And it was, until our friend, Nit decided it might be advantageous to stop off on the small heavily forested sixth sub moon of Neelom -Vell. An uninhabited cluster of, well ... barely planet classed planets, just outside the Main system. You see - on the sub-moons that spin round Neelom -Vell, there grows an elusive and very valuable fungus. Chor. Now, Chor itself is of no worth other than in regards to the pollen jelly that accumulates on the underside of the outer growth wings it extends at seeding time.
Well that's fine. But when you consider the fungus only spores once every 35 years, and it's worth 1000 times more per niccrom weight measure than Trill dust - the 'high' lasts 12 - 17 days, it enhances the cognitive functions of the user and increases performance on all levels of activity. Leaves a subtle resonance of well being. No hangover. No addiction. Only byproduct is a 'glowy' complexion and stronger nails. And a passive increase in Psychic ability. It's virtually undetectable when scanned for. Either in raw form or suspended in neural system fluids of the user - i.e. - substance screens do not work on it !!! Well, you can start to get an idea of it's attraction.
So . . . intrepid, brave, fortune seeking, unwise Nit, takes the shuttle down to have a look. You see a fellow pilot had passed on info to him, two rotations ago at Sental, a hot night club in one of the recreation and living zones in the platform. That Chor was possibly blooming - " Out there on one of those tangled balls of shlagg they keep trying to call planets - Ah ha ha ha ha !!!" Well Nit was listening. He heard. He planned. He silently moved all the neccessary pieces together.
And thats what brought him to this little sub-moon of Neelom -Vell. That universal motivator - greed. He thought he could cash - in. Get the pay off. Put out almost no effort, other than sneaking around with a company shuttle - for maximum payoff. Right on !!!
Well actually - wrong on. Nit in his haste and avarice - didn't stop to monitor frequency bands of any kind before he dove into the moons atmosphere. Had he, he might have picked up stacked qualon pulses, that are not hard to pick up, coming up from the deep forests below. If he had heard them, then he would have known that the only things that transmit on that clunky and prehistoric wave length are Gimpp Krutts. And their horribly bad news. Because Gimpp Krutts are the 'muscle' for Tagwarns. Filthy. Ruthless, space mercenaries and frontier opportunists. Essentially pirates by any other name.
And so after a short time Nit comes across what could be a stand of Chor. He moves in closer, his nostrils contract. "Whew - that rotting smell. Thats it. Thats Chor !!!"
And then - it all went to hell.
Had he been paying attention, he would have noticed the squealer - probes, hovering off in the green black periphery. Dim blue electric eyes watching him. But he didn't.
And then the trees parted . . . e x p l o d e d - and he was dealing with a Gimpp Krutt - first order. Lucky ( ? ) for Nit he had a service blaster, but that would be of little service to him. Gimpps are incredably strong and well put together. His only hope was to try to get to cover, but considering the Gimpp droid was tearing apart the forest trying to stop anyone from taking any jelly on behalf of the Tagwarns - things were not looking so good.
"Maybe I should have stayed on course . . . . oh, stupid, stupid, stupid . . . "
His lamentations were drowned out by the shrieking and grinding of the machine.
No comments:
Post a Comment