Chapter XCVI: The Spinoff

A Chapter by Scorpious Alpha

Months after Ruzal’s funeral, Ballester is in his room with Xagrog, when he gets a page from Serge. “Hey B, I need you to come down here.”

“What’s up?”

“Your kids wanna talk to you.”

“Where at?”

“Meet them outside.”

“All right.” Ballester and Xagrog leave their apartment and head outside.

“Hey dad, Xagrog.” Oigres says.

“So, what’s up?”

“Well, we have some news for you.”

“Yeah, Serge mentioned that.”

“Well, we got The Spinoff up and running, and well, we’re going back into space. As the former captain, we were wondering if you’d transfer command to Sallester.”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah, Sallester has been studying yours and Gorgax’s logs, and he passed with flying colors.”

“So, who’s all going?”

“All of us. Me, Nyvar, Nogal will be flying the ship, Sallester is Captain and Tactical, Xorda is Security, Nyvar is the ship’s doctor, and Nallester will be running Communications. I’ll resume my spot as Science Officer, and we’re going to be exploring more planets the Galaxians overlooked.”

“What the f**k, man? Why is everyone leaving?”

“Reality has become too unstable on this planet, the less of a population, the more likely it’ll survive.”

“And I just can’t come with you?”

“Well, you were talking about retirement and such, we figured you’d wanna relax. Besides, we’re going to be gone for a few years, and hopefully Serge will have solved the reality tear problem by then.”

“Whatever.”

“So I guess we don’t have your blessing?”

“No, it’s not that, I just hate that everyone’s leaving.”

“Don’t worry dad, we’ll be back before you know it, just enjoy your retirement in the meantime.”

“Fine, as former captain, I transfer command to my son, Sallester.” He waves his hand sarcastically.

“Don’t worry dad, we’ll still keep in touch.”

“Yeah, ok.” Hugs and goodbyes are exchanged as the crew boards the ship. “Everything feels like it’s falling apart, Xagrog.”

“It’s called getting older, it happens. Kids grow up and do their own thing, you couldn’t have expected them to stick around forever.” Xagrog says.

“I guess not.” He sighs, and kicks a rock before going inside. As soon as he goes in, Serge stops him.

“I have something to tell you, B.” Serge says. Meanwhile, in the ship, everyone who wasn’t on the ship the last time is gawking at the planets as they’re passing by.

“Wow, I was just learning about this in school! It’s so cool to see them live!” Nallester says, as he presses his face to the window.

“Speaking of school, did you do your assignments for today?” Xorda asks.

“Yes, mother.”

“Good. Make sure to be in the schoolroom by 0900 hours tomorrow morning.”

“Ugh, I know, mom.”

“Don’t take that tone with me, young man.”

“Sorry.”

“So babe, what’s our first stop?”

“Well, I figured we’d stop by Planet NG-566 and see how they’ve been doing the past fifteen years.” Sallester says.

“Setting course for NG-566!” Nogal says, as he punches the coordinates into the computer. Soon, they’re on their way.

“Wow, fifteen years since the last time I was here.” Oigres says.

“I read your logs about the rock monsters, I hope they don’t become a problem.” Sallester says.

“Let’s hope not.”

“What did you do with that rock urchin you caught last time you were here?”

“Oh, it’s still alive, he’s roaming his rubber tank. According to the carbon dating, he was fourteen when I captured him.”

“He?”

“Yes, turns out a ‘loose pebble’ I was trying to scrub off while I was cleaning him was actually his man parts.”

“Ooh, that had to hurt.”

“Yeah, he was mad at me for awhile after that. Wouldn’t eat or drink in front of me, and at night, he would purposely bounce around in his tank to try to keep me awake.”

“Jeez, how long did that last?”

“The better part of a year. Hey, I totally get it. If a giant tried scrubbing off and pulling on my man bits, I’d be pissed too.”

“Sounds like a smart creature.”

“Now that you mention it, once a year, always on the same date, he’ll act like that, almost as if he remembers when it happened.”

“Hah!”

“I’m looking forward to seeing how the Mords and Bizards are doing, I’m hoping it’s still peaceful between them.”

“I’m looking forward to meeting them.”

“Well, we’ll find out in a few hours. Yo bro!” Oigres calls out to Nogal.

“Yeah?” Nogal says.

“Good job on the upgrades to the ship! I didn’t know this ship could move this fast!”

“It can go faster if you want it to.” Nogal smirks as he pushes a lever and presses some buttons. Within seconds, they’re orbiting NG-566. Everyone looks shocked. “Thanks to school, I took Galaxian Engineering and Human Engineering in my career path, so even though I was still a student at the time, I hadn’t yet learned how to cross the two, so that’s why it took so long last time. I was keeping it a secret until someone mentioned something. Technically, we could have been here as soon as we cleared Pluto.”

“Wait, you harnessed black hole energy? On Earth? How?” Oigres asks, shocked.

“Chance. With Serge tearing up reality, all I needed to do was harness some of the energy emanating from the tears themselves.”

“And Serge knows about this?”

“Yeah, he made sure we had enough to last us a lifetime. Wanna see the engine?” Thee three of them make their way to the engineering section, where various workers show their respect to Nogal, Sallester, and Oigres as they make their way through the halls by awkwardly getting out of the way or saluting, which they just ignore or wave off. A giant infinity symbol, while glowing, darkens the room. “There’s our black hole, boys. Just going through an infinite loop. It takes a small charge before we can use it again, but this is how Galaxians can go place to place to deliver their stuff before it rots so quickly. Now, I believe we have a planet to check up on?” They make their way to the bridge, and Sallester, Oigres, and Xorda leave the ship. On their way out, Nyvar stops them.

“What’s up, sis?” Oigres asks.

“I wanna come too.”

“But I possess the proper medical knowledge.”

“Please?”

“What’s wrong with you?”

“They were cute, I miss them.”

“All right, come on.” The second they leave the ship, they are swarmed by Mords. “Uh, hi?”

“He speaks our language.” A Mord says.

“Yeah, we’re the ones that gave you those translators, remember?”

“That was thousands of years ago, my friend. Come, we have much to discuss.”

“Thousands? We’ve only been gone fifteen years!”

“Not according to our calendars.”

“That explains why the planet is moving so fast.” The Mord seems to age as they move. I could swear it wasn’t like this the last time we were here.” Oigres looks around, and sees fully formed rock monsters sparring nearby. He sees what seem to be fingers at the tips of the wings on the Mord, who is slowly turning gray.

“You are correct in that assumption. Due to the speed of your ship taking off last time, started the planet into a rotation that over time, got faster and faster. I’ve only been alive for a month, and I can already feel death creeping in.”

“I’m so sorry, how do we undo it?”

“Take off in the other direction when you leave.”

“Oh s**t, what direction were we pointing?” The other three shrug. Oigres pulls out his tablet, and watches Ballester! In! Space! The three of them board the ship, point it in another direction, and take off, and when they do, it kicks the small planet in the other direction. “So, does that mean we can’t land on the planet, because doing so will affect the rotation when we take off?”

“It seems so.” Nogal answers.

“So, if we ever do visit again, we’ll need some sort of transport system.”

“Oh, well, I took care of that, too. I liked watching movies and tv shows to see how humans thought species from other planets would look like, and so, I developed transport technology based on my favorite trope: abduction. Come with me.” They follow Nogal to a room with giant circles on the floor. “All in one, please.” They all assemble onto one circle. “Hit it.” An engineer flips the switch, and the circle opens up, sending them through a beam of light that lands them safely to the ground.

“You’ve returned!” The first Mord to see them says.

“How long has it been?” Oigres asks.

“Feels like...fifteen years.”

“You speak so eloquently.”

“A couple generations will do that. Wanna say hi to my grandpa? He and the other old people go on about these people who came from this metal beast and introduced them to the inhabitants of Q’uira, the Bizards. Bizards aren’t the nicest, but they leave us alone for the most part. A few of our kind has intermarried, and interbred. They’re exiled and have their own commune if you wish to meet them.”

“Why is it a problem for the two of you to get together?”

“It’s not a problem for me, I see no big deal. In fact there’s some not bad looking Bizard chicks if I do say so myself. They just don’t fit in to either community. The community likes to act like they don’t care, but really, they’re passive aggressive about it. Like, some merchants will increase price and use less weight and say it’s the same. The kids get bullied by the pure born kids, and it’s sad, really. As a generation, we’re hoping that as time progresses, the three tribes will live in harmony. Here he is, hey grandpa, look who I brought home!” An old Mord turns around, and looks at the crew, puzzled.

“Hm.” He grunts as he moves closer to the crew. “Recognize you, recognize you, do not recognize, and do not recognize.” Grandpa says talking to Oigres, Nyvar, Sallester, Xorda.

“Hi, I’m Oigres, this is my sister Nyvar. This is my big brother Sallester, he is the son of the man who was here last time. And this is his wife, Xorda. My brother and my father are human, Xorda is Galaxian. Me and my sister are a combination of both.” This shocks grandpa.

“Again, your species helps my species. Me thunk half Mord half Bizard bad. But if you help us and you are half and half, maybe it not bad.”

“It’s really good to see you again.” Nyvar says. “Can I have a hug?”

“Me love hugs!” He jumps into Nyvar’s arms and snuggles her, while she wraps her arms around him, crying. The Grandpa Mord feels this, and breaks down too.

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