Analog Science Fiction And Fact - June 2014 by Penny Publications Read Free Book Online
Authors: Penny Publications
gods' turf.
Teodorq compared the oath to the one Jamly-the-ghost had given them in the name of the Commonwealth of Suns. There had been a threat behind them too, given that he and Sammi had been "unauthorized personnel," but the words had been higher and prouder and had not been stuffed with such dire warnings as to suggest mistrust. This alone told him much of the ways of the ironmen. Despite their talk of honor, oathbreakers must be common enough among them to warrant such sureties.
Sammi grumbled. "Too many oath," he said. "Soon one oath break another."
"Dontcha worry, Rabbit," Kal told Teodorq that night in barracks. "I given my word, and a Serp keeps his words. But I gotta worse problem now."
"What's that?" asked Sammi o' th' Eagles as he stashed his kit under his bed and pulled the blankets off, for he preferred to lie on the floor.
Soft bed make soft man,
he had explained.
"The First took Rabbit's crime on his own head. You heard it. Now I gotta kill the First. Ain't that a kick in the butt."
Sammi grinned. "You get more in butt than kick, you try it."
Teodorq told Sammi it would be hard to search out Iabran and Varucciyamen if they were stuck at Cliffside Keep. But he was pretty sure the starfolk's encampments did not lie back west and, while he did not doubt his ability to escape his captors even on unfamiliar ground, a good scout knew better than to dash headlong into unknown territory. There were other ways to learn how the land lay.
Kal said, "So they're sending us to fight greens? I heard they fight with thunder and lightning."
Teodorq sat on the edge of his bunk.
"That
can't be good."
Sammi said, "We no hear of greens on the short grass."
Teodorq smiled and crossed his legs at the ankles, coupled his hands behind his head. "Which means they're somewhere east of here. So it's just as well. We was going that way anyhow."
Teodorq sunna Nagarajan did not believe that there was any longer a Commonwealth of Suns or that their commission meant anything; but he continued to paint the stripes across his biceps and would ask after the two starman towns whenever he encountered other men.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Teodorq sunna Nagarajan the Ironhand and Sammi o' th' Eagles have appeared previously in"The Journeyman: On the Short-Grass Prairie"[October 2012].)
----
The Homecoming
J.T. Sharrah | 15335 words
Illustrated by Abby Boeh
1.
The observation deck of the Mazabashi Inn was spacious, commanded a splendid view of the sea, and—to judge by the arrangement of the furniture—was a gathering place for antisocial solitaries. All of the chairs faced the same direction. They were deployed like the seats in a theater—not in conversational groupings but arrayed to accommodate an audience. The people who sat in them weren't primarily interested in each other. They were spectators who had come to see a show.
"Never again," Escoli was saying. "It will never happen again. No doubt we'll witness other sunsets, and I'm sure they'll be lovely, but
this
sunset is unique. This is a fleeting moment of glory that won't be repeated—not ever, not in all of eternity. We'd be fools if we failed to celebrate it."
Baldwin pointed to the pix-shooter that was strapped to Escoli's forearm. "So take a picture. Preserve it for posterity. What kind of a photojournalist would miss an opportunity like this?"
Escoli made the snorting sound that was the Bukkaran equivalent of laughter. "You Terrans!" she chided. "You have no appreciation for the ephemeral. Preserve it? How? Take a snapshot of it? Ask it to smile for the camera?" She dismissed the suggestion with a flit of her f ingers. "No! Impossible! The evanescent can't
be
preserved. That's what makes it rare. That's
why
it's valuable."
Baldwin responded to this unsought spate of information with a sigh of resignation. He didn't need Escoli to tell him that he was unenlightened. He wasn't such an ignoramus that he was ignorant of his own ignorance. Even now—after twenty years on
Teodorq compared the oath to the one Jamly-the-ghost had given them in the name of the Commonwealth of Suns. There had been a threat behind them too, given that he and Sammi had been "unauthorized personnel," but the words had been higher and prouder and had not been stuffed with such dire warnings as to suggest mistrust. This alone told him much of the ways of the ironmen. Despite their talk of honor, oathbreakers must be common enough among them to warrant such sureties.
Sammi grumbled. "Too many oath," he said. "Soon one oath break another."
"Dontcha worry, Rabbit," Kal told Teodorq that night in barracks. "I given my word, and a Serp keeps his words. But I gotta worse problem now."
"What's that?" asked Sammi o' th' Eagles as he stashed his kit under his bed and pulled the blankets off, for he preferred to lie on the floor.
Soft bed make soft man,
he had explained.
"The First took Rabbit's crime on his own head. You heard it. Now I gotta kill the First. Ain't that a kick in the butt."
Sammi grinned. "You get more in butt than kick, you try it."
Teodorq told Sammi it would be hard to search out Iabran and Varucciyamen if they were stuck at Cliffside Keep. But he was pretty sure the starfolk's encampments did not lie back west and, while he did not doubt his ability to escape his captors even on unfamiliar ground, a good scout knew better than to dash headlong into unknown territory. There were other ways to learn how the land lay.
Kal said, "So they're sending us to fight greens? I heard they fight with thunder and lightning."
Teodorq sat on the edge of his bunk.
"That
can't be good."
Sammi said, "We no hear of greens on the short grass."
Teodorq smiled and crossed his legs at the ankles, coupled his hands behind his head. "Which means they're somewhere east of here. So it's just as well. We was going that way anyhow."
Teodorq sunna Nagarajan did not believe that there was any longer a Commonwealth of Suns or that their commission meant anything; but he continued to paint the stripes across his biceps and would ask after the two starman towns whenever he encountered other men.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Teodorq sunna Nagarajan the Ironhand and Sammi o' th' Eagles have appeared previously in"The Journeyman: On the Short-Grass Prairie"[October 2012].)
----
The Homecoming
J.T. Sharrah | 15335 words
Illustrated by Abby Boeh
1.
The observation deck of the Mazabashi Inn was spacious, commanded a splendid view of the sea, and—to judge by the arrangement of the furniture—was a gathering place for antisocial solitaries. All of the chairs faced the same direction. They were deployed like the seats in a theater—not in conversational groupings but arrayed to accommodate an audience. The people who sat in them weren't primarily interested in each other. They were spectators who had come to see a show.
"Never again," Escoli was saying. "It will never happen again. No doubt we'll witness other sunsets, and I'm sure they'll be lovely, but
this
sunset is unique. This is a fleeting moment of glory that won't be repeated—not ever, not in all of eternity. We'd be fools if we failed to celebrate it."
Baldwin pointed to the pix-shooter that was strapped to Escoli's forearm. "So take a picture. Preserve it for posterity. What kind of a photojournalist would miss an opportunity like this?"
Escoli made the snorting sound that was the Bukkaran equivalent of laughter. "You Terrans!" she chided. "You have no appreciation for the ephemeral. Preserve it? How? Take a snapshot of it? Ask it to smile for the camera?" She dismissed the suggestion with a flit of her f ingers. "No! Impossible! The evanescent can't
be
preserved. That's what makes it rare. That's
why
it's valuable."
Baldwin responded to this unsought spate of information with a sigh of resignation. He didn't need Escoli to tell him that he was unenlightened. He wasn't such an ignoramus that he was ignorant of his own ignorance. Even now—after twenty years on
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