Part XVIII – Smoke

This is Part XVIII of the serial space western The Ghosts of Blackmoon Rift. It is also available for download in RTF format here. Or click here for a complete episode listing.

As Crash rocketed down Main Street on the hoversled, another massive cloud of black smoke erupted on his right. He glanced over his shoulder. The fire was spreading quickly through the dry, vat-grown timber of the ramshackle town. The Judge had not been idle.

Crash looked forward again just in time to avoid hitting the Void Where Prohibited.

Part XIII – Smoke

 

Previously: Egan Torr, Miss Kitty and Captain ‘Crash’ Zero have finally made it to Blackmoon and have met up with Murphy, a holographic self-help program. Differences of opinion on their next course of action are thrust aside when Murphy’s old owner Flanagan shows up insane and raving about trespassing. Before they can discover what happened to him, Crash and Torr are attacked by another lunatic, this one a pyromaniac who seems intent on burning the ghost town down around their ears.

 

 

He swerved, braked hard, and went skidding onto a rickety porch. “Easy girl,” he said, flipping off the hoversled’s engine. It died with a grateful sigh. Crash hopped down and went to inspect the hull of the ship.

“Well, baby, your heat shields should keep you from burning up. That smoke is gonna wreak all kinds of havoc on the leather seating though.” He peered closely at the grounded spacecraft. Tail-fins were bent, chrome was scratched, and one thrust cone was tilted at an angle that was certainly not up to code, but she looked surprisingly good, all things considered. “Just needs a quick wrench job and some fuel,” he muttered. Then he noticed something else.

“Ah well,” said Crash loudly, straightening up. “Best to just leave her to rest quietly.” He snatched a loose metal strut from the ground. “Her best days are behind her,” he said. He began circling the cabin slowly. “At least she went out with a bang!” So saying, he whacked the side of the ship with a resounding clang. The entire alloy hull vibrated like a bell. “She never conked out!” He struck the ship again. “Why, when I was behind the controls the hits just kept on coming.” Crash came to a stop in front of the hatch – just in time to brace it from popping open as someone shoved at it from the other side.

“Why, that must be The Law,” said Crash. “Tell ya what, law man. You can talk trespassing all you want, but this is definitely my ship. Sound as a bell, but she’ll leave your ears ringing.”

“Let me out!” yelped Flanagan from within the ship.

“Sure thing pardner, just as soon as you tell me why you loons are running around here setting fire to everything.”

“Trespassers and lawbreakers must be –“

Crash hit the side of the ship again, and once more it rang like a gong. “What’s that?” he asked. “I couldn’t hear you!”

There was silence for several moments, broken only by the distant crackle of flames. “C’mon Red,” said Crash. “This town is starting to cook, and it’s going to be awfully toasty in there before long. You’ll probably want to come out sooner rather than later.” He whacked the hull again for emphasis.

“Okay, okay! Let me out and I will speak of all!”

“Now you’re singing my tune,” said Crash.

The hatch popped open and a scraggly red head poked out and let out a moan.

“So talk,” said Crash. “I hear you were a regular guy less n’ a fortnight ago. What’s going on? What’s got you kids running around like the place is on fire? So to speak. I reckon this pretty little burg you’re trying to burn down belongs to some folks, you know.”

“THEY don’t care,” hissed Flanagan, rubbing his head. “THEY were here before. THEY found us. The tall man sent us into the wilderness, and THEY found us!”

“The tall man? That wouldn’t be this Wallace fellow I keep hearing so much about, would it?”

Flanagan nodded. “A cruel man, and a lawbreaker! He took from us what was ours. But it matters not,” he added. “THEY found us, and taught us the law.”

“Could you stop capitalizing ‘they’?” asked Crash. “Kinda creeps me out. Okay, I’ll bite. Who are ‘they’?”

Flanagan looked up and stretched his mouth into a hideous grin. “THEY are behind you, lawbreaker!”

And then something hit Crash from behind.

. . .

“Come on Professor, keep up!” Miss Kitty and Egan Torr were nearing the other edge of town. Things were quieter here, but the smoke was thick and black not a hundred meters behind them. “The sooner we’re clear of this fire-trap, the better.”

Torr looked up, tripped over a loose rock, and went face down into the middle of the dirt road. There he lay.

“Professor, are you alright?” asked Miss Kitty earnestly.

“Juft finking,” came the muffled response. Torr lifted his head. “Tell me again,” he said, “what that man Flanagan said to you.”

“I don’t know, Professor. He was crazy. Kept on babbling about trespassing and how this weren’t our land.”

“Our land?”

“Well…” Miss Kitty thought for a second. “Maybe he meant the people that built this place. That don’t make no sense, though. Of course, none of what he said made much sense anyway. ‘Not enough for a nickel’, my daddy always said.”

“The other fellow talked about ‘shutting the door to knowledge’.”

Miss Kitty pursed her lips. “You know, there was something about door posts and door keepers,” she said. “And then there was the part where he danced a jig. Which do you think was relevant, Professor? Listen, we gotta get moving already.”

Torr pulled himself to his knees. “Yes,” he said. “We should go immediately.” And so saying, he got up, turned, and began walking back up the street.

“Whoa there, Professor! Did I just miss something?”

Torr turned excitedly. “We have to look for a door!” he said.

“A door? What door?”

“I don’t know exactly. But an Engineer door!”

“An Engineer door? In this town?”

“Not in this town,” said Torr excitedly, “under it!”

. . .

“Judgment is upon you!” screamed the man on Crash’s back, who was, apparently, the Judge.

“Well judgment needs to get the heck off!” Crash snarled, groping for the metal strut. Before he could find it, the Judge pushed his face into the dirt. “What is this, the third grade?” Crash said, spitting dust out of his mouth. He rolled toward the Void Where Prohibited and slammed the Judge into the side of it. His grip loosened, and Crash back-pedaled away and leapt to his feet, brandishing his fists. “Okay,” he said, “I need you to hold still so I can hit you.” He stopped and glanced around. “Hey, where’s Red?”

. . .

“Egan Torr!” snapped Miss Kitty. Torr whirled around, surprised. “Mr. Torr. Professor.” She cleared her throat. “Before you go diving into that maze of dry timber and dragging me behind you, would you mind telling me what in space you’re going on about?”

There was a roaring sound and a nearby roof collapsed.

“The Black Moon is an Engineer artifact, Miss Kitty!” Torr explained excitedly.

“I got that part.”

Torr gestured wildly with his hands. “It’s not just an artificial worldlet! What it’s for, I don’t know, but people have reported finding access points into the interior at times. These men are talking about a closed door and calling the people who built this town ‘trespassers’. That must mean that one of the access points is here, right under this town!”

Miss Kitty glared at him, skepticism stamped on every part of her expression.

“It must be, I’m sure of it!” Torr said, pleadingly.

Miss Kitty thought for a moment. “Fine,” she said, “but we’re only looking on the side of town that isn’t on fire. Yet.”

 

To Be Continued…

(Part XIX is here.)