The Mars Cowboy

Part 5: Earth and Mars

He walked through the lobby with no difficulty. It was made entirely from some sort of black stone. He was about to open his brother’s door when the photonic lit up. A message on it: Not yet, Cowboy-G.

He walked back through the lobby and back outside onto a balcony, it was roughly the same size as the one he met Gilea on, but circular instead of rectangular. The stars were out. The balcony disengaged from the building, and lowered him down to street level. He walked off the balcony, off the main road into an alley. This alley was oddly empty. He continued to walk. A Bum got up out of the shadows and looked at him. He began making a noise. At first the Cowboy thought he was coughing, but it soon became apparent that the man was barking. He stopped and looked at the man. On an instinct he commanded the man to heel, and he stopped barking. This was one of the hired dogs.

“Who are you?” asked the Cowboy

“Do you have it?,” responded the man eagerly. There was a hunger in his eyes. He pulled out the photonic Gilea handed him earlier, and threw it at the man. When the bum caught it, a hologram of Gilea stood out to the side and said, This is your man. Give him what we agreed upon.

The dog reached down to a pile of slop he had been sleeping on and pulled out a long, Winchester, 3080 Lever Action Rifle. The best mid-to-long distance lever action on or off the market,. He had read about this gun’s stats on a flyer. Auto-stablization to reduce idle sway, no recoil, 100% accurate to 1500 meters, provided you could aim to 1500 meters, and enough stopping power to drive a 3 foot hole through someone at less than 100 meters, but lever action meant you had to lever in the next shell manually. He slung it over it shoulder.

“What are the Dogs?” He asked the bum. The bum got excited, and barked in his face, before scampering off. The Cowboy slung his new rifle to his hip and fired it, he liked the way it shot. the Bum fell over, face to the dirt. He walked slowly down the alley. When he got close he saw that the man’s leg was gone from the ankle down.

“Who is coming for my brother?”

“I don’t know! I don’t know I swear!”

“Why did you bark at me?”

“They… they told me too!”

“So you’re not one of them?”

“No!”

The cowboy turned, and walked back down the elevator. He went back up the elevator and walked to the back of the lobby. He turned around, the place was cavernous, and the only light came from the stars outside.

As he walked to his brother’s door, He swung the trigger guard out on his rifle, levering the spent shell out of the rifle and putting in a new shell. A computer voice said “Facial recognition complete: Welcome home, Edward Tanner.”

The holo-environment inside was projecting earth normal night-full moon. He found himself standing on a bridge arching out over nothing. He disliked earth-normal conditions, and projected environments. He felt uncomfortable. As it closed, the door merged with the hologram.

“Anybody home?” He mumbled

“No.” Answered a computerized voice.

The Something in his chest felt larger than ever. He imagined it burning his organs, and replacing them with a vacuum. The Something that was Nothing, he thought. He shook his head.

Across the bridge was a fantastic mansion at the top of the hill. It would’ve looked right at home on a plantation in 1850. He was unsure if it was projected or real. The hill had a perfectly manicured garden full of hedges and cloisters, and winding stone paths and flowers. A graveled path led up to the mansion’s main entrance, through the garden. He walked through the garden slowly, with his rifle out in front of him.