From 327a5297aa8bdb319aa6dfabe21e48e5c27feb86 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Jason Self Date: Sun, 29 May 2022 12:25:30 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] Publish new installment --- agalder.txt | 145 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++- 1 file changed, 144 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/agalder.txt b/agalder.txt index 42be3c7..dd1ba38 100644 --- a/agalder.txt +++ b/agalder.txt @@ -2176,4 +2176,147 @@ distractions then." "Dom's going to be busy, too." said Harlan, still not happy. "Not like you are. He should be able to help me then. I am going to -need the second best thief in Crater City for a few hours." \ No newline at end of file +need the second best thief in Crater City for a few hours." + +==== Silver Santorini: Resistance Operative ==== + +Silver left about three hours later. Harlan had come up with a crazy +plan to take over the Syndicate's Big House. It might work. Maybe. +They had batted it around and added and subtracted until they were too +tired to think. + +She stepped out into the cold night air, breath fogging out in front +of her. Most of the streetlights were out, and the route was dark. She +walked through rough neighborhoods and past collapsed buildings. The +sidewalk was broken, but she had no problem walking. + +Until a shadow emerged from a dark door and came up on her left. + +"Hey, gorgeous. I got a warm den for you." + +"Go away." + +"I can be really nice to you." + +"I doubt that. Go away." + +"C'mon, sweetie, just come with me for a little while." A hand reached +out and grasped her arm and just as quickly let go. "Yeeow!! You stuck +me! I'm gonna..." + +He didn't finish his sentence because the knife she held in her right +hand switched from his hand to his throat. She pushed him back. "One +last time. Go away. Or die." + +Her cold green eyes stared into his reddened ones and he shuffled off +to seek easier prey. + +Unruffled, she slid the vibroknife back into its sheath on her wrist +and strode off into the night, wondering what Liam was doing. + +Liam Murphy: Advisor to President for Life + +==== Maloney; Resistance Operative ==== + +Liam Murphy was at home, feet up, with a drink in his hand, staring at +plans for the pirates' invasion of the Emerald Palace, the +headquarters for the Resistance. He had given copies of the plans to +the Boss earlier that evening, Now he was studying the plan, trying to +find any flaws in their defenses. + +A breeze ruffled his hair for a moment. Just for a moment. He went +still, not breathing. Listening. Murphy stood and moved silently +across the room, gun in his hand. He turned the setting to lethal. +Sliding behind an animated tapestry, he waited. + +A few seconds later, a man moved along the hall to the door to the +room. Murphy could see only a shadow. He continued to wait. + +A flash of movement and a bearded man jumped into the room, gun held +out in front of him in a two-handed grip. There was no one else in the +room. Murphy was effectively hidden behind the tapestry. The man's +voice spoke a few words sotto voce as he whirled in place to get a +complete view of the room. + +The intruder turned, heading back down the hall, saying "He's gone. +Someone must have tipped him." + +Murphy waited five minutes, then ten, then twenty before he moved. He +closed the little tube that contained the plans and slid it in his +pocket. He picked a slim book from the shelf beside him and left. + +He made no attempt to get his AirStrider. Best scenario: it had a new +GPS and a bug on it. Worst scenario: it had a bomb. + +He had another ride stashed a few blocks away and had rehearsed +getting to it stealthily. + +They would have left someone to watch the condo. With glacial +slowness, he crawled from a window in the back to the fence. He had +cut a hole in it which reconnected itself until he needed it. He +needed it now. + +Blending with the night, he reached the AirStrider in minutes after +getting through the fence. + +The machine started silently and he lifted into the air, heading for +the Emerald Palace. + +Only then did he get the shakes. He thought about how much he hated +these people who had taken him and used him until his soul was nearly +as putrid as theirs. + +He had been kicked off a passenger liner when he had run out of money. +He frowned. When he had lost all his money gambling in the first-class +lounge. Landing on a slimeball planet, he had tried to use what skills +he had to earn his way off. No one, it seemed, wanted a +lawyer/accountant. Even one with a degree from Harvard. The planet +Harvard, which was entirely devoted to higher education. +Law/Accounting had been easy for him. His mind worked logically. + +Then a military fleet arrived in system and he had been recruited to +join them. They could definitely use his advice, they said. + +Two systems later he learned why he had become the chief +councilor/chief accountant for the fleet after they decimated a poorly +populated, but very rich world. They didn't kill anyone. They just +took. Everything. Including women and children. + +A year later they landed on Agalder and took over. + +Three years ago, when he was considering suicide, he learned about the +Resistance. In his logical way, he formulated a plan to approach them. +It took months to get a message to them. + +One night, he had been walking home from a bar when a strange noise +made him pause. It sounded like someone calling for help. He ran +toward the sound. It came from behind a hedge. He pushed his way +through the hedge until he was free. Large hands closed over his mouth +and eyes and picked him up. Tape was placed around his face so that +all he could do was breathe. His arms were taped and he was placed on +a Strider. He remained passive, praying that this was the Resistance. + +They arrived at a destination about twenty minutes later by his +reckoning. He was placed on a grav sled and taken inside a building. +Dumped onto an uncomfortable surface, he smelled the harsh odors of +the medical profession and sighed. They were going to interrogate him. + +He woke up with no memory of the questioning when a soft voice called +his name. He was groggy but otherwise comfortable. He opened his eyes +and saw an angel. That was when he met Silver. She ministered to him +professionally. She was a Nurse/Healer, trained at Johns Hopkins - the +planet. She could have been a doctor but didn't want that profession. + +She helped him maintain his dignity through the recovery from +anesthesia with kindness and humor. That was when he fell in love. + +She would ask him questions at times and he answered with no +reservations. He told her his story - all of it. She listened intently +and commented occasionally, non-judgmental. + +The Boss came in and introduced himself, leaving out his relationship +with Silver at that time. But he sat down and they talked. For hours. +Over dinner. Until Murphy's eyes were drooping. They let him sleep +then. The next day they made him part of the Resistance. + +Now he had to get to them or die - painfully. \ No newline at end of file -- 2.31.1