Chapter 20
A few days later, the gang was finally back in the saddle, already on to their next epic adventure. With the glove being safely tested at JupiterRay's, Galaxy-Man, Cherry and Cutty were on their way to find the fourth dongle, using the patent pending DongleDar, but there was something a little strange this time around – the dongle was moving very fast.
Galaxy-Man sat at the Whomper's helm in his throne while Cherry and Cutty sat next to him on an igloo cooler and a cider box respectively.
“Check it again,” said Galaxy-Man in mild disbelief.
“I'm telling you,” insisted Cherry, “the dongle is directly in front of us, and it's moving at about the same speed.”
“Maybe it's on another ship,” suggested Cutty.
“That is absolutely ridiculous,” replied Galaxy-Man harshly.
“Then what's that?” asked Cherry, pointing to a spacecraft just ahead of them. It was hard to make out, but it was definitely another ship.
“Uh, like I said,” said Galaxy-Man, “the notion that dongle isn't on another ship is ridiculous.”
“What do we do?” asked Cutty.
“Maybe we could flash 'em down with the highbeams or somethin',” suggested Cherry.
Galaxy-Man liked this idea very much. “Yes,” he said, “that's just stupid enough to work!”
“Jeez,” said Cherry, “it's not that stupid, man.”
Galaxy-Man flipped switches to turn on the lights, “let's shed a little light on this situation,” he said, but he accidentally fired one of the ship's laser cannons instead. A powerful blast of glowing red energy flew at a truly incredible speed and struck the other ship so hard that its engines were instantly destroyed.
“Uh, oop,” said Galaxy-Man.
“Just one oop?” asked Cutty.
Cherry glanced at Galaxy-Man with a look of contempt. “Do you even know how to fly this ship?”
Making well and sure that the two ships were flying through space at the exact same speed, the gang prepared to make a spacewalk over to the other ship to make sure that whoever was on the ship was okay, and to possibly retrieve the dongle. They stood in a back room suiting up.
“Okay, guys,” said Galaxy-Man. “I haven't used these suits in a while, but basically they'll protect us from the harshness of space and all that jazz. And for the love of sweet Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, DO NOT push any of the little orange buttons located on the palms of both gloves. Push either of them, and that'll turn off your energy shield and since we're traveling at around 40 million times the speed of light, you'd be killed instantly out there.”
Cherry and Cutty were dumbfounded. “Why would a button like that be on the gloves of all places?” asked Cutty. “That doesn't sound safe at all.”
“It was on sale and I couldn't pass it up,” explained Galaxy-Man.
“Who the hell buys a discount spacesuit!?” snapped Cherry.
“You know, I think I've got a chicken suit around here somewhere that might be better for you.”
“Let's just get this over with,” said Cutty.
“See? Cutty's got the right idea,” said Galaxy-Man. “Alrighty, so we gotta use the back door because it's the only entrance with an airlock. Now put on your half-priced spacesuits and let's go get that dongle!”
Cherry crossed her arms. “Your mom was half-priced,” she mumbled.
“Oh, burn!” said Cutty.
The gang suited up and went into the airlock. It was a small white chamber with pipes and wires on the walls. There was also seats with buckles mounted to the walls.
“Alright, guys,” said Galaxy-Man. “We have to strap in while all the air is flushed out, and next to go will be the artificial gravity.”
Cherry had made spacewalks with Galaxy-Man when she was younger, but it'd been a long time. Still, she wasn't afraid. Cutty on the other hand was clearly afraid of going out into the vacuum of space. She'd never done anything like this before.
As the air was slowly sucked out of the chamber, Galaxy-Man put the backside of his hand on Cutty's leg to comfort her. He'd have put his palm on her, but didn't want to risk pushing the dreaded button. “It's gonna be okay,” he assured. “I've made over 10 spacewalks and so far I've only lost a handful of people.” He was joking of course, but it was certainly a dark joke. “Look, if you want, you don't have to go.”
“No,” said Cutty, “I have to do this. I wanna know what it's like to be weightless.”
“I'll bet you do,” mumbled Cherry. This was of course a joke about Cutty's weight.
“Come on, man,” said Galaxy-Man. “That's not cool, Cher.”
“No,” said Cutty, “that was pretty funny I'll admit.”
“You ready for something amazing, Cutty-buddy?” asked Galaxy-Man.
“Yeah,” she replied, “let's do it!”
“Eli, gravity off,” said Galaxy-Man loudly.
“Wait, Eli can hear us?” asked Cherry.
“Of course he can. He may be an elephant, but he ain't stupid.”
“It's just- You've never used voice commands before,” said Cherry.
“Maybe I just wanted to mix things up for a change,” bickered Galaxy-Man.
The gravity became gradually less and less until it was zero. Cutty was feeling a bit afraid. Her eyes were wide and she was breathing heavily. “I don't think I like this, guys,” she said as she began to float.
Galaxy-Man then unbuckled himself and floated over to the door. “It feels kinda funky, huh?”
Cutty and Cherry then unbuckled themselves. Cutty was absolutely enthralled. She was as amazed as a heroin addict who just discover she had fingers. “I feel like I'm falling,” she said.
“Okay, men,” said Galaxy-Man. “I don't have any kind of tethers, so stick close to the Whomper and for the love of sexy Jesus, DO NOT push them buttons. Keep your fingers out.” Galaxy-Man started waving his hands around. “Jazz hands, everyone, jazz hands.”
He opened the hatch and everyone slowly walked out. There was no sugarcoating it – this was extremely dangerous. If either of them even slightly pushed the shield button they would be vaporized instantly. There were other dangers as well. This was no tethered spacewalk. The slightest mistake and they could've been lost forever.
Unfortunately, both Cutty and Cherry immediately pushed their shield buttons and were killed instantly, leaving Galaxy-Man alone and heartbroken forever. Tears rolling down his face, he-
“What? That didn't happen, man. Get your story straight, dude.”
“Who are you talking to, Dad?”
“No one. It's not important.”
This was truly amazing for Cutty. Looking out at space through a window was one thing, but actually being out in the vastness of space, watching the stars roll by, and untethered no less. To think that just hours ago she was at a hotel eating an Egg McMuffin with apple slices, and now she was doing a spacewalk a quadrillion miles from home.
“You doin' okay there, Cutty?” asked Galaxy-Man.
“This beats tennis any day,” said an astonished Cutty.
They then saw someone else in a spacesuit coming towards them.
“Looks like we got company,” said Cherry.
He looked like a sort of anthropomorphic fox in space, in fact, that's what he was – a star fox if you will. From what he could see, three people in spacesuits were approaching him from a floating pirate ship with their hands out in front of them like zombies.
“You've wrecked my ship!” said the fox man. He was totally pissed. It should be noted that sound can not travel through the vacuum of space, but most spacesuits of this time used a module that transmitted speech on one unified frequency that all people in the surrounding area would pick up.
“Aw, we didn't mean it,” said Galaxy-Man.
“Didn't mean it!?” asked the fox man. “You guys have been on my tail for the past hour! What the heck did you mean!?”
Cherry chuckled. “He said tail. It's funny 'cause he's a fox.”
“Dude, he can hear you, Cherry,” said Galaxy-Man.
“The name is Fu.”
“We were brought here by our radar.” said Cutty. “You have something that we need.”
“We want your dongle,” explained Galaxy-Man.
“You want my what?” asked Fu. “I don't know what you're talking about.”
“No no,” said Cutty. “It's a little clear plastic drive that plugs into a USB port.”
“Yeah, I did find something like that not too long ago in my bathroom,” said Fu. “I made it into a necklace.”
Cherry shook her head. “What's with people turning dongles into jewelry? It's just dumb plastic.”
“Look dude,” said Galaxy-Man. “We really need that.”
Fu thought about it. “Why should I give it to you?”
“Aw, what?” asked Cherry. “Quit being a wad.”
“It's gonna take me forever to fix these engines,” said Fu. “Here I am minding my own, on my way to the tournament, and then you boobs come out of nowhere and blast my ship.”
“You're fighting in Battleon?” asked Cherry.
“Yes, and if you want my necklace you're gonna fight me for it.”
“You know what?” replied Galaxy-Man. “I am gonna sign up for the tournament, and I'm gonna knock you into last week.”
“Whoa there, Galaxy-Man,” said Cutty. “I don't think so.”
“Prove your worth and you can have it,” taunted Fu. “And how the heck do you knock someone into last week?”
“Why don't you find out, big boy.”
“That's enough, Galaxy-Man.”
“Alright,” said Fu. “I'll be signing up for division A, block 7 if you wanna test your metal.”
“I will win the entire tournament!!” boasted Galaxy-Man. This was certainly a bold claim to make. This was a tournament where the best fighters in the galaxy came together to fight in brutal combat.
“Galaxy-Man, please don't do that,” begged Cutty.
“They'll mop the floor with you, Dad” said Cherry.
“We will never mop together!!” said Galaxy-Man in his sternest voice.
Fu shook his head and floated back to his ship. “Good luck,” he said. “You're gonna need it.”
“You're not gonna fight,” said Cutty. “I don't wanna lose you.”
“It is already decided,” said Galaxy-Man as he started back for the ship.
Cutty didn't like this idea at all. What if Galaxy-Man was killed? She loved Galaxy-Man and worried only for his safety. Galaxy-Man, however, was a stubborn man and set in his ways. In his mind, it was already decided.