This one is so old I had to fix the dates. It was also written before 9/11 (I believe), when we were all more cavalier about terrorists and buildings and whatnot. I myself don’t know how insouciant I’d be on the subject if I was writing it today, and I kind of resent that.
A Real Friend
There’s a bit of a problem. To be specific, there are lots of bits of about eight or so problems.
You see, about eighty five years or so there was a bit of a firefight in a construction area. It was one of those fun, zany little adventures that was fraught with enormous weight at the time — the Destiny/Fate of nations hanging on a thread, the future of humanity itself at stake, the usual stuff — but is not currently noteworthy except as the metaphysical equivalent of a Trivial Pursuit question. Indeed, it wouldn’t even be that if it weren’t for the fact that the event spawned a minor record: ‘most Vessel replacements made during a single combat lasting less than twenty minutes’ (thirteen).
The holder of this record is Vern, a Malakite of Trade who happens to have extraordinarily good contacts among his Word’s logistics organization. That night, he needed them: he kept getting shot out of his vessel by an incredibly obnoxious piece of Vaputech, and the usual Malakite rapid-response teams were busy putting out other fires, so he kept grabbing spare vessels and jumping back into the fight. Well, eventually Heaven was victorious, the demons defeated, dead or fled and Vern and his allies had won the day.