The Alienbutt Saga, Book 1. War of the Coffee Bean. Part 44.

Nifty walked onto the bridge of the ship and again checked the sensors. For the last few days a feeling of foreboding had been growing, but the sensors showed that everything was normal. The ship was showing the same readings for all systems as it always did, and that, she realised, was what had been bothering her. The ship’s systems were showing the exact same base readings that they had each time she checked, always the optimum perfect results. She checked the readouts for the stasis booths from the console and swore. Running back into Blackarachnia’s office where she had been sleeping, she grabbed her vid-screen and began to read her message from the Book of Ick. The message had changed; there was another line at the end of it. Cursing, she ran for the door that led to the corridor, she needed to get to Blackarachnia. Racing through the doorway she sensed movement and instinctively dived and rolled as a large robotic arm crashed through the air where her head had been moments before.
“Hello my Nifty, I’ve come to play, prrrrrr.”
Nifty got back to her feet staring in horror at the large robot with a moulded cat face. Lightning fast, it struck again. Nifty again jumped out of the way, but a glancing blow caught her on her ribs, slamming her into the wall. Pain wracked her side and she now had four gashes from large razor claws on the robotic arm of the cat robot that began to seep blood. The cuts were not deep but they added to the rising panic she felt. Turning in fear, she began to run.

Blackarachnia had known from the moment he had first seen Nifty that she was the one. True, the age gap was large but she still looked real good for being several hundred years old. When they had been introduced and they shook hands he had felt like he had been electrocuted, and knew he must have seemed a total fool, but in the moment of contact a bond had been formed. Now no matter what, he could tell what she was feeling.
Even in the stasis booth he could feel it and suddenly he knew she was afraid. He came awake in an instant and began to smash at the lid of the booth. On the second blow the glass shattered and Blackarachnia reached out to open the door. Falling to the floor, he cursed. Hibernation sickness. It would take hours before he even had the energy to walk. Looking around he saw a medical kit and began to crawl towards it. He didn’t have hours; he needed to get his body working quickly.

Nifty managed to get half way down the corridor before a blow to her back sent her sprawling again. She came up slower, knowing that at least a couple of ribs were broken and her arm dislocated. The robotic Mr. Fluffy was a few feet away and making a loud purring noise. Putting her hand in the pocket of the combat trousers, she hoped to find something to use as a weapon, anything to help. Instead she pulled out a half used ball of wool that she had been using to knit a scarf.
Mr. Fluffy stopped and stood staring at what was in her hand. Being a super-villain in a battle suit was great, but being that super-villain with cat instincts that couldn’t be fully suppressed was a problem. He was super intelligent but still deep down inside he was Mrs. Tiddles the cat's little kitten. Without thinking Nifty threw the ball high and to his left and waited for those cat instincts to take over. Both arms came up to catch it as he jumped, spun and twisted. Unable to prevent his reaction he overbalanced and fell backwards with a giant crash. Nifty was off and running again before he even hit the floor.

Geurick Tackful stood on the bridge of his ship. His excitement at the job he was about to start was now approaching fever pitch. The dreadnought was well hidden within an asteroid and would have been missed if they hadn’t been given the exact co-ordinates. He had just transported the equipment promised for the trade into the cargo hold of the ship and was awaiting permission to come aboard to get Blackarachnia. The unknown Mr. Fluffy had told him that he was free to hunt down the legendary bounty hunter, but to leave the Nifty Niffler for him to deliver up. He didn’t mind this as from the research he had done, Nifty was just some Earth celebrity and not really a challenging hunt for his skills. Picking up the last of his four custom pistols out of the silver case before him, he placed it into a holster across his chest and turned to head for the transporter room. He suppressed the excitement he felt, as he would need total concentration to face the deadly Blackarachnia.

To be continued.
Thanks for reading, all images are mine.