And a Madman Mumbled by H. David Blalock

Author:H. David Blalock
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: pulp fiction, new pulp
Publisher: Pro Se Press

THE LAST DRIVE

—:—

Jack Walker tilted his headgear against the glare of the evening sun. The morning sun was just setting and the adjustment always took a few moments for him. He may have been born on Rigel III, but he was still human and his physiognomy was adapted to a single sun. It would be generations before the colonists could consider themselves native and it was his and his men’s job to ensure the infant settlement survived the coming dark time.

Rigel III had an extended growing season because of the dual suns, but when the slow rotation took the colony into the dark season it would be hard to keep the gains they’d made. Another reason to make sure his herd made it to market soon. Weather kept him from starting long past time and, though his crops benefitted from the extra moisture, the herd had grown overlarge. He didn’t want to just kill off the surplus when it was so much more profitable to sell it.

“It’ll be dark soon,” his foreman, Chuck Letterman, remarked. “Not sure exactly how long we have left.”

Walker cranked his ATV. Its engine hummed quietly at his urging. “However much will have to do,” he replied. “Too late to turn back, and got too much invested.”

Letterman looked out over the herd. “Four hundred years, fifteen colonies, two interplanetary wars, and we’re still herding cattle.” He shook his head. “The more things change…”

“People gotta eat, and synthetics never caught on.”

“Synthetics!” Letterman spat. “Tasteless crap.”

“Exactly.” Walker pushed the headgear shield down. The evening sun’s light, already ruddy, grew duskier. “Let’s get back to it.”

Letterman kicked his own ATV into low gear and rattled away across the uneven ground. Walker headed off to his foreman’s left, toward the head of the herd.

Rigel III’s terrain was similar to old Earth’s in many ways, although the double suns tended to make the ground drier and dustier. Rainstorms seldom amounted to much more than a shower when they did occur, so the crops that flourished were close kin to cacti hybrids. Farmers spent most of the season helping the crops pollinate, so the space jockeys—the ones who traveled between the colonies—called them “bees”. A particularly good-looking farmer’s daughter would inevitably be called a “honeybee,” but never where a farmer might hear.

The cattle ranchers were the hardiest colonists. Men like Walker had to tend the herds and their supporting farms as well. It was impossible to maintain large herds because of the land’s inability to produce enough feed, so cattle ranchers depended on synthetics to make up the difference. Synthetic feed was produced by two large plants located in the colony’s main settlement, Dentown. During the dark time, the plants ran continuously, providing food for colonists and herds alike. Ranchers lucky enough to have surplus could exchange it for updated equipment, seed, and other supplies. Walker hoped to trade his for one of the portable synthetic processors newly arrived from old Earth. With that, he could support a larger ranch, a bigger farm, and more hands.

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