Close Nemesis

Chapter Forty-Four: Lygor's New 'Crew'

LYGOR:

"This hangar is very boring," I remark distastefully. "Even more so than that night I spent with my pirate crew on Islatopia."

"What happened on that night?"

"Absolutely nothing," I reply curtly, before staring at a nearby interstellar tri-plane. "All we did was look at our majestic snow-capped moon."

The plane I'm staring at has three wings: one acting as the plane's canopy, the other stretching out from the body of the plane, and the last wing sitting underneath the plane. The plane's star yellow paintjob peels away to reveal that it is made of a wooden metal known as barksteel. I know of a pirate crew that uses a ship with a barksteel frame. Back in my youth, I raided that ship once or twice to steal a black and green metal worth millions of holocoins on the grey market. I think my mother had a vase made of this rare metal. The metal is known as grasvoidar, and apparently smells like the Aurega cluster at the centre of the galaxy.

The Aurega cluster contains wormholes, black holes, and white holes. Many ships have gone missing here, and it is a place I would most like to steer clear of. Only those who dare to venture to this cluster have ever been able to retrieve metals from parallel universes and what not. I haven't been there, but I sure would like to go there one day. When I get myself a new crew, of course.

This galaxy is too beautiful. But, if I don't keep focused, this galaxy will become less beautiful.

Equaaz is repairing a leak in the plane. I don't know why he's so bothered by it. It's just a small leak. It's not as if the plane's on fire or anything. I mean, my former crew fixed up the occasional fuel leak on the Void's Marauder, but those leaks were usually larger than the tiny one Equaaz is fixing. Although, I guess he knows what he's doing. He's a mechanic. And I'm not. Being a captain was all I was ever good at, or at least, I assumed it was. I guess I wasn't a good captain, after all, since my crew recently ditched me in favour of Idaj's captaincy. Although, it could be argued that I was a better captain, since they all died under Idaj's command. My crew never had any casualties. That's how good I was.

But, still, my confidence as a captain has diminished over the past few adventures.

Anyway, I smile at Equaaz in an attempt to compliment him. Then, I turn to find Nygyl leaning against the pipes next to me. He has since removed the sweater he was wearing on Frayopeyja. His black and blue superhero outfit looks smooth and skin-tight, and seems to hide the wrinkles of his prune-like skin.

His exposed fangs give him an eternal frown. He looks hungry, but I wouldn't fret. He's a carnivore, and carnivores only eat meat. Islatopians are just like trees, in a way. Except for the fact that our skin is as smooth as polished wooden tables.

If anything, Nygyl would eat my eye if he got hungry. But the thought grosses me out. So, I just toss it away.

My guns remain attached to my belt. I'd much rather a sword, but a gun would be more effective. Where we're going, they'll likely have swords. This mission should be quick.

Along with my black leather vest, my burgundy pirate shirt, its lattices tied tightly around my chest, should protect me. Unfortunately, my pirate hat was confiscated during my imprisonment on Podplanata III.

But the loss of my favourite hat doesn't bother me. Sure, my pirate father imparted it to me just before he died. But, unfortunately, life happens. People lose stuff.

What does bother me, however, is the confiscation of my pirate ship. I need it back. It was a fine ship, the Void's Marauder. It really was. It had holocrete sails that deactivated whenever we were in space. It had a kitchen. It had a restroom. It had a dining room. It even had a dance floor.