The Courier - Story thread

[dogscoff]

OK, here is the first of my "courier" stories. It's set in the O&C universe (maybe I'll do a crossover one day=-) and it's basically a load of tall stories from an interstellar courier.

I want to give him a really cool sci-fi ish name that reflects his overall character, but I can't think of one. Suggestions welcome.

Granny Cookies

[Puke]

great stuff, as always.

[dogscoff]

*Bump* The Last half-dozen Posts in the Othaglot & Cane thread belong in here.

Here's the next Courier story:

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Hey, what�s this planet called? Right. Well, you got any human drinks here? OK, let me have one of those and start me a tab, I�ll pay later. So buddy, what team you backin� this year? Whaddya mean, what sport? Haven�t you even heard of dyson hockey out here? Oh come on� it�s the best sport there is. You got two teams on the inside of a big zero-g sphere, right? Oh never mind. Look, can you get Terran entertainment feeds? Right, well see if you can find any sports feeds, I�ll show you.

There it is, that�s the big Piranhas game. I got a fifty riding on this match. That�s the Old Worlder Stadium around Mars, the most famous stadium anywhere. I been there. No, actually in the gamesphere, on the pitch. It�s a real privilege. I�ll tell you how if you like, but it�s kind of a long story�

Now I used to have this friend, name of Grizzle. Well, that�s a long story too, but the point is, me and Grizz go way back. He�s a real sport nut, and he likes to gamble. More than once I�ve had to help him out when the debt collectors come round �cause, you know, Grizzle ain�t the type to get his loans from the bank.

Anyway, I was on Mars dropping off a package, and I run into Grizzle and it turns out he�s got tickets for the big Emporers game. Now like I say, this guy owes me a few favours so I�m thinking, you know, maybe he can let me have one of these tickets. And I ask him, and he says to me:
�I can do better than that, ol� buddy. You help me out this one Last time and I can pay you back everything I owe with interest, and you�ll get to see the game too.�

Now I�m suspicious, you know. Grizzle�s one of those guys who always thinks he�s got a dead cert to set him up for life, but he tells me this time it�s different. You see, Grizzle was just back from Sallega Prime. He met this sallegan out there in a market. No, you wouldn�t get one of the ruler class in a market, this was one of the worker class, the Salzalum. This market guy knew someone in a research lab. These Salzalum, they�re built for working and not thinking, you see, so somehow Grizzle manages to persuade them to, ah, acquire a little Sallegan technology for him.

Now you must have heard the stories about the Sallegans having time travel machines. Yeah, well I don�t know about any of that, but I do know one thing they got: They got gadgets that can see into the future. That�s what Grizzle managed to get hold of, you see- some kind of prototype. Now you can imagine how useful that might be to a gambler, can�t you?

So we�re thinking, this is gonna be easy money, but there�s a snag. This gizmo doesn�t exactly see into the future. Instead, it transmits pictures back into the past. There�s a difference. The thing is, it only transmits for a few hours before it burns out, so we don�t get a chance to test it. Also, we didn�t want to risk taking into the spectator galleries, �cause you get searched on the way in for recording devices. Last thing we wanted was to get it confiscated. That�s why Grizzle wants me to help him out, he can�t figure out a way of getting the thing past security and into the game.

So the game is just a couple hours away, and we�re sitting in one of the spectator bars � yeah, I�ll have another one, thanks � spectator bars trying to think of how to do this. Best thing, we figure, is to try and get it onto the referee, �cause it was pretty small and the ref ought to get a good view of all the goals. Still, we can�t think of a way of finding the ref before the game.

We�re out of ideas and about to give up, when suddenly the gizmo comes to life! It starts showing us pictures of the game that hasn�t even happened yet! Even better, it shows us where we gotta put it to get good pictures of the match: You see the picture was following the game just like the feeds when you watch it at home.

I dunno why we never thought of it before. We were going to put the gizmo on one of the feedbots that buzz around relaying pictures back to the pay-per-view crowd around the galaxy. We knew exactly where we had to put the thing, and what�s more we knew we were going to manage it somehow, because we�d already seen it in the future. You get it? No, neither do I. Let�s have another one of those drinks.

Where was I? Oh yeah, we�re in the bar watching the match before it even started, and of course we�re noting down who scores what and when. Now I know you�re thinking maybe this sounds like cheating, but when you think about it, it isn�t really. We�re just trying to predict the score like everyone else. Only difference is, we got a little help. The match finishes twenty minutes before it�s due to start, 7-5 to the Emporers. We go straight to the bookie�s and get the odds for an accumulator, based on predicting every single goal and who scored it and in what minute. I tell ya, the odds were good. Buying your own planet good. We put down every single bit of cash and credit we could get our hands on.

All we had to do now was get the gizmo onto the feedbot, but we only had a few minutes before they started letting the spectators in. Now I�m not sure why Grizzle thought that I�d be able to help him smuggle this thing in any better than anyone else � I mean I�m just an honest courier � but if this is what I gotta do to be rich then this is what I do. Besides, we�d already seen proof that we were going to get the gizmo in place, right? So I figure, whatever I try, no matter how lame it is, it�s got to work- kinda like destiny or something. So I walk right up to the gates of the player�s area, and I tell the guard guy that I�m one of the coaches.
He looks me up and down a few times, and I puff out my chest and look impatient, and he just lets me in! Didn�t ask for id or nothin�! The players were all getting ready for the game, and so I sneaked around them and picked up some mag- skates and went out into the gamesphere itself. I never thought I�d actually skate on that Transteel, but here I was, looking down at the spectator galleries beneath my feet like I�m one of the Old World Emporers themselves. I�m wondering if this day could possibly get luckier.

Anyway, I had a job to do. There were a few linesmen about, checking the markings and stuff, so I quickly went to the officials� area and found what I was looking for. There they were, a half dozen feedbots sitting on a rack, waiting for me. I found the one that always follows the puck, fixed the gizmo to the back of it and set it to start transmitting.
Any chance of another one of these? No, I�m making a big delivery tomorrow, other side of town. I�ll get paid then and I can pay you. Seriously, I�ll come straight here. C�mon, one more won�t hurt. Thanks.

So I�ve planted my little money maker. All I need to do now is get back out. Then it occurs to me: The pictures we saw proved that I was going to make it in there, but they didn�t prove that I was going to make it out without getting caught. No sooner have I thought it than a guy in a referee�s outfit comes into the room and spots me. He just looks at me like I�m a ghost for a few seconds, then he sees from my face that I�m just a guy hanging around looking guilty.

Anyway, he says to me: �You�re not supposed to be here.�
And I say �No, I just wanted to get some autographs from the players, but I got lost.�
�Well, I ought to have you arrested, but you�d better just get the hell out.�
And that�s it! I hurry out of there, and straight away bump into a linesman. I tell him what the referee said and disappeared before he could even look at my face. I�m wondering how I could be this lucky! I woke up that morning to a normal day, and suddenly I�ve got a seat at the big game, a winning ticket, I�ve actually been in the gamesphere and it seems like I can talk my way into or out of anything.

So we take our seats for the game. �Course we�ve already seen it once but we�re enjoying it anyway �cause there�s nothing like being there and besides, you know, we�re both gonna retire after this.

The first goal was due for the eleventh minute from Kursk Delgato, who played South Dome for the Mongeese back then. Anyway, he scored it just like we knew he would, exactly like we already seen it. Second goal was supposed to be this incredible cross-sphere volley by Gator Kihome. �Course Kihome transferred to the New Birmingham Novae since then, and the Emporers got that new Silverene Dubluck guy in air attack. I mean, he�s pretty good, but he ain�t no Kihome.

Anyhow, the second goal didn�t go in. I mean, when I saw it the first time round, the time it did go in, I thought it wouldn�t cause it was one of those shots that almost curved in, you know? It was really close. So the second time, when I saw it going wide, I thought
�That�s ok, it�s gonna curve, it�s gonna curve�� but it didn�t curve. It just went wide and the game carried on. Me and Grizz couldn�t believe it.

Of course, after that the whole game was different. There wasn�t that next face-off because the goal didn�t happen, so it all changed. We�d lost it, and we couldn�t understand why. We watched the rest of the game, hoping it would all come together somehow, but it didn�t. The Mongeese won, 8-7. Pisses me off just thinking about it. Get me another one of those, will ya? I�ll pay you next week, I�m getting paid by then.

We were just leaving the arena when I spot the referee guy � you know, the one who�d seen me in the officials� area � being arrested. Suddenly I�m thinking I hadn�t seen him during the game at all, maybe he�s not even a referee. I moved closer so I could hear what was going on. It seems he wasn�t a genuine ref, and he�d snuck into the officials� area just like me. No wonder he was so shocked when he saw me.

From what I heard though, it sounded like this guy was actually a cheat. Yeah, I know, it makes you sick don�t it? He�d been in there to switch the puck for one with some kind of computer-controlled mag drive that could make it change direction. With that he could rig the game and make a fortune on the odds.

That�s when I started to realise what had happened to me and Grizz. The way I see it is this: The game we saw ahead of time was the cheat�s Version- that�s how it would have turned out if the cheat guy had been able to fix the game. That incredible curve on the second goal � that was down to the rigged puck, you see. Trouble is, just by knowing the future I accidentally changed it. If I hadn�t known about the feedcam from viewing the future match, I would never have gone into the official�s area and bumped into that linesman. Then, when I told him about the referee he must have realised something was wrong and gone to take a look. I guess he found the rigged puck and changed it for a normal one. Because of that the goal didn�t go in, the result was wrong and me and Grizz lost all our money.

The thing that really makes me sick is this: I didn�t have to sneak into the officials� area and mess things up at all. We could have just bought a pay-per-view live feed and put the gizmo in front of the screen during the match. That�s probably where our pictures should have come from anyway. Of course we never thought about putting the gizmo outside the gamesphere when we�d been trying so hard to think of ways of getting in. Once we saw those pictures from the feedbot, that was it. If we hadn�t of seen the pictures and drunk all that beer watching them, maybe we would have come up with the live feed idea on our own. If them Sallegans do have time machines, that�s the one thing I�d go back and change.

Still, I did get to stand in the Old World stadium gamesphere. That was worth it on its own, but buying my own private planet woulda been nice. Anyway, I gotta go. Good to chat to ya. The tab? Oh, I come by this planet all the time, I�ll settle the tab next time I�m through, if that�s� oh OK then, well how about I pay you next week, I got a job lined up, I can� Tomorrow then, how about tomorrow... oh come on, be reasonable�

[primitive]

Excellent story, I give this a perfect 10.

primitive

[sachmo]

WOW! Outstanding story, Dogscoff! All these stories about...I'm in heaven!

[dogscoff]

More of the same, although it definitely needs polish.

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sugarstorm
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Hey sweetheart, can I get you drink? Oh give me a chance here sweetheart, I got the perfect drink for ya. You ever tried a sugarstorm? It�s almost as sweet as you are.

Hey kid, you know how to mix a sugarstorm? Well let�s have two over here, and two beers for me. You know there�s a story behind this drink don�t you? It�s all about what happened a couple years ago on Ceres IIIa. Well, you�d probably know it as Opaque, but the official name is Panorama. Yeah I know, stupid name for a planet, but whatcha gonna do?

Thanks kid, put them on my tab. See what I mean about it being sweet? That�s the sugar in it. Where was I? Oh yeah, the story. Panorama�s actually a pretty barren little rock: Thin carbon dioxide atmosphere, no native life- Nothing much of anything really. That�s not unusual of course, except that they had this experimental terraforming project going on. The idea is they introduce all these special mosses and plants to prepare the soil for crops and turn the atmosphere into oxygen. All this takes centuries though, so in the meantime everyone has to live in pressurised transparent domes and underground levels.

They didn�t just build these domes anywhere though; they put them on this plateau, two kilometres above massive plain. It�s got a line-of-sight over hundreds of kilometres, with these craggy old red mountain ridges stretching away into the distance. Then you had all the introduced mosses and plants, you could see the various colours stretching away into the distance. That�s why they called it Panorama City, and then the planet took its name from there. As well as the terraforming they had all these other experimental technologies, they marketed it as the �city of the future.� With the amazing views as well it was meant to be a kind of tourist magnet for geeky scientific types. Boffins used to fly in from all over the galaxy to stay in these hotels with rooms that jutted out of the cliff-face and looked straight down half a K, or sit at the edge of the dome with a drink and watch the fields of moss slowly change the planet into another Earth.

You enjoying that? You have to sip the first one slowly, sweetheart, get yourself warmed up. Can I get another two beers here kid?

Now the other thing you have to know about this planet is the dust storms. They don�t happen very often, but when they do it�s all raging thousand kph winds and lumps of rock big as dyson-hockey pucks flying around like bullets. And of course that means there�s a risk of the city-domes getting damaged, so they had to come up with a way to protect them.

It�s pretty clever really. They use it all over the place now but this was the first planet to actually try it out. Another of their �city of the future� technologies. It was a big development at the time- they invented this special clear, sticky slimy stuffthat they can pump out the top of each dome. It�s really thick, and it takes like a day or so to trickle all the way down the outside. They�re pumping it out all the time and collecting it at the bottom, so the dome is permanently covered in this layer of clear goop. It lets the light through, but when there�s a storm the goo traps all the dust and flying rocks. Of course then it gets all filled up with crap and after a storm the whole dome turns completely red from the dust, but there�s always clean goo from the top seeping down to replace the dirty stuff. Tourists counted themselves really lucky if they caught a storm, so they could spend a day watching it sweep up the plain toward toward them, blow itself around the dome until everything went red and then they day after they could sit back and watch while the fresh goo from the top slowly pushes the old stuff down like a red curtain, gradually revealing the view outside. Like I say, it used to be a real pretty place to be.

It was the first time I�d been there and I�d just made a nice little wedge on an in-system trip. Easy package, just some paperwork or something- what? Courier? Well I like to think of myself more of an adventurer, sweetheart, you know, like a free spirit.
Anyway, I�d made a good bit of cash out of it and I figured since I was in Ceres I�d stop at Plenty and have a little holiday- get me a tan, maybe find me some company, you know I mean?. Oh, no, I didn�t mean that� hey sweetheart, wait a minute, you haven�t finished your drink. I just meant I wanted to look up some old friends, that�s all.

So anyway, I�m in the spaceport in the morning looking for a ride back to Plenty when I get a call from this woman: Would I like to make some easy money doing a quick surface job? Now I realised then and there that something was wrong because no-one does surface jobs any more. If someone wants something important delivered to an address on the same planet, they do it themselves- even on big planets you can get from pole to pole in an hour, so who the hell is gonna pay the likes of me to run in-planet errands for them? Someone who�s got a good reason not to handle the package themselves, that�s who.

Now I�m no smuggler, I got a good reputation to maintain. There was definitely something dodgy about this deal and normally I wouldn�t it with a docking pylon but since my drop off had been in the spaceport I hadn�t actually seen the city. I gotta wait a whole day for my flight to Plenty and there�s a storm predicted for later in the day, so I figure a little paid sightseeing beats waiting around at the spaceport. The money was right and I�ve got a few ideas to cover my back.

You see, this planet has just the one little city and the spaceport. There are a few little outPosts here and there but really, there�s just the two inhabited areas, right? Now, although all spaceflight is controlled and monitored by the spaceport, it would be pretty easy for a smuggler to make a dirt-landing somewhere, then carry contraband up to the city overland. That�s why at most of these minor domed planets, you find the customs scans at the city gates rather than the spaceport. So that was my problem, and why this lady wanted me to shift her dodgy package around on-planet: Getting it onto the planet wasn�t the problem, getting it into the city was.

Doesn�t matter though, because I had a plan. I was at the spaceport on the equator and Panorama City is about a thousand kilometres north. If I fly in I�ll get dropped straight at the city gates with no way to avoid customs. But, it just so happens I�d been talking about this planet with an old friend a while ago, and he�d told me about another route.

Apparently they run this scenic overland maglev train for the tourists from the spaceport to the city. From the maglev station you can hire an atmosphere suit and take an outdoor tour of the domes before customs. This is the clever bit- You remember that goo I was telling you about? They collect it all back in for recycling, but the recycling facility is actually inside the city-dome, underground. That means all I have to do to get my package past customs is drop it into the goo collection moat at the base of one of the domes. Then I walk into the city, pick up the package from the recycling filters and deliver it. All that�s left then is to pick up my payment, spend a couple hours� watching the storm from some bar, catch a flight back to the spaceport and I�m off to spend my earnings on the beach back on Plenty.

Well, to start with it all goes more or less to plan. I mean I got sick on the maglev �cos I hate travelling overland, and then I had trouble getting away from the outdoor tour group and found there was a 5 metre high fence around the dome. Luckily it�s only a small moon and the gravity was low, so I threw the package over the fence and into the moat pretty easily. I walked through customs and into Panorama City clean and easy. All I had to do was get to the recycling filters.

Like I say this whole goo-process was kind of new at the time, so interested scientific-types could get guided tours around the recycling facility and pumping stations. I booked myself onto one of these, and I knew my package was big enough to get stopped at the first filter so again I snuck away from the tour and headed right there. I rolled up my troUsers and waded in, with all the slime squishing around my legs before getting sucked through the filter under my feet. It wasn�t there yet, so I waited. And I waited. And waited some more.

It gets to the point where I�m running out of time to make the delivery and still get to the spaceport on time. I can tell the storm has already come over because the goo pouring into the filter is getting redder and redder. I�m thinking maybe when I threw the package over the fence it didn�t go all the way into the moat somehow, or maybe it got stuck to the side of the dome and wouldn�t come through for hours, or maybe the cops had found it somehow and were searching for me right now. All these possibilities are going round in my head, and I�m starting to panic.

Eventually I decide to just cut my losses and get the hell out of there. I still had the money from my original delivery, I could just get back to the spaceport, chalk it all up to experience and take off for Plenty. All I�d have lost was the price of the city transfers and the two tours.

I knew something was wrong even before I got up to the surface. People were huddled up everywhere in the underground levels, all scared and panicked. Took me nearly an hour to find out what was wrong. The protective goo had failed somehow, and everyone had been moved underground for safety until the storm passed. The dome hadn�t actually been damaged, but the goo- it had gone brittle. Turns out the woman who gave me the package, she was one of these environmental activist types and gt arrested a week later. She wanted to destroy the terraforming project, so she got this bacteria to wipe out the introduced plants. She wanted to get it into the city to install it into a planet-wide delivery device.

I mean I had no way to know, I just thought it was a package, but it must have split open when I threw it over the fence. Like I say the bacteria was designed for the plants, not the slime, but as it happens the goo was sugar-based and the bacteria just ate it up, crystallised it, fused it to the domes and turned them completely opaque.

You finished that one? OK, you have to drink the second one quickly, but first you swirl it round so it goes from clear to cloudy. You see now how it got the name?
With the domes suddenly opaque in Panorama City, all the amazing views were suddenly gone. These days most people call it Caramel City, or sometimes just Snowball.

The failure of the famous new goo just about finished tourism in the �city of the future.� They�ve been trying to fix the domes ever since but some of the bacteria made it into the environment and with the cost of fighting that they haven�t really had the funds. I was screwed as well, because I missed my flight and with every tourist on the planet was competing for passage out it took me nearly a week to get off-world. By then I�d spent all my money on overpriced hotels so I never did get my holiday on Plenty.

So there you go, you want another one? Or maybe it�s your turn to give me a little sugar, eh? What? Don�t look at me like that sweetheart, it wasn�t my fault. Hey, you can�t just walk out, I just bought you a drink. Two drinks! Hey!

[primitive]

Great story again big dawg.

You da man

[Puke]

these are so great. when is the compilation going to be published?

[dogscoff]

Thanks Puke, Primitive. Since these are designed as supporting stories for O&C, I guess you'll have to wait for me to finish and then re-write that. Then I might think about approaching publishers, or maybe see if Shrapnel would be interested at all.

I remember when I bought Elite II for the Amiga, it came with a chunky thick manual and then another book of equal size filled with fanfic.

[Atrocities]

Great read Dawg.