The Tornado Sojourns (3) – Chapter 13 – Reprisal

 

Duff Tarver was primarily a raconteur, his office was a bar or tavern and his audience were his fellow patrons.

But he didn’t merely tell stories he also collected them from his loose tongued admirers, and he always got stories of worth.

He was a freelance journalist who sold his work to whichever media outlet fitted the bill and he distributed his copy across the known systems of Legion space, and he made a steady living, not enough to move up in the world, but he did ok.

He was a heavy drinking, down to earth man in his early fifties with a long-suffering wife, Chani, who managed to bring up their three children virtually single handed.

With Duff the phrase, “what you see is what you get”, fitted him like a glove.

He was a popular man, despite all his faults, as it was very difficult not to like him, even if he could drive you to despair.

Due to his heavy drinking he often needed assistance to get home but because people liked him so much he was never short of a chauffeur.

Most literary types have a favorite quote, from one of the classic novels or from a Shakespearian play but his favorite was

“If I ever read about the dangers of drinking then I’ll give up reading”
Apart from being popular and sociable he was also a more intelligent man than he would have people believe because he found that if people thought him an idiot they were more likely to open up than if they thought they were dealing with somebody who was more switched on.

 

Duff had already written his exposé of events in the Eikon Cluster prior to the system wide distribution of the data regarding the widespread corruption and criminality within the Legion, so he was the first to get anything publishable to the media outlets, and was used far and wide so in the aftermath of the revelations Duff was in great demand.

On one particular evening, he had been celebrating with friends and other members of his profession, and had been for several hours, and was a little drunk.

He would have stayed later but he had arranged with his friend Visitor Parham, better known as Bagg, to get a lift from Eikon Major to Linden for the next celebratory evening, so as he was later than planned, he got a taxi to the space port.

He was dropped at the main gate and proceeded on foot to the apron where the Tornado was parked.

Duff had been walking for a little over ten minutes when it started to rain, but he didn’t mind as he was only a few minutes away, but when his destination was in sight four men blocked his path, but only one of the men spoke.

“In a hurry are we?”

“I am as it happens” Duff replied

“Well that’s a real shame” the man said menacingly.

 

Pulsat Rad and Vanzyl were the engineers on the Tornado, Pulsat was born on Prinsloo in the Rexenor system, a dry desert world, rich in minerals and ore, which he hadn’t seen for more than 20 years.

He was one of the lucky ones as his parents were able to arrange for him to get away from his home world before the Mehreen Empire conquered the planet and enslaved the Prinsloovian’s putting them under the yoke in order to rape their own planet of all that was precious.

He had never returned and had no idea of what fate may have befallen his parents, he had met several of his own kind over the years, but none of them could enlighten him, as they were in the same boat as he was.

He was heavy set and had a rough bony skull which raised up like a crown which receded to give way to a Mahogany scaled brow, cheekbones and jawline which framed an ivory coloured face, and he had yellow eyes and his entire countenance betrayed his reptilian ancestry.

He was incredibly strong and found no difficulty in finding work among the many mining operations he came across as he worked his way steadily, from world to world and moon to moon, moving inexorably away from the Mehreen, it was on one of those worlds, Kordesh, that he met his friend Vanzyl.

 

Vanzyl was from Kessleria, the third planet in the Omeghard system, he was of slender stature and like Pulsat he owed his origins to reptilian DNA, but his kind evolved from fish and possessed a scaly countenance and silver scaled skin, a sleek form, large opaque eyes, pursed lips, and gills.

He also left his home world because of the Mehreen but in Kessleria’s case they wanted the water, and in taking it they essentially brought genocide to the peaceful Kesslerian’s.

Vanzyl was more fortunate than Pulsat as he escaped from his home world with a large group of friends who supported and comforted each other, but over the years following their exodus, as they endured harsher and harsher conditions his friends perished one by one until he was finally left alone.

Subsequently his loneliness was keenly felt because his solitude was so extreme, and that was because he could only communicate in clicks, whirls and whistles which none but his own kind could understand, until that is, Pulsat Rad arrived on Kordesh.

 

As it was pouring with rain, Vanzyl, as he was from a watery world rushed down the ramp and stood outside getting wet, while Pulsat who was from an arid planet was inside staying dry.

Vanzyl walked up and down the apron and relished the falling rain while Pulsat looked out shaking his head.

But all of a sudden he stopped and began to emanate clicks and whirls

“No I dry” Pulsat Rad responded but the clicking and whirling became continued.

“No, I stay hear” Pulsat replied “I not come outside”

Pulsat’s response was met with loud agitated emanations, the like of which he had never heard before, so much against his better judgement he proceeded down the ramp muttering and snorting as he went.

“I wet, I wet” Pulsat said when he reached his friend and then Vanzyl made a long whistling noise followed by a succession of clicks and Pulsat looked down to see Duff Tarver’s battered body and Vanzyl let out a number of low whirls

“I not know” Pulsat replied to his Kesslerian friend who was uttering another string of whirls whistles and clicks.

“I do it, I do it” Pulsat said as he picked up the bloodied body.

“We show Captain” Pulsat said “We show Terrel”