Spaced Cowboy

Years back I spotted a night hawk. I watched its silent flight across the stars and watched it stoop on its unsuspecting prey. I remembered that sight when I bought my ship and named it Night Hawk.

I figger I better backtrack a bit, maybe how I got the Hawk... actually I should start kinda where I left off.

After I went to the place in between I just stopped dying... didn't get any older either. Maybe the gods didn't want me around. It was fine by me, I had my fill of gods. I quit preaching all together... I figgered if I didn't mess in their territory they might stay out of mine. Seemed to work.

It came as a surprise to me the first time it happened. I was fighting a war someplace I don't remember and I got hit. It hurt like hell but otherwise I felt ok so I just kept on fighting. When things settled down I went to the doc. As he examined me he got real quiet and had this strange look on his face. "What's goin on, Doc?" I asked. He looked up at me and said, "You're supposed to be dead." I didn't get it. "What do you mean?" He explained, "You took one in the heart, your heart is destroyed." I shrugged, "I feel alive." He got very businesslike, "As long as you're alive I think we should put in a new heart." After that I got shipped off to some hospital, got a new heart and got kicked out of the war.

I knocked around a bit until the money started running low then I found another war. Damn it all if I didn't get hit again. This time I took it in the neck. The doc said it took out an artery and I should have bled to death, in fact, according to my blood pressure I had bled to death. Well, they fixed me up and kicked me out again. I was feeling pretty annoyed about getting kicked out but then I figgered it was better than kicking off.

The two incidents could have been a fluke but when it happened a third time I started to thinking. My conclusion was them gods had something to do with it. I guess I could have gotten cocky, started feeling invincible, but I had no trust for the gods, so I always lived like that day might be my last.

Well, I kicked around, mostly went to war. I thought on it a bit, at first I figgered it wouldn't be fair for me to fight since I might not be able to die, but then I figgered war wasn't fair anyway. I was careful, though, I wasn't going to tempt fate. Even so, I got hit a few times... most not deadly but some should have killed me. I got me a reputation as The Man Who Doesn't Die which was fine by me... that kind of reputation got me better money. I went by Zach Packer during war times, but I used Zeb Thomas when I wasn't warring. I didn't want any reputation following me around when I didn't need it... I know how people are and that kind of reputation is trouble.

Years went by and they started making these real fast space ships... real fast. The stars were open to those who could afford it. I started saving up. I knew it would take years to get the money to buy a ship, but I had years.

The price went down, my savings went up and they just got faster. I had my eye on a particular ship that would fly in space and in atmosphere, but I was about two million credits short. I went looking for a high-stakes poker game. On the fourth night I cleaned up on a bluff. I was a million credits over what I needed... enough for fuel, provisions and a little traveling money. I still had some cargo space open so I took half of what money I had left and bought things that I thought might do well in a trade. I hit the trail.

Excerpt from The Godz of Earth by S.E.Estes