J.R. Murdock

Audio Only: https://anchor.fm/jr-murdock/episodes/VA-Shipping-2-Hollow—Chapter-9-e1f7fho

“Officer Justice, the ship isn’t responding.”
B.T. didn’t like it when the crew didn’t address him as Sheriff. He strode over to the officer prepared to dispense with a few blows from his riding crop. Junior got in the way.
“Thank you, officer. Let’s try our communication once again.”
“I could have handled that, Junior. They need to show me some respect.”
“Daddy, sir, no they don’t. You’re not in charge on this ship, I am.”
“I ought to smack your mouth. They didn’t put me back on this ship so I could just stand back and watch. You being in charge is just a formality.” He narrowed his eyes. “Have I made myself clear?”
Junior swallowed hard. “Yes, sir.”
“Now get out of my way so we can capture these criminals. You don’t know how long I’ve waited to do this. Officer, where are they now?”
“Sir, that’s what I was trying to tell you. The ship isn’t responding and I don’t have them on screen anymore.”
“What do you mean you don’t have them anymore? I thought we had a good trace on them.”
The officer started to raise his hand as he said. “They just disappeared.”
Justice took off his hat and almost struck the man. “What do you mean they just disappeared? Ships don’t just disappear. Did they jump into hyperspace? What happened?”
The officer flinched and covered his face. “I don’t know. One minute they were there and the next, just gone.”
That didn’t make any sense. Ships didn’t just disappear in the middle of space. They had to be somewhere. Every ship had a transponder and unless the ship exploded, they couldn’t have disappeared.
“Is there any debris? Any trace of an exploded ship?” They couldn’t have escaped him that easily. He wouldn’t allow it.
“We haven’t scanned the area yet.”
“Well, what about that planet they were towing? That must be around here somewhere even if they escaped into hyperspace or exploded or transported to an alternate dimension.”
“An alternate what sir?”
Sheriff Justice smacked the man with his hat. “Get looking for something. I need answers!”
“Daddy, do you want me to get you a hamburger?”
“No, Junior. I do not want a hamburger right now. I want people to give me some answers to just where this ship got off to and I want them now.”
“Officer Justice, I just…”
Sheriff Justice smacked the man again. “For the duration of this exercise, I will be referred to as Sheriff Justice. Have I made myself absolutely clear? Sheriff Justice or just Sheriff, or even sir.”
“Yes, sir,” the officer said.
“Does anyone else have any trouble with that? I know my son here is officially in charge, but I will be giving orders until we have apprehended these criminals that violated our system’s space. Not only that, but they are also the same individuals who stole a shipment of tonindrium from us not too far back and I will see them in custody. Does everyone understand that?”
A resounding “Yes, sir” rose from the crew.
“Junior, are you okay with that?”
The boy looked as if his favorite dog had just gotten run over. His lip quivered and B.T. thought the boy was going to start crying. “Daddy, you’re getting all worked up. Remember what the doctor said. You shouldn’t get overly excited.”
Justice put his arm around the boy and talked quietly to him. “Excuse yourself and go compose yourself. If you’re going to be on the bridge with me, I don’t need you looking like a big baby. The men will lose respect for you and if they lose respect for you they’ll lose respect for me. You understand. As for the doctor, he’s not here. I know how to conduct myself.”
Junior didn’t say anything, but turned and walked off the bridge. The sandy-blond officer followed Junior. Hopefully, between the two of them, they’d be able to collect themselves and be able to conduct themselves like officers of the Bamda Space Patrol.
“Now what were you saying?” B.T. Justice asked as he walked back over to the only officer that had been able to give him any information at all.
“Sir, I was able to locate the planet. Its gravity signature shows it’s drifting away from us.”
“Now we’re getting somewhere. Just where is this planet?”
The officer checked his screen. “It appears to be quite a good distance behind us.”
“How could it be behind us if we were in pursuit of the SS Acid Rat? Did they dump their cargo?”
“No, sir. We haven’t stopped.”
“What?” Sheriff Justice nearly exploded. “Turn this bucket of bolts around! Go back! Go back. We need to find them.”
Incompetence! Incompetents! That’s what this ship was filled with. Did he need to spell every order out so they would understand what needed to be done? It was hard enough just to convince them to leave the Bamda system to pursue the SS Acid Rat. Now he needed to convince them to turn around and go back after it. He was on probation and if they didn’t get back to their system shortly, they would need to contact the GCP Central Command to continue pursuit. He wasn’t about to get a hold of Counselor Pitrine or whoever was in charge now and ask for permission. He was going to catch the gang of the Acid Rat and haul them back to Bamda to face prosecution.
He’d spent long enough on Brakthanian to know that’s where they belonged. He was going to catch them this time and bring them in. There was no escape for them this time. He didn’t care what distance stood between them, they were going to face his wrath. They wouldn’t be lucky enough to escape. Perhaps they were hiding on that planet they were dragging along. Maybe they were hiding behind it. It didn’t matter. Their little cruise around the galaxy would be over soon enough.
“Put me on the general con.”
“Sir, you’re on.”
“Crew of the SS Acid Rat. I know you’re hiding out there somewhere. You cannot hide forever. In a few moments, I will have your cargo under my control and I will be hauling it back into the Bamda system. Do yourselves a favor and just reveal your position and we’ll take care of this unseemly business. You don’t want to make me angry. You wouldn’t want to see me when I truly get angry.”
“I don’t think they can respond, sir. I don’t detect any ships in the area.”
“Oh, they’re here alright. Have you ever hunted before, son?”
“No, sir.”
“Well, it’ll be just like flushing out a grouse. Bang the bushes and be ready to shoot. It’s just that simple. They’re out there. I can smell them.”
The officer started to say something.
“If you even think to correct me I’ll have you dropped out of the nearest airlock.”
They were out there. It didn’t matter if they’d heard him or not. He was going to take them into custody and ensure they were appropriately punished. His record had been complete, unblemished, and perfect until those hooligans showed up. They were back to darken his doorstep. They taunted him. Flaunted their freedom in his face. They would know what it was like to feel his wrath brought down like the hammer of justice on their heads.
Perhaps he could rename the ship until they were captured. The Hammer of Justice. He liked them. Time to take his first swing.

Audio Only: https://anchor.fm/jr-murdock/episodes/VA-Shipping-2-Hollow—Chapter-8-e1f2jtv

Why had the lights gone out? For that matter when had the lights gone out? Was he still out in space? Had he fallen off the ship? He could be floating in darkness light years away from the ship. What if they hadn’t noticed?
That didn’t make any sense. Of course, he wasn’t out in space. First of all, he’d be seeing stars, not complete darkness. It wasn’t complete darkness; he could make out a faint light. The ship was rarely in complete darkness. There was always a light on somewhere. Where had all the sound gone?
Vic started to sit up, but two things stopped him. The first was his head hitting something. He didn’t remember having such a low ceiling over his bed. He reached up and touched something smooth over his head. Glass? Why would there be glass over his head?
The second thing that prevented him from getting up seemed a little more important. A pain in his side. He reached down, since he couldn’t look down even if he could see anything, and felt a metal rod in his side. It moved slightly when he touched it.
“The patient will remain still while anesthesia is administered,” a mechanical voice said.
“Wait, wha…” Vic was back in darkness before he could finish.
He wasn’t sure how much time passed before he heard “Administering stimulant,” in that mechanical voice again and he woke up.
A motor whirred over his head and he could sense the glass above him moving away. He reached up and could feel it moving away. Before he sat up he felt his side. The rod no longer being there allowed him to finally sit up. After rubbing his eyes he looked out and waited for his eyes to adjust.
“June? Joey? Anyone?” He struggled just to get his voice out in a whisper.
He knew he was back on the ship. They must have placed him in the medical pod, but why? They were inspecting the outside of the ship while Muffin was busy analyzing what was hitting the ship and where the objects were coming from. So if they’d brought him here, something had to have happened to him. Now where had everyone gotten off to and why was the ship dark?
“Muffin?”
He waited, but no answer came.
“Oh great. You’ve got to be kidding me. Did everyone on the ship fall asleep at the same time?” Vic took in a deep breath to shout, but the pain in his side stopped him from doing that.
He put his hand on the side of the pod and slowly worked his way out. Everything hurt from the dull ache in his head to the sharp stab in his side. Even though he felt like lying down and going back to sleep, he needed to find out what had gone wrong. The last time this happened they’d all nearly died.
Going up the ladder was almost as painful as getting out of the pod, but it needed to be done. He couldn’t hear anyone, but at least there was emergency lighting from the upper deck. If they made it out of this alive he’d have to make sure more emergency lighting was installed. The realization of the emergency lighting made him stop and smell the air. Nothing out of the ordinary. No fire, no blood, no smoke, nothing. The air smelled just as clean as it had before he’d gone outside. So where had everyone gotten off to?
He slowly made his way to the bridge. He could see Argmon’s arms resting and not working any of the controls. His partner just sat in his chair. That wasn’t a good sign. Even the controls on the console had gone dark. The feeling in the pit of his stomach twisted harder. He thought he might throw up.
“Argmon?” His voice came out as only a squeak. He stomped his foot on the deck.
Argmon hopped up out of his chair and barked twice and snorted.
“I’m good. I’ll be fine. Just help me get to the chair so I can sit down.”
Before he’d even gotten the words out, Argmon was at his side helping him to the bridge.
“What happened? How long was I out? Where is everyone?”
Argmon shrugged his four arms.
“What do you mean you don’t know? What about Muffin? I wasn’t out for that long, was I?”
Another shrug.
Muffin beeped, but the tone didn’t sound like her normal beep as if she was about to start talking.
“Muffin? Is everything alright?”
A harsh voice said, “System starting.”
“Oh, that can’t be good at all. So are we running on emergency power only right now?”
Argmon pointed at the console. Even though everything looked to be at full power, all the systems had gone down. Perhaps the outage was because Muffin had to do a hard reboot or something. If Joey was here he might be able to shed some light on the topic. The kid was smart with computers and things like that. He wasn’t here though. Everyone but Argmon had gone missing.
“Vic! I’m so glad you’re alright. I had thought things were worse and you’d be in that medical pod for so long that I might never see you again. Then the lights went out and I was certain that I’d never see you again. I got so scared. Please tell me that you’re alright. Why aren’t you talking? Don’t tell me your brain has been damaged!” B.O.B. rushed forward with his two metal-claw hands and tried to put them on Vic’s head. Argmon intercepted.
“B.O.B. I’m fine. Really. I know I’m going to need some rest. Do you know where everyone is?”
“Of course, I know. Not everyone tells me everything, but I do know where they are. They were worried about you. June looked on the verge of tears. Sometimes I wish I wasn’t an artificial so I could cry when I’m sad or scared or…”
“B.O.B.!” it hurt to yell, but he needed to get the bot’s attention. One day Vic would have to pay for an actual artificial. “Where are they?”
“They got into the Iron Butterfly and were going to go outside. They couldn’t get Muffin to respond to commands, so I think they’re still down there.”
“Is Dexter down there as well?” Why couldn’t B.O.B. just answer and make this all so much easier?
“Yes, he’s down in the weapons locker. Would you like me to get them for you and let them know you’re alright?”
Vic adjusted himself in his seat. It was so difficult to get comfortable. “Yes, please go down there and bring everyone up to the lounge.”
The lights flickered but didn’t come on.
“Muffin?”
B.O.B., who’d started pacing back and forth, stopped. “Oh, Little Miss Silver Muffin won’t respond for fifteen or twenty more minutes. I know when I go down, it can take me at least an hour to wake back up. Muffin is far more complex than I am and she’s integrated into all the systems. A check will need to be performed of each system one by one and as the systems check out, they’ll come back online.”
“So the lights are good. Is the life support on?”
“That’s a critical life system and isn’t under the direct control of the ship’s computer. Muffin can access it, but if she goes down, it’ll stay online.”
“What about the engine?”
B.O.B. looked up at the ceiling as if searching for the answer. “From what I understand of the manual for the ship, that system would be put into a shielded stasis to protect the ship and the crew.”
Vic rubbed his head. Why couldn’t he have just stayed unconscious until all this had passed over? “So what you’re telling me is that we’re dead in the water.”
“I don’t think I ever mentioned water. If we were near water then surely all the life forms aboard the ship would drown. I remember a time when my uncle…”
“As interesting as your uncle is, it was a figure of speech. I mean we’re not going anywhere fast.”
“We’re not going anywhere slowly either. The ship put protections in place.”
Vic sat up and listened for a minute. “The banging stopped.”
“Yes, that stopped as soon as the ship went dark. There hasn’t been any other occurrence. I thought you might want to know so I’ve been keeping track of all that.”
“Is our cargo still secure?”
“What? In the cargo bay? Yes.”
“And the planet?”
B.O.B. started clicking his claws together. “I don’t have sensors for that. Perhaps that’s what June and Joey had intended to do.”
“B.O.B. I need you to get everyone into the lounge now. That planet is worth a lot of money. I’m thinking we might be under attack from pirates. It’s the only thing that makes any sense. Go!”
The robot turned and sped down the corridor.
Vic couldn’t remember the last time the ship had been under attack from pirates. It only made sense. They were towing a planet worth an enormous amount of money. The commission wasn’t anything spectacular but would give them all a chance to take some much-needed time off. Pirates might be in a nearby system and it would be easy for them to grab the planet and disappear. He’d have a difficult time trying to find it again.
“Argmon, what was the last system we passed through?”
The Shathar shook his head and pointed at the controls.
He needed to punch something, but just clenching his fist made the pain flare in his side.
“Why us? Why do these things keep happening to us? I mean we finally went straight and we’re doing the right thing now. This is just so unfair.” Vic rotated his chair and slowly brought his boots up and put them on the console. “I need a beer. I should have sent B.O.B. to get one. You want a beer?”
Argmon gave a half-smile and got up.
“Thanks, buddy.”
The console lights flickered and went back out. Muffin needed to hurry up and come back online. He needed to secure that planet…again. He’d like to get the client to pay more for this shipment being so difficult, but everything they’d run into so far had been all his fault. It wasn’t like he’d run across the Galactic Patrol trying to shut him down or anything. He had his license to tow a planet and all the paperwork was in place.
Argmon returned with two beers. He handed one, already opened, to Vic.
“Here’s to getting this one done and taking a few days off.” They tapped cans and Vic took a long pull. He nearly spat out his beer when a voice came over the com.

Audio Only: https://anchor.fm/jr-murdock/episodes/VA-Shipping-2-Hollow—Chapter-7-e1er3ms

“Argmon! What’s going on? Stop bumping the ship around like that. I’m trying to get Vic into a medical pod. This isn’t easy, you know?”
“June, do you want me to put Victor into a stasis bubble?”
“No, Muffin. What I want is to get Vic into the medical pod and for Argmon to fly a little smoother. Dex, pick up his legs. I can drag him all on my own. You’d think at least one being on this ship could help me.”
“Eep. Eep. Eep.”
Dexter finally picked Vic’s feet up again. Going up the ladder proved to be nearly impossible, but Dexter did do most of the heavy lifting as he pushed Vic up the ladder while June mostly held him steady. She had no idea what had happened on the exterior of the ship and it didn’t matter. All that mattered was finding out just what the extent of Vic’s injuries were. Hopefully, they weren’t too severe and the medical pod could do its magic.
One of the many upgrades they’d made to their ship had been the inclusion of the medical pod. Vic had tried to insist that nothing bad ever happened on the SS Acid Rat, but with Joey’s lost hand and the fact that Mike, their old engineer, had tried to kill Vic, June disagreed and the medical pod was installed. It would assess Vic’s condition and begin treatment. If nothing was required, at least it was comfortable. She’d slept in it one night when she just needed to get away from everyone on the ship. It made the perfect hiding spot.
“Muffin, do you have the ability to open the medical pod?”
June poked her head into the room where the pod sat. It was a small enough room with a couple of chairs. She would stay here until the machine reported Vic’s condition.
“It’s open now, June.”
“Thank you, Muffin.”
Indeed the pod was already open. She wondered if Muffin had done that before or after she asked. Unlike Tootsie, she couldn’t get a feel if the new ship computer liked her or not. As best she could tell it wasn’t a hostile relationship, but there had been multiple occasions the two had bumped heads and it was always when no one else was around.
That didn’t matter right now. She struggled to lift Vic’s upper body, but Dexter had dropped the legs and stood in the pod. He pulled Vic in, and then jumped out as the lid closed.
“Analyzing.” The machine said in a mechanical tone.
“June! How’s it going up there? B.O.B. finally helped me out of my suit. I’m on my way up.”
Oh, now Joey was on his way. He couldn’t have gotten out of his suit faster than that, making her do all the work of getting Vic up here?
She rubbed her face. It wasn’t his fault. “I’m already here. Come on up.” She dropped into one of the chairs.
She wanted to be mad at someone, but the only person she could be mad at was sitting inside the medical pod. Vic probably just wanted to play around outside. He loved spacewalks. He could find any excuse to go outside the ship. It was a wonder he hadn’t figured out a game they could play outside while flying through space.
Joey ran through the door, puffing and panting. Somehow he’d managed to scratch his face and a trickle of blood ran down from his forehead to his cheek. He sat next to June.
“What happened to you?” She reached up to touch the spot where he’d been cut, but pulled back and grabbed a rag from a wall dispenser.
“Oh, well you see, B.O.B…”
“That’s all I need to know.” She put the rag on his forehead and pulled his hand up so he could apply pressure. “At least you’re here.”
While he applied pressure to his head, she put her head on his chest and hugged him. He was alright, that was the most important thing. His thoughts were about trying to relax and worrying about Vic.
Dexter tapped her on the shoulder. “Eep. Eep. Eep?”
June let go of Joey and sat up. “Sure Dexter, head on up to the galley. We’ll probably be there soon as well. Joey, are you hungry?”
“I’m starving now that you ask.” Joey stood up and offered her his free hand.
She looked at Vic through the clear cover of the pod. “I think I want to stay here and make sure he’s alright. You two go. This shouldn’t take too long.”
“We’ll only be upstairs. He’s two seconds away. As soon as the machine…”
The machine beeped. “Analysis complete. Beginning treatment.”
“Machine, pod, whatever, what’s the diagnosis?” June got up and stood next to the machine. “What happened?”
She wanted to bang on the machine. Why was it already administering treatment? It hadn’t reported what was wrong with him. She didn’t want to just stand here and observe, she wanted to know what was going on.
“June, the medical pod does not have voice recognition,” Muffin interjected. “You’ll need to use the manual input device to retrieve a report.”
“Gee, thanks. Aren’t you tied into this machine? Couldn’t you tell me what’s wrong?”
“I’ve got it.” Joey typed on a keyboard. A small screen scrolled some words.
“And?”
“It appears there’s some internal bleeding and he’s got a concussion. The suit must have taken the worst of the impact. He’ll be out while the machine works on him.”
They looked into the pod. Vic’s shirt had been removed and a long metal prod was stuck into his side. It moved back and forth and a small amount of blood dripped from the entry point.
“I can’t watch this.”
June thought she was going to be sick. It didn’t matter if it was from seeing Vic in this condition or from the sight of a device poking into his side. She needed to get out of the room and get some air. She took a step and stumbled. Joey grabbed her.
“Easy does it. Are you alright?” He helped her sit down. “Just put your head between your legs. My mom used to have me do that when I got light-headed. It’ll help the blood flow back into your brain.”
A bang rocked the ship.
“Are those still going on?” June asked no one in particular.
“Yes, June. Those are still going on.”
“Muffin, have you finally figured out what happened with our cargo? Is that why you’re talking again?”
“I’ve been talking to you for a while now.”
Sure, Muffin had been talking to them for a while, but June had been busy dealing with Vic. “Muffin, what’s going on?”
“The planet was in a stable orbit. During one revolution the orbit became elliptical. The next orbit it had gained enough velocity to escape orbit.”
“She can be so literal.”
Joey groaned. She assumed he meant to agree with her.
“Muffin, why did the orbit become elliptical?”
“From the data I have available, I was unable to determine why the orbit grew unstable. Would you like me to run…”
BANG!
“…the calculations again?”
The shaking of the ship from the impact had knocked Joey to the floor.
“No, new order, Muffin. Figure out where those rocks are coming from that are hitting us. Joey, get up. I can’t just sit in this room.”
June offered to help Joey up, but he shook his head, put his hands on his knees, and got up himself. She hadn’t noticed before, perhaps because they’d spent so much time together, but he’d gotten taller, a little more muscular, he even looked like he might need a shave. She leaned in and gave him a peck on the cheek.
“What was that for?” he asked as he put his arm around her.
“Dex, I hope you’re not eating everything you find up there.”
“Eep! Eep! Eep!”
“Does he even eat the same food we do? I don’t think I ever noticed.” Joey let her go up the ladder first.
“Sometimes, it depends on if Argmon is doing the cooking or not.”
Joey made a noise like he was thinking about food.
She paused and looked down at Joey. “Do you want to fly the ship and Argmon can cook you something or do you want to suffer with my cooking?”
“No, your cooking is alright.”
“Oh, I think you’re going to be cooking breakfast yourself.”
“Wait, I mean I like your cooking. I didn’t mean anything by that.” He apologized all the way up the ladder.
“Shush. I was just kidding.” Again she gave him a peck on the cheek. “What should we eat?”
BANG!
“Muffin! What’s up with the rocks?”
Muffin beeped but didn’t respond.
“Is that a good sign? Didn’t Tootsie do that before…”
June cut him off. “Yes, be quiet. Muffin is a newer model. She can handle the complex computations.”
“I think you’ve been hanging around me too much.”
“Well some…”
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The lights dimmed and came back up.
“That’s not good, is it?” Joey said.
“I don’t think I’m going to be making you breakfast yet. I hope you weren’t that hungry.”
“Yeah, I think I can wait.”
“Argmon, is everything alright?”
The Shathar growled, chuffed, and barked. She needed to learn what he was saying. June sensed that Argmon didn’t feel overly concerned with what was happening. The dimming of lights didn’t bode well for their trip, though. Down the passageway, Argmon’s arms moved as he adjusted controls. More bangs and again the lights dimmed.
Dexter appeared. “Eep. Eep. Eep.”
“I don’t know Dexter, just stay on alert. I hope you got something to eat, it could be a while before we have a chance again.”
“Joey, go help Argmon with the ship.”
“What can I do?”
“I don’t know. Just go!”
Joey’s head dipped and he sulked toward the bridge.
She needed time to think. Vic was incapacitated, Joey was stressed out and on the verge of passing out, Argmon was…arghing, and Dexter just stood patiently by looking up at her with his eyes blinking out of unison waiting for her to decide on what to do. She wanted Vic out of the pod so she could crawl in there and just hide for a little bit.
Wait! She knew what needed to be done. Muffin wasn’t responding. The ship’s sensors couldn’t detect where the rocks were coming from. There was only one thing to do.
“Joey! We need to take a little flight on the Iron Butterfly.”
He turned around, jaw dropped down. “We need to what?”
“You heard me right. Do you remember how to fly it?”
They’d spent a good deal of time alone in the Iron Butterfly. Joey did alright learning how to fly. They were out in the middle of space now and he could fly behind the SS Acid Rat. Maybe then they could see where the rocks were coming from.
BANG!
And hopefully, the ship was small enough they could avoid anything that might be out there. It was only small rocks they were running into. If it were anything bigger, the ship’s sensors would have picked it up. They needed to be outside, but not in space suits. The Iron Butterfly would provide them with better protection and they could use its onboard computer to also try tracking the objects while they looked at the damage on the SS Acid Rat’s hull.
BANG!
“You’re kidding, right?”
She grabbed his hand. “Dexter, get up to the bridge and do whatever you can to help Argmon.”
“Eep. Eep. Eep.”
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The lights on the ship went out. The emergency lighting came up.

My apologies to those who’ve gotten used to a couple of chapters a week. There will be a slight delay in new episodes but look for more next week.

Thank you for being here and understanding.

Stay Awesome.

You ever have a really stupid idea that you just need to get out of your head? Yeah, me too.