"The Anti-X Encounter"
Part 2
Smart Nook flew beside the Star Bucket, ordering it to hold a steady course.
"Don't try anything!" the drone warned. "Or my immense firepower will blow you apart down to the last molecule!"
"Yeah yeah, we heard you the first time," said Zana under her breath. "Digital dork..."
The heavily armed drone was guiding the Star Bucket deeper into the uncharted quadrant. Like a big guard escorting a small prisoner into the bowels of a dark fortress.
"Where are you taking us?" Rivqua asked.
"You'll see."
They passed wrecks of old military vehicles. Huge guns and space tanks floating aimlessly like dead fish. Here and there strange patches of dust appeared. And meteorites, no longer round and happily zipping through space. Just hanging there in odd angular shapes, with holes in them. Some with big chunks knocked off.
"This place is a big shooting range," Rivqua realized. "A site for weapons' testing!"
After several minutes Smart Nook's voice crackled over the radio again.
"Make for landing bay number twelve!"
Rivqua and Zana looked up. As if out of nowhere an enormous metal cube had appeared, hanging huge and silent in space.
Hundreds of windows dotted the battered wall before them. And in no particular order, lots of large numbers in worn red paint. The number '12' split apart and separated as two huge doors slid open, exposing a cavernous hangar.
"Land your vessel and step out!" Smart Nook said. "Remember, my sensors detect your every move!"
"We'll take over, Captain," said Rivqua, manning the controls.
"If you'd be so kind, Miss Rivqua," replied Captain Bucket, his voice nervous. "I've got quite the wobblies."
Rivqua floated them into the hangar while Zana ran a series of checks and flipped switches. Landing gear down, stabilizers engaged, thrusters on standby.
Behind them the big doors slid shut.
"Captain?" Zana said, speaking in a low voice. "While we're out there chatting to our hosts, whoever they are, will you plot an escape route out of here? Preferably more than one option? And be prepared to take off at a moment's notice."
"Be more than happy to, Miss Zana. I'll scan the quadrant as best I can from this position and calibrate all coordinates."
It was obvious Captain Bucket didn't waste any time doing it because in the next second the radio crackled again and Smart Nook's voice blasted through the cabin.
"I am detecting scanning activity! Switch off all your systems! Now!"
Zana made a face.
"I'm sorry, Miss," said Captain sadly. "He's too good, this one."
"He is not," was Zana's firm reply. "And his brain's gonna hyper-melt one of these days and he'll be a floating wreck like the rest of them out there."
Rivqua eased back on the thrusters. A tiny shudder went through the ship as it touched down.
"For now we'd better do as he says though."
She switched off the engines, kept the booster pre-heat on and told Captain Bucket to lay low and not utter a beep.
Out the window they saw a welcoming committee assemble on the hangar floor. A troop of clunky little robots with gun turrets on their necks instead of heads.
Zana strapped the guitar onto her back. Never enter a strange place without it, she always said. The girls opened the door, folded out the stairs and stepped down.
The hangar floor was solid steel. A smell of grease hung in the air. A military spaceship stood over there with hatches open and droids working away on it. Metal clanged. Welding sparks showered.
"Big place," said Rivqua.
"We should gig here," said Zana and checked the acoustics with a clap of her hands. Instantly came a rattle of turrets turning and guns cocking. The robots aimed straight at her.
"Easy!" Rivqua shouted. "We're just admiring the place, checking the reverb quality in here, okay? Drop the intensity will you?"
"Follow me," said the leader of the gunheads and rolled off. The Blonde Plutoz followed. Through a sliding door they went and entered a large square room. It turned out to be a big elevator.
"Let's see if you can answer this question," Zana said. "Where are you taking us?"
With a jerk the elevator moved upwards. The gunhead leader was silent. The others bots had their gun-barrels aimed straight at the girls, as if staring in fascination.
Like a crazy little fan club, thought Zana.
"Smart Nook out there," Rivqua continued, "he wouldn't tell us either. He just said 'you'll see'. See what?"
"You are--carbon-based life-forms--" said the troop leader with a flat tinny voice. "You have trespassed--must see--Commander Cordyte."
The girls looked at each other.
"This Commander Cordyte," Zana said to the overgrown tin can with a cannon on its shoulders. "Does he, or she, or it, like music by any chance?"
Gunhead remained silent. The elevator slowed to a stop. The doors opened with a squeak. And a dazzling bright light hit the Blonde Plutoz like a smack in the face.
Something big and incredibly shiny was out there. Way too bright to look at. Whatever it was, it started to move towards them. Rivqua's heart skipped a beat. Zana's hit one extra.
Feet clattered and scraped over the floor as the thing approached. It had more than two legs. And when it spoke it sounded like a chorus of voices.
"Carbon-based life forms and trespassers? My my, what a depressing combination. What lovely specimens you are though! Now that does give me a most delicious idea... Would you like something to drink? Your kind does that as I recall. Call it an ice breaker. No, a formal toast. Much better. Wipe that worried look off your soft little faces! We have a celebration! Because you see, life as you know it, is about to end..."
Stay tuned for Part 3 of "The Anti-X Encounter"!
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