Post by Mizagium on Apr 9, 2011 23:37:41 GMT -5
Jerricks Solvert angrily kicked the tire of the car. Here he was, a couple hundred miles from the Light of Day - or anywhere or significance, he mused - and the car chose that moment to run out of fuel. A closer inspection of the fuel tank revealed a sizable crack that leaked fuel at an alarming rate.
"Must've cracked when I hit that rock an hour back," he sighed. "Damn backwards planet. Haven't they ever heard of an internal fuel tank? Or - or goddamn suspension?"
He kicked the tire again - only for it to pop and deflate. "Guess I'm not getting me deposit back, then. Oh well. As long as I'm losing money on it, I might as well ditch it." He brushed his sweaty brown hair out of his eyes and retrieved his shades from inside the vehicle, along with his handgun and Ske'ar sword. The gun he stuffed into the back of his shorts; the sword he rested over one shoulder. Looking white the adventurer, he set off down the road in the direction he had been going anyway.
What the hell was he doing here anyway? For the life of him, he couldn't remember what possessed him to leave Ordathe and travel out into the country. Sure it was pretty - if you were in to that sort of thing - but the gravity was too high, for him at least. Most of the last seven years, he had spent in free fall, so each step was sluggish and tiring. At least his ancestors had the sense to code their genes to resist atrophication in space. His bones would degrade, but only after decades of low gravity.
Guess I thought maybe I thought I would find some clue about dad, as ridiculous as it might be. He remembered he dad mention Amolsha once or twice, but that was probably because it was a major stop on his trade route. Still was, though the ship was in the hands of his son.
Jeri sneered at himself and kept walking.
Some time passed, but he wasn't sure how much - he didn't know how to tell time by Amolsha's sun, how long the days were here, and more importantly, he simply didn't give two shits. He was gonna get there, so what difference did it make how long it too? Only make him angrier, it would.
Eventually a town appeared among the rolling hills and fields. It reminded him of the ramshackle towns found in a lot of Frontier Asteroids - one main street and a host of buildings that looked like he could kick one over.
The sight of him ambling in must have bee strange, he thought.
"Hey, kid," he shouted at the nearest one. He was probably about twelve or thirteen. "Mind tellin' me where the hell I am?"
The kid screwed up his face, unsure if he wanted to answer this rude traveler. "Telvei."
"How far is Ordathe from here?"
He thought about it. "The capital? About...two hundred miles...that way." He pointed back the way Jeri had just come from.
I knew that, the Frontiersman thought indignantly. He waved by way of thanks and kept on going - man did he need a drink; hey, it was five o'clock somewhere out there.
"Hey mister!" The kid called after him. Jeri kept going, not in a conversational mood. "Hey mister, is that a Skare sword?"
"Sure is kid."
"Where'd ya get it?"
"Took off one I killed a few years back," he lied straightfaced. "Wasn't easy, let me tell you." He had no intention of telling the kid anything.
"Whoa. Hey waitaminute! You can't kill a Skare. It's impossible!"
Jeri smirked and whirled on the kid. "Yeah, ain't that something? And yet, here I am, alive, holding the bastard's sword." He meant to stoop down to the kids' level, but the boy was only a few inches shorted than him, so he just hunched. Damn genes. "Now I suggest you run along."
"Or what?"
His annoyance with this kid was quickly turning. He had balls.
"Or I take this here Skare sword and eviscerate you. Know what that means? Means I spill your insides all over this here pavement and leave ya for the buzzards." Did they have buzzards on Amolsha? He had to hope this kid understood the reference.
But the kid frowned. "You're mean."
"And you're ballsy. What's your name?"
"Stenveris."
"Well, Sten, you go on home and tell your friends you just out-talked a Frontiersman with a Skare sword. Anyone not believe you, send 'em on down to the Comet's Tail. Looks like I'll be here for a while."
He ruffled the kid's hair, turned and walked right into the bar and ordered a drink.
Somewhere off in the distance, he heard the distinct sound a spaceship makes as it enters the atmosphere.
He ignored it.
"Must've cracked when I hit that rock an hour back," he sighed. "Damn backwards planet. Haven't they ever heard of an internal fuel tank? Or - or goddamn suspension?"
He kicked the tire again - only for it to pop and deflate. "Guess I'm not getting me deposit back, then. Oh well. As long as I'm losing money on it, I might as well ditch it." He brushed his sweaty brown hair out of his eyes and retrieved his shades from inside the vehicle, along with his handgun and Ske'ar sword. The gun he stuffed into the back of his shorts; the sword he rested over one shoulder. Looking white the adventurer, he set off down the road in the direction he had been going anyway.
What the hell was he doing here anyway? For the life of him, he couldn't remember what possessed him to leave Ordathe and travel out into the country. Sure it was pretty - if you were in to that sort of thing - but the gravity was too high, for him at least. Most of the last seven years, he had spent in free fall, so each step was sluggish and tiring. At least his ancestors had the sense to code their genes to resist atrophication in space. His bones would degrade, but only after decades of low gravity.
Guess I thought maybe I thought I would find some clue about dad, as ridiculous as it might be. He remembered he dad mention Amolsha once or twice, but that was probably because it was a major stop on his trade route. Still was, though the ship was in the hands of his son.
Jeri sneered at himself and kept walking.
Some time passed, but he wasn't sure how much - he didn't know how to tell time by Amolsha's sun, how long the days were here, and more importantly, he simply didn't give two shits. He was gonna get there, so what difference did it make how long it too? Only make him angrier, it would.
Eventually a town appeared among the rolling hills and fields. It reminded him of the ramshackle towns found in a lot of Frontier Asteroids - one main street and a host of buildings that looked like he could kick one over.
The sight of him ambling in must have bee strange, he thought.
"Hey, kid," he shouted at the nearest one. He was probably about twelve or thirteen. "Mind tellin' me where the hell I am?"
The kid screwed up his face, unsure if he wanted to answer this rude traveler. "Telvei."
"How far is Ordathe from here?"
He thought about it. "The capital? About...two hundred miles...that way." He pointed back the way Jeri had just come from.
I knew that, the Frontiersman thought indignantly. He waved by way of thanks and kept on going - man did he need a drink; hey, it was five o'clock somewhere out there.
"Hey mister!" The kid called after him. Jeri kept going, not in a conversational mood. "Hey mister, is that a Skare sword?"
"Sure is kid."
"Where'd ya get it?"
"Took off one I killed a few years back," he lied straightfaced. "Wasn't easy, let me tell you." He had no intention of telling the kid anything.
"Whoa. Hey waitaminute! You can't kill a Skare. It's impossible!"
Jeri smirked and whirled on the kid. "Yeah, ain't that something? And yet, here I am, alive, holding the bastard's sword." He meant to stoop down to the kids' level, but the boy was only a few inches shorted than him, so he just hunched. Damn genes. "Now I suggest you run along."
"Or what?"
His annoyance with this kid was quickly turning. He had balls.
"Or I take this here Skare sword and eviscerate you. Know what that means? Means I spill your insides all over this here pavement and leave ya for the buzzards." Did they have buzzards on Amolsha? He had to hope this kid understood the reference.
But the kid frowned. "You're mean."
"And you're ballsy. What's your name?"
"Stenveris."
"Well, Sten, you go on home and tell your friends you just out-talked a Frontiersman with a Skare sword. Anyone not believe you, send 'em on down to the Comet's Tail. Looks like I'll be here for a while."
He ruffled the kid's hair, turned and walked right into the bar and ordered a drink.
Somewhere off in the distance, he heard the distinct sound a spaceship makes as it enters the atmosphere.
He ignored it.