Part I, XXIII

Two days later it had been officially decided that I was the worst Trivial Pursuit player ever. I sat down in my chair and did all the official things for the day. It took about a minute and a half.

“What do you suppose they do on other ships all day long?” Carter asked.

“Not a clue,” I answered, shaking my head. “How long until we reach the ABP?”

“Twenty-nine hours and twelve minutes,” Carter answered.

“Do you know where the moose are?”

“No. We’ll have to look for them,” he told me.

“All right, so we’ll have to take care of the squid first,” I decided.

“If the moose are in the Borderline we won’t be able to get to them at all,” Batnter said.

“Do you know which planet in the Borderline is closest to Trepidusk?” Rimana asked, rubbing her scar. He shook his head. “Terra-Nee.”

“We’ll be dealing with the moose,” I summed up. “By the way, where’s Twitchy?”

“I don’t know.”

“Carter, find Twitchy.”

“Ok.” He started typing. “She’s in sick bay.” I walked over to the comm station. The amount of buttons there staggered me.

“Carter, help?” I asked. He came over and looked at the panel. He shrugged. Rimana and Batnter joined us.

“I think it’s this one,” Batnter said, pushing an unmarked button.

“Hello?” I called.

“Hello?” Gazook answered.

“Wrong button, sorry,” I said.

“It should be the one next to it, then?” Batnter said, reaching towards it.

“I can still hear you,” Gazook said.

“How do we cut the transmission?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Gazook said.

I didn’t ask you

“Try the red one?” he guessed. I pushed it.

There was a soft ding. Rimana waved her hands and pointed to the screen. It read “shipwide speakers enabled”. I hit the red button again. The ding repeated itself, and the message flashed. Carter hit one of the green buttons. The screen told us that the volume was up. Batnter hit the button on the top-right corner. “Speakers off”.

“Thank you,” I said. “Which button were you going to hit?” He hit it.

“Hello?” Rimana called.

“What?” Nevir demanded. We all cringed.

“Sorry,” I said, hitting the top-right button. Three tries later we got it.

“Hello?” Bayou asked.

“Finally!” Carter said. “You have no idea how hard it is to use this comm station. Where’s Twitchy?”

“She has a headache,” Bayou answered. “She can’t work today.”

“Why can’t you just give her an aspirin or something?” I asked.

“It’s a telepathic headache. Different thing.”

“So we have no communication officer for today?” I asked.

“Nope.”

“Great. Thanks. Bye.” I cut off the transmission. We went back to our seats.

“Now what?” Batnter asked.

“Have you ever noticed how much the viewscreen resembles a television screen?” Carter asked carefully.

I looked at him. Rimana looked at me. Her eyes were glowing. I rolled my eyes.

“I presume you know how to set it up, right?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“The admiral would not be happy if he found out,” I muttered.

“In other words,” Rimana said, “go ahead.”

, I thought. “Carter?”

Part I, XXII

  Ariyah Rimana sat down in her chair and looked at the screen.  The asteroid belt stretched out like a big carpet of rocks.  When she looked carefully she could tell that some of those rocks were really stellar oysters.

  “We need to inform the admiral that we’ve completed our assignment,” Mary-Ann Velose decided.  Twitchy looked up.

  “Should I call him now?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  A moment later Admiral Resop appeared on the screen.  He had a grin like a raptor.

  “Hello, captain Velose,” he said.  “How are things going?”

  “We’ve completed our assignment,” she answered, standing.  “What do you want us to do next?”

  “Good!” the admiral said, snapping his fingers.  Twitchy twitched at the sound, and Ariyah could feel her claws growing.  “Very good indeed,” he continued.  “I have your next assignment here somewhere…  Aha.  A space squid has taken up residence in one of the ABP’s by Trepidusk.  We need you to evict it.  After that, or before, really, there is another moose herd traveling down the freeway between Trepidusk and the nearest Borderline planet.  If the moose is still in Bayshed territory please redirect it.”

  “Yes, sir,” Velose said, nodding.

  “I’ll send a copy of the assignment to your comm officer.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Good-bye, captain.”

  “Good-bye.”

  The screen went back to stars and asteroids.

  “Batnter, set course for Trepidusk,” the captain ordered.

  “So we’re going to your home planet, Rimana?” Batnter asked, hitting buttons.

  “Yes,” Ariyah answered absently.  She knew they wouldn’t be stopping, but she missed the forests on her planet.  It would be nice to see them again.

  “Where did you get that scar?” Carter asked her.

  “What?”

  “That scar on your forehead, the one you keep rubbing, where did you get it?”

  “On a spaceship,” she answered coldly.  “When I was very young.”

  “How?” Mary-Ann Velose asked.  She was honestly curious, but Ariyah didn’t care.  She would never tell anyone how she got the scar.  It was too painful.

  She felt another mind touch hers.  She snapped her head towards Twitchy and silently snarled.  Twitchy reeled back, physically and mentally.  Ariyah was about to mentally chase her, but caught herself just in time.  They didn’t know she was a telepath, and they didn’t need to know.

  “Never mind,” Velose said.  “Forget I asked.”

  Too late, she thought.  “You have the right to ask,” Ariyah said out loud.  “And I have the right to not answer.”

  The perfect diplomatic answer, Velose thought, slightly impressed.

  “So I have the right to ask if you would mind turning into a cat?” Batnter asked.

  “You do,” Ariyah growled.

  “Will you?” Carter asked.

  “Why?”

  “I’ve never met a shifter before,” Batnter explained.  “I don’t know what one looks like in feline form.”

  Ariyah rolled her eyes.  Humans.  She got off her chair and knelt down.  She watched one hand become a paw, and the rest of the shift came naturally.  She stretched and thrashed her tail, getting the feel of her bones and muscles.  A purr came involuntarily out of her throat as she jumped back to her chair.

  “For some reason I always thought you’d be bigger,” Batnter said after a long pause.

  Ariyah jumped off the chair and sunk her claws in his legs   She stretched herself out until her nose nearly touched his.

  “Do I look bigger now?” she asked.  He was trying desperately to get away.

  Dearlordshe’sgoingtokillme, he thought.  Ariyah pushed away and went back to her chair.

  “Yes,” he said.  “Sorry.  I was imagining more of a tiger-size.”

  “Technically ‘cats’ are mountain lions with the markings of a white tiger,” she told him.  “Since we have the tiger markings most humans do expect tiger size.  But it doesn’t work that way.”

  “Got it,” he said.  “I won’t make that mistake again.”

  “Thank you.”  She jumped to the floor and stood up as a human.  “Any other questions?”

  “How long until we get to Trepidusk?” Velose asked.

  “Three days.”

  “Does anyone have any game other than poker?”

  “I have Trivial Pursuit,” Twitchy offered.

  “Great.  Go get it,” the captain ordered.

  Ariyah sat down.  Everything was back to normal.

Part I, XXI

  John Nevir walked up to the table, muttering to himself.

  “You put us on red alert?” he asked me.  I smiled and tried not to cringe.

  “Yes,” I said.  “A moose was about to ram us.”

  “Oh.  I thought we were about to die.”

  “I… am sorry to hear that,” I said carefully.

  “We are out of celery now,” he told me.

  He thought he was going to die so he used all the celery? I wondered.  “Pity,” I said out loud.

  “And I mixed up the salt and the sugar.  I’ve straightened it out, though.”

  Goody.  “How nice.”

 “I wouldn’t recommend you try the tea,” he continued.  “But I changed the bread to dessert.  So you won’t have anything to eat the soup with.”

  “I’m sure it’ll be just fine,” I told him, trying to be reassuring.

  “I’ll go get it for you now.”  He walked away.

  “We need a new cook,” Batnter decided.

  “No, we are not getting a new cook,” I said.

  “But he–”

  “If we ask for another cook we’d be stuck with someone that makes horrible food,” I said.  “At least this guy is a good cook.  Mental problems or no mental problems.”

  Nevir walked out with bowls of soup.  He put one in front of me.  There was a lot of celery in it.  I dared taste it.

  It was really good.

Part I, XX

  Space moose are big.  Fact of life.  They are really really big.  Two of them put together was about the same size of my ship.  And there were three of them.

  “No wonder the government sent a warship out to do this,” I said.  “One of those things could destroy a ship.”

  “Should I bring out the prodding sticks?” Rimana asked.  I nodded, and she pushed some buttons.  Four huge metal rods came out of the ship, one on top, one on bottom, and one on each side.  They bent near the ship and faced out towards the moose.

  “They’re electrified,” I muttered, watching them.

  “How do you know?” Carter asked, looking at me.  I shrugged.

  The three moose also noticed the rods, and were turning towards us. It was terrifying.

  “Batnter?  Back up?” I said.  The moose moved their tails to pick up speed.  The ship backed away, but they were gaining on us.

  “Question,” Twitchy said, flattened against her chair.

  “Go ahead,” I said.

  “What are we supposed to do with the moose once they’re off the freeway?” she asked.

  “Lead them out into open space, right?” I tried.

  “Yeah, but how far?  I mean, right now they’re in open space, but if we leave they’ll just get right back on the freeway.”

  “Rimana, you said we have very weak guns?” I asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Good.  Shoot the one in front,” I ordered.

  “You want me to what?” she asked.

  “Shoot it, just enough to get it mad,” I told her.

  “Are you insane?”

  “Batnter, start spinning the ship.  The instant Rimana shoots the moose head for the nearest asteroid belt,” I said, ignoring Rimana.

  The ship turned.  There was a small thunk as the missile left the ship.  The moose in lead stopped dead, turned downward slightly, and moved faster than I thought was possible.  The other two followed.

  “Batnter, go!” I shouted.  “Quickly!  Carter, put us on alert!  Move faster!”

  Red lights started flashing.  The ship picked up speed, and soon the moose started falling behind.

  “Batnter, slow down,” I ordered, starting to calm down.  “Carter, take us off alert.  Make sure the moose keep following us.”

  “You want them to follow us all the way to the asteroid belt?” Batnter asked.

  “Yes.  But take us a ways away from the freeway,” I told him.

  “At this speed we’ll be there in thirty minutes,” he reported.

  “Good.  So we should be done in time for lunch.”

Part I, IXX

  ABP’s, Asteroid Belt Passageways, are very important to space travel.  Basically, they are tunnels that go through the asteroid belts surrounding each sun.  Without the ABP’s, interplanetary travel would be practically impossible.

  Space squids, the nastiest creatures in the galaxy, find dismantling spaceships a very rewarding thing to do.  Space squids usually inhabit asteroid belts, and if one finds its’ way into an ABP the result would be disastrous.  ABP’s are manned, since they have to keep moving to stay in the same spot.  They are also heavily armored, to discourage space squids from entering.

  The fact that a space squid had gotten in to an ABP meant at least four people were already dead.  Possibly more, if the captain of the ship to discover the squid hadn’t seen it until it was too late.

  Approximately five movies later we reached the ABP in question.  The squid had disassembled the guardhouse completely.  It was a sad sight.  The squid was waiting for fresh meat just inside the passageway.  We sat there and looked at it for a good fifteen minutes, wondering how to get it out.

  “What weapons do we have again?” I asked.

  “Nothing big enough to kill it,” Rimana answered, glaring at the squid.

  “Are the prods pointy?” Carter asked.

  “Yes, why?”

  “Because if we lured it out, we could have it chase us around a bit, and then flip the ship around and stab it,” he explained.

  “What are the odds that that would work?” Twitchy asked.

  With Batnter at the helm, not very good, I thought to myself.  Rimana looked at me, her eyes glowing.

  “If Velose were at the helm; very good odds,” she said.

  “Are you saying I can’t do as good as her?” Batnter asked, offended.

  “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying,” she told him.  “Our captain happens to be the best helmsman in the entire galaxy.  It’s nothing against you personally.”

  “Who decided that she’s the best in the galaxy?” Batnter demanded.

  “Harvey Macbeth,” Rimana said evenly.

  “As in, the most wanted pirate, like, ever?” Batnter asked.

  “No, the one that’s a dentist on Heshq,” she snapped.

  “How do you know that?” I asked her, ignoring Batnter’s comment.  She looked at me again, her eyes glowing even more.

  “I know everything.”

  How do you know Macbeth? I asked her mentally.  How do you know I know him?  I shook my head.  “So do we have a plan yet?” I asked everyone in general.

  “Yes,” Twitchy said.  “You and Batnter switch places, the cat angers the squid, we’ll pretend to run away in order to lure it out, and then we’ll suddenly flip around and Rimana will stab it with our electrified antennas in an area that will hopefully be vital.”  It was hard to tell if she was being sarcastic or not.  I decided she was.  I also decided to ignore it.

  “Good plan, any objections?” I asked perkily.

  “None at all,” Batnter said, smiling.  He would get to be captain for a few minutes; he was happy with it.

  “Right!  Let’s go.”  I stood up and switched seats with Batnter.

  “Rimana, fire something at the squid,” Batnter ordered.  She rolled her eyes and pushed a few buttons.

  “We need to get closer and angled towards it more,” she told me.  I nodded and moved the ship.  I loved being helmsman, more even than being captain.  “That’s enough.”  She hit more buttons and a small missile came out of the ship.

  The squid jerked violently when the missile hit it and spun to face us.

  “Is that thing even bigger than the moose?” Carter asked.

  “Possibly,” I said, backing away from it.  I turned the ship around and headed towards the asteroid belt.

  “It’s following us,” Carter reported.

  “Good,” Batnter decided.  “I think this should be far enough out.”

  “No, it takes time to get the sticks electrified enough,” Rimana said.

  “Oh.  How much time?”

  “Three minutes left.”

  I sped the ship up.  Twitchy switched the viewscreen to see what was behind us.  The squid was catching up.  I went faster and moved the ship left and right.  The squid kept up easily.  Finally Rimana announced that it was done charging.

  I closed my eyes.  I felt the ship around me, and the space outside.  The stick was sticking out at an angle.  I jerked the ship forwards and up.  The squid followed.  I made the ship do a summersault while turning right. The squid backed up, just enough to make the point of the stick go into the back of its head.

  The squid jerked violently, and became still.  We all stared at it.

  “It’s dead,” Rimana finally announced.

  “Yeah,” I said, letting go of the controls.  “Mission accomplished.  Yay.”

  “I never would have thought to summersault the ship,” Batnter admitted.

  “How will we get the squid off the stick?” Carter asked.

  “I’ll go tell Nevir we’re having fried calamari for dinner tomorrow,” Rimana said, grinning.

  “Isn’t it illegal to eat space squid?” Twitchy asked.

  “Not that I’m aware,” Rimana told her.  “Get a couple of volunteers to dress up in space suits and get it off.”

  “Who would volunteer to get a dead squid off a stick?” Carter asked.

  “Twitchy, make a general announcement,” I ordered, standing.  “Ask for volunteers to get a dead space squid off the outside of the vessel.”

  She did as I asked.  Several people volunteered.

  “See?” I asked Carter, smiling.

  “Fried calamari for dinner,” Rimana said, rubbing her scar.

Part I, XVIII

  Two days later it had been officially decided that I was the worst Trivial Pursuit player ever.  I sat down in my chair and did all the official things for the day.  It took about a minute and a half.

  “What do you suppose they do on other ships all day long?” Carter asked.

  “Not a clue,” I answered, shaking my head.  “How long until we reach the ABP?”

  “Twenty-nine hours and twelve minutes,” Carter answered.

  “Do you know where the moose are?”

  “No.  We’ll have to look for them,” he told me.

  “All right, so we’ll take care of the squid first,” I decided.

  “If the moose are in the Borderline we won’t be able to get to them at all,” Batnter said.

  “Do you know which planet in the Borderline is closest to Trepidusk?” Rimana asked, rubbing her scar.  He shook his head.  “Terra-Nee.”

  “We’ll be dealing with the moose,” I summed up.  “By the way, where’s Twitchy?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Carter, find Twitchy.”

  “Ok.”  He started typing.  “She’s in sick bay.”  I walked over to the comm station.  The amount of buttons there staggered me.

  “Carter, help?” I asked.  He came over and looked at the panel.  He shrugged.  Rimana and Batnter joined us.

  “I think it’s this one,” Batnter said, pushing an unmarked button.

  “Hello?” I called.

  “Hello?” Gazook answered.

  “Wrong button, sorry,” I said.

  “It should be the one next to it, then?” Batnter said, reaching towards it.

  “I can still hear you,” Gazook said.

  “How do we cut the transmission?” I asked.

  “I don’t know,” Gazook said.

  I didn’t ask you, I thought.  “Carter?”

  “Try the red one?” he guessed.  I pushed it.

  There was a soft ding.  Rimana waved her hands and pointed to the screen.  It read “shipwide speakers enabled”.  I hit the red button again.  The ding repeated itself, and the message flashed.  Carter hit one of the green buttons.  The screen told us that the volume was up.  Batnter hit the button on the top-right corner.  “Speakers off”.

  “Thank you,” I said.  “Which button were you going to hit?”  He hit it.

  “Hello?” Rimana called.

  “What?” Nevir demanded.  We all cringed.

  “Sorry,” I said, hitting the top-right button.  Three tries later we got it.

  “Hello?” Bayou asked.

  “Finally!” Carter said.  “You have no idea how hard it is to use this comm station.  Where’s Twitchy?”

  “She has a headache,” Bayou answered.  “She can’t work today.”

  “Why can’t you just give her an aspirin or something?” I asked.

  “It’s a telepathic headache.  Different thing.”

  “So we have no communication officer for today?” I asked.

  “Nope.”

  “Great.  Thanks.  Bye.”  I cut off the transmission.  We went back to our seats.

  “Now what?” Batnter asked.

  “Have you ever noticed how much the viewscreen resembles a television screen?” Carter asked carefully.

  I looked at him.  Rimana looked at me.  Her eyes were glowing.  I rolled my eyes.

  “I presume you know how to set it up, right?” I asked.

  “Yes.”

  “The admiral would not be happy if he found out,” I muttered.

  “In other words,” Rimana said, “go ahead.”

Part I, XVII

  Ariyah Rimana sat down in her chair and looked at the screen.  The asteroid belt stretched out like a big carpet of rocks.  When she looked carefully she could tell that some of those rocks were really stellar oysters.

  “We need to inform the admiral that we’ve completed our assignment,” Mary-Ann Velose decided.  Twitchy looked up.

  “Should I call him now?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  A moment later Admiral Resop appeared on the screen.  He had a grin like a raptor.

  “Hello, captain Velose,” he said.  “How are things going?”

  “We’ve completed our assignment,” she answered, standing.  “What do you want us to do next?”

  “Good!” the admiral said, snapping his fingers.  Twitchy twitched at the sound, and Ariyah could feel her claws growing.  “Very good indeed,” he continued.  “I have your next assignment here somewhere…  Aha.  A space squid has taken up residence in one of the ABP’s by Trepidusk.  We need you to evict it.  After that, or before, really, there is another moose herd traveling down the freeway between Trepidusk and the nearest Borderline planet.  If the moose is still in Bayshed territory please redirect it.”

  “Yes, sir,” Velose said, nodding.

  “I’ll send a copy of the assignment to your comm officer.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Good-bye, captain.”

  “Good-bye.”

  The screen went back to stars and asteroids.

  “Batnter, set course for Trepidusk,” the captain ordered.

  “So we’re going to your home planet, Rimana?” Batnter asked, hitting buttons.

  “Yes,” Ariyah answered absently.  She knew they wouldn’t be stopping, but she missed the forests on her planet.  It would be nice to see them again.

  “Where did you get that scar?” Carter asked her.

  “What?”

  “That scar on your forehead, the one you keep rubbing, where did you get it?”

  “On a spaceship,” she answered coldly.  “When I was very young.”

  “How?” Mary-Ann Velose asked.  She was honestly curious, but Ariyah didn’t care.  She would never tell anyone how she got the scar.  It was too painful.

  She felt another mind touch hers.  She snapped her head towards Twitchy and silently snarled.  Twitchy reeled back, physically and mentally.  Ariyah was about to mentally chase her, but caught herself just in time.  They didn’t know she was a telepath, and they didn’t need to know.

  “Never mind,” Velose said.  “Forget I asked.”

  Too late, she thought.  “You have the right to ask,” Ariyah said out loud.  “And I have the right to not answer.”

  The perfect diplomatic answer, Velose thought, slightly impressed.

  “So I have the right to ask if you would mind turning into a cat?” Batnter asked.

  “You do,” Ariyah growled.

  “Will you?” Carter asked.

  “Why?”

  “I’ve never met a shifter before,” Batnter explained.  “I don’t know what one looks like in feline form.”

  Ariyah rolled her eyes.  Humans.  She got off her chair and knelt down.  She watched one hand become a paw, and the rest of the shift came naturally.  She stretched and thrashed her tail, getting the feel of her bones and muscles.  A purr came involuntarily out of her throat as she jumped back to her chair.

  “For some reason I always thought you’d be bigger,” Batnter said after a long pause.

  Ariyah jumped off the chair and sunk her claws in his legs   She stretched herself out until her nose nearly touched his.

  “Do I look bigger now?” she asked.  He was trying desperately to get away.

  Dearlordshe’sgoingtokillme, he thought.  Ariyah pushed away and went back to her chair.

  “Yes,” he said.  “Sorry.  I was imagining more of a tiger-size.”

  “Technically ‘cats’ are mountain lions with the markings of a white tiger,” she told him.  “Since we have the tiger markings most humans do expect tiger size.  But it doesn’t work that way.”

  “Got it,” he said.  “I won’t make that mistake again.”

  “Thank you.”  She jumped to the floor and stood up as a human.  “Any other questions?”

  “How long until we get to Trepidusk?” Velose asked.

  “Three days.”

  “Does anyone have any game other than poker?”

  “I have Trivial Pursuit,” Twitchy offered.

  “Great.  Go get it,” the captain ordered.

  Ariyah sat down.  Everything was back to normal.

Part I, XVI

  John Nevir walked up to the table, muttering to himself.

  “You put us on red alert?” he asked me.  I smiled and tried not to cringe.

  “Yes,” I said.  “A moose was about to ram us.”

  “Oh.  I thought we were about to die.”

  “I… am sorry to hear that,” I said carefully.

  “We are out of celery now,” he told me.

  He thought he was going to die so he used all the celery? I wondered.  “Pity,” I said out loud.

  “And I mixed up the salt and the sugar.  I’ve straightened it out, though.”

  Goody.  “How nice.”

 “I wouldn’t recommend you try the tea,” he continued.  “But I changed the bread to dessert.  So you won’t have anything to eat the soup with.”

  “I’m sure it’ll be just fine,” I told him, trying to be reassuring.

  “I’ll go get it for you now.”  He walked away.

  “We need a new cook,” Batnter decided.

  “No, we are not getting a new cook,” I said.

  “But he–”

  “If we ask for another cook we’d be stuck with someone that makes horrible food,” I said.  “At least this guy is a good cook.  Mental problems or no mental problems.”

  Nevir walked out with bowls of soup.  He put one in front of me.  There was a lot of celery in it.  I dared taste it.

  It was really good.

Part 1, XV

  Space moose are big.  Fact of life.  They are really really big.  Two of them put together was about the same size of my ship.  And there were three of them.

  “No wonder the government sent a warship out to do this,” I said.  “One of those things could destroy a ship.”

  “Should I bring out the prodding sticks?” Rimana asked.  I nodded, and she pushed some buttons.  Four huge metal rods came out of the ship, one on top, one on bottom, and one on each side.  They bent near the ship and faced out towards the moose.

  “They’re electrified,” I muttered, watching them.

  “How do you know?” Carter asked, looking at me.  I shrugged.

  The three moose also noticed the rods, and were turning towards us. It was terrifying.

  “Batnter?  Back up?” I said.  The moose moved their tails to pick up speed.  The ship backed away, but they were gaining on us.

  “Question,” Twitchy said, flattened against her chair.

  “Go ahead,” I said.

  “What are we supposed to do with the moose once they’re off the freeway?” she asked.

  “Lead them out into open space, right?” I tried.

  “Yeah, but how far?  I mean, right now they’re in open space, but if we leave they’ll just get right back on the freeway.”

  “Rimana, you said we have very weak guns?” I asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Good.  Shoot the one in front,” I ordered.

  “You want me to what?” she asked.

  “Shoot it, just enough to get it mad,” I told her.

  “Are you insane?”

  “Batnter, start spinning the ship.  The instant Rimana shoots the moose head for the nearest asteroid belt,” I said, ignoring Rimana.

  The ship turned.  There was a small thunk as the missile left the ship.  The moose in lead stopped dead, turned downward slightly, and moved faster than I thought was possible.  The other two followed.

  “Batnter, go!” I shouted.  “Quickly!  Carter, put us on alert!  Move faster!”

  Red lights started flashing.  The ship picked up speed, and soon the moose started falling behind.

  “Batnter, slow down,” I ordered, starting to calm down.  “Carter, take us off alert.  Make sure the moose keep following us.”

  “You want them to follow us all the way to the asteroid belt?” Batnter asked.

  “Yes.  But take us a ways away from the freeway,” I told him.

  “At this speed we’ll be there in thirty minutes,” he reported.

  “Good.  So we should be done in time for lunch.”

Part I, XIV

  “No, no, no, you don’t take enough risks!” Batnter told Twitchy.  “That’s what this game is all about; taking risks.”

  “That’s why Rimana always wins,” I added under my breath.  She glared at me.

  “We know when you bet big you have a good hand, because you don’t bluff,” Carter said.

  “I’m sorry,” Twitchy muttered.

  “Look, this hand, you have to bluff,” Batnter ordered.  He dealt the cards.  “Make us believe you have four aces in your hand.”

  She looked at her cards.  “I’ll take one,” she decided.

  “Fold,” I said.

  “Two,” Carter decided.  Rimana grinned.

  “One.”

  “Dealer takes one,” Batnter said.  I sat back as they placed their bets.

  Twitchy tried her best, but she was just so nervous.  But she didn’t give up.  She kept betting until Rimana was the only one left.

  “Call.”  Rimana put her cards on the table.  Two queens and two jacks.  Twitchy looked around nervously and put her cards on the table as well.

  Four aces.  I groaned along with Rimana, Carter and Batnter.

  “I give up,” Rimana said.  “Are we there yet?”  Batnter went to his station.

  “Another half hour,” he reported.

  “We should pack this up and get ready,” I decided.  Carter folded the table and put it in the corner.  “Any idea how we’re going to get these moose to move?” I asked after a moment.

  “This ship is equipped with giant tranquilizer guns and the best tractor beams you’ve ever seen,” Rimana said.  “We also have very weak guns and something called ‘prodding sticks’.”

  “Ooh what are they?” Batnter asked, smiling.

  “Not a clue,” she answered.  “Captain, may I try them?”

  “Why not,” I answered.  She hit a few buttons.  She frowned and hit a few more buttons.

  “It won’t let me unless we’re moving in the MPH range,” she said.

  “Aww,” Batnter said.

  “Well, in half an hour we’ll find out,” I said.