Bubba And the Aliens

Transporters

We sat in a bar in the space station orbiting Slootcam. We were waiting for six passengers to carry over two galaxies and drop on Nopan. It had been four months since Osned had saved us from Janet. We spent a couple of months on earth in Florida and South America. Mikimo and Bubba sat in the corner making eyes at each other. We had picked her and Danny Boy up from Sesterisia two days after we had been kidnapped by the Elvi and thrown into the pit with the vacuum cleaners.

We had been able to get our payment from the Lakanicans from the bank on Sesterisia the next day, which we quickly converted to galactic currency and departed the planet. A long talk with Bipodecus about his sins and our own had led to a half-truth for him to take back to the king. He had seen Mikimo on Sesterisia but had lost track of her.

We jumped over a couple of galaxies and went back to Khelid to change the registry and the name of the Janet’s Lair. She had been renamed Apochairetismos, which is Greek for farewell. The Khelids had advanced the cryogenic stasis procedures and were already taking volunteers to test the effectiveness. They were starting slow, with a week in stasis, a month, and so on, hoping to eventually be able to reach a five-hundred-year standard. There were other creatures with similar physiology who might be able to use the same technology and it was a new market they would be exploring.

From there we had taken Danny Boy to earth. Alas, it was as he feared. Too much had changed while he was gone. After a week in which we all tied up loose ends without encountering anyone from Ozkeria or Elva, he chose to come with us. Osned and Dahlia had gone back to Guatemala. He had turned his ship over to Theo, who would visit every few months.

We jumped across the universe, picking up passengers here and there in our travels over the last month. Now we resided on the far reaches of the universe, in galaxies unexplored and rarely visited by Elvi, Ozkerians, or Lakanican monks. This part of the universe had never heard of Herpes or Earthlings.

Our galactic credit was good, even in the remote corners of the known universe. More importantly, we were not being hunted or chased by anyone. We were just above breaking even with our little passenger transport business. It was okay for now.

I wish I could tell you what happened to Janet. I do not know. Her betrayal, like Hello’s, cut deeply into my heart. I wish Hello had not died. It was an accident and a tragedy, but it is what it is. I don’t know what will come next, or how long we will all stick with this little venture.

Bubba and Mikimo want to get married. Dingo and Danny Boy are chasing girls in every spaceport and planet we drop onto. As for me and Arlo, every once in a while, I dip into my personal stash of single malt scotch and pour a couple of glasses. We sit, look out the viewport of the ship from the bridge, and raise a toast.

We are not in Kansas anymore.