Free Firesign 1 - Wage Slave Rebellion by Stephen W. Gee Page A

jackass boss is fond of saying,” said Mazik. “Is it worth giving up your freedom in exchange for a crappy wage? For ‘security’? If you have no other options, sure, maybe, but I think we have some better ones.”
    Mazik shook his head. “Actually, let me back up. That’s why I want to do it, but I think there are some good reasons why you two might want to join me.
    “Rae, I know you don’t like your current job,” said Mazik, facing his best and most bearded friend. “You get paid well, and that’s cool, but I know you’re bored out of your stinking mind every day. I still find it ridiculous that you can’t even read a book while you’re healing. That’s bullshit! I know you, and you can easily do both, no problem. If we were adventurers, we’d either be doing quests where there’s a good reason why they demand our full attention, or we’d be able to relax. I mean truly relax . We could grab a drink, read a book … just relax.”
    “Mmm,” said Raedren. His reply was carefully neutral, neither interested nor disinterested. It was his way of promising nothing, but telling Mazik to go on.
    “And Gavs, I know you already want another job,” said Mazik, and rather loudly, even though they were in Gavi’s current place of employment right now. “You want something where you’re challenged, right? Well adventuring would definitely be challenging, and if we’re halfway decent you’ll definitely make more than you do here.”
    “But we’d have to kill people,” said Gavi. “Oh, and maybe die ourselves. I don’t know about you, but I’m not terribly excited about either of those options.”
    “I’d prefer a little risk to the ‘safe’ option of doing the same shit we’ve been doing,” said Mazik darkly. He straightened up. “Okay, yes, we might have to hurt or kill people. Killing isn’t exactly my idea of a good time either, so I understand where you’re coming from.”
    “Beating them up, on the other hand…” said Raedren.
    “Only when they deserve it,” said Mazik. “Or I’m really, really annoyed. Anyway, yes, we could end up killing and/or getting killed, but we had training for that. After three years in the army we—”
    “Four years, for some of us,” said Gavi 22 .
    Mazik grinned. “That just means you’re even more prepared, eh? After some number of years in the military, we’ve all had training in how to kill and not get killed, and at least a few opportunities to put that training into use.”
    “Though not many opportunities, and nothing major,” said Gavi, her arms crossed.
    “We’re smart people, we’ll figure it out,” said Mazik. “Yes, the thought of killing isn’t exactly pleasant, but we can, and definitely should, try to avoid killing wherever possible, and since we’ll get to choose what quests we do, we can make sure we only take the ones where our opponents are proper bastards.” Mazik leaned forward, his eyes veritably sparkling. “Come on, think about it. A life of adventure! We can do this!”
    “We could also jump off a bridge if we wanted to. That doesn’t mean we should ,” replied Gavi.
    “Ah, but we could do that too, and survive!” said Mazik. “We’re casters, after all.”
    “You two are,” said Gavi, folding her arms across her chest. “Me? Not so much.”
    Mazik waved a hand. “You can use magick, that’s close enough. Come on, think about it—I’m good at blowing stuff up, you’re good at beating people up, and Raedren is good at all that defensive crap. Sounds like a good team, right?”
    “And one where I can’t help but notice I’d be doing all the most dangerous stuff, despite being the least equipped to handle it,” said Gavi dryly. “It’s too dangerous, Mazik! This isn’t some game. We each only get one life, and if we die that’s it . Why should we risk it gallivanting about acting like heroes?”
    “And why should we waste it in dead-end jobs that help no one and don’t even challenge our