A chapter of the science fiction novel in blog form. In this chapter, Tom is forced to join the pirates.
"Just shoot the dog,"
Stone's words were like a hit in the stomach. Tom loved Ollie. He could not shoot him; Ollie had saved his life in sickbay, and they had been through so much together. Ollie was his only friend.
Tom looked down at the gun by his feet. He recognized it! It was Roger’s old patched taser with the defective power light. He realized the Captain meant to give him a gun that did not work; he would not trust Tom with a “live weapon.” Only Tom knew the powerful weapon was fully charged.
Leaning over slowly Tom reached for the gun, it was heavy and he almost dropped it. The grip was cold but nestled into his hand like it belonged there. He felt that he was doing something wrong. As he stood he slowly raised his arm and pointed the gun. He could not shoot Ollie.
The Captain remained standing in the center of the room; he was laughing so hard that spit sprayed out of his mouth. It looked like runny toothpaste on his short black beard.
Whitey leaned against the wall with his hand up in a closed “Hold Still,” signal to his crouching men. He silently watched, studying the reactions of the men and Stone.
Tom pointed the gun at the Captain. Around the room, men were moaning and cursing. One man was crawling on all fours, and in a dazed confusion went straight into a wall. The Captain took a step forward. Tom waited, he was out of ideas and kept the gun pointed at the laughing pirate. He stared at the man in disbelief. ‘How could this Captain stand there and laugh while his men were hurt?’
“Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!” The Captain’s laughter was like a drum “Oh, Kid that is good. Go ahead, zap me too. I have not had such a good laugh in days. The Jokes on us Ha! Ha!” He pushed up the eye patch and whipped tears from both his eyes. “Ha.” A man was trying to get up next to him but the Captain pushed him back over with his foot.
Whitey with a long cat-like stride swung between Stone and the boy. He shoved a table with one hand and held the red book in the other. Turning his back to Tom and the tazer Whitey faced the Captain across the table. Keeping his eyes on the Captain he placed the red book on the table.
“Thank you.” Spoke the book.
"Captain, the articles also say a ‘man may join by a test of combat.’”
“Page twenty-eight, paragraph two,” Interrupted the book.
Whitey leaned over and placed his big hands on the table, his icy gray eyes meeting the Captain’s black eyes. “I think a kid who can single-handedly clean the floor of your officers and crew deserved to be in”
“Sure, Whitey.” The Captain said as if he never cared. “Sign him on. I need a cabin boy, he’ll do just fine.”
Whitey turned to face Tom. Tom raised the gun and pointed it at Whitey’s chest. Tom thought he looked like a starved Viking; the bones in his cheeks and face were so sharp.
Whitey, with a blur of his arm and the swift smoothness of a bird of prey, snatched the taser out of Tom's hand. Defiantly he held up the gun for the men lying on the floor and under tables to see, and with half-closed eyes over his shoulder said, “O.K. Boys and girls it is all right to come out and play.”
Stone's vanity would not allow anyone to out-do him. His lips curled back. He glared at Whitey with molten hatred. “Sign the book, boy,” He growled.
“No!” Tom said defiantly. “I won’t sign. I will not join your stupid little gang of bullies."
The Captain reached into his black knee high boot. He pulled out a long knife. It was the most frightening thing Tom had seen so far. "Sign the book or I will slice off your pretty hand and sign it with your thumbprint," He yelled.
Whitey lunged at Tom and grabbed his wrist. With one jerk he brought Tom to the table. The book lay open, its pages full of signatures and thumbprints.
“Let go, you bone man! Let go of me! Let go.” Tom was fighting with all of his might. He was kicking and pounding with his free hand, but Whitey just stood there taking the blows as if he didn’t feel them. With expert ease, Whitey spun him around and held him from behind.
It took two men to hold Ollie back. He was barking and growling; his curled lips showing long blood smeared teeth and fangs.
Whitey smashed Tom’s thumb onto the page. A gray image of the thumbprint appeared. “Hey," yelled the book, “not so hard. I’m an original.”
“You made me do it,” Tom yelled, “It doesn’t count. You forced me.”
“Hey, you still need to sign.” Said the book. “Or enter the name of two witnesses.”
“No! No, I won’t sign.” Shouted Tom.
Captain Stone laughed. I will sign on your behalf. Who is going to sing as the second witness, how about you, Lieutenant Ratts?”
Lieutenant Ratts was one of the men Tom shot; he was sitting on the floor holding his robotic hand to his chest, thin threads of smoke wafted out of its joints. He was staring at the wall and moaning.
Captain Stone shoved him with his boot. Then took an electronic metal pen and wrote the names of Lieutenant Professor Ratts, and his own name in the book then threw the pen down on the book.
“Hey, that was not called for!” The book complained.
The Captain turned to Tom and said. “Kid, I rule a disciplined crew. Remember that. You’re my cabin boy now. When you are not serving me you report to the engine crew with the good Professor here.” He shoved Ratts with his boot again. “You shall share his cabin. You understand?”
Tom did not say a thing. He was not going to agree to anything. Tom was tired, he felt beaten and wanted to be alone.
Whitey grabbed Tom’s arm and twisted it behind his back. It hurt. It strained at the elbow. “Say, ‘Yes, my Captain.’” He hissed into Tom’s ear. Tom’s arm ached, and felt like it was slowly being ripped out of its socket; pain went all the way up his shoulder. Ollie was snarling and was pulling himself forward dragging the men who vainly tried to hold him back.
“Yes, my Captain.”
“Someone threw a black space suit on the table. It had skull and crossbones on the left side of the chest. “Put on your new uniform,” Whitey said. With a knife, he slashed the front pocket of Tom’s white space suit. The wires and circuits of the suit’s computer slid half way out. Whitey yanked out the suit's computer and broke the wires that led to the battery pack and life support operation. The suit became shapeless and gray. It slid from Tom's shoulders to his waist. Tom was defeated, he tugged it off. The men snickered. The black pirate’s uniform was long enough for him to grow another foot and a half. The sleeves went far past his hands. Tom felt the pocket for the suit’s computer that would control size, and temperature and even the color but the pocket was empty. He felt the collar. It did have a radio transceiver there.
“Kid,” The Captain growled, “get my officers and me some coffee. Fresh."
Whitey picked up the red book. “You wrote his name down as Tom Snow. I’m changing it. We'll call him Snowman.” He picked up the pen and made the change in the book. “He’s earned it. Does anyone disagree?” His icy gray eyes swept the room; their coldness was a challenge to anyone who opposed him. No one dared to answer.
“Kid,” Captain Stone snarled the word in defiance to Whitey, “be quick with the coffee.”
‘Yes sir.” Tom said softly.
Tom began to shuffle out. He could hardly walk with the oversize suit on. Ollie tore from the men who held him; he bounded across the room and followed behind his boy.
“Snowman.” Whitey’s voice had command in it. Tom stopped.
“Yes, sir.”
"You’re in the brotherhood now. You’re going to need this.” Whitey coiled a belt and holster around the taser gun and tossed it to Tom, who caught it in both hands against his chest.
"And remember where we go you go, where we live you live and where we die you die.”
As Tom left the room he could hear the captain say. “Whitey, do that again and I will have you court-martialed or worst.”
“Do what, my dear Captain?” Whitey’s sarcasm gave vent to his disdain for Stone's vanity and foolishness.
“You opposed me in front of my men. You acted on your own without authority. You acted like you were in command, not me. I won’t have it, I am the Captain. Supreme Commander Graves made you my lieutenant- nothing more, do not forget it.”
Whitey looked around at Stone’s men; some still huddled under tables, many were still dazed by the taser, most were sheepish, some talked to themselves, a few jerked from involuntary ticks, one was trying to catch an invisible insect, and a few men had the glazed over look of someone who had been through too much violence.
“Stone, I wouldn’t worry about impressing your men.”
Stone's hand went for his holster but before he had touched the gun he was looking over Whitey's gun into his gray eyes. Stone didn’t move he just contemplated how fast Whitey was able to draw the gun and aim.
“You are outnumbered, Whitey. My men will not follow you. They will kill you. It takes power to lead. You don’t have power; you have charm, charisma, good looks. Ha. But men follow power. They follow me.”
“You are delusional, Stone. We need to work together. My men and I are trying to get the ship operational but need your computer hackers to help us get into the brain.”
"See men," Stone smiled. "Whitey and his crew are not so hot without our help. Obee, you crap bucket, where are you?"
The fat man crawled out from his hiding place under a table. His face was covered with blood from the dog attack. "I need a medic."
"Ha." Laughed Stone. "Tough one that, we do not have any medic on board. You are almost in the ship's brain right?"
"No, no. I need a three-dimensional password or code. It will take time and I can't work if I bleed to death. I need a medic."
"I have medical." Whitey sighed at the stupidity of it all, "Come with me. We'll get you fixed up. You are going to have scars. That will be a face no woman can resist."
"Whitey," Stone said. "Get this ship running by 0800. I want to have good news for the Supreme Commander.
Whitey left the room with his two bodyguards. Obee followed; as he stumbled into the corridor he was met by seventy-five of Whitey's men pointing weapons at him.
Bill saluted, "Boss. We monitored everything and thought it would be good to be ready."
"Wasn't needed, but better safe than sorry. Eh, Bill?"
"What happened to him?" Bill nodded at Obee.
A passenger, well really a kid, and a dog were left behind they were hiding in the vents. The dog is big and pretty mean."
"What? You left a kid with Stones gang?"
"Oh, this kid can take care of himself."
(c) Adron
To proceed to the next chapter click here or choose from the table of contents at the sidebar.
Thank you for visiting and reading my blog. I hope you enjoyed it. Please see the sidebar for other chapters, I am sure you will enjoy them too.
Adron
____________________________
Chapter 44,
Tom Is Recruited
Stone's words were like a hit in the stomach. Tom loved Ollie. He could not shoot him; Ollie had saved his life in sickbay, and they had been through so much together. Ollie was his only friend.
Tom looked down at the gun by his feet. He recognized it! It was Roger’s old patched taser with the defective power light. He realized the Captain meant to give him a gun that did not work; he would not trust Tom with a “live weapon.” Only Tom knew the powerful weapon was fully charged.
The men were all grinning. Believing the taser was defective and uncharged they put their weapons away. Tom could see the trust in Ollie’s brown eyes. The men cheered, “Shoot him. Shoot him. Shoot the dog.”
Tom shifted his arm to the right and aimed at one of the men holding Ollie. The man’s eyes grew big and his mouth opened when he saw he was looking directly into the taser. White static flashed. The man flipped backward and crashed on top of another. Tom fired at the other man who jerked up and smashed down on tables which flipped over with a crash. Men dove for cover. Others fought to get out the door. Tom pointed and fired another white streak. The man closest to the door lunged back and tumbled onto others. Again and again, Tom fired until all the men were hiding under tables or groaning on the floor; acting without thinking- point and fire, point and fire. It was exciting and powerful.The Captain remained standing in the center of the room; he was laughing so hard that spit sprayed out of his mouth. It looked like runny toothpaste on his short black beard.
Tom pointed the gun at the Captain. Around the room, men were moaning and cursing. One man was crawling on all fours, and in a dazed confusion went straight into a wall. The Captain took a step forward. Tom waited, he was out of ideas and kept the gun pointed at the laughing pirate. He stared at the man in disbelief. ‘How could this Captain stand there and laugh while his men were hurt?’
“Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!” The Captain’s laughter was like a drum “Oh, Kid that is good. Go ahead, zap me too. I have not had such a good laugh in days. The Jokes on us Ha! Ha!” He pushed up the eye patch and whipped tears from both his eyes. “Ha.” A man was trying to get up next to him but the Captain pushed him back over with his foot.
Whitey with a long cat-like stride swung between Stone and the boy. He shoved a table with one hand and held the red book in the other. Turning his back to Tom and the tazer Whitey faced the Captain across the table. Keeping his eyes on the Captain he placed the red book on the table.
“Thank you.” Spoke the book.
"Captain, the articles also say a ‘man may join by a test of combat.’”
“Page twenty-eight, paragraph two,” Interrupted the book.
Whitey leaned over and placed his big hands on the table, his icy gray eyes meeting the Captain’s black eyes. “I think a kid who can single-handedly clean the floor of your officers and crew deserved to be in”
“Sure, Whitey.” The Captain said as if he never cared. “Sign him on. I need a cabin boy, he’ll do just fine.”
Whitey turned to face Tom. Tom raised the gun and pointed it at Whitey’s chest. Tom thought he looked like a starved Viking; the bones in his cheeks and face were so sharp.
Whitey, with a blur of his arm and the swift smoothness of a bird of prey, snatched the taser out of Tom's hand. Defiantly he held up the gun for the men lying on the floor and under tables to see, and with half-closed eyes over his shoulder said, “O.K. Boys and girls it is all right to come out and play.”
Stone's vanity would not allow anyone to out-do him. His lips curled back. He glared at Whitey with molten hatred. “Sign the book, boy,” He growled.
“No!” Tom said defiantly. “I won’t sign. I will not join your stupid little gang of bullies."
The Captain reached into his black knee high boot. He pulled out a long knife. It was the most frightening thing Tom had seen so far. "Sign the book or I will slice off your pretty hand and sign it with your thumbprint," He yelled.
Whitey lunged at Tom and grabbed his wrist. With one jerk he brought Tom to the table. The book lay open, its pages full of signatures and thumbprints.
“Let go, you bone man! Let go of me! Let go.” Tom was fighting with all of his might. He was kicking and pounding with his free hand, but Whitey just stood there taking the blows as if he didn’t feel them. With expert ease, Whitey spun him around and held him from behind.
It took two men to hold Ollie back. He was barking and growling; his curled lips showing long blood smeared teeth and fangs.
Whitey smashed Tom’s thumb onto the page. A gray image of the thumbprint appeared. “Hey," yelled the book, “not so hard. I’m an original.”
“You made me do it,” Tom yelled, “It doesn’t count. You forced me.”
“Hey, you still need to sign.” Said the book. “Or enter the name of two witnesses.”
“No! No, I won’t sign.” Shouted Tom.
Captain Stone laughed. I will sign on your behalf. Who is going to sing as the second witness, how about you, Lieutenant Ratts?”
Lieutenant Ratts was one of the men Tom shot; he was sitting on the floor holding his robotic hand to his chest, thin threads of smoke wafted out of its joints. He was staring at the wall and moaning.
Captain Stone shoved him with his boot. Then took an electronic metal pen and wrote the names of Lieutenant Professor Ratts, and his own name in the book then threw the pen down on the book.
“Hey, that was not called for!” The book complained.
The Captain turned to Tom and said. “Kid, I rule a disciplined crew. Remember that. You’re my cabin boy now. When you are not serving me you report to the engine crew with the good Professor here.” He shoved Ratts with his boot again. “You shall share his cabin. You understand?”
Tom did not say a thing. He was not going to agree to anything. Tom was tired, he felt beaten and wanted to be alone.
Whitey grabbed Tom’s arm and twisted it behind his back. It hurt. It strained at the elbow. “Say, ‘Yes, my Captain.’” He hissed into Tom’s ear. Tom’s arm ached, and felt like it was slowly being ripped out of its socket; pain went all the way up his shoulder. Ollie was snarling and was pulling himself forward dragging the men who vainly tried to hold him back.
“Yes, my Captain.”
“Someone threw a black space suit on the table. It had skull and crossbones on the left side of the chest. “Put on your new uniform,” Whitey said. With a knife, he slashed the front pocket of Tom’s white space suit. The wires and circuits of the suit’s computer slid half way out. Whitey yanked out the suit's computer and broke the wires that led to the battery pack and life support operation. The suit became shapeless and gray. It slid from Tom's shoulders to his waist. Tom was defeated, he tugged it off. The men snickered. The black pirate’s uniform was long enough for him to grow another foot and a half. The sleeves went far past his hands. Tom felt the pocket for the suit’s computer that would control size, and temperature and even the color but the pocket was empty. He felt the collar. It did have a radio transceiver there.
“Kid,” The Captain growled, “get my officers and me some coffee. Fresh."
Whitey picked up the red book. “You wrote his name down as Tom Snow. I’m changing it. We'll call him Snowman.” He picked up the pen and made the change in the book. “He’s earned it. Does anyone disagree?” His icy gray eyes swept the room; their coldness was a challenge to anyone who opposed him. No one dared to answer.
“Kid,” Captain Stone snarled the word in defiance to Whitey, “be quick with the coffee.”
‘Yes sir.” Tom said softly.
Tom began to shuffle out. He could hardly walk with the oversize suit on. Ollie tore from the men who held him; he bounded across the room and followed behind his boy.
“Snowman.” Whitey’s voice had command in it. Tom stopped.
“Yes, sir.”
"You’re in the brotherhood now. You’re going to need this.” Whitey coiled a belt and holster around the taser gun and tossed it to Tom, who caught it in both hands against his chest.
"And remember where we go you go, where we live you live and where we die you die.”
As Tom left the room he could hear the captain say. “Whitey, do that again and I will have you court-martialed or worst.”
“Do what, my dear Captain?” Whitey’s sarcasm gave vent to his disdain for Stone's vanity and foolishness.
“You opposed me in front of my men. You acted on your own without authority. You acted like you were in command, not me. I won’t have it, I am the Captain. Supreme Commander Graves made you my lieutenant- nothing more, do not forget it.”
Whitey looked around at Stone’s men; some still huddled under tables, many were still dazed by the taser, most were sheepish, some talked to themselves, a few jerked from involuntary ticks, one was trying to catch an invisible insect, and a few men had the glazed over look of someone who had been through too much violence.
“Stone, I wouldn’t worry about impressing your men.”
Stone's hand went for his holster but before he had touched the gun he was looking over Whitey's gun into his gray eyes. Stone didn’t move he just contemplated how fast Whitey was able to draw the gun and aim.
“You are outnumbered, Whitey. My men will not follow you. They will kill you. It takes power to lead. You don’t have power; you have charm, charisma, good looks. Ha. But men follow power. They follow me.”
“You are delusional, Stone. We need to work together. My men and I are trying to get the ship operational but need your computer hackers to help us get into the brain.”
"See men," Stone smiled. "Whitey and his crew are not so hot without our help. Obee, you crap bucket, where are you?"
The fat man crawled out from his hiding place under a table. His face was covered with blood from the dog attack. "I need a medic."
"Ha." Laughed Stone. "Tough one that, we do not have any medic on board. You are almost in the ship's brain right?"
"No, no. I need a three-dimensional password or code. It will take time and I can't work if I bleed to death. I need a medic."
"I have medical." Whitey sighed at the stupidity of it all, "Come with me. We'll get you fixed up. You are going to have scars. That will be a face no woman can resist."
"Whitey," Stone said. "Get this ship running by 0800. I want to have good news for the Supreme Commander.
Whitey left the room with his two bodyguards. Obee followed; as he stumbled into the corridor he was met by seventy-five of Whitey's men pointing weapons at him.
Bill saluted, "Boss. We monitored everything and thought it would be good to be ready."
"Wasn't needed, but better safe than sorry. Eh, Bill?"
"What happened to him?" Bill nodded at Obee.
A passenger, well really a kid, and a dog were left behind they were hiding in the vents. The dog is big and pretty mean."
"What? You left a kid with Stones gang?"
"Oh, this kid can take care of himself."
(c) Adron
_________________________
To proceed to the next chapter click here or choose from the table of contents at the sidebar.
Thank you for visiting and reading my blog. I hope you enjoyed it. Please see the sidebar for other chapters, I am sure you will enjoy them too.
Adron
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