TK Special #1 - AngusEcrivain... Apparently He Writes Sci-Fi, Too!

PERSIPHONE

"Well now... you're lookin' mighty fine, Miss Daisy. What say you an' I go upstairs an' I show you what you're missin' out on, lettin' your girls have all the fun?"

"Tol' you before, Sheriff. Ain't nothin' gets in my drawers 'cept me an' what runs on batteries. Now if you'd kindly take a step back; I'd hate to do somethin' I might regret, 'specially you being a lawman an' all."

"You makin' threats, Miss Daisy?"

"That I am, Sheriff," she replied, pushing the inebriated lawman away so she had room to retrieve the six-shooter from the holster at her hip. "An' listen close 'cause I speak true; this threat is anythin' but idle."

"Ain't a wise move, threat'nin' the law like that." The Sheriff lunged, catching Miss Daisy's wrist before she had chance to get a shot off. He pulled her towards him, relieving her of her weapon as he did so.

"I ain't ever seen a six-shooter like this," he said. "But you got yerself in some kinda' conundrum, Miss Daisy. Either you open your legs for me or today's the day I'll be shootin' me a who-re."

"Pretty sure the lady ain't interested in receivin' your affections, friend."

The sheriff whipped himself around, dragging Miss Daisy with him as he did so. It was not obvious to him who the speaker was. There were several people in the room, none of whom appeared to be looking in his direction.

"Which one o' you cowards ain't got the stones to show yer face when yer talk to me?" he yelled, yet no one made any moves to turn around and face him. "I'll be takin' this who-re upstairs then. Ain't no man gon' wan' fuck her when I'm done."

Yanking the woman by the frill at the back of her collar, the sheriff dragged her across the room towards the stairs. No man made any effort to stop him but as his feet fell heavily upon the staircase, two men at the bar turned to each other in such a way that the staircase and balcony above were entirely visible in their peripherals.

"Coulda' shot him dead right there."

"Coulda', but it ain't your place any more'n it's mine... 'Sides, Daisy's plenty capable of handlin' herself else you and I both know we wouldn't be leavin' the dirty work to her."

"Aye. An' it's my train o' thought that bastard'll be confused as all Hell when the Mach won't work for him."

"A trigger with fingerprint recognition's a wonderful thing."

One of the men glanced at his pocket watch and sighed, deeply.

"You gon' be all right here?" he asked. "Only it's five n' twenty past. Wanna' make sure Ettie's all ship shape an' ready to fly."

"Don't worry none, Ronnie," was the reply. "I got this under control."

Ronnie didn't doubt for even the slightest second that what Ed, his lifelong friend and second in command, said was true so with a tip of his Stetson, he slipped his buttocks from the wooden stool and quickly made his way out of the saloon.

It was a bright night, Manak's three large natural satellites casting light enough to make the shadows that little bit darker than Ronnie liked.

He checked the shooters at either hip, more for reassurance than anything else. There was no immediate danger – not yet, anyway. 'Course, as soon as Daisy put a hole through that raping bastard of a sheriff's head, that'd change pretty rapidly.

Manak was the very definition of a frontier planet. Situated at the very edge of Section 7, its original purpose was to be used as a base from which Section 8 would be explored, however the war raging between Sections 3, 4 and 6 had put a dampener on humanity pushing any further into uncharted space – for the time being, at least.