Chapter I

	"Whew!  That's a damned cold breeze for this time of
year...shoulda worn a coat.  Shoulda brought a coat along.  Shoulda
thought of these kinds of things a few weeks ago."

	Kim hadn't always talked to himself.  That was something that
came from loneliness, unending loneliness...yet, it had only been three
weeks since he'd left the city, hadn't it?  Only three weeks down the
straight black road to the west was his home...

	Now he could finally see his goal.  It was only a few more hours
down that road, that endless black road, to reach the dark city from the
past, the city where no man had lived for generations...

	Kim again shivered.  "Damned breeze."  

	This had better be worth it, he thought.  Three weeks of travel
is bad enough; if I don't find anything worthwhile, I'm not going to be
able to go back, that's for sure.  He didn't voice his concerns, though;
that would be a sign of weakness, wouldn't it?  Who would know, he
didn't know, but he couldn't afford any sign of weakness in his trade.

	Kim was a bounty hunter, one of the best.  He had found, and
taken care of, twelve criminals so far; eight dead, three wounded, one
missing but presumed dead.  He'd still gotten payed for that one, too.
He was one of the best.

	He knew why he was among the best, too.  He had a gun.  He
didn't know the model, nobody did, but there was still an inscription on
it; from what the translators had told him, it meant "FungusVille", or
somesuch.  He'd spent a year searching for the town, to no avail; nobody
had ever even heard of it.  

	Not that it mattered, of course.  It was a gun.  It was power.
Because he had it, because he had that long metal tube that nobody could
make or even understand, he was in the highest demand.  He could get
whatever he wanted -- and he wanted money.  And no regrets.  

	And this journey ought to help out on both regards.  
	
	His quarry -- "Joorre?  Jro?  No, no... Korrge!  It's Korrge!"
(Kim had never been good with names) -- had left along the black road
a week before Kim had left, according to his sources.  This was the only
place he could be going.  Korrge was nasty, one of the nastiest; if he
came back with the spoils of the Dark City, Kim wouldn't stand a chance.
And that would be a regret, wouldn't it?

	Add that in with the possibly opportunity of raiding the city,
getting some material that had been lost for generations, maybe even
finding some ammunition for his gun...

	He had to go.
	
	He couldn't afford transport, of course, because the only way to
get it was to charter a special trip out here -- and nobody did that any
more.  Nobody was that stupid.  Nobody had even had a horse they could
sell him, and renting was out of the question when everybody thought
he'd never return...

	"That's what they thought, isn't it?  That I'd never get back,
that I'd die on the way, that I'd die when I got there...bloody fools.
I could've given more than they'd ever dreamed, if they'd just have
given me a fucking HORSE!"

	Maybe he could find transport when there; maybe he could find
one of the fiery dragons of legend, something to get him home soon after
he arrived...

	The breeze came again.  Again Kim shivered.  He looked up; it
was getting late.  He would still have to travel for several hours to
get to the city...

	"Let's set up camp."  Kim left the endless black road, headed
for some nearby trees, and prepared to set up for the night with what
meager supplies he had.

--

	He still hadn't found anything.  He'd been in the city for a
week now, at least; where WAS all the stuff of legend?  Where were the
riches, the goods, the transports...the guns?  Where was ANYTHING?  

	Soon after arriving, he had found a small building, completely
abandoned for untold years.  Inside had been shelves, shelves of small
metal cans; after a lot of work, he had finally determined that inside
the cans was food, good food, preserved food...enough to live on for the
rest of his life, if necessary.  

	Yet, it was impossible to transport with just his back.  Sure,
those back home could use it; it would help the cause immensely.  But he
couldn't get it home, not without one of the ancient transports; he must
find something more useful, or he must find transport.

	The former was a lot more likely to be found sometime soon.
	
	He sighed.  He had to keep searching.  He stood, put on his
shoes, his shirt, his holster, his...

	His pistol.
	
	Where was the pistol?

	That was the only useful thing he had any more -- where had it
gone?  Where was the pistol?

	He had left it under his pillow, he knew that.  It was right
under his pillow.  He always left it under his pillow, in easy reach in
case of an emergency...yet, now it wasn't there.  And...

	This was an emergency, wasn't it?

	Korrge jumped to a fighting stance and spun, just in time to see
the intruder -- the first human being he'd seen in a month -- pull the
trigger on his pistol.