‘Swallowing Mesa’ Stratagem
(17:3:22:12:58:08.7)
“I did hear about something,” she whispered to Chagrinn, eyes darting back and forth. She leaned in, wanting it to feel like a precious secret, something barely alive passing between soft hands, but he did not reciprocate. Continue reading
‘Sisters’ Stratagem
(17:3:28:5:08:54.8)
“I will help you,” Bombi said, surprising herself. It must have been the raw desperation on Twixit’s face that convinced her. Yes, she had been part of the Win State, but she paid her recompense in suffering. What good is punishing the wicked if I can’t also help the deserving? Twixit was down there in the bottom of the world with her, flouting the rules she used to live by; she lived only to be restored. “I really don’t know how.” Continue reading
‘Walls’ Stratagem
(17:3:28:5:08:54.8)
“You heard him,” Bombi said coldly, but she swallowed hard and it betrayed her apprehension. Sister Twixit stood, posture feral. Her twisted cheeks reddened at the seams. Bombi slowly circled around her, trying to find a position directly under the dark interior of a wall. She didn’t know what to do with what the tool gave her, but she knew it was still there as a ball of green light lodged in her memories, somewhere between learning what walls were and meeting Chagrinn. Continue reading
‘Disassemble’ Stratagem
(17:3:28:5:38:24.7)
“Take it apart,” Bombi nearly whispered as she stared deep into the device. She didn’t have the slightest clue what she looked at, but she did feel a deep twinge, an animal urge to curl up inside it and keep warm by its ceaseless electrical knowledge. “As far as I’ve seen, speed running is the process of taking apart the world. Why should we treat this thing any differently?” Continue reading
‘Using the Tool’ Stratagem
(17:3:28:5:38:24.7)
“It’d be a shame to let any of its power go to waste,” Bombi said, examining Chagrinn’s eyes for signs of approval. He gave her nothing. “Our path will be of wonders whether or not we risk destroying ourselves, so let’s… simply… not risk it.” Continue reading
‘Unquestioning’ Stratagem
(17:3:22:12:40:27.9)
She nearly asked the question a hundred times, even opening her mouth twice, but in the end she kept it to herself. She let quiet rule the rest of their glide along the amber and instead focused on the slight singing note of it, like the wet rim of a glass. That was her answer. Chagrinn couldn’t or wouldn’t tell her the truth if he didn’t want to. She was at his mercy. The only truth she had access to was all around her. Everything she learned as a runner was her answers and it wasn’t his fault, the strange empty man that he was, if she didn’t know which questions to ask. Continue reading
‘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
‘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
‘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
‘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
Blaine Arcade 