by Alan Black
Ruth shrugged. “I would put family and crew off and shove this thing right up their-”
“Ruth!” James cautioned. “Language, woman!”
Maggot said, “As much as I like the delicacy of such an approach, the U.E.N.S. Periodontitis is still the Emperor’s personal property and many of the people on board are his innocent subjects. I cannot condone willful and wonton destruction.”
“Yeah. So you said,” Ruth shrugged. “We have had a week to think about this since we left Brickman’s and since I don’t have any good ideas, all I get is a little madder each day.”
Maggot said, “Yes. Well…I don’t have any better ideas than to try it my way. Everybody ready?”
No one spoke.
“Good,” Maggot said. “Jim, how long do you think we have until we dock?”
“Brenda is on the bridge,” James said. “She dropped Andy and Alex with the container section. We left all crew there with Jim Junior and Melanie. It will be just Ruth, Brenda and me on the Ruby Rock. That is just in case something goes wrong. We tried to get Brenda to go as well, but she refused to leave.”
Ruth grinned, “You would think she is a Stone or something.”
“Tamvor Station has given us final approach vectors,” Brenda’s voice floated from the comms. “Two hours to final docking at hanger 275. Sorry, Maggot. That is as close to the military sector as we could get.”
“Wait!” Stone said. “You said Melanie was going on the container section?”
“Yes, she and Oliver headed down there an hour ago for load out,” Ruth replied.
“No she didn’t,” Stone said. “We just left her in cargo bay Bravo-Six with Oliver and the drascos.”
Ruth and James shouted into their communicators, “Melanie!”
There wasn’t any response from Bravo-Six.
All five people jumped to their feet at the same time. Before they could make a step toward the door to the corridor they heard a whoop and a scream of pain blast out of the comms followed by hissing and a howl.”
“Crap!” Ruth sprinted to the door only a half a step ahead of Stone. Wright followed on their heels. James and Maggot raced the other way splitting at a corridor junction.
Stone had only gotten ahead of Ruth by half a step when they finally rounded a curve near cargo Bravo-Six. He was prepared to all kinds of horrible scenes. He was not sure what had happened, but the scream of pain had been Melanie. The hissing had been his drascos in serious distress. He was not sure about the howling. He had never heard such a noise from his cousin or his drascos.
He was just about to hit the hatch latch when it flew open in front of him. He slid to a stop, Ruth slamming into him from behind. She reached around him to gather her daughter into a hug.
Melanie had tear streaks running down her face, but she was grinning from ear to ear. She held her arm tight against her ribcage.
“I told you I could do it,” Melanie shouted. “I rode Peebee and she let me.”
Stone leapt through the door and slid to a stop. Jay was hissing and holding Peebee down to the deck. Peebee was lying there with her belly up. Jay’s tail spike was pointed at Peebee’s head. Peebee lay there unmoving pinned to the deck by Jay’s bulk. Peebee was wonking softly. Oliver was howling and running circles around them.
Uncle Jim knocked Stone aside as he and Maggot burst into the hanger. Jim pointed a high-powered carbine at Jay’s head. Maggot held a two-fisted semi-automatic pistol. He pointed the muzzle first at Jay then at Peebee and then back at Jay.
Jay raised her tail spike preparing to strike Peebee. Peebee rolled her eyes and looked pleadingly at Stone.
“Stop!” Stone shouted. “Everybody just stop.” He was surprised when everybody stopped except Oliver who continued his howling race around the drascos.
The frozen tableau was broken when Melanie raced back into the hanger.
“It is my fault. Ow! Don’t hurt Peebee. She didn’t do anything. Ow! I fell off on my own. Ow!” Each ‘ow’ of pain was the punctuation as Ruth tried to drag her daughter out of the hanger. “Quit it, Ma. My arm already hurts and you aren’t helping.”
Stone stepped up to Jay. He put his hand on her tail spike and pushed it to the side. The drasco did not fight him. He grabbed her head and pushed it away from Peebee. Jay allowed herself to be pushed away letting her sister up off the deck. Without seeming to look Jay grabbed Oliver in mid-race and cuddled the dog to her chest.
Peebee rolled from her back to her stomach flattening herself to the deck and crept forward toward Melanie. Both James and Maggot kept their guns pointed at Peebee as they backed away. Peebee had a mangled saddle twisted around her back with a cinch wrapped under her front legs.
Stone said, “Everyone relax-”
“What do you mean relax!? That creature tried to kill my baby,” Ruth shrieked.
“No she didn’t,” Melanie shouted. “It was my fault.”
Peebee slid closer to Melanie. She raised her head and blew air on Melanie’s arm. She gently took Melanie’s elbow in her mouth.
James stiffened took a step forward and slid his finger onto the trigger of his carbine.
Stone stepped between his uncle and Peebee. “Please, Uncle Ji-”
“Please nothing. Get out of my way,” James pushed Stone. “That thing is eating my daughter.”
“No, Uncle Jim,” Stone shouted and pushed back, “that is the way drascos heal a hurt. They hold it in their mouths until the pain goes away. Please?”
“Don’t hurt Peebee,” Melanie pleaded. “It was my fault. She let me saddle her and we were riding around. Look, the leather held up and she doesn’t mind. I just turned to shoo Oliver away and my foot slipped out of the stirrup and I fell to the deck. She didn’t hurt me.”
“What about Jay?” Stone asked. “What was she angry about?”
Melanie shrugged and then winced at the pain in her arm. “I don’t know. I think they thought they were babysitting me instead of the other way around and Jay just got mad because Peebee let me get hurt.”
Stone turned to Commander Wright. “Please Commander, I know that you are not a people doctor, but can you help with Melanie?”
“Of course-”
“Get out of my way everybody,” Brenda interrupted as she rushed into the hanger. “I have the medkit and scanner.” She placed a palm on Peebee’s head and pushed it away from Melanie’s arm. She ran a scanner across the younger girl’s elbow. While the scanner was reading she looked around the room frowning at her father and Maggot. “Just like boys. Melanie is hurt and you think with your guns. If you weren’t my dad and if you weren’t a guest I would call you both idiots.”
Brenda looked at the scanner. “Shattered elbow…again. Sis, isn’t this the same elbow you broke last year trying to slide down the transfer shoot in the cargo loft?”
Melanie nodded and grimaced. “Can you fix it?”
Brenda shook her head. “Nope, but I can help a bit.” She grabbed a medical pen from her kit and depressed the end against Melanie’s arm. She waited until Melanie’s face smoothed a bit and then jammed a second medical pen against the skin and depressed the plunger.
Brenda looked at Stone, “No offense to…whichever one that is…but the pain killer in this pen will work on an internal broken bone better than animal spit. The second pen is a bone knitter. It should start to pack and draw the breaks back together.” She looked at her mother. “But Mom, Mel shattered this elbow before. It is going to take a real doctor to make sure the bones fit right or she might lose some mobility in her elbow. She needs better nanites than we carry on board.”
“Thank you, Bren,” Ruth said. The relief was evident in her voice. “It is a good thing we are close to a station. Hey! We are too close to station to leave the bridge unattended.” She turned to race off, but Brenda stopped her.
“Don’t worry, Mom. We are on autopilot and Jimbo is keeping an eye on things.”
James rolled his eyes. “Jim Junior isn’t on the cargo containe
r section either?”
Brenda spat, “Ha! You don’t think you really raised us to run and hide did you?”
“Um, I know this is kind of self-serving, but can we use this as a medical emergency to cause a distraction at the docks?” Maggot asked.
Ruth nodded. “Oh, you can bet I am going to be raising a ruckus as soon as we clear hatches.”
Jimbo’s voice came through communications. “We are ready to head into a hanger. Unless someone else gets up here I am going to park the Ruby Rock all by myself.”
James and Ruth both blanched. They spun about, racing out of the hanger and up the corridor.
Brenda said, “Hunh! Well, little sis, what say you and I go wait out docking in the forward entry hallway. That way we can get you out the hatch and to a doctor mo-ricky-tic.”
“Whatever,” Melanie grinned. “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”
Stone grabbed Oliver from Jay. “Hey cinco, take this thing with you.” He handed the dog to Brenda. He watched as Brenda called Melanie a dozen names she would not repeat with her parents in the room, but she cradled her younger sister gently.
Maggot turned to Stone and Wright. “Okay, team. We need to get ourselves together and get down to the deck e hatchway.”
“You corral the girls, Mister Stone,” Wright said. “I will try to see if Melanie got those containers filled with drasco food. I don’t have anything else I need to take with me. My old uniform is so torn it leaves me more out of uniform than this thing.” She turned and walked up the ramp to the pod.
Stone put Jay’s face in his hands and blew into her open mouth. He stared into one eye and then the other. He wrapped his arm around her neck and gave her a gentle squeeze. He took Peebee’s face in his hands and repeated the process. He hoped they would understand he was not mad at either of them. While he held Peebee’s neck in a hug, Jay laid her head at Peebee’s feet and blew air across her sister’s toes.
Stone reached around and unbuckled the saddle from Peebee’s back. The underside was scored and scratched but it had held for a while. There were still a few straps and the reins still wrapped around Peebee’s shoulders, waist and neck. Stone reached up to remove them. Peebee wonked softly and backed up. The drasco’s hands patted at the straps and straightened them. She dropped the reins to the ground and shook her shoulders as if to seat the leather straps. Peebee wonked delightedly.
“You want to keep them? It is okay with me,” Stone said. He turned to see Jay pick up some discarded leather straps and drop them over her head. They slid to the deck.
Stone looked around. Maggot was gone and Wright was still inside the pod. He turned back to Jay. “You too?” He picked up a strap. He made a loop in each end. He slid the loops around her front legs and over her back. He tightened it and looped an extra piece around her neck.
“Looks like a harness,” Wright said from the top of the ramp.
Stone shook his head, “Looks like leather jewelry to me.”
“That gives me an idea,” Wright said. “Melanie only needed two containers to get all of the drasco’s stuff loaded up. The red and blue balls are in the first container. Strange that you and I are the humans and we have no baggage whatsoever but your pet’s stuff takes two containers. Can you get both of these containers plus Jay and Peebee down to where we meet Maggot?”
Stone cleared his throat. “Um Commander Wright, did you forget you outrank me?”
Wright laughed and slapped her forehead. “That I did, Mister Stone. This is an order. Get these containers and your pets down to Echo Deck e hatchway. I will meet you there.”
“Aye, aye, Commander.”
Stone walked up the ramp into the pod. The containers were the standard model used by every ship in the Stone Freight Company. Their interior space was 2.5 meters long by 1.25 meters wide by 1.25 meters deep. Grandpa has said it was designed to lay a 4 by 8 sheet of plywood flat in the bottom. Stone was not sure why anything was called a “4 by 8” when it was 1.25 meters by 2.5 meters, but since he did not even know what plywood was he would not worry about it. He just made a mental note to look it up.
“Or rather,” he said to himself with a chuckle, “another mental note.” Knowing this was not the first time the question had popped into his head. Suddenly, he wondered why the containers were not made with the same malleable metal they used on the interior of many ships. That way the containers could be conformed to whatever shape you needed. Once set to a shape it could be hardened at the touch of a button.
He shrugged. “We probably don’t do it because it is a cost thing.” He rapped his knuckles against the side of the container. Like most containers they used, it was hard and made of air foam. They would take a lot of mishandling. You could bang them around and they would not even be scratched, but when torn down for recycling they melted away to practically nothing. They weighed next to nothing of themselves. Their weight was all along the bottom built into the hover mechanisms and the controls.
He popped open the control panel cover and ran a cord from one to the other. He had once asked his dad why they still used cords when it would have been so easy to be wireless. His dad had explained that any cord would connect to any other container. If they were wireless, you would have to program each connection so your wireless signals did not send commands to containers everywhere within wavelength distance.
Stone hopped on top of the first container and guided it in a slide down the ramp. The second container followed along the exact path the first had taken. He curbed the desire to see if he could reach top speed in the mostly empty hanger. He eased up next to Jay and Peebee in a hover. He stood up on the container scanning the hanger deck. There were no drasco piles.
Both Jay and Peebee were not housebroken because there was nowhere to take them outside when you are in space. But they had gotten used to using Oliver’s little patch of grass in the hydroponics garden room near the galley on Alpha Deck.
“Okay, girls. Follow along and behave yourselves and there is a piece of ooze when we get down to Echo.”
He was tempted to take the cargo chute and drop the three decks to Echo, but he was not sure how the drascos would react to a null-gravity tube. He was sure they would follow him in if he said to follow, but he was not as confident that they would not panic when they lost all sense of up or down. He chose to use the freight elevators at the end of the corridor.
Even if he had not been wandering the Ruby Rock for the past week he would not have had any trouble finding Echo Deck hatch. It was where they always put them on this model of freighters, right between Delta Deck and Foxtrot Deck. He eased to a stop in the open cargo area. No one else was there so he took a piece of ooze from his pocket and cut two large chunks off for the drascos.
Like normal, Peebee chewed hers into mush and swallowed it rapidly. She lay down and fell asleep. Jay, like normal, held her chunk in her hands and sucked on it until it melted away. She dropped on top of Peebee and fell asleep. Stone stretched out on top of the container. He stared at the ceiling and waited.
CHAPTER TWENTY
“Get on your feet, Mister.”
The gruff voice startled Stone. He twisted sideways and slid to attention next to the container.
“Oh man. You should see your face,” Jimbo laughed. His cousin was guiding a handcart and leading Commander Wright.
“You just startled me is all.”
“Taking a nap, Mister Stone?” Wright asked.
“No, just resting my eyes, Commander,” Stone replied.
Jimbo laughed, “And the snoring is just the way you clear your throat as you rest your eyes?”
“I don’t snore,” Stone retorted.
Jimbo wiped the laugh tears from his eyes. “How do you know you don’t snore, couz? You’re never awake to find out.”
“It doesn’t matter, Mister Stone,” Wright said coming to his rescue. “It was a good time to take a nap. It took me a bit longer to get this stuff together than I thought it would but young James came to my aid.�
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“What have you got, Commander?” Stone asked.
“Presents for your drascos,” Wright replied with a grin.
Jimbo started laughing again. “Wait until you see what the Commander and I made, Trey. You are gonna love this stuff.” He began pulling pieces of metal and leather straps from his hand cart. He tossed a piece to Stone.
Stone missed the catch and the metal piece clanged to the deck. Stone picked it up. It must have weighted thirty pounds. It was polished chrome over steel with an inlaid red flame design across the front. It had a long black strap decorated with spikes and polished metal barbs spaced along the strap with a huge red metal buckle.
“That is a breastplate for Peebee,” Wright said.
“A what? Um Commander, sorry,” Stone said.
“Never mind the rank. We have been through enough together…” She stopped when she saw Stone shaking his head.
“No sir. We have been through a lot. And we are friends or at least I hope we are but we can’t forget the rank. We are navy and as long as we are navy our ranks matter.”
“I stand corrected, Mister Stone. That thing you are holding is a breastplate. Strap it around Peebee’s shoulders so the metal part goes over her chest.”
“Aye, aye, Commander.” Both of the drascos were sitting up and awake. They seemed to be oblivious to the humans until Stone stepped up to Peebee and held up the shiny metal plate against Peebee’s chest.
Both drascos wonked excitedly as Stone strapped it on. Peebee shrugged her shoulders. It was apparent the weight was not a factor. She seemed to like the way it flashed in the overhead lights.
“It flops a bit at the bottom., Wright said. “We really don’t want it banging around.”
“I got it covered,” Jimbo said. He pulled out another strap. He directed Stone to clamp it to the bottom of the plate and then loop around Peebee’s front legs.
Wright pulled a second breastplate from the hand cart. This one was cut in the same shape but instead of red flames it was covered in blue filigree with a blue buckle. She held it up to Jay’s chest.
