Chapter 5: Defenders of Gore

The Swing Tram was something else. Passenger cabins suspended on a long cable released from a docking port swung across the Canyon and clinked into a similar port on the other side. For a short moment I felt weightless then at the base of the swing several gee pressed down on me while the rock wall came rushing towards the capsule. The docking station was cleverly disguised behind a holo image of rock. People were screaming as loud speakers transmitted crashing sounds and even though I would never tell anyone, I think I screamed too at the first time.

The roller coaster ride was bolted right to the rock wall and then rushed with great speed towards the water of the river. A fore field created a tunnel at the very last moment, I rode the thing three times.

I was kicked out of an attraction called the Haunted Space station, after I knocked out a Ghost that actually was a floating actor in a glowing costume. Even though I told them I never seen such an attraction before and I really thought the apparition was attacking the woman before me. The ghost actor did accept my apologies after I paid him two thousand credits for his pain he suffered from the broken jaw. They did not call the authorities either, but asked me never to come back.

The Spider Bot ride I tried next went up and down the sheer rock walls of the canyon, strapped to the back of a six legged robot spider was quite unnerving. I was told there were no accidents in the last 100 years of that attraction and the robots were designed to do that and had safety features like directional Arti-grav that prevented a fall.

It all was fun but it would have been more fun with someone to share the thrills and then talk about them. Doing them alone was just not the same. I so wished I could do this with Elena or perhaps Gunnar or Ygral. I wondered where those two were at the moment. I still had plenty of time before I had to report at Arsenal, maybe I should call Yngve and visit him.

With this idea in my head I left the Amusement park and went to the main shopping area of the City which was called Dusk. I could not believe the size of the buildings or put my mind around that they all were occupied. That all those flyers and Taxis carried passengers. Yet according to a tour guide drone I had rented, Dusk was not even the biggest city on Twilight and all cities combined a mere Flicker Fish hatching compared to a full size Tri-Eight Tyranno to the real big cities of major planets. Maybe I should visit Pluribus and see it for myself. I could visit Egill and maybe even talk a little to Sif. I agreed with myself that was a good idea. With no real care or hurry, I strolled along a wide boulevard, and while doing that I observed all the many different life forms and tried to remember my lessons in Xeno Class and cursed my decision to skip the neural uploads at school and watching Captain Iron Hand virtus in the small school library that had a Virtu show viewer. I could identify only the most common species such as Klack, massive Botnaars, and Spindlar. I was amazed at the strange but very fast gait of a Quadi Ped seemingly doing it for exercise. One Shop’s advertisement sign caught my eye: “A. Vogt – Weapon Merchant”

I did send Mördaren home and I was a Neo Viking, and since I was unable to stay out of trouble maybe it would be a good idea to get me another sword or something. So I stepped in. Inside were rows of transparent cases and projected displays of every weapon imaginable. Spears, axes, swords, guns, beamers, rocket launchers and everything in between. A lighted sign over the main counter displayed an odd version of the Union Flag. It had red and white stripes, and a rectanglar blue field with little white stars. An artful written line of words below it read.” The right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Next to it a sign promising that all weapons in that section of the store were genuine Terran. Why this was a selling argument eluded me, but it seemed to impress a fish faced Ult talking to a Klack while looking at the weapon’s displayed. “Those monkey-boys from Earth sure know how to make fine weapons don’t they?”

The Klack responded. “Everything they touch becomes a weapon. I am sure this was at least part of the Queens consideration when she had us join the Union. It was of course a good one.”

The Ult laughed. “H’tkik you are a Terran. Weren’t you born there?”

“Why do you think I am in a Weapon store, old friend. Klack on he outside, Terran to the core.”

Whatever the Ult responded I didn’t hear because a bald headed bright blue skinned humanoid approached me and said. “Welcome to Vogt’s. Can I maybe help you to find something?”

“I am from Nilfeheim and we usually carry only swords. I am no expert on distance weapons.”

He checked his PDD. “We do have many GalNet customers on your world. We send Harpoon guns, swords and knives. We also carry a few Friesenheim spear gun models in our catalogue.” He kept on swiping the display of his PDD. “I just checked our data base. It shows Nilfeheim has no local restriction laws on any weapon class or type. I can fix you up with a Federal Class Three license in no time. Class three is the highest civilian class. Only a few civilians are permitted to own Mil Grade level IV or higher, like the Citizens from Green Hell for example. But mind you, there is a great selection for Class three.”

“Alright fix me up then.”

Ten minutes later my CITI had a new add on. Federal Weapons bearer License Class III. He then guided me to a Display case. “These are more advanced swords then the ones we ship to Nilfeheim.” He places one on the counter. “This is the pinnacle of sword technology. A Marine Corps Issue Chain sword. Three thousand molecular compacted, mono filament Ultronit teeth with a nano coating of Neutronium. Revolving around the blade extendable to 150 cm at five times the speed of sound. Each tooth vibrates at 25,000 cycles a second. No known material can withstand this baby, except for compacted Ultronit. It will cut a Nul in battle armor in half like cutting butter with a hot knife.”

I picked it up. It was heavy. He spread his hands. “Even an atomic thin layer of Neutronium is quite heavy.”

He handed me something that looked like a sword handle. No blade at all. “This, my Viking friend is a mono field sword. Activate it here and you see it generates a 180 cm long purple barely visible Para-Dim force field. It is technically only two- dimensional and slide right between the molecular bond of most materials and sever it. These force field swords are also able to cut most materials up to compacted Ultronit, and it is quite effective against a shielded person.”

He pointed behind him to the racks of swords and bladed weapons. “Of course we have low tech versions of every sword and bladed weapon known to the Union, for those you don’t need any license. How about guns?”

“As I said I am no expert in guns and I rather stick with something I know.”

“We have self-aiming weapons but you would need a Neuro connector for those. Beam Gloves and shoot fingers, laser eyes are all class VIII weapons. Meaning weapons must by law look like weapons and cannot be hidden in something else or made to look like something else, unless you have a Class VIII license.”

“I think I will take that chain sword. It sure looks awesome and if it is good for the marines it’s bound to be good for me.”

“Good choice. It comes with a twelve shot Nuc flamer. Do recommended to be used indoors.”

In its retracted state it was just underarm long and came with a matching leg holster. Feeling much more like a Viking again. I still needed to make up my mind where to go. Maybe there was a bus going somewhere interesting and in the general direction of Earth, Arsenal or maybe Pluribus.

Several of the Gun stores customers and sales persons had gone outside and I went too, to see what the sudden commotion all about. Outside and marching down the main street was group of about twenty men and women. All dressed in loose fitting sheet like robes. The robes where white and were stained with blood or red paint. The group looked unkempt and they carried simple home-made signs and banners. The signs displayed the same words and slogans the strange group was chanting: “Free Gore.”, “Stop killing the living planet.”, “Expel all corporations form Gore.”, “Fight for the rights of Gore.”

The protest group was trailed by four police men and an equal number of robots. Whatever the protest was about, the pedestrians and shoppers appeared either completely uninterested or annoyed by those protesters. The group that had stepped out of the gun store, the group I was more or less part off, voiced their opinion more vocal.

A Klack said. “Useless maggots. Gal Drifts the whole lot. They never worked in their life. You won’t find a single Klack among them.”

A blue faced Thauran agreed. “The Azure Emperor would never allow any of that scum on any of the Thauran worlds.”

A Saran woman, at least I was assuming the olive skinned beauty with shiny black hair and a very revealing dress shook her head. “They should arrest the whole lot and ship them to Free Space. If they don’t like it here why don’t they leave?”

The Thauran laughed. “BoCA offered these Gal Drifts a colony of their own a few years back, but a colony means work. They don’t like that and none of these Society parasites went.”

A gorgeous woman with long silvery hair wearing a skin tight velvet suit and high heeled boots added her opinion. “As much as I personally want to send them to Togar and make a profit for the Union. They are sentient and have the right to express their opinions. Freedom of speech is a fundamental right guaranteed to all sentient life. I dislike that filthy scum but I would die to defend their rights.”

I was quite impressed by that statement and she sounded just like Mr. Walthers, one of my basic school teachers. The protest group suddenly stopped and pelted everyone in sight with red plastic bags. A human blonde with a fanatical glare in her face tossed one in my direction. I was able to avoid it only partially, the thing burst, hitting my shoulder instead of my face and splattered me with a red stinking liquid. Only one substance I knew smelled that way, blood.

I really had to use all my self-control to reign in my impulse to tell her what I thought about this, but I would not get into more trouble. No not this time. The blood could be washed off and I had enough money to afford another night at the Crystal suite or somewhere else to take a bath and get my things cleaned. The Cops and robots already reacted. But then an open flier appeared and swiftly swooped down. In it several of the bed sheet wearing protesters and they were dropping football sized objects. The things exploded in bright white flashes. Instantly street lights all over went dark and the police robots collapsed. Several of the Gun store customers had drawn their weapons, but none seemed to work.

I turned to run inside the gun store for cover. No need for me to be involved in something I had no idea what it was all about. I rushed in and stared into a gun. Three men and a woman in blood stained sheets and hoods held guns. The bald headed Blue that served me was lying wounded on the floor and two others were quite dead. One was missing a head and the other had a fist size black hole where his heart was. A fourth Gun store employee had his hands raised.

The masked men were grabbing guns and weapons and putting them in Low grav carry bags. The gun pointing at me was held by a woman. Even the white sheet did not hide her female shape completely and there was red hair sticking out from underneath the white hood.

“Don’t be a hero. Stick your hand to the ceiling and you walk out alive.” I did and I wondered what the odds were to be the victim of a crime twice within two days, I was very proud of myself not to do what I wanted to do. I kept telling myself. Those were not my guns. The police was are already here and I would be on a space bus out of here, the first chance I got. One of the masked men looked out the window.

“The decoys aren’t doing too well. The Tech Stop bombs did their job, but there is more police now and they are shielded. I think they shot down our flier.”

The bald headed Blue did not look good. His left arm was a burned stump and he shivered, a clear sign of shock and he looked pleading at me for help. The girl covering me turned to look, that was my chance and I grabbed her wrist with the hand holding the blaster twisting her arm to her back with one move. Turning her around at the same time and in a very painful way. Forcing her like a shield before me. She yelped in pain and I took her gun with the other hand and pressed it in her back. The rest of her gang turned to face me. Aiming their weapons at me.

“Let her go, bastard and we let you get away alive.”

“Your mouthpiece will die first. I blast her to bits. I don’t know what gun this is but my finger is at the trigger and I am very nervous.”

“Hero, you don’t know who you are messing with.”

“A bunch of crocks dressed like idiots robbing a gun store, right?”

“Last chance Hero. Our cause is more important than her. I shoot right through her if I have to. We are the Gore Defenders and if you even care a little about Gore, you let us do our thing.”

“I have no clue who or what that is. Now quit talking and drop your guns.”

Just then an amplified voice said. “This is Twilight Police. Union Police is on its way to assist us. The store is surrounded. Surrender and we will guarantee a fair trial.”

The speaker of them yelled back. “A fair trial that ends at the gallows. There is no such thing as fairness when it comes to Union oppression. We have hostages and we carry Spore Bombs. We are not afraid to use them. Half the planet will be depopulated before you can stop it. We won’t wait till you had a chance to get the PSI Corps here or Union SWAT. Our demands are simple. Bring a Flier to the front door and have a D 12 FTL shuttle ready at the port. We will release the hostages then.”

I had aimed the gun between arm and the body of the girl. “Did you forget about me Loudmouth?”

I fired. The gun blast roasted like thunder, the bright discharge lit up the entire store for the fraction of a second and vaporized the gang members head. I fired again, even before the headless torso of the first one collapsed and another Gore Defender would never need a mask again. The remaining goons still hesitated to shoot and I roasted a third one. The woman I was holding however reacted and hammered the back of her head right into my nose. I was blinded by pain.

She screamed. “Shoot him Josh, now.”

I dropped to the floor as fast as I could. Something incredibly hot singed the top of my head and then my eye sight cleared enough. I pressed the trigger once again. Aiming a beam was easier than I thought. He had hesitated to fire because his first shot had also hit the woman, her robe was on fire and she tried to get out of it using only one arm. My shot hit the man where his neck met his torso. Police robots and officers burst in almost at the same moment. One of the robots fired at me and everything went dark.

When I regained consciousness, I cursed like a Nubhir skinner. “This is the second time I got paralyzed on this Loki cursed rotting Fangsnapper dung heap of a planet.”

I looked around as I sat up. I found myself on some sort of treatment bed in a medical clinic from the looks of it. At least a dozen police men, a news man complete with hover cam and a doctor were present. The doctor said. “Having those kind of burns it was a blessing the robot paralyzed you. I restored your scalp and replaced most of your ear. The hair grower injection will speed up the grow of your hair. You willhave your hair back in two or three weeks. We can implant or print you new hair right now, if you like.”

“My hair?”

A man in civilian clothing shouldered himself past the police men. “Your head was on fire. The robot put you in stasis and thus saved your life.”

What he said made me less angry and actually quite thankful towards that robot. “What now?”

“While you were in reconstructive surgery and in the Re-Gen tank during the last five days we checked on you, Mr. Olafson. It seems the Hero of Nilfeheim just became the Hero of Twilight. I am William Reynolds, Planet Governor and I am here to thank you.”

“For spoiling a Gun store robbery? A thank you card and a free subscription to a gun magazine would have been sufficient, Sir.”

“One of the Gore Defenders really had a Spore bomb on his body and he was fanatic enough to use it. We are still investigating how they got the hands on one or who supplied them with military issue Tech Stop spheres.”

“I have no idea who the Gore Defenders are and what a spore bomb is, but I got a Bus to catch, Sir. No offense to your moon, but I think I need to be on my way.”

“Mr. Olafson as I said we checked on you. You are, according to your planets representative on your way to Arsenal to apply at the Academy but that is not until the end of the year. You are traveling with Space Bus and you still have several months’ time. We would really like to thank you. The least we can do is offer you a luxury passage to anywhere you want to go.”

One of the police officers, a Spindlar if I was correct had lots of stripes on his uniform sleeves said. “The Gore Defenders are a small but fanatical terror group recruiting their members from Galactic Drifters. Their aim is to remove all colonists and companies from a planet called Gore II. That system and planet is only eighteen light years from here and since the planet is corporate owned and security is very tight, they bring their protests to other planets, unfortunately also to Twilight.”

A man with blue skin and coppery hair, in civilian attire but with the badge of the Union police projected as a shimmering golden display above his left chest said. “A spore bomb is of Terran and Saresii development that came out of the war spores used by the Piostla a few centuries ago. These devices release self-replicating genetically engineered spores eating anything organic. They do that very fast and only stops expanding and reproducing when there is no organic material left.

Activating one of these hellish devices would have killed every organic life form on the Twilight strip. Twilight has no First Response team to deal with such an attack, there was not enough time to evacuate or set up containment fields. The Union Fire Department had been alerted, and they can deal with such emergencies but the closest response team was nine days out.”

Mr. Reynolds took over and said. “You really did save millions of lives and our economy. Not to mention the live of one of the gun store owners. The Blue was only moments from being beyond all medical intervention.”

I grunted. “It was him that made me act. I am glad he survived.”

The Planet Governor said. “Why don’t you be our guest for two or three days? Give us a chance to show you that this world is much better than a Fangsnapper dung heap. Even then and you still be way too early at Arsenal Gate. I offer you a personal sight-seeing tour.”

“Heck why not.”

The Governor kept his word and I was treated like the most important guest of state and to be honest, while it was not exactly my cup of tea, it was actually quite cool. He took me on a white water rafting trip, which I enjoyed greatly. The we went Planet side and the beautiful Night Side Town. If things were complicated on Nilfeheim due to our oddball orbit, they were nothing compared to Twilight. What the Locals called the Night side was actually and in astronomical terms the Day site as it was exposed to the star Yutoo, every time it swung around the big gas planet. While the site turned to the planet was in the same sense of astronomical correctness, the Night side as it was never exposed to the light of the system’s sun. But since the gas planet was more a failed sun than a Jovian it radiated its own light and thus there was never any real night or darkness on the planet facing side. So locals called it despite all astronomic and scientific arguments, the Day Site.

At first his explanation made my head spin, but as we visited the star facing site, the local sun Yutoo was nothing more than a bright star in the sky and it did little to illuminate the stark and desolate waste land. Night Side Town reminded me of Isen Landsby. It was an ocean of many colored lights and illuminated signs and looked very festive and pretty as we approached it. There the major of the City and a declared friend of the Governor invited me to a restaurant, which was according to him the best sea food and fish restaurant in the entire quadrant. After dinner, I concluded that this was probably not too far from the truth. Of course Uncle Hogun’s was the best. They had no Nilfeheim fish on the menu, but something called Salmon and it was delicious.

On the third day we were to visit Day Site Town. According to the Governor, the best way to experience Day Side and to get to that city was by Dust Bouncer. The bouncer was a huge contraption of about fifty meters length. The machine was riding on eight enormous balloon tires. It had several cabins inside with beds and a small staffed kitchen. On its top was a panorama lounge with great view of the glaring desert.

Giga Ball the enormous gaseous planet occupied most of the sky and it was one of the most impressive sight I had seen so far. The Gas giant’s atmosphere was a kaleidoscope of swirling colors and two of the other big planet sized moons could clearly be seen as well. We sat in the comfortable panorama lounge while the vehicle was rolling through the desert.

He sipped at his drink and said. “The day side is much more dangerous and unforgiving than the night side. With enough warm clothing and a face mask you can survive outside on the night side for a while, but the day side is bombarded by radiation and heat. Weather has the same patterns all the time and for billions of years. Winds blow in the same direction due to the convection caused by the temperature differences and they do since this moon exists. Grinding and corroding whatever mountains this place once had into a powder fine dust, filling the valleys in between with it. There are oceans of this powdery dust out here. It is so fine that it almost behaves like a liquid, or a Newtonian liquid to be exact, it is so fine you can easily drown in it. Some of these dust lakes are several kilometers deep, that’s why these bouncers have these enormous wheels.

“Most of the traffic nowadays is by fliers, floaters and of course by the only very recently completed trans planet mover connection. But Dust Bouncers still make the four day trip from and to Day Side City, mostly just as we do, for leisure and sight-seeing.”

“And this dust, it is mined?” I asked.