Number One Fan

Chapter 4: Something Stupid

As usual, the day began with an announcement from the Royal Panthorian, Cuddles. His voice was monotone and bored, as usual.

Happy was wide awake, lying in bed, looking at the ceiling. Happy could hear his father shuffling around on the bottom bunk. Still asleep. Happy looked at the chronometer that was built into the wall. It was almost eight o'clock in the morning– this was when he'd run back and forth to start the day. But his father insisted that he stop doing that. And today, he would comply... The last thing he needed was to anger Pop any more than he was yesterday.

But Happy really wanted his comic. He had a right to it. He wrote and drew it. And he would have it back. Happy's mind was made up. He had a plan. He carefully and methodically pulled the curtain back. He'd been waiting all night for this moment. His bunk, now open to the rest of the compartment, Happy shuffled his way out of bed and made the first steps on the path down the floor via the ladder. The goal was to step down onto the floor quietly. Happy paused on the fourth rung of the ladder as he felt Pop move again. Tossing and turning, he waited about a minute or two for Pop to stop moving before deciding that the coast was clear. Then he continued. On the ground, he kept his footfalls shallow and quiet. Essentially walking on his tiptoes. The office was his best bet for the comic.

Still half open, the door eagerly called to him, and he answered the call. Happy quickly and quietly pounced over to the other side of the room, like an eager cat, and landed right where he needed to be. He sealed the door behind himself after he entered the space. Then he tore the office apart, sifting through the drawers without a care in the world. And he was making a lot of noise— but he was sure the sound deadening would muffle his efforts. Before it was a colony in space, the Kori was built to be a mining and refinery ship. Refinery ships had thick inner walls to protect against all the nasty biohazards looming in space. If they could do that— they could protect against Happy's ruckus.

In five minutes, the entire office looked like a tsunami had ripped through it.

"Where is it... Where'd you put it." Happy mumbled into the air as he went through everything. The door sliding open was his wake-up call. Eyes wide, he had another drawer in his hands, ready to have its contents spilled on the ground, but when the door opened, he stopped. Caught red-handed.

"DoeDoe."

Happy sighed. Looking at that awkward tennis ball-shaped robot was probably the best sight of his life.

DoeDoe stared at the office, his silence portraying shock. He pivoted his legs so that his visual sensor was at a perfect angle to examine the floor. "Doe!" he shouted at maximum volume.

"What are you doing? Wait, are you trying to tell on me?! Stop— Doe, hear me out! We're friends, right?" Happy quickly tried to diffuse. He set his drawer down and inched closer to DoeDoe; his hands were raised as he tried to calm his robotic friend. "You know I want my comic. You know how hard I worked on it, and you know I was just trying to defend you from that creep. Your last owner didn't do that, did he?"

DoeDoe silently watched, thinking about the next course of action.

Happy breathed rapidly, clearly out of breath from ransacking the office.

"DoeDoe," DoeDoe said simply, as always. He appreciated Happy's always-friendly attitude toward him.

"Yeah... you understand. Now, please... Just let me do this. Pop's never gonna get it. I can't change his mind. But I don't need to convince you because you're my friend, Doe." Happy continued pleading his case; his heart was pounding, and now he was drenched in gooey sweat. That was evidence of both his hard work and his severe anxiety in trying to Keep DoeDoe on his side.