Granola Bars and Spaceships Page 12

  I shrugged. -Is fine. Is all very fast.-

  "I don't suppose you and Ticheck figured out how to get everything out without the landlords seeing us?"

  Now that I could answer gladly! I laughed. -They went out! Not home.-

  Eric stared at me. "Seriously?"

  -That what Ticheck said.-

  "Okay, then." Eric laughed. "It's a weird stroke of luck and totally insane, but I'll take it." Eric gestured to the pile of cases by the door. "Should I start taking things up?"

  -More to pack?-

  "I saved space in the two medium ones for things from the kitchen and living room."

  I nodded. -Do that. I help carry.-

  *~*~*

  With Keeska's help, Eric had moved the giant pile of luggage to the living room. He had packed up a few things from the kitchen that had belonged to his mother, or been gifts from Will's, as well as a few favorite things from the living room that hadn't already been taken. He’d crammed as much as he could fit into the poor suitcases and they were all near to bursting.

  Keeska had apparently packed a few garbage bags when he wasn't looking. The box they came in was sitting on the counter, and he had noticed that all of their favorite blankets and pillows were missing. The quilt off the bed was missing, too, but Eric had no idea when Keeska had managed that. Maybe when he was in the kitchen?

  He'd also seen Ticheck sitting in the corner out of the way poking at his tablet. When he asked, Keeska told him Ticheck was downloading books. Eric hadn't even thought of that. Would he actually be able to charge the tablet though? Ticheck had given it back to him a few minutes ago before taking the last big suitcase upstairs.

  Eric stood by himself in the living room, looking around one last time. There wasn't much left that he was particularly attached to. Keeska and Ticheck had made sure he took all the photos and anything that looked even remotely sentimental. It was still weird to think that he'd be leaving all of what was left. He was used to taking things with him when he moved.

  Though he supposed this was a bit of a special case.

  Eric could hear Keeska and Ticheck on the stairs. He wanted to do one last walk-through, just in case, so he hurried down the hall. A quick look around the bedroom confirmed that he had, indeed, managed to grab everything he would be truly upset to leave behind. He wasn't going to go in the kitchen again. If he did, they'd never get out of here. Besides, he knew he'd already grabbed the most important things.

  It was time to go. He went out to meet Keeska and Ticheck in the living room so that he could help carry the last load of his bags.

  *~*~*

  I sighed and waved Eric ahead. For the third time. He looked at me like I was crazy.

  Ticheck reached out of the shuttle for a bag. I took the one Eric was holding and passed it to eet. Then I took Eric's hand and tugged him toward the markings Ticheck had left to indicate where the shuttle door was. -Come on.-

  "I can't walk onto something I can't see."

  -Yes, you can.- I pointed to the markers. Again. -Ticheck marked door. Only can't see until past barrier. Then can see. Come, please.-

  Eric finally allowed me to lead him slowly forward. It was like trying to load a stubborn pack animal. I knew he understood what I was saying, but his brain had apparently hit overload.

  I managed to get him to the base of the ramp. Unfortunately, he hit his foot on the metal and stopped. Refusing to drag this out any longer, I took a couple steps up the ramp and tugged him toward me. Hard.

  Eric cursed at me and stumbled. But at least he stumbled forward. Which meant that he finally made it past the edge of the cloaking radius and could actually see the shuttle. He couldn't see much of the outside from where he was standing, but he had a clear view of everything except the pilot's cabin.

  He dropped my hand and looked around. I looked too, trying to see what he would see.

  We were standing on the short ramp into the cargo area that would later be closed off from the rest. Eric's belongings were stacked carefully against the walls and strapped down so they wouldn't shift. Through the open partition, one could see what amounted to the living area. There wasn't much. A small cubicle that contained a toilet and sink. Several types of seating, including the deep bucket seats that we would buckle into to leave the atmosphere or any other time there was much abrupt movement. A few consoles that displayed what the pilot would be seeing out the front windows, along with other useful things. I could access any of my family's records that Ticheck had downloaded before eet left my parents' ship.

  All the walls were a dirty bronze color. It looked dark and cramped even to me, and I was used to shuttles. Ticheck hadn't been kidding when eet said this ship was decrepit. I even saw a few spots on the ramp that looked like rust.

  Eric walked the rest of the way into the shuttle and sat in one of the bucket seats. "So, it's uh…"

  Ticheck must have heard because eet called out to me from the pilot's cabin through the partially open door. I laughed.

  Eric looked at me. "What did eet say?"

  I rested my fingers on the back of his hand. -Not judge eet. Was all eet could get. Not ta fault it piece of crap.-

  Eric snorted. "I wouldn't even know, really. I'm sure it's a wonderful little…"

  -Transport shuttle.-

  "Transport shuttle." Eric turned to look at me. "I need to stop and see Will," he said quietly.

  I nodded. -We know.-

  "As long as I'm pushing my luck, can we make another stop too?" he asked louder.

  Ticheck grumbled at me from up front.

  -Eet says maybe. Go up. Give directions.-

  *~*~*

  The trip to Will's house had given Eric some insight into how annoying it must have been for Ticheck to find Keeska. They had made a couple stops. Each time, Ticheck had scouted the area in the cloaked shuttle. Then eet had parked as close as possible to where Eric needed to go. Close had sometimes been relative, as it had to be someplace that both hid the shuttle from accidental discovery and allowed Eric to get out. He hadn't known there were so many disgusting alleys around.

  After Ticheck got the shuttle settled, Eric would dart out to the street, run his errand, and return. All without anyone realizing he was materializing out of, or disappearing into, thin air. The disgusting alleys made that part easier for Eric, but he could only imagine how much more difficult things had been for Ticheck, who would have been forced to stay completely out of sight of people.

  At least hiding the shuttle at Will's house had been easier. Ticheck had simply landed in the back yard, like eet had at Eric's landlords' house.

  Eric looked over his shoulder at the yard. He knew the tiny spacecraft was there, but the yard looked completely empty. He shook his head in bemusement then walked across the porch to knock on Will's back door. He really wasn't looking forward to this. How did you explain to your best friend that you were running away with a space alien? He'd be lucky if Will didn't sit on him and tell Keeska and Ticheck to leave.

  When there was no answer after a minute or so, Keeska tapped him on the arm and pointed to the door.

  "Yeah, yeah." Eric knocked again, louder this time. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked at the time. It was late. Will was probably already asleep. He shrugged and knocked again. This time he pounded loudly, until he heard Will cursing in the kitchen.

  Eric stepped back and stuffed his hands in his pockets, waiting.

  Will opened the door. As soon as he saw Eric he relaxed, crossing his arms and leaning against the jamb. He looked out at the three of them standing on the porch, Ticheck waiting slightly behind Eric and Keeska, and sighed heavily. "Shit."

  Eric rocked back on his heels. "Hi. Sorry we woke you up."

  "Uh-huh. You're leaving, aren't you?"

  Eric swallowed around the lump in his throat. "Yeah," he said hoarsely.

  Will nodded. "I kinda figured you would. Good on you."

  Eric stared at Will, surprised. He had no idea what to say.

>   Will grinned. "Hey, who am I to tell the geeky librarian he can't run away with an alien and live in a sci-fi novel. Seriously, man."

  Eric laughed harshly. "So you're okay with this?"

  "Sort of." Will straightened and moved forward to hug Eric tightly. "I'm going to miss having my best friend around."

  "Yeah. That part pretty much sucks." Eric hung onto Will as hard as he could, until the other man stepped back.

  Will looked at Keeska. "I'll miss you too, cat-bird."

  Keeska grabbed Eric's hand and held out a hand to Will as well. -I take care. He be fine.- Keeska grinned. -He be space trader from book.-

  Will nodded, smiling sadly. "You'd better take care of him. That's my family you're whisking off to the great beyond."

  Keeska nodded. -Promise.-

  Will squeezed Keeska's hand and let go. He looked at Eric. "Somebody's going to file a missing person's report eventually."

  Eric nodded. "I know. You're all going to have to deal with that. I'm sorry."

  Will shrugged. "What's your place look like?"

  Eric snorted. "Like I ran away in the middle of the night. Keeska made me pack most of the books. Then eet tortured Ticheck by making eet download my entire Kindle library onto my tablet."

  "Dude. Good call." Will held his fist up for Keeska to bump.

  Eric rolled his eyes. He pulled the cash he'd managed to get from the ATMs out of his back pocket. "Here." He held the roll of bills out to Will, who just stared at him silently. Eric sighed and shoved the money against his chest. "What? It's not like I'm going to be using it. There's still some left in my savings, but this is what I could get out. We stopped at three fucking ATMs by the way."

  Will took the money and fanned it out a little. "Shit, man. How'd you even get the bank to set your daily limit this high?"

  "I never had them reset it after we booked that vacation. Stupid, I know. Listen, don't deposit it or anything. Spend it on groceries or gas or something."

  Will stuffed the roll of twenties in his front pocket. "So, basically, don't be the dumbass in the crime show that has money mysteriously appear around the same time his best friend goes missing."

  "Yeah. Basically."

  "Sure." Will was silent for a moment and the three of them just sort of stood and looked at each other. "What do you want me to tell the guys?" he asked finally.

  Eric shrugged. "Tell them I was abducted by aliens."

  Will snorted. "Yeah, that'll go over well. Thanks much."

  Keeska laughed loudly before covering his mouth. Eric and Will watched eet, grinning, until Ticheck stepped forward to stand between Eric and Will. Eet held a small cylinder out to Will.

  Will frowned and took it, turning it over in his hands. "What's this?"

  Ticheck said something to Keeska that sounded annoyed. Eric looked over at Keeska, raising an eyebrow. Keeska shrugged and chattered back at Ticheck.

  Ticheck sighed and slowly held out both hands palm up. Eet waited, frowning unhappily, until both men were touching eet before speaking. -It is a very limited communication device. You have enough space to enter a date and location, but that is all.-

  Will examined the cylinder again. "How?"

  -Push the button on the top. Speak. Push the silver button on the side to save the message. Push the black button on the side to send it. I have programmed it to be sent to a console at Keeska's primary residence. Eet or ta parents will receive it. Do not trust it to send more than fifteen of your seconds worth of recording.-

  Will nodded and stuck the small device in his other pocket. "Thank you."

  -Thank Keeska. We need to go.- Ticheck dropped ta hands and walked away. In the middle of the yard eet paused for a moment and then vanished into thin air.

  "Okay. That's creepy," Will muttered.

  Eric snickered. "Yeah. So I guess I might be able to make the summer camping trip, then."

  -Tell him send ahead of time. We come back if can. You see friends.- Keeska squeezed his hand and followed Ticheck to the small ship hidden in the yard.

  "What'd eet say?" Will asked.

  "Call ahead and we'll see if we can get here."

  Will nodded. "Good deal. I expect to see you almost every year. Bring the alien so we can scare the shit out of the guys, yeah?"

  "Yeah." Eric grinned. "And then you can say I told you so."

  Will sighed and pulled Eric into another hug. "See you, man. Be happy."

  "I'm going to miss you," Eric said as he pulled back.

  "Me too. You'd better go before the new guy gets pissed."

  Eric smiled weakly and turned to go.

  "Hey!" Will called after him. "How the hell did you stop at ATMs in a spaceship?"

  "Ticheck parked in alleys and made me walk down the block. Eet wasn't thrilled."

  Will's laughter followed Eric into the ship. He settled into a seat beside Keeska and fumbled with the straps until they were fastened.

  Keeska held out a hand. -Okay?- eet asked once Eric took it.

  Eric took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay."

  Keeska said something to Ticheck, who answered. A few minutes later Eric was looking at a tiny image of his planet on a view screen.

  Well, then. He had officially run away with an alien. What now?

  NOT SEEING STARS

  The last forty-eight hours or so had been extremely boring. Yes, Eric was in a spaceship that was travelling faster than he could comprehend. But it was a small trade shuttle, and there was only so much you could do while you were confined in a trade shuttle on the way to what Keeska called a meeting hub. Whatever that was.

  Eric had spent the equivalent of three days sleeping, eating, and reading. And while that should have been like a really fantastic mini-vacation, he was way too stressed out to enjoy it. Also, the food sucked.

  Keeska had done ta best to keep Eric from going crazy from either boredom or anxiety. He'd spent more than a few hours with Keeska curled up next to him, talking or reading. But Keeska had also been trying to catch up on things eet had missed while eet was stranded. And eet had been helping Ticheck pilot the shuttle so that one of the Iska was always in the pilot's cabin. Apparently the shuttle's systems could mostly get them where they needed to go but still had to be monitored. It seemed even space technology was stupid.

  That and this was an old, cranky vehicle. It had been the only one available when Ticheck had left to go after Keeska, since it wasn't exactly a scheduled trip. The fact that their rescue vehicle was the shuttle equivalent of the glitchy POS you borrowed from the mechanic wasn't filling Eric with confidence.

  Eric sighed and opened a different book on his tablet. He didn't want to run the battery down playing games, but he wasn't sure he'd be able to distract himself with reading much longer. At least Keeska had assured him he'd be able to charge it once they got to Keeska's ship. Wherever that was.

  The learning curve on this new life of his was going to be a bit steep.

  Eric groaned and thunked his head back onto the wall behind him. He tossed his tablet to one side and stretched his legs out on what seemed to be the shuttle's equivalent to a window seat. Except without the window. He would kill for a window he could look out of for more than a few minutes at a time.

  Keeska appeared next to him, smiling. Eet shoved Eric's legs over with ta hip so that eet could sit. Keeska rubbed ta hands over Eric's thighs, trilling softly.

  Eric reached out and grabbed Keeska's hand, twining their fingers together. "Hi."

  -Hi. All right?-

  "I'm fine."

  Keeska smiled sadly and shook ta head. -No. But will be fine.- Keeska stood, tugging gently on Eric's hand. -Come look.-

  "Come look at what?"

  Keeska trilled happily and led Eric into the pilot area. Most of the front of the shuttle was glass, just like in a car. Through it Eric could see a giant, cobbled together monstrosity. He stared.

  Keeska pointed. -Trade hub.-

  Eric picked his jaw up off the floor and poked Kee
ska with his free hand. "You could have told me that a hub was a space station."

  -Oops?-

  Eric snorted. "Yeah, you're way too excited to be sorry. Dork."

  Ticheck was laughing at them quietly as eet navigated toward what Eric assumed was a docking area. He took advantage of Ticheck's temporary good mood to move closer to the window and get a better look.

  He had thought all of the floating building was spinning, but now he realized that only outer portions were. The rest of it was relatively still. How did that work?

  The whole thing looked like it had been expanded several times by people who didn't have a lot of interest in maintaining consistency. Or maybe it was deliberate. How would Eric know?

  There was one very amusing thing he did know, though. The sci-fi movies he'd watched all his life hadn't gotten it totally wrong. He grinned. He might be freaked out and have no idea what he was doing, but even in the middle of nowhere in space, some things were still somewhat familiar.

  Ticheck grouched at Eric and he moved back again. Keeska reclaimed his hand.

  "Now what?"

  Keeska bounced a little. -Now dock and find out where home is. Ticheck says parents meeting us here.-

  "Um…"

  Keeska looked at him. -What?-

  "Do they know I'm coming?" Eric asked. He really hoped they knew he was coming.

  Thankfully Keeska nodded. -Ticheck sent message with update.-

  Well that was good. Maybe. He could only guess what Ticheck had said about him. It perhaps would have been better if Keeska had sent it, but oh well.

  *~*~*

  I watched as Ticheck expertly moved the old glitchy ship into the shuttle docking area. Thankfully it was basically an open warehouse with parking spaces. If the shuttle had been any bigger, they would have had to try to maneuver the stupid thing into a bay and docking clamps.

  That would not have gone well.

  Ticheck and I had tried to hide how dysfunctional the shuttle's computer systems were from Eric. I thought we had done a fairly good job, but he wasn't stupid. He didn't need to perfectly understand my conversations with Ticheck to figure out that the stupid thing was glitchy.