The Second Book of the Alienbutt Saga. The Rise of Mr Fluffy. Part 23.

Knocked senseless by the next attack, he had awoken in an energy cell within the science laboratory. He had watched as the zombie crew had brought in his own crew from his own ship and installed the control devices in each one. Guerick had no morals, but knew that what was happening here was not good. He knew without doubt he was watching the start of something that was truly evil. Killing and murder were one thing but to make people into zombified slaves was just going too far even for him to take. After seeing the final member of his crew fitted with the black box, Mr Fluffy had come to see him and he had been given a choice. He could be fitted with a control device or he could work for Mr Fluffy willingly.

Guerick had inwardly smiled, knowing that a chance to escape would come his way, so he had chosen the second option. He would agree to work for Mr Fluffy and make his move the first chance he got. That was before Mr Fluffy had added his insurance policy by injecting him with nanoprobes that would attack and destroy his body from the inside if he ever tried to betray his new master. Then just to hammer home the point, he had surgically implanted a nano drive into his brain and nano camera into his eye so he would be able to record and see whatever Guerick did. Guerick was in trouble, but he was alive and he tried to convince himself he just had a new employer. He failed in convincing himself and cursed his bad luck.

Nifty walked aboard Hydroponic’s ship. It was much smaller than the ships she was used to and looked as though it was about ready for the scrap yard from her first glance. Blackarachnia had taught her to look beyond the obvious and on a closer inspection she could see how hard Hydroponic had worked to make the ship appear a pile of junk, when in fact it was heavily armoured, packing state of the art weapons, and she doubted it would be slow or sluggish.
She found Hydroponic in the small flight room checking the ship’s computer. He looked over as she walked in.
“I’ve cleared the second room on the right for you, first one’s the bathroom. Sorry, but the ship doesn’t run to separate facilities,” he said gruffly.
Nifty looked back down the short corridor towards the doors he had indicated. “Could I start by saying thank you and get it out of the way?” She asked, turning back to him.
“You can, but thanks work better with a large reward attached,” he grumbled, not looking up from the computer monitor until a packet of cigars landed in front of him.
“Duke Ramboe said these are your favourites, but you smoke them in your room or you’ll be eating them.” Hydroponic looked up to see her smiling, taking the sting out of the words and nodded, picking up the packet and placing it in his shirt pocket.
“Sounds fair, you seem an almost reasonable person when not threatening to rip space stations apart. Now we’ve got the rules out of the way and you know where you're sleeping, get your kit. We leave as soon as you’re ready. I got news of a likely Spider sighting so want to get there before it gets too cold.”
“I’ve got what I need, so let’s get going, but we're not going looking for Blackarachnia straight away,” Nifty replied, sitting down in the co-pilots chair.
“What?” a confused Hydroponic asked, looking over at Nifty’s smiling face.
“I took some time to read a bit of Duke Ramboe's copy of the Book of Ick. Let’s go fly around a bit until it's time to go see Snoodgrass. I know when and where Blackarachnia will be, so chasing after where he has already been seems pointless unless you like looking at dead people.”
Hydroponic shook his head. “And when will it be time to see Snoodgrass?” he asked.
“I'll let you know,” Nifty said sweetly.
“Are you always this cryptic or are you trying extra hard for some strange female reason that I’ll never understand?” Hydroponic asked, beginning his pre-flight checks.

To be continued.
All images are mine.