Super SciFi Smackdown

3.1 Death Warmed Up

Pictures 1,3,8,5 and 7. Words - 3000.

Dana had to admit ClickClack was pretty handy to have around. Since Xacks overdose on Crarab bile, the little alien had progressed in leaps and bounds, picking up the routine of the ship easily and proving herself to be a real asset. Xacks on the other hand was a complete drain, without ClickClack's assistance Dana probably wouldn't have been able to cope at all. The bug was violent, lashing out at invisible apparitions and switching between languages so frequently that she doubted he was coherent at all.

None of this seemed to bother the small Crarab, as she went about bringing him food and feeding him threads and such, which he snatched up instinctively to line his room. With all his hoarding the room was beginning to look like a bower bird nest, there was even assorted bits of trash woven into his hammock. Little else that could be done, except confine him while they waited to see how long the effects would last.

Dana flopped on to the settee, having just finished cleaning Knapp's room out and moving her clothes into the built in. ClickClack having already shredded most of the dead mans belongings, much to Xacks delight, mostly because they added to his already large collection of crap. It was a relief to finally be rid of every last reminder of the brutish cop, Dana shuddered, repulsed at his memory. She let herself relax and take in the documentary Zero had put up on the screen to entertain Scott while everyone else had been preoccupied.

"We are moving!" Xacks sudden appearance startled everyone in the room. "Where the Fuck are we going?"

"We are still in orbit." Dana stood, his anxious behavior put her on edge and she looked to ClickClack who'd released him.

"Fuck you squirrel." Xacks spat at her before taking off towards the cockpit.

"Great, just what we need." Scott sighed glancing at ClickClack before looking over at Dana. "I guess we have to go after him."

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea." Dana looked apprehensively at Scott. "He might be dangerous."

"When hasn't he been dangerous?" Scott retorted. "Besides the last thing we need is him tearing up the ships controls."

Scott was right about that, the last thing they needed was a psychotic pilot chasing pink elephants through an asteroid field or worse, that is if Zero would even give him control. The artificial intelligence had spent most of the last two weeks internally going through what was probably a pretty substantial database, happy to leave the ship and its occupants floating in a stable orbit around the Crarab owned planet.

"Zero." Dana spoke to the entity through the intercom, as she made her way after Xacks. "You've got company."

"Acknowledged." Zero replied through the sound system.

Dana could hear Xacks arguing with the entrenched Zero as she drew closer and her chest felt a little tight. Normally she had a good idea of what to expect but this time, with so many variables she felt an anxiety that she hadn't felt in a long time, along with a creeping fear that she couldn't shake.

"Fuck you... You fuck." Xacks spat it some more. "Where are we going, tell me or I will tear out your drive like it was a liver."

Dana entered just as the Thoracian descended into a series of clicks that she had come to recognise as insults.

"Good you're here." Xacks recognised her instantly. "Get this cunt to tell us where we are going."

"Oh you don't think im a squirrel now?" Dana asked, not impressed and more than a little annoyed that he'd had her so worried.

"Squirrel?" Xacks paused in contemplation. "No the Squirrels were in the other part." He trailed off, pointing back towards the living area, as a light inside his head switched on.

"I think you should come and sit down mate." Scott urged politely. "We will help you figure it out."

"He's right." Dana interrupted suddenly noticing the displays. "Zero where are we going?" 

Everyone stopped to stare at the screens as the forest covered landscape of a moon rapidly increased in size as they skimmed past leaving the planet and its many satellites disappearing in the rear monitors.

"Zero..." Dana repeated nervously. "Where are we going?."

"We will be arriving at Creat-en-ark shortly." Zero relayed smoothly despite the jarred pronunciation.

"You can't just make decisions like that without u..." Dana started, but stopped when a flash of colors blinded her momentarily leaving a purple flashing afterimage when she tried to focus on anything. "What the fuck Zero?..."

And for the second time in as many minutes she was speechless. The monitors were suddenly alive with activity, it was as if someone had hung a mirror ball in space or maybe some kind of crazy lights display. The planet before them was like a shimmering glowing orb of lights all doing their part to light up the globe. As they got closer the individual lights became distinguishable as infrastructure and space vessels going about their business. A giant wasp like creature dropped in out of the darkness behind them to be illuminated by the lights making Dana gasp.

"Fuck." Dana muttered taken aback by the sheer magnitude of the sight. "I never even imagined."

"Yeah yeah it's Createnark." Xacks creaked naturally as if it were nothing. "Seen one cesspool seen them all. You still there, you silicone fuck, using my jump drive without asking my permission. Why are we here?"

"I happen to think it's awe inspiring." Dana pouted "What do you think Scott?"

Dana turned to look at Scott who had been standing in the background since the dimension jump. He stood slack jawed in a haze, as if he had just had a stroke or maybe an aneurysm. His eyes seemed blank, almost empty looking, but slowly they were gaining fire as he locked gaze with Dana. She barely had time to scream as Scott lunged towards her like an animal after prey.

Suddenly Xacks was all around her with his four arms working in unison, his upper right missing her head by a bees whisker as he threw a right hook while his lower right pulled her away from harm. His fist connected with Scotts drawling jaw shattering the bone and forcing his brain dead body back. Without wasting a second he grabbed the parasite controlled Scott and using all four arms, held him tight while twisting the mans head violently. Dana heard his neck crunch, then creak as tendons tore and his spinal cord severed, for a moment his body shuddered and stiffened in protest before going limp. With a gentleness, Xacks lay the cadaver on the floor and spoke in a soft tone.

"Don't look." He gave her a warning glance and she looked away. As he began to stomp on the mans head, tears welled in her eyes and rolled down her cheek, at the same moment something wet splashed across her ankles.