thought, “and I’ll have made my return trip to Terra firma . I’ll be breathing air that smells like damp earth and grass instead of urine and sweat.”
I laughed as I hopped over a boulder that blocked my path, waiting to speak until I regained my footing on the powdery surface. “Yeah, but I bet you’ll miss the joys of pseudo-meat and greenhouse fruit.”
“Pseudo-meat and greenhouse fruit?” Durant laughed. “ Ouais, c’est ça .” We bounced along for a time and then he spoke. “Seriously, wouldn’t you rather be back on Earth. Tahiti maybe? I hear the natives still parade around topless. That would have to be better than this wasteland where every space-suited woman looks like a two-hundred pound gorilla, wouldn’t it?”
I thought it over a moment and made no reply.
Ralph Crocker
Bravery and stupidity are the nearly identical points forming the horns of a dilemma upon which many a man has been impaled. But, for once in my life, I looked very brave, even felt very brave, as I dashed toward the cry of Alice’s voice.
So, a heavy dose of stupidity propelling me toward my fate, with shimmering Vorpal sword in hand, I hurtled down the winding trail in pursuit of the Jabberwocky. It took thirty seconds of armor clanking to reach a ledge overlooking a wooded clearing where, on the grassy meadow below, Alice stood, cornered by the beast. Behind her was a second cliff overlooking the ocean, waves crashing far below her. The Jabberwocky blocked any avenue of escape she might have had, standing on its hind legs with its ridged back toward me, its tail flicking back and forth like a cat, as it waited to pounce on a mouse. The creature swayed back and forth, playing with its victim, laughing as Alice emptied her revolver harmlessly into the its rough hide.
I suppose that would have been the end of Alice, had I not noisily clinked and clanked down the winding path, raising a din like a fork churned a garbage disposal. By the time I reached the clearing, the beast had turned its attention to the mass of plate and bolts chugging toward it. As it whirled about to face me, its massive tail swept through the air, narrowly missing Alice who stepped back, placing herself dangerously close to the edge of the abyss, as she dodged the scaled appendage.
Sunlight glinted off the Jabberwocky’s right eye; its other eye missing, a dark, empty socket where once an orb had been. I realized then that the monster must be Huntington.
“So we meet again,” the creature snarled, confirming my suspicion. “You may wish you hadn’t been so quick to follow me into this SupeR-G.”
“I would be the first to admit I am having second thoughts. Maybe you could return me to Vietnam.”
The creature laughed a horrid, bubbling, rumbling gargle of a chuckle before speaking. “I hope you’ve brushed up on your swordsmanship — the last White Knight I fought wasn’t much of a challenge — though he proved a tasty morsel. You look a little stringy.”
I said nothing, trying to decide if there was enough room between us to permit a hasty retreat back into the brush before he caught me. By my calculations there was not; I’d be a White Knight sandwich before I could make my escape. So I decided to at least go down with my pride intact, sword in hand, fighting.
The Jabberwocky circled me cautiously, making me hopeful that perhaps the sword I held really was a potent weapon. Without warning he sprang forward, the ground shaking underfoot as he crashed nearly on top of me, raking my side with his claws as I dodged, ineffectively slashing the air with my sword.
I backed away as the creature lumbered around for another attack. Glancing down, I saw that his claws had penetrated my armor, ripping my clothing underneath and grazing my skin with jagged scratches that already throbbed and bled profusely, despite their superficiality.
But all was not lost. With a smidgen of hope welling up inside me, I noted that my sword had struck him
I laughed as I hopped over a boulder that blocked my path, waiting to speak until I regained my footing on the powdery surface. “Yeah, but I bet you’ll miss the joys of pseudo-meat and greenhouse fruit.”
“Pseudo-meat and greenhouse fruit?” Durant laughed. “ Ouais, c’est ça .” We bounced along for a time and then he spoke. “Seriously, wouldn’t you rather be back on Earth. Tahiti maybe? I hear the natives still parade around topless. That would have to be better than this wasteland where every space-suited woman looks like a two-hundred pound gorilla, wouldn’t it?”
I thought it over a moment and made no reply.
Ralph Crocker
Bravery and stupidity are the nearly identical points forming the horns of a dilemma upon which many a man has been impaled. But, for once in my life, I looked very brave, even felt very brave, as I dashed toward the cry of Alice’s voice.
So, a heavy dose of stupidity propelling me toward my fate, with shimmering Vorpal sword in hand, I hurtled down the winding trail in pursuit of the Jabberwocky. It took thirty seconds of armor clanking to reach a ledge overlooking a wooded clearing where, on the grassy meadow below, Alice stood, cornered by the beast. Behind her was a second cliff overlooking the ocean, waves crashing far below her. The Jabberwocky blocked any avenue of escape she might have had, standing on its hind legs with its ridged back toward me, its tail flicking back and forth like a cat, as it waited to pounce on a mouse. The creature swayed back and forth, playing with its victim, laughing as Alice emptied her revolver harmlessly into the its rough hide.
I suppose that would have been the end of Alice, had I not noisily clinked and clanked down the winding path, raising a din like a fork churned a garbage disposal. By the time I reached the clearing, the beast had turned its attention to the mass of plate and bolts chugging toward it. As it whirled about to face me, its massive tail swept through the air, narrowly missing Alice who stepped back, placing herself dangerously close to the edge of the abyss, as she dodged the scaled appendage.
Sunlight glinted off the Jabberwocky’s right eye; its other eye missing, a dark, empty socket where once an orb had been. I realized then that the monster must be Huntington.
“So we meet again,” the creature snarled, confirming my suspicion. “You may wish you hadn’t been so quick to follow me into this SupeR-G.”
“I would be the first to admit I am having second thoughts. Maybe you could return me to Vietnam.”
The creature laughed a horrid, bubbling, rumbling gargle of a chuckle before speaking. “I hope you’ve brushed up on your swordsmanship — the last White Knight I fought wasn’t much of a challenge — though he proved a tasty morsel. You look a little stringy.”
I said nothing, trying to decide if there was enough room between us to permit a hasty retreat back into the brush before he caught me. By my calculations there was not; I’d be a White Knight sandwich before I could make my escape. So I decided to at least go down with my pride intact, sword in hand, fighting.
The Jabberwocky circled me cautiously, making me hopeful that perhaps the sword I held really was a potent weapon. Without warning he sprang forward, the ground shaking underfoot as he crashed nearly on top of me, raking my side with his claws as I dodged, ineffectively slashing the air with my sword.
I backed away as the creature lumbered around for another attack. Glancing down, I saw that his claws had penetrated my armor, ripping my clothing underneath and grazing my skin with jagged scratches that already throbbed and bled profusely, despite their superficiality.
But all was not lost. With a smidgen of hope welling up inside me, I noted that my sword had struck him
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