The Gordo Galaxy Detective Agency members were presented commendations and financial awards, and, thanks to a collaboration between Trek and Elf, a new book from The Adventures of Trek Gibbons hit the Intergalactic Bestseller list. It was called The Rebellion Hyperbole.
The Committee had forgiven Elf for the entire GOD misunderstanding, but made him promise to keep up with the chats that they had come to adore.
To make sure that Riggo stayed off Trek’s back, Trek had cut the RiffRaff boss in on 20% of the book sales, which seemed to appease the Moxoyarian—especially since he’d also received the 125 platinum promised by McCracken. It had come out of the Supreme Commander’s confiscated retirement account.
Herb hadn’t lightened up at all regarding his germaphobic personality, but that was expected. In fact, if Herb had loosened his belt on the topic of disease and infections, Trek would have become worried as it would have been a clear indicator that one of the medicines had altered his friend’s chemistry.
It felt as though life was finally getting back to what it once was. And that was the problem… Trek felt that same hollowness he’d felt all those years ago. It was that lack of purpose that had lead him to Soothe in the first place.
So with the universe at his feet, he did the only logical thing he could think of. He returned to The Committee and made them an offer.
The plan was that he would travel the galaxy solving crimes while keeping his crack team with him. The Committee would give Trek first right of refusal on all cases under their jurisdiction. The Committee tried to keep him on station, stating that he should just keep the GDA intact and lead it again, but that wasn’t comfortable for a man like Trek Gibbons. He couldn’t be chained to a standard employment contract unless his life depended on it, which it no longer did… for now, anyway. Trek needed stories, and he believed that The Committee could provide plenty of them. That would give Trek and Elf the ability to pick and choose those that would turn into Interstellar Bestsellers.
Trek had Herb put a call out to all of the former GDA members. They hadn’t seen each other in months, so it took a little doing to get everyone to meet up.
“Sir,” Lelly said as Trek strode into the blue building, “it’s good to see you again!”
The offices didn’t look much different. It was almost as if nothing had changed at all since he’d last been here. He wondered if it might not be a good idea to rent the place out and put his name on it. It would be nice to have a permanent base of operations other than a ship. He’d have to think about that later.
“Hello, Lelly,” he said to the Yaxian. “It’s nice seeing you again, too.” He sniffed the air. “Vanilla?”
“I had my scent glands altered, sir.”
“Excellent. Not necessary, but I’m sure others appreciate it.” He glanced around. “Has everyone else arrived?”
“Yes, sir. They’re all in the conference room.”
Trek walked in and found that his old crew was there. Belchore, Adna, Torg, and Opal. Four people that Trek never would have thought he’d want to see again, but, for some damn reason, he was glad to see. Former Captain Broog walked in a second later and moved to stand behind Adna.
They all chatted a bit about the months that had gone by, sharing their stories and retelling events from the fateful day that took McCracken and his officers out of power.
“Look,” Trek said, finally, “I’m going to cut to the chase. I asked you all here so that we could catch up, sure, but it’s really because I was hoping you’d see things like I do. We made a good team and I’d like to see it continue.”
“For real?” Torg said.
“Yep,” Trek said, “but not as the GDA.” They were eyeing him questioningly. “As most of you know, I was a bit of a celebrity for a while and our little battle with McCracken has resurrected my career.”
“I read The Rebellion Hyperbole,” said Opal. “It was really exciting. More than the actual case, to be honest.”
“You can thank Elf for that,” admitted Trek, which was challenging to do. He liked keeping credit to himself, but Elf was a stickler. “He’s rather deft at the written word, it seems.”
“Can’t say I was a fan of being known as Trog instead of Torg,” noted Torg, “but it was all right seeing myself in there anyway.”
“Sorry about that,” said Trek. “It was a typo. The editor thought the proper spelling should have been Trog, not Torg. Note that I did request a reprint with the proper spelling, so keep any copies you may have now since they’ll be collector’s items one day.”
“Screwed up on my name, too,” Belchore said. “Spelled it Bleacher. Gonna get that fixed in the next one?”
Trek grinned at him with a sense of satisfaction. “Nope.”
“Asshole.”
“Anyway,” Trek continued, “the reason I asked you here is because I want to keep the band together.”
“What band?” said Adna.
“Just a saying, Adna,” Trek replied. “Point is that The Adventures of Trek Gibbons must go on, and I need a crack team of detectives to help me look good.”
“Huh?”
Belchore put a hand on Adna’s shoulder. “He’s saying that he ain’t great at doing this kind of work, so he needs us to solve crimes and he’ll take the credit.”
“Correct,” Trek admitted, feeling fine about doing so. Tweller’s advice still rang through. “Now, all of you will see your names in the books—and, yes, Belchore, I will get your name fixed before the next book—and you’ll each get paid a portion of the proceeds. Plus, there will be a lot of excitement, danger, and such.”
Opal raised his hand. “What would we be called, sir?”
“Sorry?”
“Well, a backup band usually has a name.” He tapped his chin. “There was Bobby Smith and The Funny Daiquiris who played old-style rock. Then there was Kate Zoozy and The Five Reapers. They played dark heavy metal. Let’s see, I remember…”
“I see where you’re going with this,” Trek interrupted with a nod. “Okay, uh… How about Trek Gibbons and The Sleuths?”
The room went silent for a bit as everyone stood around thinking. Fact was he wouldn’t actually use that in any of his books, but if it made them happy to have a name for their “backup band,” that was fine with Trek.
“We can always figure that out later,” he announced. “The question for now is who wants to join up?”
“I still don’t like you much,” said Belchore, “but I’ll go.”
Trek said, “Good… I guess.”
“I’ll join too,” Adna said in a voice that sounded more like Natasha’s, indicating that her personality merger was working. “But only on one condition.”
“What’s that?”
“You make Broog my partner.”
“What’s wrong with me?” Belchore asked, looking shocked.
“Nothing’s wrong with you, Belchore,” Adna said with a shrug. “It’s just that Broog is my soul mate—for now—and he needs something to do.”
“Denied,” Trek stated flatly.
“What?” Adna said, standing up threateningly.
“Sorry, Adna, but the bottom line is that while I have no problem with you and Broog both working for me, you can’t be partners because you just admitted that you’re intimately involved with each other. It’s too dangerous. If you join up, Belchore will remain your partner, and that’s that.”
Adna pursed her lips and said, “I could kill you very easily. You know that, right?”
“I do,” Trek said without flinching, “which should show you how serious I am about what I just said.”
“But you’ll let him join us?” she said, pulling Broog forward roughly.
“Sure,” Trek said with a shrug. “We’ll just need to find him a partner.”
“I’ll do it.”
Everyone turned and looked at the Flejnarian who was standing at the door. He was wearing a little hat and had an unlit pipe in his mouth. Was he trying to look like Shamloop Helmes?
“Herb?” said Trek, feeling more than a little surprised.
“Yes?”
“Are you joking?” Trek was struggling a bit with this. “I already expected you to join me as my aide, just like always, but…”
“No, I want more than that,” Herb stated, blinking a few times as he twisted this way and that, took a deep breath, and squeaked. “I want… adventure.” He popped a pill. “I’m tired of living in fear.” Trek caught the name on the bottle. It said NoMoreLivingInFear™. “I can do this, and Broog needs a partner anyway… You just said so.”
“Well,” Trek shrugged, “it’s okay with me. Broog?”
“Can you fight?” Broog asked Herb.
“Only diseases.”
“Well, that’s something, I guess. Okay,” Broog said, finally, “it’s fine with me.”
“Where’s Elf?” asked Opal.
“Right here,” the little robot said, walking around the corner and pushing past Lelly. “Sorry I’m late. I had to do a quick interview with DerGrady about The Rebellion Hyperbole.”
Trek Gibbons smiled at that. Then he nodded at Elf and the team, letting the little robot know that everything had been solidified. Elf’s eye’s glowed in response.
“Right,” Trek said. “Note that we’ve fixed up the trash scow with the money I made off the latest book. Each of you has your own room, and there are a few extra perks we’ve added as well. Actually, Broog, you’ll have to bunk with Adna, which I assume is okay?”
“For now,” she answered for him.
“The ship is almost twice the size it was before,” blurted Elf, “and it no longer smells like a Yaxian!” His eyes dimmed and he turned toward Lelly. “Sorry.”
“I’m used to it,” Lelly said sadly, and looked at Trek. “Will there be anything for me to do on this team, sir?”
To be honest, Trek hadn’t really considered it. Lelly wasn’t a detective, and he wasn’t much as far as fighting was concerned, though his anatomy was perfect for stopping bullets.
“Well,” Trek said, sizing up Lelly and his newfound vanilla scent, “I definitely need someone on my crew to handle calls, paperwork, and the various other things that go into running a business.”
“I’d be delighted to do all of that, sir,” Lelly said while clapping.
Trek wiped off a few specks of gel and said, “Perfect.”
To think that just a few months ago he had been on the receiving end of a Neutron 1100, awaiting his demise. Riggo wanted him dead, McCracken wanted to set him up for a massive fall, and Trek himself was doing his best to destroy himself. Now he was back on top of the publishing game and he had a new company that was just aching to succeed.
He gave one last look around at his crew. They weren’t perfect, but that’s what made for good stories. They’d be a pain in the ass at times, too, especially Belchore. Keeping him was probably a mistake, actually, but muscle was muscle.
That made him study them all again. Adna and Torg and Elf and Herb and Broog and Lelly and Opal and Belchore. They were his—he gulped—team.
What the hell was I thinking?
He reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a stick of gum. It was a new brand of Soothe that just took the edge off while not knocking your mental faculties out of whack. Just in case, he stuck two pieces in his mouth.
“Right,” he said as the Soothe took hold and calmed his nerves. “It’s a big galaxy out there, team. Let’s go find some trouble!”
Thanks for Reading
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John P. Logsdon
www.JohnPLogsdon.com
John was raised in the MD/VA/DC area. Growing up, John had a steady interest in writing stories, playing music, and tinkering with computers. He spent over 20 years working in the video games industry where he acted as designer and producer on many online games. He’s written science fiction, fantasy, humor, and even books on game development. While he enjoys writing lighthearted adventures and wacky comedies most, he can’t seem to turn down writing darker fiction. John lives with his wife, son, and Chihuahua.
Christopher P. Young
Chris grew up in the Maryland suburbs. He spent the majority of his childhood reading and writing science fiction and learning the craft of storytelling. He worked as a designer and producer in the video games industry for a number of years as well as working in technology and admin services. He enjoys writing both serious and comedic science fiction and fantasy. Chris lives with his wife and an ever-growing population of critters.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to The Rebellion Hyperbole Reader Team!
(listed in alphabetical order by first name)
Adam Saunders-Pederick, Bonnie Dale Keck, Cate Field, Dan Sippel, Dawn Downing, Deborah Ankrett, Emma Harkins, Hal Bass, Helen Day, Ian Nick Tarry, Jan Gray, Jodie Stackowiak, Joe O’Connor, Joe Simon, John Debnam, John Ladbury, Kate Smith, Kevin Frost, Laura Stoddart, Linda Wood, Louise Thompson, Lynette Wood, Mark Beech, Mark Brown, Noah Sturdevant, Pam Elmes, Patricia Wellfare, Pete Martin, Sandee Lloyd, Scott Ackermann, Scott Reid, Sean Ellis, Sharon Robb, Stephen Bagwell, Teresa Cattrall Ferguson, and William C. Lobur.
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This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2017 by John P. Logsdon & Christopher P. Young
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.
Published by: Crimson Myth Press (www.CrimsonMyth.com)
Cover art: Jake T. Logsdon (www.JakeLogsdon.com)
The Rebellion Hyperbole Page 14