to its belly punches into you and sucks all the fluids out of you. Rewards, bounties, and local hunters had not worked, only the hunters had died. A ghoul hunter team had also failed and no others would come.
This tic was a clipper. It would clip the hands and feet off all the humans in an area except the one it was going to use for a meal. It had only used a few dozen miners for food, but literally hundreds had their hands and feet cut off. Soldiers had been sent in with ceramic weapons. They were no match for the tic. The ones that made it out before they bled to death had their hands and feet re-grown, but even under the threat of a firing squad would not go back in.
The tic had shut down the main mine and there was no easy way to mine that vein through another route. The other mines combined didn't produce a tenth of the fuel the Falcus fleet needed. The main mine had to be reopened and soon.
I knew I had made a major mistake as soon as we landed on Serifin. I was no ghoul hunter. I wasn't even sure what had happened the first two times, and had no clue if it would happen again. I wondered what my Uncle would do with all the money I had already earned. He was my only heir.
Trying not to wonder what it would be like to have something hold you while it slowly sucked the fluids out of you, I walked to the area of the mine where the tic had last been seen. There were hands and feet and the bodies of their former owners everywhere.
I turned to the high pitched squeal to see the huge, horrible thing was coming at me. The squeal was followed by a cackling laugh that filled me with terror. Fortunately the Ride began and the Ride didn't care.
As the tic ran at me The Ride ran at him and at the last moment as the tic grabbed for me The Ride ducked and shot my body between the gloride monster’s legs. As my body went through it grabbed at what passed for the tic’s ankles and using perfect leverage the tic fell on his face. The creature popped up almost as fast as my body did. As the tic grabbed for me again The Ride swiveled and the tic missed. My body punched the tic in the chest. This time I felt no crack, although I did feel the bone give way a bit. As the tic turned to try to grab me again The Ride moved so that the tic missed and was off balance. My body pushed the tic’s back then kicked at his leg so he went down. Before the tic could get up, my body managed to kick the tic’s head catching the point of the tic’s chin with the toe of my boot and kicking up. A second running kick to its throat crushed the tic's windpipe. It died gagging for one last breath. The Ride was over, I was in control again.
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Mankind had moved into space and spread through most of galaxy. There were of course incredible strides in technology. Travel between stars was commonplace, communication across the galaxy was instantaneous, and man had become expert at remodeling planets in Earth's image. But the most life changing advance had come in the field of entertainment. A new way of recording reality was developed that was so realistic, so true to life, that comparing it with any other way of recording reality was like comparing an ancient black and white photograph with a Zarstron 3 D image. That is to say there was no comparison at all. The only problem was that there was no way of altering these recordings to appear to be anything other than what they really were. You couldn't add or remove information or even stop and restart the recording without it being painfully obvious. Recordings became accepted as accurate depictions of real events because there was no way to fake them.
CHAPTER 2
AND THE HOUSE WINE
◊The Falcus government deposited the money in my account on the planet Market. By any standards I was now a wealthy man. I almost certainly had more money than my Uncle and if I didn’t I was very close. On the transport back to Nimbus I couldn’t stop looking at the readout of my account on Market. I would never have to work again.
After arriving at the Nimbus mine I stopped in to see the Mine Manager. He congratulated me and asked when I would be ready to resume my job as an atmosphere technician. We both had a good laugh and he congratulated me again. I cleaned out my bunk and bought passage on a star transport that would eventually get me back to the planet Udell.
As I had several hours to kill before departure, I went to the lounge bar to get a bottle of wine, the better to sit and consider the possibilities. The place was empty. Everyone was working double shifts to make up the production lost to the croc infestation.
The bar was out of my favorite wine. I had finished the last bottles they had in stock and they weren’t going to be buying any more. The wine was pricey and I was the only person who bought the wine on a regular basis. The bar had decided not to buy the two cases it had ordered and if I hurried I might catch the Barrillean merchant who sold the wine to the bar. The bartender felt certain the Barrillean would sell the wine to me. The merchant’s name was Merritt and I should tell him to sell the wine to me at the bar’s price.
I had never actually met a Barrillean merchant before. I had seen my Uncle haggling with an occasional Barrillean when he would buy luxury items for his guests. My Uncle never said he felt cheated. He did say he never felt he had ever paid a Barrillean merchant one penny less than the Barrillean had intended to be paid. When the negotiations were over my Uncle was always exhausted and the Barrillean was always refreshed.
Barrilleans have heads, hands, and feet that are significantly larger than humans. They have arms, legs, and torsos that are somewhat smaller than humans. Barrilleans always seem to be having fun. They see the universe as a wonderful place to enjoy the pleasures of life. The very best of these pleasures is doing business. Sex is a close second.
Merritt was singing merrily in his own language and stopping occasionally to give instruction, in flawless standard, to workmen carrying boxes out of his ship. As each box was carried out Merritt entered a payment code in his journal. I said his name and Merritt turned to look at me with a huge smile on his face.
“You must be the young man the bartender called to tell me about. The wine is piled over there. Do you have a payment code or would you like to bargain first? You might get a better price. I am going back to the planet Cocuru for more of the same wine and I have no buyer for these two cases. I would have to haul the wine there and back.”
I handed Merritt the payment code. “I believe the price you ask is fair. This wine is not easy to come by.”
“It will soon be impossible,” said Merritt. “The winery is up for sale and I believe the new owners will plant a different variety of grapes.”
I really loved that wine and my newly fattened bank account was calling. “How much would it cost?” I asked him.
“I am sorry good sir. That last batch of wine is bought and paid for. You would have to negotiate with those who bought the wine, after it is delivered,” Merritt told me.
“No, I meant how much would cost to buy the winery, after your commission of course?”
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Merritt liked this young human. He was able to kill gloride monsters with his bare hands. It was a talent that could be in great demand. More than that, Merritt felt this young human could be trusted and that he would be good for business. “Come with me to Cocuru as my guest. I will show you the estate and you can talk to Mr. Petterton.”
◊The trip was spent mostly sampling Merritt’s alcoholic wares and discussing the more pleasurable aspects of Barrillean females versus human ones. Merritt also schooled me on the joys of buying and selling. I was actually looking forward to negotiating a price with the wineries owner.
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