Free Rocketship Patrol by J.I. Greco Page A

shouted towards the back of the hold. “I think we’ve got a new partner!”
     

     
    Five minutes after being stunned into unconsciousness, Loy still lay sprawled out on the deck in front of 8724 ’s airlock where she had collapsed.
    “Junior Officer Loy?”
    8724’s voice broke through her sleep. “What happened?” she asked, lifting her head and looking around. No surprise, Hackenthrush and Rikki were nowhere to be seen.
    “We were boarded by a short robot, who attacked you with a stun device.”
    Beside her, the airlock hatch started to close. “Wait, what are you doing?”
    “The scavenger ship is undocking. I must close the hatch to avoid decompression.”
    Loy forced herself to her hands and knees. “Tube still connected?”
    “At the moment.”
    “Keep it that way as long as you can,” Loy said. Fighting a strong desire to go back to sleep, she threw herself through the hatchway into the airlock just as the hatch closed.
     
     
     
     

EIGHT
     
     
    In 8724 ’s mess, Igon was a whirlwind of limbs up on the kitchenette counter, ransacking the storage lockers, tossing out plates, cups, boxes and cans of food. “What does a toaster even look like?” he asked himself.
    “Excuse me...” Lieutenant Detective Hackenthrush said from the mess’ hatchway.
    Igon grabbed a plastic box of cereal and hopped down off the counter. He marched up to Hackenthrush and shoved the box up at him. “Is this the toaster?”
    “Umm…” Rikki peeked over Hackenthrush’s shoulder down at the robot. “No… it’s Fruit Crunchies.”
    Igon let out a shrill electronic growl of frustration and threw the box of cereal up at Hackenthrush, hitting him good and square in the chin. Hackenthrush instantly went out like a light, collapsing to the deck.
    Igon leaped up onto the unconscious Hackenthrush’s chest and held the sparking stunstick an inch from Rikki’s shaking knees. “Where’s the toaster, furry?”
    Rikki jabbed a finger towards the shiny metal toaster-oven on the counter. “There. It’s there.”
    Snorting, Igon jumped off Hackenthrush and hopped back up onto the kitchenette counter. He took the toaster in his claws and spun it around to look at it from every angle. “You see a data port? I don’t see a port.”
    “Ummm,” Rikki said, “it’s a toaster. Toasters... don’t have ports.”
    On the floor, Hackenthrush shook himself awake, rubbing his chin. “Well, not the kind the DUPES can afford.”
    Igon let out a low-pitch white-noise scream and angrily chucked the toaster away. It hit Hackenthrush in the head just as he was sitting up, knocking his toupee off and Hackenthrush himself back into unconsciousness.
    “That bitch lied,” Igon said. “Again! What are the odds?” From somewhere above them came a sharp clank . Igon spun around to point his big yellow glowing  eye at Rikki. “What’s that?”
    “Ummmm,” Rikki said, “sounds like a ship undocking, maybe?”
    “Blerg!” Igon said, and hopped down off the kitchenette counter.
    Rikki stepped in front of the robot as he skittered for the hatchway. He held up his hands. “Not so fast–”
    Without stopping, Igon jammed the sparking stunstick into Rikki’s ankle – sending Rikki, yelping like a baby, to the floor in spasms – and marched out of the mess, muttering obscenities to himself.
     

     
    As the Exalted Refuse slowly pulled away from Patrol Rocketship 8724 , Junior Officer Loy stood in the scavenger ship’s airlock her ears popping from the difference in pressure as it finished cycling. The air around her cold and dry, she swallowed, squared her shoulders and raised her service raygun in front of her.
    The airlock hatch opened on its own.
    “All right,” Loy announced, stepping out of the airlock, “everybody on this ship is under arrest!”
    Feh, standing unseen in the shadows on the side of the airlock, extended a webbed foot into her path.
    Loy tripped and started to fall, but recovered by turning the fall into a