The Bebop took off, heading out to the sea of space.
Spike was practicing his Jeet Kune Do on the bridge, in the dark, like he always did.
"You make it look easy, Spike." Johnny observed.
"Have to keep in shape. Plus it's something to do." He replied, not stopping his practice.
"Heard you saved a couple planets while I was gone." Johnny said.
"Yeah, like Ganymede."
"I remember that scare. But why you'd save my shitty little rock of a planet is beyond me. I also heard about that thing on Mars. You must have gotten some heavy barrels of Woolongs for those jobs. What happened to that?"
"Didn't get a single Woolong out of either of them." He sighed. "Beaurocracy. But while we're catching up, I heard a few stories about you, too."
Johnny grinned.
"Like what?"
"Heard you joined the Martian Army after you left."
"That I did. Just the infantry, and just for a tour of duty. Any other stories? It's nice to hear I'm actually important enough to tell stories about."
"Heard you got into some trouble for messing around with a senator's wife."
"That one isn't true. I didn't mess around with her, I didn't get in trouble, and it was a senator's daughter-in-law."
Spike stopped practicing at that.
"Well, tell me about it, buddy."
"Well, I met her at a bar. Her name was Sarah. Beautiful, with dirty blond hair and piercing green eyes. So I start talking to her. She got really interested when I told her I was a cowboy, guess she likes the dangerous life. So then she grabs her drink, and I notice her ring. I don't bring it up, but she sees me eying it. She smiles the most beautiful smile I'd ever seen, and laughs. It's like angels singing. But she asks me to drive her home, as she's been drinking, and her autopilot is on the fritz. Wants me to meet her husband. Said I'd find him interesting."
"Was he?"
"He was kind of creepy, to be honest. Had this smile, but it didn't seem like he meant it. Didn't seem like he was all there. Gave me the shivers. We talked for a while, and I left."
"You think you'll ever see her again?" Spike asked.
"Nah, doubt it." Johnny replied. "I mean, you know me well enough, Spike, you think I'd mess around with a married woman?"
Spike shrugged.
"I doubted you'd have the chance to, but I guess I was wrong about that."
Johnny laughed at that.
"You know what I heard, Spike?"
"What, Johnny?"
"Heard you got into some top secret government black-ops shit."
"Now where did you hear that?"
"Bob. Plus I saw the files on the guy. Got them in my email, from your ship. Who sent them to me? I couldn't sleep for weeks because of the videos in that email!"
"Only person I can think of is Ed."
At that, a shriek of laughter came from the kitchen.
"Tongpu, Fondue, Sun Tz-"
"ED!" Spike yelled.
A lanky child slithered out of the kitchen, like a snake.
"Ed, this is-"
"John-john!"
Spike looked at Johnny.
"You know Ed?"
"Never seen... Ed before in my life. Is that a boy or a girl?"
"Ed's a little girl!" she said.
"How do you know about me, Ed?"
"Ed hacked into your government profile when Ed saw your name on the contact list!" she said.
"So, did you send me that email?"
Ed nodded her head.
"Thanks for the nightmares, kid. Jeez."
Ed laughed at that.
"Scary scary dreams!"
"It's not funny, kid."
Ed ran away with her arms out like an airplane.
Spike sighed, holding his head.
"It may not look like it, but the kid's a hacking genius. You may have heard of Radical Edward." he said.
"Radical Edward? Really? I've played chess against Radical Edward!"
Spike stared.
"When was this?"
"'Bout 2, 3 months ago. Ed almost beat me. Hex would be proud." Johnny said.
"How do you know about Hex?" Spike asked.
"He's common knowledge among chess players, Spike. Don't tell me you've met the guy!"
Spike shrugged, smiling.
"Oh, man, I'm so friggin' jealous! That man's a legend! You lucky bastard! Where was he?"
"Don't bother. He's gone."
"You mean…"
Spike shrugged again.
"I meant he's gone senile, but Ed hasn't been able to play a game with him in 2 and a half months, so…"
"Oh, man…"
There was a moment of silence.
"So, Spike… I heard about Mao."
Spike looked at the floor, and didn't reply.
"You know my feelings on the Syndicate, Spike, but Mao sounded like a nice guy, from the stories you told. I'm sorry, Spike. I know he was like a father to you."
Spike kept silent.
"You ever get the guy who did it?"
"No."
"You'll get him some day, Spike. Don't worry about it."