Session 14

Jet swallowed. Out of the corner of his eye he spied Faye grabbing Ed and pulling her back behind the open door of a cabinet. Somewhere behind him Ein's tiptoed footfalls filled the quiet. The compys, perched on the edge of the desk, remained perfectly still.

Beyond the door the tap of footsteps echoed. The intermittent shadow stretched at an odd angle, flashes of light did not last long enough for him to tell what the hell approached. His finger weighed on the trigger, just shy of firing. Everyone depended on him now to intercept danger. Right in this moment it was the chamber of his gun that formed the line.

Fixing a determined glare on his face, he recalled what it was to be the Black Dog. Whatever the hell was approaching would feel his full bite!

Flash … the shadow stretched long. In mid step Jet spied the foot lifting from the floor.

It was close. Just outside now.

He had one shot at this range. Bracing himself, Jet exhaled before spinning to block the door, the gun gripped in both hands. In mid pull of the trigger, he choked on his hold and stumbled backward.

In the flash of light and muzzle fire, the shadowy thing tumbled backward. A cacophony of metal clangs erupted. A small length of pipe rolled in through the doorway. Then … silence.

Jet clapped a hand over his mouth and muttered, "Oh shit … did I?"

Before he could move, Ein lifted his muzzle in the air and sniffed. In a scramble of claws on metal floor, he dashed around the corner out of sight. A second later the corridor erupted in curses.

"Stop it, Ein! Get off me! Uggg! Enough with the slobber already!" The voice sounded familiar.

Jet tore around the door frame to lay eyes on a sight. A waterlogged Spike had flung himself against the wall, his Jericho lay a few feet from him, clearly dropped. The curled bullet hole of the strike was a hairsbreadth from a wet shoe print. Jet heaved a relieved sigh. "First time I'm glad I missed!"

Pushing the dog off him, Spike picked up his gun and climbed up the wall. As he twisted the abrasions on his bare torso showed.

"Whoa," Jet reached out to help him. "Are you ok?"

"Sure, I'm just fine and dandy." He rammed the gun into his concealed holster. "Having the time of my fuckin' life. I just love being a target in the shooting gallery!"

At Spike's voice, Ed twisted from Faye's grip and both of them ran to the doorway. Ed executed her usual cheery dance. Faye couldn't hide the concern for a brief flicker before she adopted a dower facade.

"Sorry," Jet put his gun away, "if I'd known it was you … well, how the hell did you get here?"

Jabbing a finger over his shoulder he quipped, "I took the scenic route through the flooded gorge. Nice workout program. Never tried cliffhanging while set upon by a robotic dino thing."

Jet edged behind him, searching for any serious damage, specifically gashes. "We found the cliff. When we saw your shirt we thought you might be … well … "

"We thought you bit it." Faye interjected with a hand on her hip.

He eyed her back and smirked. "No, but I did get to take a nice shower."

In their banter no one really paid attention to Ed ambling over to the computer with Ein at her side. She pushed the shredded skeleton out of the way and started to open files, completely absorbed in the screen.

"You forgot to get dressed." Faye grinned back. "Seriously, you could blind someone."

Spike folded his arms and lifted an eyebrow. "I'd rather lose my shirt to a dinosaur's claws than stand here looking like I lost a fight with a berry tart. Did you find any whipped cream?"

In a huff she scowled at him and turned away.

Jet clapped a hand on Spike's shoulder. "Hey, I really thought we'd lost you. Glad to have you back, buddy."

Spike twitched at the contact, but reined in the reflex.

"Spike-o?" He leaned a little closer. "You ok?"

"Yeah." He extracted himself from the hand. "I'm fine. Just tell me we're close to the ship."

"I honestly don't know."

"I followed a river. How the hell did you guys end up here?"

"Got it!" Ed held her hands up. Like clockwork, the crew gathered behind her staring at the screen.

Jet scratched his head as he pushed the skeleton further away with his boot. "What is it, Ed?"

She sang out, "The whole song and dance. Lotsa videos tell the mad-mad story." Her fingers brought up photos and snippets of video. "A long while ago the guy in the orange dino suit had a dreamy dream. Wanted everyone to love dinos just like he did. His name was Tyler Allele. He told his smarty pants friend Douglas Zinc about it and the two set to work to build this park. They thought it would be real cool to have something people could touch and interact with. Tyler built them, but it was Douglas who wrote the code. Tyler dreamed of them being like puppies, safe and interactive for folks."

Spike leaned on the desk and glimpsed the wrist watch in the photo on Tyler's wrist. It didn't escape him that the same crushed watch lay on the floor. "Let me guess, Douglas had another idea."

"Bingo!" She threw her hands in the air. "Douglas looked up real dinosaur's behavior and thought it would be more exciting to have them act authentic. Rawr rawr! When he told Tyler, the mean man said nope nope nope!"

Jet rubbed his chin. "Didn't end there, did it."

"Yup." She hit a key and video played of Douglas holding up a chip and speaking to the camera. "He wrote the code and loaded it up into a compy first. Only one. Solo. But it didn't stay there. Like a virus it spread, head hop, head hop! Soon they all came down with the sickness … and RAWR!"

Slack-jawed, Faye shook her head. "He killed everyone."

Ed spun in the chair, "Not on purpose. It was just supposed to be more exciting. Thriller chiller … now asteroid of dooooom!"

Leaning back, Spike folded his arms. "That is one helluva program error. So originally these things were harmless. And this whackjob's code turned them savage. Greeeat, this is why I hate theme parks."

"Really, Spike?" Faye retorted. "How often do the attractions assault the guests?"

He toed the mauled skeleton on the floor and raised an eyebrow.

Jet looked around the room at the shards of bone and broken work helmets. "Do you think anyone got out of here alive?"

Eerie silence pervaded with the crew pondering the evidence. At last Spike locked eyes with Jet. "Once we get out off this asteroid I have a pair of missiles on board the Swordfish with this place's name on it."

Ed sat up stiffly and pointed to the compys. "We haveta take Ein's friends!"

Seeming to sense the threat, the little compys hopped down and cuddled up like kittens to Spike's leg. He staggered away, but it did little good as the creatures scampered up his pant legs, traversing over his naked back. Not in the least bit amused, he shook them off and glared daggers at them.

"The hell we do!" Spike shot back. "There's no way we're taking anything that claws through flesh on board. One slip in the program and imagine those things rending us to bits. Be worse than that black blob."

Faye threw him a dirty look. "And who's fault was that?"

With a dry chuckle, Jet lifted a hand. "She has a point."

Scowling, Spike stalked to the corner to sulk.

Spinning the chair, Ed grinned. "Best yet, Ed can undo the codey-code."

"Completely?" Jet leaned forward.

"Nope. But we can make a blam-blam gun that shoots wavey-lengths and makes the dinos behave. At least not eat us, for a bit."

"How long will it take?"

She shrugged, "A few hours once I have the stuff."

Taking a list of the things they needed, he waved to Spike, "Come on. Let's see what we can find. Most of this should be around."

Hand in his pockets, Spike slouched behind him. "Whatever."

"Do you want to get out of here alive?"

"I'd like to see how we'd manage that dead."

Jet sighed, "Alright, now you have a point."

"Do these points count for anything?" Spike muttered dryly.

"Does anything anymore?" Jet pulled out a transistor from an exposed panel. "First on the list."

A half hour later the guys walked back into the room with armfuls of stuff. Laying it on the table they stepped back. Spike eyed the compys, the five pack lined up on the edge of the desk clearly trying to appear docile. He raised an eyebrow. Where was the sixth?

"Gah!" Off to his right, the sixth stepped off from the cabinet and tried to hug him. Spike flailed and threw the creature into the others, panting under the strain.

Everyone blinked at the outburst. Jet leaned closer. "Spike, are you ok?"

For a long moment, he clearly wasn't. Then, he turned toward the creature and snarled, "Come here you little prick! I'm gonna reprogram your ass into next Tuesday!"

Ein intercepted just as Spike drew his hand back. Spike glared, but somehow turned off the target toward the wall. His fist pulled back. Jet caught it with his right hand. "Don't do it! You don't need two broken hands! Come on …" he pulled him away, "let's go see if we can see the ship from the roof."

"What about—"

Jet tugged without a backward glance. "The girls will be fine. Ein and the compys are with them."

Dragged behind as they walked up a stairwell, Spike blew out a breath and kept his remarks to himself. They emerged on the rooftop and approached the railing, leaning on it in silence for a few minutes. Jet pulled out a couple of dry cigarettes and handed one to Spike. He produced his lighter and touched the flame to the ends.

After a few drags, they both stared out across the forested valley watching the winged dinosaurs wheel in the distance. "Better now?"

Spike shrugged.

"You know, pal, you actually owe those little guys."

He muttered around the cigarette, "The hell I do."

Jet flicked the ash off the end of his. "How do you think we got here?"

Spike cocked an eyebrow. "I don't know about you, but I followed a fuckin' river."

"Yeah, and we followed them. I know," he raised his hands, "damnedest thing. Wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen them converse. Walked up to the cliff, both where you went off, and right outside this building. Those little buggers brought us directly here when we asked. If they hadn't, I don't know where we'd be right now. But I don't think it would have been where ever we are."

"The hydroplant." Spike took a long drag under Jet's scrutinizing glare. "What? Are you thinkin' like Faye now that I can't read? There's a diagram right outside the elevator. Besides, I knew what it was when I was at the bottom of the waterfall. Why else would they build something like that but for power? Didn't even need to see the turbines. The sun may have enough juice for the robots. But the buildings would need some serious round the clock power source."

Jet nodded. "You're lucky you didn't get chewed up."

"Aim to get out of this place without that." He eyed his partner. "Which means leaving that feathered pack behind. They're nothing but trouble."

"And you're not?" Jet cocked a grin. "Come on, pard. If Ed can reprogram them—"

"Open your eyes. How many mauled skeletons do you have to see before it sinks in! If the one that grabbed my shirt had gotten flesh we wouldn't be talking now. I draw the line at Ein on tolerating things with claws."

Silence stretched out as the tendrils of smoke twisted in the air. "You know, the Bebop is my ship."

Spike gave a halfhearted shrug.

"What I say goes."

"Only on her decks. Which kinda means we have to find her first."

They stood up and started to scan the horizon. In the distance a gleam of light caught their attention. "Spike, is that the swamp?"

"Unless there's more than one, gotta be. With no direct path that might take more than a day to get there. Wait till nightfall?"

Jet flicked the spent butt over the railing. "If we want to make it back in one piece."

Spike smirked down at the Jet's missing boot. "Ok, well most of us anyway … some wardrobe malfunctions aside. What kind of creature got that?"

"Mud."

"They come in mud now?"

See You Space Cowboy …