The Great Galactic Score!

18

18

Demi could hear the shouting all the way down in the hangar bay, inside Zapasnoy, where she had elected to make the now-forgotten ship her quarters for the duration. For a start, Zapasnoy had real, albeit recycled to within an inch of its existence, food. Whereas Lodka had ... Well, she didn't want to speculate where the food came from as far as Lodka was concerned. It looked like a lot of meat. A lot of meat that had a similar tinge to it as the flesh walls of the ship. That, alone, without enquiring further, made Demi want to avoid that food altogether.

The reason Demi could hear the argument was two-fold. First, for some reason, Friss had transmitted the ongoing verbal confrontation over Lodka's tannoy system. And second, because, even without the tannoy, Bognrd's voice reverberated throughout the ship without any need for technological enhancement. The man was loud. Very loud and standing beside him left Demi struggling to clear her ears of the ringing his loudness caused.

Bognrd, though happy to have become rescued by Friss from the confines of the tiny cargo bay, did not appreciate something Friss had done in the past. Something that Bognrd classed, rightly or wrongly, as an insult to himself, his family and, for some reason, beetroots. Upon seeing Friss, after leaving the cargo bay, now snugly tucked away in a corner of Lodka's hanger bay, Bognrd had launched himself at Friss, his curling horns almost tearing Friss' head off. If not for the intervention of Lap, Friss would, in all likelihood, have failed to continue living in the most gruesome of fashions. He didn't take it personally.

"I WILL GRIND YOUR BONES INTO A FINE POWDER AND USE THEM TO ENHANCE THE FLAVOUR OF YOUR OWN LAST MEAL!" Bognrd tended to speak in exclamations. "I WILL REMOVE YOUR PIZZLE, CUT IT INTO FINE SLICES AND MAKE IT INTO A CANAPÉ!"

"Well, that's a little descriptive, but, hey! I did just rescue you, you know. A little gratitude wouldn't go amiss." Somehow, Friss failed to sound even a little terrified which, considering the fact that Bognrd resembled a seven-feet tall, heavily muscled, perpetually angry devil, was quite a feat. "You can thank me later. Now you're back, we can get on with the rest of the heists because, my old, very furious friend, I found it."

"I WILL NEVER THANK YOU, YOU MISERABLE EXCUSE FOR A NEUTERED FROG! I WILL ..." The silence became oppressive within the stroke of a single word. It continued to oppress Demi and she felt an urge to make a placard protesting it. "YOU FOUND IT?"

Then, for some reason, the tannoy clicked off, leaving Demi to wonder exactly what it was that the revelation of finding it could bring Bognrd's righteous anger to a full and immediate stop. It didn't stop him shouting, that appeared to be his natural volume level, but it had made the super-strong, devilish-looking man pause. From the way the argument had gone up to now, she didn't think anything could have stopped him, short of a warship sized blaster bolt through his head. She worried that even that would barely graze the monstrous Bognrd.

In the deafening silence, Bognrd's shouting now reduced to a floor-shaking rumble that Demi could not quite make out what he was saying, she looked around the brig that she had made her home. From one of the crew quarters, now cleaned and tidied and with signs on each of the doors threatening Friss with blazing, painful death if he even thought of messing them up again, Demi had pulled a set of drawers, a wardrobe and a decent bed, attaching them to the walls and floor with super-strong adhesive. She didn't know why she had turned the brig into her quarters, though she felt it had a little to do with her not wanting to become too comfortable.

She had no intention of travelling with Friss any longer than she needed to. Finish the job, or jobs, have her criminal record scrubbed and that fake video of her slaughtering the bar deleted and she would go on her merry way, never to set eyes on the man-child ever again. She would, she supposed, miss Lap. A little. And Lodka. She most certainly would not miss Bognrd.