The Final Season: Planet Gallywood #1 by Gillsmith Andrew

Author:Gillsmith, Andrew
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mar Thoma Publishing
Published: 2023-01-08T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

I have wondered, at times, if God employs secret agents behind enemy lines. Perhaps in the deepest circles of Hell there are holy angels toiling away in disguise, collecting intelligence to send up to Heaven and, from time to time, easing the suffering of the damned while the Devil is distracted.

If so, Rufus Camford would almost certainly be one of them.

For decades, he had toiled away in the muck and filth, breathed the noisome air that poisons the soul, and moved among the worst specimens of sentient life to be found anywhere in the known universe. In short, he had lived and worked in Gallywood.

And yet, no one had a bad word to say about the man. He did people favors without expecting recompense. He never indulged in gossip or associated himself with any of the odious whisper campaigns that had brought down so many giants of the industry. No one could recall him ever attending an orgy or participating in the dark rites that bound virtually everyone in Gallywood to one another. He treated everyone with respect, from the valet parkers on the studio lot to disgraced A-listers whose careers needed mending. Most remarkably, he was even kind to writers.

Even more extraordinarily, for a Gallywood mogul, he was humble, always deflecting compliments towards his subordinates with a folksy aphorism of some kind.

As such, Betty Neezquaff hated him with the burning heat of a thousand suns.

I do not know if Camford was even aware of this, but if he was, it certainly didn’t trouble him. On the contrary, I imagine he offered silent prayers for Betty’s immortal soul, which, had she known of them, would only have added fuel to the fire of her enmity.

On this particular morning, Camford was conducting a meeting with the marketing team for Star Attack when his assistant interrupted him.

“Mr. Camford. Sorry to interrupt, but Ms. Neezquaff is here. She says it is of the utmost importance that she speaks with you.”

Sitting in the reception area, Betty Neezquaff imagined herself the living embodiment of the Death Moon, a dreadful weapon devised by the emperor, capable of wiping out entire planets in a single blast and leaving behind nothing but a floating field of debris by way of evidence.

To heighten dramatic tension, the Star Attack movies always showed the Death Moon slowly maneuvering into position so that it could get a clear line of fire on the unsuspecting planet it was about to destroy. This also had the benefit of giving the good guys a window of opportunity in which to come up with a last-ditch plan, which almost always involved blowing up the Death Moon in the nick of time. This annoyed the emperor greatly, and he usually responded by building yet another, even larger, Death Moon for the next installment.

At any rate, this was not the day to fire the main weapon. This was a day for moving into position.

The marketing shmoes smiled nervously as they passed Neezquaff, and Camford’s assistant gave her the green light to enter his office.

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