Session 10
With great care Jet snipped a small twig from a bonsai tree and plucked it from the miniature landscaped pot with his white gloved fingers.
"Why do I always gotta think," he grumbled aloud to himself, "that things will be different? As always the funds have been gambled away, there's hardly a bite of food, and in the midst of a bounty hunt we've managed to rack up quite a fee for collateral damage. And still no bounty! Grrr!"
The tree trembled between his fingers as he prepared the next cut.
His teeth ground and squealed. "All of them, let them all back on board and what happens? The same ol' shit. More trouble than they're worth. Even the damn dog needs food. Was better off alone."
Snip.
A much larger section then he'd intended dropped. Jet pounded his fist against the counter. When he threw his head back to curse, a shadow caught his eye.
Leaning around the door frame, Spike scratched his head. "Is it just me, or is it too quiet in here?"
Both men paused and listened. Since the ship floated in port, the only things running were heat and air circulation. The low rumble of the machinery coupled with the creak of the Bebop on the rocking waves seemed far short of the usual sounds.
Spike glanced down the hall. "Reminds me of the silence before the girls and that damn dog crashed our party."
"Probably just sleeping in the hall somewhere." Jet tossed the branch he hadn't intended to snip into the trash and contemplated how he would fix the imbalance.
"I don't like it," muttered Spike. "Besides Faye taking a nap on my spot, we got a dog and two kids on the ship. There should be more noise than this."
Two kids. Jet sighed, he'd forgotten that the taciturn Taveon had followed them back to the ship. When was the last he'd seen him? When they'd returned hours ago. He'd gone to his room to change into his usual clothing. Spike had gone to his own room to get rid of the glass chips clinging to his suit. How Faye had managed to change out of her dress and beat Spike to the living room couch was indeed a miracle. Jet almost laughed, but instead his brows knit. Standing up he threw the gloves on the counter and called out, "Ein!"
Nothing. Out in the hall they looked both ways. Not a thing moved.
"Ein, come here boy! I got food."
No more response than before.
Jet pointed down the hall. "They have to be here somewhere. Do a sweep of the ship. I'll take the bridge area."
Spike didn't even argue, he just nodded. That spoke volumes more than the veiled concern in his eyes. Since when did he give a rip about the Ed and Ein? The answer came to Jet as he strode past Spike's room … during Spike's recovery from his stint on Pluto. The change had been subtle, and if anyone was watching, he wouldn't let it show burying it with his usual scathing sarcasm. But Spike had warmed to the pair and their role in securing his freedom.
Passing through the halls Jet found room after room empty. In the shafts of daylight nothing occupied the bridge. He dropped back down to the living room and checked up a maintenance hatch, nothing. A few other of Ed's favorite haunts scored no sign. Not even a hair of Ein.
He lingered beside the couch listening to Faye's faint snoring as Spike padded in with a defeated expression on his face. This had gone too far. Jet thudded his metal fist on the couch back. Faye started and nearly leapt off, she ended up panting on one knee.
"What in the—"
"Sorry to disrupt your beauty sleep." Jet leaned closer to her. "Have you seen the kids and the dog?"
She scrunched up her nose and folded her arms over her chest. "Seriously? You woke me up for something like that?"
"Yeah, Faye. I woke you up for that. Now answer the question, oh burden taking up space on my ship."
"No." She yawned and stretched. "I haven't seen them. Have you checked the hanger?"
Spike nodded. "Everything was sound in there. Was one of the first places I checked since Ed loves turning out monocrafts into remote control vehicles."
"Kids and pets are small. They fit in tight places. Could be anywhere."
Jet smirked. "Ein didn't come when I called out I had food."
She did a double take at the guys. "Ok, that is serious!"
Turning away, Jet started toward the door. "Get up, we need to find them."
Faye grabbed the keyboard to the computer and called up an app. "Hold on. If the mutt is missing he's easy to find."
From over her shoulder Spike arced an eyebrow. "You put a tracking bug on the dog?"
"Yeah. Taught his non-existent tail the last time he tried to run off with my food." She cracked her fingers and entered the code. "Let's see where he is."
They all moved into the screen, crowding to see as the map zoomed out, well away from the docks. Worry lined the faces of the Bebop trio.
Ed climbed into the broken window. Her grunts echoed inside the vast dark building. Outside, from below, she heard Ein's woofing from his perch on a couple of crates.
"You're almost in!" Taveon called out. "Just drop down and go to the door. You can unlock it from the inside."
Her head filled with thoughts of plates heaped with food, Ed licked her lips and hung like a monkey. She let go and landed on a catwalk. Scampering along by feeling alone, she navigated the maze of walkways ever going down. Scant light reached through the dirt glazed panes. What did manage to make it through left faint outlines off the metal structures. This was a huge warehouse attached to a shut down plant of some kind. Dust shifted beneath her excited steps.
Swinging down, Ed's feet contacted cold concrete. Better than the slush outside. She wondered if her toes had turned blue. "Door, door, portal, window to another world. Reveal to me where are you?"
Her fingers danced along the wall as she searched. At last they hung up on a latch. She tugged it and the door swung open emitting a shaft of bright sunlight. Taveon stood in the doorway with a crooked smile on his face. "Alright! Now we can get to work."
"Hehehe! Food for the Bebop-Bebop! Mmmm. What do we have here?" She bent down to read the writing on a crate.
Ein's warning growl caught her attention. She glanced up to spy Taveon's gun trained on her.
See you, Space Cowboy!