Cyberpunk Blues – Part 5

I wanted this post to be a Meatsuit Reroot.  Not going to lie though, I really like where Blues is heading, so I’m going to write it while I enjoy it.

I’ve gotten the first novel laid out, and have begun navigating the waters of what I’m attempting to do with it.  I’ve had more time to dream up and flesh out more of the constructed society which the novel revolves around.  My protagonist is armed with a sarcastic wit, a love of books, and a love of running.  She has a tough exterior because she’s been picked on for so long, and that presents problems to building relationships, but I’ll see her through.

It’s interesting, but I find myself enjoying the process of fleshing out a character more and more.  In a way, it’s like I’m meeting a new person for the first time.  I try to give the characters a certain frame of reference and relationship to their world, and then let them take the reins.  That sounds a little nuts, but I promise it’s nothing of the kind.  Most of writing characters, as I’ve come to experience it, is taking the person you’ve created in your mind’s eye and allowing them to interact with the world in a fashion consistent with their personality.  It’s a good way to keep yourself in check when you get going, and it also allows for the creation of memorable characters.

I like that aspect of things.  I know I haven’t even come close to getting a mastery of the subject, but I’ve become an apprentice at the craft.  It’s weird.  There are aspects of my writing where I’m more advanced than being such a raw recruit would indicate.  And then there are other aspects where I’m as inexperienced as a mewling babe.  I suppose everyone has different challenges when they sit down to try their hand at the wordsmiths forge, but I’m beginning to see that I’ve gotten further along than I give myself credit for.

My wife, English teacher and voracious reader, has had several moments while reading through my work where she has exclaimed that I’ve written better than several of the authors she has read.  It’s only in fits and spurts; a sentence here, a phrase there.  It gives me hope though.  She’s been so wonderful to me throughout this whole process, and she claims that she brags on a consistent basis about how her husband is an author.  I don’t know that I’ve fully earned that title, but I need to come to terms with the fact that it is applicable.  More to the point, it’s accurate as well.  I am an author.  Working that fact into my worldview is something I’m still struggling with.

Without further braggadocio…

Cyberpunk Blues – Part 5

“You’re saying” I worked out around the lump in my throat “that we were abandoned to a slow and inexorable extinction on the Wheels by the only people who could help us get to a new home?”

My father, lined visage wearing a grim frown wholly out of place, nodded solemnly.

“Well” I let slip as slumped back into the chair, arms dangling uselessly “it’s good to know that things are going so well.”  My mind rapidly jumped through several mental gymnastics as I tried to make sense out of the jumbled mess my life had become in a few short minutes.  “Why the hell did they try to snuff me then!?  That makes absolutely no sense.  I didn’t know any of this until you told me, and my job is just taking down your every-day cybernetically enhanced hit-man!”

The frown left my father’s face like a cloud making room for the sun.  His smile shone through, and let out a low chuckle.  “You’d be surprised at how much some less savory mages than myself rely on those.  You rumbler’s make my life far more manageable my sweet.”  His grin and good mood faded just as quickly as they had come.  “That might actually be the problem.  For years, the group I work with has been trying to build a new engine, one which doesn’t rely so much on magical energies.  You’ve heard of the Lightbind Mining Colony, yes?”

I had to dig through my memories, as Betty was still mutter to herself as she went through the excruciating process of rebuilding my connection to the wider world.  “Wasn’t that the brainchild of Governor Sarnum over at Wheel Saturn?”  My father looked a little surprised that I actually knew about it.  “It was in the news dad.  I do actually pay attention.”  He made a mollifying gesture, and I decided to pick another hill to die on.  I’m sure a better one was coming up sooner or later.

“Yes sweet one, that’s true.  What you probably didn’t know is that Governor Sarnum is also High Wizard Excalion.  He’s the one that asked me to take this post, and try to keep the crime on Wheel Jupiter civil.  You see, Lightbind isn’t a mining colony at all.  It’s a research and development base where the brightest minds left in Sol are hard at work trying to modify the engines. We need the parts fabricated from the Jupiter gas harvests for the new engines.  And we need them in a way that doesn’t show up on the official logs.”

“You’re an underworld mob boss so you can get some scientists their necessary without it going through government channels?  That’s a bit much to believe dad.  Why didn’t the Governor set up back channels or something?”  Again, the wry grin flashed across his still brooding features.  “It’s not that simple my sweet.  If the public finds out even a whiff of how badly they were stiffed by warlocks in the past, what do you think they would do if they found out some were still among them?  Has the general public ever struck you as the most rational of beasts?”  Points to pops on that one.  Instantly, the measles mutation epidemic came to mind.  Some parts of the Wheel were still a useless husk from the hysteria.

“No Chase, we can’t risk anyone knowing.  And the less people who know about something, the less people can divulge.  He needed someone who could keep everything hushed up, and get the parts where they needed to go without even a whiff of official involvement.  I am that someone, much as I hate that this will be all that history will know of me.”  I was having one hell of a day for firsts, as with that last a look of venomous, bitter hatred had appeared on my dad’s face.  It was as startling and out of place as a raccoon suddenly tap dancing.

For the first time in all of my years, I actually felt sorry for the old man.  No matter how good his poker face, a look like that had a lifetime of anger behind it.  You couldn’t fake that.  “Oh dad, I’m sorry.”  I almost chocked on that, having never apologized to him once in all my youth.  It seemed to startle him out of his dark mood however, and he actually let loose a charming grin.  “Thank you Chase, I think that’s the first time I’ve ever heard consolation from you.”

I huffed as I crossed my arms to cover my newfound fondness for the old geezer.  “Don’t expect me to make a habit of it.”

His laughter filled his office.

To be continued…

Jupiterfully,
Justin