The Quarry

[Rage Menelas]

[font=Lucida Sans Unicode]They paused for a close encounter with a hefty asteroid, near the vortex out of the Sedrepfahn System. Ryan was practicing mock battle with the heavy rock, twisting and twirling around it, peppering it with lancing beams from the Saar'floe's weaponry. She had a pair of anti-ship guns of what Charlie described as medium power, a low intensity anti-personnel laser cannon (which had been used for fishing back on Pella'agre), and a single massive strength bombardment cannon that was only suitable for stationary targets. Ryan was using the anti-ship guns now, practicing lining up the asteroid, blasting off jagged chunks of it...

“I must say you are becoming quite adept at combat tactics, my apprentice,” Charlie beamed, “well ahead of expectations... far beyond any of my previous apprentices.”

“So,” Ryan rejoined, never letting up on his twist-turn-attack sequence, “exactly how many of us have there been?”

“Apprentices...? Oh, you are number five.”

“Any others from Earth?”

“Oh yes... all of them except my first... she was a lovely Dalq'chette.” Charlie's voiced trailed off strangely. Ryan looked at him sideways but declined to pursue that one. It appeared to be of a personal nature.

“Why do you prefer Terrans?” He said, changing the subject.

“What...? Oh, because of your adaptability, your sense of adventure... your stout constitutions. Earth is still the best producer of the Humanoid species, you know... We have a saying on Dalca'odge in that regard: the mother always produces the finest offspring!”

“Hmmm... yes, I suppose that logic is indisputable.” He wondered what it might be like, for the first time, to be a Dalcachene or even a Pella'agrene for that matter. Although Ryan found it hard to believe that he was superior in any way to those splendid figures he had lived with for a week not so long ago. (He was thinking of Aerose's people of course, whom he still thought of vaguely as his people.) But the Dalcachenes were so diminutive and slight of frame and... well... just down-right deformed in appearance. Then he reflected on it and, as he blasted another slab of rock from the celestial boulder, blasted himself for being unfairly prejudiced in his thinking. Notwithstanding his current obligatory status as an indentured servant, these people had treated him exceedingly well... Certainly at least as well or better than holders of slaves back on Earth had ever treated their human property... or even employees in the case of some companies. Then he thought of the sexual experimentation some of the Dalcachenes had performed on humans in the past... Hmmm... every race has its bad apples, he supposed.

“Very nicely executed,” his boss said. “I should allow you to do the fighting at the next opportunity, I believe. For it is obvious that you have quite a pension for it!”

“Thanks... I am really getting a kick out of it... never imagined I would... but, hell, never imagined anything that has happened to me lately!”

“Indeed, but you are remarkably adaptable to it.” And with that Charlie stated that the lesson must be concluded, that they must be on their way. Ryan relinquished the controls and sat back, enjoying the stars, as the adrenaline slowly simmered in his veins...