Taking SPACE

Second Book Teaser

Derrick sat staring down into his drink, his eyes wouldn't focus and his mind was a blur but still he could clearly see in his thoughts Zephyr staring kindly at him and saying, "we forgive you."

He clenched his left hand until his fingernails bore into his skin. He lifted his drink to his mouth and swallowed it all in one gulp. He slammed the cup down. "Another."

The bartender looked up at him. "Sir I think you hav. . ."

"Another!" Derrick cut him off.

The man slowly took his cup away and started to fill it. The door to the bar slammed open and Derrick groggily turned to see who would be making such a racket. He blinked a few times trying to get his eyes to uncross as a towering man walked through the doorway both of his shoulders almost touching the doorframes as he did.

"I'm looking for Admiral Derrick Malachi." The tall stranger demanded in an oddly melodious voice.

One of the other patrons pointed at him.

The stranger walked the entire length of the room in five large strides. "Are you Derrick?"

"I ams whoos wants to knooow?"

The men grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and pulled him to his feet. "I think you had too much to drink!"

"Hee0y! whoo do..."

He was dragged away from the bar as if he weighed no more than an empty bottle. Derrick tried to swing at him but he must of swung at the wrong one because he didn't manage to hit anything.

The towering figure humfed then forcefully hauled him out of the pub and tossed him into the back of his hovercraft.

The air was crisp and the moon of his home planet was high in the sky. The brute climbed into the driver seat and started the hovercraft.

Derek's mind focused enough to think, he shouldn't be able to do that.

"Whoo yoou." He managed to say as the hovercraft took off.

The man glanced back at him. "I came to see what type of man they died for."

Some part of his sluggish brain registered what the man meant and Derrick froze.

"They were like parents to me! And they died for a worthless drunk!"

"Pa. . Parents?"

The fellow turned around and looked him solidly in the eyes. "Yes. They took me in, and treated me like their own, when the entire universe wanted to lock me up in prison and throw away the key."

A sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach slammed into Derrick as if someone had punched him. "Who are you?"

"I'm Lord Maddog, David Kell and Zephyr were like family to me and they gave their life that you may live. You a drunk!"

The fog surrounding his thinking evaporated. "Lord Maddog? The Lord Maddog? No! This can't be possible you died hundreds of years ago!"

The craft skidded to a halt. "Why?! Why are you wasting the life my parents died to give you?!"

The weight of Maddog's words hit him like a ton of bricks. Derrick stared into the man's furious, sad eyes then hung his head. "How can't I? Every time I close my eyes I see her. . . They're looking at me. And I. . . I'm the one responsible for her death. . . for his death for. . . all of their deaths."

"So this is your answer? Drowning your life away in some intoxicating beverage? Squandering what they have given you? Not even trying to make amends for what you've done?"