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‘Bait’ Stratagem

(17:3:22:12:40:27.9)

She wanted to stop.  She wanted off the crazy golden slide so she could stand tall and have a serious conversation with the man.  I’ll never get that.  Even when the ground flattens out he’ll keep moving.  He won’t even miss a step.  It was to happen there then, even as the amber directed them lower and lower.  If Bombi was to be discarded and have to crawl back up with nothing more than the adhesive she could lick onto her palms, then so be it.  She would at least know what to expect on the way back up. Continue reading →

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‘Worship’ Stratagem

(17:3:22:12:54:13.8)

Bombi wanted to be a speed runner; she wanted to run so far from her old life that ever returning to it was impossible, but she couldn’t bring herself to harm the star projections.  She knew they were innocent in all this and didn’t deserve whatever Chagrinn had planned for them.  An apprentice was not a slave, so she was free to do as she wanted. Continue reading →

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‘Battle’ Stratagem

(17:3:22:12:54:13.8)

Everything around her was so foreign, so strange, that she had to struggle to keep a realistic angle on things.  There were starry animals before her, frightened of her, and an old woman who just wanted to be left alone.  According to Chagrinn, and according to what she’d experienced, deserving of pity though they were, they weren’t reality. Continue reading →

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‘Arm Climb’ Stratagem

(17:3:22:10:03:05.0)

Chagrinn was already thirty feet off the ground.  If she tried to help Twixit now her mentor might fall, and there was certainly no convincing him back down.  There is a problem with compassion after all.  It’s slow.  We’ll never get anything done if we’re slow, and it takes an age to even say ‘compassion’.  Bombi walked up to the Win State woman’s face and tried to look her in the eye.  Her fluttering eyelids prevented it, but Bombi said her piece anyway. Continue reading →

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‘Appeal’ Stratagem

(17:3:22:10:03:05.0)

Bombi finally pulled free of the paralysis; it was the extra glance at Twixit’s tortured unconscious face that did it. She didn’t want to cause pain, though it should exist. She wanted others to feel it as she had, but Twixit’s suffering was different, not the pain of draining hope in a life of servitude. Her agony had knocked her out, and there was no way to think about what she’d done if she wasn’t awake. The young runner grabbed the Win Stater by the shirt and, before Chagrinn could look down and yell at her to stop, wrenched the woman away from the stone.

Her corrupted arm emerged from the crevice, which reversed its accursed elasticity. If it made a sound at all in the process of retracting it was drowned out by Chagrinn’s startled grunt. His reflexes were more than admirable, as he managed to keep hold of it as it transitioned from rope back to arm. Bombi’s mentor wound up standing right next to them, holding Twixit’s elbow like he was gallantly escorting her to a fancy ball. Continue reading →

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‘Free Morphib’ Stratagem

(17:3:22:8:50:32.3)

Bombi lunged back to Morphib, grabbed his stuck foot, and wrenched it loose.  Both she and the creature tumbled backward.  Bombi bounced off a leaning lily pad, but was stopped by Chagrinn’s vice grip on her shoulder.  She looked past him, and the pain of his grab, to see Morphib stumbling back and forth across the stone. Continue reading →

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‘Leave Morphib’ Stratagem

(17:3:22:8:50:32.3)

Pity cannot be my choice here, she realized.  There are creatures everywhere that deserve pity.  I could run back to the city right now and use my duplication to free all those in servitude.  If I do it once I should always do it, at every chance.  There would be no speed.  I would be dragged down by every pair of desperate hands.  If Morphib wants out he’ll need to learn to make decisions, no matter how painful. Continue reading →

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‘Assistant’s Tool’ Stratagem

(17:3:28:4:41:1.3)

Bombi’s fury had built for days, but she needed to control it.  Now that she had it, now that she was free of the melancholy of her old life, she could hold onto it.  It would still be there ten runs from now.  It would still be there if they had the world record, so she hopped down and made a lunge for the assistant’s tool rather than the Win Stater. Continue reading →

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‘Hieron’ Stratagem

(17:3:28:4:41:1.3)

            Hieron was moving.  He rolled to his knees and elbows and crawled out of the cell, toward the assistant’s tool.  Bombi leapt off the cot and out the open door.  She bounded to the wall, grabbed the hilt of her sword, and rushed back just as the man reached for the tool.  She grabbed him by the back of his shirt collar and pulled up. Continue reading →

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‘Astrolabe’ Stratagem

(17:3:22:11:38:6.6)

Bombi drew her seafoam sword and pointed it at the whispering rock of the shore.  She was at least familiar with that land; it would be easier for her to navigate and understand.  If she came face to face with lampworms or vagrants again, it could be handled.  Whatever knowledge they were after, it might help her understand Chagrinn.  If she could think like a speed runner she might not even need his stingy guidance anymore. Continue reading →