Chapter 25

Joey didn’t know what to say. He’d been wrapped up in the story only to have everything crash down. It all was so unfair. Vic had given up his life with his mother to find a father he wasn’t even sure was alive only to find him and watch him die. How tragic.

Vic was laying down on the bench. He exhaled a plume of smoke into the air. The empty beer cans on the table had multiplied and the ashtray was now filled with butts. Joey looked down at the can in his hand. He’d been drinking too.

“That’s my story, kid. Take it for what it’s worth. I tried to go home. I can’t tell you how long that took trying to explain to Argmon where Earth was let alone trying to figure out how to talk with him. You know what I found there and had to relive when June wanted to go back there.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m not going back again. I just can’t do it.” Vic sat up and propped his head on his hands. “You see, I just don’t have it in me anymore. I’ve put all that behind me. I’ve moved on. Seeing you was bad enough. Hearing about my mom wasn’t the easiest thing. If I had a way to go back, I’d have done that by now. But that’s not going to happen. Ever.”

Vic’s face clouded over. Joey was sure the man was devastated. How could he not be? Seeing his own father blown to bits just after finding him and being thrust into a bizarre situation. The weight of Joey’s situation, though nearly equally strange, wasn’t nearly as bad. He hadn’t even had the chance to say goodbye or to think about never seeing his parents again. June’s situation was the same.

“Look, kid. I’ve got to get back up to the cockpit. I’ve still got to get this load delivered.”

Vic’s hand slipped on the table and he nearly fell to the floor. Joey jumped up to try and help him out, but the effects of the beer was hitting his head hard as well. June appeared.

“Here Vic.” She handed him something. A pill. He popped it, then took several deep breaths.

“Thanks June.”

Vic got up and left. Joey suddenly felt alone despite June being there. Her nose was red and her eyes swollen. She’d been crying.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I thought not being in the same room would help when he told you about the story. Even though he’s got this tough exterior, he’s all torn up inside. I felt his pain as he told that story as if it had happened to me.”

“Is it that psychic stuff?”

“I think so. I just wish it was something I had the ability to actually control.”

Joey couldn’t think of anything to say. He felt so inept to handle this. He wanted to just run away like he had with his parents, but look where that had landed him. Even if he could run away, where would he run? It wasn’t like this ship went on forever. At some point he was going to have to face the reality that he was here and this was his new life. The sooner he accepted that the sooner he would be able to get on with it.

“So how’re you holding up?” June asked.

Joey shrugged. “Alright I guess. There’s just so much to think about.”

“And you’ve only been here for a day. Wait until you’ve been here for a week. Then a month. Then a year. There’s a lot more to think about and you could be a lot worse off. I had Vic when I got here. You can see the deep compassion he shows.” June smirked. “You’ve got Mr. Compassion and me. So just don’t feel all alone. And yes, I know that’s what you’re feeling.”

Damn! She knew how he felt? Could she read minds too?

“I’m not a mind reader, it’s just how I felt when I got here.”

“Are you sure you can’t read minds?”

June laughed. Joey smiled, but it was strained. He had more to deal with than he had ever thought life would deal him. He was supposed to be off to college in the summer, not outer space. His parents must be devastated. Must have been devastated.

“Joey.” June snapped her fingers in front of Joey’s face.

“What?”

“I was saying you’ve had a couple beers. You want something to eat?”

“That sounds like a great idea.”

June got up and served a small but satisfying meal of bread and meat, at least it looked and tasted like meat. Joey could only think about sleep when he finished. And that’s exactly what he did.

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Chapter 26

By the time Vic made his way back into the cockpit of the SS Acid Rat the effects of the alcohol were gone. It was June that had found those pills back on some strange planet where they had made a delivery. It had never occurred to him to thank her. One of these days he would have to.

“So Argmon, how’s Tootsie?”

Argmon leveled Vic with a dark glare.

“Hey, it’s not my fault.”

Argmon snorted.

“Okay, okay, so I did buy SPX-39. They guy said it was a good deal. How was I supposed to know the machine would turn out to be nuts.”

Argmon growled.

“You did? When did you tell me? Was it before or after I’d bought it? Yeah, just sit there and be quiet. You thought SPX-39 was really going to help out until we got it back to the ship and it freaked out at its size. Then freaked out because we had a female computer system. Stupid thing is bonkers and bad with the ladies. Maybe we should take it out for drinks.”

Argmon laughed. Making fun of SPX-39 always made Argmon laugh. Vic couldn’t be sure if Argmon had heard the story, but Argmon had lost his brother the day Vic had lost his father. It was a tough day for both of them and they bonded immediately in their shared suffering. The dog beast wasn’t good at negotiations, but he was an incredible pilot.

“Vic.” The voice was SPX-39 over the ship’s con system.

“Go!”

“It appears that Tootsie is having trouble with a command you gave her. Should I abort the command or hardwire it into her psyche?”

How was he supposed to know? “What command?”

“I can’t be sure what the command was that you gave her, but I think I can hardwire it in easier than wiping it out.”

“How long until she’s up and running?”

“Thirty minutes.”

“Do it. We need to get moving.”

There was a lengthy silence. Vic wasn’t sure if SPX-39 was done talking. He was about to say something when…

“I don’t think she’s going to like me being in here.”

“Where?”

“Her psyche. She kicked me out twice and now I think she’s mad at me.”

“SPX-39! Fix her. Now!”

There was another long pause. Vic’s patience was wearing thin. He put his hands on the seat of his chair and was ready to go find SPX-39 and talk to him in person.

“Good morning.” It was Tootsie this time.

SPX-39 added, “She’s fixed sir, but she’s going to be mad at me.”

“I don’t care,” Vic snapped.

“You don’t care that it’s morning?” Tootsie asked.

“Sorry Tootsie. Are you ready to get underway?”

“I need to reboot my system. Something seems to have changed. I need twenty-eight minutes forty seconds. Shutting down now.”

“Glad to have you back, babe.” It was about time they got everything running properly.

“Mike!”

“Hey Vic. So are we done sitting around?”

“Stuff it Mike. I need you to get the engines ready for a jump to Planchar. How soon can you be ready?”

“Well, there’s calculations to be made and I’ll need to…Hey! What happened to Tootsie?”

“She’s rebooting. She’ll be back up in about thirty minutes.”

“Well, I can’t do the calculations without her up and running.”

“There’s no other way?”

“Well, I can tap into GCP Central Office and use their nava-computer. I don’t think that’s a good idea though?”

“Why not?” Vic Knew why not, he was just goading Mike.

“They’ll track us for one. Tootsie didn’t leave an untraceable trail.”

“Are you saying you can’t cover up our trail once you’re in there?”

Pause.

“Vic, I’m good, I’m not a god. Even I can’t get around the GCP computers. You know that.”

“I had to try. How soon once Tootsie is back up before we can have our route and be on our way?”

“Five, maybe ten minutes.”

“Why don’t you get up here and we’ll all have something to eat?”

“Who’s cooking?”

“June!”

“What Vic?” The tone of her voice let him know she’d been listening.

“Can you whip something up?”

“Vic! I’m not the maid on this ship! I’m not the cook either. You want to eat, cook it yourself.”

Whoops. Caught her on a bad day.

“Aw June. But you cook so much better than I do. Please.” He did his best to sound sincere.

“Since you put it that way. Hell no! Get off your ass and cook it yourself.”

“Hey Mike. Looks like we’re on our own. You want to order out?”

“I can cook,” Mike replied.

“God no! I’ve had your cooking before. Hey! I know. You need to meet Joey. Maybe we can get the kid to cook for us.”

June snapped. “Vic! That’s not nice.”

“I’m kidding. Lighten up.”

Mike laughed. Argmon pointed to himself.

“Hey Mike, Argmon said he’ll cook. You up for that?”

“I’m on my way!”

“Alright. Thanks Argmon. Let’s eat before we head into port and drop this shipment off.”

Argmon smiled and chortled.

---

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Chapter 23

Joey sat up straight. Vic had trailed off right in the middle of his story.

“And?”

Vic nearly fell over as if Joey had just woken him from a nap. “And what kid?”

“What happened?”

Vic, who had lit a cigarette at some point, snuffed out his smoke and got another from his pocket. Why didn’t he just get on with it? Joey wanted to yell at him.

There were four empty beer cans on the table. Joey had been so engrossed he hadn’t even noticed when these had appeared. Despite Vic sounding like a bad Star Trek episode, Joey wanted to hear more.

Vic moved slowly as he took a drag off his cigarette and blew a plume of smoke into the air.

“You see kid, I had no idea what was going on. I was in this weird place where everyone wanted to be quiet and I just wanted to know what the hell was going on. A couple whispers later and I was in this big, dumb arena and preparing to fight for my life. My brain still wasn’t working at full speed. You know what that’s like, but I think they gave me something because I was doing a lot better than you or June did when you got here.”

“So what did you do?”

Vic leaned in close to Joey. The smell of tobacco and beer was strong on his breath. He pointed at Joey with the cigarette and his eyes closed.

“Vic!”

“I tell you kid, you got to quit screaming.”

“Get on with the story. What happened next?”

“Oh, that. So you see this old guy turns to me and says…”

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Chapter 24

“Run, Victor.”

Victor? This guy knows my name?

The old guy was running, his robes wafting out behind him.

“How do you know my name?” Vic asked in a shout as he ran after the man. “Who are you?”

A glace over his shoulder and Vic could see the two figures he thought were people hunkered down and gaining on them with frightening speed. He ran harder.

“Did your mother send you, Victor?” the man asked between gasping breaths.

“Dad?”

Vic, as best he could while running at full speed, looked at the man’s eyes. The deep, steely blue was his father’s, but this man was old. Very old. His dad had only been gone for a few years and he wasn’t that old to begin with.

“I’ve been stuck here for nearly seventy years, Victor. I came here in search of a new life. This is what I came to.”

“Seventy years?”

“Time isn’t the same once you get off our planet. I haven’t figured it out yet, but everything is shifted. Being in that dark cell all these years, I haven’t been able to test any of my theories, but I have to assume that it somehow sent you forward in time where I am as you see me now.”

They crested a small dune and Vic pulled his father to the ground.

“I want answers now, dad. First, how do we get out of this?”

“I’m afraid we don’t. We can’t.”

“There has to be a way. We must be able to do something to get out of here.”

Vic poked his head up. The beasts he saw with their dog heads and, how many? four arms, were nearly upon them. These things were going to tear them apart with nothing more than a thought.

Vic took up a handful of sand. It was all they had. That and their clothes. Well, it worked in all the westerns. Right?

“Dad, let’s throw sand in their faces.”

“Are you kidding me? I don’t know what we’re facing here, but I’m sure we won’t win against them.”

“Well what do you propose? Stay here and die? What are they making us fight for anyway?”

“Isn’t that obvious? Their entertainment. Either we die, or the other two die. It’s quite simple.”

“Have you been here before?”

“Yes, but not against anything that was nearly as difficult as these two look.”

One of the beasts flew over the dune and spun around, teeth bared and ready to strike. Its four arms were massively muscled and it flexed and let out a hoarse scream. Vic fumbled for a handful of sand and was not able to get a handful. He had to do something. Anything. He wasn’t just going to sit here and die.

“Wait! Stop!”

The beast cocked its head. Had it understood?

“We don’t want to kill you. Do you really want to kill us?”

The second beast came over the dune and crashed into the first. They barked and growled at each other, then their attention was back on Vic. He blinked several times to make sure he wasn’t just imagining all this.

“Talk to them son. I think they want to hear you out.”

“Yeah. Right.” Vic stood up and held his open palms out. God I hope this shows them I mean no harm.- “I think, with your help, all four of us can get out of here.”

The beasts exchanged glances. One looked back and nodded for Vic to go on.

“These things don’t like noise. Maybe if we make enough of it, they’ll get so scared they’ll run away.”

One of them snarled. Well to Vic it made sense.

“No, we just go into the stands and make a lot of noise. They’re not going to be expecting it. If we can get a weapon or two from a guard, we’ll be in luck.”

The beasts were shaking their heads.

“Are you an idiot?” Vic’s father asked. “Make a lot of noise? What kind of a plan is that?”

“It’s the best I’ve got. Work with me, dad.”

“I’ve got a plan. Chase us, but let us get far enough away that it looks good, then chase us up into the stands. The wall is low enough and we can scare them away and be down an exit tunnel before they know what happened.”

“That sounds a lot like my plan.”

“Yes, but we don’t have to worry about the making a lot of noise part.”

One of the beasts nodded and pointed to the right.

“Come on Victor, we’re running this way.”

Hector grabbed Vic’s arm and pulled him along. The sand wasn’t the easiest thing to run through, but at least they weren’t running for their lives anymore. Well, not death from those beasts anyway. Is this even going to work?–

The side of the arena neared and Vic could see the low wall. The spectators, with their wriggling tentacles, looked as if they were cheering. The two beasts were coming up from behind and coming up quickly once again. There were no guards in the immediate vicinity of where they were planning to run.

Hector cleared the low wall without breaking stride. Vic wasn’t nearly as graceful. His foot caught the top of the wall and he fell onto the stairs. The seats near where he fell were now vacant and more clearing as the two beasts pounded up the sand to the wall.

The first leapt and appeared to be taking chase of Hector. These two were good at this. They looked really convincing.

Four hands grabbed Vic and he was hefted into the air. The second beast held Vic aloft and shook him and howled. If there was any moment when the plan could have gone horribly wrong, this was it. Hadn’t the stupid creature understood? They weren’t really supposed to fight, just run.

“Put me down!”

The creatures nearby cringed away. They were scared of the sound the dog thing made.

Vic screamed as if he was being torn apart. They pressed away even further.

The beast slung Vic over one shoulder and pounded up the steps after the others. It wasn’t stupid. It was putting on a show. It wanted everyone to think this was all part of the killing.

The steps and subsequent passageway were empty. They sped down the passageway and Vic could hear his father scream. That’s what was helping clear the way. After several twists and turns they were outside. For the first time Vic got a glimpse of the sun. It was distant and dark. Barely more than a blue ball in the sky.

The two beasts were now carrying Vic and his dad. They ran as if they knew where they were headed, growling and barking all the way down the cobbled streets and any of the tentacle creatures that the encountered quickly moved aside. Apparently his idea of making a lot of noise was what they needed to do.

The squat buildings all looked the same, but there was something in the way that they ran and turned that Vic knew everything was going to be alright. Suddenly it didn’t matter that his dad was really old, he was here and he was back together with him. He was going to be able to talk to his dad. They could zip around space and even go back to Earth and get mom. This was the best.

A building larger than all other buildings came into view. There was a sign upon it, but Vic couldn’t make out what it said.

“What’s that?”

The beast growled.

“Um, I didn’t get that.”

It growled louder.

“Oh, um. So what’s your name?”

“Argmon,” it grunted and ran on.

Well, at least he knew this things name now. Didn’t know what good that would do, but it was something.

The first beast had stopped at the entrance to the building and was in the process of wrestling with the door. The second, Argmon, joined in and they tore the door off its hinges. All four ran inside.

The building was one massive room inside. It was filled with spaceships. Vic had seen enough movies that he knew what a spaceship looked like and these were even better than anything he’d expected. If the two beasts were also prisoners, this must be some type of impound yard or something like that.

The first beast pointed to Argmon and a ship. It was a huge ship. Next to it was a similar ship, but smaller. Vic wanted to stop and look all around, but the first beast and his father had already run into the smaller ship and Argmon was almost at the larger ship. Vic rushed to catch up.

A shower of sparks descended down upon him. He hadn’t heard anything, but when he looked back, four tentacled beasts were aiming weapons and preparing to fire. They even had silent weapons. That was weird. How’d they manage that?

All thoughts of silent weapons were put out of his mind when the second shot came a little too close. He followed Argmon up a small ladder into the ship. When he was nearly at the top, Argmon reached down and pulled him inside and slammed the door closed with a resounding clang.

It was so nice to have sound back. Vic had though he was going to go insane from all the silence and quiet.

Argmon wasted no such time with contemplation. Instead he pounded along the passageway. Vic tried to keep up, but kept stopping to look at everything he passed. He didn’t want to miss anything. Argmon turned and growled to get him to go faster. Vic complied.

They stopped in the cockpit that would become very familiar to Vic over the years. He strapped in and Argmon launched the ship through the roof of the impound building. Out the view port just behind them the smaller ship followed. They were getting away. This was great. Vic felt alive and vitalized. This was the best time of his life. He and his dad were going to be renegades on the run! His father was alive. What an incredible feeling.

A bright flash of light off the side of the ship blinded Vic for a moment. When his vision cleared he could see debris of the smaller ship drifting back down toward the planet.

---

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Chapter 21

“So what do you think?”

Argmon shrugged his shoulders.

“Lot of help you are. Keep an eye on things up here. I’m going to go back and see what’s up with the kid. If there’s anything interesting other than all that black to look at, let me know.”

Argmon barked.

“Well if you’re hungry, go get something to eat.” Vic got up and walked back to the kitchen. He’d heard June talking with Joey and he’d even heard the metal feet of SPX-39 clatter down the hall. Hopefully the little machine was finally talking with Tootsie and getting her straightened out.

“Why I ever spent so much on that neurotic bucket of bolts is beyond me.”

June and Joey were still sitting at the table in the kitchen talking. June was eating, but not Joey. The kid had tried to jump him. It was an impressive jump. It was doubtful he could do it again on a whim though.

None of that mattered though. Joey was here and he was here to stay. There was no going back. If he was here to stay, he needed to be prepared. There was only one thing that was going to prepare him. Vic had to tell him everything that had happened. That wasn’t going to be easy to hear.

“Hey.”

They both looked up. June smiled. Joey looked up. His eyes were full of fear. Maybe if I smile like Argmon did. Vic made himself laugh at that. That eased Joey’s expression. He didn’t want the kid scared anymore than he needed to be.

“So June, you want to hang around and hear this? I know you didn’t do so good the first time I told you.”

He wanted her to stay. He knew she didn’t like him the way he wanted her to like him, but she didn’t dislike him. He was hard on her from time to time, but he had to be. If he let up even a little bit, she’d be sure to slide back into her depression. The only reason she didn’t was because of his intervention. He’d seen how bad it could get and she had to know things here aboard the SS Acid Rat were great compared to where she could have wound up.

“I would, Vic, but, I’ve got to go and take care of some things.”

Figures. “Then can you get me a beer? I want to relax when I tell this one.”

June returned with a beer and promptly left. Vic put his feet up on the table and cracked the beer.

“Kid, I got here much the same way you did. Only thing was that I thought I’d find my old man. I mean, where else would that machine put me except somewhere near my dad, right? Seems my mom thought the same thing. Plus she was getting really tired of me going out all the time and getting myself into trouble. I guess she thought my dad would shape me up. So she puts me into that machine and…”

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Chapter 22

Vic was certain that his eyes had been turned inside out. Not only his eyes, but the rest of his body as well. He wanted to vomit, but his stomach wasn’t in the right place. Or was it? His arms wanted to search for his body, but couldn’t. Instead they flopped about helplessly.

The room was cold and dark, but not nearly as cold as he’d been just a few minutes ago. Vic shivered and suddenly longed to be back home. After several convulsions he was able to get control of himself.

“Where am I?” Vic asked rhetorically, but he got an answer.

“Don’t talk,” a hushed voice said. “They’ll come if you talk.”

The rough and weary voice was oddly familiar. It sounded like the voice of an ancient man who’d been sent to this hole to die. Despite the warning not to talk, Vic felt the urge to do so.

“Who are you?” he tried to keep his voice at a whisper.

The man shushed. The room’s acoustics dulled all sound. Even so, Vic was able to tell the person was close by because he could hear him breathing.

Vic’s mind refused to accept what had just happened. He’d traveled somehow and his mother said his father had built a machine to send people into space. Being in a dark room with a strange person was not what he’d expected. He had visions of Star Trek-type ships flying around the galaxy or at the very least Flash Gordon ships. Anything but a dark, quiet room with an old man in it.

A warm hand touched his arm and helped him to his feet. Vic opened his mouth to say “Thank you” but he refrained.

The old man put his lips to Vic’s ear. Whiskers brushed his ear and he could smell the man’s foul breath as he whispered so softly Vic wasn’t sure he had intended to speak.

“You are in a Drogian prison. They abhor sound. Here sound is a crime.”

“Why?” Vic asked in a whisper and the man nudged him.

“You must speak as quietly as you can or they will come.”

Vic turned to the man. His head wobbled slightly as if he’d been drinking far too much the night before. His body felt weak. Talking, even in whispers was a struggle.

They took turns whispering to each other.

“Where am I?”

“On a planet on the outskirts of the galaxy. You’re as far from GCP as you can be.”

“GCP?”

“Galactic Central Point.”

That still meant nothing to him, but he didn’t want to belabor the topic. “What’s going to happen to us?”

“If we’re lucky, nothing.”

Vic felt the urge to retch and gagged. He had a coughing fit. The old man covered Vic’s head with a rough blanket to muffle the sound further. Vic wasn’t sure if it did any good or not.

White spots danced in his eyes for several seconds afterwards and he heard a ringing in his ears. He’d never coughed so hard. It was as if his body was rebelling against him. His breath rattled in his chest afterwards.

The old man removed the blanket.

“They’re coming,” the man whispered.

A tiny, white light on the wall in front of the cell flashed on and off.

The door swished open with a gentle gust of fresh smelling air. Vic felt something that wasn’t a hand grab his arms and lift him up. Thankfully they were strong enough to carry him for his body wasn’t about to function. Something pushed into his neck and he lost time.

When Vic came around he felt much better and could see though there was little to look at. Everything had a pale glow about it and for the most part was either black or a dark gray. The walls had a strange textured pattern that must be for muffling the sound. Who would find sound so offensive that it would be a crime just to speak?

Vic tried to move his arms. He was strapped in by large manacles that were constructed of a soft material. When he tried to pull away from the wall he was drawn back to it with a soft thud. He tried this twice more with no luck.

“Damn!”

“Shhh.”

The old man was strapped to the wall next to Vic. Why the old guy was shushing him now didn’t make any sense. They were obviously already in more trouble. Vic wanted to scream and his body felt good enough to do just that.

The man’s face had a familiar look to it. In a strange way, it reminded him of his grandfather, but that was impossible. Wasn’t it?

Before he had a chance to dwell on it further two beings with large heads, beady eyes, dark-gray skin, and tentacles came to pull Vic and his unknown partner off the wall. The beings had swords of some type with jagged edges that looked like over-sized saws. Vic wondered how quietly those worked.

Nothing was said as Vic and the old man were dragged down a dimly lit hallway. Despite his struggling efforts Vic couldn’t free himself. The beings didn’t even flinch when he pulled. He tried to plant his feet, but they were picking up speed and he had to fight just to maintain his balance.

The two were unceremoniously pushed through a set of double doors and onto a field of sand. At least it looked like a field. That was before Vic noticed, thanks to the slightly brighter lighting, it was surrounded by a stadium. He got up and brushed himself off then helped the old man.

One of the beings jabbed Vic in the back. He jumped forward and turned around. It prompted him again and he started walking into the middle of the sand-covered arena.

Every seat in the arena was filled. Tentacles waved excitedly or threw objects down to the sand. They were taunting. That’s what they were doing. By tossing things to the sand they wanted to degrade the prisoners. Vic was repulsed. He’d done nothing wrong. This was stupid. He spun around and faced the beings.

“What did I do?”

The two beings exchanged glances and actually fell back a few feet. Vic pressed forward, but was halted by their weapons. He could have been mistaken, but they actually looked afraid and confused with their beady little eyes shifting from side to side and pushing their swords forward.

Vic turned and continued plodding deeper into the sandy arena. When they finally stopped they were just shy of being halfway across the arena. He squinted and could see two other people standing about a hundred feet away. In the low light it was difficult to make out what they looked like, but they seemed to be naked. At least he still had his clothes on. Vic turned around to yell at the guards, but they were gone.

The other two people were still standing and waiting. His heart beat faster. He was going to have to fight. He was in an arena and he was about to have to fight and possibly for his life. He might end up dead when this was over. He and this old guy that looked like his grandfather.

---

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Chapter 20

June sat down and stared at Joey. He was cute in a boyish way. It was so sad that he’d also been ripped from his home. There was nothing to do but let him hang there and work it out himself.

Vic had left in a huff. That was so typical of him. Just when things get tough emotionally, he bails out. Perhaps that’s why she never found herself interested in him. Sure he had the bad-boy, seventies-slacker-mentality, give-it-to-the-man that made him endearing, but that was only good for so long. It was actually starting to get old.

Maybe she’d grown up along the way and he hadn’t. That had to be it. Vic was Vic and always would be. With Dexter, Mike, and Argmon around why should he change?

Joey still hadn’t moved. June placed the immobilizer gun on the table. It was a good weapon, but only good for one shot before you had to recharge it. Dexter had brought it up and had put it in the lounge. Dexter had a way of knowing when things were going to happen.

She wanted to reach up and brush his curly, blond hair from his eyes, but she’d tried touching a person in an immobilizer field before and had her hand stuck. The field could be deactivated if you wanted to, but it also wore off on its own after an hour or so.

“You shouldn’t have gone after Vic like that, Joey. He’ll help you if you let him, but you can’t attack him just because you’re upset over this mess. You know what I did when I got here? I curled up into a ball for a week and refused to eat or talk or anything. It didn’t help until I started talking about it. Oh, and don’t mock his authority either. He really doesn’t like that.”

June had butted heads with Vic on more than one occasion. He was a man who always wanted to either be in control or give the appearance of control. Unfortunately June had become much the same except much less pig-headed than Vic.

“So how long should I leave you there?” It hadn’t occurred to her that Joey had no idea how long he would remain up there. “I can turn this off any time, but I’ve got to know that you’ve calmed down and you’re ready to start accepting this. I know it’s difficult, but throwing a fit isn’t going to change anything. In fact it’ll just make things worse for all of us.”

Joey’s eyes moved and kept looking at her. He could hear her. She’d been placed in an immobilization field before and you could move your eyes, hear, and breathe. That was about it. It was a very efficient weapon for capturing people.

“If I let you down, will you sit and talk to me and not go all bonkers? Blink once for yes, twice for no.”

Joey blinked once.

“If you try and jump me like you tried to jump Vic, I assure you that I’ll scream for Dexter. He was nice to you once, he won’t be so friendly the second time, I assure you of that.”

The gun had several buttons on its side, all unlabeled. Why people who made things like this felt the need to make everything without good identifying marks was beyond her. Perhaps it was a way to create a more universal weapon without specific markings for one specific species. Who knew?

All she knew was the red button was on and the green button released the person.

“Brace yourself. The table is hard.”

She pressed the green button and Joey fell onto the table. He bounced slightly and gripped his side and groaned. She’d forgotten he was already hurt.

“I’m sorry. I should have put something soft down for you. I thought you’d catch yourself.”

Joey grunted, “Don’t worry about it. I’m fine.” He rolled off the table and onto the bench seat.

“We’ve got something around here for pain, but it’ll put you to sleep.”

“I’d rather be awake right now, thanks.”

June bit her upper lip. “You want a beer or something?”

“No. I don’t want anything.”

“Food?”

“No.”

“Do you want to take a shower?”

“No! Nothing. Just leave me alone.”

“Look, Joey, I was depressed for a long time when I got here too. I know what you’re thinking. Talk to me.”

“If you know what I’m thinking then you’d just leave me alone.”

She wasn’t about to do that. “I took pictures when Vic took me back. If you want to, maybe later, you can look at them.”

“Are they something that’ll make me feel better?”

“Well, no. They’re kind of freaky with all the empty houses and empty streets. I still have nightmares.”

“Like the one I had?”

“Yes. I’m pretty sure I pushed that onto you. I’ve done the same thing to Vic.”

“So what’s up with him anyway? He doesn’t seem really surprised that I’m here or even care that his mom wants to see him. He just acts all tough and distant.”

June shook her head and brushed her hair back. “That’s just the way he is. Figure he came here and had no idea what to expect and no one here to help him. I think he thought he might find his dad and imagine how he felt when he got here, your age, and was all alone. He’s been through a lot.”

“How’d he get this ship and everything?”

“That’s for him to tell you. I’m not going there and I probably won’t be there when he does finally tell you. Hearing that story once was enough for me.”

And it had been enough. She still got shivers thinking about the first time Vic told her. She’d only been on the ship for a couple weeks when he told her. She would listen to it if Vic made her, but she wasn’t going to do it willingly.

“It’s that bad?”

“Look, you’ll have to wait until he tells you, but yes, it’s that bad. If you think you’re having a bad day, well, just wait until he tells you. You’ll look at him differently. He’s stubborn and all, but…”

What else could she say. She hadn’t given it much thought about what Vic’s personality was like. After hearing his story about what it was like when he got here, she didn’t want to hear anything more about it. He’d tried on occasion, but she would always have something better to do and leave him talking with Mike or Dexter.

SPX-39’s head rose slightly from its body. June smiled. Finally a distraction. The robot was distracting almost to a fault.

“SPX-39, it’s safe to come out. This is Joey. He’s not going to hurt you.” She held a hand out to allow it to sit next to her.

“SPX-39 is not so sure about that,” it said in its electronic voice.

“He’s from the same place that Vic and I are from. You can trust him.”

“SPX-39 doesn’t trust Vic.”

“You trust me, don’t you?” June asked in a cooing voice.

SPX-39 expanded a little more. She had to work with it many times. Vic just didn’t have the ability to talk nice with it. He got frustrated too easily.

“SPX-39, this is Joey. Joey, this is SPX-39.”

“Um, nice to meet you.” Joey reached out to shake its hand.

SPX-39 shrunk back.

June said softly, “Where are your manners? Shake Joey’s hand and be nice to him. He’s not going to hurt you.”

“SPX-39 thinks he wants to crush my hand.”

“He’s not going to crush your hand.”

Slowly one arm extended and touched Joey’s ever so briefly before retracting.

“Now that you’ve done that, please go talk to Tootsie so we can get underway.”

“Because June wishes it, SPX-39 will do it.”

The robot expanded to its full height and raced from the room. June laughed. Joey was still looking at his hand.

“What is it?” she asked.

“That’s the first robot I’ve touched and I think it was the strangest thing that’s happened to me since I’ve been here.”

“Really? You’ve met Joop-Nop, haven’t you?”

“Well, yeah. That was weird too. Is there anything else I should be prepared for?”

June laughed. Oh was he in for more surprises. He still hadn’t met Mike.

---

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Chapter 19

The lights were dimmed and the music was soft. A bath was just what B.T. Justice needed and he was the only one on the ship allowed to take one. It was all just a matter of time before the SS Acid Rat and its captain arrived. He would have them trapped in a tractor beam before they knew what hit them. It was such a perfect set up.

“Sheriff Justice, sir,” a voice on the con interrupted.

Perfect timing, wasn’t it. He hadn’t even been able to light the cigar he’d been chewing. What was it with this crew? Couldn’t they understand an order not to be disturbed.

“What is it? This had better be important. I left orders not to be disturbed.”

“Sir, it’s important. Should I put the message on the viewer?”

“Message? Message from whom?”

“Sir, it’s GCP Central Office. They have been trying to reach you. I told them you were indisposed. I don’t think they’re too happy.”

“Didn’t you tell them we were silent running?”

“I think you should listen to the message, sir.”

“Put it through.”

A panel on the wall slide aside and a viewer sprung to life with color before Counselor Pitrine appeared on the screen. Justice had never seen the man before and was disappointed to see that he looked as much the weasel he’d suspected he would. He even held his hands up to his chest while his twitchy nose wiggled with every syllable.

“Sheriff Justice, we have been attempting to contact you for several hours now. Your crew keeps telling us you are not available and that you are running a silent patrol around your system. We need to inform you that your request was discussed because of the charges you made against the SS Acid Rat. It appears that this ship has been tracked before and is wanted in over forty systems for an abundance of crimes. You are therefore relieved of any pressure to pursue the ship. The council will convene again tomorrow and we will take steps to apprehend the ship and its crew. You are to take no action-.”

Did he just say take no action. Justice leapt out of the bathtub.

“No action! No action! I’m not letting them get away and get lost in your system.”

“…and we would appreciate your staying out of the way so the Galactic Patrol can apprehend them. If you have any other information regarding the ship and its crew, you are ordered to forward it immediately to the GCP Central Office for processing.”

“I’ll do nothing of the sort! You’ll let them get away. They’re mine and I’ll deal with them in my own way. I can’t believe this.” Sheriff Justice grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his waist. With water still dripping off his body, he opened the door to his room and shouted. “Junior! Hamburger! And get the GCP Central Office on the con.”

He pulled the cigar from his mouth and threw it on the ground. It felt good to smash it with his heel. How dare they usurp his authority? Well, maybe it wasn’t usurping, but they were not letting him finish what he’d started. They were preventing him from bringing down this scumbag.

Where was Junior?

B.T. Justice stomped back and forth across the room. He thought about putting on clothes and toyed with the idea once or twice. He’d left soapy foot prints on the carpet and it was probably a good idea to wear clothes when speaking with that weasel Pitrine. Oh did he have words for that one.

“Where should I put this?” Junior asked as he entered the room. Justice had just dropped his towel.

“Get in here and close the door. Put that on the table. Did you get them on the con?”

“Yes, sir. They’re on hold now. You should put something on. I don’t think they’ll want to talk to you in your all together.”

“Don’t talk like an idiot, Junior. I’m getting dressed in my evening robes. I was supposed to be sleeping after all.”

The robes were blue and gold just like his ship. It made him proud to wear the colors. He just had to make Pitrine see and feel that pride so there would be no doubt that he was the man to take up the chase.

“Put it through.”

The screen turned on. Pitrine looked sleepy.

“Sheriff Justice, can I help you? It’s quite late here?”

“It’s early here. I just heard your message. I must disagree most strenuously. I feel I am the perfect man to take up this chase.”

“What is this regarding again?”

Imbecile. “It’s about allowing me to pursue the SS Acid Rat out of my solar system. I’ve found their home port and would like to …”

“No.”

“What?”

“Absolutely not. Should you get in the way, you could cause more trouble and the suspect could escape.”

“But if we hid in their home port system, we could…”

“No. That’s not the way we do things. This is why you were not allowed to continue pursuit. We have a system in place and it works quite well.”

“So well that they’re wanted on over forty systems.”

“Yours is not a position to dispute the way in which the Galactic Patrol does business. Yours is to hand over any information you feel would be pertinent to capturing them, alive. Should you not do so, you will be in violation of agenda…”

Pitrine kept talking, but none of it was what Justice wanted to hear. He’d been denied. Halted in his tracks before the chase really began. Even if he were to capture them, he’d have to turn them over to the Galactic Patrol. He’d lost. He’d lost the first chase in his new ship.

But wait. Had he really lost? They didn’t know he was outside his system and if the SS Acid Rat came through his system…

“What if they come through my system again? They’re now wanted there. Could I apprehend them there?”

Counselor Pitrine looked confused as his speech was cut off. “Of course you could. We can do nothing if they are caught breaking a law in your system. As long as you understand that when they are done serving the term in your system’s prisons they must be released to the Galactic Patrol to answer to crimes committed in other systems.”

“Most assuredly. I will maintain my vigil and notify the GCP Central Office of anything I discover.”

Pitrine narrowed his eyes. Justice switched the viewer off, dropped his robe to the floor, and strode back to the bathtub.

“Junior, bring me my drink and a fresh cigar. And let me know the moment the SS Acid Rat or any other ship for that matter, enters this system.”

He was going to have his prize. He was going to go home with the SS Acid Rat in his custody or not at all. They were his. Oh yes they were.

---

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Chapter 18

“Mom? Mom where are you? Dad?” The house was empty. Not only were Joey’s mom and dad missing, but everything was gone. No furniture. No carpets. The walls were stripped of all pictures and posters. The doors were all open and each room showed the same barrenness.

“Hello!” Joey’s voice echoed and gave him a chill. “Is anyone home? Hello.”

He found his way though the house and looked outside. The sun was intensely bright. He had to shield his eyes. The heat was almost unbearable. He ran across the vacant street to the neighbor’s house. The door was open.

The house was in the same condition as his own; empty. He checked several houses, running from one to the other. Each time he encountered the same thing. Everyone was gone.

Joey stood in the middle of the street and screamed.

# # #

“Joey, wake up. Wake up.”

When he opened his eyes, June was over him, shaking him. June. The woman who smelled like his mother. It was the perfume. It had to be. She wore the same perfume his mother did. He smiled.

“You were screaming.”

He rubbed his eyes. “What time is it?”

“It doesn’t matter. What were you dreaming?”

“Nothing. It’s not important.”

June stood up and shook her head. “If it wasn’t important, I wouldn’t be asking. What were you dreaming?”

Joey smacked his lips and tried to recall. It was so foggy. “I was back at my house, but it was empty. No one was home. No one was in my neighborhood either. Everyone was gone.”

“Was the sun really bright?”

“Yeah. It was. How’d you know that?”

“I had the same dreams when I first got here.”

“Same dream! Why?”

“Vic will have to explain that. I think we’re still adrift so let’s go see if he’ll talk to you now.”

The bed wasn’t that comfortable so Joey wasn’t too sorry to get out of it. He was even more uncomfortable to see Dexter sitting on the bed across just watching; his three eyes blinking out of time with each other.

After using the extremely small, all-stainless-steel bathroom, Joey followed June up to the kitchen. Vic was there.

“I don’t care what it takes you tin can, just talk with Tootsie and get her working again.”

Vic was talking with a robot. It was crude in design consisting of a cylindrical body and head with large protruding eyes. It had arms and legs little thicker than rope, but equipped with oversized hands with too many fingers on each. Joey counted seven, but thought there may be more.

“SPX-39 isn’t good communicating with Tootsie,” it said.

“Well SPX-39 needs to learn how to be. I didn’t buy you to just sit on this ship and play games with the crew.”

“But the crew likes my games.”

“Excuse me, Vic. Joey’s awake.”

Joey assumed the robot’s name was SPX-39. It looked surprised when it saw Joey, shrieked, then collapsed into itself. It fell to the floor with a loud clang looking like nothing more than a fancy coffee can.

“What was that?” asked Joey.

“That was SPX-39. The most neurotic robot I’ve ever had to deal with. Now that he’s spooked he’ll be like that for hours. Why I ever bought that thing.”

June scooped up the robot and placed it on the table and sat across from Vic. “Because you knew it was in danger of being scrapped and took pity on it. That’s why.”

“Pity. That must’ve been it because it sure wasn’t common sense. I think I’ll scrap that thing if we ever get going again.”

Joey sat down next to June. Her scent made him feel more comfortable. He knew something was up, but didn’t want to jump to any conclusions before he knew what it was.

“So kid, how you feeling?”

“I’ll feel better once I know what’s going on.”

“Want a beer?”

Joey chuckled. “I don’t think so. It didn’t taste as good as I thought it was going to.”

“It wasn’t really beer,” June said. “It was actually a Klovokian Ale and a particularly strong one. They’re good, but you need to drink them really slow.”

“That’s not important. Kid, you need to know what’s going on and you need to know sooner rather than later. This isn’t going to be easy. You ready?”

“I guess so.”

“Earth isn’t what it used to be. That’s why we can’t go home.”

“What do you mean? I was there just yesterday.”

“No, you were there in two-thousand-five. You weren’t there yesterday. This is where the shock part comes in. On Earth, the year would be closer to ten-thousand-five.”

Joey blinked not comprehending what Vic had said. That couldn’t be right. How could that be right? Eight thousand years in the future?

“How?”

“Something about the machine my dad built sent us through time and space and far into the future. From what I’ve been able to figure out, about eight thousand year into the future.”

“But, why can’t we go home?” It still made no sense. They couldn’t possibly be eight thousand years in the future. There’s no way. No one could do that.

“Look, kid. I hope when you left, my mom was doing alright, but there’s no way I can go back and see her. Earth isn’t the place it used to be.”

Joey looked at June. “You mean, the dream?”

June nodded.

“Kid, I’ve looked and looked, but the best answer I’ve found is there was a galactic war about six or seven thousand years ago. A weapon went astray and our sun went into a premature nova. Not a supernova, but just nova and it didn’t blow the Earth away, but it got hot enough to kill everyone off. Everyone on earth is dead, but you’ll have to understand, all that would have happened long after everyone you knew was already dead and gone.”

That was comforting. Not only was the Earth a wasteland, like he’d seen in his dream, but everyone was dead. Dead and gone. Never to be seen again. It was all lost. Everything. There were no more Iron Butterfly albums. No more Carlos. No more mom and dad.

What had they thought after he left? Did they worry? Did anyone miss him? What happened to them all?

“Everyone?” his voice felt weak as he asked. He felt sick.

“Kid, we’ve been back to Earth. I can take you back there if you want. June’s been there with me twice now. Not much changed over the years and we were actually still able to find our old houses. Everything was empty. It was all gone.”

“Just like my dream.”

“I think you got that from me,” June said sheepishly.

“What?” why was everything so confusing. What was going on?

“I picked up some strange psychic abilities that I really don’t have any control over. I was having the same dream and I must have been forcing it into your dreams too.”

“I don’t understand. Everything is gone.”

“June, I don’t think the kid is going to snap out of this one.”

“He has to.”

“Look, kid. I’ll put it another way. Maybe this’ll be easier. You, me, and June here are the last people from Earth. We’re it. Everyone else is dead.”

“No! It can’t be. It just can’t.” Joey tried to stand up and got his legs caught on the table’s bench. He banged his elbow hard on the floor. “It just can’t.”

“June, you need to get him something. I don’t want Dexter to knock him out again.”

Joey laid on the floor and kicked his legs and tried to force the bench to move out of his way as if it was the bench’s fault he fell down. He didn’t care. He just didn’t care.

“It’s not fair. It’s just not fair!”

Why did he press that button? Why? He was so stupid. All he had to do was leave, but no, he had to be a nice guy and look at that machine with Elsa. Joey stood up and started punching the refrigerators. He didn’t care how much it hurt. The pain let him know that he was still alive.

“This is your fault!” he screamed and pointed at Vic.

“My fault? How’s this my fault?”

“Your father built that machine. Without it, none of us would be here.” Joey lunged at Vic. He extended his hands to grab Vic’s throat. He stopped just a few inches from a very frightened Vic.

“Sorry I took so long.” Joey tried to turn his head, but could only move his eyes. June was holding what looked like a gun with a large opening pointed at him.

Vic took several quick breaths. “Kid, that was close. I’m going to have to leave you there until you calm down.”

“Vic, is that a good idea?”

“Look, he lunged at me.”

“Can you blame him?”

“Well leave him in there for a little bit or lock him up somewhere. I think he’ll be more comfortable right there, though. And come get me when that tin can wakes up and feels like talking to Tootsie so we can get out of here.”

Joey started to cry. Why had he pressed that button? Why?

---

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Chapter 17

Vic got into his seat next to Argmon. The chase had been fun, but now it was over and it was almost time to get back to business. If nothing else, he could spend a few minutes talking with Argmon. The two of them had shared this same cramped cockpit for, what was it, almost six years? It was another year after that when June had shown up. Boy was that kid, Joey, really in for a shock.

“So what’s the status?”

Argmon growled gruffly.

“Are you sure it was the same ship? The Apprehension. You know they’re not supposed to leave their solar system, right?”

Argmon cocked his head to the side as if to say “Give me a break.”

“Okay, I was just checking. You never know. You know, I think you gave Joey a good scare. That smile was priceless. I thought he was going to piss himself.”

Argmon didn’t laugh.

“Oh come on. I know you didn’t mean to scare him. You didn’t mean to scare me the first time I met you either. Or June. Or Dexter.”

A low, angry rumble came from Argmon’s chest.

“Hey, I didn’t know Dex was going to hit you like that. I was surprised too when he took you down with one hit. Little bugger is quick, you got to give him that.”

Argmon shrugged and nodded.

“Hey you two, mind if I join you?”

“Hey June. How’s Joey doing? Did he go to bed without a fight?”

“Well,” June bit her lip. “He freaked out a little bit. Wanted to call his parents.”

“Sounds familiar. So what happened?”

“Dexter offered to keep an eye on him and well, Joey kind of offended Dexter.”

“Is the kid going to be okay?”

“He’ll be fine. He’s going to have one big headache in the morning though. I really think you should have talked to him tonight though. He’s going to have a real bad day tomorrow. Even if we do make it to port.”

“Oh, we’ll make it to port alright. Planchar is paying us nearly double our normal rate for this shipment.” Vic smirked and half-closed his eyes. He was so good at this shipping business.

June shook her head. “Have you ever thought of getting shipments that don’t have us breaking any laws?”

“We’re not breaking any Galactic laws, so we’re not really breaking the law.”

“Vic, you know how I feel about that answer.”

“Are you trying to tell me this isn’t exciting?”

“At first it was, but now I just don’t know. I’m not getting the same rush when we run from the cops.”

Vic laughed and smoothed his moustache. “The fuzz are never going to catch up with us. We’re too good.”

“That’s the kind of attitude that’s going to get us caught one day and I think that’s what scares me about you, Vic.”

Argmon chortled agreement.

“Oh what do you two know?”

“I know you’re a fun guy Vic, but I also know you don’t want to end up in the GCP Central Jail. Cute guy like you would have a tough time in there.”

Vic sighed. Maybe she was right, but he wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of telling her that. He still liked the feeling he got when he ran from the police. Besides, they had rules to follow and that made it all the easier to get away from them.

Argmon had been checking something and he leaned closer to read a display.

“What is it?” Vic asked.

Argmon shook his head and heaved a defeated breath.

Vic leaned over and looked at the display. “You have got to be kidding me.”

“What is it, Vic?”

“The Apprehension is making a course for the Munchkada system.”

“Our home port?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“Vic, this little game has got to end.” June turned and left.

This wasn’t that bad though. The police could sit there, that was true. They just couldn’t exercise any authority. If they did, they were in direct violation of Galactic Law. That was of course if they hadn’t contacted GCP Central Office and gotten permission to leave their system, but that took days to happen. There was no way they got permission to leave their system in time to come after them.

They had given chase though. Vic had suspected they would and Argmon had done a great job of leaving multiple trails so they just floated out of sight. It still didn’t answer the question of why they had gone to the Munchkada system. Vic had Tootsie change the ship’s numbers.

“Tootsie.”

“Hello, Vic.”

“Tootsie, did you change the ship’s numbers?”

There was a long pause. “I don’t feel good about doing it, but yes, I did.”

“Did you change them when we went onto Bamda?”

Again another long pause. “You didn’t ask me to.”

Vic pressed his face into his hands. Tootsie always took everything he said in literal extremes.

“How many times have I had you change the ship’s numbers before we land?”

“Almost every time.”

“Almost?”

“You didn’t this time.”

“Tootsie!”

“You never gave me a standing order to change the ship’s numbers each time…”

“I shouldn’t have to.”

“I’m only a computer.”

“Do you really need to point that out to me now? Did you ever use any other numbers of real ships?”

“I can’t do that.”

“Why not?” Vic gripped his hair.

“That would be illegal.”

Vic pulled on his hair. That’s why the police cruiser went straight to their home port. All the other numbers Tootsie had used were fake and not even real ships. All they had to do was track down the numbers that gave a real home port and they were there. Now they knew about him, about the crew, everything.

“Tootsie, wasn’t changing the numbers in the first place illegal?”

“Yes, but to use another ship’s numbers is another charge.”

I’ve really got to get a less moralistic computer for this ship.- “Tootsie, I need to give you a standing order.”

“Ready to receive.”

He had to word this carefully. There couldn’t be any misunderstanding. Tootsie was going to take this literally, so he needed to make sure she understood. “Never, under any circumstance, do anything that will upset me.”

There was a beep that resounded through out the entire ship. The lights dimmed. Both Vic and Argmon looked around nervously. Argmon whimpered.

“Tootsie?”

Tootsie’s response wasn’t in her normal sweet tone, but more mechanical and harsh. “Processing. Please stand by.”

“Vic!” June yelled from the lounge. The con was out. That couldn’t be a good thing. Just when he thought he knew all about this computer stuff, something else went wrong.

“Hey Argmon, when Tootsie comes back online, get us out of here.”

Argmon barked.

---

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Chapter 16

June shrugged. “I’m guessing you know the rest of the story. I didn’t find any bodies. I found that weird machine. I walked up to the machine and pressed the button. Like an idiot, I got inside the tube and pressed the other button. Next thing I know I’m looking at tall, dark, and smugly here.”

Joey closed his mouth. He hadn’t even taken a sip from the beer Vic had offered him. He’d been completely dumbfounded.

“You actually thought that Elsa was a killer?”

“When two people disappear, it does look suspicious. Of course now I know the truth.”

Joey thought for a moment. “If you two are here, where’s Hector? Your father, Vic?”

“I never found him. When I got here it was just me,” Vic said.

Joey almost took a drink from his beer but instead asked June, “So this was in the eighties some time? When you went into the machine?”

“October Eighty-three. Five years ago.”

“Wait, five years ago? Eighty-three wasn’t five years ago. It was over twenty years ago!”

“What?” Vic nearly shot out of his seat. “Twenty years? You mean I’ve been out here in space, nearly thirty years!”

“Wow, I hadn’t thought of that. How long did you think had gone by?”

“Hell, I’ve only been out here for seven or eight years. So thirty years has gone by on Earth?”

“I guess so.”

“How’s my mom? Is she doing alright? Man, she must be old by now.”

“She seemed really depressed. She misses you and your dad. I think if she could just talk to either one of you and know that you’re alright she’d be happy.”

“I don’t think that’s going to happen, kid.” Vic’s face slackened and he ran his hand through his hair.

“Why?” Joey asked.

June pulled Vic back into his seat and changed the topic. “So, Joey, you’re from the new millennium?”

“Yeah.”

“So what’s it like? Are there flying cars and stuff?”

Vic jumped in too. “Yeah, kid, has man finally made contact with aliens?”

“Well, no and no. Wouldn’t you know those things? Haven’t you two even tried to go back to earth? I mean, you are in a spaceship and all. Can’t you just jump back there whenever you want to?”

The light in Vic’s eyes went out. The same thing happened to June. It was as if a dream had suddenly been shattered.

“Kid, I’m going to level with you, but not until you finish a beer or two.” Vic took a long drink off his.

Joey decided it may be in his best interest to drink the beer. Vic looked like he was about to explain how he’d run over the family dog or something. Joey drank. It was bitter and nasty, but he couldn’t think of anything he’d rather be drinking. And drank. Vic wasn’t such a bad guy. Perhaps with time they could become good friends, even if Vic was old enough to be his grandfather. And then drank another. June could be his mother! The silence was so heavy that everyone jumped when a top was popped on a fresh can of beer. Vic filled that silence.

“My story, kid, is a little more complicated than June’s here. Now I showed up and there were no friendly faces to help me out of a jam. Man, I had nothing here to help me out but myself.”

Suddenly a lot of growling and barking came over the central con system.

“Argmon detected a ship jumping to hyperspace just a half a light year behind us. My guess is that police cruiser did follow us.

“Thanks Argmon. Keep us adrift for about another thirty minutes just in case they double back in an attempt to trick us.”

Argmon growled.

“Eep. Eep Eep.”

The noise caused Joey’s head to swivel and see something odd standing in the doorway. If he hadn’t been drinking he would have screamed in shock and disbelief. As it was, he felt mellow and relaxed.

The odd something was about two and a half feet tall with green, scaly skin. It had three arms that each ended in three fingers as well as three feet with three toes each. The three eyes on its head just above a green pig snout were a little disconcerting and Joey had to blink several times to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. When it came into the room Joey saw it also had a tail with three spikes on it.

“Hey Dexter, come in and meet Joey. He’s new on the ship. Joey, this is Dexter. He’s a tri-ped from the planet Trifecta.”

“Eep. Eep Eep.”

“That’s about all you’ll get out of him kid. Like I said before, don’t underestimate him. Dexter has helped us out of more than our share of jams before.”

“Um, hi Dexter.”

“Eep. Eep. Eep.”

Dexter’s eyes didn’t all blink in unison. Joey was certain it was the beer, but continued to stare. His head lolled to the side and he could feel the dull ache in his side return.

“Hey kid, what time was it when you left? I mean about?”

“I don’t know. Eight. Maybe nine? Couldn’t have been that late. I had just crashed my bike in front of your mom’s house. Broke a vintage Iron Butterfly album too.”

“Man that sucks.”

“Tell me about it. I didn’t even get to listen to it.”

“Well kid, I tell you what. You need to get some sleep. I want to tell you everything that’s going on here, but you’re in no condition. I thought the beer would just relax you, not put you to sleep. June’s going to put you to bed, I’ll get this ship to a port, and then we’ll all talk about this when we’ve all had time to rest. How’s that sound?”

“Sounds pretty good.”

“June, you don’t mind, do you, babe?”

June sighed. “I guess not. Come on Joey. The beds are close.”

“Eep. Eep. Eep,” Dexter added.

“If you want to keep on eye on the new guy, you’re more than welcome,” Vic said and he left and went back to the cockpit.

Joey struggled to his feet. He was about to sleep on a spaceship. He’d had beer and now was about to go to sleep. How cool was that? He was going to wake up and be millions of miles away from home.

“Wait a minute! I need to let me folks know I won’t be home. They’re going to worry.”

Joey felt the pangs of panic grip his chest. What would they think? They would think he ran away. No! They’d find his bike and think he was killed or kidnapped or worse. Well, what could be worse? He had to let them know that everything was alright. He just had to.

“Joey, you can’t.” June put a hand on his chest before he could rush from the room.

“Why not? We’re on a spaceship. We can do anything can’t we?”

“No. And now you need to get some sleep.”

“Suddenly I’m not tired. I need to call my folks. I need to talk to them.”

“It’s not happening, Joey. I can’t tell you why because Vic hasn’t told you why. Now just get into the bunk room and go to bed.”

“No! I want to know what’s going on.”

“And you’ll have to wait for Vic to tell you. Now get in there or I’ll have Dexter put you in there.”

“Eep. Eep Eep.”

“He doesn’t scare me.”

Dexter moved. Joey didn’t even know what hit him.

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Chapter 15

“Mom! I’m going out for a while.” June actually had no intention of going further than her neighbor’s yard, but her mom didn’t need to know that. She had Madonna playing in her Sony Walkman and before she could hear her mother’s reply she had put the headphones on and was out the door.

“…Living in a material world and I am a material girl.” With the headphones on June was certain she sounded exactly like Madonna. She didn’t turn to the right to go immediately to her destination. Instead she turned to the left and went next door to her friend’s house. Tonight they were going to find out for sure what happened.

Her friend Jennifer Gomez bounded out the door even before June could take a step up the walkway. She was dressed in a puffy mini skirt in black with a hot pink top with torn off sleeves. Her hair was teased and hair sprayed so high June wanted to warn her to stay away from any matches.

“Like, this is going to be so totally cool. I love that little jacket. It must have been murder to get those sleeves rolled up like that.” Jennifer had recently seen the movie Valley Girl and was using every phrase possible from the movie as well as the style.

June wasn’t going to be distracted by talk of clothes even though she was proud to have finally rolled up the sleeves on her dad’s hound’s-tooth checked blazer. “Jen, can you believe it. I actually saw where she kept the keys. I think I can snag it if you can distract her.”

“Really? Like, no way. That is like so totally awesome.”

They walked down the block away from their target. June wanted to approach the house on the side opposite their own houses.

“So do you think there’s like bodies and stuff in the garage?”

“I don’t know, but I’ve got my dad’s Polaroid in my purse and if there is, we’ll get pictures of it.”

“I’m, like, so totally excited.”

June put her headphones on. The Valley Girl talk was already getting old. She was able to tune out the inane babble of her friend only until she heard her say…

“So, like, June, do you totally think that she, like killed them?”

June took off her headphones. “That’s what my parents say. They’ve been living on this block all my life. They say the husband disappeared first. Then, a few years later, the son. The police investigated, but never found any bodies or anything so both cases were eventually dropped. They say she refused to let anyone into the garage and the police, seeing how grief stricken she was, didn’t push for a search warrant. They searched the house and everything, but never found a trace of violence.

“Dang. So like twenty years ago she killed her husband and ten years ago she killed her son?” Math was never one of Jennifer’s strong suits.

“Close enough.”

“Aren’t those bodies going to be, like, all dead and nasty and stuff?”

“We just need one picture. That’s it. Then we can go to the police and finally everyone will know the truth.”

“So you’re going to have the little old lady arrested?”

“She’s not that old and if she’s a killer, I don’t want to live next door to her another day.”

June had enough of all the rumors at school. Even though she was seventeen now she was still teased about living next door to a killer like it was some sort of disease that would rub off on her. Boys never asked her out on dates. Other girls, except Jen, had shunned her at school. Enough was enough. She was going to get proof one way or the other that Old Woman Elsa was or was not a killer.

The two had gone all the way around the block. They were approaching the house. The killer’s house. The house where one woman lived alone with the memory of what happened to her husband and son. The woman who would be found guilty or absolved before the night was over.

“You remember what to do?” June asked Jennifer.

“Like so totally. I give you time to get to the back door, then I ring the front door bell. You grab the key and I run around the back.”

“She moves really slowly, so give her lots of time.”

“So, like, do you think she hurt herself killing them or something?”

“Jen, just get ready. I’m going.”

Jen brightened up. It really bothered June that her best friend had gone from acting so smart to acting like a total ditz after seeing one movie. She was never going to be like that. No way.

The back of the house was dark. The only light came from the kitchen. There, just as June had suspected, was Old Woman Elsa. Just like she was every night she was sitting at the small table sipping tea.

Elsa’s head popped up as if she was surprised. June hadn’t heard it, but Jen must’ve rung the door bell. Slowly Elsa got up and started walking toward the front room. This was the chance June had been waiting for.

She rushed toward the back door. Night after night from her bedroom window she’d watched Elsa come to the back door and grab a key. June’s heart raced as she touched the door knob. This was just a little old lady. Surely she couldn’t kill her or her friend. Right? She was old and slow. She kept telling herself this over and over as she turned the knob and pushed the door ever so slightly open. She paused just long enough to listen.

Nothing.

June pushed the door open and saw next to the back door hanging on the wall a wooden box. June opened it. It was full of keys. Dozens. Which one was the right one? She didn’t have time for this. The old woman was sure to be at the front door by now and possibly heading back. June liked having a head and all she could think about was Elsa cutting it off and hiding the body in the garage.

“You’re it!” The keys each had a sliver of tape over a smaller sliver of paper with letters. One said garage. She swiped the key, closed the box, slipped out the back door and closed it quietly behind her.

Jen startled her as both pushed in behind the same bush in the back yard.

“How’d it go?”

“I got it.”

“That totally rocks. Now what do we do?”

“We’ve got to wait for her to go to bed. Then we can go into the garage.”

“Look, there’s, like, no way I’m going in that garage.”

“That’s fine. I can do it myself. Look, she’s back. We need to keep our voices down.”

Jennifer lowered her voice to a whisper. “I’m going to go back home. Just being in her yard is giving me the creeps.”

“Jen, you can’t leave me here.”

“I so totally can. You only wanted me to help you get that key. You got it. I’m sorry, but I’m not going to sit here in a bush all night in my new outfit waiting for Old Woman Elsa to realize you took it and come out here and kill us. I’m sorry.”

“But…but.”

Jen got up and left. June was crestfallen. Her best friend had bailed on her at the worst possible time. Just up and left leaving her high and dry. That was so uncool.

There was no way June was going to leave though. She was here for one reason and she was determined even if her friend wasn’t. Jen had been teased some, but being so much prettier and bubblier she had been able to shrug most of it off. June wasn’t so lucky and this was her only hope of salvation from the torment.

Elsa was at the sink. She must be washing the dishes.- Elsa was washing the dishes and soon she would be getting ready for bed. Weeks of watching and planning and it was all coming to this moment.

The lights in the kitchen went out. June took long deep breaths. Her heart raced. She counted to twenty knowing that that was about how long it would take her to shuffle across the kitchen and out of sight. She could almost taste it. June pulled her father’s Polaroid camera from her purse. Her plan was to snap a few quick pictures and run. That was the plan. It was so simple.

Am I counting too fast? Too slow? No, I’ll wait just another moment longer. Oh please just get out of the kitchen.

June had lost count. After one more deep breath she rushed over to the garage door. The key wiggled in her hand, or was it her hand that was wiggling? It took several tries before she was finally able to put the key into the lock.

What if she came outside right now? Don’t think about it. Just get the door open and get inside the garage. That’s all you have to do. Just get it open.

The key turned and June opened the door.

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