Slinger Book Two- Strange Bonds by Ben Lyle Bedard — Book Preview

7/27/2019 Slinger Book Two- Strange Bonds by Ben Lyle Bedard Book Preview

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SLINGER

BOOKTWO:STRANGE BONDS

BY BEN LYLE BEDARD

COVERART AND ILLUSTRATIONS BY DAN MADDEN

B L A Z E V O X [ B O O K S ]

Buffalo, New York


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Slinger Book Two: Strange Bondsby Ben Lyle Bedard Copyright 2013Published by BlazeVOX [books]

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproducedwithout the publishers written permission, except for briefquotations in reviews.

Printed in the United States of America

Cover Art and Illustrations by Dan MaddenInterior design and typesetting by Geoffrey Gatza

First EditionISBN: 978-1-60964-159-7Library of Congress Control Number: 2013947205

BlazeVOX [books]131 Euclid AveKenmore, NY 14217

[email protected]

p u b l i s h e r o f w e i r d l i t t l e b o o k s BlazeVOX [ books ]

blazevox.org


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CHAPTER ONE

There she is. Damodara. Golden planet of the Qing

Mei system. From a million or so miles out, she shines like

the eye of a cat at night, all a-glimmer with promise. She

seems like something you could slip into your pocket and feel

mighty good about holding to from time to time when life

dulls down. She sure is a sight to see. Especially for eyes

more accustomed to that brown blur that Earth turned into in

her old age. Or to the aching blackness of space that weighs

on a heart just to think on. That golden sphere, streaked with

white clouds, crossed by an elegant loop of ice at its waist,

seems like some bountiful harvest that all you got to do is

reach out and take hold on, and all your life will be just as

sweet as a spoonful of kulfi.

Course aint nothing what it seems to be. On the

edges of Damodara there glimmers a few thousand ships

belonging to the Rama Corporation, set as it as on the

domination and ownership of said planet whose strange

geologic history has made it a wealth of rare metals. The

Rama Corp is there a-massing for war, as is their wont. For it


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is true that the Rama Corporation by sheer power has

dominated a goodly portion of the galaxy from here back

Earth-ward, about half to be exact. They aint much

accustomed to being denied their whims, of which there sure

are a fair amount.

But being denied they are, and by the Gaozu. They sit

out there in the darkness striking now and again, determined

as they are to keep the Rama Corp from the metal mentioned

back a piece. To simplify matters, its easy to think that

whatever the Rama dont own, the Gaozu got. As you might

well imagine, especially if you are familiar with human beings,

this aint made for the most peaceful state of things. Both

Gaozu and Rama Corp argue that they own the golden planet

of Damodara and all the metals therein located. Hell, aint

that a bind?

This is why the night sky sparkles so about the planet

as these two set to brawling. Aint no use to fret on it or dwell

about the golden setting wherein these two groups of humans

set to killing each other. Its the way of human beings to

make a hell out of their paradises. You might sooner empty

the oceans with a teaspoon than change that nature, all right.

To hell with them Ramas and Gaozus then.

Let us swoop down to said planet. Down over the

plains where the drip mice scurry under the chub grass and

the chatter grass speaks in the breeze. Over the packs of

howlers and the herd of Neegoh, up by the glacier-fed river,


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all milky color, then smack dab to the mountains. There

through a whirling storm, the mountain passes seem a wild

and unforgiving place, cold as hell and getting colder. Snow

whirls against the rocky mountain side where grows nothing

but lichen-like creatures, microscopic beasts that learnt to

feed on not much more than rock and air. In the right light,

those beasts set to glowing. But aint no one concerned now

with them.

There was a sight too much pain to think.

So it was for the Kid who lay broken up on a ledge

having been tossed over the side of the icy cliff by the Slinger,

for reasons he imagined were reasonable. The Kid were a

lean one, owned a dusty blond head of hair, and under the

right circumstances, would put a light into a womans eye.

Now, though, broken as he were, upon the ledges of that

mountain, he werent so great to look upon, nor did he think

on such things. Truth was he werent sure what he was

thinking. He werent sure how long hed been there neither,

having woke up to a world of pain. What werent hurting

were freezing cold. He gave out a sob at first, thinking he was

dead, sure as shit. The freezing wind tussled his hair. Hell,

thought he, I aint ever thought Id die like this, out in the

cold, broken up bad in a storm. To be honest, the Kid never

thought much about how he would die to begin with. Didnt

seem likely. Even when he been shot and bleeding, he always

assumed hed make it, for he was that young and the power of


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life in him were strong enough to convince him that death

werent real the way he was. But now, laying there in the

cold, maybe with his back broken, the ledge of the cliff too far

up to climb to, the Kid came face to face with death. And it

werent a pretty face, not by far. In the eyes of that face saw

he eternity and his place in it werent exactly transparent.

What the hell would come of him when he closed his eyes for

the final time? He werent sure if hed just vanish from the

planet or become love itself, like the Crotuses thought. Or

maybe those Christians were right with their baby god and

hed end up in a heaven of childhood just dancing about and

drinking sweet drinks and sucking at candy and, well, fishing

too, he imagined. Or maybe the Hindus were right and hed

just end up coming back a snake or something. Though, the

Kid thought, on this planet, who knows what hed end up

being? Drip mouse? Mud puppy? Neegoh? Ice ghee?

Dizang, but there was no way to tell what death would bring

to him! The Kid werent no sinner, so he werent afraid of

hell. But when he thought of that, he saw in his memory,

bright-clear like it were happening again, his rifle leveling

steady against a man and the shot ringing out and the Laycroft

holding to his hip for a second before falling down. Then he

felt again the glory he felt at shooting that man. But now he

was plumb ashamed of that feeling. No one should be

shooting no one. It werent right. And he thought of that

man he shot and wondered if he died and if he did, did that


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hardly keep track of all the stupidity flowing through him

then. Damn it, he sobbed. Goddamn it, wept he. Mai

chod. Then he got to laughing looking up at that ledge on

cause of it being so far away and the stars seemed to shine like

that were funny. Laughing hurt quite a bit though so he

stopped that. Shit, he said. Shit. He breathed hard

through his clenched teeth, which made a hissing sound.

Then he grunted and put a hand to the wall and smiled

through those ivories of his cause he knew pulling would hurt

like hell. He pulled. He were right. It did hurt like hell. The

pain went through him first like a shock and then like a

glowing fire been sparked all through his legs. But he lifted

anyway and threw up his other hand and then he were

screaming and he clung to the wall and somehow was on his

feet and knew that only one of his legs were broken and the

other were just in freezing pain and cut up some from the

rocks. Well, he reflected, whilst his body burned about him

in pain, my back aint busted. That was a blessing, he

supposed. He had a warm feeling of thankfulness for his

intact spine, which were a strange feeling to have while

trapped on a ledge during a storm with nothing but a

thousand feet of air behind you and a wall that didnt seem

likely youd be able to scale in front of you, but there it was.

The feeling of blessing werent with him long, just a

momentary flash of warmth upon him, blown away like the


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frigid wind now trying to snuff him out, candle-like. Then it

were time to climb before he got to thinking too much on it.

The Kid threw up both arms with a groan and then

pulled. His foot at the end of his unbroken leg searched

around for a hold, but finding none, he slid back, his broken

leg coming up hard on ice and gave him a jolt that felt like

hed been stabbed in the heart. Inarticulate screaming shook

him like it werent him doing it. Then he cleared some and

found himself hissing through clenched teeth and heard that

he was cursing. That pain had nearly knocked him out of

himself. If he fainted from it, hed topple down through that

abyss about him and either land down a bit farther, ledge-

caught and broke even worse, or hed keep right on going

through that gray air and into the chasm and never return no

more. But that werent something to think on either because

there was no choice, no matter the danger, except if it were

dying. And dying, he saw, werent a choice at all but just

what happened when you didnt fight. And hell be damned

but he werent dying that a-way. So if he fell, he fell, and that

was all that could be thought about that. He flung his hands

up again, his jaw clenched up tight and set to pulling himself

up. This time his foot caught. His broken leg, dragged and

scraping against the snow-blown ledge, gave out such a pain

that he felt sick to his stomach from it but his hold was certain

for now. He smiled and then looked down. Hed moved

maybe a foot up that wall. Looking up to the far world of the


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top of the ledge, which might have been heaven it were so far

away, he could only give out a laugh. A horrible laugh it was

though, full of death. Hed never heard himself laugh so and

put a stop to it. He supposed there werent no use thinking

on it or the top of that ledge nor the bottom of the abyss.

What the hell good did it do but fill one with hope and

despair? What were the use of that? So the Kid were set on

only thinking about the next climb.

Climb he did, one pull at a time, to the tune of the

pain about him. The wind whirled about him and he began

thinking that what he really had to worry on now was that he

was slowly freezing to death. Already he werent really feeling

his hands, nor his feet. He was only hoping they were

clinging to the wall like he told them to. Each second he was

out there he knew he was coming closer to dying. The Kid

knew too that if he couldnt get up that ledge, hed soon lose

all control of his hands and then he was a goner. So he had

to hurry, which was a hard thing to think on because hurrying

would likely lead to a mistake, but not hurrying would kill

him. It was hard to think that if he werent broke up so bad,

hed just climb up that ledge lickety-split and be done with it.

Never had space seemed to the Kid such a difficult thing to

possess nor in its extension so mysterious. Hand over hand,

he climbed, trying to think only of the climb, the handholds,

the footholds, but his mind were wandering awful. He kept

thinking of his Ma telling him not to leave and him saying to


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her he had to find his own way and she tearing up so that his

heart would break. Then he werent thinking of nothing but

her face and that was hurtful. He started sobbing and saying

he was coming home, Ma. His mother said to him, come

home to me, and he said to her, I am Ma, I am right now.

And her face was shining in him like a thing made of bright

love and the Kid was weeping now and saying he was sorry,

Ma, sorry he ever left, sorry hed ever listened to Pa, and that

he never belonged no where if he couldnt see his poor ole

Ma. Then there was a burst of pain so awful he cried out and

found himself down at the bottom of the ledge again. Hed

fallen to where hed started except now he was numb from

cold and there was a voice in him saying what use had been

all that pain? Now that hed fallen through that space, where

did all that toil and hardship go? No where! Like it never

been! Just waste. And that voice found that warmly

humorous and laughing come up out of him, but not bitter

like before. It was warm and seeped through his body like a

heated bath. The Kid laughed under that ledge in his

growing warmth and he thought to himself suddenly, yup,

thats how you do die freezing all right, just as warm as can

be, aint that strange? But the thought shook him and he

seemed to remember that he werent supposed to die like this.

Well, he reflected, I guess no one could choose the manner of

their dying. He thought hed die struggling, but it sure did

seem he was going to die laughing. Aint that a bitch? He


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Anna set to telling Leo about Horizon, the drip mouse.

Shed just started in such a way as to have the children

Horizon saved from starving to death as well as from being

eaten by the great howlers get themselves captured up by bad

folk when Leo interrupted. I dont want Horizon to be

here, said he. Horizon deserves better.

It were awful pathetic to see Leos swimming eyes in

that dim light concerned for that fictional mouse and what he

did and did not deserve, so Anna nodded and agreed that this

werent no place for such a virtuous drip mouse as Horizon.

Chrissy who was sitting next to her was in agreement.

I think Horizon shouldnt be here neither, said she.

This goddamn place aint fit for no one.

Which was painful true. The innards of the Bradger

compound were lit by a single yellow light that more

reminded them of the gloom than provided light. They lived

in cages, the bars going up to the ceiling. There were about a

dozen or so of these cages, each holding women of all ages.

Must have been about thirty of them in that space, but you

wouldnt know it. Their food was drugged up so that the

women spent their time either sleeping or staring outward.

Anna remembered that feeling and knew how Soma worked

and she remembered how she had shook and cried and

screamed when shed weaned herself off it and the creatures

that crawled about her then and she trembled to think that

shed have to do that again. It were bad enough when you


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didnt know how bad it was going to get. But shed been

lucky, as it goes. Theyd decided to keep her lucid so she

could look after Leo and hed have a better chance of living in

that jail. He were still young enough to sell off to a mining

ship where hed go down in some hold and probably never

emerge again until he were a grown man, old enough to be set

to harder work. Then he wouldnt be much more than an

animal.

Anna werent thinking of that now. Right now Leo

would have to stay alive and then shed worry more about

what came next.

She also had to think of Chrissy. Seen the way the

guards put their eyes to her though she werent more than a

child and didnt show no sign of being a woman. Anna knew

that didnt matter to those black-hearted sons a bitches. So

the food they gave to Chrissy, Catherine ate, and Anna halved

her meal with the girl, which meant she was terrible hungry

all the time. Catherine thus double drugged slumped up

against the metal wall sleeping all the time except if it were to

wake up to more eating. Anna couldnt think on what she was

doing to Catherine. If she didnt die from the Soma, shed

have a hell of time leaving that drugged blur. Maybe dying

would be a blessing, though. None of it would matter a damn

anyway if they couldnt get free. Catherine will be better off

dead, thought Anna, if they was to stay here to get sold off by

those goddamn Bradgers to some whorehouse or, even worse,


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to some pleasure ship in orbit. Those places. Anna knew

those places.

Anna, said Chrissy. Is Leo going to die? She

asked this question frequently.

No, answered she.

Said Chrissy in return: Well, how do you know? He

looks awful sick. You always say he wont, but how do you

know?

Because I aint letting him die, said Anna in return.

Now be quiet. I dont want no one hearing you talking.

Youre supposed to be drugged up, remember?

Sorry.

Anna hugged her to her body. Thats all right, she

said. She kissed the top of her head and her thin warm hair

stuck to her lips and Anna most died from the feeling of

tenderness for that child. It burnt in her hot and turned to a

rage that she kept down only through a mighty effort. It was a

rage that were capable of a good amount of killing, and she

knew it and hid it down to use later on. If ever the chance

come, hell would look paradise to these sons a bitches when

she was through with them.

Chrissy seemed to sense that rage. Its all right,

whispered the girl in Annas ear. SHELL save us. That

she was the Slinger whom they had not seen since their

capture. Anna cringed to think on what they were doing with

her, that beautiful graceful Slinger all drugged up and


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helpless somewhere. It would be lucky they didnt tear her to

pieces in their need to get at that untouchable grace. Shiva

keep her, thought Anna. And she were a sight grateful she

herself was only passable beauteous. It was a hell of a world

for beauty to be in, that were certain. But she didnt say

nothing to Chrissy. The girl needed some kind of hope out

there.

For Anna it were the Kid. He hadnt been strangled

with Calder and Gregory. He was out there somewhere. And

there was no way he was letting the Bradgers keep the

Slinger. Anna doubted he thought much of her or the

children, but hed sooner kill himself dead than leave the

Slinger. Look how he almost got himself killed just to get her

horse back, and that was when everyone thought she was

dead and gone. Though Jack too had escaped that death, she

reckoned he was halfway back to Earth now. Probably on a

pleasure ship too, the son of a bitch, easing his way home on

the money hed made selling the caravans. She didnt put no

doubt to it. Jack were a normal kind of man, selfish, arrogant,

and as unfeeling as a fish. Which were none too kind to

fishes, she reflected. Didnt make no sense, really, making

such heartless creatures as men. Anna reckoned that were

good proof that there werent no god or, if there were, he

were a man himself and life werent nothing but a joke to him,

to which woman was a punch line. Anna had had about

enough of being a joke. She could forgive life for what it


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done to her, but there werent no forgiving for what it was set

to doing to Leo and Chrissy. It would not be. Not while she

breathed.

If she had hope, it sure didnt rest with Jack, that

being the main point. The Kid were the origin and end of

what little hope she had. Anna might be terrible unschooled,

she couldnt even read for crissakes, but she werent stupid.

She knew what lay in store for them, had listened when it was

important all her life, even in those years she were drugged

up senseless on Soma. These Bradgers wouldnt be no

different. She and the other women would be sold off to

nearby towns or maybe the Bradgers had their own

whorehouses set here and there on Damodara. A few others

might get swept off the planet altogether to get sold in larger

markets. Anna figured Slinger would be one of those. One

thing Anna was certain theyd do was set to breaking them up

as soon as they could. These bastards didnt like any of their

new whores to have any connections to their other life. Made

for trouble. Anna had heard long stories of sisters separated

and daughters from mothers and old friends from each other.

In them stories the women got reunited often, but that

werent how it was really. People got ripped from each other

and that was the end. First chance they got, Anna reckoned,

theyd be separating them. Already theyd taken Tina and the

Slinger, both of them being worth more money than the

average woman. Anna couldnt think of the impending


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drugged food, their bodies already learning how to cry out for

Soma. Johnny and Garland started at one end while Tooth

walked straight toward the cage where Anna watched him,

carrying a tray of undrugged food for Anna.

Come and get it, growled Tooth, walking toward her.

I aint going to spoon feed you.

Wheres the medicine I asked for? asked Anna

imperiously, giving him the level of her chin.

We aint giving you no medicine, said Tooth. I told

you that plain last time. That kid either dies or he dont die.

Thats the end of it. He handed her the dish through the

bars. Fuck sakes, woman, he continued. How many times

I got to tell you that? He glared at her, but then his eyes

wandered down to linger on Chrissys blonde hair and his

mouth opened a bit like he were thirsty of a sudden. Anna

yanked the dish from him.

All right then, Anna snapped. Get me some

bandages and something to clean him up with.

Tooth looked away from Chrissy and glared back at

her. Anna could tell he hadnt been told not to, maybe even

been told to do it once in a while, but he were too lazy, maybe

didnt want Leo to live for some damn reason. Or just didnt

give a damn enough to make the effort. Anna felt a rage in

her light up, but she fought it down. That a boys life should

depend only on one mans laziness was the worse feeling she

ever had. She grit her teeth and tried on a smile.


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Come on, she said in a voice she meant to be nice,

but came out shaky. We sure would appreciate it.

Tooth grunted. I dont run errands for no whore, he

said, but it werent biting, but like sulking cause he knew that

was exactly what he did. But Anna couldnt push him, or hed

let Leo die just for spite. It were delicate.

Please? wheedled she. Wed be awful grateful to

you. She turned her head so that her neck went bare to him,

but just a little so that he wouldnt feel manipulated. But even

that were too much.

Tooth looked at her and frowned. I dont care if you

are grateful, he said. I got other things to do, you know. I

aint got all day to run errands for no whore.

Anna swallowed down her anger. Tooth watched her

and scratched at his scraggly face. Anna leaned up against the

bars close to him so that she could smell his stink which made

her furious, but she hid it up close to her. She put out her

hand to touch his that were all dirt and fingernails. Tooths

hand clutched her arm.

Dont you fool with me, whore, he said. But Anna

just smiled at him, letting her body be numb to his touch as

men like him enjoyed their women, all mindless pliant flesh,

and he clutched harder. His mouth came open and breathed

through his rubble of teeth.

Please? Anna begged.


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Tooth pushed her away with his hand, but she kept on

her smile and just to see her stumble back made him happy,

she could see that. I dont know, he said. I might find the

time.

Anna smiled like hed blessed her for all time.

I aint promising nothing, Tooth said hurriedly. Im

just saying I might find the time later. Dont you set your

heart on it.

Thank you, said Anna, clasping her hands together

and keeping her head low and working hard to keep her

thoughts and feelings down. I sure do appreciate it.

Yeah, well, said Tooth, trailing off. His eyes swung

back down to Chrissy and it was good he didnt see the flash

then in Annas eyes to see him thus put eye to the girl.

Hey! cried Johnny from the other end of the room.

Hey! Tooth looked over.

What?

One of them up and died, said he. One of the little

ones too! Gus aint going to be happy! Tooth stalked over

toward him without giving another glance to Anna. Johnny

kept talking. I told them they were putting too much Soma

in that food! I told them so! You heard me, didnt you? I

said it plain as day.

Naw, that aint it, Johnny, said Tooth. Livia knows

her business, I reckon. Someone was feeding that girl from

their own meal. Tooth turned to face all the cages. We


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done told you to eat naught but your share, didnt we? Now

look what you done? But most of the ears were numb to the

talk.

Shit, said Johnny. They aint listening. Anna

watched as Johnny walked inside the cage and came out again

with the body of a young girl, just beginning puberty by the

stretched look of her. Anna grit her teeth watching that

scene, but then turned away. Too much anger would kill her

mind. She sat back down next to Chrissy and held her head

to her lap to keep her from looking. The girl had seen her

share of misery. She didnt need to see more.

Johnny left the room with the dead girl, leaving Tooth

with Garland. When they came to their cage, Garland walked

inside with the meal trays, her body moving awkwardly. She

put a tray in Catherines lap who just stared at her wide-eyed.

Then she put a tray down beside Chrissy. A smile come to

her face and she leaned over and patted her blonde hair.

Oh, aint she pretty? She looked at Anna with a wide smile,

her large eyes all a-glitter.

Anna felt her stomach turn at Garland. It was like she

was the angel of death, though Anna knew it werent

Garlands fault what they set her to doing.

Hurry up, goddamn it! snapped Tooth.

So Garland hurried, but such hurrying caused a

stumble or two and when she about fell out of the cage, Tooth


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gave her a cuff on the back of the head that made her stumble

down to her knees.

Dont talk to them, he hissed. Damn it, Garland,

why dont you listen?

Sorry, Garland said, lifting herself up.

I got better things to do then cuff you around all day,

you know that?

Sorry, said the girl, fumbling with the cart.

Chrissakes, Garland, continued Tooth. You aint

got but one or two rules to follow. You cant even do that.

You sure are one dumb fucking slut, aint you Garland?

Yeah, Garland said. She shut the cover on the cart

and started wheeling it toward the door with Tooth following

cursing her all the way when Johnny came in the door. He

walked past them and paused for a second.

What you swearing up a storm for? Johnny asked.

Fucking Garland been pawing at the girls again,

growled Tooth.

Well, shit, said Johnny. Why dont you let Garland

be? I dont see why you always cuffing at her anyway. Im

getting tired of watching it.

How she going to learn if we dont teach her?

Teach her what? asked Johnny, walking toward

Annas cage. She does her job bettern you do, thats for

sure. Johnny turned and dumped some bandages and

ointments on the floor of Annas cage without so much as


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He dug himself a little burrow in the sand and crept down

into it just for the joy of it. And when the roof came in on him, he

scurried out and shook himself free of the sand. The two children

were running up and down the sand, laughing and throwing mud

at each other. Horizon felt like hed done well by them two. Hed

led them this far, and they hadnt been killed. Nor had they starved

to death. They were strange, helpless creatures, but they were full

of life and joy and so they deserved to live. And as long as he was

around, Horizon would see to it that they did, no matter if there

were storms or floods or all manner of disasters.

But for now, standing there by the sea, with the children

playing about him, for once, Horizon had nothing to worry about.

He found a nice patch of delicious samudra beera and sat down

among them and ate them one by one until his belly swelled up and

he dozed off, one contented and satisfied drip mouse.

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Slinger Book Two- Strange Bonds by Ben Lyle Bedard — Book Preview