Talsorian's contact hung up after telling him to wait a little longer for the delivery. The set of disks he waited for was obviously important, but why not just shoot the guy and take them. That was the easiest way to accomplish such jobs. But for ten thousand loons he would wait here all night.

Talsorian, an earthling dropped a couple loons into the automatic waiter unit and requested another glass of wine. The plastic cup dropped down and filled up with red house wine. Two drinks down and another coming, Talsorian though to himself. Let's just hope this disk exchange takes place before I'm dead drunk.

The Thrasher Bar was lively tonight. A couple earthling thugs were getting off in the far corner as they watched a female wolfen waggle her naked tail in their faces. The two thugs sometimes got a little frisky, but she put them in their place with a casual kick to the head or groin depending on which body part was readily kicked. A group of maviens was dominating the bar and beating the shit out of any non-mavien passerby's that thought they could share the bar between races.

An ogre named Jull was frequenting his usual booth next to Talsorian. The ogre was one of the toughest critters around. Don't let his lax English fool you either. He's clever upstairs. He conned his share of unsuspecting earthlings. You'll never meet a smarter ogre. The maviens at the bar paid special attention not to annoy Jull’s guest. If Jull’s friends wanted to sit at the bar, that was fair. But you can always here the whispering of one of the youthful maviens slandering Jull’s name. In fact, today we might have ourselves free entertainment, as one of the maviens has decided to take issue with his almightyness.

The mavien growled - "GET OUTTA MY BOOTH" Jull looked up at the stupid mavien that invaded his privacy. "I SAID. GET OUTTA MY BOOTH, YOU STUPID GHORA." Jull accepted the maviens challenge. He removed himself from the booth and put himself in the maviens face. The mavien stood a foot below the towering ogre. They growled their frustrations hoping one or the other would back off before blood became sport. After finishing the ceremonial growl, Jull removed his blaster, throwing it to Talsorian. The mavien unbuttoned his holster and gave it to his companions. The mavien cried loudly to instill fear in his opponent as he extracted three spikes from his right hand. The spikes were four inches long and a full inch thick at the base. Cybernetic spikes were becoming quite the fancy in mavien circles. Jull did not have any cybernetic alterations. He was the real deal.

Jull laughed at the mavien - "Children should not play with dangerous toys. You pansy gand child." This had the desired affect of enraging the mavien into sheer bloodlust. The mavien charged forward swinging his spikes back and forth. Jull simply dodged the first swing and caught the mavien’s hand on the back swing. Jull gripped the cybernetic hand tighter and tighter until the cybernetic spikes began dripping blood. He swung the spikes around and into the mavien’s stomach. Holding the mavien’s hand into his stomach, he lifted the mavien and threw him towards the naked female wolfen in the corner. Blood splattered all over the wolf-woman and her two clients.

A few of the maviens jumped to their friend's aid, but none dare come within a couple of arm's length from the ogre that was walking back to his familiar table. The maviens brought their friend to his feet and began escorting him out of the bar. Pulling her two clients by the crotch of their pants, the female wolfen smiled at Jull as she too walked out of the bar. The clients counted the hundreds of loons that would land them a warm bed in the brothel section.

Talsorian really enjoyed the entertainment and he informed his friend of such as he gave him his blaster back - "Great fight. I only wish I could have saved it on disk." Jull smiled back before hiding the smile with a snarl. He was definitely losing his vicious attitude. He was getting soft. Last year, he would have killed the mavien.

Talsorian’s attention returned to the audio-video player in his booth.

"MiddleWorld Independent English News with Ter Ruts."

A catchy rhythm played softly in the background as the picture zoomed in on the gand anchor-woman - "Hello, I’m Ter Ruts with the M.I.E.N. news. Danka corporation has announced that their corporate headquarters was burglarized a few hours ago. The burglars made off with millions of loons in anonymous debit cards. Eight security guards were injured, but nobody died. M.I.E.N. field reporter Repa Kud was on the scene earlier."

The audio-video player showed the roof of the corp quad. "This is Repa Kud, at the burglary scene." The camera approached the opening in the roof and panned down. "You can see that the roof has been completely blown off." Through the roof, you could see the devastation inside. "Danka officers have denied that any security guards died in the incident." A close look revealed the body of an earthling security guard with a railing wedged into his chest. "And that the burglars escaped unharmed with millions in anonymous debit cards." Zooming-in on the floor of the quad. The body of a mavien. "Lucky, Danka had insurance." A blaster. Grappling rope. "Danka security guards were very cooperative." The camera swung from side to side. It gave the impression that the camera person was struggling with someone.

The picture returned to the anchor-woman - "Thank you very much for the video, Repa Kud. In other news, the Durfen-Gand peace treaty was put to the test again today. A Gand terrorist group has claimed responsibility for an explosion at Tam Gardens on Durf. The explosion killed eight durfens, including three children."

The mavien’s at the bar cheered. Talsorian’s attention shifted back to the bar where an earthling was about to make the mistake of sitting at the bar. This was no regular earthling. He matched the description of the courier he was expecting. Talsorian jumped from his booth and started towards the lost earthling. Too late. The maviens were readying for the kill.

"Wait," Talsorian yelped. "Wait. Wait. Wait. He's with me. Stop." The maviens were swarming around the unfortunate earthling. One mavien had already removed the courier's blaster and another was playing bad cop, pushing him off his feet.

"Haolé sit on the floor here," the mavien proclaimed. Haolé is trader’s slang for white caucasian earthling. Another mavien drenched the earthling by pouring the remains of his redlash - mavien ale onto his head. The earthling began to get up, but one of the maviens kicked him in the stomach and another in the head. The earthling fell back on his back. Talsorian was on the scene.

"Give him a break," Talsorian insisted. "This guy is obviously new. He's with me." One of the maviens held back Talsorian. Another of the maviens unbuttoned his trousers.

The exposed mavien responded - "You can have haolé. First I teach haolé a lesson." The mavien began urinating on the earthling. "There." The maviens left Talsorian to clean up the human. Talsorian grabbed the earthling by the shoulder and the disks with his other hand. He lifted the earthling to his feet and walked him to his booth.

"Don't worry," Talsorian said to the earthling. "They're harmless. They had their fun. Ignore them." Back at the booth, Talsorian waved his hand in front of his face. The smell was putrid. "This the disks?"

"Yes," the earthling replied while trying to catch his breath.

Talsorian scanned every disk with his AV player. Once he was certain that these were the disks he handed the earthling an anonymous debit card - "Here's your payment." The earthling tried to compose himself and lifted his head to see the debit card. He even put out his hand to grab the card, but with the disorientation caused by the beating and the smell of the urine, he was unable to coordinate his hand. Talsorian slapped the debit card in his hand. "Now, get out of here." The earthling threw up and passed out onto the table. Talsorian's face dropped. "Not again." Talsorian paused to laugh at the incident. "Tarkas! Clean this guy up." One of the maviens broke off from the pack and headed towards Talsorian's booth.

"Do you want me to put him in your room?" Tarkas held out his hand as Talsorian handed him 100 loons.

"Sounds good." Talsorian picked up the abandoned debit card. Tarkas carried the earthling out of the bar, while a couple of the maviens ridiculed the obedient mavien and his parcel. "Zoc!" Another mavien broke off from the pack. "Bring this to Kono's people." He handed the mavien the set of disks and 50 loons. "And don't fuck this one up. Lose the disks and I'll piss on your grave. There’s 100 loons waiting for you, if Kono's people confirm the delivery." Talsorian thought how funny it was, that when business was at hand, he controlled the maviens as much as Jull.

Zoc left the bar hearing the usual ridicule of his mavien friends.

Talsorian was talking to someone on his bedroom phone - "But... but.... But... but...." Zoc had let him down again. That would be the last time. "I didn't know the disks were that important." The caller was obvious not interested in listening and Talsorian waited again for his chance to explain. "If you would have told me that this was important, then I would have sent my best people." The caller continued his rambling. "Tell Kono, I've got my best people on it." Talsorian's eyes fell. "We'll have the disks back before you can say..." Talsorian rolled his eyes. "Thank you, you won't regret it."

Talsorian was up shit's creek and two dragon attack jets were barreling down on him with twin torpedo launchers locked onto his ass. The reason they were able to lock onto his ass, is that he's got the barrel of a blaster two feet up his ass and the blaster is set to fire in four seconds. With all the descriptive, this still doesn't measure the trouble that had come down upon Talsorian. We are talking about Kono. Kono, leader of the Baqara underground.

Talsorian cursed - "F!@#$%^&*(). You find Zoc and you bring him hear." Tarkas held out his hand and Talsorian handed him 700 loons. Zoc was surprised at the amount of money Talsorian was paying him for such a simple job. "And tell Narek and Banger to get up here fast, I have lot's of money on this one and I'm not afraid to spread it around." Tarkas left the hotel room.

Lareau was beginning to recover from his ordeals. A gand maiden was washing his back and occasionally feeding him some type of bland bean mixture. Lareau's body was beginning to reject his temporary limbs and his body was losing strength. His mind on the other hand was finally recovering to the point where he was conscious.

Lareau questioned the gand - "Who are you and what am I doing here?" Lareau pushed away the maiden's hands as he tried to understand the situation.

"I am your maiden. I am here to clean you up. You are in the quarters of Master Talsorian." The maiden was on her knees dressed in a see through silk gown that didn't hide anything and highlighted everything. The maiden got to her feet and moved towards the bathroom door. "I will tell Master Talsorian that you are awake."

Lareau grabbed a towel and started to stand up, but his legs gave out. His legs were too weak now to walk. He decided that it was better to stay in the tub and wait for his maiden and this Master Talsorian to return. With his hands, he lifted his feet out of the tub for a look. The legs were beginning to turn purple from the clotting blood in his legs. He looked at the part of his right arm that was also artificial, but the arm was holding.

Talsorian entered the room, with a youthful and jubilant enthusiasm - "Hello. How is our patient?" The gand maiden followed Talsorian into the room.

"I'm OK, but who the hell are you and why am I here?"

Talsorian pulled a chair up to the bathtub - "My name is Talsorian and you are Lareau." He reached forward to shake Lareau's hand. Lareau accepted the handshake. "You gave me a set of disks earlier." Talsorian waited for Lareau to mull over the situation. "You also were beat up by a group of maviens, urinated on, you threw up and passed out at my booth." Talsorian waited again. "I then had you brought up to my room and cleaned up. The maiden here was brought in to clean you up. I hope you don't have anything against gands."

"I was promised 30,000 loons for the disks. Where is my reward?"

"Your clothes, wallet, blaster and the debit card are on the vanity. You can gather them later. Right now, you look like a piece of shit. And your legs look alot worse. I'd bet you couldn't even lift either leg. Did you actually pay for those transplants? You also have a bad transplant in your right arm."

"They're temporary transplants, I was going to replace them later."

"If you want, I could get a chop shop doctor up here. He could stitch you some limbs. They could be ready in three days. And I could provide you with temporaries for the next few days. But all this would be at a price."

"What price?"

Talsorian stood up from his chair and replaced it in front of the vanity. As he swayed with confidence across the room he played out his demands - "I need to know everything you know about the set of disks you gave me. Including how you got them and everybody that knows about them. I also need you to help me recover the disks. One of my couriers has failed to deliver the disks to their destination." Talsorian exited the bathroom, leaving Lareau and the maiden.

Lareau cried out - "NOW WHAT?" But his question went unanswered.

When Talsorian returned to the hotel bedroom from the bathroom, Narek and Banger were waiting at the door for their orders. Talsorian motioned the two experienced runners to enter his quarters. Narek and Banger complied and immediately headed towards a round table and pulled up chairs. Talsorian grabbed a debit card and disk from his desk and made his way to the table and slapped the card and disk onto the table.

Talsorian broke the silence - "Seven-thousand loons. You guys find the disks that I gave to Zoc and I'll double that again. The disk I'm given you contains everything I know about Zoc and the incident with the police." Talsorian was finished, he went back to his desk and sat down. "You can leave now." Narek and Banger got up from their chairs, Narek took the card and disk and they left the room, closing the door behind them.

The audio-video unit in Talsorian’s room - "While reading the corporation’s year-end financial report, R Corp CEO and president, Demer Revers collapsed." The video showed Demer Revers short circuiting as he drank from a cup of water. The android body then fell to the floor. "R Corp was very embarrassed by the situation and refused to answer our questions concerning the incident. The annual meeting was rescheduled for next month, at which time they might choose a new CEO and president. Demer Revers was an android expert system designed by R Corp. A.E.S. specialists at R Corp have not revealed why the collapse occurred. The incident caused R Corp’s stock to fall 11%, as market experts predicted the end of R Corp’s dominant position in the A.E.S. market."

Talsorian entered the hotel room - "How’s the legs?" Talsorian had arranged for a doctor to attach new temporary legs. The doctor would provide permanent transplants in the next few days.

Lareau shut off the AV player - "Where’s my debit card?"

Talsorian sat down at his desk - "How much do you think artificial replacement legs cost? But I’ll make you a deal."

Lareau walked over to the desk and sat in a chair facing Talsorian - "Deal?"

"You recover those disks and I give you the thirty thousand loons and the transplants. You don’t recover those disks, I keep the money and you keep the transplants." The transplants and temporary limbs cost Talsorian ten thousand loons, but there was no need to divulge that information to Lareau.

"And if I refuse?"

"Then you don’t get the thirty thousand, the transplants and I throw you out on the street."

Lareau smiled a crooked smile - "Deal."

Talsorian tossed a letter sized envelope to Lareau - "I took the liberty of renting you a room for the week. Room #20." Pause. "Review the disk and get to work."

Zoc slipped into a dark alley and hid behind a trash bin. Safe from the eyes that sought him, he sat on the ground to save energy and catch a few winks. Tired. In the last twenty-four hours, he lost a set of disk, was shot by the MiddleWorld Guard, escaped from the St. Birks hospital and dodged Talsorian’s lackeys. A bandage still remained on his cranial plate. The bandage was blood red and Zoc was getting weary from the loss of blood.

"Zoc," Tarkas called. "Talsorian would like to have a few words with you." Tarkas was closing in. He must have seen Zoc enter the alley. "I know you’re in ‘ere."

Zoc was ready to give up. He couldn’t continue running. He was exhausted. What would Talsorian due to me? He wouldn’t kill me, would he? Shit! He would! Zoc stood up and readied for the fight.

"Zoc, I can wait ‘ere forever."

Zoc, burst from behind the trash bin and ran directly at Tarkas - "No mitra." Mitra is trader’s slang for friend.

"Sleep," said Luger. Luger was a small-time gand psyonic that occasionally worked with Talsorian’s lackeys when the work called for more brain than bronze. Luger practiced an ancient gand magic called psyonics. Psyonics were best known for their ability to induce sleep. Zoc’s charging body collapsed to the ground. He slept at Tarkas’ feet. Tarkas and Luger picked up Zoc’s body and carried him towards a limo pulling up to the alley.

The window rolled down revealing Talsorian’s smiling face - "I see you found him." Narek and Banger stepped out of the front of the limo and helped Tarkas carry Zoc’s body into the limo. Talsorian held out an anonymous debit card for Luger. Luger took the card and made himself scarce.

Talsorian rolled up the window - "Wake him up." Tarkas slapped a stim patch on his buddy. Zoc struggled to wake, but he was weak from the loss of blood. Zoc blinked. "Where’s the disks, Zoc? What did you do with them?" Zoc eyes opened and fear covered his face.

Zoc spoke partially in trader’s slang - "Slipped ‘em into haolé poche. Didn’t want police to get ‘em." Poche translates to pocket. Zoc sat up and looked to his right and left. Tarkas, Narek and Banger were clenching fists. Talsorian was clenching a blaster. Escape wasn’t a possibility.

"Why?" Said Talsorian. Zoc didn’t answer. He was tiring. He had already used a couple stim patches on himself earlier. The more stim patches you use, the less effective and more tired you got. "Hand." Tarkas placed a wooden block in front of Zoc. Zoc resisted putting his hand on the block. "HAND," Talsorian yelled. Zoc put his hand on the wooden block and turned his head. Zoc passed out in his exhaustion as Talsorian cut off one of Zoc’s fingers.

Cyberspace rushed forward. Lareau was in the IO port node in his hotel room. He took the hotel’s internal bus to the gateway node. Speeding along the hotel’s bus was quite the experience. The hotel sold advertising space on the bus. Nomas Skadarakate, a mavien metal-opera singer was headlining a show in the Webster theater. At the gateway node, Lareau hopped onto the main cyberspace BUS and headed towards his destination. You hadn’t lived life until you rode the BUS.

Talsorian had provided Lareau with a Letsti 3000 equipped with a two gigabyte memory chip and level four attack, protection and password program chips. Talsorian normally traveled through cyberspace with a Letsti 1000 and a level one protection program chip. He was in heaven playing with the such advanced equipment.

Lareau jumped off the bus at the MiddleWorld Guard gateway. Three cyberspace sentries guarded the gateway. Hundreds of cyberspace users were traveling through the gateway. Lareau passed through the gateway and boarded the MiddleWorld Guard’s public internal bus. Lareau entered a repeater node that led to the MiddleWorld Guard’s private internal bus. Four security programs were running on the repeater node. Lareau ran his password program and tricked one of the four SPs. Whoops! An alarm SP buzzed. The CPU nodes would send out additional SPs. A trace SP traced Lareau’s path back through the net. The MiddleWorld Guard would show up at his hotel room in minutes. A dump SP attempted to disconnect Lareau and failed. Lareau boarded the private internal bus. The dump SP followed.

From the private internal bus, Lareau scanned the internal subnet. A few hundred IO nodes, three database nodes, two CPU nodes, two repeater nodes and a gateway node. Where did the other repeater node and the gateway node lead? No time. Three database nodes. Lareau dove for the closest database node.

The node looked like an old metal three-drawer filing cabinet in a cartoon setting. One SP protected the node. Lareau ran his password program and by-passed the SP. The dump SP was on his tail. Several other SPs closed in on the database node. Lareau performed a search on the word "Zoc." As the search results came in, Lareau downloaded the objects into his cyberboard memory chip.

Lareau was dumped by the dump SP pursuing him. Cyberspace withdrawal set in. Champagne bubbles filled his vision. Adrenaline rock blasted in his ears. Peppermint flavor browsed his noise. Feathers dusted his skin. Water flowed over his taste buds. Being dumped wasn’t that bad. Better than crashing or burning. Dumping simply disconnected the user from the net. Crashing fried the cyberboard. Burning fried your cyberlink implant.

Lareau jumped from his chair and fell flat on his face. Cyberspace withdrawal distorted Lareau's sense of balance. Regaining some sense, he gathered all his possessions and ran out of the hotel room. The trace SP had marked him and the MiddleWorld Guard would be on their way to his hotel room. The cyberspace withdrawal bounced Lareau off the hallway walls as he scrambled his way to The Thrasher Bar.

Zoc sat in the far corner of The Trasher Bar. Mavien adrenaline rock filled the air. Zoc poured back the ale as if there was no tomorrow. The MiddleWorld Guard wanted to extradite him. Talsorian was not ready to offer him any work. The other maviens ridiculed him for losing a finger. Talsorian is dead. Nobody embarrasses Zoc. Zoc’s limited creativity left him one choice. Shoot Talsorian now. Zoc toppled his table. Everybody in The Thrasher Bar trained their attention on the mavien that lost his cool. Zoc started a slow walk towards Talsorian, snarling at his target. Zoc stopped at the head of Talsorian’s booth.

Talsorian smiled back - "I said I have nothing for you." The bar was in silence for the first time since Jull’s last fight. Talsorian cringed. Talsorian reached for his blaster. Zoc reached for his blaster. Zoc pulled his blaster first. Jull cut off Zoc’s arm. Zoc fell to the floor in pain.

Jull sheathed his laser sword and sat down at his booth.

Talsorian pulled a debit card from his overcoat pocket and handed it to Jull - "Thank you." His voice cracked. Talsorian leaned over Zoc’s body - "That was stupid." Talsorian counted 140 loons - "Tarkas." A pause. Blood gushed from Zoc’s wounds. "Clean him up and get Dr. Top to grow him an artificial arm." Talsorian handed the 140 loons to Tarkas. "On my account." Talsorian looked at Tarkas then back to Zoc - "You owe me." Tarkas covered Zoc’s wounds with slap patches.

Lareau pushed his way through the crowd of maviens around Talsorian and sat at the booth. Tarkas helped Zoc to his feet and escorted him from the bar. Lareau unloaded his equipment on the table - "What happened?"

"Zoc cut himself." Talsorian’s attention focused on Lareau. "Did you get anything?"

"As much as I could. I was dumped before I could get everything. I was traced too. The MiddleWorld Guard will be all over that hotel room." Talsorian grabbed the cyberboard and plugged it into his cyberlink implant. Closing his eyes, he scanned the data.

"Nothing... Nothing... Interesting... Perfect." Talsorian smiled. "Shat Nosad." Talsorian disconnected himself from the cyberboard. "Shat Nosad was the earthling that Zoc used as a body shield when the MiddleWorld Guard shot him. Zoc slipped the disks into Shat Nosad’s pockets. Take Narek and Banger, and find Shat Nosad. Bring him to me."

It didn’t take Lareau, Narek and Banger long to track down Shat Nosad. Nosad was a mercenary wanna be. Dressed in army fatigues from the turn of the millennium, he carried an old-style assault rifle. He walked only the streets that were not patrolled by the MiddleWorld Guard. He made his rounds through the slum areas of MiddleWorld. He was looking for trouble. He found it.

Shat Nosad made a stop at the Red Dragon Tavern. Lareau decided to confront him there. Shat was standing at the bar with a drink in his hand. Narek and Banger walked up to the bar and stood one on each side of him. They ignored the earthling and flagged the waiters for service.

Lareau walked right up to the earthling - "You have the disks?"

"How much you willing to pay for them?" Nosad took a drink from his ale.

"You have them on you?"

"How much you willing to pay for them?" Nosad was stubborn.

"You have them on you?" He’s dead, thought Lareau.

Nosad smiled - "No. How much kala you willing to pay for them?" Kala is trader’s slang for money. He knew he had the upper hand. Only he knew where the disks were. Nosad chuckled and took another drink.

"You get the disk and meet me back here in 30 minutes, or."

"Or what?"

Banger stuck his blaster into Nosad’s back. "Or you die," said Banger. Nosad pushed past Lareau, spilling some ale on Lareau. He walked up the stairs that led to the apartments on the second floor. Lareau and Banger followed him. Narek stayed behind.

Talsorian’s limo pulled up in front of the Red Dragon Tavern. Nosad, Banger and Lareau were waiting by the curb. The back door opened and the three squeezed into the limo. The inside of the limo was glamorous. The seats coated with soft white leather. Three AVs displayed three different audio programs. A gand maiden sat on each side of Talsorian, holding his arms. Nosad sat between Banger and Lareau, facing Talsorian.

Talsorian released his arm from the grip of the maiden on his left - "My name is Talsorian." He reached forward to shake Nosad’s hand. Nosad accepted the handshake. "Your name is Shat Nosad. You have a set of disks that belongs to me."

Nosad handed the disks to Talsorian - "How much do I get for the disks?"

"Ten thousand loons."

"Twenty."

"Fifteen." Talsorian wasn’t in the mood to negotiate.

"Eighteen."

"Deal." Talsorian opened the disk case and inserted a disk in his AV player. "Hand." Although the case had the correct markings that identified the disk case. The disks themselves were not the right ones. Banger placed the wooden block in the center of the limo. Talsorian removed a laser knife from a compartment below the seat. "Please, put your hand on the wooden block."

Nosad resisted. Banger put his blaster’s nozzle in the earthling’s ear. Nosad put his hand on the wooden block. Banger held the hand fast with both hands. Talsorian quickly shopped off a pinkie. Pulling a slap-patch from his pocket, Talsorian bandaged the wound.

"Next time, you bring the right disks. Get out of here. You have 30 minutes or you die." Talsorian motioned Lareau to open a door. Lareau opened the door and stepped out. Nosad followed, holding the bandage on his four-finger hand with his five-finger hand. Lareau and Banger followed the earthling back to his apartment. Narek blended into the background of the Red Dragon Tavern, concealing his involvement from Nosad.

Lareau, Banger and Nosad returned. Nosad was carrying a new set of disks. The door opened and the three entered the limo anew. Talsorian grabbed the disks before Nosad sat down. He opened the disk case and inserted each disk in the AV player, one at a time.

"Wasn’t that much easier." The gand maidens in unison leaned their heads up against Talsorian’s shoulders. Talsorian stuffed the disks in the compartment beneath his seat. Lareau opened the door and stepped out.

Unexpectedly and with great quickness, Nosad pulled a light saber from the inside of his jacket. The light saber extended and Nosad held it to Talsorian’s neck - "Nobody move or your boss is dead." Light saber’s looked like flashlights until extended. When extended, a tight laser extended outward from the handle. Light saber’s cut through flesh faster than laser swords.

"Hand." Nosad was looking for revenge. Nosad looked at Banger. Banger wondered if Nosad meant that he should put the wooden block in the center of the limo. It was too late. Nosad swung the saber and cut Banger’s head clean from his shoulders. The blade returned to its position next to Talsorian’s head. The gand maidens turtled into the corners of the limo.

Lareau unholstered his blaster. A bolt struck Lareau in the hand, sending his blaster flying. The patrons of the Red Dragon Tavern fled from the patio into the building. Blood gushed from Banger’s neck. Blood spurted from Lareau’s wrist. Narek planted a three bolt burst into the gand down the street that shot Lareau. Protected by his armor, the uninjured gand unloaded bolts at Narek. Narek unloaded bolts back. Narek fell. The gand walked towards the limo. Impatient, Nosad slashed through Talsorian’s neck. Then again, through his chest. Then again, through his abdomen. Nosad grabbed the disks and a couple jewelry items from Talsorian’s dead body.

A flurry of bolts bombarded the gand’s face. The gand fell. His head blasted from his shoulders. Nosad stepped from the car and saw his friend’s body. Nosad ran from the limo into the Red Dragon Tavern. As he ran threw the front doors of the Red Dragon Tavern, Jull slashed his laser sword through the earthling’s neck. The head toppled across the floor. The body fell flat. Jull gathered the disk and jewelry and returned to the limo. He threw Narek’s body into the limo and helped Lareau into the back seat. The limo sped off.

Jull and Talsorian sat at their usual tables in The Thrasher Bar. Talsorian was talking business with two durfens. Zoc and Tarkas banged heads with other maviens at the bar. Zoc’s new arm looked normal. Everything was normal. Only Banger was absent. Lareau and Narek sat at a table far from the action. Dr. Top had done a great job transplanting Lareau’s right arm and legs.

Lareau took a drink from his rum and asked Narek - "You mean, he doesn’t know he’s an A.E.S.?"