Part XIX – Fire

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.

Torr and Miss Kitty scurried down the alley into a narrow court fenced on all sides by sagging shacks with gaping eyeholes. .

“The people who lived here weren’t doing too good,” Miss Kitty muttered.

Torr snapped his fingers. “Right you are, Miss Kitty. We should narrow our search to structures that are a little more… permanent.”

“Like the town lockup?”

“Yes! The jail would be excellent. We should look for it at once.”

“It’s right there.”

“Oh.”

 

Previously: Egan Torr, Miss Kitty and Captain ‘Crash’ Zero have crash-landed in a ghost town on the world of Blackmoon and have met up with Murphy, a holographic self-help program. Murphy’s old owner Flanagan shows up, clearly insane and raving about trespassing, and then Crash is attacked by his equally crazy counterpart, who seems intent on burning down the town. Miss Kitty and Torr are about to get out of town when Torr realizes that a secret Engineer portal may exist benath the town, and persuades Miss Kitty to help him search for it.

Part XIX – Fire

 

The jail was not a striking building by ordinary standards, but its solid construction and steel door stood out amongst the ramshackle structures that surrounded it. Fortunately, the door was unlocked. It swung open smoothly on well-oiled hinges. The darkness within was cool and dry.

Torr plunged in and Miss Kitty followed. Neither of them saw a red headed figure flit through the shadows of the shack behind them.

Miss Kitty left the door ajar, then fumbled along the wall for a light switch. She found an old industrial breaker and flipped it. Crisp white lights snapped on. Torr opened another door and gave a cry of triumph.

“Ah ha, the basement!” He clambered down the stairs.

Miss Kitty emerged into the harsh lighting of the basement a moment later. “This is just bare rock,” she said, stamping the rough, black surface beneath her heel.

“Very promising!” said Torr.

Murphy flickered to life in the air between them. “Hey, you going to be done here soon, Professor? I don’t really fancy having my circuitry melted into slag when some loony burns this place down over our heads. Just FYI.”

“Let’s just find it,” said Miss Kitty. “What are we looking for?”

“Well… a door. Or a hatch. It might be hidden.”

“So not a big, round, sci-fi portal inscribed all over with alien hieroglyphics, huh?” asked Murphy.

“I doubt it,” said Torr.

“Okay, cause otherwise I’d say it was that one in the floor underneath this desk.”

Moments later they had the desk, which had evidently belonged to some government functionary with a greatly-inflated sense of importance, shoved out of the center of the gleaming black portal. Its smooth surface contrasted starkly with the bare rock that surrounded it and the strange inscriptions around its circumference gave it an air of mystery. The center was intersected by three lines that seemed to indicate that there were six sections that slid open. But there was no obvious mechanism for initiating this process.

“Okay Professor, we found your portal,” said Miss Kitty. “Now I really think we need to get back upstairs.”

“You go ahead Miss Kitty,” said Torr. “I’m going through.” He whipped a tiny device out of his jacket and began punching numbers into its small data-pad with deft finger motions.

“What?” Miss Kitty exploded. “You can’t just jump feet first into an alien man-hole, even if you did know how to get it open. This is crazy. You’re supposed to be the smart one, Professor!”

“I gotta go with the lady on this one, Prof,” said Murphy. “We don’t know what’s under there.”

Torr looked up. “Look,” he said, “I can’t ask you to go with me, Miss Kitty. You’ve been a tremendous help getting me this far. But now it’s my turn. My knowledge of Engineer Archaeology will serve me well here. And I’m certain that the artifact that I seek must be in some way linked with whatever the Engineers built beneath the surface of Blackmoon.”

“Well, if that’s the way he feels about it we’d best leave him to it, Miss Kitty,” said Murphy. “Let’s go find that hoversled and head back to Wallace’s ranch.”

“Actually,” said Torr, “I will need Mr. Murphy to accompany me. His projection capabilities and powerful nanoprocessors could be invaluable.”

Now it was Murphy’s turn to be incensed. “This is insane! You’re not dragging me into any darkened Engineer crypt! Tell him, Miss Kitty!”

“Forget it,” said Miss Kitty with an air of resignation. “We all go. So long as you’re sure you know what you’re doing, Professor.”

Torr blinked. “Well, I think it’s likely,” he said after a moment. “But it’s really not necessary –“

“It is,” said Miss Kitty. “We better go tell Crash.”

As they were shuffling up the stairs, Torr commented, “That’s funny, I smell smoke.”

Miss Kitty sprinted up the last few steps, dashed across the room and threw open the front door. “Son of a bark-licker,” she said.

Smoke was everywhere. It appeared that several of the buildings surrounding them were on fire, although it was hard to tell which ones specifically. Debris had been stacked in the alley that they had come in through, and flames were now licking at it, blocking their retreat.

Torr came running out of the jail door. He halted and took in the scene. “Why, someone must have done this on purpose!” he said.

“One guess who,” growled Miss Kitty. As if on cue, a red headed figure appeared at the far end of the burning alley.

“Lawbreakers!” Flanagan screamed. “Trespassers! This place must be cleansed!” He threw back his head and laughed maniacally.

“Flanagan!” shouted Miss Kitty. “This is not funny! We could get burned up! You have to let us out of here!”

Flanagan stuck out his tongue and bugged his eyes out in a way that, in another situation, would have been rather comical. “Too bad interlopers, too bad! Na na na na na na!” He giggled and twirled about. “You will all be purified by the long arm of –“

His words were cut off as Crash ran him over with the hoversled.

Crash leapt from the machine and ran to the mouth of the alley. “Miss Kitty!” he hollered. “You alright? How’s the Professor?”

“We’re fine, Crash,” said Miss Kitty. “The Professor found a secret Engineer portal door under the jail!”

“That is awfully swell,” shouted Crash. “I’m coming in to get you out of there!”

Miss Kitty waved her arms frantically. “No!” she called, “you can’t get through. We’re going to go back down to the door. The Professor is going to find a way to open it. We’ll be safe down there!”

“You’ll want to back away from that alley, Miss Kitty,” said Crash, starting to clamber onto the hoversled. “I’m gonna be coming in pretty fast.”

“Crash, no!”

“I can take the heat, lady. Now get out of the way!”

“Maybe you can,” called Miss Kitty, “but we can’t. We’ll be fine underground! You go and find help at the Wallace ranch.”

“If you’re gonna be fine, why do you need help?” demanded Crash.

“I was thinking more about the guy you just ran over,” said Miss Kitty.

“Oh, Red, yeah.” Crash looked at the pathetic figure on the ground beside him, torn. Now he had to choose between chivalry and justice. After a tense moment, justice won out, and he deflated with a sigh. “Professor, you take care of her, or you and I are going to have a very stern talk next time I see you.”

“Since when have I needed looking after?” asked Miss Kitty. “It’s you men who are always running into things – metaphorically, in the Professor’s case, but still.”

“Alright then,” said Crash.

“Best of luck, Crash,” called out Torr.

“You too,” he said. Then he turned and began to wrestle Flanagan’s limp form onto the hoversled.

Smoke was filling the little square. “Miss Kitty, we better get back inside,” said Torr.

“Yes, we’ll be much safer inside this wood building,” Murphy remarked snidely.

Miss Kitty took a last look at Crash. “Stay out of trouble, Crash,” she murmured. Then she ducked her head and led the way back into the jail.

 

To Be Continued…

(Part XX is here.)