The Doom Gaze was very different from the ships
Waitstate was accustomed too. Walls
were not flat panels but rather bars, pipes, and what appeared to be open
wiring. The lighting all around seemed
rather dim. An odd view screen or
hologram jutted out from various locations.
Waitstate never had a chance to view the interior of
the Doom Gaze in depth. He had taken
note of it, but he wondered why he never appreciated the odd beauty of its
construction. A quick look at the
primitive chains that held him against the walls of his cell reminded him.
“Nice
place you have here” Waitstate said in a casual manner.
“In
a few moments it will be feeding time.
Xaraxus has kept the Raptors hungry,” Zip Zap told him.
“I’ve
been consuming cheap fuel. I’m afraid I
wouldn’t be much of a tasty meal” Waitstate futily joked.
Zip
Zap chuckled. “It’ll be over so fast
they won’t even be able to taste you.
It’s a shame they’ve been locked up really. They probably could take you guys out alone if we gave them
another go.” Zip Zap opened the door to
Waitstate’s cell.
“Urg,
this feels like an over-dramatic movie.” Waitstate said to himself as Zip Zap
dragged him by his chains.
------------
After
what seemed like an eternity to Waitstate, he arrived at the front of a large
door.
“Doors
this big, it must be a docking bay.
Man, you must have really lost control of the raptors in order for-”
Zip
Zap cut him off. “That’s enough!” He opened up the docking bay doors just wide
enough for Waitstate to fit and threw him in.
Waitstate scrambled to his and threw his wrist chains around Zip Zap’s
neck. He tried pulling him in but the
doors closed too quickly and crushed the chains.
“Blasted
bot. I wish I had the pleasure of
killing him myself!” Zip Zap punched
the door leaving a rather large dent in it.
Inside,
Waitstate could see very little. Most
of the lighting was shorting out. Wires hung out of holes torn in the
walls. Maintenance was obviously not a
priority. He tried to activate his
wrist emitters for some light, but the strain of the shackles seemed to have
damaged them.
“Hello,
anybody home?” Waitstate looked around
and wandered aimlessly. Suddenly,
something ran past him. He turned, but
saw nothing. Then, there was a sound
off in the distance. Waitstate found a
gun lying on the floor. It appeared to
be the same gun he had seen Xaraxus use in previous battles. He didn’t spend much time contemplating and
used the gun to blast off his remaining shackles.
“It’s
nearly fully charged. Rather odd for
Xaraxus to just leave it-” Waitstate was attacked from behind. He fell to the ground, dropping the
gun. Scrambling to pick it up,
Waitstate transformed to his car mode and turned on his headlights. Nothing.
No movement, no sounds, nothing that would imply anyone but himself
being in the room. “I know you’re in
here. It seems painfully obvious that
the entire crew of his ship cowers in fear of you.” Waitstate looked into the darkness but still didn’t see
anything. “Given the evidence, I’m
willing to bet you’d die for a chance to get at Xaraxus.” Waitstate wasn’t sure if his idea had any
merit, but it was a last ditch effort.
Out
of the darkness two hands grabbed onto his neck and slammed him against the
wall. Raptara stepped forward lighting
the area with her staff. Ripper and
Skulker’s unkind visages were now visible.
“What makes you think I’d deal with you?” Raptara asked.
Waitstate
struggled to smile. “Well, being leader
of LONAC, I can get you all the access codes you want.”
“And
in exchange, we’d rid you of Xaraxus.”
Raptara paused for a moment and chuckled. “Interesting proposition.
I find it difficult to believe you’d willingly give us access to your
ship, but I suppose we could keep you alive long enough to force what we want
out of you. How do you propose we get
out of here? Perhaps you haven’t
noticed, but all three of us couldn’t claw our way out.” Raptara had little faith in the much smaller
member of LONAC.
Waitstate
struggled. “Not exactly what I hoped
for, though I suppose I’d rather die on my ship than this intergalactic
dumpster.” Raptara motioned for the
others to put him down. “Perhaps YOU
haven’t noticed, but this is a docking bay.
We don’t need to get back into the ship, we just need to leave it.”
“All
of the consoles have been dismantled.
We’d tried to repair them, but without the codes we can’t tell if we’re
making progress or not,” Skulker told Waitstate. “Besides, with the low energy reserves there might not even be
enough power to open the doors.”
“You
really don’t know who you’re talking to do you?” Waitstate said with a
smile.
“So,
we get free reign of your ship, all access codes and keys?” Ripper asked.
“You’ll
get a personal escort from yours truly, nothing more, nothing less” Waitstate
told the raptors.
Ripper
and Skulker transformed to their raptor modes and growled. Raptara followed suit. “Perhaps we should just tear you apart now,
it might be far more enjoyable. All in
favor?”
Ripper
and Skulker laughed in unison.
Waitstate held Xaraxus’ phaser at Raptara, but she didn’t seem to be
frightened.
Raptara
chuckled. “Be sure to savor the taste
girls, we don’t get many of his sort very often.”