TAOLB Universe Blog

Buck Remington: The Dust Born Days

Posted on November 9, 2025 · Category: TAOLB Stories

Before the legend, before the outlaw whispers and asteroid Cantina, Buck Remington was just a boy with a busted boot and a borrowed horse.

He rode into the dust at thirteen, chasing cattle and coin across the dry veins of the western frontier. His hat was too big, his gun too loud, and his heart too soft but the desert didn’t care. It taught him fast how to read the wind, how to patch a saddle with twine, and how to sleep with one eye open when the coyotes got curious.

First Lessons in Grit

Buck’s first job was wrangling steers for a rancher named Old Man Crick, who paid in beans and insults. Buck didn’t mind. He learned to rope, to spit with precision, and to keep his mouth shut when he is working. Nights were cold, stars were sharp, and the fire told stories Buck couldn’t yet understand.

But he listened. Always listened.

The Day the Herd Broke Loose

One morning, the herd bolted spooked by a thunderclap that split the sky like a preacher’s sermon. Buck chased them for miles, boots bleeding, lungs burning. He brought back every last steer. Crick didn’t say thank you, but he handed Buck a new pair of boots. That was enough.

That was cowboy currency.

Not Yet a Gunslinger

Buck didn’t carry iron until he was sixteen. Not because he was scared, he just didn’t trust it. “A gun’s like a promise,” he once said. “Too easy to make, too hard to keep.” But when the dust turned red and the law turned crooked, Buck strapped on a pistol and carved his name into the wind.

Closing Thoughts

Before the spaceports and bounty boards, Buck Remington was just a kid with rough hands and a stubborn soul. The desert raised him. The stars remembered him.

And somewhere out there, in the dry corners of forgotten maps, his story still rides.