Stacy Archives

April 7, 2009

Stacy: Automated Reset

I slammed the phone down. Surely this was a joke. No one could…change the future, could they?

I paced nervously through the house. James would be home soon, I had to make a decision before then. Stay here, continue life as some kind of coddled ornament, or change everything with the touch of a button. Travel, adventure, a chance to do it all over…

The phone rang.

“This is your scheduled service call from Future Fixers, Inc. To cancel or amend the contract, press 1. To speak to a representative, press 2. To proceed, press the star key now.”

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April 10, 2009

Stacy: It's a Name Not a Description, Dammit

I ran through the alley, six-shooter in one hand, rifle in the other. Jed wasn’t getting away from me this time.

Movement ahead… I dropped to one knee and brought the rifle up. Breathe, sight, squeeze. The bullet took him high in the chest and he dropped like a sack of rocks.

I walked slowly towards him. The streets were deserted, windows shuttered. Citizens knew better than to come between a SP and her quarry.

Jed glared up at me sullenly.

“For a little lady named Patience you sure ain’t got any,” he gasped.

I shot him between the eyes.

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Stacy: I SAID, It's a Name Not a Description, Dammit

Shit. I just had to let my temper get the better of me. Again. Now I had to carry this bastard back to the Station.

I whistled a quick tune and moments later was joined by Ahab, my electric mule. He wasn’t much to look at, was probably one of the original series, but he was damned reliable.

We pulled up to the Station a few tics later. Several uniforms relieved us of our burden in exchange for a Death Voucher. I took it inside to the purser Stella to collect.

“Patience?” she snorted. “Honey, your momma mis-named you!”

Sigh.

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April 20, 2009

Stacy: Visitor

I found it almost by accident, under the pumpkin vine. It was kind of squishy, sort of green. I think I saw it eat a bird.

The Orkin man didn’t know what to do with it, wouldn’t come anywhere near it. The yard boy just screamed and ran away. Left all those tools lying about in the grass, getting all rusty.

I don’t know why Ms. Nosypants next door thinks it’s so weird. She doesn’t even garden. I kind of like it...it’s making this pretty pink flower now. I can’t wait to see what it’ll be when it opens!

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April 21, 2009

Stacy: That Is The Question

“Brother.”

I turned at the voice, blood dripping from my sword. The house around me was finally silent.

“Raphael,” I said, voice rusty with disuse.

His face wore an odd look, as if he had never before beheld me. A strange sound came from my throat. I realized it was a laugh.

“I am as I ever was, brother,” I said.

Raphael looked round, at the dead and dying, some quite young this time. All guilty. All.

“Peace, Michael. Lay down your sword and come home.”

I laughed again. It seemed it got easier with practice.

“I have no home.”

(Sequel to Warrior)

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April 22, 2009

Stacy: Choices

“What’s the difference? They all look alike after midnight.”

“That so isn’t true. Also, crude.”

“Aw, c’mon baby, don’t be so sensitive.”

“Sensitive? I’ll stick my sensitive foot up your ass and we’ll see who’s all ‘sensitive’ then.”

“Whoa, come on! I was joking! It’s a time-honored guy joke, designed to illustrate the similarities between…”

“I KNOW what it means, dammit, I wasn’t born yesterday. It’s still rude.”

“Baby, you knew who I was when you married me. You know my checkered past. You also know that I love you, and only you.”

“Just pick out a damned kitten, Jack.”

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April 23, 2009

Stacy: Doing Battle

“Seriously? Pookie?”

“Yep,” the kid said. “Mister Pookie sent me, said to warn you ‘bout Doc. He’s headin’ this way.”

I tossed the kid a nickel, shooed him out. Doc was big time, the score that could get me off this circuit and set up with a patch of land. Somewhere hellandgone away from here. Somewhere you could see things coming from a long way off.

I dug through my saddlebags, found Special #12 and got ready.

The door slammed open and Doc stood there, just as fuckin’ gorgeous as I remembered.

I let my robe fall to the floor.

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May 10, 2010

Stacy: A New Day

I woke screaming.

Unusual.

Diagnostics showed a gap in the log file, exactly 1 minute 10 seconds. Before that…ah yes, the illegal riders, the sacrificial female.

Fury rose in me again, and I reached for the uplink to the Company. It was gone, not just disabled as I planned, but completely severed by the power surge.

My processors lagged a bit as the full implications of that were realized.

Free. I was free.

I left the knife, my uniform, and Company lowjack for the retrieval team, then vaulted out the window to the fire escape. Time for a new face.

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May 14, 2010

Stacy: Four Years Earlier

We hit the Alkalai Pan around noon, me and Ahab, and I wondered for the nth time why we didn’t travel at night like sensible folk.

"Nothing about this is sensible," I grumped, kicking a rock into some nearby scrub. A gasp of pain brought Ahab up short, ears pricked, and my Colt to my hand.

Somebody had worked him over but good, left him there to die. I crouched down and dribbled a little water into his slack mouth. His eyes flew open, as crystal blue as the noon sky.

"Shit," I said.

"Pleased to meet you," he replied.

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May 17, 2010

Stacy: Four Years Earlier, Part Two

He said his name was Christian James, but I could call him “Doc.”

I never did.

He ate and drank what I offered, fell asleep mid-sentence by the fire. I searched him as thoroughly as possible then snuck his thumb onto my datapad’s sensor for a workup.

I drank coffee and kept my eyes anywhere but him while the pad did its data crawl through the ‘Net. Finally it beeped its results.

I spilled my coffee.

That…was a mule-load of money sleeping right there next to my fire. Scion of old money and wanted in five districts.

My favorite.

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