Titanium Texicans by Alan Black Read Free Book Online Page B

used and certainly wasn’t for playing chess, at least not the way Grandpa taught him.
    The stores got bigger with fewer windows. They retreated away from the street across vast parking lots amid drive up restaurants. Tasso would have to ask Uncle Bruce about drive up meals. Even if you bought your food from a person at a window, where would you cook it? He knew bigger aircraft had kitchens and sleeping quarters, but most of the flitters and aircraft in the area were no bigger than his little red Matador.
    The closer to the spaceport he got, the more rundown the buildings became. Inns for travelers mixed with businesses that didn’t seem to advertise any more than a business name on a small sign, but people were coming and going as if they knew what was in the store. The businesses began to crowd the road again.
    Tasso was passing one business as a group of people was entering. He couldn’t see any signs or advertising explaining what the business offered, just a sign with a name. From what he could see and hear, there appeared to be a party going on inside. It looked like a picnic. People were drinking, with glasses clinking, lots of laughter with music, singing, and dancing. He thought city folk were very strange to have a picnic inside on such a fine day.
    There hadn’t been much music, singing, and dancing going on in their valley after Grandma died. Grandpa hadn’t been much of a singer, and since Landing Day celebrations still made Tasso angry, they dispensed with such things altogether.
    Tasso was getting angry just hearing the party. He really wished one of the Lamont boys had shown up last night instead of the elder Lamonts. He would’ve thrashed one or all three, right then. He decided he was going to look them up some day and finish the job he’d started when he was ten. Still, having hurt those two Bog-Irish boys so quickly gave him pause. Did he really want to hurt the Lamonts that badly? Today, he walked faster to put the music behind him.
    The spaceport loomed ahead. He was disappointed to see a high concrete wall surrounding the whole thing. The huge barrier was as high as the canyon walls surrounding his little valley. He couldn’t see a spaceship even if one sat in the port. He walked on.
    He noticed tall buildings in the distance. The GPS was directing him straight towards those buildings. He walked faster. He was anxious to see the tall buildings up close. The surrounding city sights seemed to be the exact reverse order of what he passed on his way toward the spaceport. Tasso had seen it once and there was very little new to interest him.
    As he walked, he wondered if businesses ringing the spaceport were like the ironwood trees and high canyon walls ringing his valley in that the ironwood trees fed the chiamra and helped it grow. He wondered if the surrounding town fed the spaceport and helped it grow or if the relationship was the other way around.
    He walked through huge canyons of towering glass and steel. He knew he was getting close. He couldn’t imagine Uncle Bruce living in such a place. It didn’t look like a place people could move about and breathe. There wasn’t any space between the buildings to plant gardens. There were some small open spaces, but all anyone grew in them were small patches of grass. Tasso shook his head. He knew about grass. He had to agree with Grandpa that it didn’t make sense to grow a crop just to cut it down. Grass was okay if you were raising domesticated herbivores, there weren’t any animals grazing in these small patches, and even the people walking through the small open spaces avoided walking on the grass.
    The GPS beeped. He pulled it out of his pocket. The little display said he’d arrived at his destination. It must be where Uncle Bruce lived or worked. He’d thought the directions were to his uncle’s home. Maybe the man expected him to show up at his workplace. The huge building took up the whole block and towered so high he had to crane his