-SALOON AT THE EDGE OF EVERYWHERE-

Chapter Nineteen

Candybar delightedly watched as the new Xxo experimented with his limbs, eyes and mouths. He was speaking now, but in his native language mostly. His English was progressing more slowly.

“It is the deep-seated racial memories that are the strongest, as I recall,” the General explained, sort of.

They had moved out of the fridge and back into the kitchen at the rear of the saloon. They were unsure of where to go and what to do, but both agreed that the inexperienced youngster should be kept away from any potential fighting. They were headed back in the direction of Rufus’s room to see if they could find Ned and the refugees.

As they stepped out into the corridor behind the saloon, they ran into the little security detail escorting the comm tech to the comm room. There were many warm greetings and much explaining of current events.

Suddenly the new Xxo, in his halting English, asked, “There is a battle now?” He sounded very excited.

“It’s not really a battle so much,” hedged Candybar.

“Fighting, yes?” the ten minute-old alien insisted.

“Maybe,” Candybar conceded.

“Then we go!” exclaimed the young Xxo.

There wasn’t really time to talk him out of it.

“Everybody back on the ship,” yelled the self-proclaimed Captain of the ever-diminishing pirate crew. He now had only six crewmembers left to order around. And he only had two of the guns now. But he did have a really cool sword, a sword which he had admired immensely ever since Oratee had purchased it at a swap meet near Disneyland back on Earth.

“Where are Oratee and Sarloo?” asked one of his remaining crew.

“I guess they decided not to come with us,” stated Beeltee somewhat disingenuously. Oratee had been his second in command and a lifelong friend. It was beginning to look as if Beeltee was not the most loyal friend one could have chosen.

“Come on, get the hostages moving. We are gonna get a shipload of ransom money for them. And call me Captain, or you can stay here with Oratee and Sarloo,” finished the Captain petulantly.

Rufus and his group bumped into the comm tech escort group in the hallway. I mean that quite literally. VarnTa, still a little tipsy, rounded a corner and crashed headlong into, or perhaps I could say hiplong into Gup, the small comm tech. So much for the effectiveness of his security team, but it was a more or less harmless lapse. VarnTa nearly tripped and Gup came close to bouncing off a wall.

Rufus ran up and grabbed the startled little guy by the shoulders. “You’re the comm tech guy, right? I’ve seen you at the saloon. Is there a way to stop them from launching that ship?”

“Well, yeah, there’s a manual override to jettison a ship, if they are on fire or in imminent danger of an explosion. We can cut her adrift. If we did that before they get up to the hatchways at the head of the boarding ramp, we could…”

That was as far as he got, because Rufus began pushing him along the corridor, shouting as he did so, “Let’s go, people, we have to move.”

The entire bunch found themselves racing down the hall, each moving at their best speed while trying not to trample the slower members of the party. Rufus and Gup raced on ahead.

They reached the comm room quickly, burst in, and Gup threw himself into a seat in front of a consol. He flicked a knob and a screen glowed to life. He flicked another and the screen flashed to a new scene. There were the massive ship’s boarding hatches and the top of the boarding ramp. Just coming into view were the first of the hostages, being led by one of the pirates.

“I hope no one else has gone on board yet,” said Gup in a heavy tone, even as he flicked a rapid series of controls. Immediately siren-like alarms and warning lights began to sound and flash. As Rufus watched on the screen, a pair of huge blast doors slid out of the wall and closed just feet in front of the confused pirate. Rufus’s view was shut off as well, but Gup flicked again and the scene changed to a view from the other side of the blast doors. The pirate and the hostages began milling about, uncertain what was happening.

“The ship, can we see inside the ship?” Rufus practically begged.

“Yeah, sure,” said Gup, even as he flicked again. Quick scenes of the inside of the ship flashed on the screen, but all were satisfyingly devoid of any living thing. The last picture on the screen showed Rufus an exterior view of the ship’s docking ring, even as small explosive charges severed the connection with the Hub. Particles and small puffs of vapor and gas drifted in the still vacuum of space, and the huge ship began to drift slowly away.

“Can we see the lounge on this thing?” Rufus prodded.

“Sure, yeah,” came the response.

They scanned the crowded lounge until Rufus spotted Beeltee, who appeared to be shouting orders at someone.

“Is there a PA system, like a public address thing for announcements and stuff?” asked Rufus with an evil grin on his face.

“Yeah, sure,” Gup replied, flicking once more. “Just speak into that thing there.”

Rufus leaned over and spoke clearly into the top of a small wand projecting from the panel. “Hey, Beeltee, your ride just left without you. I guess whoever salvages it can name it whatever they want, but I bet it won’t end up as the Wasp Whip.”

Rufus paused to think, then spoke once more, “Now maybe you and I should get together and have a serious talk. It’s over, Kid. Just give it up.”

In the lounge, Rufus could see a furious Beeltee shaking his head and saying something, but there was no way for him to hear what he said.

What Beeltee said was, “It ain’t over yet, human.”

Meanwhile, back in the storage room, Ned did absolutely nothing, unless fretting counts as something.