a continuation fanfic by Thayet D'Ragon
Floating in zero-gee in the main room, Jet was the first to rouse. Raising his hand groggily to scratch the back of his neck, he grabbed for the nearby ceiling when he began to spin. Bracing himself, Jet reached to scratch his neck again, slowly taking in his surroundings. Every doorway and hatch in the room was secured, while the loose furniture became floating debris. Including Faye Valentine in a robe, and Ein the data dog.
Jet had to shake off his stupor. Faye, in a robe? He pushed off the ceiling, gently scooping Faye from her... comprimising postition in midair. Questions raced through his head, all clamoring for answers. Why were they unconcious? Why were they floating in *full* zero-gee? And why was Ein bandaged across his middle?
A sudden realization hit him as he brought his hand up again. He tore the bandage from his neck, remembering the... *thing* that'd bit him. He couldn't find any swelling, but his eyes caught a matching bandage on his companion's leg. Removing it, he found only a purplr mark the size of his thumbprint remained. Ein's last mark was hidden neatly by thick fur. Jet grabbed a floating blanket to cover Faye with, settling her into the couch, Ein on her lap. Pushing things into another corner, he made for the door, restoring partial gravity to the Bebop. With practiced ease he landed on his feet, wincing as everything else crashed to the floor.
Faye finally stirred, both hands coming up to clutch her aching head.
"Oh man, what hit me?"
Jet smiled. "Welcome back. How's your hangover?"
Faye glared at him. "What hangover? I was..." she noticed belatedly her state of undress. "I was taking a bath, and..." Her eyes grew wider, and she met his, clearly startled. "And that *thing* bit me!" She brought up her leg and seemed to inspect it minutely. When she was finished, she sighed. "I came out here to warn Spike, and that's the last thing I remember."
Jet shook his head. "I just woke up a little while ago, I haven't seen Spike yet. Or Ed. Just us floating in zero-gee."
An eyebrow arched delicately. "Full zero-gee? I wonder why..."
"WARNING, 16 HOURS UNTIL MARS CONTACT. FULL AUTO-PILOT STILL ENGAGED."
Jet shot up. "The Bebop's in *full* auto-pilot? Spike wouldn't do that unless..."
Faye waved him back down. "He probably bailed, Jet. With us sick, maybe the softy took Ed to find help."
"Doubt it. For one, Spike wouldn't have left the Bebop. Two, when I last remember, we were almost four days from Mars orbit." He started for the door. "He must be with Ed somewhere, keeping 'em busy."
"Hmph." Faye rose, but started for her own quarters. "Well *I'm* going to dress before doing anything." She shook out her hair towel, grimacing at the matted mess beneath. "Ew, I'm taking another shower while I'm at it."
* * * * *
Twenty minutes later Jet had made it to the cockpit of the Bebop, having had to open every access hatch and hallway between it and the main room.
"Now, " he muttered to himself. "Let's have us a looksee... All three starships still here? Well that's a surprise." Despite what he'd told Valentine, he knew Spike *would* leave them to bring back help if he'd needed to. Well Spike, just where the hell are you, then?
An energetic young girl bounded into the cockpit, spinning and cartwheeling. She came to an abrupt stop before him, though her arms continued guestulating wildly. "Jet, where has Jet been? Ed couldn't leave her hallway." She stopped moving altogether, fixing him with a serious stare. "Why did Spike lock Ed out?"
Jet shook his head, trying to placate the oddly serious girl. "Ed, I don't know. There was..." he paused, quickly searching for a good excuse. "There was a problem in the ship."
Ed nodded. "Yes, Ed remembers. Spike and Ein and Ed all went to find the spooky mysterious horrible alien." She clapped her hands and started spinning and careening around the room again. "Ein found the alien monster first, but he was toooo slooooow." She threw herself into a series of slowly pantomined cartwheels. "Then Ed went exploring to find her *own* alien!"
Jet stared at her, starting to get dizzy from all her twirling around and sudden mood swings. "You guys hunted that *thing* by yourselves?"
Ed nodded happily. "With heat-sensors. Ed likes heat-sensors. Pretty colors! Vrooom!!" And she danced off, once again in a world of her own.
Heat-sensors. So Spike did find something. But where? The big man sighed. "Well, I won't find anything just standin' around here. Wish Ein were better. I could teach him to 'fetch'." He lit a cigarette and ambled out of the cockpit, gun at his side.
* * * * *
The first place he checked was the hanger. He doubted Spike would have chosen to fight in full zero-gee, so that meant one of the hatches had to have been opened.
The hanger was untouched, it's double access doors tightly hatched. Spike must have sealed each room off, one by one, searching for it. I've got a bad feeling about this...
Faye paged him. "Found Spike yet?"
"Uh-huh. No sigh of him yet, Faye. But the Swordtail is still here and the hanger's sealed. Nothin' was open here."
Faye's eyes widened slightly. "His starship is still here? Huh. *I* would have taken off..."
Jet glared at her. "Yeah, but Spike's not you. Ed says she and Spike went hunting for whatever bit us, but she ran off without him. Doesn't know where he is."
Faye looked thoughtful. "So where would he go looking for this thing? It could be anywhere in the ship." She grimaced. "Got me in the bath."
"And me in the stock room."
Their eyes met across the comm screens. "Do you think..?"
Jet snapped the communicator to his belt. "Meet you up there..."
* * * * *
Faye stood back, hands on her hips. "So where is this refridgerator that suppossedly bit you?"
"It wasn't the 'fridge." Jet muttered distractedly. "It was here, though." He brushed away dust and grime that'd built itself up over time. "Spike musta dumped it. But how?"
Faye shrugged. "Am I Spike? I woulda' just blown it to space dust."
Jet stood. "It's too heavy to lift or push, especially full. Even in the quarter grav we usually keep the ship in. But that still doesn't explain..." His eyes caught on the out-of-the-way hull access shaft, and the broken emergency gravity release beside it.
Faye beat him to the release. "Well, at least the atmosphere light is green."
"That doesn't mean he didn't space himself."
She looked at him oddly. "Why are you so negative all of a sudden?"
Jet shrugged and keyed in the access sequence. "Can't let you get your hopes up for nothing." Waiting for the portal to open fully, he brought up the lights.
The hallway was empty.
"Spike?"
Faye pushed in past him. "Dummy, if he could hear you he wouldn't *be* here, would he?" She grabbed a handhold and guestured for him to do the same. "If he's here at all, he'll probably be near the exit."
Jet sighed and started down the shaft. "Without a space suit, this stunt is suicidal, to say the least."
"Sounds like Spike all right."
* * * * *
Speeding ahead, Faye found him first, floating still just above the hatch. Making *doubly* sure the hatch was locked, she finally pushed herself over to the unconcious bounty hunter.
"Spike? Spi~ke?"
She spun him gently, wincing sympathetically when she found the swollen purple mark on his forearm.
"He got bit too, huh." Jet didn't sound too surprised.
"Looks like it. And it's newer than ours too. His is still as big as my fist."
Jet nodded, slowly pulling Spike forward. "So is the lump on the back of his head."
Faye couldn't help but to grin. "The lunkhead knocked himself out?"
"Don't you mean *lump*head?"
A cheery voice behind them made them jump. "Lumpy, lumpy, lumpyhead!"
Faye lowered her gun, conciously making an effort *not* to kill the wildly spinning Ed. Turning back, she helped Jet secure Spike, ready to shoot back up the access shaft.
Jet raised an eyebrow at Faye. "Well? She's made it this far," he nodded to Ed, now bouncing from wall to wall in the narrow shaft. "Might as well leave her be."
Faye reholstered her gun. "I suppose. Let's get the 'Lumpyhead' back up to the main room." She glanced back at the naked steel hatch. "I don't like being this close to the vacumn."
Jet nodded, following Ed silently back to the stock room. Wonder what you found, Spike...