Steven Campbell - Hard Luck Hank - Screw the Galaxy

“But you don’t need to introduce yourself, we are all aware of your exploits for the Colmarian Confederation,” he said, smiling.

I just couldn’t get over that sword. I mean, what was the purpose? There was almost no greater indication this man wasn’t a real combatant than carrying an ancient weapon. I wonder if it works as some kind of reverse status, where the higher the rank, the lower the technology. So the super-duper-high overlord of the Navy would carry a stick or a clump of dirt.

“It says you’re a pipe refitter,” General Mush’tathina said with his ugly mouth. “What does that entail?”

I scratched my ear.

“Pipes. Fitting them together and stuff,” I said with no authority.

“You fought two Dredel Led. How did you defeat them?” Wardian Jonathe asked. He was pleasant, curious, but I could tell he didn’t get fifty pounds of medals on his chest being a sap.

“I…just shot them.”

“With what? You’ll excuse me, but as Consular Exar of the Southern States and Wardian of the 3 rdNavy, the safety of my citizens is of paramount concern. I need to know what weapon to use if they should return.”

I reached into my jacket and took out my shotgun.

The General quickly took it from me. He moved far faster than his age would indicate.

“It’s a shotgun,” he said dismissively to the Wardian.

“Wow, you ARE a general,” I said.

He didn’t hand it back.

“So you’re saying that gun was used to kill the Dredel Led? The one lying in many pieces at citizen Delovoa’s residence?” The Wardian’s voice was still kind. He had a manner of talking that put you at ease even though every instinct told you not to be. Or maybe that was my brain still reeling from Wallow’s blow.

“Things happened so fast…,” I trailed off.

“The report is that you tracked the robot down over days,” he interrupted calmly.

“Yeah, but after that it was fast.”

“Do you mind if I sit down?” he asked, walking to the kitchen instead of the scraps that used to be my couch. He sat and I realized that right on the table in front of him was a cube of multicolored metal, just looking for a comet to bash. Was he goading me? I did my best not to panic.

“And you’re a mutant, correct?”

“Yeah. Like a lot of people.”

“True, true. It’s our great gift. Do you happen to know what level you are?”

I wasn’t sure if he was trying to get me to indict Garm and her false list. I wasn’t sure about anything.

“I can’t remember how they label them. I’m like a four. Or ten. Or something.”

“I suspect that helped you in fighting them?” he asked.

“Suppose so.”

He then looked to his General.

“You know it’s a shame our mutations are all random. What we couldn’t do with more fellows like Hank, eh?”

The General looked more evil if anything.

“Of course, I heard tales,” the Wardian continued conversationally, “stories of mutations that are actually passed along genetic lines. Father-to-son-to-granddaughter. That sort of thing. Extremely rare. They call it ‘Bequested Variation.’ It’s not always beneficial, but I do recall a legend about one family long ago. A whole extended tribe fighting together on behalf of Colmarian freedom. The heroes of the Ontakian War so they say.”

With that he smiled at me and stood up, his foolish sword clanging against my chair.

“But I can see you’re tired. If you don’t mind, we’ll come back some other time and discuss things. The Dredel Led particularly.”

He shook my hand again, the General returned my shotgun, and the pair of them left.

I had bodyguards now, not of my choosing, but I had them nonetheless. Whenever I left my place two soldiers would walk along behind me. At first it was comical, but things were such a mess it became just one more sign that Belvaille was finished as a city.

The number of arrests was pretty incredible as well. You couldn’t be sure how many because there was no way for us to communicate with one another. If you talked openly about it near the military, and there was practically nowhere that was safe from them, you risked being whisked away yourself.

There was nothing to do on Belvaille anymore. I ate, talked to some people about inconsequential things, and went home and stared at the floor.

I managed to recruit Been-e to bring supplies to Delovoa since I couldn’t do it with the soldiers tailing me everywhere. I figured it was the least he could do after shooting me in the forehead. And he was an old-timer, he wouldn’t crack seeing the robot, and if there was anyone who could slip through the security nets it was him.

But I was an old-timer too. Belvaille was done, but where could I go? I’d have to start over in a completely new place, and that’s assuming they’d let me leave.

As I walked to the train I heard an explosion. I looked to the north and saw a giant fireball rising. The smoke and fire were quickly buffeted and sucked away by the city’s superstructure, but the blast must have been enormous.

My guards squeaked back and forth on their military coms and then took off running without so much as a good-bye to me.

And then to my surprise my tele turned on. I had nearly stopped carrying it after the Navy hacked them.

I saw Rendrae’s obscured face on a broadcast message. He had on a face mask, but his fat lips were unmistakable.

“The revolution has begun,” he yelled. “Long live Belvaille!”

Odd.

On the train the soldiers passed a lot more messages back and forth and seemed to be on their toes. I turned on my tele and called Garm. She had an auto-response saying she had been removed from office and had gone underground. She was working with the resistance.

A guard walked up to me.

“Put that away,” he said, indicating my tele.

“Screw you, I’m friends with the Wardian,” I answered as I began calling more people. What were they going to do, arrest me? Shoot me? I wasn’t worried about it. At least it would be a change from the monotony.

Then I heard some gunfire and explosions. I looked out the train window and saw one of the street bunkers being attacked. It was a whole battle in the road between soldiers and what looked to be well-armed citizens.

Were they really doing this? Were the criminals of Belvaille trying to start a war with tens of thousands of occupying soldiers? It seemed like the height of insanity. They could just ram the station with those battlecruisers and kill every one of us. I left a message for Garm and Rendrae and a number of bosses. I also contacted Delovoa and asked if there was anything special he needed.

He contacted me back right away, as he had nothing better to do than sit there playing with his broken tele. He gave me a list of some unusual industrial items, which would have been tricky to acquire before martial law and were probably impossible now. They weren’t weapons or anything, but I just couldn’t see the military letting me drag that stuff around.

But with my escort finally gone, I figured I could give it a try.

Soldiers were tense and kept trying to stop me, but I had all my papers and they relented. Probably figured they had enough trouble with the revolt without picking fights with people just walking around.

You could hear attacks springing up across the city, but I didn’t see any more personally.

My tele was going absolutely haywire with all kinds of codes coming in. I figured it was either secret instructions for the revolution or the Navy trying to scramble our systems again.

Then I got a brainstorm to go to Delovoa’s place to try and find his gear. Not his new home but his old one. It was a lab and manufacturing plant after all. I just had to hope they had taken the Dredel Led scrap and left everything else intact.