<meta name="LineWrap" content="true"><TITLE>SR_Bk1 0050</TITLE><A HREF="SR_Bk1-0051.txt">Next (Page 51)</A><BR><P><P>"Do you understand that we can't afford to have an incident on Earth?" Daptin said. "Didn't Elaine make that very, very clear?"<P><P>"So?" Jerald asked, taking off his cowboy hat.<P><P>"So--why the hell did you fire your gun back there? I can't fucking believe you did that! Are you totally out of your tiny mind?" Daptin said.<P><P>"Look Gone, they were about to apprehend us--I had to give them some pause," Jerald said as he turned his hat upside down and reached his hand into it.<P><P>"There was no reason to do it. You knew it was a bridge, and you knew they wouldn't follow," Daptin said.<P><P>"We weren't into the bridge at that point," Jerald said, his arm elbow-deep into the hat, defying normal physics.<P><P>"Behind the rack was the start of the bridge," Daptin said, eyeing the hat. "And you better not try anything with that magic hat of yours."<P><P>"I'm just getting some licorice," Jerald said, pulling his arm out of the hat with a little package of licorice sticks. "Snack hat."<P><P>"Gimme a break," Daptin said. "Just remember--if you pull any more shit--you're dead."<P><P>Fake stopped in her tracks and spun around. The cinder block came to a clumsy halt and then floated to Fake's side.<P><P>"Okay--time out," Fake said. "Let's get something straight--I'm the leader here, for better or for worse. And I say you two stop fighting right now. We have a mission, and we're on a tight schedule. Jerald, you were wrong to fire back there, but we're all entitled to one mistake, right?"<P><P>"I didn't hurt anyone," Jerald said, biting into a piece of licorice. <P><P>"That's beside the point," Fake said. "Just promise me that you'll see this mission through to the end, Jerald."<P><P>Jerald paused, chewing his licorice.<P><P>"Okay," he finally said. "But tell Daptin to stop bossing me around."<P><P>"Look," Daptin said. "We'll be in Boltpike soon, and we won't be walking on eggshells like we were back on Earth. There's a difference, Jerald. A big difference."<P><P>"I know," Jerald said. "Want some licorice?"<P><P>"Not from your gross hat," Daptin said.<P><P>"No thanks," Fake said. "Now come on."<P><P>"Everything's cool," Daptin said.<P><P>"Check those swizzle sticks," Fake said under her breath to Daptin, "I think you might have broken one by accident."<P><P>Daptin glanced at Jerald and snickered softly, but Jerald didn't seem to notice.<P><P>They continued down the hallway, which soon came to an abrupt halt. A ladder attached to the wall led upward.<P><P>"I'll go," Daptin said.<P><P>"Are we there yet?" Tavmatey asked, her voice louder than the last time she spoke.<P><P>"Not quite," Fake said. "But this might be it."<P><P>Daptin climbed up the ladder and found the underside of a metal manhole, very heavy.<P><P>"I got it--a manhole," Daptin said, pushing on it.<P><P>"Open it," Fake said.<P><P>"Uhn. Jammed pretty good," Daptin said.<P><P>"Push harder," Jerald said.<P><P>"Super!" Daptin yelled. "Hoop!"<P><P>With this, Daptin pushed the manhole open with a cacophony of crashes. The ladder got bent in the process, but it was still usable.<P><P>"What the hell..." Fake said.<P><P>Daptin climbed out of the hole to find himself in what appeared to be an abandoned store, with the wreckage of a huge couch nearby, which had apparently been covering the manhole. Out a large window, he saw a bleak streetlight-lit street.<P><P>"Come on up, folks. The weather's fine," Daptin said.<P><P>The other two climbed up the ladder, followed by Fake's cinder block. <P><P>"My goodness," Fake said, looking at the ruined couch. "How did you do that? That couch looks like it weighed a ton."<P><P>"It probably did," Daptin said.<P><P>"Do you have some power I don't know about?" Fake asked. "I didn't know you were that strong."<P><P>"I'm not," Daptin said. <P><P>"But--" Fake began.<P><P>"--just forget it for now, alright? It's too involved to explain.<BR><A HREF="SR_Bk1-0051.txt">Next (Page 51)</A>