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The beings made up a massive dead zone. June couldn’t be sure if they had too simplistic a brain or too complicated. Perhaps they just had the ability to not allow another’s thoughts to penetrate their own. She just kept trying to reach out and could only feel her friends. Only Dexter didn’t have any thoughts. Argmon was angrier than scared. Joey had passed out, but had come to and seemed to be a little better with the situation.
She just needed to try to keep her head about herself. Watch her surroundings. Turn on her guard mode and remember where they’d been taken. How far they’d walked away from the ship. How many creatures they’d seen that were either guards, the ones with spears, or citizens, the ones without spears. None of them had clothing or even identifying marks on their bodies. Not a word had been spoken.
Because of the size of the rooms, some seemed to span several city blocks, June felt exhausted. The others just kept plodding along. Even though she had worked out often enough, it hadn’t been enough to give her the endurance for this long walk. Even though they remained silent, the guards appeared to at least understand their prisoners didn’t have the speed to go much faster.
Each guard had the same yellowish skin and undulating underside that provided their locomotion, but June couldn’t help but feel there was something different about each. Perhaps it was the eyes or slightly different shading of the skin. She couldn’t be sure, but each certainly felt different. She just wanted to know where they were being taken. For all this walking to stop. Everything appearing oversized, from the rooms, to the statues, to their captors, to the simple floor tiles, made her feel tiny and almost insignificant.
She couldn’t help but think about Vic. Without knowing exactly what was wrong with him, she couldn’t be sure how long he would spend in the medical pod. Judging on how he was reacting, it almost seemed like he was having a heart attack and just denying it. Hopefully, nothing serious had gone wrong and he had been finally patched up and would now be able to look for them. By now he would have figured out they were no longer on the ship and didn’t have any means of communication. If he were smart, he’d just surrender and he’d be taken to where ever they all were being taken. Either way, he’d show up mad as ever.
The crew finally emerged into a massive chamber. She had thought the rooms before were large, this one dwarfed them all. The ceiling was so high she thought she might see cloud formations, but instead only slits allowed light from the planet’s center star to shine. This gave her a moment of vertigo to realize they were standing on the inside of the planet and looking toward the center. Not seeing the sky had prevented her from thinking about that. This room forced her to remember and she reached out for Joey’s hand. He also stared up through the slits at the sky.
“It’s so big. If we fell would we pass all the way to the other side of the planet?”
Joey’s fear was beyond hers. He could barely walk, yet continued to put one foot in front of the other, making his way along. Dexter and Argmon exchanged a few words, but they both appeared more upset about being here than frightened. She wanted to ask how common a planet like this might be but knew no one would have an answer for that.
The two rear guards stopped just inside the door and slammed the butts of their spears on the tile floor. The deep clang was followed by a tone that she felt, not heard. It was almost as if all the bones in her vibrated. The tone from behind them was followed by a similar tone from in front of them. The two guards in front continued to lead them along until they arrived at what June could only describe as a throne.
The white pillars that had lined the room were as large as redwoods and nearly as tall. White stairs rose to a platform with smaller pillars holding up a lattice pergola. She thought they should be seeing someone up there, but she couldn’t make anything out.
Putting their spears on the ground and turning to the side, the final two guards turned to the side. One pointed with an appendage up the stairs.
“This isn’t going to be easy,” Joey said as he looked up the mountain of stairs.
“Eep. Eep. Eep.” Dexter started hopping up the stairs with Argmon close behind using his arms to help ascend the stairs. The two were racing to see who could get to the top first. She hated both of them.
“We’re not going to get to the top of these if we don’t start.” Joey squeezed her hand. She hated it when he tried to be supportive. She’d gotten used to being the one to keep him reassured. She was just glad it was his real hand she held.
“Come on. Let’s see what’s up there. Dexter and Argmon aren’t the only ones that can run up there.”
It was June’s turn to take the lead. One step at a time and the mountain started to fall away. She started to count them, but when the burn in her legs became too much, she stopped. The stairs were bigger then normal stairs and based on the physiology of their captors, decorative. Joey felt as if he were having similar thoughts and he pulled her to a stop.
“What if we’re being brought here as a sacrifice?” His face turned white. She couldn’t have him pass out on her now.
“That’s not likely. These aren’t primitive people back on earth performing sacrifices to their sun god.”
“How do you know that? Are you able to detect what they’re thinking? Are they going to let us go? What’s going on?”
This was a fine time for him to start to freak out and she didn’t have any answers for him. She tried to pull him along, but he resisted.
“June, what’s going to happen? After all I’ve been through, we’ve been through, I don’t want to die. I’d like to think we still have a lot of time ahead of us.”
“Look, Dexter and Argmon are almost at the top. They’ve seen a lot of things we haven’t. I’m sure they wouldn’t lead us astray. Let’s just keep going. It’s better than heading back down there with them.”
Joey looked down at the guards standing at the base of the stairs. Even though they were turned to face each other, their eyes roamed and continued to keep an account of their progress. Were they getting upset they hadn’t gone further? June gave Joey’s hand another tug and he started once again.
The burn in her legs didn’t go away. It was like being on the Stairmaster from hell; the steps too big for a regular human to take in normal stride and they just kept going and going.
“I need to catch my breath.” Joey stopped again.
June looked up the stairs. They were better than halfway and Dexter and Argmon had finally reached the top. It took June and Joey far longer to struggle their way to reach the top of the platform and as soon as they did she lay on her back and thought for sure her legs were going to fall off. Joey fell beside her.
“Can I just die now? Did you have to pull me up? Now my legs and my arm hurt.”
“Don’t be such a baby about it. If we get out of this mess, we need to start doing more exercise. What would happen if we had a shipment that was under threat and we needed to do something like this?”
“June, I hate to break this to you, but we do have a shipment under a threat and we just did something like this to try to protect it.”
She punched him, but it was a half-hearted attempt. Even rolling onto her side hurt. He kept his forehead to the floor and grunted as if it hurt.
June knew they had to keep moving. They were here for some reason and they needed to figure out why sooner rather than later. “We need to get up and find Dexter and Argmon. Did you see them when we got to the top?”
Joey lifted his head and rested his chin on the floor. “This thing is huge.”
“I didn’t ask how big it was, I asked if you saw our shipmates.” June struggled to roll over and put her arm around Joey’s waist.
The platform spread out before them. Looking at this level it appeared perfectly flat and could have gone on for miles. She sighed and looked back and forth across its length. It was flat, but where were Dexter and Argmon? The two didn’t appear to be anywhere in sight. She tried to shake off the rubbery feeling in her legs and got up.
“Joey, I don’t see them. Get up. Quit rolling around like a baby. This is serious.”
There was a slight depression in the platform that started about a hundred feet in. Not a depression, but a section that was lower than the rest. The surface wasn’t white like everything else they’d seen inside the building, but it was a pale yellow. Judging by the ripples running across its surface, it appeared to be a massive pool of water. It was larger than any lake she had ever seen.
“Where are they?” Joey asked as he scratched his head.
June had an idea where they might be and she didn’t want to be right. Not this time.
Other than the pillars holding up the pergola, nothing else sat on the platform. It appeared to have been cleaned spotless and not even a speck of dust marred its perfection. She looked down at their reflection on the surface. She shook her head when the distant ‘eep eep eep’ came from the pool.
“I know where they are. Let’s go. Hopefully, we’re not in more trouble than we were a few minutes ago.”
“Where are they?”
The question answered itself when they got to the edge of the pool. Dexter, with his three little arms, and Argmon, with his four arms, splashed in the liquid. The pool didn’t have a smell and the water did look inviting. She wasn’t naked like Argmon and Dexter and wasn’t about to strip down to jump in.
“You two need to get out of there. You don’t know what’s in there.”
A low rumble came from all around.
“Did you feel that?” she asked Joey.
Joey put his hand on her shoulder more for support. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
“Just don’t do it in the water. We don’t know what’s in there. Speaking of not knowing what’s in there, Argmon, Dexter, get out of the pool.”
Argmon barked like a puppy. She’d never seen him so happy. Dexter made a noise she had never heard him make that sounded almost like laughter. She hated to ruin their fun, but they had to get out of there. They’d been sent up here for a reason and swimming wasn’t it.
“Hey! Come on.”
The two looked like scolded children as they swam to the edge. Two dark shadows appeared beneath them. They hadn’t seen the shadows. They couldn’t have. She didn’t want to make them panic, but she had to say something.
“Hurry up! Get out of there!”
“What’s that?” Joey pointed into the water.

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Again it was dark on the ship. This time at least Vic could see lights from the passageway. That meant someone had turned the lights off in the room. He’d rested enough. It was time to get up and see what the rest of the crew was up to. They were hidden, but were they safe? He didn’t like being locked away and unaware of what had happened around him. He reached up and put his hand on the glass top of the medical pod.
“Hello?”
“Vic? Vic! You’re alright. I’m so glad I decided to stay behind and make sure you were alright. I see that you’re going to be fine. I was worried when the pod thing said you had suffered ‘massive internal bleeding’. I don’t have any blood like you do, but that sounds terrible. I just sat here and fretted and worried…”
“B.O.B! I’m fine now. Could you please let me out of this contraption?” If Vic didn’t stop him, B.O.B. would have gone on forever.
The robot continued to talk as he pressed buttons and opened up the pod. Vic tuned out more of what was said until B.O.B. said, “…and that’s when they all decided to leave the ship, but I was scared to…”
“Leave the ship? What do you mean by that? No one is on board?” He tried to push past B.O.B., but the robot was too bulky to just shove out of the way. Instead, they both moved into the passageway. “June! Joey! Argmon!”
“They’re not on board. The ship has been shut down for now, but Muffin should still be online.”
“I never thought I’d say this, but I’m glad you’re up and moving, Victor. Looks like your little nap did you some good.”
“Where are we? Have we been arrested? Who went where with whom? How long was I out?”
“Only a couple of hours. That medical pod is fast. I’m sure if I were to break it wouldn’t be able to do anything for me mostly because I’m not a carbon-based life form.”
“Enough, Muffin, where is everyone and if you start with B.O.B. or me I’ll come up there and personally introduce you to your circuit boards.”
Muffin beeped. “No need to be rude. Argmon, June, Joey, and Dexter left the ship when several of the local inhabitants approached with spears demanding they exit the ship.”
“Spears? Local inhabitants? I think we need to back up a little bit. What inhabitants are we talking about?” Vic made his way up the ladder to the main deck, then over and down into the cargo hold. He could see the airlock door sat open.
“It appears that the planet is hollow. Joey referred to it as a mini Dyson Sphere. There’s a small star inside the planet and that seems to provide a large amount of power, but I don’t think it’s enough power for as many inhabitants that appear to live inside. The air outside is breathable for all lifeforms on the ship, though it is a little denser than you’ll be used to. You may need some time to adjust.”
“But they’ve got spears. How dangerous could they possibly be? I’ll just take a few blasters, free everyone, and we’ll be on our way.” He looked inside the weapons locker trying to decide the best approach. First, he’d need to know where they went. They were inside the planet. What had Joey called it? A Dyson Sphere? Vic had never heard the term. Made no sense to him. He just needed to find the best blasters they had, a few well-placed shots should scare the locals. Then they’d all be back on the ship and on their way home.
“I don’t think you understood what I said, Victor. We’re inside the planet. There is a city that covers nearly the entire inside shell of the planet. It’s hollow. Argmon, June, Joey, and Dexter were taken by the local inhabitants. Their spears aren’t spears, but power weapons.”
“Come again?”
“Let me explain it in words you’ll understand. Big pointy sticks go boom.”
Vic rolled his eyes. “Okay, so they can fire back. Just point me to my crew and let me go get them.”
The first thing Vic grabbed was his com unit and placed this in his ear. He would need to make sure he could talk with the rest of the crew and Muffin if he was going to pull off a successful rescue operation.
“Vic, I think you need to reconsider. It’s safer right here on the ship. Really. If you go out there, you’ll be in trouble faster than I can down a quart of oil.”
“Why? Because there’s a bunch of guys with spears?” Vic strapped on his holster. One blaster on the right. One blaster on the left. A rifle in his hands. That should be just about enough.
B.O.B. followed Vic to the airlock and just before Vic could step onto the platform the robot said, “Because they’re really big.”
Vic backed up slowly. They hadn’t spotted him yet. He needed a few minutes to rethink this. Perhaps a few hours. In all his time running around the galaxy helping people out with things they needed and providing a great service to people, he’d run into some strange species. Some large, some small, some downright scary. He had never run into anything so humongous as these things. They looked like massive blobs with arms and each had a spear nearly forty feet tall. His best guess was these things were at least thirty feet tall and probably twenty feet wide at their base. He didn’t see any legs and wondered how they might move about. He looked at his weaponry.
“Oh no.”
“What’s that, Victor?” Muffin asked.
“I’m going to need some bigger guns.”
B.O.B. made some noise that sounded like an old car engine screeching to a halt. Vic assumed it might be laughter. Nervous laughter?
“June, this is Vic. Where are you?”
“Victor, that’s not going to work.” Muffin said
Vic looked up toward the bridge. “Why not? Are they too far away? Are the buildings made of something that blocks radio signals? Are they incapacitated? Tell me they’re not dead.”
“None of those, Victor. Your crew forgot to take their communicators with them.”
His shoulders slumped. “You have got to be kidding me? How am I supposed to rescue them if I can’t communicate with them? Did June at least put on her suit so we can track them?”
“I’m afraid not.”
That was so like June. Just run off before being fully prepared. That just made his job a whole lot tougher. How was he to locate them? They could be anywhere. These things looked huge and the only benefit Vic saw of that was there would be fewer rooms to search. Although they could be in the same room and he’d have trouble finding them.
“B.O.B., why don’t you go out there and introduce yourself? Maybe you can distract them long enough for me to get by.”
“I think I hear Muffin calling. I’d better get upstairs and see what she needs. She might be in trouble.”
“You don’t even have to stay out there for long. Just long enough to cause a distraction. These guys are five times taller than I am. Heck, they’re nearly as tall as the ship. Wait a minute. I think I know what I can do.” Vic put down the rifle.
The blobs outside were big and tall, but they didn’t have legs. Even though Vic couldn’t figure out their locomotion, they had to be slow. With that much mass moving across the ground there was no way they’d be fast. All he’d have to do would be to run outside and he’d be past the guards in no time.
“Vic, I don’t like the look in your eye.”
“How would you know anything about the look in my eye?”
B.O.B. fidgeted and looked left and right. “I don’t know. It’s just something that June always says when you look like you’re planning to do something that might get others into trouble. Like that time Joey lost his hand. Remember how you…”
“Yes, I remember. This time is different. I’m trying to think of a way to get them all back on the ship. Not pull some prank.”
A slight breeze, almost unnoticeable, blew past Vic’s ear. He brushed at it like trying to brush away an annoying pest.
“Here’s what I need you to do. I’m serious this time. B.O.B., look at me. Right here. I need you to cause a distraction.”
The robot started to turn. Vic grabbed it and turned it back around.
“I saved you from a lifetime of washing dishes in a back alley shop that served questionable food. We’ve given you a good life here. I think it’s time you did something for the crew.”
It looked as if B.O.B. might say something. The robot stared at Vic, looked at the floor. Looked up again, but remained silent. Vic continued to stare at B.O.B. and wait for the robot to say something. This was a game his father used to play with him. They’d stare each other down, just waiting to see what the other would say. Trying not to flinch or show any sign of weakness. The first person to talk had lost the contest of wills.
“Alright, quit looking at me like that. I’ll do it. Just tell me what I need to do.”
“Perfect. It’s quite simple. I need you to go out there…”
The wind by Vic’s ear grew more intense. There was no brushing it away this time. He thought it might be coming from outside. Hadn’t Muffin said the air was denser outside? This wind wasn’t coming from outside, though. It came from the rear of the ship. The sound of rustling leaves followed and Vic felt the full blast.
“Victor, I’m detecting a presence on the ship. No, now it’s gone. Wait. It’s back now. No, it’s not there anymore. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
“I have. B.O.B., you’d better get a bucket and a mop.”
“A bucket and a mop? Is there a mess that needs to be cleaned up?”
“There will be.”
A man in camouflage appeared where the wind seemed to be coming from. He had a helmet, dark goggles, and held a large rifle, nothing like Vic had ever seen. The man was well built, but instantly dropped his gun and fell to his knees. With a scream, he pulled at his helmet and goggles.
“B.O.B., that bucket and mop. Now!”
B.O.B. sped off.
Vic knelt next to the man. “It’s alright buddy. You’re going to be fine. Take slow, deep breaths.”
“What? Where?” The man’s backpack proved to be too much and he fell face down on the deck.
Just like when June appeared, and Joey, Vic rolled the man onto his side and made sure his face was clear of any obstructions. Taking off his goggles revealed the man to be Asian. Probably the biggest Asian Vic had ever seen.
“Help! It hurts.” The man’s voice had no trace of an accent and he pawed at his throat.
“Bring some drinking water on your way back too.”
B.O.B. had almost been back with the bucket and mop. The robot dropped those and scurried off to get water.
Vic fetched the bucket but was too late getting back. The man had popped his lunch all over the deck. Why did these things always happen at the worst possible time? Now he had to find his crew and explain to this guy just where he’d wound up. Neither of them were going to be happy. Vic took the gun and handed it to B.O.B., took the drinking water, and offered that to the soldier.

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He threw his hat on the deck. “How could you have lost them? It’s not like you can’t tell where they’re going. And don’t tell me that a planet had some hiding spot for them.”
The officer quivered in terror just like he should. He should fear the wrath that was about to rain down upon him for making Sheriff Justice lose his quarry. “Sir, we tracked their ship as soon as it appeared. We saw it land on the planet in a crater. They’ve got to be down there.”
“Let me guess, we’re too big to fit in there.”
The officer held his hands over his head. “Yes.”
B.T. Justice slapped his riding crop on the console. “I don’t want excuses. I want answers! How are we going to go in after them?”
“Sir, they can’t go anywhere. We know where they went. It might just be a matter of waiting for them to come back out.”
“Son, as much as I’d like to sit here and wait for that rat to poke its head out of that hole so I can snap it off, I’m not going to do that. We need to go in after them!”
The officer at the console looked confused. “I don’t handle navigation.” He turned around and slouched over his console.
“Who’s in charge of navigation?” He didn’t care if his question sounded like a threat. He was going to catch the crew of the SS Acid Rat and he was going to do it today. Nothing would get in his way this time. Nothing. Not even if he had to force the ship down that tiny hole after them. He was going to pull them out of there.
“Sir, the ship is too big.”
“I didn’t ask for the dimensions of the ship, did I? I asked who’s in charge of navigation. We need to go in after them. They’re right there.” Sheriff Justice pointed at the screen. A large, red circle shrank and grew over the hole where the SS Acid Rat had disappeared. “Now who is in charge of getting us down there?”
“I’m in charge of navigation.” Finally someone intelligent.
“Son! Get us down on that planet. Right there. That hole. You see it, right. That’s where we need to be.”
The officer looked pale as he adjusted his glasses and swept his greasy, black hair out of his face. “Sir, we can’t go down there. The SS Acid Rat is a small, cargo vessel. Our ship is designed to capture ships of that size and even a little bit bigger. If we try to go down into that hole, we’ll run into any number of problems. We could get stuck. We could sink into the ground. You know that we don’t know anything about the surface of this planet. It’s a rogue that should be here.”
He hit the officer with his hat. “I didn’t ask for a lesson in planetology…”
“That’s not a real science.”
“I ordered you to move this ship into that hole so we could capture our prey. You heard him taunt me. You all heard that. He knows he’s breaking the law and he’s going to try to get away with it again.”
“We’re breaking the law by being outside the sphere of control of our parent star.”
Again Buford hit the officer with his hat. “Quit being a wise apple. Will anyone fly this ship down onto that planet? Junior! Get over here and order these men to do what I tell them.”
Didn’t these so-called officers understand the importance of capturing a criminal? There wasn’t time to just sit back and wait. They’d get away. They would sneak out of that hole and take off. He wasn’t about to allow that to happen.
“Junior!”
“Daddy, sir. What’s wrong?”
“Junior, we’ve got them cornered, but your crew won’t do what I’m asking.” Sheriff Justice couldn’t believe he was about to ask his son to do something. “You need to explain to them the situation. I don’t know any of these people.”
“Well, most of them asked for transfers once we got home and you were arres…”
Justice clamped his hand over his son’s mouth. “Don’t you dare say another word about that in front of the crew. I just need you to get them to do what I’m telling them to do.”
Junior walked around his father and knelt to speak with each man. There were nods and smiles. He finished his conversations with the sandy-blond-haired officer and came back over.
“And? I don’t see us heading down into that hole. What’s going on? Why are we still up here?”
“I think the first thing we need to get you is a hamburger and a few minutes to calm down.”
“I do not need to calm down!”
Junior held up his hands. “Then Stan and I can take you on a smaller cruiser and we can go down there and look around.”
“Who’s Stan?” Justice didn’t like the thought of leaving the Apprehension. There was a lot to do here and men without their leader could run amok. He’d seen it before. The men needed a disciplined leader.
Junior motioned for the sandy-blond-haired office to join them. Daddy…sir. This is Stan Gumpshaw. He’s in charge of the smaller craft on board.”
“And you’re telling me that the only way I’m going to get down there and make sure my quarry hasn’t gotten away is to let this officer fly me down there?”
“I’ll come along too.” Junior shrugged.
He didn’t like being pushed off the bridge and that’s what this felt like. As if Junior was placating his old man to ease the minds of the rest of the crew. Their parents should have beat them a few times when they were kids and then maybe they’d listen to someone in a position of authority. As it was, they all just looked at him like he’d lost his mind. He didn’t need them. He didn’t need any of them. If the only way to capture the SS Acid Rat and its crew was to go down to the planet with Junior and this Stan fellow then so be it. He’d do just that.
Sheriff B.T. Justice put on his hat and turned. He had never been on one of the smaller ships, but he knew where they were kept. They were for the rest of the crew, not for the leaders.
“Can we take suits aboard with us so when we find the SS Acid Rat we can leave the smaller ship and go aboard?”
Stan said, “Yes, that’s possible, sir. If they have a large enough airlock, we can get the entire ship on board. It’s a small four-man shuttle.”
“And just how long will it take to get this little shuttle ready?” He emphasized shuttle to let them know how disappointed he was about this situation.
“It’s ready to go. I sent instructions down and the hangar crew will have it ready to go as soon as we’re down there.”
“Junior, I know I was away for some time.”
“Yes, daddy.”
“When did you hire this monkey to do your talking for you?”
Both of them looked shocked.
Justice stopped, turned, and put his riding crop on Stan’s chest. “When I want an answer from you, I’ll ask you. Until then, I’d like you to shut your hole.” He moved the riding crop to Junior’s chest. “I’ll be talking to you and expecting you to answer. Am I being very clear on that?”
“Yes, sir.”
He patted Junior’s face. “Good boy.”
Stan got a dark stare. The boy had said too much already and Buford didn’t like it. If his son was supposed to be in charge of the Police Cruiser Apprehension, then Junior should be the one doing the talking. Not letting some wet-behind-the-ears rookie talk for him.
“Let’s go. We’ve got a rat to catch.”
“Daddy, sir, I think you’ll like the new mini-cruisers. The old ones were all blocky and clunky. These new ones look so much better.”
Justice stopped. “What was wrong with the old ones? You do know I was the one that picked out those models, right? Those were the latest models. Faster than anything else in our system. And you just let them go?”
“Well, while you were away, I did some…well, changes.” Junior and Stan exchanged a look and nodded at each other. “I think you’ll like them.”
All he could do was stare at his son. The boy had made a decision. Even if it went against everything he’d tried to put in the boy’s head over the years, he’d made a decision. These new mini-cruisers had damn well better be comfortable. The last thing he wanted to do was fly down to a planet in an uncomfortable little cruiser.
Entering the hangar, B.T. did not like the look of the new vehicles. He’d been used to the squarish ones he’d ordered. They made the place look full and they fit in just like stacking boxes. These new ones didn’t nearly fill the space like the old ones. They were rounded with sleek curves and looked more like something kids would be gallivanting around the galaxy in, not something a police officer would be chasing those criminals in. Even the big blocky lights had been replaced with a slim light bar.
B.T. Justice just shook his head.” Which one are we taking?”
“Over here.” Junior pointed to one cruiser that was slightly bigger than the rest. This brought a smile to the sheriff’s face. His boy had learned something after all.
Junior went to the driver’s side. It was his ship, his new vehicles, why not let the boy fly down to the planet. Stan went around the back of the car while Justice went to the passenger’s side. As he got to the door and reached for the handle, his hand met Stan’s as they both reached for the door handle to the front.
“I beg your pardon, where do you think you’re going?”
“Well, sir, I was going to ride up front.” Stan looked surprised as if this had been a foregone conclusion.
“Is your name on this door? Does it say ‘Stan sits here’? Do you outrank me?”
“No, sir.”
“Well then sit your little hiney in the back seat.”
Again Stan and Junior exchanged a look. Junior tilted his head to indicate that Stan should sit in the back. B.T. Justice tried not to notice Stan’s indignant sigh.
“Junior,” the sheriff said as he sat in the car, sliding down into the plush seat, and putting his hat into his lap with his riding crop. “You need to have better command of your crew. You can’t just let them walk all over you like that. Do you understand? How would it look if you were on the bridge and something like this happened? Everyone would think you were a candy-ass, push-over. Now, do you want that, son?”
“No, daddy.”
“Sir in front of other crew members. How many times…”
Junior fired up the engine. This caused B.T.’s eyebrows to rise. He’d expected something silent but this had a rumble of power. He tried to keep his smile to himself. The vehicle raised. Junior radioed for the lock to be opened and they flew out into space.
It had been at least fifteen years since B.T. Justice had flown in such a small vehicle. He felt like a young officer again. The way the stars rolled along in front of the cruiser as they banked around the Apprehension and toward the rogue planet. He could feel his heart race with excitement. A laugh almost escaped his mouth.
“Let’s go get ’em, Junior.”
“We’re going to get them this time, sir.”
Stan cheered from the back seat.

Audio Only: https://anchor.fm/jr-murdock/episodes/VA-Shipping-2-Hollow—Chapter-12-e1fm4ss

June grabbed Joey tightly, but she’d grabbed his arms. He wasn’t holding her, he was trying to get free from her so as they fell he wouldn’t get hurt. For just a second she let go of him, then grabbed him around the waist. The ship shook and shimmied and finally came to rest. For a moment she thought for sure when she opened her eyes they’d be sitting on the ceiling. Alive, but upside down.
“Come on.”
She pulled on Joey, but even though she’d freed his arms, he still hit his head. Leave him there or drag him along?
“Muffin, can you put a stasis on Joey so he doesn’t move around in case the ship shakes like that again?”
“I doubt the ship will shake like that ever again, but I will put a field around him.”
“Eep. Eep. Eep.”
“I know Dexter. Let’s go see what happened.”
The two made their way back up the ladder and to the cockpit. June was not prepared for what she saw. Even Argmon, someone born among the stars, sat in silence. She had trouble putting together what she saw. Joey would likely have an easy explanation, but she could barely grasp this. Perhaps she’d spent too much time on the ship and not enough time looking around at all the things the galaxy had to offer.
She could make out a bright light like a tiny star off in the distance. Vehicles of varying size orbited the star, but the majority of traffic moved around them. Directly in front of them, a small, dirty, green ship with orange, flashing light appeared to be on the same course. None of that struck her as odd. What she had trouble with was the way they seemed to be looking at a roof over their heads. Almost as if they were flying upside down and looking down on an endless city. The light from the star wasn’t very bright, but it allowed her to follow the ground until she was again looking at the start.
“Are we…inside?”
“Yes, June. The hole we landed on didn’t appear to be stable. At first, I thought we were sinking. I fired the thrusters to try and escape, but we were pulled down. I’m sorry if anything got broken during that time.”
“Wait a minute. Are you telling me that this city, these people, this civilization, is all on the inside of the planet we were towing?”
“It would appear so.”
It wasn’t possible. It just wasn’t possible. How could they have been towing around an alien civilization and not know about it? There hadn’t been any communication. No attempted contact. Not even an attack on their ship. Maybe when the planet had broken free, these people knew what was going on and tried to break free, but why hadn’t they just signaled? It didn’t make any sense.
They flew over a section where the buildings were smaller and covered with grassland. A large lake loomed in the distance near a tall building different from the others. Most of the buildings were square or rectangular with tiny ships coming and going. Ahead of them was a building with a large dome and pillars holding up that dome. Also, several towers around a rectangular pond extending in front of the building. The building a brilliant white that stood out in contrast to the dull grays and browns of everything else. Even the water looked a dark gray color and not crystal blue like she’d expect. If not for the waves she wouldn’t even be sure it was water.
Except for looking at the star in the middle of it all, in every direction she looked along the curve of the planet was a grid of plots, some had buildings, some had farmland, others had lakes, but nothing in a logical pattern. As things got further away it became more and more difficult to make anything out. June leaned forward to get a better look to try to take it all in. She’d never dreamed of anything like this.
The ship in front of them dipped down toward the building and the Acid Rat followed.
“Argmon! Stop following the ship. We need to get out of here.”
The Shathar held up his hands to show he wasn’t steering the ship.
“Eep. Eep. Eep.”
“June, Argmon isn’t steering the ship. It would appear that the ship in front of us has activated some sort of beam that is pulling us along behind it. I could activate the engines and try to escape from it if you like.”
That didn’t seem like a good idea. If it didn’t work to escape from them getting pulled inside a planet, then what good would it do now that they were already here?
“Let’s just see what happens.”
“You have got to be kidding me?” Joey’s voice nearly scared her out of her skin. Where had he come from?
“June, Joey started to feel better so he asked to be released from his stasis.”
“Next time give a girl a little warning.”
She had been so focused on what was going on outside the ship that she hadn’t felt Joey come up from behind her. She didn’t like that feeling. It was better when she knew what was going on. She didn’t like surprises.
“So we’re inside the planet? I didn’t think that was possible. This looks like a Dyson sphere, but that can’t be a star. It’s too small. It’s like a miniature Dyson Sphere. Is that a real thing?”
“I don’t even know what a Dyson Sphere is, but you’re looking at whatever this is. Look at all the buildings. They go on forever and I’m sure they’re huge, but they look so small. Look over there!”
A series of buildings towered over the landscape just beyond the white building the small ship towed them toward. It looked like a super-sized downtown. June had been to planets with large cities before, but this was the first time she’d been to anything like this. She didn’t have words to explain it all. It seemed that Joey could probably figure this out, and that gnawed at her a little bit. She could feel his excitement over the discovery of the inside of this planet. She just felt overwhelmed.
June got up from the seat and allowed Joey to sit down. She sat on his lap. If he could feel excited, perhaps physical contact could help her feel a little less overwhelmed and a little more excited. They all rode in silence as the little ship towed them into the large, white building. After seeing what looked like a massive room with countless buildings and so many ships flying around, the hangar they landed in felt constricting.
The tow ship landed in the center of the hangar. Ships of similar make, but differing sizes lined the sides of the hangar. Each ship looking like a lumpy mass with a glass dome on top. It was impossible to tell which end was the front or the rear or the side for that matter. Short, squat guards with dark yellow skin stood waiting for them to land. They wore nothing but pointed green helmets and held long spears.
“What happens now?” Joey asked.
June had no idea what to expect. There had been no communication, no warnings, nothing. She hoped they would say something to let them know what they wanted, but even as the ship landed, Muffin remained silent.
“Muffin, what’s going on outside?” June asked.
“We’ve landed. No one is moving toward the ship. The vehicle that towed us here is leaving.”
Outside the ship’s flashing lights turned off and the vehicle disappeared.
“I guess we go outside and see what they want. Muffin, what’s the air like?”
Muffin beeped. “The air appears to pose no threat to anyone on this ship. It’s a little heavier than you might prefer, but should pose no threat.”
“Do we need our suits?” June got up from Joey’s lap and tickled his arm so he’d get up.
Again Muffin beeped. “From my calculations and my awareness of your physical needs, no, you will not need suits. The air is quite clean of contaminants.”
Joey cocked his head to the side. He looked so cute when he was about to ask a curious question. “By clean of contaminants, do you mean there’s no pollution?”
“The air is quite pure.”
June hooked her hand in Joey’s arm. “Should we go out and see what they want?”
“I don’t think we have much of a choice. They looked short. I hope we don’t scare them.”
“I hope Argmon doesn’t scare them. Dexter will probably feel right at home though.”
Argmon growled.
“Eep. Eep. Eep!”
“What about Vic?”
B.O.B. poked his head out of the lounge. “I will keep an eye on Vic. Please don’t make me go out there. I was watching from the ship’s cameras and I don’t think I want to go out there. Hopefully when they do a sweep of the ship they won’t notice that Vic and I are still on board.”
“What do you mean when? Have you seen them with scanning equipment?” Other than the ships, June hadn’t seen any other devices outside. If B.O.B. had been tied into the ship’s cameras, then he could have seen things she would have missed. Perhaps little bells should have gone off in her head warning her that something was wrong, but she just couldn’t see it.
“Perhaps I shouldn’t have said anything. They’re out there. They’ve moved closer to the ship. You might want to get out there.” B.O.B. came out of the lounge and disappeared down the stairs to the crew’s quarters.
“I guess we don’t have anything else to do but go see what they want.” June had hoped that one of them would go first, but Argmon, Dexter, and even Joey all just stood and looked at her. She didn’t know if she should be angry or disappointed. She took the first steps and the other three followed.
She stood at the airlock and prepared the ramp. “Muffin, is it safe to lower the ramp?”
“All clear, June.”
She turned the knobs and opened the airlock doors. A breeze hit them all. June and Joey nearly fell while Argmon just steadied himself and Dexter crouched as if getting ready to spring to attack. None of them had weapons or suits. She wondered if they should have something to protect themselves. She wished she’d put on her suit. The large, round helmet would give her a better ability to see what was happening around them through the ship’s cameras.
“We don’t have our communicators. Don’t let them split us up!”
Something so simple. Vic wouldn’t have forgotten. Somehow he always kept his cool in a situation and always followed the rules he’d established for running the ship. June had just forgotten the most basic thing. If they got split up, anything could happen to them. At least Vic was safe on the ship. He might wake up and try to figure out what had happened to them, but he was safe for now.
There was only one thing left to do. Walk down the ramp and try not to scare the natives. They could do this. June, again, took the first step down the ramp. She almost turned to run back up the ramp.
The short, squat guards with their little, green, pointy helmets, cute spears, and dark yellow skin weren’t so short and squat. They were, in fact, twice as tall as Argmon and the diameter of a sizable tree. The spears came down and one with a small star on his chest shouted at them.
“You are to come with us for crimes against the people,” it said.
This wasn’t going to go nearly as well as she’d hoped. Not by a long shot.

Audio Only: https://anchor.fm/jr-murdock/episodes/VA-Shipping-2-Hollow—Chapter-11-e1fgdoe

If it weren’t for the pain in his side, Vic would be loving this right now. Although he dreaded the thought of getting caught, not just by B.T. Justice, but by anyone, the thrill of the chase excited him. It had been almost a year since their last big chase. Sure, that ended about as bad as it could, but they’d avoided capture. That’s really what this whole game of cat and mouse was all about. If they had time to do some fancy maneuvering he could easily outrun the Sheriff. There wasn’t time. Everything had gone cold. Now they needed a place to hide.
“Muffin, are you broadcasting?”
“Of course, Victor. That is part of my function, after all.”
“How much rock would it take to block your signal?” Vic had an idea.
“Victor, I don’t think I like what you’re proposing.”
“I haven’t proposed anything yet. How much?”
Muffin beeped a couple of times. “Not very much. Why?”
Vic had looked at the planet’s surface when they’d picked it up. After a day of orbiting and making sure everything was in place, he’d gotten a good look. It was just like any other planet; pock-marked with craters and some of those craters were pretty deep. At least looking at them in the light of the brown star the planet orbited they looked deep. He hoped they’d be able to find a good hole to tuck themselves into. Starlight was good enough for navigation, but they’d have to rely on a simplistic radar system to navigate the planet’s surface.
Vic winced as he sat in the cockpit. “We need to find that planet and fast. Have you gotten it up yet?”
Argmon chuffed, barked, and gave a little snarl.
“I don’t care if the systems just came back online. We need to find that planet. Bring up the gravity location system and let’s find it. It shouldn’t be too far behind us. We couldn’t have drifted that far.”
Again the Shathar snarled.
He didn’t have time to argue. They needed to get out of the way. Now that Muffin was back up he wasn’t about to just sit and wait for the police to pick them up. “So just fly that way! We need to move. The Police Cruiser Apprehension will be on us if we just sit and wait for all systems to be ready.”
With a spaceship like the Acid Rat, they had a small black hole on board. When you looked at a ship like the Apprehension there had to be something far larger than what was on the Acid Rat. That ship not only had a lot more power, but they could almost swallow up a small cargo ship. If they didn’t have the engines charged enough for a jump to hyperspace, they’d never escape its clutches.
“Muffin, can you help Argmon find that planet? Tell me when all systems are finally up.”
“I’m working on bringing everything up, Victor. There are a lot of systems on this ship.”
“Leave anything non-critical offline for now. We need to get powered up, find that planet, and get hidden.”
“In that order?”
“Yes, in that order. No, wait. First get us moving back to where we were when we lost power, then do those other things.”
“Victor, you make everything so complicated.”
Vic started to yell, but it felt like someone punched him in the side and he lost his breath. Stars danced in front of his eyes and he thought he might blackout for a moment. No sense in saying anything. Better to just sit back and let his chair relax him. If possible he had to stay calm. He was still injured. If he got all worked up, it might make things worse.
“Vic, you look white. Are you alright?” June put her hand on his face.
“I’m fine.” Vic tried to swat her hand away.
“He didn’t drink his beer. I think that’s a bad sign.” The kid just needed to shut up. He didn’t know what he was talking about. Vic had let a beer go unconsumed before, hadn’t he?
“Eep. Eep. Eep.”
“Look, I don’t need to take that from you either.”
“Vic, you’re pale, you can barely move. I think you’ve got some internal bleeding. Did the medical pod finish with you?”
“It beeped. It must’ve been done with me. Let’s just get this ship hidden first, then we’ll deal with my condition.”
If he passed out, they’d take him to the medical pod. As it was, he wanted just a few more moments to enjoy the getaway. Argmon steered the ship around while Muffin performed the search for the planet’s gravity signature. The voice of Sheriff Buford T. Justice hadn’t assaulted their ears again so he must not be actively looking or just hadn’t seen them yet. They needed to make it closer to the planet and either get behind it or hidden beneath its surface. The Apprehension might be able to take on a ship, but Vic doubted they’d be able to tow a planet. They weren’t designed for towing. The Acid Rat was designed for heavy cargo. Two different ships for two completely different purposes.
“Coordinates for the planet plotted, Victor.”
“Good job, Muffin. Argmon, get us to the surface and find us a place to hide.”
Argmon snorted. He’d find them a place alright. Vic knew his partner.
It took a couple of minutes, but the planet finally started filling the view ahead of the ship. In this light, it was difficult to tell where those craters they’d seen before were now located.
“Everyone keep your eyes peeled. We need to find a place to land and be covered.” Vic put his hand to his chest. He hadn’t had heartburn this bad since eating his mother’s enchiladas as a kid. His breath came in short gasps. He didn’t care. He was going to see this through to the end.
“Vic, you’re sweating.” Again June put her hand on Vic’s face and again he pawed at her hand to make her move away.
“It doesn’t matter. We’ve got to get this ship hidden. Just leave me alone. We’ll take care of me once we’ve taken care of the ship.”
The planet grew closer and once it filled their field of view, he could make out the craters. Some were large, some were small, but all had a distinctive cone in the middle.
“Joey, why do the craters look like that?”
“Um, well there are two possible reasons. One would be those impacts are from when the planet was newly forming and the crust very thin. The impact would cause that peak in the middle.”
That made sense. “Okay, and the other reason?”
“It’s kind of stupid.” Joey shrugged.
“Kid, we’ve got a minute, maybe two. What’s the other possibility?”
“Well, some people suggested that planets, like Earth, were hollow and the peak in the middle of a crater like that was because of the hollow interior pushing back out.”
“You’re right, that’s stupid. We’ve seen the miners tearing rocks like this apart. Hollow planet. There!” Vic finally saw what he was looking for. A crater that had a bottom that appeared to fall away. There had to be a cave down there. They could get inside and be well hidden in just a couple of minutes. B.T. Justice would get bored. Vic would get into the medical pod and get better. Then they would all be on their way. It was a perfect plan. Hiding inside their cargo. Who’d expect that?
“S.S. Acid Rat. This is Sheriff Buford T. Justice. Now that our little game of cat and mouse is coming to an end, you will shut down your engines. You will stop where you are. I will be boarding your vessel.”
The general com went silent.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that.” Vic laughed. “Muffin, send that message.”
“Message sent, Victor. Was that wise to taunt the local authorities?”
“He can’t stay out here chasing us forever. Just like last time, the GCP Galactic Patrol will send him packing with his tail between his legs.” Vic gripped his chest. It was so hard to breathe. Like someone had put a huge weight on his chest. “In there. Put us down right in there.”
Argmon guided the ship down into the hole. Vic had been in space for a long time. He’d been in darkness before. He had fully expected to disappear into the hole and all light to disappear. That he’d been prepared for. What he wasn’t prepared for was after Argmon landed the ship at the bottom of the hole.
“We’re down, Victor. What should I do now? Would you like me to power down some systems to just the critical systems available?”
“No, Muffin. Let’s just sit for a little while and see what happens. We’ve got time.”
“Yes,” June said as she pulled on Vic’s arm. “We’ve got time to get you to the medical pod. Let’s go, you look terrible.”
And he felt terrible. Now he could feel the cold sweat on his head and his back. He felt cold all over. It was as if someone had shoved him into the deep cold of space. June pulling on his arm hurt. Not just a little bit, but like she was trying to pull his arm off. He tried to pull away, but that hurt even more.
“Just a second. Let me catch my breath. We just landed.” Vic clutched his chest.
Joey put his arms around Vic’s chest from behind and pull him up. “Let’s go. You’ve got another date with the medical pod.”
“Can I get a beer first, it’s pretty boring in that place.”
“Ha ha ha. Very funny. I think I’ll start calling you Victor when you act like that.”
“Don’t make me compare you to Muffin, June. She’ll start to get angry.”
Vic lost control of his legs and he started to fall. Joey did his best to keep them both upright and Dexter assisted. He shouldn’t have waited to go, but he had to make sure the ship got to the ground safely. They were below ground and now they would be able to stay hidden from the Apprehension long enough that Sheriff Justice would turn tail and go home. After a good rest, they’d send out some probes to look for any ships and then be on their way. It was so simple.
The ground shook. It had to be the ground because the ship had never shaken that badly. He tried to fight Joey so he could go back to the cockpit, but his body didn’t want to cooperate.
“What’s happening?”
“Vic, you need to worry less about what’s happening and let us get you to the medical pod.”
Had he been fighting them? He hadn’t even felt his body move when he thought he was fighting them. All he could tell was his body was quivering and shaking like he’d started to have a seizure or something. He couldn’t talk any more. Why couldn’t he talk? He needed to tell them he was alright. He needed to know why the ship was shaking. The ground they’d landed on must not be safe. If they got buried they’d never be able to get out.
They dragged him down the ladder and put him inside the medical pod. He didn’t want to be inside of it. He needed to be helping them. He needed to show them how to get out of this situation. He’d been on unstable ground before. They needed to move the ship, even just a little bit. Then they’d need to get suits out, go outside and make sure there were no native animals trying to eat the ship. There was so much to do and if he was inside the medical pod he couldn’t help with any of it.
The clear lid of the pod closed, but Vic had a hard time focusing on it. What had happened to him? Everything was just fine a few minutes ago. He’d already been inside the medical pod. It should have fixed him up just fine. When Joey had lost his hand, it had helped keep the kid safe until he got his new hand. Why hadn’t it worked on him?
Violent tremors shook the ship. June and Joey grabbed each other. She kissed Joey on the cheek. She was always kissing Joey. Sometimes Vic was even glad the two had each other, but who did he have? What did it matter anymore? He was about to die and the ship was about to be covered over in a landslide. They were all going to die and there wasn’t anything he could do about it. He couldn’t scream, he couldn’t cry, he couldn’t say goodbye.
“Administering anesthesia,” a mechanical voice said.
He was going to die, but this stupid machine was going to do whatever it could to save him. Stupid, stupid machine. Just let him die. As his vision faded, the world turned sideways.

Audio Only: https://anchor.fm/jr-murdock/episodes/VA-Shipping-2-Hollow—Chapter-10-e1fatfp

“I don’t think we’re going to be able to go out and look around. We should go back and check up on Vic.” Joey was concerned that with the power out the medical pod might not be powered and if Vic woke up with the power out, he’d be in serious trouble.
“If Vic was in any kind of trouble, I’d feel him. I always have before. You need to learn the controls in here so let’s get back to it.”
They’d been going over the controls of the Iron Butterfly for nearly an hour. Without actually flying the ship, he wasn’t going to learn anything new. It was like sitting in class for seventeen hours. You only learned so much and the rest just spilled out your ears.
June already knew all about this ship and how to fly it. Sure they’d flown it together a few times, but mostly she flew and Joey just watched as her hands floated over the controls. For her, it was easy to manipulate the controls. It wasn’t as easy for him. He just couldn’t grasp the panels and what they all did. Perhaps if he’d been learning how to drive a car, or a plane he might have some basic understanding of how the Iron Butterfly functioned, but as it was, he didn’t.
“I’m just not ready for all this right now. There’s too much going on already and this is just messing with my head. We should get back to see what’s happening with Vic and the rest of the crew. I mean, the lights are still out and…”
B.O.B. appeared in the front of the Iron Butterfly waving his arms.
“Yikes!” He hadn’t been ready for anyone to show up while they were inside the ship. Dexter had retired to the storage locker as he always did, while Vic was in the medical pod and Argmon was busy flying the ship or at least sitting in the cockpit ready to fly the ship.
“Now what does he want?” June shook her head.
“I don’t know, but he looks pretty animated. We should go see what he needs.” Joey was more than ready for this distraction.
June sat back in the seat and closed her eyes. When she did that, Joey was sure she was reaching out trying to feel someone. “It’s Vic, he’s awake. Let’s go.”
She hit the control to open the canopy. Joey could have done that. At least he knew where that was on console.
“It’s Vic. He’s most insistent that you join him in the cockpit. Did you hear the announcement? It wasn’t very clear. I’m not sure who the person was, but it was loud. Perhaps it was an old friend of Vic’s.”
“Vic is on the bridge?” June asked.
“Yes, he doesn’t appear to be well.”
Joey asked, “Did the medical pod complete the procedure?”
B.O.B. tapped his claw hands together. “I’m afraid I didn’t ask. You know how I get flustered when I’m around Vic. It’s hard for me to talk. He’s so imposing.”
If only B.O.B. understood Vic like they did. B.O.B. wouldn’t be on this ship if Vic didn’t like him for one reason or another. Unfortunately, the robot wasn’t very good at most tasks. Joey wondered if B.O.B. would ever find his place among the crew or if they’d have to find something else to do with him.
“Just lead the way, B.O.B. I need to check on Vic and make sure he’s alright.” June pulled her hair back and secured it with something. Joey liked the way she looked with a ponytail, but something about her hair being up made her look more authoritative and intimidating. Something about that made Joey’s stomach tingle.
“What’s the status on Muffin?”
“Eep. Eep. Eep.” Dexter had appeared out of nowhere, but with how dark the cargo hold was, that wasn’t difficult to do.
“Vic is up. We need to check on him. Come on.”
The four of them made their way up the ladder. B.O.B. talked the entire way.
“…and it would seem that Muffin is in the process of completely restarting all systems on the ship. I informed Vic that this would normally take me a few hours, but Muffin might take even longer because of all the systems on the ship. Then once she is back up, there’s the matter of bringing all the systems back online which will take even more time.”
“And time isn’t something we have in abundance. Everyone get in here.” Vic’s voice came from the lounge.
Vic sat in one of the lounge chairs, a beer in one hand, a cigarette in the other. He didn’t look particularly interested in either. He snuffed out the cigarette as soon as the crew started into the room and placed the beer on the table. As he did this he winced and twisted to the side.
“Are you alright? What happened in the medical pod? Did you wait for the cycle to continue? Should we put you back in there?”
“Fine. I don’t know. Yes. And no. Sit down, we’ve got a lot to talk about. Did any of you hear a voice over the general com?”
Joey shrugged and sat across from Vic. “No, June and I were in the Iron Butterfly. We had planned…”
“I know what you two were about to do, and no. The ship stays grounded for now. At least until we get this situation under control. At least whatever had been impacting the ship has ceased for now.”
June sat forward and put her hand on Joey’s knee. “Any idea what was hitting us?”
“Not yet. I’m not sure why Muffin shut down, but once she’s back online I hope we have some answers. Things went horribly wrong and we’ve got to get them back on track. This planet isn’t going to deliver itself.”
“Wait a minute.” Joey scooted forward in his chair. “Do we still have the planet in tow?”
“Kid, you’re asking me things I don’t know right now. I can only hope that we didn’t drift too far and the planet is somewhere near where we lost power. That’s not as important as the voice that came over the com.”
“Who was it?” June asked.
B.O.B. handed June and Joey each a beverage and went to stand near Vic.
“I think our good friend, Sheriff Buford T. Justice is on our tail.”
Joey tried to think hard about who that was. “Who?”
“The crazy sheriff that followed us on our run from Raado to Planchar. You remember our little beer run that put us on this path? Yeah, that sheriff.”
Joey shook his head. “I thought he went to jail or something like that.”
“They’re not going to keep someone like him locked up for long. I read about this guy after we managed to avoid getting caught by him. Apparently, he was a highly decorated officer in the Bamda police force. What he got was more of a slap on the wrist and a little probation. I don’t know where he’s at with all of that, but somehow he’s on our tail. The best thing we’ve got going for us right now is we’re floating out in space with no systems up. If we come back up, we’ll broadcast our position. As it is, there’s a lot of space out there.”
“What about radar?” Joey asked.
“What about radar?” Vic parroted.
“I mean, can’t they just sweep the area with radar and find us?”
“It doesn’t work like that in space, kid. There’s too much stuff out here. They’d be getting so many signals back, it’d be an overload on their system just to go through it all. Each ship sends out its identity for other ships to read. That’s how we got away last time. Remember?”
They had done something with Tootsie and the Iron Butterfly’s computers. “So you’re saying that as long as we don’t broadcast, we’re pretty much invisible?”
“For the most part. Ships will locate objects by gravity. The bigger the object, the more gravity. So that pulling will help them focus on an object. If they’re sitting right on top of us, they’ll see the small amount of gravity we have on this ship and we’ll have problems.”
“You mean like that black hole drive?” Joey shuddered just to think about it.
Vic shook his head. “Kid, don’t worry about that drive. You’re looking at thousands of years of technology. I don’t even understand how it works, but I’m not afraid of anything going wrong. Like I said, just get over that. Anyway, right now it’s completely contained. We only had a little bit of it exposed to allow the planet we were towing to orbit the ship. With it all closed off, we have a tiny gravity signature. That planet will mask us unless, like I said, they’re right on top of us. Then there’s nothing we can do. Won’t have enough time to charge the engines for a jump out of here.”
Joey rubbed his head while June patted him on the back. Everything was going wrong. Not nearly as bad as before, but everything was going wrong. They needed to get the ship back up and running so they could get to safety and away from the sheriff.
“Wait a minute, are we even near his system?”
“Doesn’t matter. He’s here, we’re here. If we send out a call, it’ll be too late if someone tries to get here to help us. It’s not like we’ve got a convoy right here that’ll get this Smokey off our tail. We just have to hope…”
Muffin beeped. “I’m almost done restarting, Victor.”
“Oh, crap. That’s not what we need right now.” Vic stood, winced, and grabbed his side, then sat back down.
“What can we do?” June asked.
“Eep. Eep. Eep.” Dexter nodded his head. Joey had no idea what that meant.
“Our friend isn’t going to fall for a transponder swap again. We need to come up with something different this time. We need to think fast here guys. What options do we have?”
“Well, can’t we just land on the planet and shut down again? Won’t that throw them off our trail?” Joey clapped his hands as if his idea made any sense. He wasn’t even sure if it’d work.
“Kid, that’s great. We can not only hide the ship but hide our gravity signature. Argmon! Get us onto that planet as fast as you can.”
“I see one problem here.” June stood up. “We’re not even sure the planet is anywhere near us.”
“Dammit. Muffin, where’s our planet? I don’t want you doing any calculations, just locate the planet we were towing.”
Muffin beeped. “I don’t seem to have any information on a planet. Some data appears to have been wiped from my system.”
“Shall I go and see if I can aide Muffin in the recovery of her lost memory, Victor? Perhaps there’s something still there and I can find the information and bring it back up.”
“No, B.O.B. Just stay here for now. Muffin, find the nearest, large gravity signature. That’ll be the planet. We need to land there. Argmon, turn us around. I’m sure we’re way past the planet by now. The rest of you, buckle in. I have the feeling this is going to get bumpy.”
Vic slowly got up and walked out of the lounge.