Kai's Story Snippet 2

Sitrep: Still experimenting with the graphic novel.
I tried a few experiments. I'm running them past a few friends and eventually the betas before I post them here.

On to the Snippet:

Chapter 2
The Planet

 

Krynn noted the fluctuations in his weather prediction simulations models. Unfortunately, he didn't have the ability to tighten them up; there were too many variables at play and too little sources of data for him. His processors and memory were also sharply limited.

The administration liked to base past performance off the almanac. That was not an effective predictive model for him. But, Governor Baine insisted. And, what the governor insisted on he usually got. Within reason at least.

Minox IV was barely scraping by, with a neutral trade balance with other star systems. That was good; no independent freighter would come to them if they couldn't offer goods worth trading. But, it was bad in that they weren't getting out of the hole they seemed to have found themselves in.

And every year they just found a way to dig it deeper.

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Tagar read the files and sighed. Minox IV was ripe for change, he knew that. But there were no proper candidates to challenge the establishment. He'd also seen and heard rumors that Governor Baine could fight dirty.

He really needed to figure something out soon or find another profession. Or hell, another planet to work on he thought in annoyance. Not that he had the credits to ship out. No one did at the moment.

His homeworld had been spared the ravages of the Xeno war. But despite not seeing a single Xeno ship that didn't mean they'd gotten off Scot free. The economy had collapsed when they'd lost contact with the rest of the Federation. What was left was limping along in a shambles, a shadow of its former self.

Without leadership and banking from the Federation the natives had been forced to their own devices. The corporate factories and businesses had dried up. They'd been swamped with refugees for years.

Minox had a nice planet with a 1.1 standard gravity field. A couple of small moons, and nice land. He knew his species preferred fields and meadows but he actually didn't mind the look of the mountains and seas. The seas sparkled quite nicely in the evenings.

They had a gas giant with an automated gas refinery supplying fuel to the few remaining space habitats and stations as well as the planet.

He didn't know what the population was, somewhere north of 100 million some had said, though starvation and disease were serious problems for the destitute living on the fringes of the cities and towns. They'd taken over some areas almost completely.

They needed a change. They needed a catalyst to kick things into gear and break the grip of the current administration. Baine's government was willing to suck every last credit out of the government and economy and ride it down in flames in the process. He just couldn't figure out a way to stop them.

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The Rock

 

“Hey Kai, you look like you need a trim! Come on in, your seat is waiting,” a familiar voice called from the concourse a half hour later.

Kai turned and waved to the barber. “Not today Toby, I've got a meeting to attend,” he said with a smile.

“Ah. Another pub round. Gotcha,” the barber said with a wave back as he went back to sweeping.

Kai snorted and kept going. There were some good people on the station. Many were nice but you had to watch your filings. Miners were constantly taken advantage of by the people that supported them. It was a constant source of bitching for all miners.

Instinctively he ran a hand over his horns. He had the usual four, two big ones up top and two lower ones. A Tauren barber used different tools to shape a subject's horns, hooves, and spikes to what the subject wanted. They could even do alterations and engravings on his shell. He had a few. But like all Tauren spacers he kept his horns and such trimmed short. They had to be short so they wouldn't puncture his suit.

A barber like old Toby used a cauterizer to trim and cut the thick carateen material. The hot knife did fast work. Final touch up was done with a rasp file or fine scalpel knife. He'd learned to do his own work when funds were running short.

His hand dropped to his face and chin. He didn't grow a beard, again body hair tended to get in the way. Some did though. They'd braid it or whatever. He'd considered it from time to time.

Sometimes he considered changing his name. His mother had named him after a video character. It wasn't until he was much older that he learned that the character was a fictional character from Terra, and had been the villain in the movie! When he'd confronted his mother she'd shrugged and explained that before his father had left for the war he'd asked that he be named for a bad guy. “It's not the name that matters. I think your father wanted to toughen you up without being there.”

He'd grumbled but kept the name to himself. He did like that the first part, Kai meant king. He'd kept that part and he'd never told his friends the meaning of his name.

He heard some clucking and turned to look at some chickens hanging from cages. They occasionally tried to stick their necks out to grab at some of the food around them. Tried and failed. He winced when one of the chickens pooped a stream of white on a piece of fruit. The female cleaned the fruit off, saving the poop for recycling since it was high in nitrogen but then put the fruit back.

He shook his head and moved on.

The rat and lizard jerky was tempting, as was the lizard boots. But he had boots. He went over to another stall and sniffed at the guinea pig on the grill. Guinea pig and rat were common meat for spacers. He decided to treat himself to a burger since he would need some food in his stomach to prepare himself for the drinking that would come later.

Just about every spacer had or knew someone who had a still. Recipes were common. Some could make you blind. He and his set preferred beer despite the added expense it entailed. That added expense made it all the sweeter but it also made their meetings few and far between sometimes.

Yeast was grown in space but grains not so much. You could make beer from other things but he preferred the real thing. He finished off his burger, dusted his fingers and then moved on to the pub.

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