Love… it only gets you into trouble. And no matter how sweet the drink is, the morning after is never worth it.

  Book 14.

  Joseph finished cycling through the necessary inputs to pressurize the escape ship with air compatible with human physiology. And not because he didn’t trust what Foster and his little AI had done to them with the healing machine. No. It was because he just wasn’t ready to go through some unknown and instantaneous evolution.

  Not yet at least. And if Foster was right?

  “Finally,” letting that future thought slip away, he sighed out loud as the display on the hatch turned green. “Time to get the hell out of here.”

  With a little too much enthusiasm, he pressed down on the lever that would allow them entry to the escape ship’s exterior hatch. But sadly, nothing happened. Maybe it was stuck, he thought quickly. After all, this place and more importantly this ship’s age was calculated in centuries, not years. Knowing this, he recycled the lever repeatedly.

  But still, the hatch would not respond to his frantic pulling.

  “Why isn’t this thing working?” Joseph shouted to an unseen digital life form residing in a satchel currently resting over his right hip. “Everything is synced up.”

  “It’s not working,” Hoover’s voice was unnervingly calm and steadfast. “Because he still has three more minutes.”

  Still in shock from what the scientist had just done two minutes ago, the deputy leaned far over the railing and tried to catch sight of either Foster or Justine’s bodies. But all he could see in the chaotic maelstrom was what looked like a million pods bouncing off one another.

  “It took us five minutes to reach the top of this area, Hoover. Even if they were on their way back right now, there’s not enough time for them to make it.” He kicked the unresponsive lever with his leg. But the only thing that occurred was the disturbing sound of his work pants tearing. “So, what’s going on? Are you trying to get us killed?”

  “No,” Hoover’s voice remained placid. “I’m simply going to give him the five minutes he asked for, alien boy.”

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Joseph went back to the control panel to see if maybe there was a hidden override function that he may have missed. There weren’t any. “And if he isn’t back by then?”

  “Then I’ll give him two more minutes.”

  “Two more minutes?” Hearing those words, Joseph felt invisible walls begin to close in all around him, and his lungs felt like they stopped working. For the briefest moment, he wondered if this was what humans called a panic attack. “What are you saying?”

  “You’re a smart guy, Joseph. I think you know what I’m saying.”

  “No,” he reached down and tried to open Foster’s satchel, but the infuriating thing remained firmly closed. “I really don’t know what you’re trying to say. Foster told you five minutes.”

  “No, what he asked was ‘can I hold you to five minutes’.” Hoover clicked his non-existent tongue in a way that said, of course I can. “And obviously I can hold you to that and a whole lot more.”

  “Incredible,” the alien looked back at the air lock panel and the green symbol that denoted the hatch was clear to open. “Obviously you can hold us to a whole lot more than five minutes, Hoover. But that doesn’t mean you should. So, I’ll ask again. What are you saying?”

  “Well, if you really don’t know, then I guess I’ll spell it out for you. We’re not leaving this station without them. Period. End of sentence.”

  “My God!” Joseph slammed his fist into the airtight door. Which for a second, seem to abate his growing frustration. But in the end, all he got from the physical attack was a surge of pain. “You are trying to kill us.”

  “That’s a grossly inaccurate statement, Joseph.”

  “What do you mean inaccurate?” Joseph felt like he was in a surreal type of Turing Test. Only failure here meant his life. “If we fall into that black hole, we die.”

  “I’m not disputing that fact.” Hoover couldn’t smile in a conventional way, but it sounded very much like he was at this moment. “I can’t kill us because “us” would include me.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Most people would agree that I’m not alive in the biological sense of the word. And if that’s true, I can’t very well kill us.”

  “I don’t believe this.” The deputy was slowly becoming aware of a fact that he should have been aware of from the very beginning of this little adventure to the stars. “You’re just as crazy as they are!”

  “I don’t know that I would describe my position as crazy per se, Joseph. But one thing is undeniably true. We’re not leaving here without them.”

  With that final statement, Hoover stopped talking.

  Searching for anyone to hear his pleas, Joseph screamed at the top of his lungs and unslung the satchel. For a second, he thought about chucking it into the void, cursing the fucking thing with every foot it flew.

  But Hoover was in there. And he needed Hoover’s help to get onboard the escape ship. Unfortunately, Hoover needed Foster’s safe return before that help would be offered.

  Worse still, Foster didn’t seem like he was coming back from wherever the hell he went without Justine’s safe return.

  Damn it, he thought. Why were three of the craziest beings in the universe on this station? And why was his future now tied to all three of them.

  “I need a fucking drink.” Reluctantly, Joseph slung the satchel back over his shoulder and once again screamed over the railing at the top of his lungs. “Foster… you’ve got one minute! Move your ass!”