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Stories from the Verse
A Dozen Verses
Chapter 20: Slade 257
Table of Contents
Previous chapter: Kondor 262
Trembling, Shella ran into the apartment. Slade was eating breakfast and she had said she was going to bring some up to Ystrang. Ystrang came pelting in behind her a couple seconds later. He had a weapon in his hand, and suddenly so did Slade. But when Ystrang spun to cover the front door of the apartment, and Shella hid behind the couch, Slade knew that his fears of being betrayed by Ystrang were foolish.
Outside, the lift operated. It operated again. Then again. Everyone waited. Slade popped his head out, and saw no one. He and Ystrang went to the roof, and saw burn marks on the roof. Looking nearby they found no shooter.
“What happened, Ystrang? Why is my wife terrified?”
“I was up here, in the car, Slade. She came out to bring me some food, and suddenly she startled. I think she saw someone in one of the trees.” He waved at the swamp trees which reached above the four story building in the swamp. “She said something I didn’t understand, and waved her hand, then yelled and ran. Laser fire missed her but continued chasing her. So I came out and fired in the general direction, just trying to scare them off, and she got to the lift, and went down, and then I did the same.”
“Someone landed on the roof, thought about coming down, and then decided that it would be suicidal to charge into a hallway with you and me waiting for them,” Slade speculated. Ystrang nodded. It seemed to fit the facts. “Then they left. O.K., Ystrang, I need two things. One, you stay here with Shella--no, I’m not letting you come with me. Two--hire about three more bodyguards, trustworthy, tough sorts.”
“All right, Slade. What are you going to do?”
“As soon as I finish comforting my wife, I’m going hunting.”
Slade and Ystrang came back down, and spent about half an hour getting what few details Shella had, and calming her down. He finished his breakfast, and by that time three more large Chombito were in residence. They were former heavy infantry for the emperor, now retired. They still maintained clearances to carry heavy weaponry, and wore minor power suits so any sniper or assassin who came to pay a visit would find his stay a very hot affair.
There is a behind-the-writings look at the thoughts, influences, and ideas of this chapter, along with eleven other sequential chapters of this novel, in mark Joseph "young" web log entry #525: Character Battles. Given a moment, this link should take you directly to the section relevant to this chapter. It may contain spoilers of upcoming chapters.
As to the old stories that have long been here:
