Chapter Eight: Just Another Planet

As usual, Nightfall was right. Zee Secundus was just another planet.

Gary was actually rather impressed that he'd reached a point in his life where he could look out the window (okay, viewscreen; the Crimson Light, unlike the Galaxy 1, had no windows) and see a salmon-colored sky and three suns setting and six moons with and without rings and think Eh, just another planet. The hairy yellow palm trees and flying fish-things were nice touches, but he had a whole boatload of worries that made everything else seem pretty insignificant.

He'd never thought the day would dawn when finding the dimensional keys would drop from its #1 position on the Goodspeed Saves the Universe Billboard, but here they were in some Podunk watering hole on Zee Secundus and the dimensional keys had slipped all the way down to #3, maybe even #4 on the priority chart. Stuck back in time with no clear way home, a Ventrexian warlord hovering on the brink of death, and a mercifully inept assassin locked in the basement sort of took precedence. When saving the universe took second place to saving your best friend, you knew that friendship was for real and forever, even if your friend was completely clueless at the moment. Or possessed. Couldn't forget Invictus.

Yeah. He'd come pretty far, actually. Twenty-two-year-old Gary Goodspeed was trying to stay out of trouble with questionable success right now. Hell, earth still existed. Maybe they should go back and get some real coffee . . .

They had already been here on Zee Secundus a full day and anticipated spending another week or so as parts for the Crimson Light were fabricated. That wasn't actually such a bad deal since days here were only a bit over nineteen hours long, but Gary wasn't planning on relaxing until they had a viable plan for getting Avocato home and finding somewhere past or present to stash Bodek where he could do the least amount of harm to Avocato and their timeline. And then getting back to their own time so the dimensional keys could top the charts again.

Beyond the worries, there was some good news: Avocato, though far from fighting trim, was getting better. He was waging an uphill battle, but it helped that they'd had an influx of fresh medications to restock the recovery pod, because he needed it. Badly. Only now, looking back over the past few days, did Gary realize how close he'd come to losing his friend again and how critically Avocato had been wounded. He wasn't out of danger yet, but he was getting there. They'd been lucky. Damned lucky.

And now they had a little bit of a break, fresh food for the first time in a while, plenty of supplies, and Nightfall had brought him and Little Cato no less than three different types of street meat. Gary made his way through the Crimson Light, down a level to the medical bay. Little Cato, who, as predicted, had shown no inclination to leave his father's side, was seated on the floor and cleaning Avocato's armored combat helmet, the one he'd worn when they'd planet-jumped to Zetakron Alpha to free Little Cato from the Lord Commander. For want of something to do while waiting for rescue - besides talking to pigeons - Gary had cannibalized his own helmet to repair Avocato's, and it had resided in Little Cato's room ever since. Avocato's shocktog uniform hung off to the side, immaculate as the day it had been made. Little Cato had even restocked the supplies in the gauntlets.

"Hey, Thunder Bandit."

"Hey, Spider Cat. How are you, kiddo?"

"Keeping it together. You?"

"Same." He jerked his thumb toward the pod. "How's your old man?"

"I think right now you might be older, so my old man's looking pretty sharp." Little Cato regarded Avocato thoughtfully and smiled. "He might wake up today or tomorrow. He won't be safe to leave the pod yet, but we should be able to talk."

"That'll be cool. Hopefully he'll be able to shed some light on what the heck the Scoti were up to." Gary couldn't help but grin in anticipation. "He's going to be so confused."

"Maybe not too bad. I mean, since you told me you've been talking to him, I have, too. Dunno if he's followed anything being said, but he should know our voices."

"Good point." He grew serious. "You feeling okay with all of this?" He gestured vaguely, but Little Cato understood his concern about Invictus and the events on Kanopis.

"Yeah, well, all that bad stuff won't happen to him for another ten years. I'm just afraid he might not think I'm me."

"He didn't have any doubt when we went back for the dimensional key. He knew you then. He'll know you now."

He gazed down through the clear canopy (which now also held Nighfall's helmet along with HUE's feathered hat, Mooncake's medal, a plant, and a voodoo doll constructed of god only knew what) at his friend. Avocato's chest was still swathed in dressings and an oxygen mask covered his nose and mouth. Gary didn't fight the impulse to smile at the thought of Avocato's nose and how funny it stuck him how any badass with such a reputation and record for destruction could have such a cute little pink nose. He had never said anything – he hadn't dared - but he thought that nose was one of Avocato's most endearing features. Still, it was a little disturbing to see his hardened and ruthless friend as helpless as he was now, kept unconscious as they kept him alive.

But he was alive, and that was what mattered most.

"You my relief?" asked Little Cato, rising. They had stuck to their normal sleep cycles, rather than adapting to Zee Secundus hours since they weren't planning to be around for very long. Though it was relatively small, this was still a spaceport and the shops were used to beings from across the galaxy. Business was conducted at any and all hours.

"Got it in one. Nightfall and the others are still restocking."

"Who's with the Scoti?"

He would not use Bodek's name, had not seen or talked to the man that tried so hard to kill his father. The assassin was never more than a race to General Avocato's son.

"HUE and possibly KVN."

"He's not done, you know," warned Little Cato. "If he's so desperate to risk getting caught in the past, he won't stop. He's got nothing to lose, Gary."

"I know. We can't keep him and we can't let him go. Part of me wishes I'd ended him the day the Kalibar blew."

"I volunteer for that duty," said his son, serious about the offer.

Gary shook his head, smiling and almost laughing as he yanked his adopted kid in for a hug. "You're your dad all over again."

Little Cato laughed and squeezed him hard about the waist. "Both of them, I hope."

"God save the universe if you are. Come on. Go get some down time. If Nightfall brings us more street meat -"

"Mmm!" He almost wiggled in anticipation, stepping out of Gary's hold. "I'm totally down for that. Wake me while it's hot!"

"You got it, Spider Cat. Love you, kiddo."

"Love you too, Dad."

He dimmed the lights and pulled out the chair to take up his watch. In keeping with the habit he'd developed over the past few days, Gary spent the first hour or so chatting at Avocato. Today he told his friend about the glories of street meat and the odd combinations of food Avocato had devised - and Gary had willingly sampled - while stuck on the Galaxy 1.

". . . and the ground beef in oatmeal was a no-go for us both, but the cream cheese omelets were surprisingly good. I'm guessing your wife did all the cooking when a chow hall wasn't an option. Your stomach must be made of cast iron, pal. Maybe part of your academy training was learning to consume anything vaguely edible because I still haven't gotten over the fact that you ate a barbecued spider. Gotta draw the line somewhere and I think that's it. I mean, I may be able to drink acid like you say, but no way in hell could I down another bowl of your everything soup. Once in a lifetime is-"

He glanced at the door at a sound in the hall beyond and turned to face it, expecting the door to open. Nightfall wasn't due back for a few hours, but Fox or Ash returning early wouldn't be unprecedented, and Ash was supposed to relieve him before midnight. When nothing happened, Gary shrugged it off and turned back to his friend. Most likely KVN was being KVN and they'd find something vital dismantled or welded shut by morning. Gary pushed himself up, intent on yelling at the robot.

"So long as it's not the bathroom agai-"

It was pure chance that he was leaning forward when the door opened. Had he been standing, he would have been killed.

"What the crap?"

Instinct made Gary twist back and away, almost overbalancing himself as the heavy, half-moon blade of a vibro-scraper whirled past his head and smacked into the metal supply cabinet behind him, burying itself an inch through the door. He turned and lifted his hands just as Bodek let out a feral hiss and lunged at him, seizing Gary in a powerful hug that pinned his arms tight. How the hell had he escaped? They were almost face-to-face, giving Gary a too-close look at the crazed hatred in those yellow eyes as the Scoti drove him backwards. They smacked into the recovery pod housing Avocato and knocked the unit askew, almost detaching it from the medical computer and sending the helmets and mementos to the ground.

"I'll kill him and you!" swore Bodek, his voice hoarse, slamming Gary back again against the pod.

"Not happening," Gary promised in turn. He had no idea if Scoti shared the same anatomical weakness as human males, but he gave it a shot and brought his knee up to the Scoti's groin. Bodek let out a grunt of pain, but it wasn't enough to down him. That he didn't return the favor told Gary Scoti stashed the family jewels elsewhere. On to plan B. Gary's hands were close to his face, at shoulder height, one real and one bionic. There were a few advantages to robotic limbs, and one of them was the inherent, unrelenting strength of a machine built for hard labor. Though he tended to use it with the same degree of force as his right arm, his left arm was capable of a SAME's power. He clamped his left hand down onto Bodek's bicep and closed his grip with crushing strength.

For a moment he wasn't sure it would work, but it took only a few seconds of pressure before Bodek was almost screaming as Gary pulverized his right arm and he switched from grappling to trying to escape. Gary's fingers penetrated tough skin and muscle, sending green blood dripping down the Scoti's arm and side. Bodek tried to wrench free, but while he might be stronger than Gary, he was not stronger than an android's grip. It felt pretty gross for Gary – hot and wet and squishy all at once – but gross he could take so long as he and Avocato made it through this alive.

"AVA!" Gary screamed, knowing the AI could defend the ship and its occupants against boarders, not to mention send for help. "AVA! HUE!"

Suddenly his head exploded in pain, followed by a second explosion. The Scoti had head-butted him. Released from the bear hug, Gary stumbled back, not sure he could stand up straight and tasting blood as his head, nose, and mouth started to bleed. Bodek was likewise staggering, his right arm limp and mangled, but he stood between Gary and the recovery pod.

"I dismembered that ridiculous robot and locked your ship's AI in a continuous loop." Bodek's voice held smug triumph, as if his success was a foregone conclusion. "It won't take long for it to correct, but it's enough time."

"If you think I'm going to let you hurt him, you couldn't be more wrong, you limp kale chip!"

Clearly Bodek thought every advantage was his, and with a growing twinge of panic twisting his gut, Gary had to admit he wasn't far from wrong. Bodek had strength and speed and deadly intent. Bodek edged backwards, closer to his intended, helpless target. As he spoke, the Scoti laughed aloud at the twisted pleasure his own words gave him."Oh, I've already hurt him. I just want to finish what I started, Captain Goodspeed."

Before he lunged in to keep his promise, Gary had time for a last, desperate thought of, Oh, my crap.