Lots of Pancake dialogue
Who: Justin and CK
Where: Starbug. The one that didnt crash
When: After the first one crashed
<snip>
"Hangover?" Justin asked the man who had clearly spent a long time drinking.
"Just a bit." Kotchanski sarcastically under-exaggerated.
"I have just a solution!" Said Justin. "Hair of the dog. There's some cans of
JMC lager in that locker behind you. Fancy a drink together?"
<end snip>
Callum mused for a moment. Then he looked at his watch. "Is it too early to have a beer?"
"We're in space. It can't be early on every planet in the galaxy."
"Good enough for me. Said Callum and cracked open a can. Justin joined him and the two sat back in the den of work clothes that Callum had piled on the floor.
"Ah, this is the life." Said Justin relaxing, whilst outside their Starbug was being pounded to shit by laser fire.
Their relaxed moment was ended by security chief Chris Harris' voice filling the air.
<snip>
"CALLUUUUUUUUUM!".
"WHAT!?" Callum yelled back.
"We're getting pummelled out here. Figure out some way of getting a shield up, configuring what's left of the deflectors, improving out engines, ANYTHING. We're in big trouble - we're not going to last another ten minutes unless you work something out for us. Quick question first though. ARE YOU DRINKING ON THE JOB LIEUTENANT?"
No, sir" said CK, throwing the unfinished can of lager in his hand into the laundry basket ten feet away. "I'll see what I can do, sir"
<end snip>
"Sorry. I got work to do." Callum said.
"Can I help?"
"Are you an Engineer?"
"No. Security." Said Justin. "Not that I ever do any work." He said with a laugh.
"Then you're not much help. Go stand over there."
"I can bring you things?" Justin offered.
"Okay bring me that wire over there. I need it to patch this conduit- No not that wire!"
Justin had pulled a wire out of the wall, which made a spark and all the electronic doors in the Starbug started to open and close at random. "Sorry." Said Justin.
"That's take me longer to fix now!" Callum shouted.
Justin shrugged. "I'll just finish off this pack of beer on my own then."
"Don't you dare."
"Better hurry up then!"
"Okay I'll do this in record time!" Callum boasted.
As Callum frantically worked away at wiring the console, and plugging things into other things, and running diagnostics on a laptop, Justin rummaged around in his pocket. He wondered if he still had the gooey green orb that the Hymenoptera had given him, but remembered the baby Hymenoptera had taken it away in the 12th Century. He wondered if giving the hymenoptera at such an early point in their evolution had benefited them at all. Maybe he was the reason why they were such powerful foes now.
He brought out a piece of paper. On it were the words "Corridor of infinite perversions."
"Callum. What do you make of this?" he waved it in CK's face.
"Busy." Callum said.
"Okay well its something that someone gave me. I have no idea what it means, but it's something that I've heard before."
Callum made a grunt to acknowledge that he was listening, but didn't actually want to.
"It was mentioned to me by the version of me from a parallel universe. He said it when he was dying." He paused. "He worked for the Hymenoptera." He said.
"What!" Said Callum, looking up. "How could he work for those monsters?!"
Justin shrugged. "So did Jed Calvert. The Jed Calvert in that universe of course."
"Oh well that makes sense." Said Callum. "I heard that Jed was half Hymenoptera."
"Like Rosette?"
"I... guess so. He drank lots of alcohol so that he never changed into one. That's why he was such a drunk."
Justin nodded. "I wonder what that's like... having so much power, but never using its full potential."
Callum gave him a funny look, and was about to ask what he meant but some wires sparked and set on fire. Callum quickly grabbed the fire extinguisher and killed the fire before it spreaded.
"I also saw this written on a door in Willy Eckerslike's apartment on New Tenerife."
"You've met Willy Eckerslike? Owner of the JMC?"
"Yeah. He invited me to his apartment. It's big."
"Wow. That guy must be loaded! He owns the entire JMC!"
"Yeah it was a big apartment. He had this servant Ffionian girl too. Four breasts. Amazing!"
"What's he like?" Callum asked.
"Okay I guess. He was a bit weird actually. I think he wanted to tell me something but didn't want to say it directly."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, he had this room too. It's like it was a big secret what was inside. It still bugs me actually. I saw these words on the door."
"What words."
"The corridor of infinite perversions!" Justin said. "Are you not paying attention?"
"I'm working!" Callum said. "So Eckerslike has a pervy dungeon eh? Weirdo!"
"Hmmm.... I'm not sure if that's what it means."
"No idea. Why would he sent me a letter about it?"
"Maybe he wants you to join his kinky sex games!" Callum said. "You and William Eckerslike, boss of the entire JMC. Take some photos of his kinky sex games and send them to the newspapers, you'd make a fortune!"
"Eew. I don't think it's that. I think it's something more sinister." Justin said.
"Like what?"
"Something to do with the Hymenoptera." Justin said.
"Nah! You're imagining it. What would Eckerslike have to do with the Hymenoptera?"
"Someone... someone who worked for Eckerslike gave me this device right. It was green and sticky and glowing. It allowed me to communicate with the Hymenoptera!"
Callum stopped what he was doing and looked directly at Justin. Then he laughed. "you're a dickhead! I knew you were having me on."
"I'm not, this is all real! I'm not making it up."
The voice of Harris came over the comms device.
<snip>
"Callum, how are we doing on the upgrades? It doesn't matter how shabby it is, I just need something!"
<end snip>
"Done!" Said Callum, snapping the panel back onto the bulkhead. "You now have full sheilds. They should be able to absorb anything that the Blue Dwarf can fire at us."
"Well done CK!" Came back the voice.
<tag. Not sure what should happen next. Should we land the Starbug and join the others? How do we get in?>