Moderan by David R. Bunch - Of Hammers and Men




OF HAMMERS AND MEN

Paean to weapons and war - the very core of what it means to be a new modern man of Moderan.

"And sometimes in a kind of celebration I would make a heap of all my hammers, the Stronghold would be emptied, every nook and cranny would be outsearched for them and my weapons men would come carrying hammers to make that lovely mound of thousands of these in orange. And while the Big-Punch missiles swung slow and easy in the launch slings and all the other dread devices of my dominance and danger rested dormant for a Truce, I'd dance around my hammers, the tripping, but necessarily heavy, dance of the wonderful new-metal man."

Glory be to Moderan! The heart of the heart of what it means to be not only made of steel but made of human bloodthirst.

"You kept the main essence of man - man the fighter - and now we'll prove that good hard worth through all eternity. WE'LL FIGHT! We'll fight each other. We'll make harsh monsters, set them loose and fight such monsters across all our space. We'll move with engines and hard, programmed thoughts. We'll make all manner of dragons for our involvement, and we'll overcome them. For we'll program the conquests a little more carefully than we'll feed in the threats. But mostly we'll just fight each other - each other and ourselves, the truly tireless enemies."

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