Japan’s getting theirs tomorrow — well, today. Time zones, and all that. But I want the GODZILLA MINUS ONE version I can watch on my computer, darn it. It was an awesome movie, and I want to watch it again to catch anything I might have missed the first time.
Oh, well. At least I hear that THE FALL GUY is good.
Oopsie!
When he got to the front, Michael had likewise already climbed down from his wagon, and was talking to somebody that looked maybe familiar? It was hard to tell in the gloom and the torches. Michael jerked his head at Gregor, and said, “That the man?”
“Yeah. Yeah, it is.” The other man fumbled in his belt pouch, his staring eyes locked on Gregor’s. “You have to take this back, you basta… Traveler. You take it back right now.”
Gregor blinked at the sudden flash of gold in the lantern-light; it took him a moment to realize it was that tree amulet he had given up yesterday. That meant… “Oh, yes, you’re that guard!”
The guard grimaced. “Yeah, good eye, you see far, now take the da… the thing.” He held it forward.
“Ah,” Gregor hesitated, holding his hands up. “I did say that it had no powers or virtues that I knew of, sir. If it has proved to be possessed of anything inimical, I assure you that it was not by my will…”
“What? No!” The guard swallowed, once. “It’s not cursed. You hear me say that it’s not cursed, right? But it turns out… there was a mixup, see? You shouldn’t have had to hand it over.” The guard wiped sweat off his forehead. “Sorry about that.”
…Sorry about that: we had a glitch with a Tweet earlier, and I wanted to see if it got resolved. It’s been that kind of day, frankly. (And I might as well test other stuff, now that I have the post up.)
https://ko-fi.com/moelane/goal?g=0 (Okay, that didn’t work right.)
Allergies finally decided to kick in; and when they did, they kicked like a mule. I hope it rains soon.
Door!
Reither made the ‘nodding’ gesture; behind her, the Euros and Luxborough Squad both relaxed from their sudden state of alertness. If she noticed, the lieutenant didn’t let on as she examined the door. “I have found the opening mechanism, sir,” she announced. “Waiting on your orders.”
“You need to report in to General Bruno for anything?” She made the ‘no’ gesture. “And I’m here, so let me send group telemetry, and then we go in?”
Good luck, Commander. Asenath didn’t ‘sound’ thrilled that he was about to go out of radio range; then again, neither was he. Is there anything you would like me to check?
Yes, actually. See if you can find out anything more about Reithner. If Bruno’s using her for this job, either she’s important, or she’s expendable. I’m curious which one.
Very well. Asenath paused. But… what practical use will that information be for you, at this point?
That was a great question. Tobias wished she hadn’t asked it.
I’m having Backerkit check over my Pledge Manager: once that’s done, surveys will go out. Also – and sorry if you’ve already signed up for it; my brain is Swiss cheese right now – if you were interested in being a beta reader, drop me a line. I’ll be getting the stories out to the editor by the end of the month, so we’re talking quick turnaround here.
Turns out I have to add a few words, hither and yon. This came out all right, I thought.
The Virginians hadn’t been idle, though. From the scrying reports, the opposing army had been busily setting up defensive positions, just outside of easy fireball range. From the way Plaguebreath swore about it, they knew what they were doing, too. “It’s the damned Hersheyans,” his master told him while the two of them were on monster-fitting duty. “Those Free Staters, too. They’re both keeping the Ginnies supplied.”
“That’s stupid, master,” Jackdaw replied. “We told both mongrel realms to mind their own business while we collected our due. They should have took the hint.”
Plaguebreath snorted, flicked his fingers, and suddenly the room was faintly humming. “What’s your opinion now?” he asked Jackdaw.
“Well, it’s still stupid.” Jackdaw frowned. “Or, wait, master, do I not have enough information?”
“There we go. And no, you do not. The Virginians were supposed to take the hint, too. We made it clear that this isn’t an invading army, it’s a hunting party. No formal tribute, no reparations, nothing but the corpse of the Great Wyrm. The expectation was that our mercy and forbearance would keep any pesky armies out of the way. Instead, the Virginians sent their own army to resist us. They want to fight.”
Jackdaw almost said something sycophantic, but then he remembered that there was a scryguard up. Instead he asked, “Why, master?”
“Wrong question,” Plaguebreath replied, but with a faint smile. “Everybody wants to fight us. It’s close, though. The real question is, Why do the Virginians think they can get away with it?”
‘Sufficiently Developed Technology’ assumes that nobody else would develop purely mechanistic ways to mess around with the universe, which admittedly seems very low-probability. Then again, how do we know it’s low-probability? When it comes to sapient species development, we’re dealing with one heck of a small sample size.
