"Clipper's Last Ride" by Richard Mueller

An emotional and exciting story about two people set on a backwater world where they have drifted to. One was a former jockey caught cheating and is now the town barber while the other was a former soldier dismissed dis-honestly. When strange things began to happen and the local army suspects an attack, they are called upon to help and they have to make sacrifices to save the town.

• Read from Asimov's SF, July 2005