening.
come to this one in particular, nor this...estab-
lishment. The hail is interesting; it’s never the same, It was the widow who spoke. “Blamoonian
and there are no lists of things to memorize. fronds are out of season right now. She’s right
Which, as it turns, was perfect for what I The concept is simple, but the implementation about the rum—that’s what I’m having.”
was looking for. can be tricky.
I collected a hollowed out coconut shell of
There was no door, nor really any walls. It Fortunately, these people are a naturally rum and walked over to the widow. I couldn’t
was essentially just a medium thatched roof tricky lot, so the challenge is garden-path-easy believe my eyes, or didn’t, at least.
and some chairs and tables sitting uneasily on to them.
sandy soil. “Will there be some arriving in another
I took in the patrons of the bar with one shipment? Should I come back another time?”
I surveyed the place. It could not be more surreptitious glance; two nearly identical beefy
humble. This would be it. sailors who were doing more drinking than The widow laughed, a husky cackle that
dicing, a beautiful woman in expensive silks, a sounded of dried leaves and withered branches,
It is true there is a legitimate information peg-legged man with a faded hat, a savvy-look- completely out of place in these lush tropical
network available through the island temples, ing native bartrendress, and a ragged looking environs. “There is no other time. It’s rum or
but as far as crime is concerned, why go to a widow-in-mourning. ale, and trust me, you don’t want the ale.” She
scroll vendor on the street when you can go gestured to take a seat, and I did, thus com-
right to the crime lord? And ironically enough, If that went too fast for you, the cast were pleting the hail.
if I was interested in petty crime, I’d have gone not one, but two bouncers—interesting for
to Flynn’s clandestine contact, the Friar of Briar this place, a merchant woman—not a madam, It’s never who I think, which is precisely the
Island. However, I wasn’t interested in just any a captain of a tramp freighter that had seen point.
average crime, I was interested in one specific better decades, somebody who owed someone
advanced discipline, and that was a different something working the bar, and, well, a #
organization entirely. widow.
She looked at me carefully, her intelligent
# I mentally labeled the two peas-in-a-pod eyes betraying her disguise. “What can I do for
bouncers as ‘Pints’ and ‘Quarts,’ although they you?”
looked enough like each other that they could
I didn’t know who I was looking for, or what have been twins. The best lies have an element of truth, and
they looked like, but I knew how to find them. my quandary involved that very intersection
I walked up to the bar—two heavy planks between dark and light, lie and truth. “Things
In this organization, I could count on three suspended over two heavy crates—and ordered have gotten very quiet, too quiet. I came in to
things—the hail, the feint, and the ambush. without preamble. find out why myself.”
There were at least two reasons for that. The
first was to make it easy to keep the guild “Blamoonian Mist,” I said. “You came in,” she said, repeating my
hidden in plain sight, a decentralized group words as if I’d said something profound. “How
with no obvious head. The second was to keep The bartendress looked at me in disbelief. did you find us?”
your wits sharp, keep your reflexes steady but “You’ll have rum or ale. The rum doesn’t suffer
ready for action at any moment. by being room temperature.” Us?
The third reason was simple arrogance, but I might normally have snickered at her use

“You can speak freely,” she said, as if that free himself, but threw a dagger, pinning the taken very seriously, whether I intended it or
would change everything. mark to a tree. Then Diamante drew his sword, not.
sliced off his own leg above the ankle, bound
I could? Maybe it would. I just wish I knew the wound with his shirt, and limped over and I had the strangest feeling yet, that I hadn’t
what we were talking about here. It struck me finished the contract. Or so they said. And known this all was here, but Someone did, and
at that moment how odd it was that I was only that’s when he looked at me. had led me straight here.
in the dark in my role as a cleric. That seemed
backwards somehow, and the dissonance was Looking at him gave me the once-over, I Oh, Cyl, I thought, you will be the death of
threatening to tear me apart. wouldn’t put it past him—he was a completely me.
humorless, serious customer. I’ve never seen
I looked back around at the motley bunch someone with deader eyes.
lounging around, and noticed they were all Part Three
looking at me. Hungrily. I looked again at the bartender. “Still The Black Widower
want that Blamoonian Mist?” she said, eyes
I never would have missed that transition twinkling, and pulled out a bottle of perfectly The Widow—for that’s who she was,
“before.” Another wave of identity confusion good whiskey, the sort you’d never expect in another legend in the organization—led the
passed over me. This was not the time to lose an out-of-the-way dive like this. way. Pints and Quarts gestured. Their silence
focus. was scintillating. One preceded me and the
The widow in black stood. “You pass. Grab
I started to think about what I was seeing other followed.
a glass and follow me.”
right in front of me. The two big guys were As I was being ushered into the abandoned
Qantiinate, not just big, but smart. And another I did, wondering if I would live long enough temple—which wasn’t abandoned at all—Pints
thing...I realized they weren’t just smart, they to discover I was the mark here. “Where are and Quarts patted me down again, thoroughly,
were also twins. And not just twins, but sons. we going?” and only uncovered the leather bag tied around
And those weren’t dice, they were nasty things
“As long as you came to the trouble to track my neck and resting underneath my shirt.
waiting to be thrown.
down the inner sanctum and passed the hail, “What’s this?”
I took a sip of my rum, not tasting it, as the you may as well meet him.”
truth of the rest of the room came into focus. “A sweetener that is completely organic and
“Him?” I said, my carefully-crafted plan which is one hundred times sweeter than sugar
The woman in silks was Qantrent—es- falling to pieces around my head. but which only grows on the Sylvan continent.
sentially a gymnast assassin, as deadly as she
“The Black Widower, of course. If you’ve It is a rare treat, made even more rare by the
was beautiful. Her silks were flowing for easy
gone to the trouble to track down the Qantiin misfortunes of war.”
movement. She was a slayer of kings. But what
was she doing here, of all places? field headquarters, you may as well enjoy the Quarts was outright skeptical. “You wear
benefits of being at court.” sugar around your neck?”
I looked again at the captain, and placed
him without even meeting his eyes. He was The realization hit me in that moment like “Not just sugar, but a super-concentrated,
Captain Solo Diamante. He was a Qantiin the striking of the purest bronze gong. This super-rare, super-expensive sweetener that
legend. His leg had been caught in a trap as was either the most colossal coincidence of all few have ever tasted. This is my nest egg.
he was pursuing a mark. The mark stopped time, or yet another indication that the vow I’d When I sell it, I will be able to retire. So I keep it
and laughed at him. Diamante didn’t stop to taken as part of my cover as a cleric was being close to me until I decide I want to liquidate my

holdings and take up the quiet life for good.” My first view of the Black Widower was a I told him.
small, stocky man with a black cotton apron
“What’s your cover now?” tied behind him around the waist. It was a He shook his head. “I’ve never heard of
bit incongruous. He was facing the other way, you,” he said.
“A cleric.” slicing something on a teak cutting board on “Does that make me worse,” I asked, “or
“What’s quieter than that?” magnificent granite countertops. better?”
“A restaurant owner and chef,” I said. The Widow said, “We have a visitor.” He looked at me with flinty eyes, and then
The Black Widower turned, a ray of filtered grinned with grim amusement. “We shall see,”
Pints and Quarts looked at each other
light lighting up half his face, leaving the rest he said, and the chill that went down my back
expressively.
in shadow. Quarts stepped forward without was both unwelcome and all too familiar.
“A chef,” said Quarts. being bid and whispered for a long moment. “What was your cover?”
“Come with us,” said Pints. The Black Widower nodded. “Thank you,” “I was mistaken for a cleric. I did not
he said. dissuade them from that misconception.”
We walked out back to a vine-covered
boulder. I was instructed to avert my eyes, so I She bowed deeply, turned, and left. “You are Qantiin, an assassin of the broth-
stared at the one behind me until he gestured erhood. How did you find working undercover
that I could look again. He looked at me with knowing eyes. That as a holy man?”
sort of scrutiny was unsettling. “What brings
A vine-covered door had been opened and you to the Temple?” I shrugged. “The requirements of the two
there were steps carved into rock going forward are diametrically opposed. It was easy to hide
into shadow. I followed Pints down the steps. I thought about it. “What if I said I wasn’t in plain sight.”
sure?”
“How do you keep the two clear?”
# He nodded as if I’d said a great truth. “You
were sure at one time, however, yes? What “The needs of the moment dictate that. As
I expected to face the Black Widower in a was the last thing you were sure about?” an assassin, I need to know who to kill. As a
great room on a great stone throne, but they cleric, I need to know who to save.”
led me to a long banquet room with teak tables “There was the usual silence, and then
and individual chairs with a grand kitchen on there was a deeper silence. I wanted to find He nodded. “When you wear the assassin’s
an elevated platform overlooking the tables. out what happened. I didn’t mind being under- garb, who do you kill?”
Light streamed through great curved arched cover, but I didn’t want to be forgotten, if that “Only the mark.”
windows and overgrown foliage, created a makes sense.”
muted green effect. Free-standing bamboo “When you wear the cleric’s garb, who do
torches were set around the kitchen at strategic “You’ve heard of me,” he said. you save?”
places to provide area lighting. “Of course,” I said. “Your exploits are I looked at him levelly. “Everyone I can.”
There was a small spherical table on the legendary.”
kitchen dais level, and I was shown to one of “You are a strange man,” he said, but the
“What is your name?”
the chairs there. way he said it was a compliment.

“I have a strange wardrobe,” I corrected. balance of power in some way.” little cooking of your own.”
He thought about that, and then pointed The Black Widower nodded. “So what would And just like that, we were at the moment
the knife at me. “And what happens when you be the point of an organization of assassins of truth. I had no more time to debate who I
wear no garb at all?” deliberately ceasing their assassinations?” was. I had to become the new identity, or I had
to embrace the death of the old one. There
“They tell me I snore.” I thought it through. “If the primary purpose was no more time to straddle the line.
of conducting surgical assassinations was to
The Black Widower put his head back and change the balance of power, the only reason I had time to wonder if this epiphany was
laughed long and loud, and the sound echoed not to continue with assassinations would be if what Cyl intended for me. If He was behind
throughout the old, stone hall. you found a more effective way to change the this, that tended to answer questions I wasn’t
balance of power by not assassinating people bold enough to even ask.
I waited him out, wondering where all this for a season.”
would go next, and how long I could keep up The Black Widower laid the blade down
the charade in the face of the most dangerous He smiled, and in that moment, I had it. on the chopping board and gestured for me
man I’d met yet in my colorful, complicated life. “The regent of Haddirron City,” I said. to pick it up. Pints and Quarts both stiffened
One thing was sure—it was time to act instead imperceptibly.
of react. The Black Widower tapped his temple with
the flat of his blade affirming my epiphany. I grinned and stepped forward. “Easy,
“I told those around me that there is a loose brothers,” I said. “I’m just chopping some veg-
information network among the clerics in the Her Majesty the Queen was rumored to etables for a nice salad.” I looked at what had
islands. The best stories have at least a kernel be flirting with bouts of insanity as she aged, been made, at what was laid out. I carefully
of truth. I said the chatter had gone quiet, and but her new regent was said to be a calming picked the blade up, correctly squeezing the
that I wanted to investigate why.” influence on her, a stable hand at court. top back of the blade between my thumb
and forefinger. The Black Widower looked on
“It’s true,” he said. “I put out the word to I was stunned. Why kill people to change the approvingly, and I knew I’d passed his test.
go dark for awhile, to stay the hand, no more balance of power when you have the ear of the
assassinations for awhile. No Qantiin will lift a Queen and the authority to speak in her name What remained to be seen was whether he
lethal finger until I give the word.” when she’s not Herself? Putting a temporary would pass mine.
halt to assassinations gave the false impres-
Oho. I nodded calmly as a shadow of dread sion of order and peace in the kingdom, and “Have you ever tried sweet mango tea,” I
flitted around in front of me, chased by the husk created a false sense of security and approval asked. He shook his head. “What’s that?”
of a brainstorm. “Would it be too impudent of for the regent.
me to ask why?” I grinned secretively and bustled around
It was a quiet coup, and other than those for fifteen minutes, boiling tea over a brazier,
He answered my question with another in the temple and the regent themselves, I was slicing and mashing fresh mango slices, and
question. “Why do assassins kill people?” the only one to know anything about it. making a big production out of what is really a
very simple drink.
I recognized the strategy. “A variety of
reasons,” I said. “It can be for ideological or #
And then I pulled out the leather bag from
political motivation. It can be for moral convic- around my neck. Quarts stepped forward. “It’s
tion. It can be for revenge. But at the heart of The Black Widower pointed the chopping an exotic sweetener from the Reach, very rare,
it, assassination is mostly about changing the knife at my chest. “Sentha tells me you do a

very expensive. A small amount of this will been watching the rapid development of the raised it to me. “Remind me never to cross you,”
make for a taste sensation you’ve never had.” I Haddirron Naval airship presence?” he said, grinning. “That’s not only brilliant, it
wet my forefinger and dabbed it into the bag, is simplicity itself to accomplish.” He drained
licking the sweet grains, rolling my eyes in The Black Widower was inscrutable. “I’ve the mug, smacking his lips. “Delightful. Sentha,
pleasure. heard rumors but haven’t seen more than a bring me a messenger bird!”
couple, myself, and that from a distance.”
Quarts stepped forward and cautiously I thanked him for meeting with me, sampled
copied me. He was impressed despite himself. I said, “So far, all the airships have been another dessert bread, and returned through
“It’s good,” he said. “Like sugar granules, only staffed by Navy crews, all except for one.” the rock tunnel to the little island bar where
richer, more natural somehow.” everything—and everybody—was more than
He shrugged, and stabbed a piece of banana they appeared.
Pints wanted in, so I let him sample it as with his knife.
well. He nodded. “I like it.” Well, so was I. I stopped long enough to
I leaned back. “That ship is not crewed, as make a round of sweet mango tea for those
I measured a small amount into the tea, is widely thought, by privateers.” assembled before I left. I left the island without
swirled it around, and poured a small mug a second thought, secure in the knowledge that
That got his interest. “Who has the audacity
for myself. I took a sip, smiled, and drank it all they’d all fallen for my own ambush disguised
to defy Her Majesty in that fashion?”
down. as a feint.
I said, “The Qantiin has been trying to get
The two brothers held out mugs of their Of course, my private satisfaction was
Cooper Flynn for years, now. It should come as
own, and I filled them halfway. They downed mitigated by the knowledge that I’d just fully
no surprise that it is he who flaunts his posses-
them and wiped their sleeves, asking for more. committed to the crew of Alacrity, and then
sion of an airship and gets away with it by pre-
Instead, I filled a mug and passed it to the Black betrayed us all to return us to Haddirron City
tending to be a privateer. If the Queen knew
Widower, topping my own off in the process as quickly as possible.
what he was doing in Her name, She would
before filling the other mugs thrust in front of recall him to Haddirron City forthwith.”
me. I wondered if all clerics wrestled with such
I had him. His eyes were alight with the weighty choices. I decided that they likely did,
I held up my mug. “To a cunning peace!” I but probably felt some remorse about it. I
idea of it.
toasted. They clonked mugs with me, and we wondered if that would ever come for me, or
all drank up. “Just think—all this time, the Qantiin have if my conscience was as scalded as my sense
been trying to kill Cooper Flynn. In this time of taste.
I sat down as the Black Widower made a of strategic quiescence, you can be rid of him
plate of fruits and sliced sweetbreads. once-and-for-all without having to sully your #
Sometimes, you have a lot of time to hands. Just drop a word into the right ear, and
carefully and deliberately plan out your strat- Her Majesty’s Navy will pick him up for you and I backtracked to the canoe, and then
egies. Sometimes, you have only the barest put him quietly away in a dungeon in Haddirron the catamaran, and then the airship I’d just
moment of opportunity to make a decision City. You will have done worse than kill him, betrayed. I made it aboard in time to lift off
that will change history. you will have disgraced him and banished him with the deck full of island warriors preparing
to a lifetime of derision and ignominy. It will be for the assault on Yempher. I made sure
“I’ve been thinking,” I said, sampling a nice a kind of living death.” something was simmering in the galley and
apple cinnamon dessert bread. “Have you then I went to crawl into my hammock.
The Black Widower refilled his mug and

Sleep was a long time coming, and when it # there’s something else about my training I
finally arrived, my dark dreams, gone since my haven’t told you yet.”
moment of deliverance, had returned, proving I told him my story. He stared at a place
that even dreams condemned me. It was little on the deck and listened to the whole telling He was eating this stuff up.
wonder—I left Alacrity confused, a man of without interrupting. When I finished, he sat “My secret is this—my taste buds are com-
death posing as a man of peace. I returned and thought for a long time before speaking. pletely deadened, an unfortunate byproduct
confident, a man of peace posing as a man of
“Why are you telling me this now?” of my dark art.”
death, leaving a trail of death behind me, and
preparing to embrace a betrayal of my own He was mystified. “But how can that be?
doing. “Because I’ve made my choice. I know who
I am, now, and what I will do with the rest of I’ve eaten your food. You are a gifted cook.”
I was sick as a dog for a day, which I my life.” “There is a scientific component to cooking.
expected, but I was alive, which was more than I cook by watching others and carefully
I could say for everybody on that little island. He snorted. “I thought you had an awfully
extensive knowledge of death for a lifegiver.” mimicking their formulas. I make great food
based on the feedback of others, not by any
Flynn tracked me down my first morning
“You don’t know the half of it,” I said. olfactory ability of my own.”
back in the galley. “How did it go?”
“So that brings us back to the trip I just took.
Something happened that directly impacts “You mean...”
I snorted humorlessly. I’d been thinking
about this moment ever since I’d returned, and you, and the contract on your life.” I said, “The delightful grains in the leather
I was too tired to lie anymore. bag around my neck which tastes like a super-
“Oh?”
concentrated form of organic sugar is a poison
“You know how I said I’ve listened to the
”I’ve done something that will spare you so toxic that five grains can damage your taste
confessions of dangerous men.”
from the Qantiin from here on out.” buds, and a small but consistent dose over
He nodded. some years can destroy your sense of smell
“Do tell.” forever. A half teaspoonful will bring about
“Well, Captain, I have a confession of my death 24 hours. I’d developed immunity to it
own.” “When I told you things were quiet, that over a period of fifteen years as an apprentice
was true. However, instead of seeking out the to Chalendron, the Master Poisoner. I’d learned
His black eyes did that they did do when answer from the clerics, I went to the source everything he had to teach, and ‘graduated’ by
he gets angry. It’s like they become bottomless and sought out the answer from the Qantiin.” turning his dark art on himself. He’d known it
pits, sucking you down. It’s a singularly spooky would happen—he just didn’t know when.”
effect. He stiffened imperceptibly. I plowed ahead
with my story. “But Cyl had other ideas. Instead “What happened in the ruins?”
“I haven’t always been a cleric,” I said. of finding the local brood, I stumbled onto the
secret ruins, the hidden headquarters of the “I met the Black Widower, the head of
“Everybody was something before they head man himself.” the Qantiin. He’d put a gag order out to put
found their calling,” he said, carefully. in motion another plan he was working on. I
That got Flynn’s attention. “What gained his confidence, and discovered we had
“Not like this,” I said, carefully folding my happened?” a mutual passion for cooking.”
hands in plain view in front of me.
“I made sweet mango tea,” I said, “but “You mean you...”

I smiled. “It was a perfect opportunity to

use the perfect assassination skill on the head
would have to wait to share my final confes-
sion for a short while. To be fair, I’d laid it all
Johne Cook
assassin himself, and cut the head off the snake out for him. All the clues were there, but he
in its own lair.” didn’t pick up on them. Johne is a technical writer, help author,
creative writer, and editor.
He hooted. “You killed the master assassin, As I said, my motivations have always been
the head of the Qantiin, in his seat of power?” a mystery to captain Cooper Flynn. The differ-
ence is that I now know exactly what I’m doing, He likes prog rock, space opera, film noir,
I mock-bowed from where I sat. and why. and the Green Bay Packers.
Flynn was rocked with the news. Cyl help us all.
I said, “I’ve been conflicted since the battle
of Roarke’s Island. Cyl delivered me into the
lair of the serpent, and I walked into the lair as
a conflicted assassin. My last official kill was to
take off the head of the snake.”
He looked at me with a critical eye. “What
will you do now?” Stay tuned for
The Adventures of the Sky Pirate,
I snorted. “I’ve been hearing that question Chapter 23, In the Hall of the Crimson Queen
frequently as of late. I sit before you a reformed
assassin, a true cleric. If Cyl can use one such
as me, I will be His instrument. Maybe now I
can be an instrument of life instead of death.”
Flynn nodded and clapped me on the back.
“I sensed in the beginning you were the right
man for the spiritual needs of Alacrity, such as
they may be. I still believe that, if you still want
the job.”
I didn’t have to think about it, as I’d thought
about nothing else since leaving the Black
Widower to die. “I have seen the power of
Cyl here on Alacrity. I feel I can do some good
here.”
“Welcome aboard, Cleric,” he said warmly,
and then walked off.
I felt cold as I watched him walk away. I

Memory Wipe
Chapter 20, On The Rails by Sean T. M. Stiennon Pg. 77
Memory Wipe
Chapter 20, On The Rails
by Sean T. M. Stiennon
T he thick bone of Esheera’s heel connected

solidly with Rizzik’s jaw, and a thunder-
ous crack echoed from the gray stone of the
more cautious now. Esheera took the loose
stance her husband Jaggo had taught her, arms
extended but relaxed, knees slightly bent and
wingflaps, near where they connected to his
ribs—the most sensitive region. Hot blood
poured over her fingers, Rizzik screamed, and
council chamber. Esheera swiveled on her sta- toes curled to grip the floor. She struggled to his grip on her shoulders loosened. Esheera
tionary foot, letting momentum turn her while breathe evenly. used the muscles in her back and shoulders
the male Vitai sprawled to one side. Esheera to throw him off, then rolled to the right and
brought her foot down and faced him just as Rizzik closed the distance between them in scrambled up to her feet.
he rolled to his feet, lips contorted in a snarl. two bounds. Then his torso rolled back while
his legs shot forward, kicking for Esheera’s Rizzik hissed through clenched teeth. Torn
Strikes were discouraged in these contests, kneecaps. She hopped to one side, but not skin hung in slender folds from his wingflaps,
but this wasn’t a sporting bout—there were no quite fast enough—he caught himself on dribbling red onto the circle’s polished floor.
judges to call on foul strikes, no points to be his hands and his heel collided with her shin One of the Council shouted, “Nii bitch!” but
won or lost. Just the Suto council on their shelf hard enough to knock her off-balance. Rizzik Rizzik was silent. His eyes burned.
to award a final victory. Both shoulders pinned took the opening. He pushed himself forward,
to the ground for three seconds. Any wounds hooked Esheera’s foot with one of his, and He charged again, ignoring what Esheera
or bruises that didn’t kill or cripple wouldn’t pulled her down. knew must be intense pain from his wingflaps.
matter. If Esheera won, she would have per- Esheera leapt to meet him, arms extended.
mission to use the enclave scrap yard—the raw She was instantly grateful for her thick Rizzik was stronger and heavier, with a longer
materials to build a new ship. hair—it was the only thing cushioning her skull reach, and animal panic swelled in Esheera’s
as it slammed into the stone floor. She still felt heart as he crashed into her and forced her
If Rizzik, a warrior from the Enclave Council, as if someone had pounded a nail into her skull, back. She kept her feet under her only by
managed to beat her...the last thing she felt and flashes of green light burst in her eyes. retreating, foot claws scraping on the hard
would be vacuum sucking the air out of her stone.
lungs. Up, she thought. Keep shoulders up.
Then her heels struck the edge of the arena,
Rizzik spat blood onto the stone of their She pushed herself on both hands and hit and Rizzik’s strength bent her over, arching
arena—a depression in the floor twenty feet Rizzik as he came down on top of her, hands her spine. She gritted her teeth and pushed
in diameter, smooth and gleaming with flecks clawing for her arms. Her head slammed into against him with muscles fueled by fear and
of quartz. Lanterns hanging above their heads his shoulder, and her world exploded in a fresh rage. She could feel her joints popping. Zartsi’s
cast golden light over the council, guards, wave of pain as they rolled over together. voice snarled something she didn’t catch. She
Zartsi, and the rich hangings smoothing the His arms were like iron as they grasped her felt herself begin to fall, locked in his iron grip.
rough walls. shoulders and pressed down. Cold stone. Three Her own arms weren’t strong enough to push
seconds and she would be dead. him back.
“So the woman has some fight in her,”
Rizzik said. “Good. I hate easy fights.” She curled her hands into claws. Vitai So she pushed off with her feet and bent
females grew pointed nails in their puberty her knees, letting Rizzik force her back. As
He spread his muscular arms and crept that males lacked, hard spikes of gray enamel. she fell she swung her legs up, buried them
sideways around the circle’s carved perimeter, She raked them through the silky skin of Rizzik’s

Memory Wipe
in Rizzik’s bare stomach, and extended them she rolled over and hauled herself to her feet. Milsu clapped her hands. “Enough. Lithral-
with all her strength. She hit Rizzik just below Her back protested with a twinge of agony. lian, let him rise. If you kill him your friend’s
his lungs, forcing out his air, and his hands victory is abrogated, and your lives are
tore away from her shoulders as they flew in A cold silence had fallen over the council forfeit.”
opposite directions. chamber. Esheera waited on her knees as the
eyes of the eight council members and several Esheera had spent enough time with Zartsi
Esheera hit rough stone and rolled with the guards drilled into her, and her heart seized up to see his reluctance as he stood, still holding
impact, scraping her shoulders raw. The pain for a moment. Could she trust Suto to honor an his blades ready to strike. He knocked Rizzik’s
helped her focus, helped her claw her way back agreement? Or had she just sealed her death knife away with a sullen kick before sheathing
to her feet. Rizzik lay inside the circle, sucking by publicly shaming a council member? his own daggers and stepping back to stand
for breath. Esheera was on her feet before he beside Esheera. She couldn’t help smiling at the
could recover, and the electric pain in her skull “Victory to the Nii,” Milsu repeated. “I way he hovered over her, like a bodyguard.
wasn’t enough to hold her back. She bounded move we grant her the Jallinza right.”
back into the ring, threw herself face down on Milsu narrowed her eyes and looked
Esheera turned to look up at them. One of Esheera up and down. “Councilors? Is the right
Rizzik, pinning his shoulders while she kept his the warrior councilmen looked as if he could granted?”
hips down with her feet. Her legs were strong. barely restrain himself from launching a blade
She hadn’t gotten across the deserts of Nihil into Esheera’s skull from his volgi. None of Silence answered her motion. One Suto—his
with pure force of will. With them anchored on them looked happy. Milsu’s expression was no golden scarves and chains marking him as a
his hip-bones, she could throw all her weight better than resigned. successful merchant—croaked loudly. “A fight,
and strength onto his shoulders. and a dirty one at that. It means nothing. As
Esheera had expected nothing more. She much as I like to see Rizzik torn up...we don’t
He recovered enough breath and strength could hardly bring herself to celebrate her own owe a shit to any Nii.”
to strain against her. She absorbed the force victory. Under the terms of the Jallinza right she
of his struggle on her arched back and rooted would have to fly her new ship under the Suto Fear tightened on Esheera’s heart for a
legs. She held him for Jaggo. For the Nii clan name, with a substantial portion of any moment. Then she saw Milsu’s eyes narrow to
clan. For Takeda. Even for Zartsi, who would profits due back to this enclave. Her clansmen slits as her head turned towards the merchant.
probably slice several Suto to pieces before might never accept her again. “I can’t hear you, Pulqi. Repeat what you
they got him out the airlock. If Rizzik threw her said.”
off she would lose—she wouldn’t have enough Rizzik interrupted her thoughts. He got
strength to defend herself. Rizzik was strong, to his feet, blood still dribbling from his torn Her words had all the hardness and effec-
and his strength was augmented by rage. wingflaps. It took Esheera a moment to notice tiveness of a blade held against his throat. The
Esheera thought her spine would crack before the saw-edged knife in his hand. In the next merchant quailed, chains rattling, and defen-
three seconds had rolled past. instant he lunged for her. sively curled his arms around his substantial
belly. “I said...nothing, Councilor. You must be
Milsu’s quiet voice almost didn’t register in Another second and he was on the floor mistaken.”
her ears. “Victory to the Nii.” again with nearly two hundred pounds of Lith-
rallian crouched on top of him, ivory daggers Milsu looked back to Esheera. “Is the right
Her strength gave out and Rizzik hurled her poised to scissor his throat open. Zartsi’s granted?” she asked again.
off a moment later. She landed on her belly and pointed teeth opened in a long, low hiss. “Do
slid across stone that felt smoother than ice. Despite herself, Esheera felt her smile
you wish to die?”
Her head pounded and her limbs ached, but broaden as she heard the reactions of the

Memory Wipe
seven other councilors still seated. Muted “I just betrayed my clan. I’ll have to fly and red rock dust staining his clothing and his
affirmations all around. Milsu seemed to hold under the Suto name now.” hands. He brought new rations sometimes,
iron authority over the entire enclave. ate, said a few words, and then slumped down
Zartsi shrugged. “You did what was onto his bed and fell asleep. He rarely turned
She nodded, satisfied. “The Jallinza right is necessary for Takeda. For Empire, as well, if on his vidscreen, and when he did the programs
granted to Esheera Nii. Ratch?” Takeda told us truth. Rovers would have few were oddly horrifying. News reports delivered
places to retreat if Empire fell.” by grim-faced men in gray suits that centered
The warrior stepped forward, his expres- around mining, production levels, honors given
sion stony, as if he were fighting to hide his He spread his claws in the air before him. to particularly hard workers. Others programs
true feelings. Esheera thought she knew what “My respect for you is not decreased.” showed the surface of Caulthor: a wasteland
they were.
Esheera smiled. Now all she had to do was of red stone, smoldering volcanic craters, and
“Ratch,” Milsu continued, “I believe I can build a workable interstellar ship from scrap bleached white salt pans. There was apparently
trust you as a warrior of the Suto clan. Take four parts with her own hands and whatever help a lot of water deep in the planet’s crust, but it
warriors you, in turn, can trust. I command you she could get from Zartsi. He could do the took enormous drilling rigs to bring it up.
with the authority of the enclave council to heavy lifting, but she doubted a Lithrallian There were also wrestling matches between
ensure Esheera’s full access to our scrap yard prince would have received much instruction miners dressed much like David—brutal ones
and protect her against any harassment. With on how a ship’s bowels were put together. with blood spilled. Takeda saw a second or
your lives if necessary. Am I understood?”
She prayed to all the kind stars she could two of one involving sledgehammers. Another
Rizzik’s jaw clenched. “Understood.” do it in time to save Takeda’s life. time he saw a few seconds of a fight between
three men armed with spears and something
As she was led out of the council chamber, # that looked like a spider pieced together from
soaked in sweat and with blood growing cold shards of glass. Takeda caught flashes of por-
on her claws, Esheera nearly collapsed against nography as David flipped through the dozen
Takeda’s first days on Caulthor were ago-
the tunnel wall. Zartsi looped an arm around or so channels. David never watched them.
nizingly similar to the long weeks he had spent
her shoulders for support. “You are all right?” underneath the Gallant Snatch’s cargo bay The miner occasionally asked questions
She breathed deeply to control her floor. He sat in complete darkness or slept on about him, about his past. Takeda decided that,
hammering heart. “Well enough. But that was David’s bed. The bed was a hard slab with a with what he already told David, there was
easily the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.” foam mattress, a pillow that felt like it was filled information which couldn’t hurt him—that he
with sand, and a couple ragged blankets. The had worked at the colony casino on Belar, that
Zartsi cocked his head, blue eyes intent. place was too hot for the blankets. Occasional- he liked reading, that he had spent some time
“But you won. And fighting was...impressive.” ly he groped his way into the other room to eat on Freedan and Coalsmoke, that he had known
and drink, but could never satisfy his thirst— a Lithrallian and a Vitai. He only withheld his
She smiled weakly. “Thank you, Zartsi.” David’s water ration was just barely enough missing memories, his powers, and the battles
to keep both of them alive. His food consisted he had been through.
That got nothing more than a grunt. As they largely of dry, tasteless bread, slightly spicy
continued down the passage, following Ratch, pieces of some gummy protein, and similar David was voracious for whatever Takeda
Esheera asked, quietly, “You don’t think less of stuff, all filling but not quite satisfying. could tell him about other worlds. About the
me, do you?” moist jungles and green plants of Belar, about
David stumbled in every night with gray the functioning of casino games and the logging
“Why would I?”

Memory Wipe
industry, about the rain-slicked streets and colored dark gray, snugly fitting but not uncom- things have been boring since I lost Marta,
smoky taverns of Freesail, about the crowds of fortable. Takeda was almost glad to leave and I’m too old for them to give me another
beings in hundreds of styles of clothing. Expe- behind the sweat soaked shirt, vest, and pants wife. It’s not implausible. My friend is cozy
riences Takeda considered commonplace—the he had been wearing for nearly a month. David enough with the Hands that he occasionally
feeling of rain on his face, the taste of beef, the grunted and shouldered his pack. recommends transfers. I suggested to him that
hum of hovercars gliding overhead—were new I might like to go to Installation 91 because of
and strange to David. Takeda had only really Then they stepped out into the street. its high casualty rate.”
lived for three years, and yet his experience Puffs of bone-dry dust rose whenever Takeda
vastly dwarfed David’s. He had known nothing set his feet down, and the sky—no, the dome “And that convinced him?”
except the domes, concrete towns, and black covering the settlement—was a uniform pitch-
black. They had come out during Caulthor’s “Maybe it would have. The kicker is how
mines of Caulthor.
long night. Scarlet light panels mounted on iron I’m getting you aboard the train down to 91. I
About two weeks after Takeda had first poles cast red shadows against the concrete told him you were a Hand bastard who’d been
arrived, David came home smiling. “Ready to dwellings lining the narrow roads. Deep ruts keeping yourself hidden for twenty-odd years
leave?” he asked. had been worn into the ground by decades of by drifting from one settlement to the next.
vehicles grinding along the same paths. Call yourself Jack.”
Takeda had been dozing on the bed, and
he blinked in the dull glow of the apartment’s David kicked the steel door of his apartment, “Jack...all right, sure. Why Jack?”
lights. “Now?” once. “Eleven years,” he grunted. “Eleven years David shrugged. “Common name. The sort
since my Marta died, and I’ve spent every one
“The train leaves in five hours, and if we’re a bastard would take.”
in that hole. I won’t miss it.”
not on it, they’ll send a Hand looking for us.” He walked on for a few minutes before
Then he turned and began to walk up the
Takeda stared at him. “Leaves for where?” he added, “You don’t know what I’m talking
street with a quick, deliberate pace. Takeda about, do you?”
jogged to catch up with him and walked at his
“Installation 91. An iron-mining city eighty side. It felt strange to stretch his legs, to walk “I’d be lying if I said I did.”
miles from the Lord’s fortress. I’ve mentioned farther than the distance from David’s bed to
it to you, haven’t I?” his cupboard. “Right. Well, the Hands...they don’t have
“Yeah.” much compunction what they do with our
“How did you manage this?” he asked. women, although they tend to stay away from
“Well, I’ve been transferred. And I’m the married ones. They’re not half as fertile
“Well, two main things. I know one of the
taking you with me. Come on—I’ll explain your as normal men, though—children from them
men in charge of my work zone—not a Hand,
identity along the way.” are rare. When they do sire a child, he has
but he works with them breathing down his Hand powers...or, at least, some of them. So
David took a battered satchel down from its neck. I’ve been suggesting to him that I’d like generally they sweep them up and ship them
hook and threw his remaining food and water, to die pretty soon.” to the Lord.”
three polished pieces of blue stone, his tools, “I don’t blame you,” Takeda said. The dome
four printed books, and a bundle of clothes Takeda grunted. “But it would be hard
felt like a massive oven, slowly roasting every
into it. He tossed Takeda a shirt and pants. to catch every pregnancy, especially among
man and woman beneath it.
“Change. Stuff your old rags under the bed.” married women...”
A smile split David’s cracked lips. “Well,
The shirt and pants were a coarse cloth “Right. So now and then they turn up a

Memory Wipe
Hand bastard who got loose, usually when David nodded brusquely to them as he fell away in a jagged cliff to his right, and far
his powers come through somehow. Maybe slashed his card through a slot between two across a flat expanse of stone a range of dark
they’re more unstable than the full-blooded red glow-strips. “What’s the bag for?” one of mountains shattered the horizon. Ahead and
Hands. You’re one who’s spent thirty years the guards shouted. to the left he saw faint lights like power indica-
evading notice.” tors in a dark room, and faint outlines of mine
Takeda hesitated for a moment, but David shafts and towering cranes and machinery and
They rounded a corner, and on the street kept walking, not looking back. “I’m getting sheds. Farther away, towards the horizon, he
ahead Takeda could see a horizon where transferred. Eat dust for me, Nate.” made out more domes, black lumps rising up
the dome curved down to meet the ground. from the surrounding rock. And more mines.
Takeda made out a patch of some lighter color Takeda swiped his own card. Neither of the Mines stretching to the horizon.
against the midnight black of the dome. It took guards made any objection. He kept his eyes
him several minutes to realize that, for the first down and followed David out into the Caulthori “Nothing but bare rock and sand for miles,”
time in nearly a month, he was seeing open sky night. David said, quietly. “Some plants grow in
through yawning gate set in the dome’s base. the cracks, but rain doesn’t happen often...
The night sky was blacker than any Takeda
Brighter yellow lights shone at the gate’s base. sometimes during winter nights. Not much
had ever seen, and the stars were almost lives around here except rockworms and some
“How does that get me onto a train?” painfully bright against it, gleaming like beads spiders. And it gets damned hot during the
of mercury scattered across a plate of black days. That’s why we have domes.”
David scratched his roughly shaved chin. strome. He could see color in some of them,
“Well, the Lord is picky about Hand bastards. I tinges of red or cold blue or eerie yellow. He The track they followed took them straight
think he sees it as a failure when one turns up paused for a moment, enjoying the feeling through the mines. Takeda couldn’t see much
after staying hidden for decades, and it doesn’t of open air and sky stretching above him. on the surface: deep shafts drilled into the
go well for the men in charge—I mean regular He realized only then how imprisoned he stone, with cranes crouched over them, ready
men, not Hands. So when I told my friend that had been, first by the darkness and confined to heave up crates of raw ore. There didn’t
I had one nearly thirty years old on my hands... spaces of his voyage and then by David’s tiny seem to be much activity, but the wind carried
he wants you out, and fast, so someone else apartment. The air was warm, but cooler than faint grinding and crushing noises to Takeda’s
can deal with it.” he had expected. ears. Some sort of crawler rumbled by a couple
hundred feet to their left.
David pressed a rectangular card of warm, “Keep up,” David called back. “We need to
smooth plastic into Takeda’s palm. “Swipe it arrive early.” “This is where I’ve worked for twenty-one
through the reader. Try to look natural.” years,” David said. “These mines are older and
They walked along a broad stone path deeper than you can probably imagine. They’ve
A ten-foot steel fence with deep wheel lined on both sides with tiny red lights. It went grown by miles of tunnel since I’ve been here,
ruts running under it stretched across most steadily downwards into the black landscape and we’ve pulled thousands of tons of iron out
of the open gateway. David led him to one all around them. Takeda’s footsteps sounded of the rock. Refineries are on the other side of
side, where a bulky card reader stood beside painfully loud to him in the dry, still air. A slight the town.”
a narrower opening in the mesh gate. There breeze stung his eyes and lips with flecks of
was also a guard post, lit up by the brightest dust. “You walk every day?”
lights Takeda had yet seen on Caulthor. Two
men in black uniforms manned it. Automatic As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, “They’ve got crawlers for some of the
weapons, black as skitter chitin, gleamed in he saw more of Caulthor’s surface laid out workers farther out, along with temporary
their shoulder holsters. beneath the intensely bright stars. The ground accommodations for the ones who do day-long

Memory Wipe
shifts at the outlying mines. And the workers at A dark bandana covered his entire face except But he had already been through so much,
the hydroponic farms live on site.” for a narrow slit exposing his eyes. Steel plates from Belar to Nihil to here, and with any luck it
covered his shoulders and he wore a sidearm, wouldn’t be the last thing he would endure for
They turned to the left, skirting a hole in with a rifle strapped onto his back. His eyes Sherri’s sake.
the stone the size of a trans-Imperial cargo flicked nervously across Takeda. “This him?”
ship. Pale yellow lights trailed away down the Car Seventy-five was near the end of the
side of the shaft, lighting up two elevator lines David nodded. “Yeah.” train, some distance away from those currently
bolted into the rock. The mines seemed to go being loaded. David tried the door and found
on forever, broken up by occasional buildings “He showed you his power?” it unlocked. He slid it open, straining with both
of rough-cut stone and sheet iron. arms, and a blast of stale air washed over
“He melted solid iron with his bare hands.” Takeda’s face. David pulled a small light out of
This was David’s life. Stone, iron, darkness, his bag and flicked it on. The beam whipped
The man grimaced. “Good enough. You
and the cramped confines of his sparse over more crates, labeled with spray paint.
didn’t tell him my name or rank?”
apartment. Nothing but dry, bland food and
lukewarm, bitter water. An endless cycle of “Nope. Nothing the Lord could trace.” “Get in and stay down,” David said. “My
work and exhausted sleep, boredom alternat- friend should be by with some water for you,
ing with intensely hard work in the mines and The man looked up at Takeda. He narrowed but you’ll have to do without food.”
fear of Tong’s Hands. Even his wife had been his eyes slightly. “This is a borrowed uniform.
assigned to him. The life Takeda had led on I’m not actually a border guard, so you have Takeda chuckled dryly. “Don’t worry. I’m
Belar had been a paradise by comparison. As nothing to tell anyone. Understood?” used to it. I’ve been in deserts before.”
far as Takeda knew, the entire planet was like
Takeda nodded. “I don’t plan to get David clapped him on the shoulder. “Good
this, with men and women laboring in virtual
caught.” luck, mate. Hopefully I’ll see you on the other
slavery to pull metal and gems up from Cault- end, but if not, I wish you all the best as far
hor’s unforgiving crust. “You have been successful so far.” as rescuing your friend and crushing the Lord’s
And Sherri was in the clutches of the man rotten skull.”
The man looked back to David. “Car Seven-
responsible for this hell. Count Jezai Tong. ty-five is listed on the manifests as loaded, but Takeda stepped forward into the darkness,
The train lay between two massive loading its half-empty. Get him back there while I grab his footsteps alarmingly loud on the metal
docks. Heaps of metal crates piled in blocky some water.” floor of the train. “Thanks, David,” he said. “No
pyramids stood out against the night sky, matter how stupid I am, it seems like there’s
The man jogged away in one direction always someone there to help me out.”
and Takeda spotted a handful of men driving while David led Takeda in another. “To answer
gravity lifters to load some of the cars toward your question,” he said, “I’ll be riding in the David shrugged. “You’re still going to
the train’s rear end. A few dim lights showed passenger car up front. You’ll be packed in die. But then, all of us keel over eventually...
Takeda that the cars were purely utilitarian, with the cargo. Sorry I couldn’t do better, but whether it be from a rock fall, the Lord’s men,
with only long slits near the top of the wall to it beats three thousand miles of desert and or just our own bodies giving out. Good luck
serve as windows. glasspiders.” again, Takeda.”
“Where are we riding?” Takeda asked. Takeda cringed inwardly, dreading the David’s friend handed him a cube-shaped
Before David could answer, a man in a pale thought of returning to close spaces and intol- jug of water which he passed in to Takeda.
uniform ran out of the darkness ahead of him. erable heat after this glimpse at the open sky. It weighed maybe six pounds, with enough

Memory Wipe
empty room for the liquid to slosh around. question, and another moment to remember. could do for you.”
The officer muttered a few words to David, Her first attempt at an answer came out as a
the two exchanged a handshake, and then he raw croak. She swallowed heavily, wetting her Her fingers gently kneaded Sherri’s flesh,
vanished. throat with saliva, and made another attempt. her touch gentle, comforting. “Do you know
“Sherri,” she said, able to understand herself. why...Count Tong has you?”
“Can’t say I’ll be sorry never to see him
again,” David said. “Try not to move around The faint noise of fabric rustling on stone Sherri shook her head, feeling fresh tears
much. Save your water. My friend is going to came from just in front of her. She lowered her well up. They had shaved her head again, pre-
try and keep this car from being searched, but hands again, and this time she was able to make venting her hair from growing longer than a
if there is an inspection anywhere along the out a woman with flowing black hair sitting in fuzz. “I don’t know him. Who?”
line, just lay low—they won’t search every car front of her, deep blue skirts spreading around “The ruler of the Vodrune province. He is...
thoroughly unless they’re looking for someone her like a pool of still water. Sherri sobbed at he’s the man holding you now.”
in particular. And they probably won’t bring the sight of that dress. It seemed like the most
Hands.” beautiful thing she had ever seen. “Hate him.”
Takeda looked up at the stars one last time “Sherri,” the woman asked. “Will you The woman laughed softly, but even Sherri
as the door slammed shut, leaving him in hot, promise not to tell my name to anyone else?” could tell there wasn’t any real humor there.
dry darkness once again. “I think everyone who knows his name hates
Sherri jerked her stiff neck in a nod. The him. I think he hates himself.”
# woman’s face smiled. “Very well. I’m Liun. I...I
suppose you could say that I live here.” “Do you know why?”
The woman came to Sherri’s cell again, She waited a moment, as if expecting a “I don’t. I can’t understand most of what
some infinite time after the first brief visit. The response from Sherri. When none came, she he does. But if he were going to kill you or hurt
light of the hall outside blinded Sherri once asked, “Where are you from?” you, he would have done it already.”
again, and she frantically rubbed her streaming
eyes with the heels of her hands, hoping for a “Belar,” Sherri croaked. “Casino. I was... She stood up then. “I’ll come back later,
brief glimpse of her visitor. waitress.” and we’ll talk more. I’ll see...maybe I can see
that you get more food.”
“I’m sorry it’s been so long,” the woman “Belar...that’s a colony planet in the Canghi
said, her voice soft and sweet. “But I think I province, isn’t it? Only limited development Sherri wiped her eyes again to see the
can stay a little longer now.” for now, but two or three substantial towns.” woman climbing a set of rungs that had emerged
from the stone wall beside the high-set door.
Sherri blinked her eyes. Hot tears still “Yes. I lived there.” As she left, Sherri finally got a good look at her
blocked out her vision, but she got a glimpse
The woman was silent for another long face. She was gorgeous—pale skin the color
of a figure in colored cloth descending the dark
moment, and for a moment Sherri was afraid of ivory, blue eyes like stars captured in flesh,
surface of the wall. Color—Sherri had almost
she would leave. Then she felt a cool hand gentle features. The woman turned and smiled
forgotten that color existed, here in the eternal
grip her bare shoulder. She recoiled from the to Sherri.
blackness. Blue, she thought, deep, dark blue.
touch, alarmed, pressing her naked back into Then the door closed again, and darkness
Feet that weren’t Sherri’s stepped lightly the wall. resumed its reign.
on the polished floor. “What’s your name?”
“Please don’t be afraid,” the woman said,
It took her a few moments to understand the voice low and soft. “I wish there was more I

Memory Wipe
Sean T. M. Stiennon
Sean is an author of fantasy and science fic-
tion novels and short stories, with many pub-
lications under his belt. His first short story
collection, Six with Flinteye, was recently
released from Silver Lake Publishing, and he
won 2nd place in both the 2004 SFReader.
com Short Story Contest and the Storn Cook
Razor-Edged Fiction Contest with his stories
“Asp” and “The Sultan’s Well,” respective-
ly. “The Sultan’s Well” has been published
in the anthology Sages and Swords. Sean’s
short story “Flinteye’s Duel” was published
in Ray Gun Revival, Issue 01, and “Flinteye’s
Sabotage” was published in Issue 35.
Sean’s work tends to contain lots of action and
adventure, but he often includes elements of
tragedy and loss alongside roaring bat-
tles. A lot of his work centers around con-
tinuing characters, the most prominent
of whom is Jalazar Flinteye (Six with Flin-
teye). He also writes tales of Shabak of
Talon Point (“Death Marks,” in issue #9 of
Amazing Journeys Magazine), Blademas-
ter (“Asp,” 2nd place winner in the 2004
SFReader.com Contest), and others who
have yet to see publication.
Sean loves to read fantasy and science fic-
tion alongside some history, mysteries, and
historical novels. His favorites in-
clude Declare by Tim Powers,
the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn
trilogy by Tad Williams, Stephen Lawhead’s
Song of Albion trilogy, and King Solomon’s
Mines by H. Rider Haggard. He has reviewed
books for Deep Magic: The E-zine of High
Fantasy and Science Fiction, and currently
reviews books at SFReader.com.

Pg. 85
The RGR Time Capsule
April 2008
Sci-Fi news from the Ray Gun Revival forums
RGR Date: April 09, 2008 RGR Date: April 10, 2008 RGR Date: April 18, 2008
To get rich off pirates, copy them Getting closer to more V projects? Ender’s Game film news
http://raygunrevival.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?t=1880 http://raygunrevival.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?t=1883 http://raygunrevival.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?t=1892
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/04/09/ http://io9.com/381714/wolfgang-peter-
pirates-dilemma-auth.html son-off-enders-game
Matt’s spiel is great, and for the first 30- You can forget your dreams of a Das
or-so minutes, I found myself just nod- Boot/Enemy Mine-style version of Orson
ding along as he expressed -- eloquently Scott Card’s classic novel Ender’s Game.
and delightfully -- things I’d heard others Director Wolfgang Peterson, previously
like Lessig, Barlow (and me!) say. But attached to the project, has moved on,
then he got to his kicker, and I sat up, producers tell io9. Chartoff Productions is
electrified: “The best way to profit from busy meeting with a slew of potential di-
pirates is to copy them.” rectors for the Ender’s movie, which they
hope will start filming by early 2009. But
This is one of those eloquent little apho- who will play child prodigy Ender?
risms -- like Tim O’Reilly’s “The problem
for artists isn’t piracy, it’s obscurity” -- Producer Lynn Hendee was mum on pos-
that just nails it. Pirates are out there fig- sible casting for the movie’s lead role.
uring out all the ways that products and We’re in the process to do a remake of the “We all have our favorites, but it is crucial
services might catch on, outside of the realm original mini-series first as a theatrical fea- for the new director to weigh in on that.” But
of the managed, slow-moving corporate en- ture, which I’m so jazzed about because it she did reveal that author Card has finished
vironment. It turns out that there’s a market will give me an opportunity to really realize a draft of the script and is “already work-
for DVDs sold on blankets on Canal Street; it and execute it in a way that was impos- ing to make it even better.” Hendee predicts
that the public likes using BitTorrent even if it sible to do back then. Then that will lead to that much of the film will be shot on a sound
starts slow and doesn’t stream; that there’s the obvious sequel, because it is a franchise, stage. “Ender’s Game requires an extended
a bottomless appetite for short, embeddable and then we’ll get into The Second Genera- pre-production due to the many visual ef-
clips, and that the audience wants to do all tion and I’m hoping we’ll be able to do two fects.” And by visual effects we hope they
the work of selecting, converting, uploading movies, because there’s certainly enough mean shooting the off-the-wall battle school
and tagging them. material in the novel to warrant two sepa- zero gravity scenes.
Maybe we should be hosting BitTorrent ver- rate sequels. That’s my goal at this point and
sions of RGR. I put the torrent for the Deep that’s what we’re in the process of doing. I
Magic library out there years ago, and see just literally came from a meeting, 15-20
it’s still floating around. minutes ago with a fellow in Beverly Hills
who really says that we’re gonna do it.

Ray Gun Revival Magazine, Issue 43, May 2008

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Issue 43 May 2008

Cover Art: “Cold Planet II” by Bryan Dale Norton

Ray Gun Revival magazine Issue 43, May 2008

Ray Gun Revival magazine Issue 43, May 2008

“Y ou can’t be serious!” said Captain Sedona,

Ray Gun Revival magazine Issue 43, May 2008

Ray Gun Revival magazine Issue 43, May 2008

Ray Gun Revival magazine Issue 43, May 2008

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shushing motion as they all sipped champagne

The pen name Andy Heizeler was created

David’s hobbies include amateur drone

Ray Gun Revival magazine Issue 43, May 2008

The Weight of the World

T he observation station floated above

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Ray Gun Revival magazine Issue 43, May 2008

Ray Gun Revival magazine Issue 43, May 2008

Ray Gun Revival magazine Issue 43, May 2008

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but hiking was sure to have increased the rate

The roar of the rescue jet woke her. She

Ray Gun Revival magazine Issue 43, May 2008

The One Chosen

“G lenn, I’m reading a malfunction on the

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Ray Gun Revival magazine Issue 43, May 2008

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Ray Gun Revival magazine Issue 43, May 2008

# “Hmmm, and more…” Stan added. “That’s semantics!”

Ray Gun Revival magazine Issue 43, May 2008

Ray Gun Revival magazine Issue 43, May 2008

I didn’t have to do a scan to prove we were by “A

Ray Gun Revival magazine Issue 43, May 2008

begin repopulation. This world will become a

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“N o new messages, Aston.” My ship’s

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Ray Gun Revival magazine Issue 43, May 2008

Ray Gun Revival magazine Issue 43, May 2008

Ray Gun Revival magazine Issue 43, May 2008

When did you start creating art?

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How did you become an artist?

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was doing a Metal Gear comic. Their influence

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