GOBSlayer

One

One

A Remote Reunion

Kalum Tinbrook slid the familiar sword into its scabbard. So long in his possession, the blade was as much a part of him now as his own heart. A technological dichotomy, GOBSlayer, so it was named, combined the brutal simplicity of melee combat with the high technology of modern genius. The juxtaposition of the hard cutting steel of the blade and the gamma disruption unit embedded on its hilt created a unique weapon with a unique purpose. Oddly, these contrasting elements of old and new, past and future, blended seamlessly as if meant as one.

The streets were black with rain. In fact, all of Millvale seemed mired in dreary shadows. This late at night, the shops were closed and the houses dark. The evening mizzle cast the streets in a blur of gray streaks. Standing in the road, he looked upon the only building that showed any evidence of life, The Lance & Barrel Tavern. Even from the street, he could hear the din of the crowd inside. He wondered if they’d come. It had been so long since they’d last met. A cold shiver trembled through him, and he pulled his cloak more tightly around his chilled body, ensuring the sword at his waist was well hidden. Normally, when meeting with friends he wouldn’t carry a weapon, but this meeting had been arranged by an unknown, and that made him cautious. The odd choice of this out-of-the-way podunk village for the meeting only added to his nervousness. Checking the datalink on his wrist, he re-verified that this was indeed the time and place. He tugged his hood forward to hide his face and entered the tavern.

It had been years since Kalum had been to the L&B, but to his memory, it hadn’t changed much: high beamed ceilings, sparsely lit tables, and the long and stout antique bar brought back fond memories of Kalum’s time spent here. Adding to his nostalgia was the warmth of the fire in the wide wrought-iron brazier in the center of the room, as well as the cacophony of voices from the rough and rambunctious characters who occupied the smoky establishment.

New were the electric lamps that had replaced the torches that once adorned the walls, and the large display screen now mounted prominently in one corner. It brightly displayed some sort of battle between a female warrior with a sword and a trio of rodent-like kobolds.

Kalum instinctively scanned the tavern’s inhabitants from the entrance and noticed a goblin standing in a dark corner at the back. One goblin wasn’t much of a threat, but where there was one, there were surely others close by. Kalum wasn’t surprised by its presence, though it was rare to come across just one by itself. The green-skinned beasts were stationed in numbers all over the kingdom. Taking note of the goblin’s location, he made his way to the bar. The stale smell of old beer and unwashed bodies permeated the very woodwork.

The man pouring drinks behind the bar was even larger than he remembered, and Kalum leaned over and gaped at him. “Gods. Where do you find trousers that big?” he jested.

The giant slammed his fists on the counter and bent low, breathing heavily in Kalum’s shadowed face. “You’re very funny,” he growled, “and very brave for someone smaller than my little sister.”

Kalum grinned. “It’s good to see you again, Gargan.”

A deep-throated laugh rumbled inside the giant’s chest as he stood. “And you, Kalum.” Lowering his voice, he told him, “Your friends are already downstairs.”

“And the one we’re meeting?”

The giant man shook his head and stepped away, but he returned seconds later with a large tankard of dark ale. He set the drink in front of Kalum. “That goblin over there is paying you a lot of attention,” the giant told him quietly.

Kalum nodded, casting a momentary look in the goblin’s direction. “I see it. Thanks for the drink. Do you still have a back entrance?”

Gargan smiled, his large teeth crooked and gray. “If I tell you, then we’ll both know.”

Kalum nodded again, took his drink, and made his way back to the front. With a side glance, he saw the goblin moving in the same direction. Damn. He’d hoped to avoid making a scene. Maybe there was still a way. Quickening his pace, Kalum exited the tavern, tossed the drink aside, and made a quick dash to the right, where he ducked around the corner. A steep flight of stone steps led down between the buildings into a recessed alleyway.

Pressing his back to the wall at the top of the steps, he waited, GOBSlayer in hand. Moments later there came the sound of heavy, evenly-synched footsteps. Just as the goblin turned the corner into the alley, Kalum struck, piercing his sword through the creature’s chest. He felt the all too familiar jolt through his own chest as the sword discharged.

The goblin’s glowing yellow eyes went dark before it ever registered Kalum’s presence. Lucky. He withdrew the sword, the blade slick with whatever greasy concoction pumped through a goblin’s body.

Gamma Operated Biomechs, or GOBlins, were robotic creations created by oppressive authorities to police and intimidate the living residents of the kingdom. A goblin’s hardened-steel skeletal frame was controlled by a gammatronic brain, capable of communicating with other goblins. A small gamma reactor in its chest powered the creature, while the antennae implanted in their pointy ears and the transmitter that made up their long noses allowed every goblin within five miles to see and hear what any one of them chose to transmit. This made it important to take out a goblin quickly before it could broadcast or else one could soon be facing a goblin horde.

Kalum felt confident this goblin hadn’t had time to transmit. Typically, a goblin’s eyes turned red as it broadcasted. That hadn’t happened with this one. GOBSlayer had been built specifically for these situations. The adapted gamma disruptor built into its pommel instantly fried a goblin’s reactor and scrambled its brain if the blade made contact with any part of its metal skeleton, making it a handy tool these days.

The dead goblin teetered backward. Reaching quickly, Kalum grabbed the creature by one of its batwing ears and, using all of his strength, pulled it back and sent it tumbling down the steps, safely out of view. Goblins weren’t very large, but gods, they were heavy. Looking about to make sure there were no watchers, Kalum descended the steps himself, purposely stomping on the creature’s transmitting nose as he passed. Despite the darkness of the alley, he located the back entrance to the tavern and rapped three times upon the stout door.

After a few moments, a shrill, almost comically high voice answered from the other side, “Who is it?”

“If I tell you, then we’ll both know,” Kalum repeated the words that Gargan had passed him.

The sound of several locks being unbolted came before the door swung open. There stood Blemm, his oldest friend, his shoulders spanning the entire doorway. He looked much the same as Kalum remembered. He was a bit grayer at the temples and beard perhaps, but the twinkle in his fierce blue eyes still remained. Blemm was a warrior, through and through—tall, muscular, and born for battle.

“Kalum!” Blemm roared and took him in a bear hug. “It’s been a long time.”

“Too long,” Kalum grunted, disentangling himself from Blemm’s embrace.

Blemm led Kalum into the rustic room beneath the tavern that Gargan made available to his friends. Unadorned rock walls supported a high-beamed ceiling, and the blaze in the oversized stone fireplace provided warmth and light. A heavily-built staircase at the back of the room led up to the tavern above. A long rustic table with seating for twelve served as the only items in the room besides the little man who lounged comfortably in one of the chairs. Hack sat up and smiled as Kalum entered. Dressed sharply in a fine suit, his fingers danced nervously on the tabletop.

“Hello, Kalum,” he said.

“Hello, Hack. You look well.”

Hack winked and checked his own suit as if to say, “I do, don’t I?”

Kalum smiled. It had been long years since he’d seen either of these men. The two of them couldn’t have been more different, aside from being his friends. More like brothers, Kalum amended his thought.

Blemm was a grizzled fighter, a relic of the days of non-tech. He abhorred technology and clung tightly to the old ways. Though he had conceded to wearing a datalink on his wrist to maintain contact with friends from afar, he’d defaced the leather band, carving it with ancient symbols of war and chaos. Kalum noticed Blemm’s titanic war hammer resting in a corner, a monument to his warrior lifestyle.

Hack, in contrast, had enthusiastically embraced the new technology that had flooded into the world recently. As though born for it, his sharp mind was easily able to grasp the technical and detailed understanding of electronic gadgetry. Kalum had always known his diminutive friend was a genius, but it was nice to see that genius channeled to something other than his biting wit. And besides, technology played perfectly with his primary profession. He was a thief. Thanks to new and oft-confounding electronic ingenuity, Hack’s success at acquiring belongings that didn’t actually belong to him had skyrocketed.

“Where have you been hiding out for so long?” Hack asked.

“That’s a long story for another time,” Kalum replied, evading the question. The truth would only bring more questions that he wasn’t ready to discuss yet.

“Well, now that you’re here,” Hack said, “perhaps you can enlighten us as to what this is all about.”

Kalum shrugged and warmed his hands by the fire. “It’s like I said in my message. An unknown party sent word they want to offer us an opportunity to make a lot of money.”

“I already have a lot of money,” Hack said. “Not that I couldn’t use a lot more, but I don’t like people who deal in shadows and don’t make their identities known.”

Blemm laughed. “Hack, you just described yourself exactly.”

Hack winked. “You see my point, then.”

“I don’t particularly like it myself,” Kalum said. “But any opportunity to get together with you scoundrels again is one I can’t pass up.”

“I fear it could be a goblin trap,” Blemm said.

Kalum shook his head. “I don’t think so. A goblin from the tavern followed me into the alley a moment ago. I think it was looking to question me. If there was a horde lying in wait, I don’t think they’d raise my defenses by sending just one to follow me.”

“Did it transmit?” asked Blemm

Kalum shook his head.

“Are you sure?” Hack asked. ”Where is it now?”

“It’s at the bottom of the steps outside, quite broken. It was dead before it knew I was there.”

“GOBSlayer?” Hack’s eyes lit up like two torches.

Kalum nodded. “Of course.” He removed the weapon and took a seat beside the fireplace, leaning the sword beside him.

A giant smile stretched across Hack’s little face. “Man, I love that sword. Best thing I ever built.”

Blemm snorted. “An abomination if you ask me.”

“Nobody asked you.” Hack eyed the old warrior. “But my offer to make you one like it still stands.”

“Not on your life. My hammer can disrupt a goblin’s brain just fine, the old-fashioned way.”

Hack shrugged. “If you say so. Your loss.”

“If you’re so enamored with it,” Blemm said, “why haven’t you built one for yourself?”

“We‘ve been over this before,” Hack replied. “I’m sadly too small to wield the size of blade needed for a gamma disruptor. Plus, a giant blade is far too unwieldy and conspicuous for my line of work. But thank you for bringing up such a sore subject.”

Kalum put a hand to his face, hiding his grin. Just like the old days. These two couldn’t agree on the time of day, they were always at odds with each other, but he had no doubt that either one of them would give his life for the other. Kalum realized that he himself was almost a bridge between them, a blend of the two. Like GOBSlayer, he maintained a balance of the old ways and the new. He didn’t fear technology like Blemm, but he did hold consciously to the ways of old. And like Hack, he acknowledged the benefits of newfound gadgetry, hence the gamma disruption device on his sword and the datalink at his wrist, but not at the expense of the past. There was still nothing better than a good sword and a stout shield to handle any situation that came along.

He glanced admiringly at GOBSlayer resting at his side. Gamma disruption was nothing new in the kingdom, but it was typically only possible in the form of the latest blast weapons such as bombs or grenades. A high-intensity blast of dynamic micro-particulates was enough to disrupt the small gamma reactors used in biomechs. It was a technological solution to a technological problem, a way to fight fire with fire.

It was Hack who discovered the method of creating the same disruption using a conductive steel delivery system. For now, GOBSlayer was still, to their knowledge, a one-of a kind weapon, though Hack had warned Kalum to enjoy the uniqueness of the weapon while he could, promising to enrich himself in retirement by selling the technology to the masses.

Kalum smiled again. It was a wonderful feeling being reunited with his dear friends, like slipping into well-worn armor. A thousand memories of the old times flooded his mind. The old times, before everything changed. Before the Day of Arrival.