The Second Book of the Alienbutt Saga. The Rise of Mr Fluffy. Part 73.

SPECIAL DELIVERY FOR.

Chapter 19.

INTERSTELLAR NEWS CHANNEL 9. NEWS FLASH.

The Senate today observed a minute’s silence to mark the fourth anniversary of the outbreak of the War of the Coffee Bean. In a special address to the Federation Kraltic Vaspirlel, the leader of the Senate, called for continued support for the Federation forces as they bring about the final big push to bring the war to a victorious conclusion. He went on to give the thanks of the whole Senate and Federation to the Coffee Houses for their tireless work in delivering the cure for coffee addiction and its support for the armed forces. New legislation announced today named the Coffee Houses as Defenders of the Federation, and it is now a Federal Crime to act against their best interests. Senator Yashria, an opponent of the legislation, declared that this honour gave the Coffee Houses an unfair advantage in all business dealings as it is now a crime to be a business rival. He has become the first federation citizen arrested under the new law, and faces a minimum of life imprisonment.

Alienbutt brought his ship to a stop before the passage that led through the wall of dead space. He had tried sending probes into the tunnel, but the static discharge from dead space blanked out all information within the first couple of miles. He knew that he would have to fly into the sphere blind and hope a fleet of angry priests were not waiting for him in the centre. Alienbutt stood and walked to the back of the cabin and opened a large locker. Inside sat Frank’s propulsion drive. Next to it were five large bottles full of a green gas that glowed. Pipes and wires connected each bottle to the drive. Flicking a switch, he closed the lid. The Ick ship, while small, was far more advanced than anything in this space, and for it to fall into anyone’s hands would cause havoc to the status quo. After his run in with Quint he decided that he couldn’t allow that to happen, so had worked on rigging up a self-destruct system. Using the limited items to hand he had come up with probably the largest yield on a bomb since the destruction of his home world. The five large bottles of refined Alienbutt essence, if used right, could have provided the energy to run a city for a decade. Just in case he wasn’t around to active the self-destruction, he had come up with a foolproof back-up plan. Walking back to the flight desk he saw a large button had begun to flash red. Underneath it was a small sign saying;
‘Emergency only. Do not press.’

Finally ready, he began to eat the two large kebabs he had placed on the co-pilots seat and grabbed the first of three bottles of whiskey. The ship began to move slowly forward as Alienbutt settled down to start the final leg of his journey home. Setting the sensor sweep to show on the viewe, r he flew down into the tunnel. Quickly he was surrounded by purple that showed the boundary of dead space all around him. The tunnel was over a mile across and stretched on as he travelled further into it. He kept the scanners on full, waiting for the first sign of an end to the tunnel. tunnel. The weight of the surrounding dead space began to mentally crush down upon him and he began to increase speed, then slowly before him he saw the end of the tunnel appear. The black speck rapidly got larger as he approached the end of the tunnel, and then he was clear and into the centre of the sphere of dead space.

To be continued.
All images are mine.