The Flesh is Weak
By Brian Middleton Jr.
The door to the saloon flies open, and a dry wind kicks through the joint, booting up dust from underneath the tables and into the open air. It takes a moment for the particles to settle, but when they do, the eyes of men, and the mechanical photo-receptors of rusted androids are able to see the cause. It is a woman. She is tall and broad, beautiful and rough. Her fingers sit atop the ivory handle of her six shooter, which rests comfortably on her broad hip. Anger and a desire for revenge decorate her face like the war paint of some savage Indian war chief. "Mestaar 7, I've come to end you" she says evenly. Her voice covers well that which her eyes have already betrayed.
"The best 'bots a man can build have tried and failed," the android responds. He is known throughout neo-Texas as the deadliest and the fastest of all gun hands. "Better men too. And since y'aint neither, I suggest you take to movin' on," he says. Several of his friends laugh and pat him on the back.
"You killed my pa" she says evenly. Her voice is like a mighty redwood, steady and strong. "And I'll shoot you down where you sit if you don't get up on your feet and give me my shot at vengeance," she informs him.
"Fine," he says, his electronic voice filling the room with his anger. "Aint like I've never killed a woman before." He takes another shot of synthetic liquor and gets to his feet. He grins and moves his metal hand into position, just above his six-shooter. "Time for you to die, wh--," he starts to say, but the bullets interrupt him, ripping through his heart like a child opens a present on Christmas day. "H-how?" he asks, looking up at the woman who had sent him to his maker. He is as shocked as anyone else in the bar as she removes the latex mask from her face. The clean metallic gleam of an android's face shines upon him.
"You just weren't fast enough," she tells him. She holsters her gun and walks out of the bar, knowing her father's soul is at peace.
- - -
Brian Middleton is a Husband, a musician and a storyteller. His story, "Maddie and the Strange Train" was featured in Down in the Dirt Magazine. He has also self-published the fantasy novella, "The Clockwork War".
By Brian Middleton Jr.
The door to the saloon flies open, and a dry wind kicks through the joint, booting up dust from underneath the tables and into the open air. It takes a moment for the particles to settle, but when they do, the eyes of men, and the mechanical photo-receptors of rusted androids are able to see the cause. It is a woman. She is tall and broad, beautiful and rough. Her fingers sit atop the ivory handle of her six shooter, which rests comfortably on her broad hip. Anger and a desire for revenge decorate her face like the war paint of some savage Indian war chief. "Mestaar 7, I've come to end you" she says evenly. Her voice covers well that which her eyes have already betrayed.
"The best 'bots a man can build have tried and failed," the android responds. He is known throughout neo-Texas as the deadliest and the fastest of all gun hands. "Better men too. And since y'aint neither, I suggest you take to movin' on," he says. Several of his friends laugh and pat him on the back.
"You killed my pa" she says evenly. Her voice is like a mighty redwood, steady and strong. "And I'll shoot you down where you sit if you don't get up on your feet and give me my shot at vengeance," she informs him.
"Fine," he says, his electronic voice filling the room with his anger. "Aint like I've never killed a woman before." He takes another shot of synthetic liquor and gets to his feet. He grins and moves his metal hand into position, just above his six-shooter. "Time for you to die, wh--," he starts to say, but the bullets interrupt him, ripping through his heart like a child opens a present on Christmas day. "H-how?" he asks, looking up at the woman who had sent him to his maker. He is as shocked as anyone else in the bar as she removes the latex mask from her face. The clean metallic gleam of an android's face shines upon him.
"You just weren't fast enough," she tells him. She holsters her gun and walks out of the bar, knowing her father's soul is at peace.
- - -
Brian Middleton is a Husband, a musician and a storyteller. His story, "Maddie and the Strange Train" was featured in Down in the Dirt Magazine. He has also self-published the fantasy novella, "The Clockwork War".
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