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    Upgrades
    Upgrades
    Upgrades
    Ebook37 pages32 minutes

    Upgrades

    By Terry Hayman

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Stick has fallen to the level of slave in the waterfields of a hostile planet. And he's good with that. Until they start rebuilding him against his will.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherFiero Publishing
    Release dateOct 25, 2010
    ISBN9781452346779
    Upgrades
    Author

    Terry Hayman

    Raised in five different countries and currently living with his family in one of the most beautiful places on earth, Terry is a full-time writer and actor who accepts struggle, believes in goodness, and seeks truth always.

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      Book preview

      Upgrades - Terry Hayman

      At night Stick dreams of the Arthurian knight Lohengrin. At daybreak he struggles to adapt to the gradual replacement of his body parts. Why has he been selected for these honors? And will he survive the answer?

      UPGRADES

      a short story by

      Terry Hayman

      Copyright © 2010 by Terry Hayman

      Published by Fiero Publishing at Smashwords

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Upgrades

      Terry Hayman

      In his dream, Stick stands before the accusing Earth Hold President and his daughter. Then they are gone and the dripping corpse of Lohengrin, their pet poet, draped in satyric purple, chants in their place:

      Across a lake of inky black he came,

      the knight,

      his soul consumed with lust

      to save a maid...

      And suddenly Stick is in the poem. He is its Arthurian knight, the original Lohengrin. The dark raft sloshes under his bare feet. Colors of blood splash the moon. Something rends the mud ahead. Thrashing figures. Metal sticks. Flame and smoke. Then a woman runs to the shore, her eyes wide, pursued.

      ...to drive off night

      with nameless might.

      Stick feels the passion of the knight. Fire rushes through him. He must save the maid. But as he steps from the raft to the mud, his legs course with pain. He staggers.

      ***

      When the work siren sounded, Stick's eyes blinked open in the dawn murk of the bunker. Around him, twenty rejects from different planets -- political prisoners like Stick, indentured servants, violent offenders -- all groaned and swung their feet, claws, or flippers onto the dirty concrete floor.

      As did Stick. Clink-clink.

      Wha...?

      He blinked down at the high, woolen socks below his nightshirt. Lifted and dropped his legs in even succession.

      Clink. Clink.

      They felt nerve dead. This was--

      The bunker door clanged open. Backlit by the purple sunrise of Wato stood their Kriklit work boss. He/she was a six-limbed beast of unknown gender, with a mantis-like head and chitinous limbs. He/she stood as tall as two men when upright, his/her torso ropy with muscles like it was held together with metal cable.

      Roll-call, the work boss called in Universal, his/her voice clicking

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