The Ride. Tom Ph.D. Anderson
all.
“If you have a firing squad that's not too busy, I would appreciate it if you would have them put me out of my misery,” I told him.
He laughed. “What do you remember about yesterday?”
“I seem to remember walking into a bar I don't usually go into to look for a bottle of wine. After that it’s a little hazy.”
The Manager dropped a recording into the viewer beside my bed. Two crocs were tearing chunks out of a still screaming man as two men and I entered the bar. One of the crocs cut off the man’s head before they both left their meal and charged us. The two men turned and ran, just barely reaching the door in time to close it before the crocs slammed into it. The crocs then turned to attack me.
I was standing at the bar picking out a bottle of wine and singing to my heart's content. At the last instant I moved just out of the way and the crocs missed me. As one of them passed by me I kicked at his leg and the croc started to fall. As the croc fell I managed to hold onto his head long enough to hear the satisfying crack as the croc's neck broke.
I jumped out of the way as again the second croc swung his claw at me. Again and again the gloride monster tried to hit me with his claw and time after time, in perfect rhythm, I moved so the claw narrowly missed.
The croc was standing between me and the wine bottles and the expression on my face showed I was finally becoming annoyed. I flung the empty bottle at the croc as I turned and ran to the far end of the room. Then I turned and ran at him. The croc was running after me and as the claw came down I swiveled and the claw only brushed my shirt. As the croc went by I hooked his foot with my own and pushed his back so the croc fell on his face. I jumped higher than I would have believed possible and landed with all my weight and momentum balanced on the heel of one foot as it hit the croc’s spine. Again a satisfying crack and the gloride monster would not move again.
As I was on top of the croc anyway I looked at the selection of wines on the higher shelf. I picked one out and sat down on the croc's back to open it. After several large swallows I started to sing again and the manager turned the viewer off.
“You were still singing when the rescue party arrived. Where did you learn to fight gloride monsters like that?” the Mine Manager asked me with a calculating expression on his face.
“I never had any training sir. I don't know how I was able to do that.” He just looked at me for a moment. I knew he didn't believe me, but I don't think it was important enough to him to press the question.
“You have been awarded the bounty times three,” he told me.
I now had the money to travel the galaxy and still have money towards a comfortable retirement.
I wasn't sure how I had killed those three crocs, and I didn't care. I wasn't going to put myself in that position again. With the first croc something had clicked in and I wasn't in control anymore, my conscious mind was out of the loop except as an observer. With the next two crocs my conscious mind wasn't there at all. I saw the recording, I know I killed those crocs, I just don't remember any of it.
I was happy to have the money, but there is no joy in killing gloride monsters when your body is operating on its own and you are just an observer. I just wanted to take a nice long vacation and pretend that this had never happened.
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The Falcus, which are a federation of worlds that had been subject worlds of the Sindar Empire, were in a very bad situation. The Sindar wanted the Falcus back as subject worlds. The Sindar fleet was much larger than the Falcus fleet, but the Sindar had many enemies and more than a few subject worlds that did not want to remain subject worlds. Significant damage to the Sindar fleet would have been a disaster. The Sindar wanted Falcus back, but could not afford to lose any warships doing it. The most important factor in favor of the Falcus fleet was its possession of a gloride world with a huge fuel quality vein of gloride. The Falcus fleet was small, but they could burn fuel like water.
Their problem was that a tic had invaded the mine area and production had stopped. Falcus had no huge stockpiles of fuel and they had no supply of fuel from other sources. They either had to remove the tic so that fuel production could resume or they would have to begin shutting down their fleet. The Sindar were aware of the situation and were prepared to strike the soon to be helpless fleet.
◊The Mine Manager gave me a moment to let the good news sink in, then he continued. “The medical people wanted to let you sleep a few more hours. I had them wake you up early because I have a unique opportunity for you that can't wait. The Falcus have a gloride monster they need killed immediately and they are willing to pay you twice what you have already earned if you can kill it.”
“Twice what I earned to kill one or twice what I earned to kill all three?”
“They will pay you twice what you earned to kill all three.” The Manager could see the raw greed taking hold. He knew his commission was safe.
I accepted. Visions of immense wealth can only take you so far. They took me all the way to Serifin, the planet the Falcus mine was located on. My gift, my special ability, was neither sure nor certain. A tic's hide was almost as tough as a croc's and tics were said to be faster and larger. A tic will hold you with its two claws and pull you close. Then a sucker attached to its belly punches into you and sucks all the fluids out of you. Rewards, bounties, and local hunters had not worked, only the hunters had died. A ghoul hunter team had also failed and no others would come.
This tic was a clipper. It would clip the hands and feet off all the humans in an area except the one it was going to use for a meal. It had only used a few dozen miners for food, but literally hundreds had their hands and feet cut off. Soldiers had been sent in with ceramic weapons. They were no match for the tic. The ones that made it out before they bled to death had their hands and feet re-grown, but even under the threat of a firing squad would not go back in.
The tic had shut down the main mine and there was no easy way to mine that vein through another route. The other mines combined didn't produce a tenth of the fuel the Falcus fleet needed. The main mine had to be reopened and soon.
I knew I had made a major mistake as soon as we landed on Serifin. I was no ghoul hunter. I wasn't even sure what had happened the first two times, and had no clue if it would happen again. I wondered what my Uncle would do with all the money I had already earned. He was my only heir.
Trying not to wonder what it would be like to have something hold you while it slowly sucked the fluids out of you, I walked to the area of the mine where the tic had last been seen. There were hands and feet and the bodies of their former owners everywhere.
I turned to the high pitched squeal to see the huge, horrible thing was coming at me. The squeal was followed by a cackling laugh that filled me with terror. Fortunately the Ride began and the Ride didn't care.
As the tic ran at me The Ride ran at him and at the last moment as the tic grabbed for me The Ride ducked and shot my body between the gloride monster’s legs. As my body went through it grabbed at what passed for the tic’s ankles and using perfect leverage the tic fell on his face. The creature popped up almost as fast as my body did. As the tic grabbed for me again The Ride swiveled and the tic missed. My body punched the tic in the chest. This time I felt no crack, although I did feel the bone give way a bit. As the tic turned to try to grab me again The Ride moved so that the tic missed and was off balance. My body pushed the tic’s back then kicked at his leg so he went down. Before the tic could get up, my body managed to kick the tic’s head catching the point of the tic’s chin with the toe of my boot and kicking up. A second running kick to its throat crushed the tic's windpipe. It died gagging for one last breath. The Ride was over, I was in control again.
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Mankind had moved into space and spread through most of galaxy. There were of course incredible strides in technology. Travel between stars was commonplace, communication across the galaxy was instantaneous, and man had become expert at remodeling planets in Earth's image. But the most life changing advance had come in