Descended from Darkness: Apex Magazine Vol I by Anthology

Author:Anthology [Anthology]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Science Fiction, Short Stories, +IPAD, +UNCHECKED
Publisher: Apex Publications
Published: 2011-07-04T06:28:09+00:00

Starter House

Jason Palmer

Dale looked up through the ribbed Lucite dome of Asteroid Cintas II, his eyes lit from within by thoughts of a bright future. “I never imagined,” he said, “I’d own a purebred house.”

Pam locked her eyes on his. “I knew you would. I knew we would. This makes it all worth it.”

They kissed.

A forklift driver smiled at them as he passed, trundling a giant spool of wire through corridors of stacked feedbags. He disappeared into the high dark bay of the feedlot.

Dale and Pam shivered with excitement when a giant discomfited humph came from the bay. They smiled into each other’s eyes. “Do you think they’re working on ours?” she said.

Dale waited a loaded moment to answer, slowly, “I think so. I think so.”

Someone said, “Y’all got that male?”

A salesman.

“Yes,” said Dale, cradling Pam’s waist. “We want a little independence.”

The salesman came around a stack of grain bags. “Can’t say I blame you. People buy females, they know the payoff for breeding is good, but some don’t realize it’s a long road. These ain’t chickens.” He stuck out his hand. “I’m Stu Armstrong.”

They shook. Armstrong tipped his hat at Pam, and then another massive humph beyond the lighted part of the warehouse made him look up. “Uh-oh,” he said, grinning, “I think they’ve started on your boy.”

They all looked at each other in suspense.

Armstrong said, “What say we go and watch them wire him up?”

Pam clapped her hands in excitement, and they crossed the warehouse to stand in the entrance to the vast dim bay. Beyond the boundary of the bonecrete floor and overhead lights, the soaring dome gave perspective to the universe.

There was a vast hiss from pressurization and a thickening of the hair smell of B vitamins.

Dale and Pam held hands while a gantry with bubble tires entered from the vacuum plains outside. Upon it stood something pink, bipedal, and male, forty feet tall. A humanoid, mongoloid mountain that looked one quarter armadillo.

Armstrong waved to some of the workmen, signaling Customer here! and a few waved back.

The giant standing on the gantry didn’t move except to chew, rolling cud lazily in its mouth. It had a hayseed sort of look except for the bulging forehead. The workmen used long gaff hooks to bring it baying down into a painful crouch, then held the hooks firmly until it adjusted. It began chewing again, although its big human eyes looked wild.

Dale and Pam watched in fascination. Armstrong observed them. “Yep,” he said, “purebred, perfect health, and one hundred percent aye-daptated. One big atmosphere suit for the family.”

The slow workmen barked at one another, throwing loops of wire over the creature and catching them on the other side. A steel cable went over the back of the neck, keeping it bowed down. Tight loops bound the ankles to the thighs and the arms to the wrists like chicken wings, and it made Dale vaguely hungry. He glanced at Pam wondering if she shared the thought, but her face was that of a little girl filled with wonder and happiness.

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