From Shattered Stars: Book Four of the epic military science fiction series. by Venture R. Curtis

Author:Venture, R. Curtis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: R. Curtis Venture
Published: 2017-06-02T00:00:00+00:00

Kan’s actual birthday was consigned to the past, thanks to some very inflexible scheduling decisions made by the comptroller of the Resourcing Bureau, but they had agreed ahead of time that they would celebrate it tomorrow instead. The twentieth day of August, in the year 3719 by the Earth Legacy Calendar, would now be Kan’s official-unofficial birthday. It would be the Kan and Bruised day of Celebration.

Bruised.

Making the switch when Kan visited had become less jarring. He no longer even cared if it caused looks of puzzlement amongst his friends and peers. What mattered was that Kan was here, and she was happy.

“Look at you, you big stud,” said Kan.

Bruised turned this way and that, showing off his uniform and doing his best to give her a look that could in some small way be described as smouldering. Having no lips, he had not yet managed to pull off pouting. But he had seen humans doing this body movement and the associated head positioning, during the regular programming on the common house holo-screen, and he had gathered that it was how one made what they called ‘an impression’.

She appeared to be impressed.

“What happens if there’s a shedding? While you’re on duty?”

“Depends how hot I am.”

“I see.” She giggled. “Quite hot, I should say. And what exactly made you join civic security?”

“The hunting ended when the town began to grow,” he said. “The animals were ranging far away, and nobody these days wants things like kurimeng on their plates anyway. Tourists hate that.”

“I know that part. You told me that two trips ago. I thought you were working the doors now?”

“Oh. Yes. That was soul-destroying,” said Bruised. “The things people will say to get inside. Always the same nonsense. And as soon as it gets dark, you put yourself at serious risk if you expect to keep the peace in a common house.”

“I don’t see any new scars,” Kan said. “I take it that job didn’t last long?”

“Not so much. I was a builder for a long time.”

“Ah, nice. Taking after your old mate Kan. Bit of a change in direction, but then you always were adaptable.”

“It was good work for a while, but it got… depressing.”

Kan’s face told him she was not convinced with her link’s translation.

“Not the sort of word I would expect to hear from you.”

“Building those apartments and restaurants and transit stops for the tourists, instead of repairing dwellings and maintaining the sunshe-bowers. That made me feel like I was leaving the old town to fall apart.”

“I sort of feel like I helped that happen.”

“You did not decide that mini-port was to be built here.”

“I guess not.”

“But what about you, Kan? You are no longer in the Engineering Corps?”

“About three solars ago I decided it was time to get out. This fringe colony out in the Deep Shadows went geo-toxic. Terrible mess apparently. Everyone died.”

“That is very sad,” said Bruised. “How did that happen?”

“Nobody seems to know the exact reason. They weren’t state-sanctioned, more a kind of rogue operation really.

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