Keith Fenwick - Skid 03 - Skid 3

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Skid3 by sam
Welcome to SKID3
What is SKID3?
SKID3 is an electronic book, the 'threequel' to the electronic novel SKID.
Read it, pass it onto your friends, anybody that might be interested, everyman
and his dog. If you like what you read and want to check out what happened in
the the first novel download it from my home page or email me for a copy.
SKID2 the second novel in the series is also available at no cost. However if
you want to send me a small donation to reflect our efforts in bringing these
programs to you I won't refuse them.
Published By Keith Fenwick PO Box 90312 Auckland New Zealand
mailto: sam@iprolink.co.nz. homepage http://home.iprolink.co.nz/~sam/ ph
(064) 025 748 571
Copyright (C) Keith Fenwick 1997
This publication may not be reproduced, transmitted,transcribed, stored in a
retrieval system, or translated into any other language or computer language,
in any form or by any means, whether it be electronic, mechanical, magnetic,
optical, manual or otherwise, without prior written consent of Keith Fenwick.
While Keith Fenwick undertakes to supply a viable software package he
disclaims all warranties as to this software, whether express or implied.
one
Raele walked over to the ship's controls and set a course for Skid while
the three offworlders stared wordlessly at each other.
"What do you think you're doing?" President Mitchell asked, the first to
break the spell as Sue and Bruce regarded the familiar surroundings.
"Those dreams Bruce, they were real." Sue said a last.
"Yeah," Bruce grunted ambiguously, not really knowing what to think or
say. He did feel as if he'd been here, or some other place like this before,
and wondered how that could have been.
"We are returning to my planet."
"Don't forget us!" Cop pleaded.
Bruce thought about it for a moment and then decided to ask the alien,
after all the alien had asked after them.
"My dogs want to come as well, can we pick them up?"
"Is this some sort of conspiracy on your part mister?" President Mitchell
asked, "do you know this man?"
"Sort of," Bruce said uncertainly, "we've dreamed about him."
Raele looked up from his work and wondered whether he should risk trying
to re establish the offworlders memories of his home planet. Those memories
were stored in small transparent bubbles that he now held in his hand. Under
normal circumstances they would have been returned to storage on Skid and
probably forgotten for ever, luckily for him or them? These weren't normal
times.
His only problem was remembering which bubble belonged to which
offworlder. Or was it, these offworlders were so simple that it probably
wouldn't matter he decided after a moment.
Raele gave the bubble marked with an 'x' to the male offworlder and the
other to the female who had just realised she had left something behind.
"Bruce!" She shrieked suddenly recalling little Bruce. "What about the
baby?"
"What about the baby?"
"Can we go back and get my baby?"
"Baby?" Raele tested the word in his mouth and realised that the
offworlder was talking about an infant. He was about to regard her with his
normal distaste, rearing your own infants indeed! Then he remembered that
before long some of his own people would be producing their own offspring. It
might be a good idea to have somebody about the place who knew how to deal
with them.
"Yes we can retrieve your infant," Raele replied reasonably and your
companions," he added turning to Bruce. "But first you must place this in your
ear." Raele demonstrated what he meant the offworlders to do with the bubble.
"What about me?" The President asked. He was used to being the centre of
attention whether he was being supported, congratulated or attacked by any
number of detractors, and was feeling a bit left out of things.
Bruce sniffed the little bubble he had been given and wondered why he was
supposed to stick it against his ear. Bloody thing wouldn't fit into his ear,
it was too big. To his surprise when he did place the bubble to his ear it
seemed to shrink and slip into his head of it's own accord. Frantically Bruce
tried to pull it free panicking that the alien might have slipped him,
something noxious, and cursed himself for being so gullible.
Then the memories flooded back and the bubble slipped out of his ear and
fell to the ground looking like a used condom.
Bruce felt as if somebody had slipped another chapter of the book that
was his life into his ear. Suddenly everything made sense, it didn't make him
any happier that everything suddenly made sense but he was relieved by the
sense of knowing.
He looked across at Sue and watched his own emotions mirrored on her face
as she realised that she wasn't going crazy after all.
"Fuck," Bruce muttered trying to make some sense of the unusual disorder
in his head as he tried to rank experiences and memories. His head whirled and
he reached out for support. Out of the corner of his eye he saw that Sue had
fallen to the ground and that the President was standing over her trying to
draw her back to her feet. I hope one of those bloody great vacuum cleaners
doesn't come and suck me up Bruce thought with some alarm as he slowly
regained the use of his limbs and stood upright.
"You all right?" He asked Sue solicitously not knowing whether to laugh
or cry as he remembered the good times, the despair and frustration of the
time he had spent on Skid.
It wasn't really all that bad he thought after a moment and silently
remonstrated with himself that he had not made better use of his time back
then. But what exactly he could have done better he didn't know yet.
"Oh Bruce." The voice inside his head that sounded like his own but
wasn't called out to him. Bruce thought it sounded a lot like the silky ironic
tone that he used when he was calling one of the dogs close so he could boot
it in the ribs when it knew without a doubt that it had done something wrong.
Before he could turn a large hairy shape jumped up at him, causing Bruce
some alarm until he caught the smell of a dog that had been tied up for too
long without a decent run. The dogs started barking, well Punch and Can did.
Cop just looked up at him like a coy child that had just shit it's pants
despite it's efforts at potty training and said:" Hello boss."
"Is that really you Cop?"
"Sure is boss," the dog replied with a wolfish grin.
Oh shit Bruce thought.
"Bruce! Are you talking to your dog?"
"Yeah can't you hear him?"
"What is this, some kind of nut house?" President Mitchell demand,
clearly wanting to strike out at something but not sure what at. He'd
obviously decided that the alien was too tough a target for him to tackle by
himself and suddenly it appeared that the two people that he should be able to
count on support from had lost their marbles.
"Get fucked," Bruce replied with a total lack of awe and respect that the
President wasn't used to.
"You can't speak to me like that!" President Mitchell almost screamed,
"I'm, the president of the United States of America."
"Do you think that means anything where we're going?
Raele wondered whether he had made the right decision in
taking on this leader of mankind. He turned back to the patrol craft's
controls. Finding the female offworlders infant was a slightly trickier task
than finding the male offworlders companions. At least one of them had a
tracking device implanted so they could be located easily.
As the Patrol craft orbited high above the city where he had recently
spent so much time Raele did a DNA scan.
Mrs Pratt was sitting in Sue's living room watching the drama caused by
the President's disappearance unfold on the television.
Personally she suspected the Russians were behind the whole thing even
though the Russians had long since ceased being a threat to anyone. She also
blamed the Russians when she went into little Bruce's room and found his cot
empty.
The police had different ideas, especially when they found her pistol and
empty cartridge case on the floor of the living room and carted Mrs Pratt away
to the station. It was several hours later after Ms Clarke and her mysterious
'fiance' couldn't be located that a possible link to the president's
disappearance was made. A link that soon led to the authorities visiting a
local restaurant where they found the drunken proprietor with a fantastic
story to tell.
Little Bruce duly turned up on the floor of the space craft and Bruce
wondered what Mrs Pratt would make of that, aware that unlike last time their
disappearance would certainly be noticed this time, even as he wondered how it
hadn't been last time.
Raele just shrugged his shoulders in the Skidian way when he had asked
and Bruce now knew enough not to bother pressing him for an answer.
President Mitchell seemed to have settled down for the moment and sat in
on the side of the corner of the room with his head in his hands. Sue sat
further away with little Bruce suckling at her breast and Raele was headed for
another wall where Bruce thought the accommodation area must be. Bruce looked
at the three dogs that lay together not too far from his feet. Can and Punch
had the usual expectant grins on their faces while Cop just looked at him
expectantly.
"They are stupid," he seemed to say.
"Are you really talking to me?"
"You bet your black arse." Cop still hadn't quite got to grips with the
English language yet but he was working on it.
"How come?" Bruce asked squatting in front of the dog.
"Dunno really," Cop replied.
"Hmmp." Bruce didn't really know how to handle the idea of a dog being
able to communicate telepathically with him, especially one as cocky as Cop
appeared to be. True to form the Skidians seemed to have done something
carefully and precisely that made no sense at all.
"What are they going to do with us son?" President Mitchell asked tiredly
from where he sat against the wall.
"Dunno mate, dunno at all." Bruce was well used to the oblique way that
the Skidians operated. It had always frustrated him. Now that he had got his
memory back, Bruce took a more benign view of those events.
"Has whatshisface said anything to you?"
"He muttered something about how I was a leader of men and he would be
interested in talking to me some more about the development of self governing
communities. I may be a politician but I don't know much about that sort of
stuff. I'm a businessman doing my best to uphold the expectations of others
and get some sanity back into our economy."
"Well it's not actually a bad place to stay, apart from the fact that you
don't want to be there in the first place." Bruce realised for the first time
that it was the fact that he was on Skid against his will that had made his
stay so unpalatable, that and being told that he'd never return home. That he
had actually got back home was an additional complication that Bruce didn't
want to bother himself with for the moment. "And if you get comfortable with
the idea that despite what they say they want you to do, the Skidians will do
their best to make sure you fail."
"Sounds like what experience I have as a politician will stand me in good
stead then, is this place really called Skid?"
"Yep really."
"You say that you have been there before?" Mitchell asked.
"I reckon so, Skid is a really weird place," added Bruce, without
elaborating much to the disgust of Mitchell. "Didn't remember until I stuffed
that little plastic ball in my ear though."
"You mean you didn't know until then?" Mitchell asked incredulously.
"Well I dreamt about things that I couldn't understand, "Sue piped up.
Like Bruce now that she actually remembered everything she felt much happier.
Finding herself on a Skidian space ship again didn't really trouble her unduly
now that she and little Bruce, she and big Bruce for that matter were
reunited.
Mitchell shook his head sadly and withdrew into his corner wondering how
he was going to survive this latest crisis in his life.
two
Bruce spent much of the journey wondering where the rest of the crew was
only to be told by Raele that there were none. Bruce had been looking forward
to seeing some of his old friends, Cyprus and Mulgoon, maybe even Toytoo.
Raele said maybe.
To Bruce's surprise Raele also showed him how to operate the patrol
ship's flight controls. He was so absorbed with learning that it never
occurred to him as to why Raele might be providing him with a possible escape
route.
Apart from that, the trip to Skid was uneventful. Mitchell kept himself
to himself apart from venting his fury at losing his clothes to a large robot
as he had a shower and grumbling about the standard of food.
Bruce thought that the man had a truly bemused look about him and was
about to make a disparaging remark about the intellectual calibre of the
American President when Sue reminded him that he had worn a similar bemused
look himself for much of the first few weeks that he had spent on Skid.
"It's just shock that's all," she said, "culture shock they call it."
"I seem to recall that you weren't too happy either," Bruce retorted. But
he was also uncomfortable in his new knowledge that at times Sue had handled
their previous sojourn on Skid better than he had. This time it will be
different he assured himself without having any idea how different it would
be.
Immediately they stepped off the patrol craft at the space port in
Sietnuoc Bruce realised that something was different, sensed as Raele had,
that something was definitely wrong.
The space port was empty for one thing, their own patrol craft was the
only one evident in the vast open space and the subdued murmur that Bruce
later associated with the hustle and bustle of an incredibly large city was
gone. The only sound was that of their own footsteps on the cobbles as they
made their way from the patrol craft to the port buildings. The dogs were
subdued also sensing there was something wrong and stayed close to Bruce,
dogging his heels.
"There's nobody here at all," Cop told him.
"There must be!" Bruce thought back. On the trip to Skid he had found
that Cop could read his thoughts just as readily as he could hear them. Bruce
was thankful for that because he felt a little silly talking to the dog and
the sidelong looks he got from Mitch and Sue made him feel even sillier.
"There's nobody here you halfwit!"
Bruce aimed a kick at the cheeky dog but Cop easily skipped out of his
reach.
"Don't you ever leave those dogs alone?" Sue protested on their behalf.
"Only when they're not having me on," he replied ambiguously.
"What happened here?" Sue asked. To her the city looked the same. It took
her a while to put a finger on what was nagging at her. It wasn't just the
lack of people it was that the city looked more ordered than she remembered,
as if the lack of people somehow made the place tidier, or if it was new like
an upmarket new housing subdivision, just before all everybody moved in.
"Where is everyone?"
"You mean there's nobody here?" Mitch asked.
"Well what does it look like Mitch, do those robots over there," Bruce
pointed to a service crew that seemed to be tidying up a small park," look
like people to you?"
"Do you need to be so rude Bruce?" Sue asked coming to Mitch's aid. It
infuriated her how Bruce always seemed to expect people to understand what was
obvious him. "Perhaps they're on holiday Mitch," she suggested.
Bruce guffawed at the very idea. Sue was sure that the dog called Cop
sniggered at her and gave her a knowing look. She thought for half a minute
that the dog could understand what they were saying but then dismissed the
idea. Bruce she knew wasn't beyond creating an elaborate ruse just for fun.
Who ever heard of a talking dog?
"Who ever heard of a brainy female?" Sue heard the words as clearly as if
they had been spoken. She looked for Bruce but he was too far away now and her
gaze rested on Cop.
"I always thought you were a strange dog," she said.
"You don't know how strange," Cop said trotting away.
Raele was beginning to worry. What had happened to the craft that had
been parked at the space port? They couldn't just have vanished. The service
crews must have parked them somewhere else. Raele hoped they had been parked
somewhere else. He had been planning to leave his patrol craft at the space
port and use a smaller craft for the short journey to Aotearoa but now decided
that he'd better go in the bigger craft so that he could escape the planet if
he needed to one. As if parking it at Aotearoa would be totally secure.
"This is um, Inel's office isn't it? " Bruce asked as Raele led them into
an empty room.
"Yes."
Bruce was quite looking forward to meeting the old boy again and was
stunned to find that like most of the rest of the Skidians he was dead.
Raele showed the computer history that had dutifully recorded the events
of the past few months on Skid which left his offworld audience speechless.
"I don't believe it, surely some of them survived."
"Some of them did," Raele replied," but not very many," he added without
elaborating.
"I thought the city was wrecked? " Mitch asked.
"It was, but the service crews have almost rebuilt them, they are
operating as they always have," Raele replied, not having any idea how the
service crews operated. Like everything else on the Skid he had always known
they were and had been for all time. He guessed that once he had a chance to
work his way through all of Inel's secret archives he might find the answer,
if he lived that long as the record base was enormous.
For a moment he wished his old friend Yarad was still alive, he would
have known what to do, would have been in rapture over getting access to these
records. Sadly Yarad had been disinfected by Raele himself when he had
destroyed the nest of subversives at Aotearoa on Inel's orders.
To Bruce and Sue who had experienced Skid as it was the scale of the
disaster was beyond their comprehension. Mitch, who was almost totally
disorientated by this stage, didn't know what to believe. Though what he could
see of the records over the shoulders of Sue and Bruce, and Raele who stood
around the console over which the words scrolled were certainly impressive.
"So who is in charge around this place?" He asked feeling that a direct
plea to the leader of this planet might ensure his speedy return to earth.
Mitch shuddered to think what was happening back there, not only would the
economy be in turmoil, all the policies and deals that he was working on would
go out the window if Wilmot was in control. Wilmot was window dressing, Wilmot
as President would be a puppet in the hands of any skilled operator and there
were more than enough in Washington.
"When I left, I was acknowledged as the hereditary leader of Skid by two
of the surviving communities."
Mitch's shoulders slumped. He landed in a bigger mess than his own
domestic situation if he understood what the strange alien was saying.
"So what do you want me to do about it?"
"You're supposed to work that out yourself," Sue told him.
Bruce cringed, Sue had voiced his thoughts exactly. Although he didn't
think it was all that polite to say so in front of Raele, whatever he might
think of the Skidians themselves.
"If the Skidians had listened to us they would never have got into this
mess," continued Sue without feeling.
Bruce waited for Raele to say something but he merely sat impassively
staring at the words over the console.
"Is this true?"
Bruce shrugged his shoulders and walked away, he couldn't be stuffed
getting into some sort of philosophic arguments or dwell on the failure of the
Skidians to recognise the danger they were in and do something to prevent the
inevitable. He felt sorry for Raele, the disaster probably hadn't had anything
to do with him and here he was left to pick up the pieces, but he also felt a
secret glow in his heart that his predictions of a few months previously had
proved correct.
It was a hollow victory. Perhaps if he had tried harder the catastrophe
that had befallen Skid might never have happened.
On the other hand he realised the natural conservatism of the Skidian's
meant that even their leaders were incapable of acting until it was far too
late.
"We tried to help, Bruce tried to set up farms so they could eat. . .."
Bruce heard Sue say across the other side of the room to Mitch.
"And they didn't listen?" Mitch asked, he was familiar with the thankless
task of trying to help people only to have all his efforts thrown back in his
face. Maybe I won't find this place all that different from home afterall, he
thought. Though there was no denying despite all the associated problems,
continual setbacks and disappointments where he would rather be.
"The synplants and all that sort of stuff are working ok?" Bruce asked
Raele.
"Yes."
"Synfood?"
"Yeah Mitch, you know that stuff you ate on the space ship, well that's
the sort of crap they eat here. It was because they broke down, don't ask me
how, that everything fell apart. It's odd that they've just started working
all by themselves if you ask me."
"Not entirely." Raele wasn't happy with the way the offworlders were
talking about Skid, as if he wasn't there, as if the great civilisation he had
known most of his life was no more, even if they were right.
"What do you mean Raele?"
"My father rebuilt your organic plant after he charged me with returning
you to your planet."
Bruce wasn't interested in the fact that Inel was Raele's old man so
much, but the prospect of seeing his farm immediately got his attention.
"You mean Inel was your father?" Bruce asked wondering whether he should
change his appraisal of the old man who had always seemed disinterested and
difficult.
"Yes."
"Can we go out there and have a look?"
Mitch didn't know that he was all that keen on flying about this odd
planet, however it looked as if he had little choice in the matter. Bruce and
Sue were obviously keen to go and it seemed that Raele was prepared to take
them especially when he realised that the place they were headed for was out
in the hinterland somewhere. The wilderness had an ominous sound to it. Mitch
would have much preferred to stick around the city, he was comfortable in
cities and had a sneaking suspicion he had some kind of phobia about open
areas. It hadn't been a problem in recent years as he was continually
surrounded by Secret service agents and other hangers on. In the days before
he had achieved any sort of prominence he had always had an aversion to open
areas.
He didn't realise that this disquieting sensation gave him a strong
affinity with most Skidians that he would never have believed possible. He
also harboured the faint hope that somehow he would find somebody, some way of
getting back to earth before it was too late, before he was forgotten and he
felt that sticking around the city was probably his best chance of that
happening.
Still when the others started back in the direction of the space ship, he
followed them. He didn't want to be left behind by himself either. The other
three showed little interest in him and he sensed that they didn't give a shit
whether he was with them or not.
Raele was relieved to find the patrol craft where he had left it and none
of the service crews in evidence. He had worried all the way back from Inel's
office that a service crew might have removed it, or tampered with the
navsystem system or devised some other trick to annoy him. He completed his
preflight check more carefully than usual and found to his relief that
everything seemed normal. Though for the first time he began to question who
or what actually was in, had always been in control of Skid.
The idea that machines, the service crews and their central control
system might actually run Skid and not Skidians as they had always believed
frightened and disgusted Raele. Part of him, the part that said that Skid and
Skidians were superior to anything else in the universe because that's what
he'd been brought up to believe, refused to accept that Skid was run by
machines and the Skidians were merely there to give them something to look
after.
They'd developed and built the machines at some point in the past, hadn't
they?
But the part of Raele, that secret, hidden part that had always
questioned, always wanted to know why, said that the dependency Skidians had
on the machines that provided for all their needs was probably almost as
destructive to Skidians as if the machines were really running Skid. He
couldn't really believe that the service crews were operating on their own.
They must be following a preset program, what continued to worry him, was who
or what was in control of that program.
Suddenly the prospect of living the rest of his days at the organic plant
and never leaving it again seemed more attractive to Raele than it ever had.
three
Bruce wondered why he had never thought of hijacking one of the patrol
ships before as piloting one was just like playing space invaders. He
blissfully ignored the fact that he would never have got even close to one of
them previously. He also ignored the probability that even if he had got
aboard he would just as likely have blown the space port and himself to bits
rather than getting off the ground, let alone manage to get back to earth.
Raele had shown him what most of the controls did, showed him how to set
a course to anywhere on Skid and back to earth, but nowhere else. Raele had
also suggested that he not fiddle with various knobs and buttons on one side
of the console in a most un Skidlike manner. This was like a red rag to a bull
to Bruce who suspected they must control the ships weapons systems and he
itched to give them a try.
Bruce enjoyed piloting the space craft, though he was looking forward to
seeing what had become of his farm even more. He felt as if he was coming
home after a long trip away, which after he thought about it for a moment felt
odd. Odd because not so long ago he hated the place, hated the planet and the
people that inhabited it. Now he felt some sort of proprietary interest in
what was happening there as if it was his and not the property of those that
lived there. He wondered if he would feel the same way if he ever got back to
his real home again. He thought about that possibility for a moment and found
to his surprise that going home or not going home didn't seem to mean as much
to him as he believed it once had.
Bruce shook his head in disbelief. It was as if whatever bound him there
had been shattered, the chains broken. If he did ever go back home his
homecoming would certainly be different. While his absence had not been
missed before, this time his departure had been far more public.
It wasn't hard to conjure up a vision of Trev being grilled by the
thought police, or of Mrs Pratt who must be having a hard time explaining the
disappearance of little Bruce.
In the distance Bruce could see the meandering line of trees that marked
the river beside which he had built his home on Skid, more correctly the house
that had been built for him. He thought he recognised the line of low hills
close to the farm and looked around nervously for Raele.
How did you land these things? He wondered. He needn't have worried. As
the patrol craft skimmed over the trees the farm came into view and after
making a circuit of the farm it descended, slowed and landed gently beside the
barn all without any input from Bruce who was left wondering whether he had
actually been in control at all.
During the circuit Bruce had seen people running towards the house from
various points about the farm and wondered why they would do that. None of
them had turned up where the craft had landed, though as he walked outside
behind Raele he could see some Skidians looking down the hill at them. That
struck him as a little strange. But he was more interested in the farm which
from the air looked much as he'd left it.
Looking around where they had landed Bruce wasn't so sure. The garden
they had so carefully planted and tended looked like a wilderness and the
fence around it sagged as if something had tried to jump over it and landed on
it instead.
Bruce wrinkled his nose distastefully, the place had an air of sad
neglect, like a rental house, where nobody really cared about the place
because it wasn't their's.
The dogs ran out of the space ship and reacquainted themselves with their
old stamping ground as Sue and Bruce followed Raele up the hill towards the
house.
Mitch stood uncertainly at the door of the space ship and looked out.
Nobody had told him anything so he wasn't sure what he should be doing. Should
he follow the others or stay put? He could see some people peering down the
hill at them and wasn't sure whether they were friendly or not. They didn't
look too happy, some looked as if they were brandishing objects that looked
very much like weapons.
Fear of being left behind made Mitch move and the door closing behind him
as he stepped out made the move final. He trotted off after the others as fast
as his out of condition body would allow him and came abreast of them puffing
and coughing wondering if he had the energy to make the climb up the hill.
Raele recognised most of the people standing on the hill and saw them
relax as soon as they realised who it was. Perhaps they have had other less
welcome visitors he decided, wandering bands of desperate Skidians looking for
food and shelter or maybe more formidable, more demanding visitors from the
better appointed industrial complexes. Maybe the likes of Mischief had learnt
of his absence and decided to test the limits of their power.
At the top of the hill beside the house Raele was greeted by the
Aotearoians with the sort of reverence Bruce thought might be akin to that of
the second coming of Jesus. Bruce shrugged his shoulders and wandered off down
the race to see what had become of his farm.
Sue headed for the house without asking anybody and saw to her surprise
that the house was much bigger than she remembered and there were several
other buildings there as well. The original homestead was almost a small
village now. She stood there for a moment wondering where she could go to feed
the baby and find something to use as a nappy because the one little Bruce now
wore ponged a fair bit and headed for the main house.
If Mitch had felt lost before, it was even worse now. For years, wherever
he had been he had been the focus of attention.
Whether he be at a football game, a dinner or some kind of meeting he had
always been the most important person at any gathering. Now as well as being a
stranger in a very strange land he felt as lost as a boy on his first day at
school. He thought about following Sue, but he decided correctly that she was
looking for a private place to feed her baby. He didn't know what Bruce was up
to, but he was already too far away to chase so he simply sat where he was and
waited for something to happen.
This was another indication of his depressed state, Mitch had always been
a doer, never one to stand back and wait for things to happen, he felt totally
beaten down.
Mitch felt that he was almost on the verge of crying and looking for a
weapon to do himself a mischief with, when he felt a tap on his shoulder.
"Is there anything you require good sir?"
Mitch looked up in surprise and found a woman? A Skidian that looked like
a woman towering over him anyway.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Do you require any sustenance, something to drink?" The Skidian female
asked with elaborate formality.
The thought of something to eat and drink perked Mitch up slightly.
Surely they would have something decent to eat here? Then he remembered what
Bruce had said earlier about their food and he shook his head.
"Something to drink perhaps?"
"That would be great, thankyou," he replied wondering what she would
bring down. He was sure that the Skidian was a she now, because as she
straightened up a gust of wind caught her loose shirt and revealed a large
breast.
Despite his despair Mitch felt an urgent sexual desire of the like that
he'd not experienced in months. Even though there were many opportunities to
slake his legendary sexual drive in his life he been almost celibate in the
past months. With his administration performing badly as it lurched from
crisis to crisis, always reacting finding it increasingly difficult to be
proactive, his own popularity sagging and assailed on all sides by what he
generally termed the forces of evil and greed a burden almost to great to
bear, his libido had declined proportionately.
He had seen the arrival of the alien as a possible solution to all his
problems. With the election coming up the sort of sideshow that the alien
could provide if properly handled could deflect attention away from the really
important issues that faced the nation. Mitch chuckled at the thought that he
would be remembered as the only United States President to be kidnapped by an
alien.
Perhaps that would overshadow the fact that his achievements as president
had been limited.
Mitch heard somebody behind him and looked up to see the Skidian woman
looking down at him with a worried expression on her face.
"Are you all right?" She asked.
"Yes thankyou."
The woman set the tray she was carrying on the ground, poured the
contents of a large pitcher into a glass and handed it to Mitch.
"What is it?" He asked.
"I don't know," the woman shrugged her shoulders as if she didn't care
either.
Mitch sniffed contents of the glass and found to his surprise that it
smelt like beer. He sipped some of the liquid and found that it also tasted
like beer. Mitch couldn't remember the last time he'd had the time to simply
sit down and relax with a beer and nothing better to do. Maybe things won't be
so bad here afterall he thought.
"What's your name dear?" He asked after noticing that the woman was still
kneeling beside him.
"Mistril." Mistril replied sullenly, unhappy that Raele had commanded her
to resume her role of concubine to this offworlder, a life she believed was
behind her forever.
"Mistril, that's a nice name," Mitch said carelessly, the politician in
him coping easily with the need to make small talk no matter how he felt.
He took another swallow of beer and though he was in another world his
natural hospitality showed through.
"Are you going to have a drink as well?"
The offworlder astonished Mistril. She had been wondering what strange
and demeaning sexual preferences she might have to accommodate from him. Now
he was offering her a drink which was something none of her Skidian partners
had done while they performed all manner of humiliating indignities on her.
Mitch watched Mistril walk away in the direction of what he thought must
be a house of some kind and wondered sadly what he had said to make the woman
disappear so suddenly.
He was still trying to work out what he had said wrong when he saw the
woman coming back with another tray, glass and pitcher. He was pleased at the
appearance of another pitcher of beer, it was good stuff.
Mistril sat beside him, replenished Mitch's glass and after filling her
own picked up what looked like a tobacco pouch and rolled them both a
cigarette each. Mitch had given up smoking years ago and didn't know whether
he wanted to start again.
'But what the hell? ' He thought holding the cigarette and watching
incredulously as Mistril stuck her own cigarette into her left nostril and lit
it with a glowing metal plug.
Mitch threw back his head and laughed, laughed harder and with more
genuine mirth than he could remember in a long time. He fell back and lay on
the ground his chest heaving unable to speak which must have concerned Mistril
because she leant over him with the cigarette still dangling from a nostril
which made him laugh even harder.
"It's ok," he said holding up a hand, "I'll be ok in a moment," he added
struggling back into a sitting position and noticing that several Skidians
from the group around Raele were looking nervously in his direction.
He lit his own cigarette and inhaled gently. The smoke tickled his throat
and he immediately coughed. "Excuse me," he said.
Offworlders! Mistril was disgusted with the offworlders obscenity. But
then she wondered what it would be like to take agbar in that fashion which a
life time of conformity prevented her from trying.
Mitch sat quietly smoking and drinking, wondering what he could say to
the woman beside him. Despite the store of patter he had developed over the
years he found that he had nothing to say to Mistril. Not that it seemed to
matter, she seemed quite content just to sit there.
Faint angry sounding voices made Mitch stare down at the plain where he
thought he could see Bruce sadly shaking his head.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw some of the large cow like animals
running around chased by two of the dogs. He thought he could hear Bruce
yelling but it must have been some other noise.
摘要：

Skid3bysamWelcometoSKID3WhatisSKID3?SKID3isanelectronicbook,the'threequel'totheelectronicnovelSKID.Readit,passitontoyourfriends,anybodythatmightbeinterested,everymanandhisdog.Ifyoulikewhatyoureadandwanttocheckoutwhathappenedinthethefirstnoveldownloaditfrommyhomepageoremailmeforacopy.SKID2thesecondno...

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