The Dark Fantastic by Gorman Ed
Author:Gorman, Ed [Gorman, Ed]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781628157307
Publisher: Speaking Volumes
Published: 2017-07-17T21:00:00+00:00
2
Major Kenneth Davidson wasnât going to die.
Ever since the security team from the space program had shot him, two weeks before, heâd lived with the assumption that he was dying.
He was back in business, his laser pistol filling his right hand as he made his way through the heavy undergrowth.
But two weeks before...
* * *
The charge had entered his left shoulder and had spread poison throughout his body. He had been following a tip from one of the villagers about a strange concrete block building in the steamy overgrown lowlands... and then, hearing something behind him, heâd turned to see two Americans in the buff blue uniforms of the Space Corps fire on him with laser rifles.
He was never sure who had dragged him away to safety. A few days later, his fever having broken, his delirium having quieted, he woke alone in a small tin shack, where some kind of stew was boiling in a kettle over an open fire.
The wound had been cleaned and treated and wrapped in faded but clean cotton.
He made the mistake of trying to stand, landing on his face for his trouble, hitting his nose against the dirt floor sharply enough to draw blood.
A few hours later, just at dusk, heâd rallied sufficiently to try standing again.
This time he made it to the door of the shack and looked out.
In a foggy valley below, on a dirt road as twisted as a coiling snake, he saw women with heavy burdens of firewood strapped to their backs. Behind them came a shepherd boy with his goats.
Even at this distance, he could recognize the peopleâs race: Mixtec, the crossbreed of Mexican and Indians indigenous to this region.
But who had cleaned his wound?
He soon lost strength and went back to his blankets on the dirt floor, next to the fire and the boiling stew.
He drifted into a troubled sleep. When he awoke again, the door was filled with blue sky and green leafy trees. Gone was dusk, and fog.
âMy friend the Americano,â said a male voice somewhere behind him.
He stood up and walked over so Davidson could see him without moving.
The man was older, in his sixties perhaps, with one of those tanned leathery faces that assume the shape and texture of mask. He wore a vast straw sombrero, a festive red shirt, and dirty jeans. He smoked hand-rolled cigarettes that were so crooked Davidson was impressed that smoke could even pass through them.
âI had the dream again, my friend.â
The dream? Who was this man and what was he talking about?
The man smiled. âYou are confused, eh?â
âYes. Iâm afraid I am.â
âIâm the man who helped you with your wounds.â
âYou saved my life.â
âPerhaps. But we should not make too much of it. I was raised by nuns. They taught me things about medicine. There was a war going onâover land or something equally silly, I forgetâand so they showed me how to treat wounds.â
âBut laser woundsââ
âEven laser wounds. The nuns knew their medicine.â
Davidson pushed himself to a sitting position.
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