ysabara
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 24, 2007
- Messages
- 104
Just another chapter in my genetic chicken saga
PASS THE CHICKEN
(A Game for two or more players…)
Imyrs Delmadi did not react well to Hyperspeed. Veren could hear him being sick again. He rubbed absently at his wrist where his telenium steel dagger used to be implanted. Of course, there was no scar. Delmadi had enough racari to afford the best plastamed in the galaxy. The new synthiskin on his arm was flawless. Delmadi heaved again. Veren smiled. It gave him some satisfaction to know that all the racari in the universe couldn’t buy a cure for Hyperspeed sickness. Some things just had to be endured. Just as Veren had to endure being Delmadi’s …friend. His very good friend. As if in response to that thought, the sonic implant Delmadi had put into Veren’s head twanged painfully.
Bad thoughts about Imyrs Delmadi activated the implant which led to Veren experiencing varying degrees of pain, depending on just how bad those thoughts were. One time, when Veren had really let his feelings get out of control, the draxing thing had practically short circuited his brain. It was best, Veren had learnt, to cultivate a sort of blank acceptance, no matter what Delmadi did to him. Or made him do.
If he was truthful, there were actually one or two things that Veren hadn’t minded. Had even enjoyed. Sex with an android, for one thing. Delmadi hadn’t been exaggerating about the electric shocks. All the way up your…
There was a knock at the door. Veren waited for the robobut to answer it. Delmadi poked his dishevelled dark head out of the bathroom. He looked like crap.
I hope he pukes till he dies, the stranged out fangbitch, thought Veren.
The sonic implant set a zap of pain across his synapses. He tried to smother the groan that pressed against his lips.
Delmadi gave him a knowing smile. “What’s up, V? Got a headache?”
“No,” Veren ground out. “How about you? I hope you’re feeling better?”
Another sly smile slid across Delmadi’s handsome face.
“Much better. Almost back to my old self. Ready to play hard and party harder.”
Veren kept his face and his mind blank. Delmadi chucked him under the chin as he walked past. “Smile, V”, he whispered. “You’ll have me thinking you don’t want to play with me.”
Veren smiled. He was sure that if he could see his image in a flecta ,it would be a sickly sort of smile that looked back at him.
“Now, who could be at the door at this time of night? Always makes me nervous when uninvited guests turn up. We don’t want anyone interrupting us, do we?”
Actually, Veren would be more than happy, ecstatic in fact, for somebody, anybody, to interrupt whatever entertainment Delmadi had planned. Even if it was Hyperion himself, although how the cloned Gladiator could have tracked them down to this corner of the galaxy…well, he couldn’t have. Delmadi was smart. He wasn’t the deadliest assassin in the seven galaxies for nothing. Once he covered a track, it stayed covered.
“I’ll go and see who it is. You wait here.”
Veren wandered to the window and gazed out. The night sky of Calyxo was ablaze with purple lights. The phenomenon known as Calyxo’s Corona was a sight that visitors from across the seven galaxies travelled light years to see.
The door behind him opened and Delmadi walked back into the bedroom, carrying a large plastibox. He grinned at Veren. Delmadi was always smiling. He knew every variation of the smile that there was and none of them ever seemed to indicate happiness. This particular variation was one that Veren always found unnerving. It meant that Delmadi had some sort of mischief in mind. Mischief that invariably involved Veren. He eyed Delmadi and his box with some trepidation.
“I got you a present.”
“Oh?” said Veren without much enthusiasm. He’d had experience with Delmadi’s presents in the past. Not even synthiskin could cover all the scars…Delmadi set the box down in the middle of the bed.
“Go on. Open it.”
Veren approached the bed. He swallowed nervously. “Will it hurt me?”
Delmadi caressed Veren’s face. “What makes you think I would give you something that would hurt you, Veren?”
“Oh, I don’t know. The words Irridian razorcat spring to mind. That was a fun present, Imyrs. Or, how about the Empassian Electro Eel? The Moryion stinkowl?”
“I thought you’d like a new pet, V. I know how you miss your chicken.”
Veren sucked in a breath, trying to ignore the memory of feathers tickling his abdomen. His…
“My chicken didn’t cause life threatening injuries.”
Delmadi flopped onto the bed. He was smiling again. Variation number 25, thought Veren. Stranged out fangbitch…
ZAP.
Veren emptied his mind of bad thoughts.
“You sure that chicken didn’t do you some damage, V?” Delmadi smirked. “Only, I’ve seen what’s down there…”
“What’s in the box?” said Veren curtly. Vorlunt dwemmersap!
ZAP.
“Open it and see. If it’s a bad fit, we can send it back. Maybe exchange it for something…smaller.”
ZAP.
Ooww. Now the draxing thing was zapping him before he had a bad thought.
He reached tentatively towards the box.
“Phwaark”
Veren froze, his eyes shooting to Delmadi’s.
Delmadi smiled. Again. Only this time it was a different kind of smile. Almost wistful.
“Open it, V,” he urged softly.
Veren opened the box and gazed wordlessly down at the huddle of rainbow coloured feathers that sat within. The chicken cocked its head, eyeing him with a beady black eye. It fluffed its feathers.
“Phwaark”
“How?”
“I had someone go over your condo. There was a feather. Under the bed. That was all that was needed for the cloning. Do you like it?” There was a hopeful note in Delmadi’s voice.
Veren nodded. He couldn’t speak. He reached into the box and picked up the chicken, hugging it against his chest. The feathers brushed against his skin. “It must have cost a fortune,” he whispered.
“I’ve got more money than I know what to do with,” Delmadi said. “Why shouldn’t I spend some of it on someone I lo…” He cleared his throat. “On my friend. You are my friend, aren’t you V?”
Veren wasn’t exactly sure what he was to Imyrs Delmadi, but yes, at this particular moment, he did feel rather friendly towards him. The chicken pecked contentedly at one of Veren’s blonde curls.
He nodded.
Sometime later that night, Veren lay on the bed, Delmadi curled against his side with his head on his shoulder. His chicken nestled in his lap. He felt almost peaceful. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the most restful sleep he’d had in months…
Veren and Delmadi were fugitives. When Delmadi had killed Zezana, the heir to the Olobian galaxy and fled, taking Veren with him as his unwilling…friend, all the incredible resources of the Olobian’s were turned towards apprehending them. So far, they had been unsuccessful, but surely, thought Veren; it was just a matter of time. However, he had to admit, that being a fugitive in company with someone like Imyrs Delmadi wasn’t as uncomfortable as it might have been. Delmadi had the racari to ensure that they always travelled first class. He had the skills and the knowledge to keep their trail hidden.
This time he had brought them to Calyxo.
“This is my home planet,” Delmadi said.
“Oh?” said Veren politely. They had taken a flutter from the city and were gliding across the countryside. A patchwork of green and brown fields lay spread out below them. In the distance a river sparkled. Veren reached out a hand and hauled his chicken away from the edge of the flutter.
“Phwaark.”
He settled it comfortably in his lap. Delmadi smirked.
Dwemmersap.
zap.
It hadn’t really been a bad thought. More of an affectionate one. Drax it! Veren stared down at the fields below.
“Where are we going?”
“I have a job to do. It just happens that this job lives pretty close to where I was brought up. I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.”
“Phwaark.” Veren’s chicken fluffed its feathers angrily.
Delmadi grinned. “Sorry.” He leaned over Veren, pointing down to a cluster of buildings that lay to the east of them. “That’s my home, or at least it was once.” He sounded so sad that Veren had the strangest urge to comfort him. He stroked his chicken instead.
“It looks rather…primitive,” he said carefully. One had to be careful around Imyrs Delmadi. The smallest thing could set him off. However, Veren’s comment didn’t seem to bother him.
“They like to follow the ways of the ancients. It’s like a living museum. Wait until you see some of the farm machinery. There’s nothing like it in any of the seven galaxies.”
The flutter drifted down into a field. In the distance, a stout stone manor house could be seen, smoke drifting out of its many chimneys. Near the house a strange machine was chugging noisily across a field. Veren watched it for a time. He had never seen anything so…well, primitive.
“It’s called a tractor,” said Delmadi.
He turned and began to head in the opposite direction. Veren lifted his chicken to his shoulder and followed him.
“Where are we going?” he asked after Delmadi and he had been walking for some time. They had entered a wood of some type. Veren shivered. He had never been anywhere where there were actually…trees. Real trees.
“Phwaark.” He lifted his hand and soothed his nervous chicken.
“Not far,” said Delmadi. “Just here, in fact.”
Nestled in the wood lay a small hut. It too was made of stone with one precarious chimney sitting at one end. Delmadi pushed open the door and gestured for Veren to follow him in. It was neat and tidy with a bed against one wall and a table and several chairs grouped before an open fire place. Against another wall stood a sturdy cupboard. It was very…primitive.
“Make yourself at home,” said Delmadi. He sat in one of the chairs and reaching down, withdrew a knife from his boot. Despite having access to the technology and weapons of the seven galaxies, Delmadi had always preferred to use more old fashioned methods to perform his work. Seeing where he had come from, Veren began to realise why. Delmadi drew the knife across the ball of his thumb and grinned at the small line of blood that welled up where the blade had nicked his skin. He lifted his smoky, blue green eyes to Veren’s. Veren had always believed that those eyes were expensive implants. Now he wasn’t so sure.
“Are they real?” he blurted out. “Your eyes, I mean. Are they real?”
“Every part of me is real, V. I thought you might have worked that out for yourself by now.” Delmadi grinned. He placed the knife on the table and reached inside his coat pulling another wicked looking blade from a sheath that was strapped over his shoulder.
“What are we doing here, Imyrs?” Veren carefully set his chicken down on the floor of the hut. It promptly fluttered up onto the table and pecked at Delmadi’s knife, before sitting down and fluffing up its feathers. Delmadi ran his hand over its body, his eyes fixed on Veren’s.
ZAP.
That wasn’t a bad thought. That was a jealous thought. And Veren was uncomfortably aware that he wasn’t sure just who he was jealous of. Delmadi or the chicken.
“We’re here because I have to kill someone, V.” Delmadi’s hand kept up its rhythmic stroking.
ZAP.
ZAP.
ZAP.ZAP. ZAP.
“Who?” Veren said tightly.
Delmadi’s hand dropped away. He picked up his knife, examining his pretty face in its shiny blade.
“Why, my brother, of course.” He let the blade fall back to the table and stood up. “And soon. I have a lot of lost time to make up. I should have done this years ago.”
“Who is paying you to kill your own brother, for draxing sake?”
“I’m paying myself V. Every assassin deserves to treat themselves once in a while. This is my treat.” Veren shivered at the look on his face.
“Phwaark.”
Delmadi looked down at the chicken. “You know, I can’t quite decide whether I want to eat you or…” A wicked smile curled his lips. Veren snatched his chicken and hugged it to his chest.
“No,” said Delmadi huskily. “I definitely don’t want to eat you.” He was looking at Veren now. He gave Veren another lingering look as he moved to the door. “It’s almost dark. I’m going to have a look around. Reconnoitre. I’ll leave you two alone for a while. Relax. Spend some quality time together.” His smoky eyes were laughing at Veren as he spoke. “When I get back, maybe we can play a little game of our own?”
“What did you have in mind?” Veren said hoarsely.
“Oh I don’t know. You ever played ‘Pass the chicken’, V?”
“How do you play that?”
“We’ll make it up as we go along.”
Veren sank into a chair. Delmadi gave him one last grin as he left.
Drax it. What was that stranged out fangbitch up to?
ZAP.
Pass the chicken?
Well, if Veren was going to win that particular game he’d need to practice, wouldn’t he? He eyed the bed.
“Have you ever played ‘Pass the Chicken’?” he asked his chicken.
“Phwaark.”
The chicken left his lap and fluttered over to the bed where it sat, fluffing its multihued feathers in a most provocative way. Veren went and joined it. Maybe, just once, he could best the competitive Delmadi at something. Then he’d think about all the other strange events that were unfolding about him. But first…
Veren lay back on the bed, settling his chicken in his lap.
First he had to practice…
To be continued…if the fates allow.
PASS THE CHICKEN
(A Game for two or more players…)
Imyrs Delmadi did not react well to Hyperspeed. Veren could hear him being sick again. He rubbed absently at his wrist where his telenium steel dagger used to be implanted. Of course, there was no scar. Delmadi had enough racari to afford the best plastamed in the galaxy. The new synthiskin on his arm was flawless. Delmadi heaved again. Veren smiled. It gave him some satisfaction to know that all the racari in the universe couldn’t buy a cure for Hyperspeed sickness. Some things just had to be endured. Just as Veren had to endure being Delmadi’s …friend. His very good friend. As if in response to that thought, the sonic implant Delmadi had put into Veren’s head twanged painfully.
Bad thoughts about Imyrs Delmadi activated the implant which led to Veren experiencing varying degrees of pain, depending on just how bad those thoughts were. One time, when Veren had really let his feelings get out of control, the draxing thing had practically short circuited his brain. It was best, Veren had learnt, to cultivate a sort of blank acceptance, no matter what Delmadi did to him. Or made him do.
If he was truthful, there were actually one or two things that Veren hadn’t minded. Had even enjoyed. Sex with an android, for one thing. Delmadi hadn’t been exaggerating about the electric shocks. All the way up your…
There was a knock at the door. Veren waited for the robobut to answer it. Delmadi poked his dishevelled dark head out of the bathroom. He looked like crap.
I hope he pukes till he dies, the stranged out fangbitch, thought Veren.
The sonic implant set a zap of pain across his synapses. He tried to smother the groan that pressed against his lips.
Delmadi gave him a knowing smile. “What’s up, V? Got a headache?”
“No,” Veren ground out. “How about you? I hope you’re feeling better?”
Another sly smile slid across Delmadi’s handsome face.
“Much better. Almost back to my old self. Ready to play hard and party harder.”
Veren kept his face and his mind blank. Delmadi chucked him under the chin as he walked past. “Smile, V”, he whispered. “You’ll have me thinking you don’t want to play with me.”
Veren smiled. He was sure that if he could see his image in a flecta ,it would be a sickly sort of smile that looked back at him.
“Now, who could be at the door at this time of night? Always makes me nervous when uninvited guests turn up. We don’t want anyone interrupting us, do we?”
Actually, Veren would be more than happy, ecstatic in fact, for somebody, anybody, to interrupt whatever entertainment Delmadi had planned. Even if it was Hyperion himself, although how the cloned Gladiator could have tracked them down to this corner of the galaxy…well, he couldn’t have. Delmadi was smart. He wasn’t the deadliest assassin in the seven galaxies for nothing. Once he covered a track, it stayed covered.
“I’ll go and see who it is. You wait here.”
Veren wandered to the window and gazed out. The night sky of Calyxo was ablaze with purple lights. The phenomenon known as Calyxo’s Corona was a sight that visitors from across the seven galaxies travelled light years to see.
The door behind him opened and Delmadi walked back into the bedroom, carrying a large plastibox. He grinned at Veren. Delmadi was always smiling. He knew every variation of the smile that there was and none of them ever seemed to indicate happiness. This particular variation was one that Veren always found unnerving. It meant that Delmadi had some sort of mischief in mind. Mischief that invariably involved Veren. He eyed Delmadi and his box with some trepidation.
“I got you a present.”
“Oh?” said Veren without much enthusiasm. He’d had experience with Delmadi’s presents in the past. Not even synthiskin could cover all the scars…Delmadi set the box down in the middle of the bed.
“Go on. Open it.”
Veren approached the bed. He swallowed nervously. “Will it hurt me?”
Delmadi caressed Veren’s face. “What makes you think I would give you something that would hurt you, Veren?”
“Oh, I don’t know. The words Irridian razorcat spring to mind. That was a fun present, Imyrs. Or, how about the Empassian Electro Eel? The Moryion stinkowl?”
“I thought you’d like a new pet, V. I know how you miss your chicken.”
Veren sucked in a breath, trying to ignore the memory of feathers tickling his abdomen. His…
“My chicken didn’t cause life threatening injuries.”
Delmadi flopped onto the bed. He was smiling again. Variation number 25, thought Veren. Stranged out fangbitch…
ZAP.
Veren emptied his mind of bad thoughts.
“You sure that chicken didn’t do you some damage, V?” Delmadi smirked. “Only, I’ve seen what’s down there…”
“What’s in the box?” said Veren curtly. Vorlunt dwemmersap!
ZAP.
“Open it and see. If it’s a bad fit, we can send it back. Maybe exchange it for something…smaller.”
ZAP.
Ooww. Now the draxing thing was zapping him before he had a bad thought.
He reached tentatively towards the box.
“Phwaark”
Veren froze, his eyes shooting to Delmadi’s.
Delmadi smiled. Again. Only this time it was a different kind of smile. Almost wistful.
“Open it, V,” he urged softly.
Veren opened the box and gazed wordlessly down at the huddle of rainbow coloured feathers that sat within. The chicken cocked its head, eyeing him with a beady black eye. It fluffed its feathers.
“Phwaark”
“How?”
“I had someone go over your condo. There was a feather. Under the bed. That was all that was needed for the cloning. Do you like it?” There was a hopeful note in Delmadi’s voice.
Veren nodded. He couldn’t speak. He reached into the box and picked up the chicken, hugging it against his chest. The feathers brushed against his skin. “It must have cost a fortune,” he whispered.
“I’ve got more money than I know what to do with,” Delmadi said. “Why shouldn’t I spend some of it on someone I lo…” He cleared his throat. “On my friend. You are my friend, aren’t you V?”
Veren wasn’t exactly sure what he was to Imyrs Delmadi, but yes, at this particular moment, he did feel rather friendly towards him. The chicken pecked contentedly at one of Veren’s blonde curls.
He nodded.
Sometime later that night, Veren lay on the bed, Delmadi curled against his side with his head on his shoulder. His chicken nestled in his lap. He felt almost peaceful. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the most restful sleep he’d had in months…
Veren and Delmadi were fugitives. When Delmadi had killed Zezana, the heir to the Olobian galaxy and fled, taking Veren with him as his unwilling…friend, all the incredible resources of the Olobian’s were turned towards apprehending them. So far, they had been unsuccessful, but surely, thought Veren; it was just a matter of time. However, he had to admit, that being a fugitive in company with someone like Imyrs Delmadi wasn’t as uncomfortable as it might have been. Delmadi had the racari to ensure that they always travelled first class. He had the skills and the knowledge to keep their trail hidden.
This time he had brought them to Calyxo.
“This is my home planet,” Delmadi said.
“Oh?” said Veren politely. They had taken a flutter from the city and were gliding across the countryside. A patchwork of green and brown fields lay spread out below them. In the distance a river sparkled. Veren reached out a hand and hauled his chicken away from the edge of the flutter.
“Phwaark.”
He settled it comfortably in his lap. Delmadi smirked.
Dwemmersap.
zap.
It hadn’t really been a bad thought. More of an affectionate one. Drax it! Veren stared down at the fields below.
“Where are we going?”
“I have a job to do. It just happens that this job lives pretty close to where I was brought up. I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.”
“Phwaark.” Veren’s chicken fluffed its feathers angrily.
Delmadi grinned. “Sorry.” He leaned over Veren, pointing down to a cluster of buildings that lay to the east of them. “That’s my home, or at least it was once.” He sounded so sad that Veren had the strangest urge to comfort him. He stroked his chicken instead.
“It looks rather…primitive,” he said carefully. One had to be careful around Imyrs Delmadi. The smallest thing could set him off. However, Veren’s comment didn’t seem to bother him.
“They like to follow the ways of the ancients. It’s like a living museum. Wait until you see some of the farm machinery. There’s nothing like it in any of the seven galaxies.”
The flutter drifted down into a field. In the distance, a stout stone manor house could be seen, smoke drifting out of its many chimneys. Near the house a strange machine was chugging noisily across a field. Veren watched it for a time. He had never seen anything so…well, primitive.
“It’s called a tractor,” said Delmadi.
He turned and began to head in the opposite direction. Veren lifted his chicken to his shoulder and followed him.
“Where are we going?” he asked after Delmadi and he had been walking for some time. They had entered a wood of some type. Veren shivered. He had never been anywhere where there were actually…trees. Real trees.
“Phwaark.” He lifted his hand and soothed his nervous chicken.
“Not far,” said Delmadi. “Just here, in fact.”
Nestled in the wood lay a small hut. It too was made of stone with one precarious chimney sitting at one end. Delmadi pushed open the door and gestured for Veren to follow him in. It was neat and tidy with a bed against one wall and a table and several chairs grouped before an open fire place. Against another wall stood a sturdy cupboard. It was very…primitive.
“Make yourself at home,” said Delmadi. He sat in one of the chairs and reaching down, withdrew a knife from his boot. Despite having access to the technology and weapons of the seven galaxies, Delmadi had always preferred to use more old fashioned methods to perform his work. Seeing where he had come from, Veren began to realise why. Delmadi drew the knife across the ball of his thumb and grinned at the small line of blood that welled up where the blade had nicked his skin. He lifted his smoky, blue green eyes to Veren’s. Veren had always believed that those eyes were expensive implants. Now he wasn’t so sure.
“Are they real?” he blurted out. “Your eyes, I mean. Are they real?”
“Every part of me is real, V. I thought you might have worked that out for yourself by now.” Delmadi grinned. He placed the knife on the table and reached inside his coat pulling another wicked looking blade from a sheath that was strapped over his shoulder.
“What are we doing here, Imyrs?” Veren carefully set his chicken down on the floor of the hut. It promptly fluttered up onto the table and pecked at Delmadi’s knife, before sitting down and fluffing up its feathers. Delmadi ran his hand over its body, his eyes fixed on Veren’s.
ZAP.
That wasn’t a bad thought. That was a jealous thought. And Veren was uncomfortably aware that he wasn’t sure just who he was jealous of. Delmadi or the chicken.
“We’re here because I have to kill someone, V.” Delmadi’s hand kept up its rhythmic stroking.
ZAP.
ZAP.
ZAP.ZAP. ZAP.
“Who?” Veren said tightly.
Delmadi’s hand dropped away. He picked up his knife, examining his pretty face in its shiny blade.
“Why, my brother, of course.” He let the blade fall back to the table and stood up. “And soon. I have a lot of lost time to make up. I should have done this years ago.”
“Who is paying you to kill your own brother, for draxing sake?”
“I’m paying myself V. Every assassin deserves to treat themselves once in a while. This is my treat.” Veren shivered at the look on his face.
“Phwaark.”
Delmadi looked down at the chicken. “You know, I can’t quite decide whether I want to eat you or…” A wicked smile curled his lips. Veren snatched his chicken and hugged it to his chest.
“No,” said Delmadi huskily. “I definitely don’t want to eat you.” He was looking at Veren now. He gave Veren another lingering look as he moved to the door. “It’s almost dark. I’m going to have a look around. Reconnoitre. I’ll leave you two alone for a while. Relax. Spend some quality time together.” His smoky eyes were laughing at Veren as he spoke. “When I get back, maybe we can play a little game of our own?”
“What did you have in mind?” Veren said hoarsely.
“Oh I don’t know. You ever played ‘Pass the chicken’, V?”
“How do you play that?”
“We’ll make it up as we go along.”
Veren sank into a chair. Delmadi gave him one last grin as he left.
Drax it. What was that stranged out fangbitch up to?
ZAP.
Pass the chicken?
Well, if Veren was going to win that particular game he’d need to practice, wouldn’t he? He eyed the bed.
“Have you ever played ‘Pass the Chicken’?” he asked his chicken.
“Phwaark.”
The chicken left his lap and fluttered over to the bed where it sat, fluffing its multihued feathers in a most provocative way. Veren went and joined it. Maybe, just once, he could best the competitive Delmadi at something. Then he’d think about all the other strange events that were unfolding about him. But first…
Veren lay back on the bed, settling his chicken in his lap.
First he had to practice…
To be continued…if the fates allow.
