Jerry Chapter 2 Jerry froze, space-gauntleted hand still on the hatch lever. Debris, he thought. If the gravity is out, pieces of drifting debris could have impacted on the other side of the hatch, making it sound as though someone knocked. The knocking came...
Jerry by Garon Whited Jerry woke with a headache, a nosebleed, and a terrible whistling in his ears. Against his better judgment, he opened his eyes. The turret was a mess. Red light pulsed everywhere from the emergency circuit. Several pieces of...
Lights by Garon Whited “He’s been here.” “How can you tell?” “I can feel it.” “Feel it. Hmph. At least I smell things. You just feel them.” A cold wind blew past the travelers, rippling their garments. Dust swirled around high, black boots—black under the...
Witch Hunting by Garon Whited The rain pattered on the roof. Wind whistled in the eaves. Occasionally, a branch on the north side slapped against a shutter with a clattering noise. The smoke from the chimney whipped away in vortices, scattering...
Mary’s Log by Garon Whited “Diogenes?” “Yes, Dean of Knives?” “Save that for when Eric is around, will you? Call me ‘Mary,’ please.” “Preferences updated, Mary. What can I do for you?” “Can I open a private file?” “Certainly.” “I mean, a private file Eric doesn’t...
No Angel by Garon Whited “This is Adam-Charlie-Three requesting backup at—” “Don’t do it, kid. This sort—” “—Sixteen-Eighteen Willow Street, Longbranch Apartments. Suspect—” “—of thing isn’t—” “—armed, with hostages!” “—going to end well for him.” “Sarge!” declared...
The woman fell when pushed, her hands outthrust to take the brunt of the impact with the flagstones. She raised her head and tossed black hair back from her face to glare at the man atop the dais. “You’re making a terrible mistake.” The man smiled, mirthlessly. One...
He was a young man, I thought. I didn’t even shave, at the time, but I still thought he was young. Rich, too, with fancy armor and a fancy sword and fancy cloak and the biggest horse I’d ever seen. I didn’t think much of him the first time I saw him. Maybe because...
[Between Knightfall and VOID] One of the problems using inter-universal gateways to scavenge resources is finding the resources. Never expected to hear that, did you? So, here’s the deal. Diogenes opens up small gateways, sticks a long, thin rod through. A bunch of...
I ignored the loudmouth. I’ve suffered worse than some schmo yelling at a movie theater screen. I felt sure he would quiet down once the picture actually started. Down front, however, someone else wasn’t quite so tolerant. The theater didn’t have handicapped...
Halloween is my favorite time of the year. The nights are cooler and longer, for one thing. Bugs have mostly packed it in for the winter. Leaves are changing color if they haven’t gone all autumnal already. Best of all, I get to leave off the theater makeup, cut...
Eric spent Halloween eyeballing some would-be wizards at a Halloween party on one of the mundane Earth-worlds. Whatever happened to that? Well… I, on the other hand, simply stood by, watching and waiting as they worked themselves to exhaustion. I was more than a...
I remember when I was in the late October of 1956. One of them, anyway. I was staying in a quiet little neighborhood reminiscent of my old place, when I lived in the Ardent farmhouse. I was looking to sit quietly and think, maybe recapture a little of the...
The Debriefing Three figures stood in darkness, the points of a triangle, above the circle of light. The subject of their scrutiny looked up and spun slowly, regarding each in turn. She paused when one of the figures spoke, voice reverberating slightly in the...
Ants everywhere. The crawling little bastards bite and sting. I suspect they also have a type of ultrasonic communication—I think I can almost hear some sort of high-pitched tone. It’s more of a feeling around my inner ear, rather than something I can actually hear....
All the normal rules of chess apply, except where altered below. Pieces move the same ways, capturing pieces involves entering their square, and so on. Every piece should be represented by an individual combatant. When a piece attempts to move into the square of an...
