Chapter 35: In Your Pocket.
Planet Harris was a dry, cold planet that was barely habitable right now. It was the location of one of the Karzan Empire's large-scale terraforming operations, but there were never really many people around but for some scientists and random passersby. Travellers on slow transports frequently stopped at Harris for a place to rest on a long journey. There were some who stayed temporarily, but the planet could not yet support a permanent settlement.
Donovan's people were set up in the mountains of Harris constructing a fleet of Nova fighters. They still lacked the luminite to power them, however, but the ships would be ready to go once they obtained that necessary component.
"How are we supposed to get the luminite to power the Novas?" asked Pete, one of the guys involved on the project.
"The Rath system is adjacent to Tau," said Richard Penner. "The luminite will need to be obtained from there."
"Reports indicate they've moved three battleships into the system," Pete said. "What the buttsex are we supposed to do, sneak it our under their noses? In our pockets perhaps?"
Richard thought for a moment. "Perhaps we may accomplish something very much like that."
"Oh no, you're not getting another one of those crazy ideas are you?" Pete said. "You are not using me as a test subject again. Remember what happened last time?"
"I assure you, if this project turns your skin blue, it will probably kill you this time as well."
"Oh, that's real reassuring, thanks," Pete said dryly. "So what's this brilliant idea of yours?"
"The gravitational flux kinetic resonance warp displacement field generator-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on a minute!" Pete said. "In English, please."
Richard smirked. "I believe I can create a storage device similar to that technology which is used for jump gates. It would, theoretically, allow transporting large quantities of materials in a very small space. Thusly, you would be able to sneak it out in your pocket, so to speak."
"Okay, great," Pete said. "I suppose getting in there in the first place would be the next problem once you got that working, right?"
"That would be your job, not mine," Richard smiled. "I must speak with Lord Blake and then begin work on this project immediately."
Richard Penner spent several days on the project which Pete began to dub the "bag of holding". Finally, he completed what he claimed to be a functional prototype.
"With the gravitational effects of the device being much lesser than the effects of a normal sized wormhole, I believe it should be safe to use," Richard said. He opened the miniature gate and dropped a rock in.
"Excellent," Donovan said. "You there. Bob. You help test it."
"Okay..." Bob said nervously.
"Please reach into the device and retrieve the rock, Bob," Richard said.
Bob cautiously went over to the tiny gate, as if afraid it were going to bite him, and slowly reached inside. However, once his hand was inside the device, it began to pull him in. Bob screamed as he tried to hold onto something, but the force was too much for him to resist and he was sucked in.
Richard stood there calmly, taking notes. "Yes, I believe there are still some adjustments and safety precautions I must implement into the device, but it should work properly shortly."
"See to it," Donovan said, and walked off.
"You ain't getting me to stick my hand in there," said Pete. "Not until you've got a better idea that I'm not going to be eaten alive by it."
"I assure you, once my modifications are complete, it will be quite safe for human use," Richard said.
Richard spent several more days perfecting the design and making it safe to use without killing anyone else. Finally, he came up with one that worked properly.
"Great," Pete said. "Now can I go on this suicide mission to steal the ore?"
"Do so," Donovan said. "Do return in one piece as well, if at all possible. Or at least bring back the luminite."
"Righto, m'lord Koala bear," Pete said.
"Koalas are not bears," Donovan said.
"Whatever," Pete said with a shrug. He took the bag of holding and hopped into his Griffon, and flew off toward the jump gate to the Rath system.
As he approached the asteroid field, the battleship Attila, stationed at the edge of the field, hailed him. "Fringe world ship, please state your purpose and identification."
"This is Peter Bush, bringing supplies from Balzac to the Glittergold Mining Facility."
"Identity verified. Please proceed."
Pete piloted his Griffon through the sparkling asteroid field. It had so been named because the asteroids visibly glittered golden in the light of Rath's sun, but there was little to no actual gold in the field. He went in and docked at the mining base.
"Food rations from Balzac," he said to the guy working in the docking bay.
"You wanna help with this and get on your way faster?" the guy asked.
Pete shook his head, "Sorry, I've had a long day, I think I'll be staying here tonight and move out in the morning."
"If you insist," he said. "Please keep away from the restricted areas of the station, thanks."
"Will do," Pete said. He headed off out of the docking bay. Pete promptly began to nonchalantly search for the restricted areas. After some searching, he stumbled upon one of the rooms where the luminite ore was being stored and processed. Carefully, he began to grab luminite and shove it into the bag of holding he was carrying.
After a bit, he heard voices approaching, and hid behind a stack of luminite. "Did you see something?" said one of the guards. "I thought I saw somebody in here."
"Nah, it's nothing. Let's go get a beer."
"Yeah, guess so." They left the room.
Pete finished up what he was doing and shoved in more luminite into the bag. As he was about to leave this room and try to find another so that it wasn't so obvious so much luminite disappeared from one spot, a pair of guards almost ran into him.
"What are you doing in here?" one asked. "This is a restricted area."
"I got lost," Pete said. "I was looking for the bar."
"Right," the other said. "We're going to have to search you, just in case."
Since they were pointing guns at him, Pete thought it was a good idea to submit to the search. He put his hands on his head and they patted him down and pulled out the bag of holding. "What is this?" the guard asked.
"That's uh, a highly advanced.. sexual.. pleasure enhancer. Very handy for long.. lonely trips," Pete stammered.
"It's a fucking pocket pussy," the guard snarled, and shoved it at Pete. "Get back to your ship and stay there. If I catch you out here again, you're going in the brig."
"Yes, sir. Will do," Pete said. He grabbed the bag and shoved it in his pocket again and headed back straight to his ship.
Deciding not to take any chances, Pete immediately left the station and headed out through the asteroid field. Apparently they either discovered the missing luminite or thought his behavior was suspicious in some manner, as he quickly received a message from the Attila demanding his surrender. He kept inside the asteroid field and flew around, where the ship couldn't follow. When he got near the jump hole to the Transylvania system, he broke out of the asteroid field and headed at top speed for it.
Pete was quite pleased with himself. The Empire would believe that the pirates were responsible for the theft and not think to come after his organization. He hopped over to the jump hole from Transylvania to Tau and headed back to Harris.
"Was your mission successful?" asked Donovan when he arrived back at Harris several hours later.
"Absolutely," Pete said. He pulled out the bag of holding and began extracting the luminite from it. However, he got a bit nervous about it as the device was sucking at his hand more than usual. After taking out a few pieces, he decided to play it safe and scoop the rest out with a net. Then, just as he had feared, after removing maybe half of the luminite, the net was sucked into the pocket dimension. Pete quickly let go of it.
"What's wrong?" Donovan demanded.
Richard examined the device. "Odd. The wormhole created by the device appears to be unstable. It is now collapsing in on itself."
"Well," Donovan said. "No matter. We have enough luminite here to power several ships. Get to work on that."
"Right away, my Lord," Richard said.