Descending Road - WRANMAR LUCE by Dana W. Paxson

WRANMAR LUCE

1529 4D

Wranmar belonged by blood to Darko Hejj Coll, one of the main hereditary collectives. Darko Hejj, sold out by a faction of its familial leaders, had surrendered its land and all surface property claims to LinDoCorp, one of the largest corporate combines on Tarnus. The sale had made Wranmar Luce, his family, and others like them homeless, with fistfuls of devalued scrip in their hands. All they had left was a termite future ahead in the lowest parts of the underground cities, thousands of meters below the surface of Tarnus. Conservation, the LinDoCorp newsfeed had called it: too many surface-dwellers were destroying the planet.

Wranmar fought to find a place in the depths of the largest City, Gran Dar, fought to raise his family, fought to keep them alive and fed, while he squinted the bitterness and betrayal and loss out through his dark eyes.

City life took all he had. Death, a frequent tenant in their poor understreet of cubby homes, checked in for months at a time with the predators, departed for short blissful stretches when the feuds and robberies and rapes and burglaries ebbed, and returned again with the next wave of parasitic, addicted, barely-human creatures loosed from work gangs and punishment teams.

When Andrew was six, his oldest brother Drin died of a prison viroid contracted from a mugger. His second brother, Chanzar, took a faceful of tox from a shooter the same year. That needle made Andrew the oldest child. Their mother Asara died soon after that, thin and wasted from desperate living, overwork, and heartbreak.

On the heels of her death came the assault on their home.

Story List	SURPRISE ME	Author Page
USER SURVEY	PUZZLE ME	MAKE ELM MARK

HOVER Lucida Bright BARE	HOVER Lucida Bright FULL	HOVER Palatino Linotype BARE
HOVER Palatino Linotype FULL	HOVER Times New Roman BARE	HOVER Times New Roman FULL
PAD Arial BARE	PAD Arial FULL	PAD Lucida Bright BARE
PAD Lucida Bright FULL	PAD Times New Roman BARE	PAD Times New Roman FULL


	WRANMAR LUCE 1529 4D Wranmar belonged by blood to Darko Hejj Coll, one of the main hereditary collectives. Darko Hejj, sold out by a faction of its familial leaders, had surrendered its land and all surface property claims to LinDoCorp, one of the largest corporate combines on Tarnus. The sale had made Wranmar Luce, his family, and others like them homeless, with fistfuls of devalued scrip in their hands. All they had left was a termite future ahead in the lowest parts of the underground cities, thousands of meters below the surface of Tarnus. Conservation, the LinDoCorp newsfeed had called it: too many surface-dwellers were destroying the planet. Wranmar fought to find a place in the depths of the largest City, Gran Dar, fought to raise his family, fought to keep them alive and fed, while he squinted the bitterness and betrayal and loss out through his dark eyes. City life took all he had. Death, a frequent tenant in their poor understreet of cubby homes, checked in for months at a time with the predators, departed for short blissful stretches when the feuds and robberies and rapes and burglaries ebbed, and returned again with the next wave of parasitic, addicted, barely-human creatures loosed from work gangs and punishment teams. When Andrew was six, his oldest brother Drin died of a prison viroid contracted from a mugger. His second brother, Chanzar, took a faceful of tox from a shooter the same year. That needle made Andrew the oldest child. Their mother Asara died soon after that, thin and wasted from desperate living, overwork, and heartbreak. On the heels of her death came the assault on their home.