Starship Tipton

By

James Doyle

Chapter Four

"All right everyone," said Moseby. "This meeting of the War Council will be in order. For our first order of business, the chair recognizes Mr. Hawkhauser."

"Thank you, Mr. Chairman," said Arwin. "We've figured out how to use the loading bay as an airlock. This comes at a very opportune time, as Dr. Possible has told us we'll need to reposition some of the TV antennas in order to continue receiving signals from earth. In order to accomplish this, we'll need to fashion some EVA suits."

"Ooh, I can put together an Eva Longoria outfit," volunteered London. "Eva LaRue might be a problem."

"No, Miss Tipton," growled Arwin. "EVA stands for Extravehicular Activity. It means putting on a space suit and going outside. We'll need everyone and anyone on board who can sew."

London, Maddie, Carey, Kim, Ron, and Barkin were among those working on the space suits. After the few hours, they had completed the number of suits Moseby had requested, and began to fashion suits for themselves.

London held up her suit and showed it to Kim. "Hey Kim, what do you think of my space suit?"

The suit consisted of a tasteful and elegant array of colors, decorated with a few costume jewels.

"It looks amazing, London!"

"Doesn't it? I just wish these things didn't make people look so bloaty."

"London, what makes you think you'll be going EVA?" asked Moseby, more of an admonition than an actual question.

"Aw, come on, Mr. Moseby," protested Carey Martin. "London's been a huge help throughout this whole ordeal. She deserves this."

"This is very dangerous business," insisted Moseby.

"Do you think I don't know that?" said Kim. "And do you think I'd let anything happen to London?"

Moseby sighed. "All right. As long as she stays tied to one of you and doesn't touch anything critical she can go."

"Oh, thank you, Moseby," cried London.

Moseby decided that hearing those two seldom-heard words from London's lips was well worth changing his mind.

Kim, Ron, Shego (who already owned a space suit and had brought it,) Drakken, and London walked out into the loading bay. They cautiously stepped forward as the main bay door opened, exposing them to the vacuum of space.

London squinted. "For such a dark place, space sure is awfully bright."

"Put your visor down," instructed Shego. London did so, to her great relief.

The five of them walked past the loading bay door to the curb, beyond which formerly lay the asphalt of the back alley, but now lay the vast emptiness of space.

"Do you see that big blue dot?" said Shego to London. "That's earth. The one right next to it is Venus."

London stood and stared for a moment, awestruck.

"Alright, listen up," said Kim. "Since we're still accelerating, this isn't like a regular EVA. It's more like scaling a building. Actually, that's exactly what it is. Now, these blast doors are made of some exotic alloy which Arwin assures me is magnetic. If we use our boots, we should be able to walk right up to antenna cluster. Everyone stay tethered and follow my lead."

Everyone did as Kim instructed, and within moments, the team found themselves on the ledge of the central tower of the Tipton Hotel. London sat and observed the modifications, wishing she could be of more help. After being assured by Shego that her idleness wasn't bothering anyone, she took to stargazing once again. Never in her life had she seen quite so many stars. The most she'd ever seen were from the deck of her father's yacht, at sea, on a clear, moonless night. It didn't compare at all to what she now saw.

Modification were complete, and the team began their descent. At about the fifteenth floor, a small piece of space debris ricocheted off a blast door and severed Ron's tether. London saw everyone Shego and Drakken falling. Thinking quickly, she spotted a nearby flagpole. She wrapped her tether around it so that Drakken and Shego fell past her and then came to a quick halt as the tether caught them. They reattached their boots to the blast doors and made their way back to the airlock.

As soon as they were inside, Drakken took off his helmet and breathed deeply.

"You saved our lives!" exclaimed Drakken.

"I just did what I had to do," replied London.

"You could've just cut us loose," argued Shego. "No one would've thought any less of you for it."

"I would've thought less of me. Contrary to popular belief, that is not how I treat my friends."

"Great job, London," congratulated Kim.

"Yeah," added Ron. "I'm sure glad Moseby let you tag along."

As soon as the others were gone, Drakken approached London.

"You know, I already owe you more than I could ever repay," observed Drakken.

"Yes," replied London. "There is one thing I need to do for me."

"Yes, anything!" exclaimed Drakken.

"Tell Shego how you feel about her!"

Drakken hung his head. "I don't know if I can do it. What if she doesn't feel the same about me?"

London smiled. "Then at least you'll have me to keep you company."

Drakken smiled back.

The five of them returned to the main lobby to find Moseby being menaced by an angry mob.

"Moseby, I haven't showered in two days!" complained one of the guests. "And this guy over here is running his hot tub!"

"Sir, I can assure you the hot tub has been permanently disabled and the gentleman's water ration has been cut in half," assured Moseby.

"Yeah, well what right do you have to do that?" protested the other gentleman. "I have a lower back problem! I need to soak my muscles. Besides, why shouldn't I get more water than him? I paid for a suite, he just has a regular guest room."

"Sir, the corporation will compensate you quite generously when we return to earth," assure Moseby.

"If we return to earth," said an elderly lady. "I could very well be spending my last days in this ghoulish freak show. Corporate can't do a thing for us out here, Moseby! It's just you."

"That's right, lady!" said one of the bellhops. "Moseby thinks he's all high and mighty because he's got Kim Possible in his corner!"

"Not to mention Shego and Dr. Drakken," said another guest. "I don't give hoot what the UN says about those two! They're filthy animals, and they always will be!"

"Now see here," protested Moseby. "I'll not suffer such aspersions to be cast upon my staff!"

"To heck with you and your staff, Moseby!" cried a middle-aged muscular fellow. "There's twenty of them and four hundred of us! We can take all of them on!"

"Yeah," cried various people at various times.

"Shut up!" cried Barkin, in a voice such as to wake the dead. The crowd fell silent. "What in the name of George S. Patton is wrong with you people? In case you haven't noticed, we're out in the middle of space here! This isn't a hotel anymore. Hotels are connected to roads and utility lines. Those are all gone now, back on earth. This is a starship now, and a starship has a chain of command. With a Jim Dandy commanding officer, at that. Moseby knows this ship better than anyone else. He knows her well enough to keep her running smooth in a crisis situation. If anyone else had been at the helm, we'd have run out of air, food and water weeks ago.

"You might not like some of Moseby's crew. I've had my scrapes with a few of them myself. But he knows who's got the talent to keep this ship afloat, and how to use it. So if all of you want to live to get back to earth and whine about this, then you'd best respect Moseby's authority. Do you get me?"

"Sir, yes sir!" cried the crowd in unison.

"That's more like it. Dismissed!"

Drakken came down to what had previously been the main lobby. It had been cleared off furniture, and converted into a volleyball court. He watched as Shego, Cody, and London faced off against Maddie, Zack, and Carey. Drakken wasn't sure who was winning, since nobody was keeping score, least of all him.

The sight of Shego in her bathing suit kept his attention. It was a modest one piece, but she still looked gorgeous in it. She looked gorgeous in anything, she thought. So many times, he'd wanted to give up on world domination and run away with her. Now here they were, having literally left the world behind. He knew London was right. The time had come.

"Hey Dr. D.," said Shego as the game dispersed. "See something you like?"

Blood filled Drakken's capillaries to turn his blue face purple. "No, I mean, yes, I mean..."

"Spit it out, man," coaxed Shego.

"I love you, Shego," he blurted out. Shego's mischievous grin turned into a blank expression. Tears began to well up in her eyes, something Drakken had seen only on rarest of occasions.

"Please say something, Shego," begged Drakken. "Anything."

"I really don't know what to say."

"Say what you feel. That's what I did."

"Okay, well, in the case...I love you, too."

Drakken and Shego looked deeply into one another's eyes for a moment. They leaned forward ever so slowly. London crept up behind Drakken, and Maddie crept up behind Shego, and together, forced the couple together for a deep passionate kiss. London and Maddie gave a high five before leaving the couple alone with their new found romance.

End of Chapter Four. More to come.