Chapter 17: Revenge on a Small Planet

It seems that one of the more raffish of the hangers-on that are evidently continually present on a ship of Mothers size, she would, after all, make a decent small planet, has conceived a passion for Simone, or Ship. The edict passed against Ship is running the gamut of the rumor mill and he is not capable of discerning the difference between the two. Words have been said to both, in the mistaken belief that both are Ship, or Simone.

Indeed, a blow was struck, and the evidence plain upon the alabaster cheek of one of them. ( I confess ... I cannot tell the difference either. ) I am incensed! That a being, basically resembling a Homo Sapiens, has struck my lovely ... SimoneShip ... ShipSimone ... whatever, certainly calls for redress.

I approached the rowdy, intent on teaching him manners, and called him out. The cad in no way was repentant, quite to the contrary, he considered my attempt laughable. To make matters worse, the ruffian was armed with a rather evil looking knife. I backed up two steps, he grinned ... he certainly was thinking, 'to the victor goes the spoil'...

You remember last time, our hero was hard pressed against the dastardly pirate mob ... He had fled up the mainmast...

Actually, remember the article Doc had presented to me? My silenced CZ 70 semi-automatic in 32ACP, Ah, you Do remember! It has resided in my pocket the entire time we have been on Mother. I brandished it. He laughed.

"No type of ray gun, needler or stunner works on Mother," he growled. "Their electronics have been disabled. Your puny attempt frightens me not."

I dotted him between his eyes for his pains.

A silenced CZ 70 is the best of weapons if you want your victim to realize his folly. I was using full metal jacketed bullets, hand loaded to just under 800 feet per second. The bullet doesn't kill immediately. It might be possible to do a frontal lobotomy with one, if the bullet didn't rattle around. Alas, they do ... rattle around. The recipient can actually answer questions ... two or three ... before demise. The Soviet KGB loved the cartridge.

"Who sent you?" I asked, while going through his pockets. He had an extraordinary amount of Motherscript.

"No one," he said.

"You're not smart enough to think this up yourself. Someone sent you." I jerked his shorts down, he had no dick, "and you're not plumbed to be of any use as a lover to a human female"

I used his knife to cut off an ear. "Who?"

"The astrogator. Please don't maim me. I'll be nothing in the next great adventure."

I slipped his ear into his hand and left him. He lasted another 30 seconds.

Finally, security arrived.

"You fellows sure took your time getting here. I thought Mother was more efficient."

There ensued quite the yelling match ... I was fairly certain I was going to have to remove, permanently, a pair of guards.

Until Door spoke up. He'd seen the whole thing.

Of course, the knife had to be explained. It fit the sheath in the rowdy's sleeve perfectly.

The discussion about the hole between his eyes grew tedious. Medical showed up, eventually.

Oddly enough, the security cameras for the area were disabled, imagine that. The astrogator's DNA was found on a hair follicle and his skin cells were discovered on the off button for the surveillance area. His access to the room had been recorded. Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!