Time: Shortly after Potato Surprise
Location: Aboard the Brimstone, in transit "All right. I have something." Shax nestled into the corner and put his feet up on the galley bench. Teaching the ship's AI to play Twenty Questions was just to pass an incredibly boring stretch of Copernicus flight. He reasoned it would be easy to win since even Ivana's circuits shouldn't be able to make the jumps of intuition necessary. After a moment's silence, Ivana asked, "Now I'm supposed to ask if it's animal, vegetable or mineral, hotstuff? Are all chlorophyll based life forms considered vegetable for the game? And do all the adorable little fungi get smushed into animal, then?" Shax furrowed his brow at the nearest speaker. "I think you're making this too complicated, my dear. If it's organic and moves at a visible pace under its own power, we'll call it animal." "I'm just trying to get the rules down, Captain." Ivana sniffed in offense. "Human games can be so vague and wobbly." "In the interest of moving along here, I will tell you that my thing is an animal." Ivana's voice became insufferably smug as she said, "It's a hellcat." "What? No. That's not how this is done." "It was a hellcat. You're lying Captain Innocent Face. There's just this teensy kick in your pulse sometimes when—" "Fine. It was. But that's still not how it's done. This is a process of elimination exercise. If it's not this subset, then it's that subset sort of thing." "I see. The object is the process." Ivan sent a cup of coffee out on the conveyor, her voice eager and chipper again. "Did you want to start again?" "All right. Once more from the beginning." Shax sipped at his whiskey-laced coffee with a contented sigh. "Ah, bribes. Thank you, Ms. Ivana." "You're very welcome. Now is it animal, vegetable or mineral?" "Animal." "One track mind this morning. Is it a Sol system species?" "Yes." Ivana snickered. "That narrows it down to about a hundred and thirty thousand possibilities. Is your animal chordata?" "I beg your pardon?" As discreetly as he could, Shax attempted to look up the word. "Phylum, sweetie." Chordata…vertebrates… "Oh. Yes. Yes it is." "Mammalian?" Shax gave the speaker a side eye. "Yes." "Is it an otter?" "That's…" Shax plunked down his coffee mug. "If you've installed some sort of telepathic software, you know that's not at all cricket, Ms. Ivana." "I'd need bio components that I don't have for that," Ivana said in flounce mode. "Don't you accuse me of cheating, Captain. You were looking at otter videos earlier. It was a reasonable guess." "Oh. So I was. My apologies." "Really, I'm surprised you were so obvious. Did you want to try again, Captain Tightbuns?" Ivana cooed, all but stroking Shax as she spoke. "No. Thank you for indulging me." Shax did his best not to scowl and sipped at his coffee. "It's a stupid game anyway."
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Hello everyone! The Journal this week has been shoved aside, er, replaced by a little announcement.
Right now, as I type, the audio version of Potato Surprise: A Brimstone Prequel, is going through the audio approval/ distribution process. Once it's ready, we have a thing planned. (A THING, I tell you!) Vance Bastian, who voices and narrates the Brimstone series, and I will be running a little Shaxenger Hunt, during which you'll be hunting for clues in the comments of various previous Brimstone Journals which will lead you to a final solution/ code. For which, of course, there will be prizes. Just a head's up for now. Watch for it coming soon! :) Time: A long time ago (Shax and Verin's young adulthood)
Place: Aministrative halls of Hell, Earth "This isn't really punishment for you." Verin leaned back against the rock wall beside the desk. "Of course it is." Shax slouched on the high stool, rolling the blood pen back and forth across the ledger. "It's so dull and monotonous. And it takes forever." "Yeah, but you get to boss people around, you little shit. Stop moaning." The next demon approached the desk. All of the demons in line were a variation on a theme—huge horns, hairy bodies, troll-esque faces, each with a wriggling sack slung over one shoulder and documents clutched in their free claws. Shax reached for the documents, careful not to touch the attached demon. Krampuses weren't careful at all with hygiene and they stank like wet, swamp-muddied socks. Shax sighed and sorted through the papers, all in order. The goblins at the head of the line helped the Krampuses with the forms if they weren't the literate sorts, for which Shax was grateful. Goblin handwriting was far superior to Krampus. "Male child, several infractions—attempted drowning of kittens?" Shax shook his head. He should've been beyond shock by this point, but human children astounded him still. "Well, that's an automatic eatable offense." He checked off the appropriate boxes, signed in the supervisor space and added a note to the bottom. "You have royal permission to terrorize as much as you please prior to consumption." "Thank you, highness," the Krampus snarled as he retrieved the papers and moved on. It wasn't disrespect. They all spoke in snarls. "It's all mixed messages, you know." Shax turned to Verin while they waited for the next Krampus to trundle up. "Shax, steal me this. Shax, steal me that. You're such an excellent thief, Shax. Followed by recriminations and punishment when I steal the wrong thing." Verin snorted. "You stole your mom's tiara. Even I knew that was a stupid fucking move." "Still. You see my point, don't you?" Shax didn't expect an answer beyond more snorts, so he turned back to his Krampus supervising duties. The next Krampus had hunched shoulders, eyes flicking this way and that. Not suspicious at all. "You bagged this one for making siblings cry? Tsk." Shax pointed and intoned with his best imperious voice. "Put that one back and sing the beatings versus eatings song seven times before you go out for a replacement." "But Prince Shax, I’m so hungry!" "You should've thought of that before making an inappropriate catch. Go!" The Krampus whimpered, but hurried off. Royalty had its privileges, after all. The next one had a sack that was kicking and shrieking. Oddly, the sack seemed to know demon royalty. "Prince Shax! Prince Shax!" "So you have a human child in there?" Shax tapped his pen on the stone desk. The Krampus pulled out a hideous grin and nodded with enthusiasm. I will not bang my head on the desk. I will not. "Open the sack," Shax said with a weary sigh. As soon as the sack was untied, an imp wriggled free and leaped to his hooves, pointing at the Krampus. "You are in so much trouble!" Then he caught himself and knelt properly. "Your highness. I beg pardon." "I should say. Who do you belong to, little one?" Shax did a quick assessment as he spoke. The imp appeared unharmed. "Prince Vassago, highness." Shax clicked his tongue in reproof. "Well, you probably are in trouble then…" He glanced at the designation on the paperwork. "Krampus Three Seventeen. Go and tell Uncle Vassago the number, little one. He'll have to decide while this Krampus goes to sit in the corner over there and does not have supper." The noises coming from Verin made it clear he was stifling a guffaw. "You're not helping things. I hate supervising the annual Krampus feed. A thousand Krampuses and I swear only three of them have any sense. There are rules." The next Krampus in line had a sack that was crying. That wasn't too unusual, but this sounded more heartbroken than frightened. Shax frowned as he looked over the paperwork. "This is very messy." "Do by self," the Krampus said, puffing its chest out with pride. Ah. One of the barely verbal ones. "I see. So, the reason for trapping appears to be—and correct me if I'm wrong since it's difficult to decipher--kissing other girl." "Yes. On list." "What list? Certainly not on ours." The Krampus felt around in its ragged, dirty cloak and produced a much creased and stained list. "List. Man gave." "You know better than to take direction from humans," Shax grumbled and smoothed the list out. "Pits' sakes. No. These are normal human things, like kissing another girl. Strife!" Shax waited until the goblin administrator huffed and puffed down the hall. "My prince?" "Find out where this list came from and make certain the source is eliminated. Also, have someone return this child. She shouldn't be here." "Yes, Prince Shax." Shax put his head on the desk and heaved a huge, I-must-have-patience breath. "How many more do we have to go, Ver?" Verin gave his tally sheet a quick glance. "Hey, you've seen a lot already. Only seven hundred and thirty-eight more." It was Shax's turn to whimper, but he managed a sub-audible one. Dignity and all. "Next!" Time: Between Shax's War and Beside A Black Tarn
Place: New Bangkok spaceport, planet Barbary "Well." Shax sat back, drumming his fingers on the boards in the pilot's pod. "This is potentially disastrous." "What is, sawdust for brains?" Verin muttered from the pilot's chair as he worked through their launch forms. "Did you visit any demon bars in port, Ver? And if so, which ones?" "None of your fucking business." Steam curled from Verin's nostrils at an accelerated rate. "Hmm, yes. Normally I'd agree with you." Shax waved a hand at his view screen. "But we just had a health bulletin come in from city L&I. They've tracked an outbreak of volcanitis back to Tartarus, and I know you go there sometimes." "Are you shitting me?" Verin surged up from his chair to lean over Shax and read the bulletin. "Aw, fuck. The bastards couldn't have sent this out before we were all boarded?" "Apparently not. Are we screwed, Ver?" "We are screwed to the wall with giant screws." Verin sank back into his chair. "Fuckity fuck fuck." Shax hit the all ship comm. "My dear crew, we have a bit of an issue with takeoff. No panicking, please. Meet me in the cargo bay immediately." "Really? You went there?" Verin snarled. "Now everyone's gonna fucking panic." "Then we'll unpanic them." Shax flapped a hand at him. "Go, go. I just need to peruse details and I'll be right there." By the time Shax reached the cargo bay, there were indeed signs of panic, raised voices chief among them. Mac strode to the foot of the steps before Shax had a chance to descend and demanded, "What's this about an epidemic, Captain?" That escalated quickly. "Nothing quite so dire." He decided to address his crew from the landing and set his hands on the railing. "We received a health bulletin regarding an outbreak of volcanitis this week. They've traced it back to Club Tartarus. How many of you have been there in the past five days?" Nearly every ship denizen in the bay raised a hand, with the exceptions of Leopold and Rosa. Shax pinched the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger. "Wonderful." "What does this mean, love?" Ness took a step toward him, the trembling in his wings barely discernible. "It means we're docked and confined to the ship until we've passed the incubation period. Corny, you're exempt. Humans can neither catch not carry this." "What about Mac?" Heckle's voice shook worse than Ness's wings. "I'm…not sure." Shax turned to address his engineer. "Mac? Any idea if nephilim are susceptible?" Mac shook his head. "Don't know, Cap. Never came across an outbreak before." "All right. So everyone except Corny is confined to the ship. Leopold my dear, that means you too. We have no idea if you'll be affected." Shax heaved a put upon sigh. "This mean three more days in port. Not a terrible hardship, but I was hoping to leave this afternoon. Anyone who comes down with symptoms needs to bunk here in the hold. We can't have—" Verin made a distressed choking sound, turned away from his shipmates and spewed flame at the metal deck plates. "Cabin fires," Shax concluded wearily. "Well, damn it, Ver." "Not my fault." Verin sat hard on the deck, clutching his head. "Oh, fuck." Everyone backed up as Verin let loose with another gout of fire. Corny held a hand out toward him, clearly uncertain whether it was safe to approach. "Can we do anything, Cap?" Corny asked from his relatively safe distance. "I don't suppose anyone has ideas about fire-retardant bedding?" By the time Mac had found some insulation material that wouldn't burn and had set up a few makeshift pallets in the hold as far away from Rosa as possible, Heckle had collapsed to his hands and knees spewing small spurts of flame and Shax wasn't feeling terribly well himself. "I'll, ah, sleep in the hold tonight, cupcake." He leaned his aching head against Ness's chest. Ness stroked his hair and kissed the base of one horn. "I should stay with you, don't you think?" "Only if you're starting to feel poorly, too." Shax glanced up at him. "You're not, are you?" "Not at all. Maybe the virus doesn't infect the fallen?" "I don't—" A sudden wave of heat and nausea warned Shax. He whispered excuse me, and managed to turn before flame erupted up his esophagus and onto the corridor's deck plates. "Pits. I'll just, ah, crawl to the hold. Ms. Ivana could you—" Another column of flame escaped. Fire suppression alarms sounded. The system doused Shax in foam fire retardant. "—hold the fire suppression," Shax gasped out, spitting foam from his mouth. "I'm sorry, Captain Hot Stuff. Didn't catch it in time." Ivana did sound sorry. She also sounded like she was trying not to snicker. "Didn't realize you'd gone literally hot stuff already." "Do you need help?" Ness called after Shax as he crawled down the now slippery corridor. "Stay there," Shax got out in a desperate plea as he tried to suppress the next fountain of flame. It didn't work. "Don't want to hurt you." "All right." Ness agreed, then followed him at a safe distance anyway. Damn Verin and his clubbing. Though they all went. Damn them all. And no one invited me. What the deuces am I saying? Shax made it to the hold without setting his ship alight. He curled up on one of the empty pallets by the wall, fevered, miserable, and from time to time vomiting flame, which, frankly, wasn't much fun at all. Verin shivered and moaned through his own fever. Heckle's didn't seem quite as bad as he only hiccupped a few candle's worth of fire here and there. While demon innards were relatively fireproof, it was still a miserable two days before symptoms and fever dreams subsided. Mac never caught it and neither did Leopold. On the afternoon of the second day, Ness joined them, though. "You too, hon?" Shax whispered from the pallet that he had partially shredded to make himself a nest. "I just don't feel terribly well." Ness let out an un-angelic belch. "Thought I should come down as a precaution." "Sorry, sweetheart. I hope it's not too bad for you." "I—" Ness hiccupped and belched again. Instead of the expected geyser of flame, pearlescent bubbles escaped his mouth and drifted peacefully toward the ceiling where they popped with little musical pings. "Are you fucking kidding me?" Verin grumbled from his pallet. Heckle watched the bubbles with fascinated longing. "That's just not fair." "It's not as if I'm trying to do it," Ness said with an exasperated sigh. Shax watched another round of bubbles pop against the ceiling girders. Maybe it was leftover fever hallucinations, but he thought he saw sparks. "Cupcake, if you don't mind aiming those at the floor, please?" Ness shrugged but repositioned so his bubbles would hit the floor directly in front of him. Sure enough, the next ones hit the decking in showers of miniature lightning storms. "Oh…oh, dear," Ness whispered as he lay down with his head hanging off the insulation. "There's two days of this?" The tiny lightning strikes had become miniature thunderstorms with the next bout of bubbles, complete with about three seconds of rain. Shax rolled father into his nest, pulling the insulation up around him to protect against tiny lightning strikes. Living with a newly fallen was mostly wonderful, incredibly instructive, and never, ever boring. Time: After Shax's War
Place: Planet Barbary, New Bangkok city dome Heckle swung his hooves as he waited for Corny to come back from the counter. They'd come into the shopping district for, surprisingly, shopping. Things they couldn't just order from the dockmaster at the spaceport. Captain Shax had asked for a list of things for Ness's unbirthday—in place of a birthday since Ness had no idea when his creation day was—and Corny had needed a substitute for leather for tack repair. By the time they were finished, they were both starving so Corny had found a place serving a meatless pulled pork that smelled wonderful. Heckle snagged a table for them while Corny ordered since the counter wasn't even close to imp-sized. The food stand was doing a brisk business and customers far outnumbered tables, which worked well since so many of the customers, probably locals, wanted takeaway. Unfortunately, not everyone. "Oy! Mini-demon! Move along. You don't need that whole table." A large bald human—Heckle was sure he was a human by the scent, though his much bent and crinkled nose could've been a pit demon's—loomed over him, blocking the day-cycle lights of the dome. Heckle didn't dare look the rude human in the face, but he did manage to stammer out, "I'm—I'm waiting for a friend." "Then both you mini-demons can go sit your asses on the curb where you belong." The human's smaller, mean-eyed friend guffawed. Even though he knew he risked being tossed, Heckle swallowed hard and stood his ground. "It's not—" "Move along, gentlemen," Corny's softest, most dangerous tone came from behind them. "The little hombre got there first." "Who the fuck are you?" Crinkle Nose turned on Corny. "The friend he's waiting for." The threat in Corny's eyes was hard and unmistakable. Both humans moved off muttering about the benches in the park being cleaner anyway. Corny shook his head and handed Heckle his share of lunch as he sat down. "You all right, little bit?" The confrontation had shaken Heckle down to his hooves. He pulled in a slow breath before answering, "They didn't hurt me." "Not what I asked but good to hear." Heckle dug into his lunch, which was spicy and warm. The food in his stomach steadied him, as it often did and he started to wonder about things. "Are humans or demons worse, do you think?" It took three bites for Corny to answer. "Well, I reckon there's worse and there's worse." "I don't know what that means," Heckle said as he shoveled up another forkful. Corny waved his own fork around to include the other patrons. "Some people used to say that humans are half demon and half angel. That we have to fight all our lives against the bad parts of who we are if we wanna be good people. I dunno much about that. I do know that demons come in lots of types and some are bone-deep bad and heartless. Others are just, what does Cap say? Morally dubious." "So humans come in different kinds, too?" "Nah. We're all the same. Not like pit demons and imps and other hell critters. But lots of humans… Well, something goes wrong in their rearing. Or just in their insides. They grow up heartless. Still human. Just can't think beyond their own selves." Corny shrugged. "Demons just are what they are. Come to think of it, some of the things I've heard tell about angels have been pretty heartless, too." Heckle nodded at that. Taking Ness's beautiful golden wings because he was in love? That had been shockingly cruel even from a demonic view of things. "I'll cotton to not thinking everything Cap'n Shax does it right, but he's still got a heart. And Ver will tear you to pieces if he thinks you done him wrong. But his heart's still in there. That's what matters, I reckon." The proprietor of the food stand bustled up then with a thundercloud frown. Heckle was sure she was going to tell them to leave. No imps allowed or something. She plunked a takeaway container on the table. "Here, sweetie. You take that with you. I don't like seeing my customers bullied." "Oh." Heckle blinked at the container. "Thank you." But she'd already hurried off again and probably hadn't heard. He gathered the container close as they left the table. Heart. Heart was good. A full stomach was sometimes just as wonderful. Time: shortly after Beside A Black Tarn
Place: Unknown “I don't understand it.” Dr. Krantz shook his head. “The conditions were identical.” “Run it again,” Dr. Stern snapped a hand at the vid. “We're missing something.” Riveted to the recorded images, they watched again. The med tech reduced anesthetic drip. The fallen angel on the table showed definite signs of distress. He began to twist against his restraints and mutter to himself. He turned his head to address the empty air beside him. A heat shimmer wavered in the space he addressed. Something began to take shape on the tray beside the fallen's head, something dark and twisted, but after a few moments of twisting, impossible limbs and the hint of feral eyes, a hideous shriek sounded and the half-formed entity vanished. Krantz cut the feed before the fallen began screaming. "You don't suppose it's because this one has horns, do you? Is it possible there are differences between fallen on a chemical level?" "Nonsense." Dr. Prince yanked a cloth from his pocket to wipe the lenses on his spectroscopy goggles. "All fallen are the same except in superficial, aesthetic ways. They were all angels once. Run the successful one again." They had all seen it a hundred times, though not with the spectroscopy goggles. Dr. Krantz queued up the file in question and let it run. They had condensed the feed down to the specific points where the entity began to manifest—apparent at first only through the fallen's odd behavior where he stopped muttering to himself and appeared to speak to something beside him, then in more and more visible forms until the bright pink entity became a solid mass. "He is much more handsome than the other fallen," Dr. Stern murmured. "And he doesn't have horns like the other one," Dr. Krantz added in a whisper. "Aesthetic differences," Dr. Prince snarled. "It means no more than eye color or the size of someone's feet." "I do like a man with big feet." "Oh, yes. Long feet with elegant toes—" "Will you please focus, gentlemen?" Dr. Prince's teeth were clamped together so, Dr. Krantz felt it best to shut up and concentrated on the extraordinarily pink entity, which had chosen to manifest as an unusually large hedgehog. There didn't appear to be anything unusual about his elemental makeup—the normal carbon sorts of things, oxygen, calcium, iron, hydrogen, nitrogen and so on. But where had the atoms come from to make the entity? Was it actually physical, or did it merely appear to be? Was this an anomalous creation of matter? And if that were true, and everything they knew was wrong, what was the point? And what were-- "Why wasn't the entity detained?" Dr. Prince wrenched his goggles off with a frustrated huff. "Security believed it was a data glitch." Dr. Stern edged away carefully. "A data glitch. A data glitch." Dr. Prince tapped his goggles in the counter in a swift, syncopated rhythm. "Gentlemen, we need another fallen. A fresh one. We'll begin again. Take another look at brainwave patterns. There must be a way to repeat the phenomenon." Dr. Krantz sighed, not looking forward to dealing with the people who brought them subjects, but he supposed it had to be done as many times as it took to replicate the results. For science, he told himself, for science. Time: Shortly after Beside A Black Tarn
Place: Elistrus, Thinis CIty "Shoo! I don't want any dirty animals in my bakery!" The proprietor backed up her words with sharp snaps of an apron. This was why Leopold dreaded going into new establishments, though he realized he would probably do better if he wore pants on a consistent basis. He heaved up onto his hind legs and held out his front paws. "I'm a small demon. Not an animal, per se. And I have money." "Oh. Sorry." The proprietor still scowled. "You should probably lead with that." "My apologies," Leopold managed a little bow, careful of his backpack. If he disturbed Max and Nic too much, they'd want to come out and see what was happening. Yes. That would go well. "Your danishes smell so good. I would like two, please." After a bout of indecision—all of the pastries looked delicious—Leopold settled on a raspberry danish and a lemon one. The shop owner was magically more polite and friendly when he paid for them, but he reasoned that he could be a bit of a shock for some people. The nice human in his favorite yarn store in Thinis had never reacted that way, but they were the exception. Outside the shop, he reverted to all fours and ran to the nearest city park where he monopolized a bench and let Max and Nic out of the backpack. Max trilled and waved his front sets of legs toward the sunlight while Nic stayed close to Leopold and sniffed the air suspiciously. Planetary air was always a little weird for Nic, born and raised in space. Leopold broke bits off each pastry, with a line of tiny pieces for Max on the right and another for Nic on the left, before he began devouring. They really were as good as they smelled and Leopold polished off his portions in seconds. His companions were considerably slower eaters, nibbling, in Nic's case, and breaking off tiny crumbs for a tiny mouth in Max's. Not that they were in any hurry and Leopold enjoyed the sunshine. While waiting, Leopold opened his backpack all the way and dug into the larger pocket for his flute, the silver one, and started to compose a song about pastries. Max hummed softly in accompaniment while he ate and Nic swayed to the rhythm. Leopold lost track of his surroundings until a man walking by dropped a small credit chit into the open backpack. "Sir? You've dropped something," Leopold called after him. "A credit chit—in my pack. I see it in there." The man kept walking, oblivious, so Leopold shrugged and returned to playing, transitioning from his new song to older ones he'd learned from Papa Shax. A few minutes later, another human dropped a chit into the pack. This time Leopold was watching and it looked oddly deliberate. Max finished his crumbs and began to sing in earnest, harmonizing with the flute, while Nic began to do a rat dance in earnest, the suckers on his paws allowing him to use the back of the bench as well as the seat. The chits kept coming, from a few isolated plinks to a steady shower. When Leopold finally packed up to go home, there wasn't any room left for Nic and Max in the backpack, so they rode on top, clinging to the clinking pack. Still puzzled, he took everything into the galley where he found his Papa Shax. "What in all levels do you have in there?" Papa Shax asked as his eyebrows rose. "It sounds like your pack's full of credit chits." Leopold thumped the pack on the bench and climbed up before he opened it. "Ah. It is indeed a pack full of small credit. Should I ask how you obtained these? Or perhaps why in the world you would?" "In the park, Papa. It's accidental busking. I didn't mean to." "Huh. Well. I'll have Heckle and Ms. Ivana help you get those deposited." Papa Shax patted his paw. "Don't feel bad, my dear. We've all engaged in more-or-less honest employment from time to time, accidentally or not." Time: Shortly before Hell for the Company
Place: Kepler Station "Well. They've certainly done a lovely job." Shax stopped on the catwalk above the newly renovated Kepler Station shopping concourse to appreciate the view. Brighter, wider, with more merchants and even a miniature park, the designers had completely transformed the old, dingy shopping district. Unsurprisingly, Verin was less impressed. "Yeah, yeah. Can we just get the shit we need and get the fuck out of here?" "You take all the fun out of shopping, Ver. Why did I bring you?" "Because I don't trust you to buy pants for me, that's why." Shax heaved a put-upon sigh. "I bought you plaid pants once. Once. And it was centuries ago." "One fucking time too many." Verin pushed off the railing and stomped toward the stairs. "Come on, your annoying highness. Let's get this crap over with." "I'll just have to come back later and shop properly," Shax muttered as he followed Verin's streamers of steam. The expedition went well for the first three stores—new work gloves, a bit of a restock on the liquor supplies, some electronic bits and bobs Ivana had requested. In the fourth store, however, things began to go oddly pear-shaped. Verin was standing in the waist-high booth so the tape measure lasers could get his particulars for his pants purchase when the oddest feeling crept over Shax. Verin simply had the most glorious horns and Shax couldn't help staring as a contented warmth wrapped around his heart. "What?" Verin finally stepped out of the booth, regarding Shax with narrowed eyes. "Shaxy?" "Ver…you…" Shax stepped up to him and rested his head on Verin's shoulder. "You've put up with so much from me. Dragging you all over the galaxy and back. All the jobs gone wrong. All the times you've had to come after me. I…I don't think I tell you enough how very much I appreciate you." "Hey, don't start crying and shit." Verin actually wrapped an arm around him instead of pushing him away. "If I didn't feel appreciated, I would never have fucking stayed. You know that, genius." "I do. I know that. You're my brother in all but blood. You're…" Shax grabbed a fistful of Verin's shirtfront. "Ver…something's not right here." Verin didn't let go but he did start to edge them toward the door. "Was kinda thinking the same thing." "You are indeed very dear to me, but this isn't like us." "Nope. Not one fucking bit. And I love you too, Shaxy." Verin held on tighter and started edging faster. "Fuck." By the time they made it out of the store, they were the only people still making a concerted effort at moving forward. Difficult to say who might have known whom previously as they were forced to step over and around fellow shoppers, concourse employees and security who had paired off or trio-ed off or however many people were involved in the corner there, all kissing, groping and in various stages of screwing. "Hell's gates," Shax whispered. "Come on. We have to get off the concourse." He grabbed Verin's sleeve and pulled him along, though the urge to join the carousers on the floor yanked at Shax every step of the way. As soon as the concourse doors whooshed shut behind them, the powerful urges subsided. "What the fuck was all that?" Verin yanked his sleeve out of Shax's grasp, steam billowing from his heaving breaths. "Not sure, but certainly not a natural reaction." Shax stared through the closed doors at the orgy taking place on the other side. "Sonic interference isn't out of the question but one of us would've noticed. Chemical interference seems more likely and there are only two vectors that would work that quickly on such a varied sample of victims – air and water." "And since all of those people weren't drinking water at the same fucking time…" "Exactly. Whatever it is, it's in the ventilation system in there." Shax hurried over to the nearest maintenance port and hacked into the station schematics, fingers flying over the screen. "Interesting. Why would they do that?" "Do what, you smug little shit?" Shax grinned even as he kept at the schematics, drilling down into behind the scenes corridors. "That's my Ver. They've built the concourse with a ventilation system independent from the rest of the station. Or I should say isolated from." "Well that's the stupidest—" Verin cut off, his eyes going wide. "Oh." "Yes. While I completely support underhanded methods in merchandising, even as far as subliminal suggestions, this is going a bit too far." Shax shut down the terminal. "Come on. We're finding a way into the back rooms." Breaking into the back corridors was child's play. Finding the room that served as the monitoring station for the concourse wasn't much harder. The screens showed the strange scenes playing out in the concourse, though the room appeared abandoned until Shax spotted the trio of security goons going at it under the counter. A huge tank on a transport cart sat along the far wall, hoses obviously hooked into the ventilation system, Experiment 642 stenciled in white block letters on its side. "Ver, shut the damn valves. Please." Shax tapped a foot in irritation. "There's obviously a leak. How dare they. I don't even have words." "Sounds like you still got plenty of words, slush for brains," Verin grumbled as he turned the valves shut on the tank. "So what now?" "We're taking this thing and hooking it up to the administrative offices. Then we're leaving." Verin snorted out a cloud of black smoke. "What, Ver? You're against revenge suddenly?" "Oh, fuck no. But I still didn't get any pants." "Next station. I promise." It took both of them to get the tank moving into the corridor, Shax huffing and straining. "One that doesn't experiment with untested airborne drugs on its shoppers." Time: Twenty-fifth century
Place: Earth, the royal precincts of Hell Ashtaroth watched the destruction with varying levels of distaste, not the least of which was how incredibly filthy Lu would be by the time he was done. She stood on a high butte overlooking the plain where her only progeny's palace had stood of late, her imps holding a golden sheet above her as a canopy to keep off any stray bits of ash. She'd had ample warning, of course. Her son had whispered hurried schemes to his companion, his garde du corps, and the stones of her palace had repeated those whispers to her. Too late to prevent her princeling's flight but in plenty of time to prevent wholescale razing of assets. Her army of minions had descended upon Shax's shining stronghold and had brought out the hellcats, cleared the stables, and packed up anything of value. The house minions had taken the hint and scattered. Not three hours later, Lucifer had descended in all his glory and his rage, expanded to the size of a city block in his fury, black wings blotting out all light, massive horns curled and twisted from his temples. His claws ripped fissures into the earth. His eyes were black pits of madness. Ashtaroth, from her safe vantage point, breathed in the sulfur of his passage and longed to have him like this, at the pinnacle of his power. Foolish that would be, of course, and painful. Not to mention extraordinarily messy. "My darling, stupid boy," she murmured as the palace went up, seared in the flames of his nib's howling tantrum. Then she sighed and turned from the sight, impressive as it was, to make her way down to the throne room. Of course, Shax wasn't truly stupid. He was hers, after all, and she couldn't blame him entirely for fleeing an impossible situation. She was quite put out with him, nevertheless—one, for not confiding in her and seeking her counsel and two, for seizing on such an impetuous and precipitous solution. Permanent exile from the Earth herself, where his power would be diminished, his influence naught? Reckless. Not the done thing for a prince of the blood. By the time she reached Lu's throne room of malachite and basalt, he had already returned to a more reasonable size and sprawled naked and soot-grimed on the steps to the dais. Imps fluttered around him, trying to wipe off the schmutz, but he kept batting them away. Naturally, after the monstrous tantrum came the depression. Some things never changed. He'd sulked and taken up postures of pitiable despair for weeks after the fall from heaven. Vassago tried to warn her off, shaking his head, but she would have none of it. She was no cowering minion to wait upon the Dark One's pleasure or censure. She snapped her wings in tight to her back and began in her frostiest tones, "Lu, you can't just—" "Don't tell me what I can't!" Lucifer bellowed, one eye hidden in his sadly snarled mane of ebon hair. He thrust a claw at her. "You! How dare you show your face! Your son betrayed me!" "Oh, do stop whinging." Ashtaroth tossed her shining hair over her shoulder with a sniff. "You're such an infant sometimes. I'd no idea what my willful spawn was up to. And quite frankly, I don't recall being advised of your plans." That single black eye swirled red with anger. "I owe you no expl—" "Plans, my dear, that would have resulted in the certain death of my son," she cut across his bellow with her own, unmoved by his show of ire. "I don't approve of how he's handled the situation, certainly. Though I'm not best pleased with you at the moment, either." Lucifer curled in on himself, hiding under his wings. And here came the waterworks, howls of misery to accompany his tears. "Drama queen," some minion whispered, though impossible to tell which one. Ashtaroth gestured to Vassago, who just rolled his eyes and stomped away, so she took a chance and approached. Her minions spread a cloth for her on the stairs so she wouldn't soil her silver gown and she gestured to the imps to clean off a spot on Lu's shoulder and wing. When she had a clean space, she patted his broad shoulder. "There, there. I know it's a disappointment. We'll make plans for inciting warfare another day. Ones you share with your siblings, yes? In the meantime, you get yourself cleaned up, call session and declare Shax a traitor to the realm, banished for all eternity, so on and so forth." Lucifer nodded. "Yes. For all eternity." He snuffled and hiccoughed on a sob. "With dreadful and complicated punishments if he returns." "As complex as you like, Lu." She stroked the clean spot, careful not to go beyond where the Imps had wiped him off. "And then, consider that we have a prince of the blood out amongst the stars. Someone who can serve as eyes and ears beyond our reach. The reach of man is so far beyond us now. We need someone with more intelligence than the idiot pit demon mercenaries out there." Lucifer sighed. "I know you're right. But I need to be pissed off for a while. I'll probably yell at you during session." "Of course you will, dear. There are forms to adhere to." "You are the best, Ash." He lurched toward her as if to put his great horned head in her lap. She jerked the material of her gown away with a shriek. "No! Not until you're clean!" "Oh. Yes. Right." He propped himself on one elbow and bellowed for his bath. Thirteen beautiful succubae brought his golden tub. Thirteen gorgeous incubi slunk over to bathe him. Lu still moaned and complained throughout their gentle handling of him but at least he was doing instead of wallowing in depression. Sometimes being a princess of hell was quite satisfying, even fun on her most evil days. Some days, though? It could be quite vexing indeed. Time: 1737
Place: English countryside, Earth 'Twas not a fit night out for man nor beast. Heavy clouds threatened snow and smothered the moonlight. The damp chill seeped into bones even through the heaviest cloak. Precious little light skittered along this stretch of road under heavy trees. But there was a glint of hoof, a flash of harness, a quick bright flame to light the glowing end of a cigar. One horseman at least blocked the middle of the road, lying in wait for some unfortunate traveler caught out on this dark, inhospitable night. Hoof beats drumming along the road began as a subterranean shudder until they grew loud and louder – a horseman come riding, riding, riding—a horseman riding through the gloom along the kind's road. "Steady on," Shax murmured as he drew his pistols, his horse shifting restlessly under him. Verin, who stood three yards in front of him, pistols ready, lit cigar jammed between his teeth, growled, "I know how this goes, you twerp." "Did you want to say it?" "Nah. You do it. Yours is more fucking posh." Shax pushed his cocked hat back and sat up straighter in the saddle. Shame it was so dark. Their victim would never see the lovely scarlet coat he wore or the scandalously tight doeskin breeches. Oh, well. Best to dress the part, complete with leather and lace if one wanted to do things right. A black horse galloped round the bend and Shax cleared his throat and fired a pistol into the air. "Stand and deliver, your money or your life!" The horse reared and screamed in fear, her rider keeping his seat with ease, pistol butts and rapier hilt a-twinkle in the spare bit if starlight. The rider called out in a voice that tried for arrogance despite the quaver, "Nay, it is you who will stand and deliver!" Shax gaped a moment before calling back, "No, that's not how this works. We said it first—Dick Turpin, is that you?" "Aye. Who's doing the ask— Shax?" "Dick, m'dear, as I live and breathe." Shax secured his pistols and rode forward grinning. "Haven't they caught you yet?" "Not yet and my hope is not tonight." Dick Turpin, the butcher turned livestock thief turned highwayman, reached out to clasp hands with Shax. "You're a sight for these sore eyes, yer lordship. But I've red coats breathing down my neck. You've no desire to be within shouting distance of me tonight. I've an inn I must reach afore the moon is high. If they've reached it first, I'm done for." "What've you gotten tangled in now? Innkeeper's daughter?" Dick flashed his charming, albeit worried, grin. "Stable boy." "Ah, what am I to do with you?" Shax stood in his stirrups to plant a kiss on Dick's cheek. "Ver? Fancy a bit of devil among the tailors this evening?" "You mean go cave some redcoat heads in? Fuck yeah. Always up for that." "Be my guest then, Ver. We'll waylay travelers another night. We'll be along soon." Verin stubbed out his cigar on a nearby stump, vaulted into his saddle, and thundered off on his huge Friesian, one of the few horses they could find willing to bear Verin's weight. Shax and Turpin followed at a more leisurely pace as his highwayman friend told him the particulars. Not that Turpin usually cared about beyond the shag itself, but it was the principle of the thing. Red coats using a stable boy as hostage and bait. Appalling. Shax patted Turpin's thigh. "All will be well, my dear, never fear. Except for the inn. There's likely to be damage. Would you care to leave the road for a bit for a quick bit of, as they say, backgammon? Would calm your nerves." "Would be my honor, yer lordship. That clearing over there—" "Stand and deliver!" a quavering young voice called from that very clearing. Shax heaved an exasperated sigh. "Oh, for pits' sakes. I see it's going to be that kind of night." (Shax has a postscript to add: "My darlings, you may recognize bits of this from Alfred Noyes', "The Highwayman." But damn Alfred and his Victorian morals, changing the story I told him for, as he put it, dramatic purposes.") |
About The Brimstone Journals
Extra treats for our Brimstone readers, Brimstone Journals will post every Tuesday. Short scenes from characters' lives before, after or during the stories. About the Author
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