SUNDAY SCHOOL (TRAMPS Book 2)

by Ray Blackwell

  Rand caught a glimpse or Perry’s head on the other side of a console. He eased himself around the console, so as not to startle Perry.

  Aaron and Mitchell both followed suit and saw Rand standing over Perry. Perry sat quietly murmuring to himself. His hands covered in green sticky ooze. He was visibly trembling and speaking incoherently.

  Rand turned to the boys. “Go get Terri,” he quietly said. Mitchell beat Aaron to the conduit and disappeared.

  Carefully, Rand spoke to Perry, “Hey Perry, you alright?”

  Still murmuring, Perry slowly looked up. His eyes full of tears and bloodshot, but there was some recognition, as Perry was relieved to see a friend was okay. Soon all five of them were together minus Serena.

  “Where’s Serena?” Rand panicked.

  “I will look for her,” Aaron said and quickly jumped into the light conduit.

  Terri could see Perry was in shock and ushered the other two to give Perry some room.

  “Perry, do you know who I am?” Terri asked.

  Perry slowly turned his head to Terri. “Y-y-yes Mmmiss Terrrri.”

  “Oh Perry, you poor soul...” Terri slowly moved closer behind Perry.

  Not to startle him, she carefully wrapped her arms around him from behind.

  Perry felt the familiar arms caress his powerful shoulders and he released his tension and sorrow. Giant tears dropped to the floor and he wailed, His voice cried out like Valkyries calling for fallen heroes.

  Rand looked down at the floor unsure how to react. Maybe Terri or Serena was what Perry needed for now.

  Aaron finally relented in his search for Serena and beat on the hatch to her quarters. After several poundings he finally caught the sound of something falling and heard Serena behind the hatch.

  “Why am I floating?” came Serena’s voice.

  “It is a long story!” Aaron yelled back. “We need you, Perry needs you!”

  Serena wasted no time. The hatch flew open and Serena floated out in nothing but her panties and a t-shirt.

  “Where is he!” she demanded.

  “Follow me.”

  They quickly pushed their way through the corridors. They reached the light conduit and kicked their way through. Mitchell helped Serena to the floor and tried not to stare at her.

  Rand led Serena over to Perry. Serena could see he was terribly distraught.

  “Serena, we have to get him back on the Lady,” Terri said hurriedly.

  “Okay, gotcha, Serena turned her attention to Perry. “Perry, it’s me.”

  Serena got low in front of Perry. Serena had already seen the bodies and chaos that had ensued and quickly surmised the previous encounter.

  Perry looked up at Serena and sniffled. “Miss Serena?”

  “Yes, it’s me. We’re all fine. You did good.”

  “I did?” asked Perry.

  “You did real good, but sweety, we have to go back to our ship, okay?”

  Perry acknowledged Serena’s words better than most. He sniffed again and allowed Serena and Terri to help him to his feet.

  They slowly edged to the portal, then Rand quietly gave commands to Mitchell and Aaron.

  “Fellas’, we’re running out of time so lets do this quick. This ship still has a hold on us. We need to suit up and damage every system on here until Lady’s free. And take every thing we can rip loose. This shit’s worth a lot of credits!”

  Credits was all the two young men needed to hear. Aaron was looking at the high tech gadgetry and Mitchell was happy to be stealing something again.

  They all left the ship, Terri and Serena to administer comfort to Perry and the three others crawled into spacesuits.

  Aaron, Mitchell and Rand wasted no time. In less than ten minutes they had grabbed prying tools, hammers, suited up and re-boarded the alien vessel after closing the airlock inner door. With all three on hot mike they could speak freely.

  “Mitchell, take those belts off of them if you can. We’ll ask Perry if they did anything later.”

  Rand added, “If you see anything loose, grab it!”

  Rand started pushing buttons, any buttons, all buttons.

  Aaron couldn’t access the outer sealed doors. Whatever was in this central room was all they could take.

  Mitchell was trying to pry a small box off of the wall. After several attempts it finally snapped clear and skidded across the floor. Mitchell clumsily ran in his space suit and fumbled with his gloved hands to pick it up.

  “Hey Rand, why are we wearing spacesuits?”

  Rand found the wrong button or rather the right button at the wrong time. The light conduit collapsed and the air rushed from the alien ship out the open portal. Closer alien bodies were swept out the open portal. All three skidded across the floor. Aaron was completely caught by surprise and was nearly sucked out with three alien bodies. At first Rand was scared Aaron was lost, but Aaron quickly attached his magnetic lanyard only a couple feet from the open portal.

  The three men took quick glances at each other and returned to their pilfering.

  Mitchell, after several attempts, finally figured out that he could slip the entire belt down the torso of the aliens without cutting or damaging the belts. He gathered six of the odd devices.

  “Aaron, come here,” Rand called to him.

  Rand pointed to an octagon shaped nodule attached to the side of the center shaft that ran from the ceiling to the floor.

  “We want that.”

  “Why?” Aaron asked.

  “Because it’s cool looking,” Rand answered.

  Aaron shrugged but no one noticed the shrug in his space suit.

  “As long as it does not require me flying back out the hole, I’m good with it.”

  Rand tried to dislodge it from the shaft but it held fast.

  Aaron shimmied up the shaft to pry it from a different angle. Again, another item snapped from its attachment point. The octagon nodule had a multitude of clear tubes leading from it to the ceiling. Aaron used the sharp edge of his pry bar to cut the tubes against the ceiling. They snapped easily and an amber light glowed on one of the matte green consoles. Clear thick oil dripped from the rubber-like lines.

  “Got it!” Aaron remarked.

  Mitchell was pushing on rectangular patterns in the wall and finally one flew open. It flipped open from the top edge. Aligned in three rows were various colored shards. Each row appeared to be around twenty shards at first glance.

  “Rand, Rand, come look at these!” Mitchell yelled excitedly.

  Rand and Aaron both joined Mitchell.

  “What are they?” Mitchell asked.

  “Who knows, take ‘em!”

  All three of them grabbed all of the crystals and shoved them down into side zippered pockets.

  Rand looked out through the portal hole.

  “Power is still off, fecal!”

  “Men, we gotta crush every panel. Time to blow this party!”

  They raised their pry bars and began stabbing every panel and conduit.

  The material was hard or resistant. They pried and twisted. They swung and hammered anything and everything.

  Exhausted, they looked at each other in dismay.

  “You know, if their friends show up and see what we did, they’re not gonna be happy with us.” Mitchell said.

  Rand’s mind was racing.

  “Mitchell, how far were they when you noticed the power go out?”

  “They were right next to us.”

  “Maybe this dampening field or whatever is limited on range.” Rand said.

  “I got it!” Rand grinned. “Back to the ship, we’re done here!”

  “What will we do?” Aaron asked.

  “You’ll see. Let’s go!”

  The three returned to the Lady. They entered their own lock, closed the outer door, re-pressurized and floated into familiar surroundings still black from the power outage.

  After the three removed their suits, they floated through corridors back to the bridge.
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  Each took their respective seats.

  “Aaron, how many buoys’ do we have left?”

  “Eleven.”

  “Set ten for firing!”

  Aaron knew that they were chemically ignited and he smiled.

  Aaron cranked the outer panel into a full open position and waited for Rand’s order.

  “Launch.”

  Aaron pulled ten handles below the console and the same number of buoys’ ignited. The orange and black flames roiled in front of the bridge. The buoys continued a straight path upward from Lady Luck, nudging her away from the alien vessel. Slowly she drifted away. They watched anxiously hoping the batteries would again circulate the preciously needed electrons.

  “Come on, come on, come on,” Rand said under his breath. Then it donned on Rand that he could see his breath. If they didn’t get power soon, things were going to get worse very soon.

  Terri arrived on the bridge.

  “What are we doing? It’s getting cold,” said Terri.

  “We’re making our heroic and exciting escape,” said Rand sarcastically.

  Terri looked out the window at the slowly diminishing saucer.

  “Exciting maybe, but heroic?”

  “It’s heroic if we escape, how’s that?”

  “Get the heat back on and I’ll call it what ever you want.” Terri said.

  “We’re trying dear.”

  “I know, I’m trying to laugh in the face of danger.”

  Lady Luck had drifted one hundred yards and there was a flicker of light seen from the corner of Rand’s eye.

  “What was that?” Rand asked.

  “Where?” Mitchell asked.

  Rand turned right then he saw it. One of the green chemlite balls came floating by the bridge.

  “Damn it,” he cursed. “I thought power was returning.”

  “Could I get you guys some blankets?” Terri asked.

  “Yeah, that would be nice. How’s Perry, by the way?”

  “He’ll pull through. I’ll be right back,” Terri said as she drifted out the bridge hatch with a chemlite ball in her hand.

  “Hey Boss, think we’re gonna get out of this?”

  “Oh yeah, one way or the other.”

  Lady Luck slowly flip flopped her way, out of control, out of power.

  Six fugitives sat in the cold darkness. Alone, hunted and now defenseless.

  Terri cam back with blankets. “Here, try and stay warm.”

  She passed them out. The blankets floating like dark ghosts.

  They waited another ten minutes without saying a word. It felt like an eternity.

  The first flicker came from one of the battery room continuity circuits.

  The green light was a welcome sight. It flickered two more times then became solid. Second was power relays to the circuitry room. Then a massive cascade of lights. The generators began spinning. The familiar hum caused all of them to applaud. Corridor lights resumed their welcome glow.

  “Mitchell,...”

  “Already done Boss!”

  “Oh finally!” Aaron said.

  “Aaron, turn off the radar!”

  Aaron switched off the radar, understanding it may have helped in the previous encounter.

  “Mitchell, dead reckon us out of here and easy does it.”

  “My pleasure Boss.”

  A sigh of relief was felt by the entire crew. Air vents began circulating warmth and again the Lady gently slipped into low powered hyper-drive.

  Terri adjusted herself as her feet pulled to the floor. After being weightless for the previous hour or so everyone felt as though they climbed out from a long swim.

  “Terri, can you make us a fresh hot pot of coffee? I think we better stay vigilant for the next day or so. That was too close!”

  “My treat,” Terri smiled.

  “Well now, where were we?” Rand asked.

  Mitchell turned in his seat to face Rand.

  “Well, Aaron and I were minding our own affair, but you and Terri, I’m not sure what kinky game you guys were playing.”

  “Alright, smart ass, watch your console!” Rand laughed.

  Aaron pulled up some media archives and found what he was searching for.

  “Rand, may I play music?”

  “Now that would be a first, what did you find?” Rand asked.

  “It is a surprise.”

  “Knock us out Aaron!” Rand said.

  Aaron turned on the intercom system. He selected his choice and switched it over to the intercom.

  The song started with a synthesized guitar solo that led into a heavy militarized drum beat with oriental chimes in the background. Unusual to say the least but, as Rand went into the corridor to stretch his legs, he listened carefully to the lyrics and smiled.

  ‘My dreams are love

  My dreams are lust

  Because of you

  my dreams are just

  My hopes a deal

  I hope you feel

  The hope I have

  to make us real.

  The song may have not been appropriate Rand thought, but it was uplifting.

  Perry sat at the galley table with Serena and Terri to either side. Perry was wrapped in a blanket and Serena had just managed to get him a cup of hot cocoa.

  Rand took a seat across from all three. Rand produced a hard smile but it was genuine.

  “Perry?”

  “Yes, Mr. Rand?”

  At least now Perry was cognitive.

  “You did an extremely brave thing back there. Were you scared?”

  “Ohhh...Oh Yeeess!” Perry thought for a few seconds, “I didn’t know what they were.”

  “I want you to know, as scary as that was, we are all very, very proud of you.” Rand thought of a way to explain the rest of the crews condition.

  “The rest of us was sooo frightened, we were all scared stiff!” Rand watched Perry carefully to see if he knew Rand was messing with him.

  “Did you see how scared we were?”

  “You were all scared stiff, none of you blinked,” said Perry, slightly grinning.

  “Just remember, if we meet those little bad guys again only you are strong and brave enough to stop them.”

  “I will stop them Mr. Rand. I will stop them good!”

  “You’re a good man, Perry.”

  Serena held Perry’s arm, “Yes Perry is the bravest and strongest of us all.”

  Terri smiled at Rand, and saw Perry was pulling from his mix of shock and depression for taking life.

  “Perry, I have to make sure the ship is alright, but you relax; okay?”

  “Okay, Mr. Rand.”

  “Oh, and one more question, how did you know where the light balls were?”

  Perry looked down at the floor.

  “It’s alright Perry; you’re not in trouble. It was a very smart thing to use.”

  “I saw them when we were getting guns, and I remember.”

  “Good job, you stay warm Perry.”

  “I will Mr. Rand,” Perry slurped his cocoa. “This is yummy.”

  “And Perry, when you feel better, will you tell us your story?”

  “I will Mr. Rand. I will tell everyone!”

  Rand nodded and smiled to Perry. Even in Perry’s own words it had to be a whopper.

  As Rand left the galley he was satisfied that Perry was in fact pulling out of his depression.

  With the hyper-drive at 20% and the main drive at 20% Lady Luck was creating a very small space flux wave, yet the downside was they were traveling 1/20th of their normal speed. It remained a long trip; and hopefully Perry wouldn’t be needed for a second rescue.

  Rand re-entered the bridge with a new intent.

  “Aaron, the last buoy, is it functional?”

  “Yes,” Aaron looked right to make sure it was still in green status. “Very much ready, are you wanting to deploy?”

  “Prep it for recording. This might be important.”

  Aaron hit the recording r
elay and gave Rand the signal.

  “This is Randall Welsch. Current commander of BNS 7727. My crew and I ran into a Reticulan scout. Crew was killed. Ship is heavily damaged and I am being pursued. Do not attempt to rescue. One of the crew members was resistant to mind control. Perry LaForge. Research his synaptic patterns. Scout closing in. Launching buoy.”

  Rand shook his finger forward and Aaron launched the buoy in the general direction of Republic space.

  “That was dirty, Boss,” said Mitchell.

  “Gives us an edge all around, if they find the buoy they’ll think we’re destroyed; and with the Reticulii suspicious, the Republic fleet will stay concentrated where they are instead of fanning out for us. Or let’s hope.”

  “Either way, when the Reticulans find that ship, it’s going to raise their tiny hairless eyebrows.”

  Rand wanted to get back to their scheduled routine. All of them couldn’t stay up forever.

  “So, who was minding the shop?”

  Aaron and Mitchell looked at each other in doubt for just a few seconds.

  “I was going on break,” said Mitchell.

  “Is that right Aaron?” asked Rand.

  “Yes, it is my turn,” Aaron insisted.

  “Don’t hit anything,” Rand said. “Mitch, lets take a break.”

  Rand parted with Mitchell and went then went their own ways. Rand returned to his quarters. Kicked his boots off and fell onto the bed.

  He reached over his night stand and grabbed his ledger and the blue pen borrowed from Remke.

  Rand took a deep breath, paused and exhaled.

  Earthdate: July 24, 2312

  I’m not sure where to start. I will try from the beginning.

  The last several days are divided into three or four parts.

  We arrived at Al Nair searching for a place to replenish our water reserves. In doing so, we managed to destroy an early post that was transformed into a small ship maintenance facility.

  Then trapped by blisters while seeking refuge at a monastery.

  Met colorful characters then escaped.

  Only to be forced in to Reticuli space.

  Where once again, we barely managed to escape.

  Starting to think it is a running theme.

  Let’s see, what am I missing?

  Serena’s going to get a big gift

  Mitchell falls in love with a guy. Laughed my lungs out