8FOLD: Darkhorse # 9, "Make It Magnificent"

George Phillies phillies at 4liberty.net
Sun Jul 3 18:50:21 PDT 2016


>    "How much," she takes another deep breath, "how much time do I have
> left, Medusa?"
>    "Not long."
>    "I think I'd like to be alone now."
>    "I understand. Would you like to listen to some music?"
>    "Yeah. Yeah, that'd be nice."
>    "What would you like to listen to?"
>    "I can't pick anything right now. Could you?"
>    "Of course. It's been a pleasure working with you, Melody Mapp."
>    "You too."
>    Medusa clicks off, and the song starts playing. She recognizes it
> immediately.

A well-chosen way to face death. Medusa is polite enough not to sit 
there talking at Melody, when Melody wants quiet.


>    She's surprised, then, when the song ends; the song's a lot longer
> than two minutes, and she had less than that left. She opens her eyes
> and sits up to look at her watch. Three minutes past ten o'clock.

Death cheated.  And none of this 'but you lost your powers' trope.

>    She's alive, and she has her powers. What the heck?
>


> was exposed to really high doses of unidentified radiation on one of

unidentified radiation.  A fine choice.  Almost as good as 'alien 
chocolate'.

>    "Sorry," says Kate, shaking her head. "It's like there's something
> in my head rattling around. Something to do with mancers." She turns
> to Melody. "You mentioned it, and it started to jog something, but now
> it's gone. I went after the vertigo guy, and apparently he did a
> number on me. I can't remember any of it. And yet I think there's
> something important rattling around in the old noggin, I just can't
> reach it. After everything settles down, I'm going to talk to
> Rainshade to see if she can try and unlock it."

The author careful mounts Tolstoy's shotgun on the wall above the fireplace.


>    "But next year I'll be thirty. Officially old, like Bethany. And
> over the last few years, I've been thinking that, well, I don't want
> it to end that way. I have people that I love and that count on me,
> and I want to be there for them. I want to see them succeed, and find
> happiness, and have children, and I want to see those children
> succeed, and find happiness, and have children. And I've had enough
> close calls over the years that, well, I don't know. I'm not retiring
> just yet, but I don't think I have more than another year or two in
> me.

A wise position.

> the second Doctor Metronome."

Not "Doctor Metronome The Second and Greatest"?

>    "The Pulse was just looking for an excuse to declare war on us,"
> says Bethany. "They want Earth because of the easy access it gives
> them to the multiverse. They want to conquer parallel universes. They
> want to conquer all the parallel universes, to control every living
> thing on every plane of existence. Which, um, is a big deal,
> obviously."
>    "They want to conquer the other earths," says Melody.
>    Bethany nods. "You think that would get the whole universe on our
> side, but no one really cares what happens to some other universe.
> They just want to stay on the Pulse's good side in ours."
>    "They want to conquer the other earths," says Melody again.

There seems to be a change in topic here.
>
> Bunny should know better than to take on a radnoceros when she's low
> on ammunition. But she's had her eye on that bounty for a week now,

Choose your hunting companions wisely, or they will become your 
companions in being hunted.



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