Avery Trent - Chapter 9 (Squid People)

Space, Avery decided, was a surprisingly dull place. It wasn't anything like the movies and novels and all had brought him to believe. Rather than amazing sights crafted by stars and planets, or space battles raging between opposing star-fleets, he found himself staring out at an endless curtain of murk and shadows. There were some stars in the distance, sure, but nothing absolutely mind-boggling. He was, understandably, quite disappointed. Sitting back with a huff, he checked his wristwatch. He stared at the watch's face for a short while before realizing that it hadn't moved since the last time he checked it, about ten minutes ago. Sighing, he looked back out the window and pondered things like time and space and, for some reason, grilled cheese. He could really go for a grilled cheese.

Jason had always thought space to be boring as well, though he was much more used to it. Knowing all the tricks to keeping oneself occupied when bored, he utilized one and began kicking at the floor, spinning his seat around and around and around. Jasmine watched on, rolling her eyes. She'd always found space intriguing, awe-inspiring, and all sorts of amazing. Unfortunately, she too found it dull and boring and dim at the moment.

“What's up with the stars?” She wondered aloud. Avery brought his attention back to the cabin.

“Hmm?” He'd nearly dozed off thinking about space and time and grilled cheese, but a voice hadn't been used in ages and he was glad to finally hear one again. His stomach imitated him, making its own hmm sound. Jason stomped his foot on the ground, bringing his spinning chair to a halt, and stared at Avery's stomach.

“Did it just say something?” He asked, blinking curiously.

“No,” Avery replied. “It growled.” Jason leaped to his feet and pointed accusingly at Avery's stomach.

“Oh yeah? Well what's its problem, huh? Why's it being so aggressive?” He seemed about ready to tackle Avery and teach his stomach a lesson, but Jasmine promptly piped in.

“Hey, guys, stars.” She waved a hand, calling for their attention, then gestured to the safety shield past the control panel.

“What about them?” Jason asked, turning to face the large window.

“What's happening to them?” Jasmine repeated her question.

“They're...” Jason twirled a finger in the air, searching for an answer. “Shining.” He nodded and faced Jasmine. “They're shining.” Jasmine slapped a palm to her forehead and shook her head.

“No, no, no.” She stood from her seat and approached the safety shield. Jason hurried past her and hovered over the control panel.

“My ship,” he said, glaring. “No touching the controls. Got it?”

“I wasn't going for your controls,” Jasmine said, holding her hands up in mock surrender. She pointed at the safety shield. “I was going for that. Look.” Jason peered through the glass, darting his eyes around the stars in the distance. Leaning back, Jason looked at Jasmine again.

“I think I get it...” He tossed himself back into his seat and confidently declared, “They're shining!” Jasmine groaned and returned to her seat, holding her shaking head in her hands. Then Avery stood and walked up to the safety shield. Jason gave him a look, as if daring him to try and touch the controls. Avery ignored this and stared out at the stars. While most were indeed shining, as Jason had so cleverly observed, most were...

“They're flickering,” Avery stated.

“Exactly,” Jasmine said, raising her head from her hands and smiling triumphantly. If one could read her thoughts then, they might find a lot of thanks that there weren't two idiots in the can with her. “The question now is, why?” Jason shrugged in his seat.

“I dunno, who cares? All I wanna know is what that thing is!” He sat up abruptly and punched a large red button on the control panel. Avery almost made a comment about not hitting red buttons, but Jason didn't even understand the concept of stomachs growling, so he thought better of it and shuffled back to his seat. Just in time, too, because the instant he sat down, the can was lurched forward and shot a good distance through the surrounding murk of space.

As the ship slowed down again, returning to its previous pace, Avery was tossed over the back of his seat and ended up a crumpled mess in the back of the cabin.

“Avery, buckle up next time,” Jason called back, unnecessarily using the intercom. “Life belts save seats, or something.” Avery clambered to his feet and patted the wrinkles out of his crumpled sleeves and such.

“None of that,” he said as he walked back to his seat again, “was entirely necessary. None of it.” Jason shrugged again and held the intercom button.

“Sure thing, man. Whatever you say.”

“Again,” Avery said. “Not necess--”

“Avery, shut up,” Jason replied, cutting him off. Avery blinked.

“Really?”

“Avery, shush.”

“But--”

“Avery,” Jason hissed exasperatedly, turning in his seat and curling his fingers threateningly. “Shut. Up.” Spinning back to the controls, he pressed a button and the lights in the can went off.

“Jason,” Jasmine spoke up. “What're you doing...?”

“Jasmine,” Jason said. “Shut up.”

“Excuse me?”

“Shut up! Both of you! God!” He pressed a series of other buttons and the screens situated around his seat shut off. All but one, displaying the space behind the ship.

“Jason,” Avery hissed quietly.

“Avery,” Jason hissed back.

“What're you doing?” Avery whispered.

“Either saving our skins,” Jason replied, “or getting us boarded.”

“What?” Jasmine pitched in.

“Jasmine, shut up!” Jason hissed.

“You shut up!” She hissed back.

“No,” Jason replied. “You!”

“You!”

“You!”

“Both of you!” Avery whispered loudly. “Just stop it!” Jason and Jasmine gave him piercing looks and promptly stopped it. “Thank you,” Avery said.

“Shh!” Jason spun around. Jasmine was about to say something again, but Jason held up a finger, glancing at the ceiling. “D'you hear that?” he asked. There was a muffled scuttling sound, followed by, what Avery could only describe as “suction-y sounds”. Jasmine thought it sounded more like a smack then a pop, whilst Jason voiced his own thoughts.

“It sounds like squid people,” he said. “Little, mini squid people, probably come to loot the ship.” He rose to his feet. “I won't be having any of that, though!” Avery looked at him questioningly and Jasmine eye twitched.

“Squid people? Really?” She whispered, slowly rising to her own feet.

“Yes, squid people!” Jason replied, grabbing Avery by the shirt collar and pulling him to his feet as well. “We'll need things,” he said, wandering through a door at the back of the cabin. Avery hadn't noticed said door before and followed after Jason, only to bump into him coming back through the door.

“Avery, what're you doing?” He asked.

“I was going to help you get things,” Avery said. Jason looked him up and down, then squinted, leaning into his face.

“I got the things myself,” he said. “Here.” He dumped an armful of things into Avery's arms and returned to the control panel. As Jason fumbled with a small compartment beneath the control panel, Avery inspected the stuff that had found its way into his arms. It wasn't much, but it was surprisingly heavy. Three obsidian black objects, greatly resembling guns – so much, even, that Avery just assumed they were guns, as one should when presented with a gun-looking object. Aside from these were a pair of small yellow cylinders. Avery picked one up and showed it to Jasmine.

“What're these?” He asked, curious. Jasmine took it from him and looked it over.

“Um... Jason,” she said. “Where did you get these?”

“Huh?” Jason went to stand from beneath the control panel and hit his head, leading to a series of curses. When he'd calmed down, he marched over to Avery and Jasmine and snatched the cylinder from her. Looking it over himself, he handed it back.

“That's a pack of mints,” he said. Marching back to the control panel, he fumbled with the compartment again. Jasmine glanced at Avery, shrugged, then cracked open the cylinder and popped a mint in her mouth. She offered one to Avery but he shook his head and walked to his seat, dropping the guns and second pack of mints onto it. Then he noticed something.

“Guys...”

“Hmm?” Jasmine replied, sucking on her mint contentedly.

“What happened to the sounds?” Avery asked, pointing upward. Jason suddenly hurried over, a black helmet tucked under his arm, and hissed at them.

“The squid people have broken in. They're somewhere in the back!” With that, he crammed his head into the helmet, grabbed one of the guns from Avery's seat, and dashed off through the door at the back again. Avery blinked. Jasmine smacked her lips, still enjoying the mint.

“We should go after him,” Avery said after a moment.

“Yeah, we should,” Jasmine agreed.

“Do we need helmets?” Avery asked.

“Do we have helmets?” Jasmine replied.

“No idea,” Avery said.

“Coolio,” Jasmine said. Each grabbing their own guns, they chased after Jason, helmets or no helmets. Suddenly they heard a scream – a very high-pitched scream – far ahead of them, somewhere in the back of the can.