GalaxyBillies

Chapter 33

Chapter 33

Jim Bob followed Carol Anne into the same room he had first encountered Uncle Maligna. Things looked mostly the same except the gleaming room now had a big table setup in the middle surrounded by extremely bright lights.

Uncle Maligna and Bobby John stood near the table talking with Vincent floating nearby. Betty Sue and Zeke were nowhere to be seen.

“Ah, Jim Bob,” Uncle Maligna said. “I’m glad to see you. How are you feeling?”

“To tell you the truth, Sir, I’m a mite worried,” Jim Bob said. Just admitting it made him feel a bit better.

Uncle Maligna laughed. “That’s natural, but you have nothing to worry about. Young Bobby John and I have been talking about the procedure and I think it should all be just fine.”

From where Jim Bob was standing, Bobby John looked more worried than he did. “You all right, Bobby John?”

Bobby John stood a little straighter. “I’m fine, Jim Bob. I just want to make sure ah do a good job for you is all.”

That made Jim Bob feel a touch better. That the boy was more worried about quality than actually doing the job was a very good thing.

“I’m sure you’ll just fine, Bobby John. By the way, where are Betty Sue and….” Jim Bob was interrupted by a siren.

“Now what?” Uncle Maligna looked annoyed. He strode over to a terminal and tapped away at a few keys. His expression was very serious when he looked up at the humans. “It looks like Gumbo Feet got tired of waiting. He’s here and his ship isn’t. That probably means that if something happens to him we’re dead.”

“What can we do?” Carol Anne asked.

Uncle Maligna worked at his terminal for several minutes before he looked up again. “There isn’t much we can do. His armour is sealed so we can’t get him with gas* (*with the sealed armour Gumbo was the only threat to himself for gas attack). I don’t know how much of an impact he can withstand without injury so we can’t physically attack him either.” He scratched his head. “I have weapons on the asteroid, but they would kill him and as I said before, that would likely mean his ship would destroy us.”

Betty Sue, Sheanna’Ree and Zeke came running into the room. “What in tarnation is going on now? Why are them there alarms blaring again?”

“That bounty hunter fella is here,” Carol Anne said.

“Nice of you to join us,” Jim Bob said.

Betty Sue ignored his jibe. “Uncle Maligna, what can we do?”

The scientist held his hands up in a gesture of helplessness. “We were just talking about that. It seems like the best thing we can do is find out what Gumbo Feet wants. His ship left as soon as he was on board which likely means we will be destroyed if he is harmed.”

“Cain’t we just leave?” Zeke asked.

“That’s a good idea, Zeke,” Uncle Maligna said. “Except there are no escape vessels on the asteroid. My brother wanted to be very sure I stayed put when he left me here.”

“So we wait?” Betty Sue asked.

“I think we must,” Uncle Maligna said. “Gumbo Feet doesn’t have a reputation of being a murderer. He is known for being VERY good at what he does, which is hunt people for his clients. He prefers to bring them in alive. Whomever he is here for, he will capture them. We just need to be ready to stop him when his ship is here to collect them.” He shut off the alarms. “No sense listening to these things.”