Hard Luck Hank: Screw the Galaxy by Steven Campbell Read Free Book Online Page B

erupted and the video went dead.
    “There are two of them. They flew away into the
city. Some kind of jet packs.”
    “Robots?” I asked again.
    “We think. We don’t know. But they killed every
single person at that checkpoint. Over twenty people, including three security
personnel.”
    “What would Dredel Led be doing here?”
    “We don’t know who they are,” Garm said.
“They’re robots and they killed a lot of people. That’s all we got.”
    This was just totally unbelievable. I played
back the video. He looked like a normal Colmarian, though that in itself was
somewhat of an oxymoron.
    The Dredel Led really were a scary concept, the
bad guys for every work of fiction.
    I’m not even sure what our real interaction was
with their empire versus what was just hyperbole. I don’t think Colmarians had
had any contact with them in millennia at least. Colmarian space adjoined
theirs in some areas, but we adjoined just about everyone. And Belvaille was
nowhere near them.
    Real information on them was scant. They were
robots. They had really advanced technology. They kept to themselves. Unlike
the other races, you couldn’t say what a Dredel Led looked like. They could
look like anything, right? I mean they were machines. Because of our wars with
them ages ago, certain technology was now forbidden in the Colmarian Confederation.
    “I’m hereby deputizing you, Hank,” Garm said.
    “Uh, deputization denied,” I countered. “I’m
not the military.”
    “How many times did I offer you?”
    “I don’t want to be in the military. And what
can I possibly do to help? I can’t fight a flying robot.”
    “Hank, I sent word we’ve been attacked. It will
be a week before they even get that message. It will be at least a month before
they can send anyone here. Are you willing to let those things run wild for a
month? There are 100,000 people on this station.”
    “A million.”
    “What?”
    “There’s a million people on Belvaille, right?”
I asked.
    Garm looked momentarily confused and annoyed.
    “No. Where’d you get that idea? There are just
under 100,000 here. But still, every one of them is in danger. Those things
obviously don’t mind killing people.”
    “You’ve got that big gun, can’t you use that?”
I asked.
    “That’s an artillery piece, it’s for knocking
down buildings.”
    “Then why do you have it?”
    “For knocking down buildings! Look, if you can
get one to stand still for thirty minutes while we set it up, we can use it,
otherwise it’s no go.”
    “You think my shotgun is going to do anything
to that,” I said, pointing at the video.
    “No, but your Ontakian pistol will.”
    I stared at Garm, gobsmacked. It never occurred
to me that she believed in it too.
    “You’re kidding. I’ve never even fired this
stupid thing,” I said, taking it out of its holster. “It probably hasn’t been
shot in a thousand years. It’s either going to not do anything or blow off my
face.”
    “But at least it’s something.”
    “You’re not getting it, I’ve never used it. I
don’t know what it is. It’s just a green light. I scare people with it.”
    “Well that’s like those robots. Don’t think of
them as children’s stories, sneaking around at night or killing your parents
and living in their skin. They’re just targets like anyone else you’ve fought.”
    “No,” I said, disagreeing with her logic. “My
pistol has never killed twenty people in one shot and flown through the sky.
Those Dredel Led are exactly the same as the children’s stories.”
    “Just try the pistol. We don’t have any other
ideas.”
    “It’s my great-great-great-grandfather’s and
all I have left of my history.”
    “Hank, we have to do something.”
    I looked down at my pistol and clicked on the
power. There was that reassuring glow. That deep hum.
    Garm stood close to me, her firm hand on my
shoulder.
    “Hank, this is real. You know me, I don’t care
about a whole lot of things a whole