Frenzy & Torch

Chapter 11: Jacque's Utopia

The robust white transporter was cruising along, heading west from Kelona. Jeff set the vector for his own destination and activated the autopilot. He was still processing what had happened.

"We've gotta talk." Elizabeth said.

"About what?" Jeff asked.

"Don't play stupid. You've gotta help us out here."

The sight of Annabelle absorbing the beam, harnessing the energy, and shooting off her own to eviscerate every ship in the carrier strike group played through his mind once more. He whipped the seat around and got his words together.

"Oh yeah, about that, you two are outta your fucking minds! I'm going to a repatriation center and getting far the fuck away from you freaks! Especially her!" he pointed a finger at Annabelle, who was busy shooting dice with a piñata.

"Watch your fuckin' mouth when you talk about Annabelle!" Elizabeth snapped. "She saved your damn life!"

"I would've been fine on my own!"

"Seemed to me like you were fixin' to hightail it outta the base and wander around in the desert till you died of thirst!"

"There was a town only a few miles northeast of that place! I had a whole escape plan until you two showed and fucked everything up!"

"Oh, yeah, sorry for messing up your super mega ultra escape plan that had a 98.5% chance of backfiring on your pink ass!"

"The fuck would you know, blondie? I see that cloak and antiquated-ass longsword you got on your hip! Your medieval ass is here by accident, and you're just killing first and asking questions later because everything is over your head! You survived the nuke at McDodo's, they've already pinned that shit on you, and you annihilated a base and hundreds of personnel. You're gonna wind up pissing a lot of people off, and I'm not sticking around to be the collateral damage for that shitstorm."

"The fuck does 'medieval' mean?"

"It means, evidently, you're primitive and haven't even invented the fucking toaster yet!"

Annabelle looked away from her game real quick to ask, "What's a toaster?"

"Jesus, what fuckin' year is it where you two come from?"

"1189."

"Okay, so you guys are 4,800 years behind us right now."

Elizabeth's eye twitched. "So, for the rest of the galaxy, it is the year 5989? That's what you're telling me?"

"Yes."

"I mean ... makes sense, but, fuck."

"So fascinating!" Annabelle said giddily as the piñata went back into her cloak and she stood. "To think all of this was happening while we were back home eating cannibal corn dogs and publicly executing political opponents!" she began floating towards Jeff.

Jeff was taken aback by what she said, and the terror factor ramped up as she hovered closer. "Who the fuck are you people— get away from me!"

"No, I won't get away. In fact, I want to be very close so that I can show you something."

"Get away from me! I swear to God, I will hit you!" he backed away from his seat, stumbled over the console panel.

"You're welcome to try," she said. "But I'll still get close and show you something."

Jeff figured there was no good ending for him if he kept resisting. They could've killed him with ease by now if they wanted to. He still could not help but lean back a bit as Annabelle got close. As terrifying as she was, she was also enticing.