Seven
Caliban, 2253 C.E.
Caliban, one of the original thirteen founding worlds of the Confederacy, was an ocean world. Most of the blue planet’s surface was water – a massive, global ocean that plunged almost sixty kilometers deep in the lowest points of the trenches. The ocean was home to a wild variety of sea life, which in turn led to a booming industry in deep-sea sport fishing as well as commercial harvesting. Caliban’s primary export, seafood, was flash-frozen and shipped all over the Confederacy.
Caliban had one small continent, a mountainous landmass covered almost completely with a dripping, humid rainforest. Trees half again the size of Earthly sequoias reared their heads into the damp atmosphere, growing to dizzy heights in Caliban’s .84-G gravity. The boles of the trees ran as thick as nine meters.
The Capital Speedway air-car track wove for four hundred miles through the incredible trees, and the annual Inter-Visa 400 race was one of the planet’s major events. The Capital Speedway track consisted of a wide, grassy lane that wound for four hundred kilometers through mountainous rain forest. Force-shield barriers protected the worst turns, more out of concern for the massive trees than for the drivers, but the Inter-Visa 400 was still known for spectacular crashes.
Jean Barrett and Indira Krishnavarna were watching the race from a viewing station near the finish line, but they had come to Caliban not to watch the race, but to seek out one particular driver.
“He’s out in front again,” the Shade Tree’s Executive Officer noted. She pointed as a herd of roaring high-performance air-cars shot past a monitoring station in heavy woods to the north.
Jean Barrett was not watching the race. She was reading from her personal datapad instead. “Small wonder he’s out in front. Have you read this guy’s bio? Navy fighter pilot, served on the escort carrier Mohawk during the last year of the war, credited with six kills. He taught himself to fly air-cars and commercial shuttles when he was a kid in Rio de Janeiro, on Earth. That boy’s been flying since he was nine years old.” She looked up towards the viewing station’s huge view screen as the race passed another monitor; around them, the crowd in the viewing stands screamed in joy as the lead car did a series of barrel-rolls while rounding a tight corner.
“He’s a bit of a show-off,” the Exec noted.
“All good pilots are, Indira,” Barrett chided her. “And from what I’m seeing, Paolo Guerra is one of the best.”
“He’s never manned the helm of a ship, though. That’s a lot different than flying a racing air-car, or a Navy fighter for that matter.”
“Just bigger, that’s all. Listen, managing the Shade Tree is just a matter of training; it’s the instinct I’m looking for. Remember Selma Wyatt, that pilot we had for six months during the war? She hadn’t flown anything bigger than a crop duster before we took her on, and she got us out of a couple of tight spots.”
“Yeah, and now she’s flying a fancy commercial liner for Galaxy Lines passenger service,” the Exec grumped.
“Exactly. That’s why we are here; war ends, two-thirds of the crew goes seeking greener pastures. We have to look for new talent where we can, you know. You shouldn’t complain, Indira, you got a promotion out of it.” Barrett grinned at her second-in-command, who a month earlier had been the first watch Scanning technician. Captain and crewmember had discussed the new title for some time; Captain Barrett preferred the somewhat archaic but colorful term “First Mate,” but Indira had insisted on the more dignified “Executive Officer.”
Indira couldn’t help but smile. “And you got a few decent nights’ sleep, with someone else to take over some of those overnight watches.”
They both looked up as the viewscreen switched to yet another monitor, this one with a long view down a deep valley with a small creek at the bottom. Guerra’s air car was in the lead, but now a second car had closed the gap. The two air-cars jockeyed for position; fenders bumped once, sending sparks flying. Guerra hit the throttle, sending his air-car racing down the long straight on the tip of a spear of blue from the enhanced ion drive, but the second car relentlessly closed in, bumping Guerra again. The second-place driver caught Guerra on a turn, managed to get to the inside, shouldered past. As he pushed by on the inside, the second-place – now first-place – driver bumped Guerra’s air-car again. Guerra’s car shuddered, spun, and arced suddenly downward into a creek bed, slamming into the water with a huge splash. Four air-cars flashed past in the time it took him to restart and get his car airborne again.
“Well, looks like our boy isn’t having such a good day today,” Indira observed.
Jean Barrett was not concerned about the air-car competition. “All the better for us. If he won this race, he wouldn’t be very interested in my offer, would he? Come on,” she said. “Let’s head into town. We can catch him at the reception after the race.”
An hour later, in a bar off to the side of the main reception hall, Barrett and her second-in-command found Paolo Guerra seated at a table, nursing some sort of a drink from a tall glass and complaining. “I had it, damn it all,” he was telling another driver. “That Jorge, he tapped me with his thrust-vector panel and knocked me for a loop. Coming in third, after leading the whole race…”
“Sucks to be you, amigo,” the other driver agreed.
“You’re Paolo Guerra,” Barrett interrupted.
“Yeah,” Guerra said. He looked up at Barrett. “Third-Place Guerra, that’s me. Who’re you?”
“Captain Jean Barrett,” Jean said.
“Captain?”
“That’s what I said.”
“Barrett,” Guerra squinted up at Jean and Indira. “Barrett. I know that name. What are you Captain of?”
Jean stood a little taller – not easy, given her petite frame. “Privateer starship Shade Tree,” she said.
“I’ll be damned. Heard a’ you while I was flying for the Navy. You’re the ones who…”
“Yeah, we’re the ones who.”
Guerra laughed. “I bet you’re the only privateer captain to end up a celebrity.”
“I should be so lucky. Listen, there can’t be much of a living in these races,” Captain Barrett observed. “Isn’t it an iffy way to make your daily bread?”
“At times,” Paolo agreed, cautiously.
“Ever thought about flying something bigger?”
“What do you mean?”
Jean dragged a chair over to the table and sat down. She waved at the service droid for a drink. “I mean, Mister Guerra,” she continued, “is that you have a pretty good reputation as a pilot. I’ve done some checking up on you. Since the war, you’ve been bouncing around the air-car racing circuit. Doing OK, but your travel expenses pretty much eat up the purses, don’t they?” She leaned across the table, green eyes glittering. “Wouldn’t it be better to travel while earning a regular paycheck? It’s nice to know where your next meal’s coming from.” Jean ignored a sudden, spluttering cough from her Executive Officer. “You’re a good pilot, Guerra. I need a good pilot. I need someone that can handle things when we’re in a tight spot.”
“I think she’s offering you a job, amigo,” the other driver at the table chuckled.
“Going back out there, you mean?” Guerra pointed at the sky. “Flying the Shade Tree, even?”
“That’s what I had in mind.”
“Damn,” Guerra said. He picked up his glass and poured the drink effortlessly down his throat. He looked at the other driver at the table, who was grinning at him like an ape.
Guerra stood up. “Hell, yeah!” he said. “Where do I sign up?”
***
To see more of Animal’s writing, visit his page at Crimson Dragon Publishing or Amazon.
Links, in case you need them:
I need explosions and dead aliens!
Little Green Suicide Bombers?
Need’s got nothing to do with it.
Animal, you fucking tease.
I want to know what happens to Shade Tree in the cloud as they are being pursued.
Now I have to wait another week.
Taking the .45 out to action pistol practice today. That should be enlightening.
Yeah, everyone gets a little goofy after Nats…
L10 Major!
🙁 The worst part about this burn on my lower lip is that every time I speak or eat, it cracks and bleeds again. I could go without speaking, but food is essential.
https://www.aquaphorus.com/
OT – TOK – great to hear your wife is planning on the Bataan Death March memorial hike. I’ve been interested in that one for a few years. Maybe after I retire.
As far as cash-less societies…sounds like I’m going to have to carry a lot more cash when I get to Europe. I always heard that most countries over there were cash-free, but apparently not in Italy…”carry euros when you leave base”.
Don’t feed the pickpockets.
That’s the goal, but everyone says a lot fewer places take plastic, etc.
The missus said no $, no credit cards in Russia, about 10 years or so ago. Rubles only
She insists on doing it the right way, with the recommended ruck (I think it’s 35 pounds). She only did a few laps out of 10 with a ruck this weekend, but she plans on building up to that.
Deadhead has done it several times.
Thanks to Deadhead’s pimping, it’s something I’d like to do. When I’m free.
This is the last year for me to re-enlist to make my 20 by the age cutoff. Don’t think it’s going to happen. If only I had stayed in, I’d be retired long long ago. Or on a bib at the memorial March.
I heard that before I went to Germany as well. It was sorta true there…places with high tourist traffic or places like larger retail stores usually accepted cards, but if you got off the beaten path cash was king.
When I was in England and Scotland I bought a lot of stuff at small vendors,shops, pubs etc. Even the street vendors almost all had electronic payment stuff. I still carried a lot of cash.
Last time I was in NYC, the hot dog vendors were more likely to break a $100 than take plastic.
Easier to dodge taxes.
Uh… have both cards AND cash. Tell your bank you’re going abroad first so they don’t think it’s stolen. That’s happened to me (at least once) before. My card was frozen before cuz I forgot to. It wasn’t pleasant but thankfully was rectified fairly quickly. YMMV.
Just have $100-equivalent with a nice mix of smaller bills. Also a plus to keep a $20 USD ’round in many places. Anything more expensive and I can’t imagine one couldn’t use a card. Alleys and anything semi-shady? Certainly cash. What individual buys pre-1913 Coke with a card?
I’m moving overseas – both my banks know I’m getting militarily transferred – waiting on final ticket and paperwork approval before I update my addresses fully.
I suggest you stuff your shorts with gold doubloons in true Glib fashion. This Is The Way.
Also, thanks to Animal! Fantastic read today. Build that suspense!
The CU where I work sees so much attempted fraud we ask members to notify us when they’re traveling out of state.
Crazy…Guess it is the difference between a normal CU and Navy Fed or USAA. I’ve had a couple times when certain cards didn’t work overseas, but most of the time I have no issues.
Nice to CU as well! In the 7/11; GS25 vein of 24/7/365 corner stores in Korea. I miss that about densely populated areas. If you weren’t within 1k feet of one of those, you went out of your way to get there. A stone’s throw away from decent kimbap/ramen/etc snacks; drinks; candy; batteries and wires; smokes and OTC meds. Gorgeous. One of many reasons I never thought of getting a car over there.
375ml of soju for $1, anytime. Drunk-as-fuck Korean businessmen in the early morn was not uncommon. Seeing suited men passed out on curbs in the daytime is pretty fun. Certainly outnumbered the 20-something students/ foreign teachers doing such.
Quick drive-by (no pun intended):
That great Volvo 240 resto-mod auction is ending – only ~ $38k right now but it’ll go up – but I can’t imagine it’ll hit the reserve since he’s got $100k into the build. But who knows…
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1993-volvo-240-13/
Yep. I keep getting the updates. It blew past my budget yesterday lol
$59,500 – sold.
Not sure why, but there’s a contingent out there that seems happy with pissing money away on fantastic builds and then selling them after barely putting any miles on them at a great loss. God bless ’em!
Yep.
Boy, I’d much rather have that than a new F150.
What a great car, even at 60K
I’m really surprised that met reserve – as you say, just ate $40k for not much seat time. Bless ’em, indeed.
That would look so much better on banded steelies.
But, still wood.
400 miles or 400 km? That’s a considerable difference.
Nobody uses k-miles.
Do K-cars use K-miles?
https://www.hemmings.com/listing/1986-dodge-600-897765
Someone tell Swiss that the Limeys are onto him.
My gun club had a little bullseye pistol match Saturday, so I figured I’d take a couple guns and go shoot. I take my Kahr K9, get up to the line, and dog-gone-it, my rear sight is gone. Needless to say I did not shoot well. Maybe it’s time to upgrade to some night sights anyway.
I did shoot better with my Sig P938, complete with sights. Even so, my pistol skills are lacking.
Have you done anything about the trigger on your 938? The factory trigger on mine is … not good.
Previous owner had a smith “smooth it up”. It isn’t bad, but I don’t know what all was involved.
Is there a reason so many factory triggers are not good? Cost? Liability?
Liability.
Mrs. Dean finally got her HK VP9 back after a trigger job. New trigger, short reset, general slickening up.
Dayum. No creep, no stack. We had it set at 4 – 5 pounds. It feels so much better, I’m wondering if maybe we could have gone lighter. I still think that’s a good weight for a gun that might see defensive use, though.
@ RC
Grayguns?
A good round up on VWs woes.
As long as we’re dreaming, bring back the TDI and manual options.
With the likely defeat of the Biden-Harris
As long as we’re dreaming, indeed. I’d like to get in touch with this dude’s white pill dealer; he’s getting the good stuff!
I see nothing signalling such “likely defeat” actually occurring, despite reality and hope. If I did, and if it even meant anything, I’d be much (more politically) happier. Either way, The Machine wins.
Harris wins: SCOTUS packing + further fortification; predictable increases of Fed Power; Ukraine/Israel war involvement… Nothing positive.
Trump wins: Blame absolutely EVERYTHING on Him; Deep State attacks dig deeper; same fortification undertaken to ensure no Outsider ever takes hold again.
What was done to my spirit will be undone by breaking it further. Natch, ’til morale improves.
They’re gonna need to do some serious soul-searching if they ever want to sell me another new vehicle.
Same. We have a 2015 VW and 2012 Audi and that’s it until they stop the shenanigans.
I can find an older VW, Audi or Porsche TDI when I’m done with these.
With the likely defeat of the Biden-Harris administration in a few weeks
*crosses fingers, knocks on wooden head*
* throws salt over shoulder, makes wish and blows out candle *
I prefer *stroking* my wooden head to encourage climactic victory.
One’s mileage varies. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Every person mentioned in this article is a bigger waste on the environment than Exxon.
“What’s that got to do with anything? We see someone with lots of money we demonize them, sue them and steal everything we can get our hands on. What is the problem?” – State attorneys general
People who know
More than 700 former national security and military officials endorsed Kamala Harris for president over Donald Trump in the 2024 election in an open letter published Sunday by National Security Leaders for America.
“This election is a choice between serious leadership and vengeful impulsiveness,” said the group, which is made up of bipartisan senior leaders who served in the military and other offices and agencies.
“We are trained to make sober, rational decisions. That is how we know Vice President Harris would make an excellent Commander-in-Chief, while Mr. Trump has proven he is not up to the job,” they added.
Keep the meatgrinder running.
Well, if the 3 letter agencies and the DoD say so…
*falls out of chair laughing*
My reaction exactly. Not one part of that is not laughable. At least now Trump has a list of names to pass pink slips out to.
As far as they’re concerned, she would make an excellent Commander-in-Chief.
“Madame President, we suggest you authorize bombing of this country.”
“OK hahahaha!”
“Madame President, we suggest you authorize the torture of these individuals.”
“OK hahahaha!”
“More than 700 former national security and military officials endorsed Kamala Harris for president”
Look, I was already planning on voting against her. You don’t have to sell me on it.
700 of the most rancid, despicable, dishonest, corrupt, patronizing, vicious, overcredentialed, underperforming sacks of shit on the planet. Enjoy the endorsements you scumbags.
All 741 of them should be immediately separated from government service and banned from any form of employment in the future. Go panhandle among the crazies and the druggies.
700 people responsible for countless thousands of lives being lost in useless wars.
I thought only two Cheney’s endorsed her.
How many of those 700 have ever been demoted, or fired, for being wrong in the government ‘service’?
What’s that – they never suffer in the slightest for being wrong? Then how do you ever know they are right?
Sure, look at all the new wars Trump started that Biden Harris had to clean up.
Nats hazing story:
I had to adjust a popper so I sent one of my first-time ROs to grab “the wrench.” When he came back with a crescent wrench I told hm to grab “the other one,” that this popper needed metric.
If he hadn’t figured it out, I would have said “no, the left-handed one” next.
“Private, go down to the PX and get a box of grid squares.”
“Hey, Newguy; go where we store the brooms and such and grab the aluminum magnet.”
Ma’am, your blinker fluid is low and you need a new muffler belt.
Don’t forget the winter air in the tires!
Australia’s Misinformation Police
Is this panic? Because how on earth are they going to enforce it broadly?
It was a warmup for the “pandemic.”
They aren’t planning to enforce it broadly. They are planning to enforce it very selectively, indeed.
You got a loisence for that information mate?
Fuck Australia, they were terrible during Covid and now they’re screwing the wallaby on this too.
Was Australia ever really this cool?
Men at Work remind you that you can’t have nice things in Australia.
https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/music/men-at-works-colin-hay-says-down-under-lawsuit-contributed-to-death-of-his-dad-and-bandmate/news-story/db47d17797386c960b7a7737974ea1ce
This cool
He loves the world, ‘cept for all the people.
That’s a great one, MikeS, but this is their absolute coolest.
Still cleaning out the car from the darn road trip.
So much garbage I should have disposed of elsewhere.
You wouldn’t have that problem if you had a convertible.
🙂
Those littering fines would bankrupt me.
The city has not come to get all my trash out front yet. I am concerned. It would take over an hour to carry it all back to the garage.
RJ, you may have to call one of those junk pickup places or do the Waste Management Bagster thing.
It’s looking that way.
Same thing happened to me. They would only take what fit into the can.
Alternate plan?
I missed this last week so apologies if it’s already made the rounds.
Otherwise, enjoy!
The succubus got him.
Tough break Travis.
Gunman Left Note for Failed Trump Assassination Attempt
I thought of like 10 different things to type here, but I really don’t want a visit from the Secret Service for a bad, if hilarious, joke.
Yay. Open bounty. Start a GoFundMe and the assassin would no-question get billions.
Rule 34: Pump out some OnlyFans content and watch it multiply. We live in a predictably sick world, where the leaders of the religious (health) authority secretly have MDMA sex parties with megastars for all the fun and blackmail they will ever need. And…no one cares. Huh. I want some X. Could use it. *frump*