Memory Wipe, Chapter 14, Broken Men by Sean T. M. Stiennon hearing, smell: all of his senses returned to dull normality. Takeda’s exhaustion—and the pain from his wounded foot—reasserted itself. Only the distribution of food and water kept him from collapsing. # Takeda woke to the same red-tainted light, filling the crowded room like a bloody mist. Sweat had dried on his skin, and for a few seconds he struggled to open his eyes. His entire body felt gummy, like someone had squirted glue into all his joints. His foot burned as if someone had sewn a coal up in the flesh. He groaned. “All right, Tak?” Tak?” Eshe era asked. He sat up immediately, feeling a twinge of embarrassment. “Yes. Sorry.” “No apologies. I’m glad you could sleep.” She blinked her small, dark eyes slowly. Her head was resting lightly on her chest. “You haven’t?” Takeda asked. “No,” she said, smiling. “Not very much, anyway. It’s...just hard to hear children crying. I overhead a woman back there who doesn’t have any milk, and they couldn’t make the child drink water. So it cried until it fell asleep.” “That’s...terrible,” Takeda said. He knew he sounded like an idiot as soon as the words left his mouth. “More so. The mother was crying, too—her husband died in Hope’s End.” Esheera gently stroked her dusty braids
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with one hand. Her fingers picked out the beads, particularly the single gray one which hung on every knot of h air. air. The look in her eyes was distant, wistful, and for a moment Takeda felt as if he was intruding on something deeply private. “I’ve really screwed it b adly, haven’t I, Tak?” Tak?” she said, softly. “What do you mean?” Her wing-flaps rustled as she crossed her arms, clenching her knitted sweater with both hands. “I lost my husband. I lost my ship. And now it looks like I’m going to lose my life.” Takeda shook his head. “We’ve been through a lot. I don’t think we’re going to die now.” She smiled, eyes looking downwards. Takeda heard faint, half-stifled sobs drifting from somewhere in one of the back rooms. “Lombardi said we’ll be in front, not hiding in back. Wouldn’t pick any other place, really. But if we fight Evils, Tak, I’m not sure if a single man will survive. They took out Hope’s End like it was made of sand. “And what if we do survive and get off Ni hil? I’ve got nothing. You’ve got nothing. Zartsi has nothing. Maybe we could all get jobs in some factory on Coalsmoke. Save up our quarterSilvers for a ship, eh?” “I don’t kn ow. All I want is to talk to Cramer Orano...I won’t know what to do with myself until I know why my body is like this. Vass is still trying to kill me. Lashiir is out there somewhere.”
Pg. 36 She chuckled softly. “Ah, yes. I doubt our foreman would appreciate the assassins chasing us.” Her eyes turned slowly to Zartsi, still slumped against the wall, his arms wrapped around his rifle and the dust worm spike. A smile crinkled her weary features. Takeda wondered what she saw when she looked at him—only she knew anything about his past life beyond the hints he had scattered. Takeda knew that he had once been a nobleman and nothing more. “Couldn’t you go back to your clan?” he asked. “The Nii would welcome me, certainly. But it wouldn’t be easy to contact them. I doubt there’s a strong Rover presence on Coalsmoke.” Every pair of bloodshot eyes in the chamber went up as the door creaked open. Law Krane stepped in. The large man looked weary himself—his skin was paler than Takeda remembered. A few men mumbled greetings to him which he acknowledged with grunts. He strode through the mass colonists and sank down next to Takeda. “Morning,” he said. “We got another message from our rescue ships. Thirty-six hours. They’ll arrive at night.” His voice rolled through the room like the echo of an artillery piece. Someone moaned, and Takeda heard a voice whispering a prayer in what sounded like Reborn Chinese. Takeda immediately grasped the significance of the news. Walking Evils hunted in the darkness.
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Memory Wipe, Chapter 14, Broken Men by Sean T. M. Stiennon Krane seemed not to notice any reaction. “How are my desert vagabonds?” he said, smiling just enough to push back the folds of fat on his cheeks. “No worse than anyone else,” Esheera answered. Takeda Takeda sighed. H e could almost feel Krane’s boulder-like head swiveling towards him. “You want to know why I don’t shoot Vass, since I know he’s an assassin. I saw your face.” A statement, not a question, and Takeda had no energy to contradict it. “Yeah,” he said. “They’re all thugs.” “See this tattoo?” Krane pointed at the slash of red ink stamped on his cheek. “I got that on Smith’s Island, Gray Sea, planet Ulster. Ring any bells?” “A high-security prison. They fly hard cases in from as far away as Imperia,” Esheera said.
knifed a collections agent and they still took me. They’ve taken worse, too. Not the worst, but men who couldn’t find homes anywhere else. They got a second chance here. A chance at something, anyway, until the Evils came.
“Good question. Wish I knew the answer. Here’s what I think, though. Nihil’s an empty place—that’s what the planet’s damn name means. Every animal and plant has to scratch for whatever it can get, and not much is wasted. So what happens when a few thousand human s come dropping in for mining operations?”
“I got out eventually. Still sane, mostly. They told me I was free, but that no one on any civilized planet would give me a job. They gave me this mark, along with a chip in my skull. Told me it was the colonies or a handful of government businesses. I came here.”
Esheera clenched her hands into fists. “I think I begin to see.”
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what we were, they spread the word around, and eventually they gathered from thousands of miles around. Gathered until there were enough of them to crack us open.”
He stood suddenly. “Water time. Sit tight “That’s the kind of world Nihil is. With a and be ready when we need to move.” whole militia of Evils beating down our gates He left without another word. I’ll take assassins and murderers and Rovers. If Xiang Butcher showed up I’d give him a rifle.” Thirty hours passed. Esheera sang softly under her breath. When Zartsi wasn’t sleeping, His meaty shoulders rolled in a lazy shrug. he stared at nothing, hands clamped protec“That’s how it works, sometimes.” tively on rifle and dust worm spike. Takeda Somewhere in the darkness a baby began drank every drop of the water they gave him to wail. Esheera turned towards it, her lips and forced down every crumb of food. He curved downwards and her nostrils flared. A slept whenever he could, curled up on the soft voice tried to hush it, but the shrieks only dark, warm stone. Moans, muffled conversabecame more violent. Takeda heard other tions between hoarse voices, sobs, and snores tears. A woman without milk, nothing to feed drifted through the dim light. Gun metal her child. Her husband gone. gleamed—the colonists sat poised for action, a ragged army awaiting the call to battle against “Where did all these Evils come from?” he the living nightmares which had destroyed asked Krane. their home.
“Got it. I spent ten years there, solitary conconfinement. They gave me a reader that wouldn’t work three days out of four and two bowls of gruel a day. Six times a year they’d haul me down to a dark cell far underground and whip me and pour salt water on the wounds. Broken men don’t escape.
His smile showed filthy teeth. “The Nihil Iron Company doesn’t care who comes. I
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“You should. The Evils eventually picked up what we were—a real shitload of food and moisture. I don’t know how intelligent the things are, but they have a big range. It would surprise me if there’s more than a few thousand on the whole planet. I think, once they realized
# Takeda dreamed he sat in a room that was utterly, completely black, as if the vacuum between stars had been locked into solid form. Pale blue light emanating from a single triangular panel in the vaulted ceiling let him guess the room’s boundaries. He sat in a tall chair. Soft cushions gave way beneath his weight. There was other furniture, but it seemed hazy, as if it was a poorly concealed illusion. The room felt lonely and cold. Takeda shivered and realized he was naked—every square inch of his body was open to the chill. His flesh looked paler than he had ever seen it,
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Memory Wipe, Chapter 14, Broken Men by Sean T. M. Stiennon as if sunlight had never touched it. He had no hair, either. His scalp had been shaved clean. Then she was there. The woman reclined on a throne of shadows, close enough that Takeda could have touched her simply by stretching out his hand. He wanted to, but she was too beautiful. Her hair was blacker even than the walls. Her eyes burned like blue stars. Every curve of her face was perfect—so perfect Takeda wanted to cry. But still her expression was lofty—lonely and cold, to match the room, the prison. When she spoke at last, her voice was music. “Man,” she said, “may I give you a name?” Takeda’s lips moved without his will. “You may do anything you wish, my lady.” Her smile sent shivers along his skin. “You betray your ignorance. I shouldn’t even be speaking to you. To anyone except him.” Her head bowed, and for a moment the lights in her eyes flickered out. “Would you even care if you had a name?” she asked. “I...I don’t know,” he said, hearing his own hesitation. “I’ve never had one.” The woman’s hair rustled in an unseen wind. Her eyes came up again, brighter than ever. “Go. Leave.” Suddenly, Takeda remembered: Greendome, Sheri, Vass, Zartsi, Clane, Lashiir, Esheera. He remembered his three years. He remembered his name. “Wait!” he screamed, as her face began to fade. “What am I?” She said nothing. She had vanished, and now the walls began to bleed streaks of
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red light. Takeda’s chair rolled back with a sickening lurch and the cushions hardened into steel. Restraints pinned his arms and legs, cold against his flesh. He was bleeding. Knives of light stabbed into his eyes. Two yellow orbs hovered above him. Eyes, featureless except for wide black pupils. A cruel mouth filled with pointed teeth opened, scarred lips bent, and three words slid into his ears: “You are mine.” Takeda screamed and woke. # Esheera’s face hovered in the dim light above him, nostrils flared, small dark eyes concerned. He felt her hand grasping his shoulder. “Just a dream, Tak,” she whispered. “Drink this.” He took the plastic cup and gulped warm water. water. It was gone too fast. He coughed, han ded the cup back to Esheera, and rubbed his eyes. “How long have I been sleeping?” “Long enough. We’re moving out.” Takeda groaned. A deep pain seemed to have infiltrated all his muscles, more than just the ache of sleeping on rock. The dream clung to his mind, particularly the woman’s face...a woman that beautiful couldn’t exist. Just a dream. Takeda prayed Cramer Orano still lived, somewhere in the mines below—he couldn’t rest until he knew why he had these dreams, why his body was full of organs and bones and chemicals no ordinary man possessed. Why he couldn’t remember anything before Greendome.
He felt his pistols. Both in place, both loaded. He had plenty of full magazines, enough ammunition to kill a small army. He stood. His foot throbbed with pain—he suspected some dust had gotten beneath the wrapping—but he could walk. That was enough. “All right,” Krane called out. In addition to his pistol he now carried a massive assault rifle with a vented barrel, slung across his shoulders on a leather bandolier. “Here’s the plan. Women and children will report to Level Four, Alpha section, to await evacuation. All ablebodied men follow me down to Level Zero, Loading Room, to rendezvous for a trip down into the mines. We’ve got a hundred people down there, and we’re going to pull them out. Bring your guns.” He stepped out into the passageway. The colonists and miners shuffled out after him. Some paused to kiss their wives and hold their children one last time before picking up rifles, pistols, flame guns, knive s, even tools like force hammers and power saws. Their bloodshot eyes held a fierce glow as they marched out. Takeda followed with Zartsi and Esheera just behind. The Lithrallian cleaned out the chamber of his rifle even as they walked. No voices interrupted the steady sound of stamping boots. The colonists walked in silence, weapons clanking, breath heaving raggedly. They went through tunnels stripped of all their iron, down steps that rattled beneath their feet, through areas where lights had burned out, leaving only darkness. At last they emerged into a large, low cavern illuminated with strips of pale red. A handful of men waited for them, leaning on rifles in one corner. Machinery lay untended in the shadows, and the floor was split by four
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Memory Wipe, Chapter 14, Broken Men by Sean T. M. Stiennon gaping shafts with lift equipment rigged over them. Every one of the lifts was raised. Takeda Takeda estimated that the ir group consisted of over fifty men, altogether. “Lift shafts are closed,” Krane said. “To keep the Evils out. So we’re taking the long way. Best armed men in front, in back, around the sides—that’s anyone with a heavy rifle or a pulser. Keep your eyes open. Remember that Evils smell like burnt wood. Aim about a foot above the legs—don’t bother with the head. And don’t take your eyes off one. Ever.” Ever.” Krane examined the men carefully, eyes hovering briefly over each face. “Carter, Shao, Patel, Mufura. You each take about ten men. Doesn’t matter if it’s uneven. I’ll take what’s left—Croster, Esheera, Zartsi with me for certain. Just so long as you know which men you have. We’ll stick together, but keep track of those.” The men divided into their groups. Takeda and his companions went to stand with Krane and eight others. Krane watched them separate, listened to them whisper to each other, then said, “Shao, in the rear, watch our backs. I’ll be in front. Patel and Carter on the flanks. Mufura in the middle. If anyone near you drops, and he’s got a better weapon, take it. Any questions?” Silence. Krane was about to go on when Takeda asked, “How did they get down there? Why not bring them earlier?” Krane’s eyes turned, and for a moment Takeda was sorry he had spo ken. But there was no anger in the bald man’s voice. “There were extra supplies down there. They went down
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to use and retrieve them, but got cut off by Evils. We didn’t want to pull them out earlier because our supplies upstairs wouldn’t have sustained all together. Anything else?” Nothing. “All right. God help us, for He knows we’ll need it.” There was a massive portal shaped from a metal that could only be strome. Krane pulled out a digital key, turned it in a lock the size of an elephant skull, and stood back as the door swung open. The opening yawned, full of hollow darkness. “Lights out,” he said. “Oh, yeah, someone with spares, give them to our guests.” Someone pressed a small hand lamp into Takeda’s palm. The sweat of terror dribbled down Takeda’s back. Suddenly, he felt a cold certainty that he wouldn’t live to speak with Orano, wouldn’t live to know what had happened in all those lost years. They marched forward, down into the darkness. #
engine failure—damage from the Clordite’s weapons had been more extreme than it appeared. Atmospheric entry had only worsened it. They had approached Hope’s End from the north, but when Vass’ comm signals had been answered by someone at the mine, he had decided to land there instead. The miners would be less likely to ask difficult questions. He had been right. But Krane and the mine ’s other officers had put him to work until they could refer his case to the governor at Hope’s End. Vass and all his men had spent almost seventy-two hours hauling iron up out of the mines. Calluses covered his once fine hands. Then they had evacuated Hope’s End. Wretched colonists flooded into the mines, and Nihil Colony went into a state of emergency. The other small mines curled in on themselves and awaited evacuation themselves—small parties of Evils harried them as well, taking whatever sections of the mines they couldn’t close off. It was as if the desert itself had risen against human habitation. Vass hissed through clenched teeth. Shot down. Pressed into labor. And now forced to fight for a ragged band of colonists too stupid to realize what a Hell they had picked for a home.
Brian Vass sat with his legs crossed and his hands curled into fists on top of them. Anger burned inside him, anger which threatened to burst out in raw violence. Finally, he had seen Croster, had him in easy range of a shot. But he couldn’t kill him. Couldn’t take his vengeance on the only man to ever successfully defy him.
The door swung open. Vass’ hand instantly dropped to his pulser, and across the room he saw Jiza tense, hooking a single claw around the trigger of his rifle. A man stood in the doorway—Larson, Vass vaguely recalled. His blonde hair was shaped into a ridge of bristles running along the center of his scalp.
When the Black Dog had entered Nihil’s atmosphere, she had been close to complete
“We’re moving out,” he growled. “You boys coming?”
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Memory Wipe, Chapter 14, Broken Men by Sean T. M. Stiennon “Moving out where?” “Extracting the folks below. Our job is to go down and create a little...distraction, for the Evils. Hopefully keep them off Law Krane’s back.” Vass stroked his cheek, disgracefully stained with dark fuzz. An idea was beginning to take shape in his head. “Where’s Krane going out from?” “Level Zero Loading Area. We’ll be in the shafts, opposite side of the mines.” “I see,” Vass said. He tried to remember the layout of the mine, hastily learned during his three days of servitude. Yes...he knew the place, and he thought he knew how to get to it. “So, coming, or should we just roll a couple grenades in here and slam the door?” Larson asked. “We’re coming,” Vass said. “Get up, b oys.”
Thomas crouched in a dark storage room which now contained only broken tools and obsolete machinery. His stained miner’s uniform was uncomfortable after years of wearing the soft fabrics Lashiir provided, and it felt strange—wrong—to have his head uncovered. But when his lord had ordered him to hide among the miners, to watch them and wait for any sign of Lashiir’s prey, he could not refuse, could not question, could not show any sign of displeasure. At least it concealed his weapons well enough. He placed the communicator against his ear and activated it. It went to only one source. Soon, the flat, metallic sound of Lashiir’s voice said, “Speak.” “Thomas, my lord. I’ve found your prey.” The sound of air fluting out of Lashiir’s beak still terrified him, even after many years. “Finally,” the Clordite hissed. “Where?”
“I...my lord, I only found him a few minutes As they marched downwards, however, ago. He is moving. A party of men goes below, Vass slowly worked himself towards the rear of to rescue some others trapped there. Croster Larson’s band. Jiza noticed what he was doing goes with them. And the Rover, and the Lithraland did the same. They walked through dark lian.” tunnels, and the men were terrified—Vass could smell their sweat and piss. They didn’t Lashiir ’s silence extended for three seconds. notice when Vass led his men down a side-pas- Fear gripped Thomas’ heart like his lord’s black sageway at an intersection. He got away clean, talons. Lashiir’s anger and frustration had been and heard Jiza laughing in the darkness. “Nice, growing since his prey had first escaped him boss,” the Lithrallian hissed. at the hotel. It had grown when they had successfully left Freedan. It had flared up when he Vass smiled as he led them towards the failed to destroy them in orbit, or find them in loading area. Croster would be his yet. the desert. It had become something deep and sickeningly murderous when Tsuke and John # had failed to check-in. Dead, both of them.
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Pg. 40 Only Thomas and Heziah remained. “Where?” the Clordite asked. Thomas told his lord all that he knew: Croster’s destination, their planned route, everything he knew of the mine’s layout. He had already downloaded a digitized map, and sent it to Lashiir over the comm. He sp oke while it was translated into the Despair’s protocols. “Meet me in Shaft Alpha, Sublevel One,” Lashiir said. “I will summon Heziah. You have... fifteen minutes. If I don’t find you there I will not look.” “Yes, lord.” Thomas did not dare to question how his master could move so fast—leave Despair , enter the mines, and find his way to the spot he had named in fifteen minutes. He had seen his dark master do things far more impressive in the years of his apprenticeship. The connection cut off. Thomas slipped the communicator back into his pocket, patted his clothes to check that all his weapons were still concealed where he had left them, and left the room, going to meet Lashiir. The hunt was on again.
Next month...Chapter 15: Memory Rush
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Sean T. M. Stiennon Sean is an author of fantasy and science con novels and short stories, with many publicaons under his belt. His rst short story collecon, Six with Flinteye , was recently released from Silver Lake Publishing, and he won 2nd place in both the 2004 SFReader. com Short Story Contest and the Storn Cook Razor-Edged Ficon Contest with his stories Asp” and “ The The Sultan’s Well ,” respecve“ Asp ly. “ The The Sultan’s Well” has been published in the anthology Sages and Swords. Sean’s Flinteye’s Duel” was published short story “ Flinteye’s , Issue 01. in Ray Gun Revival , Sean’s work tends to contain lots of acon and adventure, but he oen includes elements of tragedy and loss alongside roaring battles. A lot of his work centers around con nuing characters, the most prominent Six with Flinof whom is Jalazar Flinteye ( Six teye ). He also writes tales of Shabak of Talon Point (“ Death Death Marks ,” in issue #9 of Amazing Journeys Magazine ), Blademas ter (“ Asp Asp ,” 2nd place winner in the 2004 SFReader.com Contest ), and others who have yet to see publicaon. Sean loves to read fantasy and science c on alongside some history, mysteries, and historical novels. His favorites include by Tim Powers, Declare Memory , Sorrow , and Thorn the trilogy by Tad Williams, Stephen Lawhead’s Song of Albion trilogy, and King Solomon’s Mines by H. Rider Haggard. He has reviewed books for Deep Magic: The E-zine of High Fantasy and Science Ficon , and currently reviews books at SFReader.com.
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The RGR Time Capsule August 1 - August 14, 2007 Sci-Fi news from the Ray Gun Revival forums RGR Date: August 01, 2007 Zeppelin vs. Pterodactyls: the lost lm http://raygunrevival.com/Fo http://ra ygunrevival.com/Forum/viewtopic.php? rum/viewtopic.php?t=1304 t=1304
“One of the wacky ideas oated by Hammer Films in 1971 but never developed beyond a sweet poster was ‘Zeppelin vs. Pterodactyls.’ People have said it’s tragic this movie was never made. Now tragical ly it has been made, a mashup of public domain clianger serials and old mov ies. What if Republic Pictures had goen this idea in 1936? See it here. Watch for glimpses of John Wayne, two ‘Wilhelm’ screams, and one actor who wasn’t even born unl 1939.
RGR Date: August 06, 2007 Wm. Gibson - the future wears him out http://raygunrevival.com/Forum/viewtopic. http://raygunrevival.com/Fo rum/viewtopic. php?t=1314
So why not write about the future?
The trouble is there are enough crazy fac tors and wild cards on the table now that I can’t convince myself of where a future might be in 10 to 15 years. I think we’ve been in a very long, century-long period of increasingly exponenal technological ly-driven change.
ponenal and what we are experiencing now is the real vergo of that - we have no idea at all now where we are going.
Will global warming catch up with us? Is that irreparable? Will technological civilisaon collapse? There seems to be some possibility of that over the next 30 or 40 years or will we do some Verner Vinge singularity trick and suddenly become capable of every thing and everything will be cool and the geek rapture will arrive? That’s a possibil ity too.
RGR Date: August 13, 2007 Vernor Vinge ‘Rainbows End’ interview http://raygunrevival.com/Fo http://ra ygunrevival.com/Forum/viewtopic. rum/viewtopic. php?t=1329
ActuSF: Rainbows End is very surprising for French readers, who know you mostly through your space opera. Were you a bit red of it ? Vernor Vinge: Rainbows End was a nice change of pace for me. However, I sll enjoy space opera. I also have some ideas for stories that are neither space opera nor near-future SF.
In other news, he’s working on a sequel to A Fire Upon the Deep . It takes place on Tines World, about ten years aer the end of AFUD. That is excing news.
We hit a point somewhere in the mid-18th century where we started doing what we think of technology today and it started changing things for us, changing society. Since World War II it’s going literally ex -
Ray Gun Revival magazine
Issue 28, August 15, 2007