IGMS - Issue 14 by IGMS

Author:IGMS
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Hatrack River Enterprises
Published: 2009-08-31T16:00:00+00:00

Hunting Lodge

by Jon C. Crusoe

Artwork by Walter Simon

Someone had filched an eye from the human head mounted over the bar. Bertram Foss sighed as he dragged over a stepladder to replace the missing orb. He only had one more human eye in the storeroom. The eyes in the ursoid head were the ones that were usually stolen as souvenirs and he had plenty of those.

He climbed the ladder and rummaged in his pocket for the round piece of glass. I'd better order some more tomorrow, he thought as he slipped the orb into the socket.

"Hail, O mighty, but bald, hunter," rumbled a voice from the door.

Bertram didn't need to turn to know who it was. "Hail back at you, you walking rug," he replied.

He climbed down and limped across the room to touch his hand to the paw of what appeared to be a larger than normal Kodiak bear. "How's it going, Berak?"

"The shoulder still bothers me. I see that you're still limping."

Bertram flexed his leg and winced. "The docs say that it's permanent from the way you clawed the muscles up. I guess we've both got something to remember our last hunt by."

The human filled a bucket-sized mug from the elevated beer tap and used both hands to push it across to the bear. He filled a glass for himself and raised it as he said, "Here's to another season."

Berak raised his mug and answered, "To helping evolution along." He pointed up at the heads over the bar and asked, "Lose another eye?"

"From the human head this time. Must have been one of your early arrivals."

The bear nodded. "There are a few of them that I'm a little worried about, but I'll fill them in on proper behavior tomorrow."

Bertram filled his glass again and pointed at Berak's mug. The other shook his head, so Bertram took a sip and said, "I have a couple of newbies too. I'll get them straightened out before I let them into the field."

"Good enough," answered Berak as he headed for the door. "Thanks for the beer, and I'll see you in the morning."

The day's transports began arriving early the next morning. Hunters filed out, carrying their equipment as they talked and joked with each other. Most of them had been at the lodge before, but as always, there were a few new faces in the opening day crowd.

One hunter stood out from the rest of the humans. Geraldine Murphy had been on Eden before. She stood at the top of the transporter ramp and looked over the lodge like a queen surveying her domain.

Bertram smiled at the thought. The comparison wasn't far wrong. Miss Murphy, as she insisted everyone call her, insisted on strict formality at the lodge, even with close friends. Since she had started coming, she had never failed to take home a trophy.

She strode down the ramp, her maid hurrying to keep up, and made her way to the registration table. Bertram had a sheet of paper and a key card waiting.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.