As they arrived in the corridor, they saw it was empty, so they started heading for the direction of the bridge.
They hadn’t taken more than two steps, when Bob suddenly started to sparkle, then he disappeared, his gun and clothes dropping to the floor.
“What the hell just happened?” Fred asked in alarm, scooping up Bob’s gun, so she had a weapon in both hands, her head desperately looking around for a source of the attack.
“Good news and bad.” Biotech explained. “Bob is alive, he’s just been beamed away, I know he’s alive as I can still feel him on our psychic link, and he’s still on the ship.”
“Is that the good news or the bad?” Fred asked nervously.
“That’s the good news, the bad news is, the ships computer is shutting me out, I have no contact with the sensors, so not only can I not tell where the crew are, I doubt the sensors are still hiding our presence which means…”
“…We’re about to be attacked!” Fred finished the sentence for him, point a gun down each end of the corridor.
“Well they might be expecting us on this floor, but I doubt they’ll be expecting this!” Biotech announced, before leaning back, and blasting a hole in the ceiling of the corridor.
He reached around Fred’s waist, then activated his feet rockets, and shot them up through the hole, just as heavily armed Jugjhools arrived at either end of the corridor.
Bob arrived naked and unarmed in a strange room.
It looked like a two story apartment, with luxury furnishings, expensive looking ornaments, and huge windows looking out into space, including what looked like open French doors leading out onto a balcony which seemed open to space itself.
For a split second a wire frame version of the balcony appeared over the real thing in his mind, and the edge of the balcony flashed up with the words, “atmospheric force field”
His built in windows help routines kicking in to give him the information he needed.
“This is the captains quarters.” Said a deep voice behind him.
Bob spun round, and behind him stood a naked Jugjhool, he couldn’t tell what sex as whatever reproductive organs it might have had were hidden from view.
“And I am the captain, Glunark.” Explained the lizard, offering a smile that showed every one of his very sharp teeth.
“You and your friends have made a lot of mistakes. Your robot friend made the mistake of thinking he could hack this ships computer and have me not find out about it, your female friend made the mistake of having a robot along side of her that is programmed not to use his blasters on living beings, and of course your biggest mistake was thinking you could just come and take my ship.”
Bob’s throat felt very dry, he gulped but it didn’t really help.
“Plus of course you intend to kill me, and I take that very personally” Glunark said menacingly.
Bob glanced around the room, looking for anything he could use as a weapon.
“So, here is your one chance, no guns, no impact resistant uniforms, just the captain of the ship and the idiot who wants the job.” Glunark said snarling.
Bob’s windows help files came on again, and showed him Jugjhool anatomy, the week spots were few and far between, but they were there, then he minimized the screen, because he would need his undivided attention.
Bob smirked.
“So, you going to talk me to death, or are we actually going to fight?” He said mockingly.
Enraged Glunark charged at Bob, tail thrashing wildly behind him.
Fred and Biotech ran down a corridor, they were now on the same level as the bridge, and thanks to some more holes in the floors and ceilings they hadn’t had to fight their way through any of the crew yet, running them a merry chase through the maze of corridors on the ship.
“How are we doing for time?” Fred asked breathlessly.
“Don’t ask!” Biotech replied, then he pointed at a door. “That’s the bridge, try and be careful what you shoot at!” He warned.
Biotech hit the door controls, and the thick doors slid open, the two of them piled into the door, seeing nine Jugjhools in there sat at their controls, and one in the captains chair.
The massive viewscreen was half filled with the curve of the earth, half space, the ship was clearly in orbit.
As the lizards started to reach for their guns, Fred and Biotech opened fire.
Biotech was picking off the crew with precision skill.
Fred’s right hand gun was also doing well, the one in his left though wasn’t getting his full attention, and even though it was ripping into the Jugjhools, it was also ripping into the console they were sitting at.
The ship lurched violently, and they were both thrown to the floor.
As they got back up, they noticed all the bridge crew were dead, they also noticed on the 40 foot wide viewscreen that earth now filled the screen, and was getting closer.
Biotech looked at the shattered helm controls.
“Did I not just tell you to be careful what to shoot at?” He yelled in annoyance.
“Sounds vaguely familiar.” Fred replied sheepishly.
“We have to get to the engine room, we can pull the ship up from there, and I should be able to reintegrate myself into the computer system again.” Biotech replied.
Fred nodded, and as they left the bridge, they noticed several Jugjhools turn the end of the corridor and head straight for them, guns blazing.
Bob slung himself back from the attack, but the edge of Glunark’s tail cut a gash across his chest, not really deep, but enough to leave a slash of red blood.
“Ok, you made me bleed, now I’m annoyed!” Bob said dryly, diving over a table as Glunark’s fists smashed the wood to smithereens.
Glunark picked up a sharp piece of broken wood and hurled it at Bob, who ducked behind a sofa, letting the rich leather take the impact rather than his body.
The lizard was fast, faster than a creature of that bulk should be, and the tail was something to be very weary of.
Glunark spun around, and all his body weight and centrifugal forces went into his tail, which hit the sofa and sent it flying across the room in two separate pieces.
“You amuse me human, give up now and I will make your death fast!” Glunark announced menacingly.
Then the deck keeled under them, and Bob rolled across the floor, finding himself outside on the balcony, where he couldn’t help but notice the ship appeared to be diving down towards Africa.
Orange licks of flame started to flash up over the force field on the balcony as the ship scraped its way into the upper atmosphere.
Glunark had a puzzled expression on his face, then Bob got a flash of what was going on on the bridge and smiled.
Bob jumped up onto the balcony’s edge, knowing full well that the force field wouldn’t hold him if he fell, and hoping the ship wouldn’t rock again.
“Seems your information on the robot was wrong, looks like he is programmed to kill after all. And if you are wondering why none of your bridge crew are pulling us out of this dive, its because you have no bridge crew any more.” Bob taunted.
Glunark came charging towards Bob on the balcony, arms outstretched intending to push him out the ship to his death.
Bob leapt over the captain just as he got there, and the Jugjhool’s momentum carried over the railing.
Glunark managed to grab hold of the edge, but his head and shoulders still went through the force field, the atmospheric re-entry flames immediately starting the burn the scales from his face, while his eyes bulged in the vacuum and burst messily.
Painfully the captain pulled himself back inside the force field, melted scales dripping from his blackened skull, jawbone exposed to the air, tongue still on fire, blackened empty eye sockets boring into Bob as if they could still somehow see.
What remained of his nostrils sniffed the air, trying to find Bob that way.
Bob ran back into the main room, and picked up one of the wooden legs from the smashed table.
It was two inches thick, solid wood, and had a jagged splinter at one end, and the original smooth end on the other.
It wasn’t very long, about 18 inches or so, but Bob hoped it would be enough.
The badly wounded, but still going Glunark walked into the room, arms and tail thrashing wildly, still hoping to kill Bob, and knowing that whatever his injuries, as long as he was alive the medical reconstructor would make him whole again.
As the lizard stumbled towards a big leather chair, Bob ran up to it, stepped on the chair and launched himself at the captain, driving the makeshift stake into one of the empty eye sockets.
Glunark screamed as the tip of the stake entered his brain, and the thrashing of his arms and tail grew even worse.
Bob narrowly avoided being smashed by the tail, only by rolling through the air to avoid it.
Doing so he was able to grab one of the larger planks that used to be the surface of the table.
Jumping back onto his feet he swung the plank with all his force, hitting the stake, and driving it not only into Glunark’s brain, put partially through the back of his skull.
The lizard finally slumped to his knees, all the life gone from the tail, arms limply at his sides, and a final groan hissed its way from his scorched throat.
Then Glunark slammed face first onto the hard metal floor, black blood spreading from his body.