Yojimbo Sharp Teeth
Book 1
Ch 4 In the Dark of Night
Halfway there, Jen had to stop and get some sleep--so he stopped by a roadside house and walked up to the front gate. He spoke into the intercom on the gate. He quickly straightened his collar and ran his fingers through his hair. A women's voice came through the ‘com and asked, and asked, "What do you want?"
"I'm a weary traveler looking for a place to sleep. An area in your field would suffice." A camera turned from its normal position on the driveway and homed in on Jen. "I have money. Not much, but I can pay you for your troubles." The voice said, "What's your name?"
"Jen Gravel." The buzzer sounded and the gate opened. Jen walked in and down. Two men came out, each wearing a sidearm. One had out, at a ready position, a modified Blackhawk laser blaster and the other carried a regular factory blaster, holstered. One of the men walked up and asked, "What weaponry do you carry?"
"Well, I have this" he pulled out his rifle and held it out. "I also have a custom revolver on my side" With this, he put his hand down to take the gun out of his holster. The man in the back cocked his gun. Jen lifted his hands away from his seven shooter and turned to look at the man in front of him. "Left hand, please."
Jen took his left hand and slowly put it towards his gun, took it out and handed it to him. The man examined the gun.
"It’s like a flintlock but has seven chambers…where did you get this?"
"I got it from my godfather." The man handed it back to Jen. "I also have a sword."
"What's that?" He interrupted. The man pointed to the box that his father gave him. Jen picked up the box and opened it. The man looked inside. Jen took out a little gold leaf covered pellet with
a chop that read T.G.
with the sign of the triple moon engraved into it. The man recognized it. "This is a local med right?" Endoforal right?" he walked back to his mate and handed it to him for inspection. "Yup its Endoforal." He handed back "Well, the salesmen's pack confirms who you are."
"Well, you know who I am, but I'd like to who I'm speaking to?"
"I'm James and this kid behind me is Randy. You are free to come in and join us for supper." The man in the back put his gun back in his holster. He started to go back inside the house. Jen walked his speeder into the courtyard to put it by the garage then walked in the house.
After a good dinner, the family sat around and talked. The family consisted of three brothers- James, and Randy and one baby Niki who assured Jen that he was five and a half--not five, not six--but five and a half.
There were two identical twin sisters, Kala and Selena. Jen and the twins stayed up for a while talking about local gossip and whatnot. Jen found out that they may be the same age but they definitely thought different thoughts. Their interests were not even close.
Jen got a good night’s sleep. He awoke refreshed and rejuvenated. After a good breakfast, James asked Jen for a shooting match before he left. Jen happily accepted. Jen thought that this would be a good opportunity to break in the pistol at his side. He had no reason to use it back home. The gun was constructed as a pump action gun, like a BB gun. The difference was that this gun used bullets and all you needed is to take a piece of metal or plastic, melt it and put it in a mold. You have a bullet as long as you have a material to make ammo. Air is what you use for propellant. When the air in the handle gets low you pump the bellows in the handle. He the snapped on the holster belt and set the gun in the holster, then walked out to the back field.
On a tree were two white targets. The two men walked out of the house, James brandishing a good-sized blaster pistol and Jen with his revolver. Jen and James took aim. The target was about thirty feet off. James shot thrice and hit the target between the red and the white. "Well, can you beat that?,” asked James.
Jen smiled. "What kind of shot do you think I am?" With this, he took aim. A pop issued from his air pistol. All three shots hit the red dot.
James smiled and said, "Damn! Where did you learn to shoot like that?"
"Well, I had a lot of time to practice--I had to keep watch over the chickens. That year we had a big problem with vulture stoats… so you get the picture. I also learned to not trust the sight on my rifle, so I learned to aim by eye. At first it didn't improve my shot, but over time I got better."
"Say, I'll try that." James then took and fired using the method Jen suggested. The shot went to the middle of the target.
"Not bad, but I think that you were just playing when you missed those three first shots", said Jen.
"Maybe just a little bit", said James.
"I'd better be on my way. Thank you for your hospitality."
"Jen, I hope to see you again." Jen got on to his speeder and rode out.
It was a long ride. Jen thought, "It's amazing how tired doing nothing can make you."
Jen rode in to baile atha cliath--Dublin City. Whoever named this city sure wanted to have a little Ireland here. He stopped in the tavern side for some lunch. He went up to the bar and ordered a drink. They had what looked like a chimp/human on an upright piano who played like he had three hands. The song was I think called “The Drunkard Song'. You probably know it from somewhere. Jen had a superb rather thick turkey pub sandwich. Halfway through the sandwich and a rather exquisite pint -- in fact the best pint he had ever remembered having--Jen laid back in his chair and thought of his life. He thought of Moms, his biological mom Nissa…he had been living with Serrana, his foster mom, for the last ten years. The way Nissa left was that a little argument broke out between her and the people she was living with, so she left for another guy -- who didn't want children. After a month of bouncing around among family and friends, Serrana entered his life. She was quite a nice Moms, always fun. Serrana was an excellent robot maker except for J. Bot. Strangely neither Serrana nor Jen could fix him. Jen upgraded everything -- the memory, the logic circuits, the reusable memory, everything. Moms even had him wiped to see if that would help. Jen loved that robot, though. One of his earliest memories was being in J-bot's arms, as his quirky memory had, one day, inspired him to return to his maker, and that meant J-bot taking Jen with him.
Jenny. Man, he had fun with Jenny. She could be a brat a lot of the time but she was a good cook. She always was good in school, she loved astrogation--she would be a good ship pilot. Grams -- she was a daughter of one of the first settlers on Io-- great with electronics but whenever Jen asked for her to help fixing any electronics especially J.Bot she always said, "If you want your toy in good condition then learn the skills to fix it when it gets broken."
Jen thought about the times things that he had worked on building electronics with Grams. He once built a bio electronic hybrid core computer with Grams. After he was done building, it became a the household computer.
Dads was a mechanic. He liked to work on anything with gears. Whenever someone said, "Oh my God, how did you do this?" He replied, "Machines have workings and they tell me what's wrong and what's right." Jen was sorry to have lost his family. To be honest, it may have happened just a little sooner then he had expected.
Then Jen noticed two of the men sitting at the bar. Jen thought to himself, Something's familiar about them then he got it. They were the two men from the fire last night, but this time the two seemed to have a bunch of buddies with them. Jen sat watching them slowly eating his food. Jen was interested in what the two were doing there. More people came and left. The men were nursing their drinks and two women came in. One sat down at a booth near the back. The other woman went up to the bar to order drinks. Jen noticed that she slipped a piece of paper into the scarred mans coat pocket. She paid for the drinks. She then slipped back to her table.
The man casually put a hand into his pocket and carefully pulled the folded up piece of paper out, glanced at it then slipped it over to his tattooed companion who read it, growled and slipped it back to the scarred man. He put it back in his pocket, paid for his drinks and left his whole group behind him. Jen finished his food then asked the barkeep, "Who were those guys?" The bartender paused wiping the table and said, "He's…h'mmm, I've never seen him in my life. Why?" Jen replied, "No reason, just wondering."
Jen paid for his food and left for the local store for provisions. He picked up some vulture-stoat meet plus seasonings and anything else he might need for the next week. He sold one-tenth of his pills…the store owner drove a hard bargain, but in the end they both left happy (he sold it at two- thirds the market price). He got hard cash, not those paper slips. The slips could go down in value. He disliked Empire currency--he liked hard gold and silver coins. For the rest of the day, he toured the town and he stopped by a small roadside stand. The women behind the stand was selling homemade food. He bought a pound of fudge and put most of it in his pack.
It was getting late. He might as well move along and try to sleep at a house along the road. Jen didn't like cities--too much metal or stone marble. baile atha cliath may not have been a mammoth city, but they were often to bright for Jen to sleep in. If you found a place before it was dark,
you would have wardens to deal with.
Later, when the sun was falling in the west, Jen stopped by the roadside and started a fire. He pulled out his sleeping bag and threw some vulturestoat in a heating pan. As it cooked, he cleaned and loaded his rifle. Soon, the meat was ready. Jen took the small knife from the hilt of his sword and started to eat…but he heard a twig snap behind him. He swiped his leg out behind him an tripped someone. He leapt for his pack and grabbed the air pistol in a blink of en eye. He was up on his feet, gun in hand. He aimed it at the man behind him--practically up his nose. It was the man with the tattooed face.
“What do you want with me?” Jen said through clenched teeth.
"You know very well you are one of those gorram Empires trying to frame us for the killing of innocent people!"
"what, I have no elegance to empire"
Jen said
The man replied "Your lies will not save you, I'm not a…" In the reflection of his eye,
he saw quick movement and danged the butt of a rifle that came toward his head
clipped his shoulder and the next hit him right in the face. The sun went nova.
Book 1
Ch 4 In the Dark of Night
Halfway there, Jen had to stop and get some sleep--so he stopped by a roadside house and walked up to the front gate. He spoke into the intercom on the gate. He quickly straightened his collar and ran his fingers through his hair. A women's voice came through the ‘com and asked, and asked, "What do you want?"
"I'm a weary traveler looking for a place to sleep. An area in your field would suffice." A camera turned from its normal position on the driveway and homed in on Jen. "I have money. Not much, but I can pay you for your troubles." The voice said, "What's your name?"
"Jen Gravel." The buzzer sounded and the gate opened. Jen walked in and down. Two men came out, each wearing a sidearm. One had out, at a ready position, a modified Blackhawk laser blaster and the other carried a regular factory blaster, holstered. One of the men walked up and asked, "What weaponry do you carry?"
"Well, I have this" he pulled out his rifle and held it out. "I also have a custom revolver on my side" With this, he put his hand down to take the gun out of his holster. The man in the back cocked his gun. Jen lifted his hands away from his seven shooter and turned to look at the man in front of him. "Left hand, please."
Jen took his left hand and slowly put it towards his gun, took it out and handed it to him. The man examined the gun.
"It’s like a flintlock but has seven chambers…where did you get this?"
"I got it from my godfather." The man handed it back to Jen. "I also have a sword."
"What's that?" He interrupted. The man pointed to the box that his father gave him. Jen picked up the box and opened it. The man looked inside. Jen took out a little gold leaf covered pellet with
a chop that read T.G.
with the sign of the triple moon engraved into it. The man recognized it. "This is a local med right?" Endoforal right?" he walked back to his mate and handed it to him for inspection. "Yup its Endoforal." He handed back "Well, the salesmen's pack confirms who you are."
"Well, you know who I am, but I'd like to who I'm speaking to?"
"I'm James and this kid behind me is Randy. You are free to come in and join us for supper." The man in the back put his gun back in his holster. He started to go back inside the house. Jen walked his speeder into the courtyard to put it by the garage then walked in the house.
After a good dinner, the family sat around and talked. The family consisted of three brothers- James, and Randy and one baby Niki who assured Jen that he was five and a half--not five, not six--but five and a half.
There were two identical twin sisters, Kala and Selena. Jen and the twins stayed up for a while talking about local gossip and whatnot. Jen found out that they may be the same age but they definitely thought different thoughts. Their interests were not even close.
Jen got a good night’s sleep. He awoke refreshed and rejuvenated. After a good breakfast, James asked Jen for a shooting match before he left. Jen happily accepted. Jen thought that this would be a good opportunity to break in the pistol at his side. He had no reason to use it back home. The gun was constructed as a pump action gun, like a BB gun. The difference was that this gun used bullets and all you needed is to take a piece of metal or plastic, melt it and put it in a mold. You have a bullet as long as you have a material to make ammo. Air is what you use for propellant. When the air in the handle gets low you pump the bellows in the handle. He the snapped on the holster belt and set the gun in the holster, then walked out to the back field.
On a tree were two white targets. The two men walked out of the house, James brandishing a good-sized blaster pistol and Jen with his revolver. Jen and James took aim. The target was about thirty feet off. James shot thrice and hit the target between the red and the white. "Well, can you beat that?,” asked James.
Jen smiled. "What kind of shot do you think I am?" With this, he took aim. A pop issued from his air pistol. All three shots hit the red dot.
James smiled and said, "Damn! Where did you learn to shoot like that?"
"Well, I had a lot of time to practice--I had to keep watch over the chickens. That year we had a big problem with vulture stoats… so you get the picture. I also learned to not trust the sight on my rifle, so I learned to aim by eye. At first it didn't improve my shot, but over time I got better."
"Say, I'll try that." James then took and fired using the method Jen suggested. The shot went to the middle of the target.
"Not bad, but I think that you were just playing when you missed those three first shots", said Jen.
"Maybe just a little bit", said James.
"I'd better be on my way. Thank you for your hospitality."
"Jen, I hope to see you again." Jen got on to his speeder and rode out.
It was a long ride. Jen thought, "It's amazing how tired doing nothing can make you."
Jen rode in to baile atha cliath--Dublin City. Whoever named this city sure wanted to have a little Ireland here. He stopped in the tavern side for some lunch. He went up to the bar and ordered a drink. They had what looked like a chimp/human on an upright piano who played like he had three hands. The song was I think called “The Drunkard Song'. You probably know it from somewhere. Jen had a superb rather thick turkey pub sandwich. Halfway through the sandwich and a rather exquisite pint -- in fact the best pint he had ever remembered having--Jen laid back in his chair and thought of his life. He thought of Moms, his biological mom Nissa…he had been living with Serrana, his foster mom, for the last ten years. The way Nissa left was that a little argument broke out between her and the people she was living with, so she left for another guy -- who didn't want children. After a month of bouncing around among family and friends, Serrana entered his life. She was quite a nice Moms, always fun. Serrana was an excellent robot maker except for J. Bot. Strangely neither Serrana nor Jen could fix him. Jen upgraded everything -- the memory, the logic circuits, the reusable memory, everything. Moms even had him wiped to see if that would help. Jen loved that robot, though. One of his earliest memories was being in J-bot's arms, as his quirky memory had, one day, inspired him to return to his maker, and that meant J-bot taking Jen with him.
Jenny. Man, he had fun with Jenny. She could be a brat a lot of the time but she was a good cook. She always was good in school, she loved astrogation--she would be a good ship pilot. Grams -- she was a daughter of one of the first settlers on Io-- great with electronics but whenever Jen asked for her to help fixing any electronics especially J.Bot she always said, "If you want your toy in good condition then learn the skills to fix it when it gets broken."
Jen thought about the times things that he had worked on building electronics with Grams. He once built a bio electronic hybrid core computer with Grams. After he was done building, it became a the household computer.
Dads was a mechanic. He liked to work on anything with gears. Whenever someone said, "Oh my God, how did you do this?" He replied, "Machines have workings and they tell me what's wrong and what's right." Jen was sorry to have lost his family. To be honest, it may have happened just a little sooner then he had expected.
Then Jen noticed two of the men sitting at the bar. Jen thought to himself, Something's familiar about them then he got it. They were the two men from the fire last night, but this time the two seemed to have a bunch of buddies with them. Jen sat watching them slowly eating his food. Jen was interested in what the two were doing there. More people came and left. The men were nursing their drinks and two women came in. One sat down at a booth near the back. The other woman went up to the bar to order drinks. Jen noticed that she slipped a piece of paper into the scarred mans coat pocket. She paid for the drinks. She then slipped back to her table.
The man casually put a hand into his pocket and carefully pulled the folded up piece of paper out, glanced at it then slipped it over to his tattooed companion who read it, growled and slipped it back to the scarred man. He put it back in his pocket, paid for his drinks and left his whole group behind him. Jen finished his food then asked the barkeep, "Who were those guys?" The bartender paused wiping the table and said, "He's…h'mmm, I've never seen him in my life. Why?" Jen replied, "No reason, just wondering."
Jen paid for his food and left for the local store for provisions. He picked up some vulture-stoat meet plus seasonings and anything else he might need for the next week. He sold one-tenth of his pills…the store owner drove a hard bargain, but in the end they both left happy (he sold it at two- thirds the market price). He got hard cash, not those paper slips. The slips could go down in value. He disliked Empire currency--he liked hard gold and silver coins. For the rest of the day, he toured the town and he stopped by a small roadside stand. The women behind the stand was selling homemade food. He bought a pound of fudge and put most of it in his pack.
It was getting late. He might as well move along and try to sleep at a house along the road. Jen didn't like cities--too much metal or stone marble. baile atha cliath may not have been a mammoth city, but they were often to bright for Jen to sleep in. If you found a place before it was dark,
you would have wardens to deal with.
Later, when the sun was falling in the west, Jen stopped by the roadside and started a fire. He pulled out his sleeping bag and threw some vulturestoat in a heating pan. As it cooked, he cleaned and loaded his rifle. Soon, the meat was ready. Jen took the small knife from the hilt of his sword and started to eat…but he heard a twig snap behind him. He swiped his leg out behind him an tripped someone. He leapt for his pack and grabbed the air pistol in a blink of en eye. He was up on his feet, gun in hand. He aimed it at the man behind him--practically up his nose. It was the man with the tattooed face.
“What do you want with me?” Jen said through clenched teeth.
"You know very well you are one of those gorram Empires trying to frame us for the killing of innocent people!"
"what, I have no elegance to empire"
Jen said
The man replied "Your lies will not save you, I'm not a…" In the reflection of his eye,
he saw quick movement and danged the butt of a rifle that came toward his head
clipped his shoulder and the next hit him right in the face. The sun went nova.
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