The space port was quiet when they arrived – which was only logical, as sound doesn't travel in space. Galaxoid and Nebular swapped information at the holographic ticket counter and passed through into a secret parking place to leave their ship. They had arranged for a private shuttle to transport them from their ship to the next one.
The SSS Bragnorfoloff was a large and definitely not inconspicuous ship. It was almost like an ocean liner suspended in space. There were loads of aliens walking to and fro, carrying luggage, shouting at each other and trying to make it the ship on time.
Calvin pressed his face against the glass window on his side of the shuttle, looking up at it. It was a sight that made his heart speed up. He was practically bouncing with excitement. The adventure was about to begin.
He briefly took stock of his fellow passengers. Hobbes was thumbing absently through a magazine, enjoying the article about some famous film actress who he thought was, in his own words, 'a smoochable lady'. Socrates was even bouncier than Calvin, constantly bouncing around with delight. Andy was looking a little distracted for some reason, while Sherman was sitting on top of the cage that held Grandfather, who was just glaring up at him, definitely claustrophobic.
Calvin grinned as they came in to land at the space dock. It was time to get on board.
Galaxoid and Nebular herded the gang in the direction of the compartment they would be sitting in. They were walking down a surprisingly narrow hallway on board the new ship. How it could be so much bigger than the last one and yet so cramped was beyond them. They squeezed through, trying not to lose their luggage in the process.
"We spoke to our contact at the dock," Galaxoid was saying. "They've heard from the bounty hunters. They were asking a lot of questions. They only reason they haven't entered the Milky Way is because it's in a neutral zone."
"Neutral zone?" Calvin repeated. "That doesn't stop a whole bunch of other nasties trying to sneak in and blast us."
"Then they're doing that illegally," Nebular replied evenly. "Something no doubt the bounty hunters would do eventually if you stayed too long."
"That's the whole point of this trip," Hobbes said with a nod. "To draw their fire away from Earth."
"At least this way, we still have a planet to go back to," Socrates agreed.
They were just passing a baggage compartment. Galaxoid turned to face them. "Okay, did everyone remember their tags?"
The quintet held up their luggage, showing some bright green tags with digitized numbers flashing on them.
"Good. Stick them down the shoot. They'll be transported to the hotel separate from us."
Taking that to mean they weren't going to be likely to be seeing their luggage again anytime soon, Calvin hugged his duffle bag and chucked it down the chute as instructed. He still had his hypercube to be safe, but still, he had some things he wasn't eager to lose.
"We'll see to things up front with our next contact," Galaxoid said, handing Calvin a small piece of paper. "This has your compartment number on it. We'll meet you in the canteen on the next floor."
"Roger," Calvin replied, scanning the paper's scribbles.
"I want something to eat," Grandfather announced, having decided to assert some degree of independence.
Sherman looked put out in his grandfather's direction. "Without me?" He was a bit dubious on the idea of letting him out of the cage.
"Why not?" Socrates asked. "He can go with them, and we won't have the old man breathing down our snorkels."
"He can come with us," Galaxoid said.
"Then take care of him," the younger hamster ordered. "I don't want to find out you've lost him."
"They could keep him in the cage," Andy suggested reasonably. "They could fit food through the bars."
Grandad aimed another calculated glare in the boy's direction, and it was like his whole spinal column had decalcified on the spot. He shrank back and hid behind Hobbes. Something about the older hamster was sapping him of his self-confidence – of which, he was forced to admit he didn't have much of to begin with.
"Come on, Grandad," Nebular said cheerily, taking the cage in his tentacle. "We'll get you a blom burger – extra-tiny and all yours."
Grandad nodded approvingly.
Galaxoid and Nebular nodded goodbye and made their way up the cramped corridor, passing through a junction that would take them to the lift.
Calvin and the others followed the alien numbering on the walls until they came to a small door with a glass window. They slipped the paper into a slot, which turned out to be the keyhole, and the doors slid open, granting them access to the tiny room. They found six seats with a nice big window that allowed them a view of the galaxies whizzing past.
Calvin, Hobbes and Socrates took the three seats on the left while Andy and Sherman took two of the other three seats on the right. They settled down and took in their surroundings.
At last, Socrates broke the silence. "I've been in closets that were bigger than this," he grumbled.
Calvin rolled his eyes and steered the conversation to something more interesting. "So, Sherman – what's the deal with this grandfather of yours? How come we've never heard of him before?"
"Or any of your family, for that matter," Hobbes added, earning a few eager nods from the others.
"I don't keep in touch with them, usually," Sherman replied, looking ridiculously adorable as a tiny hamster in a comparatively giant seat. "But my mother was insistent we give him some scenery."
"Does she know we're all the way out here?"
"No, I'd rather she remained in the dark about that little detail. Comprende?"
The others nodded in agreement. Calvin especially was appreciative of the potential dangers of one's mother finding out the truth of one's whereabouts.
"So what are we going to do with him? Tote him around everywhere in the cage?" Socrates asked.
"For as long as we can manage. I tell you, the guy's a villain. He could manipulate nations to war if he felt like it."
"Really?"
"So long as they weren't fighting in his neighborhood, sure."
They all looked at each other, their curiosity having been considerably piqued.
Before the next topic of conversation could be decided upon, however, they heard the sound of someone outside their door. There was a great deal of clattering as someone fiddled with the keyhole they had earlier used, and it began to occur to them that there were six seats in the compartment, but only five of them.
The door slid open, and there stood a tall burly alien. He was roughly humanoid, and he wore some sort of uniform that seemed to resemble a business suit. A brief calculation in Calvin's brain told him this was not an enemy. Just some irritable grump who wanted a seat and was determined to find one. He glared into the room with his five beady eyes, all of which were yellow and green. He walked in on his three legs and sat down in the seat between Andy and Sherman.
The quintet looked at each other, as if they were speaking telepathically. There was something about him – something impatient and easily frustrated, as if he couldn't stand the thought of having people within a hundred yards of him. It wasn't that they couldn't sympathize with that. Not everyone's a people person. The trouble they were having with his presence was that he seemed to project waves of dislike. He didn't even bother to hide his contempt. He just glared at them, and with five eyes, he could get them all simultaneously.
After a brief pause, he reached into a pocket on his clothes and pulled out some sort of device that resembled a Tablet. It grew in size, almost entirely blocking him from view. It made it a little difficult for them to keep staring at him. Andy, who was closest to him, looked him up and down from the side. His clothes were very clean, and the three shoes he wore were impeccably shined. This was a fellow who couldn't stand not having a thing out of place.
Having completed their silent assertions that this was not someone who wanted to talk, the five of them decided that they would be respectful of this and keep quiet. It was actually a bit relaxing after all the hubbub from earlier. They glanced around the room, and then they remembered the window. There was a great big sun shining outside. They were speeding it past it at a great rate, but they were still close enough that the light could shine inside, almost cancelling out the fluorescent bulbs above them. There was something exciting about this – an alien sun shining on them. All five were mesmerized as they admired it.
However, this beauty was lost on their new passenger, who noticed the sunlight was creating a glare on his screen, so he promptly got up and pulled down a shade, blocking out the light. The room became pale and sterile as the bulbs above them reasserted their dominance. The passenger glared at them again, and then went back to his reading device, hiding behind it once again.
Sherman looked at Hobbes, who looked at Socrates, who looked at Andy, who looked at Calvin, who looked at the passenger with his eyes narrowed. Respect had just gone out the window. They were going to have some fun.
Taking a raised eyebrow from Calvin as his cue, Andy cleared his throat, at last breaking the terrible silence. "Excuse me," he said politely, "but do you mind if we open that?"
"Yes," the biting reply came. "I do."
"But there's five of us," Socrates said reasonably, "and we'd like it open."
"And I want it shut. I travel on this ship regularly, so I suppose I have some rights."
"And we don't, I suppose," Calvin said softly.
The alien simply raised his device higher to establish a barrier, as if that were enough to keep the riffraff out. Calvin looked at the back of the device, noting how boring and uninteresting it looked. His eyes narrowed again – always a dangerous sign. The others knew he was a mastermind at creating havoc and awaited some sort of direction from him.
It came after five seconds, wherein Calvin tapped Hobbes on the knee, and the tiger knew exactly what to do. He reached under the seat and rooted around in the hypercube, trying to fish out something that would adequately serve their little rebellion. He finally pulled out a portable radio and set it down in his lap. He fiddled with it for a moment before a nice orchestra started playing. They didn't recognize the tune, but the others nodded in approval, bobbing their heads and tapping their fingers in time with the brass section and percussion.
The alien lowered his device so he could lean over press the 'off' button. "And we'll have that thing off as well, thank you," he said breezily.
He pressed it, and the music ceased. They all looked at him indignantly. "But…!" Hobbes started.
"If you will happen to look up in any copy of the galactic law concerning interplanetary travel will tell you I am perfectly within my rights!" he snapped hurriedly, clearly trying to squelch any rebellion before they got too powerful for him.
The five friends were clearly trying to deal with their frustration with this jerk head. Calvin was clearly having the most difficult. "But we want it on!" he objected. "And there's more of us than you! We're a community! We've got the majority vote! And we want to hear it!"
"Agreed," Sherman added, "and if you want to revote, there's another election four years from today."
The alien simply looked down his nose at them, as though he was so incredibly high above them. "Then take it outside. Preferably in steerage or in an airlock, where riffraff like you obviously belong."
Socrates just leaned in close, taking advantage of the fact that the reading device was down and the alien's face was where he could get it. "Kiss me," he leered, taking great delight in the officious creature's scandalized expression.
"Oh, knock it off," Hobbes admonished before continuing their point. "Look, mister, we paid for our seats too, you know. We're entitled to the same things you are."
"How dare you!" the alien gasped, looking downright offended. "I travel on this ship regularly! Twice a week!"
"So it's your ship?" Andy asked, leaning back and taking a conversational tone. "How much did you pay for it?"
"Or do they just give it to you after so many frequent flier miles?" Socrates suggested.
"How many miles do you rack up only twice a week?" Sherman wondered out loud.
"Wouldn't it be light years?" Calvin pointed out.
The alien groaned under the weight of his own superiority. "To think I fought in the Belagosian War to protect the rights and freedoms of you miserable creatures…"
"If only you'd lost…," Andy said in agreement.
"Yes, then you could read whatever you're reading in peace," Hobbes added with a nod.
The alien straightened in his seat. "That's it. I'm calling for a guard. Have you lot taken away."
This caused all five to freeze. Fun time was over. If he called the guard like he said he would, that meant they ran the risk of giving themselves away. The bounty hunters would have something to go on, and it was a rule when you're on the run to never leave a paper trail of any sort.
Thinking quickly, Calvin steered the conversation to a more surrendering tone. "What'll you call him?" he teased lightly before waving the others along. "Come on, boys. I believe we have an appointment in the saloon anyway."
Mutual looks of agreement passed among them, and they all stood up. Andy scooped up Sherman, and they headed out the door, letting it close behind them.
The alien let out a sigh brimming of smug superiority. He reactivated his reading device and leaned back in his seat. His five eyes skimmed the material with great relief.
But then, he was interrupted by a knocking on the door, and he looked up in confusion, and his expression became one of terror when he saw five faces – two human, two feline and one rodent – all pressed against the window in the door, each making a disgusting face of some sort.
"Enjoy the room, mister!" Calvin jeered.
The alien was so startled he dropped his device on the floor, and it made a nasty sound that resembled something breaking. Satisfied, the five friends pulled away and darted up the hallway before the creature got his wits back, and when he looked up, all he saw was the smudged glass – a totem pole of fog to remind him for the rest of the journey who he had shared this cabin with. Almost ready to explode with rage, he set about making sure his device wasn't too badly damaged.