"Moon Shuttle Ready to Soar Home"
Thom could hear shouting. Hawks’ voice yelling. Then a muffled voice, pleading. Thom hesitated at the closed door, but curiosity got the better of him. He needed to find out what the commotion was all about and if it was about him. He looked at the doorknob, a stainless steel latch, and tentatively tried it. He didn’t want to make any noise and give away his presence. Nothing. He tried again, harder. There was a squeak, but it was not the door.
A hand closed over his mouth. “Say nothing, Boy,” said a gruff voice, “or it’s curtains for both of us!” The squeak again. New Moon shoes, like space-age tennis shoes, creaked.
Startled, Thom whirled around and caught the man’s nose with his elbow as he turned to face this new danger. He dropped his card.
“Dammit, Boy! I’m going to have you up on assault charges for this!” The man glared at Thom as he dabbed at his bleeding nose with the sleeve of his traveling suit. He searched around his pockets for a handkerchief. All that blood was ruining his moustache.
“Sorry, Sir,” Thom mumbled. Facing this man, he wasn’t as scared as he thought he’d be. He knew this guy from the shuttle. Something about this guy was … comical, like he just stepped out of a cartoon.
“How did you get in here?”
“How, indeed.” Ted held up his Omni.
“Look, we need to get out of here,” said Thom, trying the door. “Someone, this dude in a stupid uniform, grabbed me and locked me in here. I know I’m not supposed to be in here, but....”
Ted gave Thom a conspiratorial wink. “Just what are you doing here? I mean in this tunnel. Don’t tell me it’s that teenage angst thing.”
Thom looked unhappy. “It’s my ... family. My mom and dad. Looks like they are splitting. I wanted ... needed somewhere to ...”
“...think about it, yeah, I know,” finished Ted. “That feeling betrayed by those who should be protecting you thing. Same thing happened to my nephew. Came to live with me and Doris for awhile. Han’s recovered, but since he’s been hanging out with me, he’s gotten himself in a peck of trouble. The good kind.”
He smiled down at Thom’s expression, which clearly said that he wanted to be part of Ted and Han and be in a peck of trouble, too.
They opened the door a crack. The screams got more pronounced. Ted held Thom back while he peered through the opened door.
“We’ve got to get out of here, Boy.”
“Thom,” corrected Thom automatically, still muffled by Ted’s hand. He was a space traveler and therefore no longer a boy.
“Quiet!” Ted gave Thom a long look and was satisfied that the boy was calm. He let go of Thom. “This way out,” said Ted, turning to leave the way he came. There was that muffled voice again.
“You hear that?” whispered Thom.
A muffled scream.
“Are they torturing him? I mean, whoever is doing this to ….”
“Quiet!” Ted commanded. A powerful voice, then another scream. “So that’s where he went. Kris!”
“We’ve got to get him out of here!” said Thom, moving toward the latch.
Ted grabbed his arm to stop him then opened the door with another click from his Omni. He led Thom further down the tunnel where they were met with another door and another latch with a neon red security slot. He clicked the Omni again, but this time nothing happened.
Ted muttered and dug around in his pockets gingerly, like a boy with a frog in his pocket. He fished out the contents of his left pocket and shifted the items to his other hand. He picked through the coins and several Omni accessories.
Ted replaced the items in his pocket. “You got anything worth having in this godsfersaken place?” Thom rifled through his pockets and offered Ted the contents.
“Just the thing,” he said as he picked out the knife Thom had almost ‘liberated’ from the Mir SpaceMall and went to the locked door. “Enterprising boy,” Ted added.
He picked and prodded with the various devices contained in the army knife, including the corkscrew, but nothing worked.
“Try this,” said Thom in a whisper and pulled his school security card from his backpack.
Ted stared at it for a moment, then glared at the slot. “Chances of this piece of junk working? Slim to none,” he muttered, but inserted the card in the slot. The card fit into the slot perfectly and the red neon light turned green. One deft twist and the door opened a crack.
He smiled down at Thom. “Bright boy!”
Another muffled cry, which made both of them flinch. Ted tried to look beyond the shadowy figure standing by the door, so he couldn’t see much, but he recognized lab equipment. This was some kind of research facility, but why was it so far from the labs they had toured? Ted was about to walk in and demand to see Kris.
“Wait,” commanded a third voice Ted recognized. What was Hawks’assistant doing in the labs? From his dossier, Ted knew Guido’s job involved both administrative and security matters. Guido was literally no rocket scientist and there was no reason for Guido to be in any lab unless there was a security problem.
Guido moved away and the shadow that had fallen across the door moved with him. Ted could now see Kris seated uncomfortably on a gurney too high for him with his feet dangling inches off the floor.
A white-coated woman with a swab in her hand stood next to him. Patiently, she tried again. “There, now, nothing to worry about,” she said in what she thought was a soothing voice. “We’re just going to try it again.” Kris bellowed and tried to reclaim his arm.
She jerked the arm back to where she wanted it and pinned it down on the counter top next to him where she could stick in the needle. Kris screamed, then passed out for a few minutes. When he came to he leveled what he hoped was a withering look at the technician. “I’m calling SAG and bringing you up on charges. This was not in my contract!” he said in his best basso profundo voice.
“And furthermore, you holding me against my will has made me late to my morning rehearsal call.”
The technician waved the empty needle in Guido’s direction. “He still remembers. Now what?”
Guido shrugged. He knew very well what was coming next.
“I have a performance to give!” blustered Kris, indignant. “I cannot be late to rehearsal.”
Guido had nothing to say.
Kris brightened. “Oh, I get it! This is part of the C&P shoot. You want my real reaction to pain! Darned clever, that director. Verisimilitude is just the ticket.” He rubbed his arm. “Funny, no one mentioned me having to give a blood sample.”
“Aw, crap!” said Guido, not appreciating the actor’s craft or anything cultural, for that matter, and headed for the door. “You keep him here,” he said to the technician, “and I’ll get that boy.”
Ted pushed in the door. “Hold it, just a minute. Are you holding this man against his will?” he asked, his moustache bristling.
Kris was delighted. “Brilliant entrance! Just in the nick of time! That writer is good!”
He felt a tug at his sleeve. Thom said, “Let’s get out of here!” But Guido, still frowning, barred their way.
“Aw, crap!” said Guido. “Now there’s three of them to deal with. Place is getting like Grand Central Station.”
He flipped on his Visi-communicator. “I got three of them. What now?” There was a long pause. “Are you sure? How are you going to sell it to the media?” He looked at the communicator like it was poison. “Aw, crap,” and closed it abruptly.
“I gotta take all three to the maintenance air lock” he said to no one in particular. The technician paled.
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