Chapter 2
By Meliphyre
"Hold on to your butts" Chris said with what Mel could only describe
as a joyful glint in his eye. He began to vigourously type at various
blinking control buttons.
Mel, meanwhile, found herself clutching the armrests in anticipation
as the V-ship began firing. The impact never came. "How did you do
that?" She asked Chris who was grinning from ear to ear, blue eyes
sparkling like the depths of the ocean.
"A trick I picked up along the way" he beamed. "Just drop beneath
them and they will run right past."
The various Sloathes were still yelling hysterically. A few were
running around, trying to hide. "Take this yew Scurvey!" Grinker yelled
and then made weapons noises on his console.
Chris looked down at his console. "But it's only temporary." His brow
furrowed as he noticed the ships were returning. He flicked on the radar
to identify anything out there that might help the persent situation.
"Something to confuse...." he muttered to himself.
"They're gaining on us" Mel said in a high pitched voice.
Chris blinked when he felt something vibrating in his breast pocket.
He pulled the almost forgotten about crystal out. It was quietly humming
and reflecting brightly the dull lights of the bridge. "Do you have any
suggestions?" he asked the crystal. It began humming louder. Chris
tightened his grip to prevent it from vibrating right out of his grasp.
"I may be reaching, but I have the feeling that this little guy is alive"
he told Mel.
It was Mel's turn to blink. "Chris, the ships are returning" She said
urgently.
"Right" he said turning his attention back to the console. He
braught his hands to the control, and all of a sudden they fuzzed. He
swore as he tried to bring them back up. The crystal was now humming
what could be defined as contently.
"What happened?" Mel inquired.
"I don't know" Chris replied in a panic. "The controls fizzled."
After a few hairy seconds of trying to get something functioning, the
crystal turned a pale shade of blue and lowered humming by two steps.
Chris scanned the readings. "They've stopped" he told Mel.
Mel tapped a few of her own controls. "I'm picking up scanning
devices. But we're right in front of them."
"They can't pick us up!" Chris concluded in an estatic voice.
"Putting in a course away and fast." Pretty soon they were well out of
sensor range of the the V-ships. The crystal clutched in Chris' hand had
returned to it's normal opague form and had stopped humming.
Chris and Mel exchanged a glance, then turned thier attention back to
the crytal. "Um, I think i'll take this to the lab and set the scientist
onit. They'll enjoy the challenge." Mel nodded as he headed in the
general direction of the lab.
"Can you get a fix on that neuron trail?" Mel asked the Reklonian.
"And please put and end to the William Tell Overture"
Thella was a blue skinned humanoid with long, flowing white hair.
She had been hold up in the lab for 2 cycles of her home planet around
the center star. The word had gotten to her that the Nosferatu was now
under new managment. She had not bothered to introduce herself to
Captain Glitz yet.
She looked up from her readings as the door opened. Her eyes fell
upon a big human, with yellow hair. If she went for the fair skinned
variety, he would be her choice. "You Captain Glitz?" she inquired in a
dead pan voice.
"Um no. Chris Cwej" he smiled. "Glitz is, um, other
wise engaged" he chuckled, recalling Mel's tales of the former captain
of the ship. Chris tried to recall if he had seen the scientist about
before. Surely he would remember her if he had. "I have a project for
you... sorry, I didn't catch your name"
"I didn't give it. But it is Thella"
"Very pretty name" he smiled.
"The project?"
"Oh yes. We need to know what this is" He held out the crystal for
her to investigate. Chris did not miss the shimmer in her pale blue eye
as she looked at the crystal.
Thella gingerly took the crytal. "Unusual" Chris explained to her
the scene on the bridge and how its various actions had coincided with
something happening to the ship. "Very interesting." she said, sounding
utterly intrigued. "I will get word to you as soon as I find anything"
She turned as one pocessed to her work room. Chris wathed her go. He
felt a twinge of sadness as the crystal was carried away from him. Then
he wandered just where the twinge came from.
It was the middle of the sleeping cycle aboard the Nosferatu. Mel
had tried to lay down to sleep but her head was full of unanswered
questions. The best way to mull it over was over a nice, cold glass of
carrot juice. She pulled her robe over her pink p.j's and headed for
the galley. SHe was at a table sipping her juice when the door opened.
Chris was standing there in purple and lime green polka-dotted boxers.
He smiled sheepishly at Mel as he tied his robe.
"I didn't think anyone else would be up" he said as he opened the
fridge door.
"I couldn't sleep" Mel sighed. "There are just so many unanswered
questions I want answers too"
"Know what you mean" Chris replied as he collected the cold cuts.
THe cure for anything, a nice big sandwhich. Good company always helped
too. He was rather impressed with the curly red head. She knew what she
was doing. He sat down across from her with a sandwhich with 4 diffrent
varieties of cold cuts. "Carrot juice? They used to feed it to us at the
acadamy. They said it was good for reflexes."
Mel chuckled. "Well they were right. Much more healthier then that"
She pointed to Chris' incredibly large sandwhich. "You would have to
spend 2 days on an exercisor to work that off"
"I'm a growing boy" He protested with a look of innocence, as he
managed to get his mouth around the sandwhich. Mel coudln't help but
chuckle at his wide, blue eyes. He looked rather boyishly cute at the
moment with his sandwhich and discheveled hair.
She abruptly turned her attention back to the pressing questions.
"Have you heard from the lab about the crystal?" She asked him.
Chris had to finish the bite he was chewing before he could answer.
He shook his head. He felt that twinge of sadness again. Should he tell
her that the reason he couldn't sleep was because everytime he got still
he felt sad and his dreams were filled with a sad humming? He didn't
want to think about it at the moment.
"Do you think the stolen cargo had anything to do with the crystal?
Maybe the cargo was more crystals"
Chris shrugged. "Could be. We'll know more once Thella gets through
analyzing the crystal and we can access it's worth." They pondered this
for a moment as they finished thier respective snacks.
"Well, I think i'm going to.... " Mel began but she was interupted
by a shriek that filled the whole of the ship...
Part 3