“What do you mean, through the dome?” she asked, her voice rising in alarm.
“Hang on back there!” Alfred yelled behind him to where the four-armed man and Jericho had taken seats.
Alfred pushed three different buttons, and then proceeded to force the lever farther up. He felt his body get thrown back in his seat as the spaceship blasted upwards in elevation even faster. The glass of the dome was quickly approaching and Alfred had a front row seat of it. Meters before the ship was about to meet the dome, Alfred pushed the lever even further up, and the ship thrusted forward- smashing through the glass. The hull of Alfred’s ship was now badly broken, however no one was aware of that because everyone in the control room were now screaming in joy that they had somehow survived.
“Hell yeah! That’s what I’m talkin’ ‘bout!” the four-armed man stood up and double fist-pumped the air with two of his arms. Then with the other two he raised his gun above his head and fired five rounds into the ceiling. A bullet ricocheted and hit the dash near Alfred.
“Hey easy back there, buddy. There’s no reason to shoot a gun on this ship.” Alfred turned and spoke to the man behind him as the ship continued forward into space, now controlled by Henry.
Just then another bullet bounced against the metal on the interior of the ship and whizzed past Marcie’s hair. Two guards had somehow managed to make it on board, and they were firing rounds at the fugitives. Alfred tried to think of something to do, but before he could, the old man Jericho pulled out a stylish energy revolver and blasted three rounds directly into the forehead of the first guard. The bullet holes singed and smoke whispered out of his forehead. Alfred had a lot of experience with energy guns himself; they were a common weapon amongst those who required protection in the Universe.
The first guard’s body dropped, and Alfred watched as the four-armed man grabbed an overhead pipe with two of his arms and then swung down onto the shoulders of the second guard. The guard looked up in surprise and tried to shoot, but was too late. The veins in the creature’s muscular arms enlarged as he jammed the barrel of his gun into the forehead of the guard. Alfred cringed as he saw it break through the man’s flesh, and couldn’t imagine how strong the creature must be to be able to shove something through a man’s skull. The creature pulled the trigger and three bullets rained out the backside of the guard’s head.
Alfred thought he might throw up at the sight of it. He was beginning to taste his own saliva, and that almost always meant he was about to throw up.
“Seems like that, was a pretty good reason to shoot a gun on the ship.” the four-armed man pointed out with a smirk.
Jericho simply laughed and nodded his head, and Alfred noticed he had his gray facial hair braided into two long strands with bands going all the way down each one of them. Alfred swallowed the spit in his mouth and took a deep breath. He felt a little less nauseous.
“Good job boys, and you too pilot.” Marcie looked to her companions and then glanced at Alfred as she spoke.
“Hey no problem, what did I tell ya?” Alfred replied.
“Yeah yeah, so tell me- what’s a young guy like you doing on an intergalactic lonely-hearts cruise? Have trouble getting the ladies?” she revealed a somewhat awkward laugh as she spoke.
Alfred took a moment before replying so that he could lower the lever that controlled the thrust of the ship. The spacecraft wasn’t heading anywhere in particular. The temperature onboard had now increased by twenty or so degrees, due to part of the exhaust system getting destroyed when the ship had crashed through the dome. Alfred, feeling warm, unzipped his leather jacket and tossed it over his chair. The amulet necklace swung down around his neck overtop of his plaid shirt.
“Well, not that it’s any business of yours but seeing as how you kind of helped me escape back there, I guess I’ll let you in on a little secret.”
“A secret?” Marcie didn’t seem interested, and still hadn’t looked over at Alfred.
“That’s right. I’m a Rift Resolver. I just got done securing an important artifact, and I was laying low on that crui-” Marcie stood up out of her chair as she interrupted Alfred’s explanation.
“You, you’re a Rift Revolver?” she asked, shocked.
“Well yeah, why so surprised?” Alfred laughed.
“It’s just I’ve only ever heard of them. Members of a secret society who absolve eddies and lapses in time in order to keep the Universe in proper working order. That’s you?”
“Wow, you chock it up to be a whole lot more than most people. Maybe I’m cooler than I think.” Alfred joked.
Marcie’s eyes now dropped to Alfred’s chest, where she saw something she never in a million years would have expected to see.
“Is-is..that? Could it really be?! GOSIA’S AMULET?” she shouted out in disbelief.
Jericho and the four-armed man stepped forward to look for themselves. Alfred attempted to cross his arms over his chest before they could see, but it was too late.
“My Goddamned Galaxies, it is Gosia’s Amulet! Give it up now, Rift boy!” Jericho spoke up and once again raised his gun to point at Alfred.
“Gosia’s Amulet? GOSIA’s Amulet? GOSIA’S AMULET!” the four-armed man began to jump up and down, screaming in excitement as he pounded his fists like an animal against the floor.
“Everybody just calm down now.” Alfred began, standing up and putting his arms above his head. There were now two guns being pointed at him. “Yes, it is the amulet. However, I must return this to the god Gosia soon, otherwise there’s going to be a lot of drastic changes occurring throughout the Universe.”
“Too bad.” Marcie began, she extended her arm, making some sort of movement which forced a sharp blade to slide out of the end. She took her bladed arm and sliced the leather necklace clean off of Alfred, and grabbed it with her other hand before it could fall to the floor. “Rumor had it that someone on that ship was in possession of the Amulet. Who would have thought that the man who helped save us would turn out to be in possession of the very item we were hired to steal!”
“Ha ha! Yes, yes- now that we have the Amulet we should get back to the boss as soon as possible. He will be pleased with your work.” Jericho advised Marcie.
“Of course. Tie him up Fusnic, and calm down- quit pounding the floor.” Marcie ordered the four-armed man.
Fusnic continued to pound the ground and Alfred saw what looked to be foam frothing out of his mouth.
“Give me the AMULET! I must have its powers. I MUST!” Fusnic charged in a furious rage towards Marcie, who quickly tossed the necklace in the air over to Jericho.
Jericho caught it instinctively then yelled out, “What the hell did you do that for? Now he’s coming for me!”
The old man tried to pull his gun from where it was strung over his shoulder, but Fusnic had turned and was now approaching fast. Jericho must have decided he wouldn’t have had enough time to shoot, so he jumped and slid down the ladder in the control room- leading back near the entry hatch. Alfred was impressed that the old man could move so quickly for his age. Thinking he better do something before this all turned out very bad, Alfred took the moment while Marcie was distracted and brought his elbow down hard on top of her head. She began to fall, unconscious, but Alfred caught her body and sat her down in a chair.
“Sorry...sorry! You’re really hot by the way. Okay good talk.” he apologized to the passed-out girl as he ran by her.
Alfred headed for the ladder where Fusnic had just leaped down to chase after Jericho. Now all three of them were in the entry bay of the ship. Alfred watched, slightly in horror, as he saw the old man clinging to the side of the hatch door, which had been opened by Fusnic. The same hand that clung for his life also held the amulet necklace in its grip. Alfred couldn’t move any closer or he’d get sucked out of the ship with the blasting air that was caused by the open hatch. Fusnic was gripping a different overhanging pipe with each arm. He moved forward easily, grasping one pole then the next as if he were
on a playground. Soon enough he was right above Jericho’s hand.
“You foolish beast! We could have all just shared the Amulet’s powers; you would have gotten your body back to normal had you been patient!” the old man yelled through the blasting air being sucked out of the moving ship.
“The Amulet or you die.” Fusnic hissed through clenched teeth.
“Then death it’ll be. Damn you to hell beast!” he shouted while simultaneously letting go of the side wall- getting sucked into space with the Amulet still in his grip.
“No! You didn’t have to-” Alfred’s cries cut short as he watched Fusnic release his grip on the bars to go after the Amulet and get blasted out of the ship as well.
Alfred carefully edged along the side of the wall until he reached a button and clicked it to close the hatch.
“What a mess. It’ll probably make my job easier though. Still, they didn’t have to die.” Alfred spoke to himself as he climbed back up the ladder to the main control room.
He rolled up the sleeves of his shirt as he sat back in the pilot’s seat. Beside him Marcie still remained unconscious. Alfred took a moment to strap her safety belts in a way that she would be constrained when she woke. Then he looked to Henry who still sat in the cupholder.
“Sir?” Henry asked, sounding uncertain.
“To Jenni’s Roller-Rink, just above the planet Cistron.”
“You got it sir!” Henry could hear the confidence in his companion’s voice returning, and this cheered him up. The egg flashed gold lights around the room and the damaged ship took off at high speed into deep space.
4 Tea-bot
Alfred could feel his eyes growing heavier each time he closed them to blink. Just as he was beginning to drift into a light sleep, he woke with a start as Marcie shouted beside him.
“Hey what...where... YOU HIT ME IN THE HEAD!” Marcie seemed confused at first but her eyes lit up with rage when she saw Alfred. She struggled against the straps that Alfred had fashioned to keep her from getting out of the chair.
“Yes, and I’m very sorry about that. But hey, at least you’re not dead like those other guys!” Alfred joked.
Marcie’s eyes widened in shock as she proclaimed, “Dead? What do you mean dead? Where’s Fusnic and Jericho?”
Alfred realized that was probably the worst way ever to tell someone their two companions had just died. Oh well, he thought, they did all try to steal the crystal and kill me- must be karma.
“Yeah those guys...Yup they’re dead all right. The old man got sucked into space and the crazy four-armed thing jumped out after him. Forgot you were on their side for a sec.” he added nonchalantly.
When Alfred finished speaking Marcie took a deep breath before she replied.
“But how could you let the Amulet get lost, didn’t you need to return it so that the Universe continued to flow as normal? I don’t understand.”
“Well, you guys were more knowledgeable than I thought you’d be on precious universal artifacts, but you got one minor little detail mixed up. Or hey, maybe I just have the inside scoop!” Alfred smiled to himself. He liked to feel important.
“And what’s that?” Marcie asked, more curious now than anything.
Henry joined the conversation, “It’s Gosia’s Crystal that is the actual artifact. The amulet is simply a placeholder for it to sit on. It is a shame though, that amulet was made from Rodinium, an incredibly rare ore that we could have sold for enough currency to fix the major damages on this spacecraft.”
“First of all, why is that egg talking? And second, I assume that means you have the crystal still, and let my greedy gunmen die over essentially nothing?” Marcie asked, no emotion in her tone.
“Well I couldn’t really have saved them without getting sucked out myself. So yeah, that about sums it up. And oh, that’s Henry. He’s the one steering the ship and also the one who just now mentioned the fact that it has major damages.” Alfred replied, glaring at the egg which lit up a moment later as if in spite.
“Well I’m not that mad, those two idiots were just going to get in my way. Surprised they didn’t get themselves killed before this to be honest. I was planning on double-crossing them once I had the amulet, I mean crystal, anyway.”
“That’s pretty heartless,” Alfred laughed, “so what’s your story?”
“Pardon me! Pardon me, before you begin your story Miss Marcie, I’d like to make you both aware that I have located the kitchen-robot staff members, and one is still functional. Tea-Bot is on its way to assist you with your beverage needs!” Henry interrupted.
“That’s great Henry.” Alfred returned sarcastically.
A strange shuffling noise could be heard from farther away in the ship. Marcie and Alfred exchanged a suspicious look, but dismissed it to being whatever Henry was talking about.
“Well technically I’m working for my boss, a man by the name of Sham-Bon. He is the current head of the Huck Family, in other words a king on my planet. But the royal family has very little legitimate influence on the politics of Hemphion, and Sham-Bon is out to change that. Our job was to steal Gosia’s Crystal. He claimed he could use it to save our planet from its sun- which is believed to be dying out and will explode in a matter of years. Well, the king somehow came to learn that the Crystal was somewhere in an underwater cavern-maze on the planet Zuptraph. So he sends a group of his men to find it, but apparently just as they reached the center of the maze, they looked up to see someone else swimming away with it. They chased after him but he disappeared in a flash of light.”
“Did they mention anything about him being extraordinarily handsome?” Alfred butted in.
“I realize now it was you. So Sham-Bon, who also happens to be the man that helped me to survive once my parents died, hires me to retrieve the Crystal for him. He received a tip that a man with a strange knife had checked into a nearby space cruise, and I guess he must have assumed it was a member of the Rift Society who had taken the crystal from the maze. But he didn’t tell us that part.”
“And what made you qualified to steal a universal artifact from a Rift Resolver?”
“Sham-Bon paid for me to have the very best training.” Marcie replied coolly.
“Training in what?” Alfred asked, curious.
“I’m the best assassin this side of the galaxy.”
“HAHA, you? An assassin?” Alfred was grabbing his waist with his arm, bent over in his chair laughing hysterically.
“Why the hell is that so hard to believe?” asked Marcie, quite visibly pissed off.
“Well it’s just I sorta knocked you out really easily.” Alfred said, rubbing the back of his head.
“Whatever. Anyway, Sham-Bon claimed he was stealing the Crystal in order to get Hemphion a new sun. But overtime I’ve begun to see signs of much darker intentions, such as conquering other planets and expanding the rule of the Huck Family even further. So I decided to continue to play along and I was go-”
“You were going to steal it and use it to save Hemphion yourself, because you don’t trust this Sham-Bon guy.”
“That’s right.” she replied, her eyes sincere. “I don’t know exactly what he plans on doing with the Crystal of Gosia if he gets his hands on it, but I know it won’t be good. I don’t even know if he seriously intends on trying to save Hemphion or not. That’s why you have to tell me where it is. The people throughout the rural villages of my planet are all that’s left besides the Huck Family. Parliament declared an official evacuation years ago and most everyone in the major cities fled to far-off planets. It’s too late for my people to leave now, they won’t be able to get out of the radius of the sun’s effects in time. Besides, most villages have even begun to put their faith in the king, seeing no other sign of hope. My village alone still stands against him.”
“Well, and no offense, I’m not going to tell you where the crystal is- but maybe we can work something out. Believe it or not, I’m actually not a huge fan of evil kings and exploding planets myself.�
� Alfred rubbed his bare chin as if he had a beard and was thinking something over.
The shuffling noise in the background was growing steadily louder, but still sounded far-off in the ship.
“I can’t negotiate this. I must return with the crystal.” Marcie looked steadily at Alfred with her emerald eyes.
“You’re not really in a place to negotiate.” Alfred began, pointing at how her arms were strapped to the chair she sat in. “But tell you what, you help me out on a couple little errands I have to run, and when I return the Crystal to Gosia I’ll have him use his power to save Hemphion. Deal? Whaddya say?”
“And you expect me to believe that a God is just going to do you a favor?” Marcie asked in disbelief.
“Well yeah. I’m a Rift Resolver. I’m doing Gosia a favor by retrieving his crystal, and in return he can do me the favor of creating a new sun for your world. Plus, he hasn’t had the full extent of his powers without the crystal- so I know he’ll be wanting it back pretty bad. I’m a universal problem-solver remember? Besides, me and Gosia have met a few times before.”
“You’re friends with a God? You’re only like twenty-something.”
“Haha, you’re too kind sweetheart. Rift Resolvers travel all throughout space and time, my dear Marcie. I think the last time I added it all up I came out to be around five hundred and thirty one years old. But yes, if we’re talking about my body’s age I’m twenty-two. So what do you say, you help me and I help you?”
Marcie continued to look somewhat stunned, but she must have believed Alfred for she said, “Deal. And I’m calling you Al from now on.”
Alfred just sat back in his chair and offered her a smile.
“Where are we headed anyway?” Marcie asked, smiling back slightly.
“Jenni’s Roller-Rink!” Henry answered in delight.
“Roller-Rink, what? Why?”
Al Moreno And the Crystal of Gosia Page 3