Steven Campbell - Hard Luck Hank - Basketful of Crap

After an hour they were still on my block and I was pretty certain Cad had died of acute boredom. Either that or alcohol poisoning to combat said boredom.

I wanted to yell at them to hurry up but felt that wasn’t a good tactic since I was trying to tail them in secret.

After they moved a certain distance, I would go to the next house and sit on the stairs just like I had before. Then wait. There were all kinds of things I was thinking about. When would my boots be done? Should I go back to my apartment and get some food? What would Gandrine slow dancing look like?

After two blocks, I decided to go back to my place, get a thermos of coffee, some pillows, and some rations to eat. I could use the bathrooms of the apartments we “walked” past.

I caught up to them easily, made myself comfortable and had some coffee. I figure I could time how fast they were going and maybe get a little sleep. There was absolutely nothing for at least ten blocks in any direction and I could probably sleep a few hours relatively safely.

However, I decided to maintain my vigil, because knowing my luck as soon as I dozed off they would go sprinting down the street doing backflips.

I had just repositioned myself at the next house when I heard the roar of an engine.

I ducked into the doorway and saw a heavy lifter pull around the corner. It was a tracked one used to haul Belvaille’s larger machinery. Monolithically slow, it was still orders of magnitude faster than a Gandrine.

I figured I could keep pace with the vehicle if it was going to pick them up and drive them.

They indeed stepped onto the platform and the heavy lifter raised them off the ground. It then turned and continued the journey up the street, its treads squeaking and grinding.

Leaving my pillows behind, I headed after them in hot pursuit.

It was not difficult to stay behind them, but after twenty blocks I began to get tired. We passed several train depots but the problem was I didn’t know where they were headed.

We were past the middle point of the city, headed south, and I was extremely tired. My body was just not designed for running. Or endurance. Or stalking prey.

As I puffed a full block behind the vehicle I wondered if I could simply hitch a ride. It was a huge transport. If I missed that ladder, or slipped off, I would get ground to a pulp underneath the treads. No amount of mutation would save me from that.

I decided to play it safe and keep limping after them.

We were deep in the southwest. There was nothing out here. Not that I knew.

The lifter was now four blocks away and getting further. I was slowing down. I could still see it, so I didn’t mind. And presumably the Gandrine would have to get off at some point and that would take some time.

I crossed an intersection and froze.

There were two machine gun emplacements with about twenty corporation soldiers and an APC sitting there!

They were a collection of all the corporate emblems I had ever seen and some I had not. They were not even pretending to be unique entities anymore.

But as Garm had told me, they didn’t care about my presence.

I gave a small wave, waiting for a response. They didn’t even turn their heads.

I warily crossed the street, wondering what I would do if they attacked, since I hadn’t bothered to bring my autocannon.

When I was safely across and out of view, I hurried after the Gandrine.

I passed numerous more soldiers and vehicles, including what Delovoa had called a fighting vehicle.

Finally I saw the lifter was getting closer. I sped up as best I could, but I was truly exhausted. I’m glad no one witnessed that I was slower than a heavy lifter.

When I got within a few blocks I saw the Gandrine had stepped off. I also saw an enormous set of machinery in the distance.

Belvaille had a lot of big equipment on it. Stuff at the port. The telescopes. The latticework. But nothing of this size was in the southwest. This was all residential area, uninhabited for the most part.

There were twin pylons that were so tall I couldn’t tell how far from the latticework they reached. They stretched hundreds of feet in the air, maybe a thousand. They were several blocks apart from each other.

The heavy lifter began to turn around and I hid in a building. It drove past and I took that opportunity to sneak up the street and get a closer look.

There were no soldiers here. No vehicles. Just a ton—or more like a lot of tons—of very complicated instruments and two Gandrine. The Gandrine seemed to be working the equipment.

Had they built all this? It seemed impossible. At Gandrine speed it would have taken a century. And no ladder could hoist them up that high to work on those pylons.

I stood there for an hour.

Then I sat there for three hours.

Then I was thinking I should just go up and ask what they’re doing.

ZHOOM!

My hair stood up and my eyes almost burnt out of their sockets! A huge light burst forth from down the block.

I felt a tremendous force pulling on me and grabbed hold of the building. I was being turned inside-out! I shielded my face as best I could while still maintaining my grip.

There was a terrific roar as if I was standing in the center of a tornado. The sound died abruptly and the light no longer burned.

I took a chance and turned to see what was happening.

It was Wallow!

A Therezian stepped through what was obviously a Portal. He was naked.

My eyes cleared a bit and I knew it wasn’t Wallow. Wallow always looked angry. And this one seemed to be somewhat bored by the process. It was another Therezian!

Belvaille had two Therezians on it!

Two out of a thousand available in the whole galaxy.

ZHOOM!

“Ack!” I said, not prepared to get blinded again.

I held on to the building and waited for it to pass. Was he going back? Did he just come through to say hello? Or maybe he realized what a lousy city this was and left.

When I looked again, I almost fainted.

Another Therezian had walked through!

But this one made Wallow look like a child. It was almost impossible to tell his height because I had no scale except buildings and he towered over them. I would guess he was somewhere shy of a hundred feet tall! Was that like the king of the Therezians?

How big were they?

The two of them walked down the street towards me but didn’t move much further.

The tall one bumped into a building with his foot and the building dented like it was cardboard.

Neither of them looked down, they kept their gaze at eye level. As if nothing of import could be less than thirty feet tall.

ZHOOM!

I held on for dear life again and when it passed there was yet another Therezian!

He was somewhere between the size of the first and second and looked equally disinterested in walking through space-time.

The pylons let out an enormous cloud of smoke or steam and they sizzled.

I had learned everything I cared to learn and got out of that area of the city as quickly as possible.

After five blocks I hopped a train and headed home.

As the train sped away I looked through the windows and could still see the awesome sight of the lumbering Therezians in the distance.

“Wow,” Delovoa said.

I stood with Garm and Delovoa on the roof of a building about fifteen blocks from the Portal. There were now five Therezians raised like monuments in the distance.

“So it’s the Gandrine doing it?” Garm asked.

“Yeah. But there’s no way they built the Portal. It’s huge.”

“I take it they’re the only ones who could survive being so close to it.”

“I almost got turned inside-out being down the street,” I said. “I wonder if they’re naked because their clothes are destroyed coming through.”