by Ben Bequer
Steam exploded out of a dozen exhaust hatches venting heat from the engine, adding to the smoke and dust raised up by the engines. The rocket was so obscured that I could only hear the access hatch lower, and I was only a few yards away,
The smoke drifted enough for me to see Cool Hand Luke coming down the stairs to meet me with a big smile.
As I neared, it was clear something was wrong with the Rocket Flyer. Black smoke erupted from a pair of deep scratch marks on the fuselage. The damage was vast, along the whole side of the ship, making me wonder how the rocket continued to function at all.
“There he is,” Cool said walking up to me and matching my embrace. “No hard feelings that we jetted, right?”
“None, man. Good to see we all got away.”
“Holy shit, B!” Cool said as Apogee left the motel room in her costume and strolled over.
“You hooked up even. Dude!”
He slapped my shoulder.
Apogee walked up to the stairs leading into the Rocket’s landing platform and ignored Cool Hand as she spoke to me in an almost robotic voice, “Inside?”
I nodded and she went up the ramp.
Cool’s mouth was agape in wonder, and for the first time in his life, words eluded him.
***
Once aboard, Cool secured the hatch and the rocket took off, leaving our motel behind. I came up to the control center, with Apogee and Cool Hand in tow and there I found Mr. Haha piloting the Rocket Flyer, with Dr. Zundergrub sitting close by.
“So you are alive,” Zundergrub said, not bothering to get up to shake hands. “I owe you one dollar, Mr. Haha.”
Haha rotated his head 180 degrees to face me and Apogee while still staying at the helm of the ship.
“I knew we’d see you again, old boy,” the robot said with an exaggerated English accent. “Job well done. ‘pon my soul.”
“The Tesla device?” I asked, noticing a look of wonder on Apogee’s face that I think the other’s missed.
“Safely aboard,” Haha responded.
Zundergrub ogled Apogee hungrily. She was still play-acting the mind-control, and I did nothing to ruin her efforts. In fact, if Zundergrub’s original mind job had faded, I didn’t care. Something was keeping her close, and I was ok with that. There was another reason why I didn’t blow her cover; because fuck Zundergrub, that’s why.
“Interesting,” he said, circling her, while she seemed not to notice.
“I don’t know what you did to her, Zundergrub, but it’s probably a better idea to drop her off somewhere and forget about her.”
He looked at me, a faint smile crossing his face.
“We’re at twenty thousand feet and rising, Blackjack,” Mr. Haha interjected. “Perhaps the inertial dampeners are fooling you, but a fall from this altitude would probably kill her.”
“I meant land somewhere and get rid of her.”
“Why get rid of her?” Zundergrub wondered softly, standing behind her and studying her form.
“I’m with Blackjack on this,” Cool shot in. “The last thing we want is for her to go all crazy on us when we’re in the middle of something.”
“Turn around,” Zundergrub commanded her, and she whirled to face him. His smile widened as he examined every inch of her body. Some inches more than others.
Then I saw him do his mind thing. I had seen it twice before, once while under its effect, and the second in New York City after the fight, but neither time had I gotten a good look at him while it was happening. His eyes flashed, as if darkness swallowed them and spit them back from the abyss, in a horrifying pulsing fashion. I was behind her, and saw her back muscles tense as she fought it.
“Enough, Zundergrub,” I said, wedging myself between them. “No more games. We don’t need a hostage, and she’s no use to us.”
He had to step back to avoid me, and while I was much taller and glowering, I actually felt a pang in my throat, as he merely smiled and cocked his head sideways.
“What do you care what I do with her?” he laughed. “If you’ve had your fill with her, it’s not my concern.
“I didn’t do anything to her, ok?” I said. “I tried to get rid of her but because of you, she was glued to me.”
“You should be thanking me then, for the lovely company on your escape.”
“Thanks. Is that what you want to hear?”
“Yo, Z,” Cool hand shot in. “I think Blackjack is right.”
“If I wanted your opinion,” Zundergrub said, “I would most certainly ask you for it. But I haven’t.”
“Well, then let’s take a vote. What do you say, Haha?” Cool conceded.
“No vote,” I shouted. “We drop her off at the nearest stop.”
“And if I disagree?” Zundergrub said and his imps became agitated, preparing for combat.
“Then you better hope that mind trick you have works faster than I can tear fucking your head off.”
Zundergrub’s imps recoiled, cowering behind him, but he wasn’t fazed by my threat. To his credit, he stood his ground.
“I wonder,” he said staring at me, but Cool Hand interceded.
“Hey, enough of this crap, ok? We’re in a space ship going, like, Mach one thousand. Did either of you think of that? God, I hate fucking supergroups. This shit’s always the same. Starts with everyone chugging on each other’s cock, and it ends with one guy raping the other guy’s mom over his casket at the funeral.”
“I hate to interrupt,” Haha said, his calm voice breaking the tension. “But I’m afraid that our present course won’t allow us to ‘drop her off’ anywhere soon.”
“What’s our course?” I asked.
Haha pointed out the rocket’s enormous view screen. We had left the Earth’s orbit, and were headed at high speed towards the pitted surface of the Moon.
***
I left the control center and went upstairs to my room. Tiny as it was, it afforded me the only privacy on the ship. Apogee came with me, but after a few steps, she doubled over, fighting the urge to retch, her breaths becoming labored gasps.
“Is she ok?” Cool Hand said. I hadn’t even noticed him following.
I held her up and felt her cold skin, saw her face pale.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, but she shook her head and buried her face into my shoulder. I picked her up and carried her up the stairs to my room and lay her on the bed, where she gasped for air.
“Water!” I yelled and Cool Hand blinked out of existence, returning in an instant with bottle of water. I dribbled some water into her mouth, but she was bent over on herself, her muscles spasming.
“I think she’s gonna puke, man.”
“I’m fine,” she said, as she sat up covering her mouth while letting out a faint belch, but she wasn’t okay by a long shot.
“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” I snapped at Cool Hand.
“Me? Naw. I’m cool. Hey, you want a bucket or something?”
She waved him off. “I haven’t puked since 1997, sophomore year at University of Florida. Not going to now.”
“Shit,” Cool said. “This chick is cool!”
“Excuse me,” she said smiling and belching a few more times. “It’s pretty bad.”
“By the way, this is Cool Hand Luke.”
She extended her hand, which he shook. “Formerly Nuclear Ketchup, right?”
“Yeah, but I’ve had like four names since.”
“Well, it’s a pleasure. Sort of.”
Cool inched closer to me. “So B, no…” He made a sexual motion with his shoulder and arm, but I shook my head, which crushed him.
Apogee laughed. “Actually, he was an absolute gentleman.”
“I would’ve been a gentleman too,” Cool began. “But then I would’ve eaten you out like a papaya. All slobbery and shit. Man, I need to get laid. I can’t even get laid viccarily through my friends.” He slapped me.
“Vicariously,” she corrected.
“Bro,” he whispered to me, but too loud f
or Apogee not to hear. “You’re not gay, right?”
My murderous look wasn’t enough of a reply, nor did it deter him.
“Because first you don’t bang Influx, and now you don’t tag a mind-controlled chick of all fucking things. I mean, look at this chick’s titties. I would’ve spent like an hour on the right one. Investigating’ all the nerve endings and shit. No offense, by the way.”
“None taken,” she said. “What about Influx? Where is she? I didn’t see her in New York.”
“She’s gone,” Cool said slumping on a chair. “We lost her in Germany.”
“Gone as in dead?”
He nodded.
“And B here was making all the moves. It was kinda cute, you know? Like some cheesy romantic movie from the eighties or something. They made a cute couple.”
I noticed Apogee was staring at me at the mention of the budding relationship with Influx. Could she be jealous? Truth was, both women were attractive and shared a strong personality, but otherwise, they were as different as night and day. Influx was impetuous and exuberant, willful and commanding, but curious and free. Apogee was more wise and judgmental than Influx, but also more of a woman.
More of a challenge.
“See, when you connect with someone, you have to go for it.” Cool slapped my shoulder. “Cause you never know.”
“How did she die?”
“We can’t say,” I answered for Cool, who was on the verge of giving the whole thing away, but he jumped in anyway.
“Sure we can say,” he said. “We were in Germany, ok? Super-secret mission for Doctor R.”
“Retcon,” she interrupted, excited at the prospect of finally confirming it. “Doctor Retcon, you mean.”
“Yeah, same guy,” Cool said, winning me a contemptuous stare from Apogee. “Anyway, we go steal a book from some old super. What was his name? Sleepy or something?”
“Shivvers,” I corrected.
“Gentleman Shivvers?” Apogee asked.
“That’s the guy,” Cool confirmed and continued. “You heard this story? No? Because I hate telling a story that everyone knows. See, I was all fucked up from the LA fight, so I heard this shit after the fact from Mr. Haha. So they go in and this Shivvers guy kills Influx with a magical knife that cuts through her Class-A super skin like if it was butter. And that was that,” he said, turning somber, play-acting the story, but his performance was poor. “Our leader was gone. She died in B’s arms here.”
I could feel her stare, but I looked at the metal plates on the deck, avoiding her.
“My God.”
“Yeah,” Cool Hand went on. “And she was real sexy you know? B, it’s cool if I talk about this, right?”
“I guess,” I said but I wanted him to shut the hell up, to leave me and Apogee alone. I didn’t want to be reminded of how I had failed Influx, how she had died. The life slowly fading from her eyes, while I watched, unable to save her.
“I mean, she’s your girlfriend so it’s cool, right?” he said, motioning to Apogee.
I laughed. “Apogee’s not my girlfriend, man. She wants to kill me.”
“Well, that’s how love starts, sometimes. You guys make a cute couple too. Like me and my last girl until she decided to bang my buddy Lawrence. Anyway, I wish I had been there in Germany to watch your back,” he said.
“I’m sorry, Blackjack,” she said.
“Cool is making more of it than it was.”
“Yeah, but she was all over you man. You could see it in the way she looked at you. If that shit didn’t happen, we’d be talking wedding bells or something.”
Cool stood and made it to the door. “Anyway, we’re going to the moon to meet Nostromo and that other dude.”
“What?”
“Yeah, we got another message from Retcon. Well, we got it with the other ones, but dickhead Haha didn’t want to show it to us before. ‘Too much information to process or some shit.”
“Nostromo’s going to rip you punks apart…“ Apogee laughed.
“No, no, no,” he interjected. “He’s totally cool with Retcon. It was all in the message, but I forgot it. I think we have to fight some defenses or something in the citadel. But then everything will be cool. Whatever, we’ll be there soon.”
I pulled out the message that Retcon had dropped off in our hotel room and showed it to Cool Hand.
“There’s also this. Looks like coordinates on a map.”
Cool took the paper and looked at both sides, nonplussed by the numbers.
“Sweet, another mission. We keep knocking these out, I’m gonna buy me an island on the Caribbean. I’ll give this to Haha so he can figure it out. Alright you two lovebirds, I’ll leave you to it.” He leaned forward to me and whispered in what amounted to normal speaking volume. “Dude, hit that shit.”
“Ahem,” she said.
“Yeah,” he stammered to cover. “I’m trying to get the ball rolling, you know? I’m gonna head up and make some of my world famous chili for when you guys are done. Then I’ll tell you all about the alien we saw on Calypso. Badass true story.”
And he was gone.
“I think he meant Callisto,” I said and took off the belt and harness. I tossed them on the table with my quiver and other items which the guys had apparently recovered from the New Yorker Hotel fight. I sat back on the chair and leaned back, stretching to the fullest of my ability. I lifted my shirt and scraped off my stomach the last bits of the dark gray hardened goo.
“So you and Influx, huh?”
“Nothing happened.”
“He seems to think it did.”
I smiled. “He thinks you and I did it too.”
“Did you care for her?”
I stopped picking at the scab and nodded.
“I knew her from a long time ago” Apogee said. “Actually went up against her once. Like two years ago. She was Moonglow then. Her and Death Blossom, Kamikazee and Seppuku.”
“Alone?”
“Oh God, no. I was with Mirage, Pulsewave, Matchstick and Steeltoe.”
“The Revolution.”
“Yeah,” Apogee said, lost in the memories of the group. “She was tough,” she finally added. “And really pretty.”
An odd silence followed. She probably thought of The Revolution, reflecting on Pulsewave’s death, her difficulty with Steeltoe and Matchstick. My mind drifted to Influx, her striking face, immaculate skin, graceful demeanor, and tantalizing eyes, the pleading desperation of her final moments.
“Before I forget, thank you for saving me from Zundergrub,” she said, lifting me from my reverie.
“Don’t mention it,” I said, going back to peeling the gray/black scabs from my skin.
“That’s going to take you forever,” she said.
“It’s itching like crazy.”
Apogee walked over to me and knelt between my legs, slapping my hands away.
“You need nails for a job like this,” she said and took off one of her gloves, leaning her chest on my pelvis and her elbows on my thighs, filling my lower body with her warmth. Her breasts pressed against the insides of my legs and crotch and I could feel the beating of her heart, and her slow, rhythmic breathing.
“Man, you should see your face,” she said, with an amused expression.
Apogees’ fingers were a blur, as she engaged her speed power and her flicking fingers ripped the material off my skin, but I flinched from how ticklish it was.
“Quit fidgeting,” she snapped, but her touch was both tingly and titillating. Feeling her pressed against me was overwhelming all my senses. I had to fight a natural tendency to bring her closer and kiss her, to take her to the bed and make love to her.
“If Cool Hand comes in now,” I started, with a bit of a nervous tone in my voice, “you’ll totally be validating what he-“
I bellowed in pain as she ripped off the last bit.
“That hurt.”
Apogee put her hands on my thighs and used them as a crutch to stand up, grasping my legs
too close to my pelvis, firing a shiver through my groin and up my back.
She looked at her handy work and then up at my face, with a demure smile still on her face. I almost reached out to her.
“All done,” she said and went back to the bed. “I’m going to take a quick nap.” She lay down, turned away from me, covered with a skimpy blanket. The blanket outlined her shapely figure. I guess the quiet of the room startled her, so she turned and looked at me. The way she twisted her body, the outline of her form was both alluring and tempting.
“You can breathe now,” she said, not even bothering to turn around.
***
We met in the lounge thirty minutes later to talk, plan and catch up. I asked Apogee to wait in our room, but she insisted on coming, so I asked her to stay in the command center outside the lounge, which doubled as our mess and briefing room.
Cool Hand’s chili was surprisingly good, and I cleared three bowls of the stuff. Zundergrub sat across from me but abstained. I noticed that he avoided looking at me, instead concentrating on Mr. Haha’s presentation on the large monitor.
On the screen was a decades-old picture of Nostromo’s moon base. It was a tall stone spire designed as a replica of the legendary Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. The tower was designed in three stages in its entirety, over ten times the size of the original, and over a mile in height overall. Its base was lower square structure, perhaps fifty or so stories, with a central core. Above that was an octagonal open platform, with eight massive Greco-Roman columns. At the top was an enclosed circular section. And at its apex was positioned a mirror, which reflected sunlight during the moon’s day, reminding everyone on Earth that Nostromo watched over them all.
Haha changed the monitor so we could see a live view from the onboard cameras. He zoomed in capturing its full grandeur, despite the limited lighting, and how impressive it was. I could only think of what the Greeks accomplished thousands of years ago.
“Good, isn’t it?” Cool Hand asked, shoveling the last vestiges of his chili bowl into his mouth.
“Not bad,” I told him, finishing my third bowl.