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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.

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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.

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.