Ending to starship down - revised

[biotech]

“Heroes don’t get hernias.” Bob Jones thought to himself, as he walked from the bus stop the short distance to his house.
“Kirk never had a hernia, James Bond never had a hernia, Indiana Jones never had a hernia, but me, I’ve got a hernia. Not that I’ve done anything particularly heroic in 15 years.”
Bob turned the corner knowing that in the next few steps, he would turn the next corner, and know whether he would be able to take the next few hundred feet to his house in peace, or whether the local kids would be there to make his life a misery again.
His stomach knotted up with the anticipation, he knew it was stupid, he knew he had faced death a hundred times before and laughed in its face, but here, almost at his own home, he wasn’t in charge of his own destiny.
The kids were.
The name calling, the stupid comments, the things thrown in his garden, all to provoke a response he wasn’t willing to give them, if he blew his top and had a heart attack, they would probably stand around laughing as his life ebbed away, but if he gave them so much as a clip round the ear, he would be the one off to jail.
The ironic thing was, that none of them would be alive if it weren’t for him, wouldn’t even have been born, but they would never know, and probably wouldn’t care if they did.
He turned the corner full of dread, and for a moment, he thought the coast was clear, no kids, just one adult.
Adults held no fear for Bob.
Feeling relaxed he headed for his house, but before he got there, the man walked towards him, his arms were bare and muscled, and his face had the expression of a man looking for trouble.
“Oy! Arsehole! Have you been upsetting my daughter?” The man said threateningly.
Bob stood still and let the man close in on him, he could see the brat of a girl stood in the doorway of the man’s house across the street.
“No, actually she’s been upsetting me.” Bob replied calmly.
“YOU WHAT?” The other man yelled, his muscles tensing.
“She calls me names on a regular basis, and since you moved in the street, she’s made all the rest of the kids round here do it too.” Bob explained.
“I’ll rip your ****ing head off ya little fat ****!” The man said menacingly, as his daughter looked on in delight.
“No, you’ll shout a little more, then go back to your house, and I’ll go back to mine.” Bob retorted politely.
“And why the hell would I do that?” Asked the man, peering down at Bob from his several inches of height advantage.
“Because when you look at me you see a small man with a beer belly wearing a suit, you’ve been here a year and I’ve looked the same in all that time. You think I work in an office and you’ll be right, but you think I’ve probably always worked there, and you’ll be wrong.” Bob explained carefully.
The angry man had a puzzled expression on his face, he was used to people backing down and apologising when he confronted them, and failing that, he was used to smacking them around.
“I was in the gulf war, not the meat grinder they have going on at the moment, the last one, the one where they actually let us do what needed to be done, then let us get out and leave them to themselves afterwards, bit of a ****ty deal for them, but at least me and most of my mates made it back.”
The man looked a little uneasy when Bob said he was a soldier, but he still didn’t look entirely convinced.
“I was never just a regular solder though, I received special training in combat, both armed and unarmed, and if you are wondering why I haven’t used my skills on you and your big gob, its because I’m not really trained in slapping around daft twats looking for trouble, I’m training in killing people as fast as possible.”
The man’s face was a turmoil of emotions now, fury at the insults, worry that Bob might be telling the truth, worrying about what his daughter would think, and all the people who must be peering through the net curtains up and down the street.
“I don’t really want to go to jail for killing you, and I lost my dad when I wasn’t much older than your girl, so I wouldn’t want to make her an orphan either, trouble is there’s about fifteen places on you where I can kill you with a simple jab of my finger tips, and the worrying thing for me, is that its so instinctive, so engrained even after all these years, that it will just happen fast as that!” Bob said, snapping his fingers.
The man flinched.
“I mean at the end of the day its up to you, if your lucky I’ll just use defensive moves and drop you to the floor before your arm has finished its backswing ready for your first punch, of course for a man who prides himself on his reputation, to be knocked to the floor and pinned down by a ‘little fat ****’ would be really embarrassing.”
The man gulped, his throat suddenly feeling very dry.
“Of course I could just be making all this up, but then if you hit me now, everyone who’s watching, and we both know that will be a lot, will wonder why its taken so long, and what I could possibly be saying all this time to put you off. But since I have spoken so softly, I doubt anyone but you has heard this conversation, not even your charming daughter, so why don’t you just trot off home to her, and leave everyone guessing? Because if you make a move now, everyone will know one way or another.”
“You’ve got no-one in this street, and I have a lot of friends” The man said nervously, but quietly.
“Oh I have no doubt that if you have enough people with you, I will get taken down, but if you ever do come at me with a gang of your ‘friends’, you wont see me take a single punch, I wont be able to take you all down, but I can certainly take one down, and we both know that one will be you.”
The colour was draining from the man’s face now, and his eyes were darting from side to side.
“Pride is an important thing in life, but its not worth dying for, now go home, and if you ever speak to me again, it had better be about the weather.” Bob finished intently.
The man clenched his fists, then unclenched them, and sullenly walked back to his house, his daughter watching him incredulously.
“I thought you were going to smack Mr Bean!” She whined as he approached.
The man clipped her across the head.
“Don’t ever call him that again, now get in!” He said, shoving her in the house, following close behind, then slamming the door behind him.
Bob let out an enormous breath, then walked the short distance to his house and let himself in.
As his door **** behind him he slumped against the door, his heart pounding.
Had he made things better?
Worse?
Had his mouth signed a cheque that his arse couldn’t cash?
Only time would tell.
Until then he poured himself a rum and coke, then headed upstairs to see how his bittorent of the last episode of lost was doing.

Bob settled down in front of the PC, and flicked on the monitor.
“Two days remaining!” He said incredulously as he looked at the time remaining on the torrent. “How the **** can that be? It was 6 hours this morning! Seed damnit!”
Two more days on the download put the episode so close to its showing on Sky he might as well just watch it on TV.
Bob used to have a lot more patience, but the internet brought him his favourite shows without having to wait for the UK to show them, it also brought him lots of porn, but so soon after his encounter outside, he wasn’t feeling the urge to splurge.
He took a sip from his drink, then noticed the other glasses on the PC desk, and on the floor near it, sooner or later he was going to have to wash up, but while there were still a few more glasses downstairs, he could put off the inevitable for a little while longer.
He spent the next 30 minutes browsing through various bulletin boards, chatting to people he would never meet, and trying to avoid spoilers for the episode of lost he was impatiently downloading, then clicked on the icon that would load GTA San Andreas.
If he thought about it too much, Bob know deep down that his life was anything but a life, and that drinking alone, playing computer games, and masturbating to internet porn is no way for a middle aged man to live, but then he tried to avoid thinking about it too much, or indeed at all, and most of the time he did the job pretty well.
There were times when he thought about ending it all, but he never did, as he always had some hope at the back of his mind that things would get better, and after all things could be worse.
Couldn’t they?
Suddenly the phone rang, causing Bob to loose concentration on a particularly tricky part of the GTA mission he was playing, causing him to die rather messily onscreen.
“**** it!” Bob yelled, before heading for the phone, getting ready to chew out whatever telemarketer or survey taker was ruining his game play.
“Hello!” He said none to warmly into the phone.
“Bob?” Came the reply tentatively.
Bob’s frown melted away as he recognised the voice on the phone.
“Fred! How the hell are ya? What’s it been, two years?” Bob asked excitedly.
“Yeah about that, look, there are things I need to tell you, things have been changing in my life, important things, and I’d really rather tell you in person. Can I come see you tonight?” Fred asked nervously.
Bob looked intrigued. “Bit of a long drive from Devon, you wont get here till midnight!”
“I’m not in Devon, I’m in the car at the end of the street, so I’ll see you in a few seconds.” Fred explained whimsically, as he hung up.
“Well I’ll be damned!” Bob said to himself, smiling.
Then he headed down the stairs and threw open his front door.
The car wasn’t there yet, but he noticed a group of men heading for his big gobbed neighbour from across the road’s house, carrying a lot of beer.
The man in that house was opening the door to them just as Fred pulled up.
In his pink car.
With all pink interior, and a pink steering wheel, with pink fluffy dice hanging from the mirror.
“OooooKaaaaay, that’s new.” Said Bob quietly to himself, as there was raucous laughter from the other side of the street.
Then Fred got out of the car.
He was the same height as Bob, five foot six, same age, roughly the same build, although Fred was always a little slimmer.
Fred looked a little taller today though, was probably the high heels, and looked a little different, which was probably the dress and stockings.
“Oh ****!” Bob thought to himself.
Fred locked his car and stepped through the gate, walking the short path to Bob’s front door, the crowd from across the street watching his every move.
“Off to see Rocky Horror?” Bob asked hopefully?
“No, this is what I needed to tell you.” Fred replied anxiously.
“Come in.” Bob said urgently, ushering Fred in as fast as he could, then shutting the door behind them.
He didn’t like the look of the bunch across the street before his best friend turned up with his new look, now a sense of impending doom was growing stronger by the second.
Despite the sun still being likely to be strong for the next few hours of the late April night, Bob drew the living room curtains.
“Are you ashamed of me?” Fred asked sadly.
“Don’t be daft!” Bob replied, “I just usually spend a lot of time upstairs, with the amount of people that walk up and down this street, you can feel a bit on show down here sometimes.” He explained.
Fred scratched his head, causing his long wig to move to the side a little.
“Drink?” Bob asked, hoping the answer would be yes.
“Hell yes.” Fred replied, smiling.
“Whisky, Vodka, rum?” Bob offered.
“How about all three?” Fred asked cheekily, “That is if you can put me up for the night?”
“Sure, if the couch is ok for you.”
“It will be fine.” Said Fred graciously.
Bob returned a short time later with two glasses, with lots of alcohol topped off with some coke.
They sat on different couches with their drinks, and for a moment there was an awkward silence.
“So, you’re a transvestite now?” Bob asked curiously.
“Transsexual.” Fred corrected.
“Have you had the old,… you know?” Bob asked tentatively.
“Not yet, got to wear the clothes for a year first, and I’ve only just started being Lucy full time.”
“Lucy?” Bob asked.
“Yeah, I’m Lucy now, and for the rest of my life.” Fred said earnestly.
“Whoah, and how did Jane take this?” Bob asked, enquiring about Fred’s wife.
“Not well, we’re getting divorced, I was hoping we could stay together, after all I still like women, I just want to be one!”
“Just a lesbian trapped inside a man’s body?” Bob asked jokingly.
“Exactly!” Fred replied, taking a sip of his drink.
Bob took a gulp from his, it burned its way down the back of his throat.
“You are ok with this aren’t you?” Fred asked nervously.
“It is a bit of a shock, to say the least.” Bob said truthfully. “But you were always like a brother to me, and if needs be, you can be a sister to me instead.”
Fred’s face lit up.
“You don’t know what it means to me to hear that, my parents haven’t been that supportive.”
“Give them time.” Bob offered as advice. “So, when did you know?”
“I think I’ve kind of always known.”
“But you shagged everyone in sight in school, and even more so in the army!” Bob pointed out.
“True, but there was always something deep down unsatisfying about the whole thing, I probably should have done something when I was younger, but I just kept my feminine side buried, and when I met Jane, I sacrificed what could have been Lucy’s life to live the life we’re all supposed to have, to be with a good woman I couldn’t be a woman myself.” Fred explained sadly.
“So what happened?” Bob asked.
“I guess it was seeing Nadia on big brother, when I saw her bravery, and how she came to be accepted, I knew it was time for me to stop hiding and let who I truly am come out. I hoped Jane would understand, but,.. she didn’t.”
“Well at least you’re doing something with your life.” Bob said with admiration.
“So nothing new with you?” Fred asked.
“Nothing on this scale, still at the same job, still don’t own a car, still not me the right woman yet.”
“Something will turn up.” Fred said warmly.
Bob downed another good portion of his drink.
“Yeah well it had better turn up soon, because I would hate to think all the best things in my life were over and done with by the time I was 22.” Bob replied bitterly.
Fred reached into his handbag, and pulled out a packet of cigs and a lighter.
“Hey, not in the house!” Bob scolded gently, heading to the kitchen to open the back door.
He and Fred stepped out into the back garden, the sounds of birds tweeting and children playing in the air.
In the back garden things never seemed as bad as out the front way, but then the tall fences tended to shut out the rest of the neighbourhood, and out of sight was out of mind for most of the time, as far as Bob was concerned.
“I wish you’d give up those damn things.” Bob said, as Fred lit up.
“Who wants to live forever?” Fred said smiling, as he exhaled some smoke.
Suddenly they could hear a type of high pitched scratching noise, kind of like a jet fighter screaming through the air, but without the accompanying low rumbling engine noise.
They looked around in the sky, but saw nothing, then as one they looked straight up and could see a light in the sky, bright as if something was burning, and it was getting closer.
If this thing was a fireball, then it wasn’t leaving a trail, since Bob had never seen a fireball that didn’t leave a trail, that only left him with one conclusion.
It was coming straight for them.
No point running, no point diving, only time for one thing.
“Nice meeting you Lucy” Bob said, as the fireball got to within a few hundred feet of the garden, then blue flame leapt from the bottom, the yellow fire dissipated, and the object within slowed its decent so rapidly, that metal could be heard screeching in protest.
In less than the time for a pair of hearts to take a beat each, the thing that had been in the fireball settled down with a thud in the garden between them.
Leaving scorch marks on the grass and with heat haze swimming all over its surface, a seven foot tall chrome, red and black robot stood in Bob’s garden.
“Hi guys, mind if I drop in?” Asked the robot in a deep baritone voice.

A few minutes earlier, in an ordinary looking air force base in the Yorkshire dales, a base that was ordinary on the surface only, under the ground was another base, whose personnel rarely interacted with the regular armed forces above, who rarely got to see daylight, and whose very existence had been kept off public records for over sixty years.
In the past their base had been in London, but as the years went by and their leader obtained more power and influence, he was able to have the base relocated to his home county of Yorkshire.
General Taylor was in his seventies now, and should have retired years ago, but he clung onto his job because he was good at it, was fitter than most men half his age, and because he knew the special event he had been waiting for for nearly two decades must be getting close now.
Other people had gathered pieces of the puzzle, but only he had them all, only he knew what was coming, the only thing he didn’t know, was when.
He also knew he had to be ready when it happened.
From his mahogany lined office he could see into the radar room where operators checked the results from various ground, air and spaced based sensors.
Taylor reached into the humidor on his desk and pulled out a Cuban cigar.
There was a smoking ban in the UK that prevented people from smoking at work, but considering all the other laws he regularly broke over the course of a working day, he wasn’t going to let that technicality get in his way of a smoke.
He clipped the end off neatly, and was just popping it in his mouth when there was a beep from one of the consoles in the other room.
And the operator of that console leaned in close to the screen.
That was enough out of the ordinary for Taylor to find an excuse to get out from behind his desk, and walk though the door, marching over to the back of the man’s chair.
“What have we got lieutenant?” He asked curiously.
The man tapped a few buttons, and the radar blip acquired a readout along side it.
“Small object general, it appeared a few moments ago in high earth orbit, and its making a rapid descent into the atmosphere.” The man explained.
Taylor leaned in, from the look of the readout, the object appeared to be less than three meters in size, and registering as metallic.
“Just appeared?”
“Yes sir, one moment there was nothing, next minute it was there.”
“A missile launched from a stealth satellite?” Taylor hypothesized.
“No sir, there was no heat signature until it entered the atmosphere, and the object appears to be slowing down as it descends.”
Taylor put the cigar in his mouth unlit.
“Got a landing site for it yet?” He asked cautiously.
The man taped a few more buttons, then double checked his screen.
“Sir, its heading for Hull!”
Taylor grinned, and raced over to a button protected by a clear plastic cover, he flipped it up, and slammed the button underneath.
A klaxon sounded, and his own magnified voice blurted out a pre-recorded message.
“Code black, this is not a drill, code black, paratroopers to the Vulcan.”
He lit his cigar with his lighter, and inhaled a good amount of smoke, blowing it out through teeth still in a grin.
The time was here at last.
One of his aides came running out with Taylor’s chute and combat gear, then helped him into it.

A few minutes later Taylor was running across the tarmac to where the plane waited, the paratroopers where already on board, they were always on standby, always ready.
To the outside world there was only one Vulcan bomber in flying condition, the rest having been long retired.
But this plane was far from retired, it had avionics and equipment that would put the JSF to shame, and its bomb bay had been reconfigured to hold paratroopers instead of ordinance.
Not only that, but the black paint that covered the plane also deflected whatever radar signal wasn’t already sent off in the wrong direction by the planes delta shape.
Taylor dropped his cigar to the runway and crushed it under his boot, then climbed up into the bomb bay to join his troops.
“This is what we trained for boys, make me proud.” He said happily as he strapped himself in.
Ground techs rushed the ladder away, and the bay doors started to close.
With a roar of the engines that sounded deafening from inside, the plane lurched down the runway, and belaying its size and bulk, lifted gracefully into the sky.

“Who and what the hell are you?” Bob asked in amazement, while the cig fell out of an astonished Fred’s mouth.
“I am a Biotech 5000 series android with a genetically engineered organic CPU, my designation is XP-97324439-FIF-2423#23, but you can call me Biotech for short.” The robot explained.
“Where did you come from?” Fred asked in awe.
“Originally, from a manufacturing moon on the other side of the galaxy, but more recently, from a spaceship orbiting this planet.” Biotech replied.
“How are you speaking English?” Bob asked in wonder.
“On my way down from the stratosphere I accessed the internet and downloaded it.” Biotech responded.
“Downloaded what, the English language?” Fred asked.
“No, the entire internet, and let me tell you, there’s a lot of porn on there!”
“You must have one hell of a connection speed!” Fred said in amazement.
“Hang on, does this mean you have seen the last episode of Lost?” Bob asked tentatively.
Biotech angled his head towards Bob curiously.
“So I come from the other side of the galaxy, I’ve been on a spaceship orbiting your planet, I burned through this atmosphere specifically to meet you, and the first thing you want to know is how the season ends on a TV show?” The robot asked incredulously.
“Well, in my defence this has been quite an unusual day up to now, and I am just trying to hold onto my slender grip of reality.” Bob countered.
“Hang on, did you say you came specifically to see Bob?” Fred asked puzzled.
“Yes, and this is where it gets a bit complicated. My body shell should have cooled down now, perhaps we can discuss this inside?” Biotech replied, pointing towards the kitchen.
“Sure, why not.” Bob said dryly, then they all headed inside, Biotech having to duck to get his head under the door frame.
Passing through the kitchen where a 7 foot robot would still be visible through the windows, the three of them ended back in the living room, where Bob and Fred both sat on the same couch, while Biotech remained standing in the centre of the living room.
“So, why did you come looking for me?” Bob asked.
“I was programmed to seek you out when the time was right, and this was the right time” Biotech explained.
“Programmed by who?” Bob asked curiously.
“You.” Biotech replied simply.
“What? When? How?” Bob stuttered.
“This is where it gets a bit complicated, although I don’t have access to all the memories of how this happened, I know I was programmed by you, to meet you at this point, but the version of you that programmed me was younger than you are now, and had already known me for many years by that point.” Biotech explained.
“You know, you would think I would remember something like that.” Bob said dryly.
“Best I can figure out, is that we have been something similar to the events today, but many years earlier, in a different timeline that branched off a parallel universe, the one we are in now.” Biotech theorised.
“Yeah, that’s what I was going to say.” Fred said, rolling his eyes.
“Wait, so in another universe I have been having adventures in space and time for years, while here in this universe I have vegging out alone and stagnating in offices?” Bob asked incredulously.
“Apparently, but if its any consolation, that kind of life is waiting for you right now.” Biotech said enticingly.
“Just Bob?” Fred asked in anticipation.
“You are integral to this too Fred, although you seem to be a little different in this universe than the last.”
“So we’re both going to go with you and have adventures in space?” Bob asked wondering what the catch was.
“Well you did in the other universe, from what little fractured memories I have of those events, you both experienced a lot, there is however one thing we need to overcome first.” Biotech explained ominously.
Bob and Fred looked at each other in alarm.
“Ok, what’s the catch?” Bob asked.
“The spaceship I was on wasn’t mine, I was able to scramble the sensors while I escaped, and I have set up a program that will do the same to cover our arrival back up there, but there’s still a crew on there, and they are planning and rehearsing for an attack on earth.”
Bob and Fred both gulped.
“More robots?” Fred asked anxiously.
“Aliens, Jugjhools to be precise.”
“Jugjhools? What kind of ****ty name is that for an alien race?” Bob asked incredulously.
“What kind of ****ty name is Klingons for an alien race?” Biotech countered.
“Touché.” Bob admitted.
“This is a Jugjhool.” Biotech explained, as a holographic form appeared in the room.
The alien was reptilian, looking like an upright lizard, seven feet tall, green scaly skin, powerful looking limbs, a large tail and lots and lots of teeth.
Bob and Fred looked at each other with “oh oh” looks on their faces.
“And how many of those things are on the ship?” Bob asked, not really wanting to know the answer.
“103.” Biotech replied calmly.
“Oh is that all, piece of piss!” Bob said sarcastically.
“Well it could have been worse, when the captain left port he had a crew of a thousand, but he has been whittling them down since then.”
“Any chance he’ll kill a few more before we get there?” Fred asked hopefully.
“Doubtful, he’s finally got them down to just the ones he trusts.”
“So just the three of us have to take down 103 of those things?” Bob asked sighing.
“The universes might have gone in different directions when you were 22, but until then they were the same, and I know you have killed more than that before.”
“Humans yeah! But humans die easy, sometimes it’s hard not to kill them, but those things… If you can mess with the sensors, can’t you just open all the airlocks?” Bob asked hopefully.
“The ship’s too big, it would take too long for all the air to be sucked out, and the crew would have too much time to find a way to close them again.” Biotech countered.
“Anyway we can just blow up the ship?” Fred suggested.
“Yes, but if the history of this universe is anything like the history of the other one, we are going to need that ship, and very quickly to fight off more invaders.”
“More aliens?” Bob asked wearily.
“No, these are robots.” Biotech replied.
“Like you?” Fred asked hopefully.
“No, these are called the Batarg, they kill everything that’s not a Batarg.”
“If we just leave the Jugjhools alone wont they take out the Batargs for us?” Bob asked.
“No, if we leave things as is, the Batargs will take out the Jugjhools, then earth.”
“But if the people who know how that ship works can’t beat off the Batargs, how are we meant to?” Bob complained.
“Timing is everything, when the Batargs arrive their scanners will be just set to Jugjhool life forms, if they find none on the ship their defences will be down, with their defences down we will have a small window of opportunity to destroy their ships.” Biotech explained.
“What sort of timeframe are we looking at here?” Fred asked.
“We need to have taken over the Jugjhool ship in the next 51 minutes or there’s no point even going.” Said Biotech ominously.
“No pressure then.” Bob said dryly.
He walked over to the mirror on the wall, and reached behind it.
When he pulled his hand out, there was a Beretta model 92 in it.
He pulled back the slide and popped the first round into place.
“That wont do much good up there, but don’t worry, I have some laser weapons for us when we get to the ship” Biotech explained.
“That’s not for up there.” Bob said smiling, then handing the gun to Fred.
“What we are going to do sounds strenuous, and you shouldn’t really do a lot of exercise without having a warm-up first.” He added, heading for the front door.
“Bob!” Fred said in alarm.
“We don’t have time for this!” Biotech added.
Bob opened his front door.
The gang that had gathered across the road had already downed a few beers each by now, and Mr Gobby had got back some of his courage that had failed him earlier in the day.
He was approaching Fred’s car with a spray can of black paint in his hand.
“Got another speech for me?” He asked, looking at Bob with renewed contempt.
“Nah, actions speak louder than words.” Bob replied, sprinting forwards, leaping up on the car bonnet, then launching himself feet first at the annoying man.
Both feet ploughed into the man’s chest, sending him flying back to the other side of the street, the spray can flying out of his hand, up into the air.
Bob twisted in mid air, landing back on his feet, the pain in his groin was his hernias way of letting him know this wasn’t a good idea, but the gang rapidly approaching him weren’t about to let what he did to their friend go unpunished.
Bob straightened up, and the can of paint landed in his hand.
With a rapid arm movement he sprayed a fine mist of black paint towards the faces of the men, catching one of them full in the face, as that one staggered backwards, one of the others who had avoided the paint launched a fist towards Bob’s face.
Bob swerved away from the punch, grabbed the arm, then simultaneously twisted it, then using the back of the paint guy who was doubled over, he stepped up and jumped, still holding onto the guys arm, there was a snapping noise from that guy, and then two of the others got kicked in the head, before Bob landed back on his feet again behind the gang, who now numbered just two still on their feet.
Before either of them could turn around, Bob delivered a pair of karate chops to the nerve bundles just above their hips on the sides.
The two of them slumped to their knees, suddenly unable to stand, and as they went down Bob banged their heads together.
Big gob started to struggle to his feet, only to find all his friends on the floor and either unconscious, or moaning in pain.
He himself was finding it hard to breath, and when he spat out what was in his mouth, a good amount of blood landed on the pavement.
Bob looked at him and smiled.
“Looks like its your lucky day, I am so out of shape you are all still alive. You want to stay that way, then the police don’t here about this, that car stays in immaculate condition, and nothing happens to my house.” Bob said coldly.
Big gob nodded painfully.
“One of your friends has a broken arm, and it looks like you have broken ribs and possibly a punctured lung, I wouldn’t leave it long before you get those seen too, your other friends shouldn’t have anything that needs more than a handful of painkillers.” The man nodded again.

Bob strode back into his house and closed the door.
“Now where were we?” He said dryly.
“Was that really necessary?” Biotech asked as Bob joined him and Fred in the living room again.
“Well if I’m going to die in an hour it seemed like a good thing to do first.” Bob replied, making Fred grin.
Biotech looked at Bob, and for an instant his eyes changed colour.
“Well congratulations, you have strangulated your hernia.” He announced, having scanned Bob internally.
“Ah, that would explain the crippling pain then.” Bob replied wincing.
“Do you want me to find some painkillers?” Fred offered heading for the kitchen.
“No need, I can take care of this in about 30 seconds on the ship, we’ve wasted enough time, we should go now.” Biotech replied firmly.
“Yeah, about that, if we have to go up the same way you came down, I have to tell you I’m really not that good at holding my breath.” Bob said dryly.
“That wont be necessary.” Biotech replied, then he, Bob and Fred winked out of existence.

Only to wink back in inside a strange metal room that looked a lot like a hospital ward.
“What the ****?” Bob gasped, as he tried to comprehend what had just happened.
The air he was breathing was colder than in his house and had a strange aroma to it, kind of swampy.
Fred was smiling broadly.
“We just beamed up!” He said with much excitement.
“That’s right. Now listen, this is the sickbay, no-one should be here as the doctors are all dead, internal sensors are still down so no-one should know we are hear, but try and keep your voices down, you never know if anyone is going to walk by outside and hear the voices.” Biotech explained, before walking over to a large machine with a long glass door in the side.
He pressed a few buttons and the door slid open.
The inside was a bare metal chamber with some lights, big enough to hold a Jugjhool, easily large enough for a human.
“Get in there and I’ll fix your hernia.” He said, looking at Bob.
“Will it hurt?” Bob asked striding towards the machine.
“No, its very similar to the transporter you just used, only after it takes you apart, it analyses your DNA to see how you should be put together rather than how you are now, and fixes everything that’s wrong with you, it can also be manually tweaked.” Biotech explained.
“What sort of tweaks?” Said Bob intrigued.
“Less fat, more muscles, hair length, pretty much anything really.”
Bob nodded and climbed into the machine, while Fred looked on in interest.
Biotech closed the door over Bob, and the machine glowed inside, filling it with light so Bob was no longer visible.
A few seconds later and the light faded, and Bob was back, although his clothes were not.
Biotech opened the door for him and he stepped out.
“Oh I forgot to mention it only works for you, not your clothes.” The robot said lightly.
Bob shrugged, then stood up, his hand going for where his hernia used to be, but he found no lump.
As he smiled at the lack of hernia, his eyes also started to notice other things.
His stomach no longer carried years worth of fat accumulated from too many pizzas and booze, it was not only flat, it was ripped, a fully formed six pack.
And the hand that was touching where the hernia used to be was connected to a forearm that was beefy, witch itself was connected to an upper arm with a hell of a good bicep on it.
“Nice!” Bob said, admiring his new physique.
“This machine, could it make me a woman?” Fred asked Biotech hopefully.
“You do remember the whole 44 minutes left to save the world thing right?” Biotech replied anxiously.
“Yeah, but if we are going to die saving it, then I’d rather die as a woman.” Fred said determinedly.
“Just let him do it.” Bob said firmly.
“Fine!” Biotech said testily, opening the door to the machine again.
Smiling Fred stepped into the machine, and as Biotech closed the door, Bob watched fascinated as the glow did its job again, while Biotech did some extra programming.
The glow dissipated and the door opened again, and out stepped Fred, naked as Bob was.
Still same height, same eye colour, same hair colour, but definitely different body, with shoulder length real hair.
“Dude looks like a lady!” Bob said smiling, enjoying the view even though he knew deep down this was still Fred.
No, not Fred now, Lucy.
Lucy put a hand on her breast and cupped it, it was a good size, then her other hand crept down to her crotch, and what had been there for 37 years no longer was, and what she had always wanted for almost as long was there instead.
“Man, I feel like a woman!” She replied.
“When you’re quite finished with the song quotes, we still have a ship to take and a planet to save!” Biotech said hurriedly.
“Well some clothes would be nice.” Bob replied, trying to think of other things so he wouldn’t react in inappropriate way over his friends hot naked body.
Biotech’s eyes flickered slightly as he communicated with the ship, then with a faint hum, two uniforms appeared over Bob and Lucy, complete with boots.
“That’s better.” Said Lucy, still admiring her new form.
“Yeah much better.” Bob replied, glad he didn’t still have as good a view of it.
Biotech walked over to a wall cabinet and opened it up.
From inside he pulled two mean looking guns.
They were like nothing the humans had seen before, but they had a trigger and a barrel, so it didn’t take a lot of working out which was the good end to be on.
He handed one each to them, and it took them a few seconds to get used to the weight.
“So what’s the plan?” Bob asked, looking over the gun.
“Head for the bridge, kill everyone on the way, when we get to the bridge, kill everyone there, after we’ve done that kill everyone else, and assuming we’re still alive and have done all this in the next half hour, save the earth from the Batargs.” Biotech explained.
“No pressure then.” Lucy replied dryly.
“Before we go, there is something I must do, just in case I am killed or damaged and cannot help you run the ship.” Biotech said ominously, before placing his metal hand on Bob’s forehead.
Before Bob could even ask what was going on, a wave of nausea flooded into his mind, images and information flooding in so fast he could make no sense of any of it, and then a second later it was over.
Biotech took his hand away, and Bob shook his head trying to clear it.
“Whoah!” He said, in awe.
“What happened?” Lucy asked nervously.
“I appear to have windows XP in my head.” Bob replied in all seriousness.
“I just picked something you would be most familiar with.” Biotech explained. “I have established a psychic link with you, everything you need to know about the ship is on the desktop inside the ship icon, if the desktop gets too distracting you can minimize it. I can access the ships sensors and send the info to you so it can be used in a HUD.”
“When do I get mine?” Lucy asked.
“I can only do this once I’m afraid, but if its any consolation, when you were in the machine it did program your brain to understand and speak all known languages in the galaxy.”
“Cool, if we survive this, I’ll never have to read a subtitle again!” Lucy said smiling.
“Shouldn’t you have a gun?” Bob asked, looking at Biotech.
Biotech tapped the circular protrusions on his chest.
“Built in.” He explained.
“Oh well, guess we better do this then.” Bob said resignedly.
Lucy nodded, then Biotech opened the door and the three of them charged out into the corridor.

On the Vulcan Taylor was receiving a message over his headphones.
“General, the object touched down a few moments ago, and we’ve managed to pinpoint an address for it, you wont believe it..” the lieutenant said over the radio.
“Its Bob Jones house.” Taylor interrupted.
“Sir, how did you know?” The aide asked.
“Where else could it be? Anyway, we are nearly at the drop zone, Taylor out.”
Taylor took off his headphones and replaced them with a much smaller ear piece and mike, the others did the same, and the red light in the plane turned to green as the bomb bay doors opened.
As a team they all piled out of the plane together, equipment built into their parachutes activating them a few seconds after leaving the plane.
The Vulcan went into a circular orbit of the city, a laser illuminating the landing zone in a frequency only the paratroopers helmet HUDs could see.
It was a low altitude drop, just high enough up for the parachutes to slow down their descent, so they didn’t have far to go.
The street below them grew closer, and Taylor could see a bunch of men laying hurt in the road.
As he landed sensors in his boots automatically detached the wires holding his chute, and it, like those of his men, blew away from them down the street, wrapping themselves over parked cars and lampposts.
The groaning men looked in alarm at the thirteen black clad commandos in front of them.
Taylor popped a fresh cigar in his mouth, and ignoring his lighter, struck a match on the chin of the nearest guy lying in the street in pain.
He lit the cigar, and clenched it in grinning teeth.
“Pissed off the wrong guy in this street didn’t ya!”
The man nodded weakly.
Taylor motioned to two of his men to guard the men in the street, then waved at another one to kick Bob’s door down.
The commando opened the door with one brutal kick, then the rest of the time piled into the house.
Taylor took another look at all the men lying in the street.
“Bob must be getting soft, he left you alive.” Taylor said, pulling a silenced Beretta from his holster.
He fired a round into the road a few millimetres away from the guys head.
“Any of you say anything about what you saw tonight and noone will ever even find the bodies. Understood?”
The man nodded terrified, a fresh stream of urine escaping from his trousers into the road, kicking off a smelly cloud of steam into the night air.
“Champion.” Taylor said dryly, as he headed for the house.
He walked inside and saw the commandos tearing the place apart.
“Better go easy on Bob’s stuff, from the look of the people outside, you don’t want him coming after you for wrecking his furniture.” Taylor said wryly.
A few of the soldiers looked a little uncomfortable, the legend of Bob Jones was a story that had been kept alive for years in the SCAG headquarters, even if it had been nearly two decades since he was in his prime.
“There’s no-one here general, but there are strange readings from the garden.” One of the men said, showing Taylor his scanner.
Taylor looked at the readings, then stepped out the back door and walked into the garden, he looked at the scorched spot in the grass, then crushed the still lit cigar into his bare hand.
“We’re too late.” Taylor said with disgust.
His face seemed to age ten years as the thought sunk in he may have missed his one and only chance.
He walked back into the house and sat heavily into one of Bob’s leather couches.
This wasn’t how it was meant to be! He thought wearily.

As Bob and the others arrived in the corridor, they saw it was empty, so they started heading for the direction of the bridge.
They hadn’t taken more than two steps, when Bob suddenly started to sparkle, then he disappeared, his gun and clothes dropping to the floor.
“What the hell just happened?” Lucy asked in alarm, scooping up Bob’s gun, so she had a weapon in both hands, her head desperately looking around for a source of the attack.
“Good news and bad.” Biotech explained. “Bob is alive, he’s just been beamed away, I know he’s alive as I can still feel him on our psychic link, and he’s still on the ship.”
“Is that the good news or the bad?” Lucy asked nervously.
“That’s the good news, the bad news is, the ships computer is shutting me out, I have no contact with the sensors, so not only can I not tell where the crew are, I doubt the sensors are still hiding our presence which means…”
“…We’re about to be attacked!” Lucy finished the sentence for him, point a gun down each end of the corridor.
“Well they might be expecting us on this floor, but I doubt they’ll be expecting this!” Biotech announced, before leaning back, and blasting a hole in the ceiling of the corridor.
He reached around Lucy’s waist, then activated his feet rockets, and shot them up through the hole, just as heavily armed Jugjhools arrived at either end of the corridor.

Bob arrived naked and unarmed in a strange room.
It looked like a two story apartment, with luxury furnishings, expensive looking ornaments, and huge windows looking out into space, including what looked like open French doors leading out onto a balcony which seemed open to space itself.
For a split second a wire frame version of the balcony appeared over the real thing in his mind, and the edge of the balcony flashed up with the words, “atmospheric force field”
His built in windows help routines kicking in to give him the information he needed.
“This is the captains quarters.” Said a deep voice behind him.
Bob spun round, and behind him stood a naked Jugjhool, he couldn’t tell what sex as whatever reproductive organs it might have had were hidden from view.
“And I am the captain, Glunark.” Explained the lizard, offering a smile that showed every one of his very sharp teeth.
“You and your friends have made a lot of mistakes. Your robot friend made the mistake of thinking he could hack this ships computer and have me not find out about it, your female friend made the mistake of having a robot along side of her that is programmed not to use his blasters on living beings, and of course your biggest mistake was thinking you could just come and take my ship.”
Bob’s throat felt very dry, he gulped but it didn’t really help.
“Plus of course you intend to kill me, and I take that very personally” Glunark said menacingly.
Bob glanced around the room, looking for anything he could use as a weapon.
“So, here is your one chance, no guns, no impact resistant uniforms, just the captain of the ship and the idiot who wants the job.” Glunark said snarling.
Bob’s windows help files came on again, and showed him Jugjhool anatomy, the week spots were few and far between, but they were there, then he minimized the screen, because he would need his undivided attention.
Bob smirked.
“So, you going to talk me to death, or are we actually going to fight?” He said mockingly.
Enraged Glunark charged at Bob, tail thrashing wildly behind him.

Lucy and Biotech ran down a corridor, they were now on the same level as the bridge, and thanks to some more holes in the floors and ceilings they hadn’t had to fight their way through any of the crew yet, running them a merry chase through the maze of corridors on the ship.
“How are we doing for time?” Lucy asked breathlessly.
“Don’t ask!” Biotech replied, then he pointed at a door. “That’s the bridge, try and be careful what you shoot at!” He warned.
Biotech hit the door controls, and the thick doors slid open, the two of them piled into the door, seeing nine Jugjhools in there sat at their controls, and one in the captains chair.
The massive viewscreen was half filled with the curve of the earth, half space, the ship was clearly in orbit.
As the lizards started to reach for their guns, Lucy and Biotech opened fire.
Biotech was picking off the crew with precision skill.
Lucy’s right hand gun was also doing well, the one in his left though wasn’t getting his full attention, and even though it was ripping into the Jugjhools, it was also ripping into the console they were sitting at.
The ship lurched violently, and they were both thrown to the floor.
As they got back up, they noticed all the bridge crew were dead, they also noticed on the 40 foot wide viewscreen that earth now filled the screen, and was getting closer.
Biotech looked at the shattered helm controls.
“Did I not just tell you to be careful what to shoot at?” He yelled in annoyance.
“Sounds vaguely familiar.” Lucy replied sheepishly.
“We have to get to the engine room, we can pull the ship up from there, and I should be able to reintegrate myself into the computer system again.” Biotech replied.
Lucy nodded, and as they left the bridge, they noticed several Jugjhools turn the end of the corridor and head straight for them, guns blazing.

Bob slung himself back from the attack, but the edge of Glunark’s tail cut a gash across his chest, not really deep, but enough to leave a slash of red blood.
“Ok, you made me bleed, now I’m annoyed!” Bob said dryly, diving over a table as Glunark’s fists smashed the wood to smithereens.
Glunark picked up a sharp piece of broken wood and hurled it at Bob, who ducked behind a sofa, letting the rich leather take the impact rather than his body.
The lizard was fast, faster than a creature of that bulk should be, and the tail was something to be very weary of.
Glunark spun around, and all his body weight and centrifugal forces went into his tail, which hit the sofa and sent it flying across the room in two separate pieces.
“You amuse me human, give up now and I will make your death fast!” Glunark announced menacingly.
Then the deck keeled under them, and Bob rolled across the floor, finding himself outside on the balcony, where he couldn’t help but notice the ship appeared to be diving down towards Africa.
Orange licks of flame started to flash up over the force field on the balcony as the ship scraped its way into the upper atmosphere.
Glunark had a puzzled expression on his face, then Bob got a flash of what was going on, on the bridge and smiled.
Bob jumped up onto the balcony’s edge, knowing full well that the force field wouldn’t hold him if he fell, and hoping the ship wouldn’t rock again.
“Seems your information on the robot was wrong, looks like he is programmed to kill after all. And if you are wondering why none of your bridge crew are pulling us out of this dive, its because you have no bridge crew any more.” Bob taunted.
Glunark came charging towards Bob on the balcony, arms outstretched intending to push him out the ship to his death.
Bob leapt over the captain just as he got there, and the Jugjhool’s momentum carried over the railing.
Glunark managed to grab hold of the edge, but his head and shoulders still went through the force field, the atmospheric re-entry flames immediately starting the burn the scales from his face, while his eyes bulged in the vacuum and burst messily.
Painfully the captain pulled himself back inside the force field, melted scales dripping from his blackened skull, jawbone exposed to the air, tongue still on fire, blackened empty eye sockets boring into Bob as if they could still somehow see.
What remained of his nostrils sniffed the air, trying to find Bob that way.
Bob ran back into the main room, and picked up one of the wooden legs from the smashed table.
It was two inches thick, solid wood, and had a jagged splinter at one end, and the original smooth end on the other.
It wasn’t very long, about 18 inches or so, but Bob hoped it would be enough.
The badly wounded, but still going Glunark walked into the room, arms and tail thrashing wildly, still hoping to kill Bob, and knowing that whatever his injuries, as long as he was alive the medical reconstructor would make him whole again.
As the lizard stumbled towards a big leather chair, Bob ran up to it, stepped on the chair and launched himself at the captain, driving the makeshift stake into one of the empty eye sockets.
Glunark screamed as the tip of the stake entered his brain, and the thrashing of his arms and tail grew even worse.
Bob narrowly avoided being smashed by the tail, only by rolling through the air to avoid it.
Doing so he was able to grab one of the larger planks that used to be the surface of the table.
Jumping back onto his feet he swung the plank with all his force, hitting the stake, and driving it not only into Glunark’s brain, put partially through the back of his skull.
The lizard finally slumped to his knees, all the life gone from the tail, arms limply at his sides, and a final groan hissed its way from his scorched throat.
Then Glunark slammed face first onto the hard metal floor, black blood spreading from his body.

From the corridor several decks down, Biotech could sense through the mind link that Bob had triumphed.
Although he and Lucy were still fighting off the remainder of the ships crew, his CPU operated at such a speed he could easily maintain the fight and contact Bob.

Bob was staring at the flames licking at the balcony, and the ever decreasing curvature of the earth, when all of a sudden the flames started moving in slow motion.
He waved his hand in front of his face and that crawled across his vision.
“Bob I need you to listen carefully.” Said Biotech’s voice in his head.
“What’s happening?” Bob replied inside his head, still in awe at the slowing down of time.
“Talking takes time, when you think you normally think at the same pace you talk at, I think a lot faster than you, and when we communicate over the mind link, you think at the same pace, time hasn’t really slowed down, it just appears that way to your brain.” Biotech explained.
“Cool!” Bob replied in awe.
“We’re struggling to get down to engineering, you will need to impersonate the captain and order the ship to pull up.” Biotech sent urgently.
“Impersonate the captain? I’m not Rory Bremner!” Bob retorted.
“You are not the same person you were before we joined minds, if you think of Glunark’s voice while you talk, you will sound just like him, but you are going to need his hand too.”
“What?”
“Place his hand on the computer screen and order the ship to pull up, and while you’re at it, tell the computer to restore my link with it so I can order it to do things too.” Biotech replied.
“The guy weighs about 40 stone, how am I suppose to drag him over to the computer?” Bob asked incredulously.
“You’ll work something out, now if you don’t mind there’s about twenty people trying to kill me who really need my full attention.” Biotech replied, before breaking the link.
The flames returned to burning at their normal pace, and the black of space was starting to merge into the blue of atmosphere.
Bob ran over to Glunark’s body and stared at the hand, wondering how he was going to detach it from the rest.
Then his eyes went to the very sharp teeth in the Jugjhool’s head.
“Well I didn’t expect to be doing this today.” Bob said to himself as he placed one of Glunark’s hands inside the captain’s mouth, adjusting the head so that the teeth were above and below the wrist.
Then he jumped up in the air and forced his feet down as hard as he could on Glunark’s head, slamming the jaws together, and severing the hand.
Gingerly he opened the jaws again and plucked out the grizzly prise.
He walked with the heavy hand over to the computer console and slapped it against the glass, then thinking about Glunark as much as he could, which wasn’t too hard with his hand in his own and his body behind him, he started to speak.
“Computer, pull us out of this dive and return us to a safe orbit.” He said in a voice that was not his own.
The screen lit up, and the ship immediately started to pull up, sending Bob’s stomach lurching.
“Returning to safe orbit” The computer said in a booming voice.
“Restore computer link to the robot Biotech and allow him to give you orders.” Bob added.
“Link restored.” The computer replied.
Bob caught sight of a weird reflection in the screen, and spun around.
Behind him Glunark was back up on his feet, blood now pouring from his wrist, but dried up around his eye wound.
“You have got to be ****ing kidding me!” Bob said in shock.
“No captain, link is defiantly restored.” The computer replied.
“If there are weapons in this room, show them to me.” Bob replied, as Glunark started pacing slowly towards him.
Around the room many panels slid back showing many large guns, all of different designs, and several bladed weapons.
Bob started to head for the nearest gun when the world went into slowmo again.
“Not the guns, Glunark has all his weapons keyed programmed to kill anyone who tries to use one against him.” Biotech warned.
“What about the swords?” Bob asked warily.
“Those are fine.” Biotech replied, then disappeared from his mind.
Bob sighed then reached for a dangerous looking curved blade with a central handle.
As the mutilated captain lurched towards him,
Bob didn’t have much time to gauge the weight of the sword, because Glunark was almost upon him.
“WHY…” Bob said slicing the sword through Glunark’s outstretched right arm, “CAN’T…” he added, taking off most of the left, “JUST…”, he said, whipping off the tail that was trying to thrash him, “DIE!”, he finished, taking the heavy weapon through the captain’s neck.
The armless, tailless, and headless body slumped down on its knees, blood pumping from a variety of places.
“Bob, I’m reading a build up of energy inside Glunark’s body, I think he’s got some kind of nuke inside him that’s designed to go off if he’s ever killed.” Biotech said worriedly.
“Oh great, which bit?” Bob asked hoping it was the head.
“Torso.” Biotech replied.
“Wonderful” Bob countered.
Two more swipes from the blade neatly cut the legs out from under the torso, then Bob hefted the still very heavy remains onto his shoulder and started running towards the balcony.
“How big a nuke?” Bob asked nervously as he ran, struggling under the heavy weight.
“Hard to tell, but its better off outside the ship than in.” Biotech replied.
Bob ran out onto the balcony, to be greeted once more by the blackness of space rather than the blue of the atmosphere, below him he could make out the shape of Europe by the city lights alone.
With a grunt he heaved what remained of Glunark overboard, the torso slipping through the forcefield, and away from the ships artificial gravity.
It drifted away from the ship, tumbling coldly into the void before suddenly erupting into a bright yellow fireball.
Bob ducked behind the balcony wall, but the flames only licked harmlessly against the forcefield wall, much as the fires of re-entry had done earlier.
“Abandon ship, all hands abandon ship, engines at critical mass, two minutes to detonation” The ships computer announced calmly.
“What the ****?” Bob thought over to Biotech.
“Relax, it’s a ruse, we can’t keep fighting what’s left of the crew off forever, this way they will leave us alone and give us the time we need to get ready for the Batargs.” Biotech explained.
“Good, now can you get me some clothes and a gun that won’t kill me?” Bob asked wearily.
Bob felt a tingle as another uniform formed around him.
“Any of those guns should be fine as long as you don’t point them at any bits of Glunark.” Biotech said helpfully.
Bob reached for the nearest gun, and got used to the weight.
“Abandon ship, all hands abandon ship, engines at critical mass, one minute to detonation” The ships computer announced.
“Its working! Five pods have already ejected, and the last crew members are boarding one now.” Biotech explained.
The computer screen lit up again with an image of Bob’s own face.
“Captain Robert Henry Jones, this ship is now yours to command.” The computer said almost merrily.
The hairs on the back of Bob’s neck stood on end.
“Did you did this?” Bob mentally asked Biotech.
“Yeah, no need for impressions any more, both you and Lucy can now directly control the ship by any of the consoles or voice command.”
“Computer, what is the status of the escape pods and the status of the ship in general?” Bob asked out loud, in his own voice.
“Six escape pods have been ejected and are heading away from the ship towards the moon of the planet we are orbiting. All systems are online and at 100% efficiency, auto repairs to the bridge and corridor damage are progressing and should be complete within the hour.”
“Any other ships approaching?” Bob asked anxiously.
“None that can be detected.” The computer replied.
“Shields on full and charge all weapons, constant scans on nearby space for any approaching ships.” Bob ordered determinedly.
Just then the door opened and Biotech and Lucy stepped through.
Bob smiled to see his friend in one piece, and such a good looking piece at that, then he shook that thought right out of his head, and hoped Biotech wasn’t reading his mind for that bit.
“Of course not.” Biotech thought at him cheekily.
Bob hoped he wasn’t blushing.
On the screen they could see the pods heading for the moon, presumably if they could get behind it, it would shield them from the ships explosion.
“Nice TV, plasma or LCD?” Lucy asked.
“Nanoholotech.” Biotech replied, as if that explained everything.
“Right.” Lucy said as if it did.
Then the three of them watched as the six pods exploded silently on the screen.
When the explosions died away, space seemed to shimmer and distort, and all of a sudden there were three enormous and very nasty looking starships in their place, and pointed right at them.
“Batarg battleships decloaking at weapons range captain.” The computer informed them.
“They think the ship is empty right?” Bob asked Biotech, trying to remain calm.
“Yes, its our only advantage, their shields and armour aren’t as strong as ours, but there are three of them.” Biotech explained.
“Yeah, we can see that.” Lucy added sarcastically.
“Can we take them out simultaneously?” Bob asked hopefully.
“If we use full power, we can take out two of them at once, but the power drain would leave us with no shields to defend against the third, and no power to attack it either.” Said Biotech as the ships grew closer and started to spread out.
“Would their sensors detect a human inside one of their ships?” Bob asked tentatively.
“I cant say, no-one has ever been inside a Batarg ship, and no-one has ever got close enough to take a sensor reading and then bring those readings back.”
“Are we close enough?” Bob asked.
“Yes, but if we actively scan they will know someone’s on board.”
“Could we beam a nuke directly to their engine room?” Lucy asked hopefully.
“No, the one thing we do know is that their engines kick out enough radiation to scramble any transporter beam in the immediate area.” Biotech replied.
“And do we have any nukes big enough to transport close enough to the engine room and still have the explosion take it out?” Bob countered.
“I don’t know enough about the strength of those ships to make that claim.”
“Ok, just give me a nuke I can carry, and set me down as close to the engine room as you can, you will have to make sure those other two ships get taken out at the same time as the explosion goes off, and if you could get me back out before the nuke goes off, that would be really cool too.” Bob instructed Biotech.
“I’m going with you.” Lucy said determinedly.
“Like **** you are, you have a new life, go live it.” Bob said firmly.
“If you get close enough to the engine to plant the nuke you will be within the same radiation field that prevented you beaming directly there in the first place.” Biotech thought at Bob.
“I know, I’ll do my best to get back out of the field, but if there isn’t enough time…” Bob replied mentally.
“The Batarg ship won’t have air, but your uniform will recycle your own breath for up to an hour.” Biotech explained.
“Wont he need a helmet and gloves?” Lucy asked warily.
“Not if he says enclose.” Biotech countered.
“Enclose?” Bob parroted.
As he said the word, gloves formed over his hands from the sleeves of his uniform, and the collar formed into a hood that slipped over his head then sealed at the front, clear eye pieces covering his eyes.
The top and trousers part sealed themselves, as did the legs and boots.
“Whoah.” Bob and Lucy said at the same time.
Bob momentarily felt claustrophobic, but that soon passed when he realised he could breath as easily with the hood up as he could before.
“And how do I get the thing down?” Bob asked.
“Just say retract.” Biotech explained.
“Retract.” Bob ordered, then watched as the hood and gloves retracted back into his suit.
As that happened a silver cylinder appeared near them, with a carrying handle on top, and an ominous looking display on the front showing a clock ticking down.
“That’s the nuke I take it?” Bob asked wearily.
Biotech nodded.
“Why is it already counting down?” Lucy asked in alarm.
“That is the time we have to pull this off before the Batargs scan the earth, then rescan our ship and know we have humans on board” Biotech explained.
“I guess we had better do this thing fast then.” Bob said determinedly.
A new gun shimmered into existence at Bob’s feet, it looked very much like a P90 automatic rifle.
“If you start firing lasers off in the ship they will know you are there, you might get away with this better, plus its not exactly firing standard rounds.” Biotech said slyly.
Bob lifted the gun, testing its weight, and looking at the unusual clip on the top.
“Define non standard rounds.”
“This clip is full of nuclear shells, they will create a small nuclear explosion that will destroy anything within a five foot radius of the impact, without any EMP effects or radiation.” Biotech announced.
“I’ll try not to get any muzzle blockages then.” Bob said dryly.
“You also have a fusion powered constructor in the clip that will manufacture new shells as fast as you can fire them, you’ll burn the clip out in an hour, but you’ll never be there that long.” Biotech added.
“I don’t know whether that’s reassuring or not.” Bob replied.
“Cool tech though.” Lucy said in awe.
Bob picked up the nuke in his left hand.
“What if I need to set this off before the time runs out?” He asked cautiously.
“Its set to receive voice commands from you only, if you give it a new time limit it will adopt it immediately.” Biotech explained.
“Wont they detect his beam-in?” Lucy asked wearily.
“I am going to attempt to mask it by overloading one of our sensor arrays to create an EMP a fraction of a second before he beams over.” Biotech replied.
“Just try and remember which ship I am on when you are blowing up the other two!” Bob said with a grim smile.
He looked at the clock on the bomb, with a little over 7 minutes on it, he didn’t have a lot of time for chatting.
“Lets do this.” He said determinedly.
“Good luck.” Biotech offered.
“See you in a few minutes.” Lucy said warmly.
Bob nodded at Biotech, the bomb and gun ready in his hands.

On top of the ship a complicated looking piece of machinery started to spark, then erupt into a fireball, the energy wave it spread out momentary blinding the sensors of the Batarg ships.
When they came back online seconds later, they scanned the Jugjhool vessel they found evidence of an overloaded sensor array overload, but still no Jugjhool life signs, there was some life of an unknown nature, so one of the Batarg ships started heading for the nearby planet to check the life forms there for comparison.

It just so happened that was the ship Bob had beamed onto.
“Its dark!” Bob said to himself.
“Say night vision” Biotech replied, over their mind link.
As Bob did as he was told, the corridor he was in resolved itself into a murky green image.
“All the technology of the universe, and night vision still looks like ****.” Bob complained to himself.
“The engine room should be in front of you, just bare in mind after the first few steps you take you will be in the interference field that will stop me beaming you back, you have to make it back here to get off the ship.” Biotech warned sternly.
“Believe me, its not something I am likely to forget.” Bob replied dryly.
He started to run down the corridor, as he headed to the door he hoped it would open automatically, and his wish was granted, the door dutifully swished open.
He ran through and entered into a largish room, nothing in it looked like an engine though, and there was another door at the end a few hundred feet away, so he guessed he still had further to go.
He started running towards that far door, not taking a lot of notice of what else might be in the room, when he suddenly heard noises like machinery coming to life, and as he looked to his left and right he started to see red eyes opening, and the dim shapes of humanoid figures around those eyes.
“I think I’ve been rumbled.” Bob said in alarm.
“Keep running, they might not sense you.” Biotech replied.
Bob increased his pace, then flinched as lasers shot out at him.
“They sense me alright!” Bob shouted. “Keep your mind link with me open, I need the extra reflexes.”
Time seemed to slow down for Bob, the deadly beams that were heading for him also pointed the way back to those firing them.
He let rip with the P90, and some of the robots trying to kill him found themselves blowing up instead.
“Hit the other two ships now!” Bob yelled firmly”

Biotech looked at the ships on his monitor, he knew it made sense tactically, but he also knew…

“If we destroy the other two, the one you are on will raise its shields, and we wont be able to beam you back.” He warned ominously.
“Just ****ing do it!” Bob yelled, as more beams came dangerously close to him.

Biotech knew he had no choice, and used his link with the ship to open up with several of the ship’s weapons.

Thick laser beams briefly connected their ship with two of the Batargs, then the robot ships exploded violently, scattering huge chunks of debris everywhere.

The ship that was heading towards the earth started to turn round.

“What the **** did you do!” Lucy yelled in alarm.
“What Bob asked me to do.” Biotech explained, as the last Batarg ship positioned itself so it was pointing right at them.
“Can we raise our shields?” Lucy asked hopefully.
“Not for a few minutes.” Biotech replied.
“And how long before they fire on us?”
“If they want to be sure of taking us out in one shot, about 30 seconds of powering up their big guns.”
“Bugger.” Lucy said deflated.

Bob blasted the last of the robots in the room with him, then looked at himself in amazement that he had survived unscathed, then looked down to see that he was holding onto a handle that was no longer connected to a bomb.
“The bastards shot my bomb!” Bob said in horror.
“I couldn’t beam you another one if I wanted to.” Biotech replied.
Bob glanced down at the P90 with its unlimited clip, he knew now he wouldn’t be going home, but he could make sure his friends lived.
“Never mind, just keep time slowed down for me.” He said grimly, as he ran for the door again.
“The door in front of you is locked now.” Biotech said urgently.
“Thanks.” Bob said, raising the P90 and firing a round at the door, which caused a fireball and then a perfectly round hole to appear in it.
Bob ran through the hole, the edges of the metal still glowing yellow, and dripping a little molten metal.
Bob emerged into what at last looked like an engine room, he was on a balcony that appeared to be mid way up the several hundred feet high engine room.
It appeared to be brighter in there so he turned off the night vision, and got his normal eyesight back again.
The engine itself appeared to be a massive globe in the centre of the room, with cables and conduits leading out of it.
To the left and right of his position on the balcony he could see other doors opening and more robots pouring out.
In front of him he saw a power cable about four inches wide that lead up to the ceiling above the engine to the balcony he was running on.
Still running he fired blindly to the left and right trying to hit as many robots as he could, or at least slow them down, then he fired forwards at the point where the cable joined the balcony as he was almost upon it.
The fireball reached out towards him, almost touching him, then started to fade away as he dived over it, catching onto the cable as it started to swing towards the massive globe of the main engine.

On the ship Biotech and Lucy watched as the main guns of the Batarg ship started to glow a deep yellow inside the barrels.
“I guess this is it.” Lucy said sadly.
Biotech nodded wordlessly.

Bob swung through the massive engine room as lasers crisscrossed behind him, firing the P90 on full auto at the engine.
As each shell hit the outer cover it cut a five foot deep hole into the casing, and each shot that followed it in tunnelled in deeper.
Bob felt something burn into his leg, but he refused to look down, it might be a flesh wound, he might have lost his leg at the knee, but right now he needed his full concentration.
The arc of his flight was bringing him closer to the engine, and the hole he was blasting was getting pretty deep now, of course he had no idea how thick the casing was, he just knew this was the only chance.
He felt another blast in his other leg, and did his best to ignore the pain, the slowing down of time helped, but he knew one way or another he wouldn’t have to put up with it for long.
“So how does lost end?” Bob asked mentally.
“They get rescued, then it cuts to three years later, Jack is a suicidal drunk who finds Kate and tells them they need to go back to the island.” Biotech replied.
“What a crappy ending!” Bob responded, before one of his bullets hit the thinning reactor shell and punched all the way through.
The incredible power of the fusion engine ripped through the gap, and Bob had time to perceive a very bright light before he was instantly immolated.

Lucy flinched as the Batarg ship exploded silently on the screen, then the noises came as chunks bounced off the hull of the ship.
She jumped up and down in joy, “He did it!”, then he started looking around, “Where is he, did he beam back to another part of the ship?” She said hopefully.
“He’s gone Lucy.” Biotech said sadly.
“No,… no..” Lucy said, dropping to her knees in shock.
Biotech’s mind link was gone, he knew that could only happen if Bob was gone, so he knew he hadn’t found another way off.
He wished he had got to know Bob’s for longer, although the mind link had provided him with all of Bob’s memories from the moment he was born, so in a way he had known him for 37 years.
Lucy saw a hair on the floor, it was too short to be one of hers, and the Jugjhools didn’t have hair.
She carefully picked it up.
“He didn’t leave much behind.” Lucy said, looking into her hand.
Biotech was still looking at the screen and hadn’t noticed what Lucy had done.
“He left us with a planet still in one piece, and one of the toughest battleships in the galaxy.” The robot countered, before turning to look at her, then glancing down to see what was in her hand.
If his metal face would have allowed it, he would have smiled from ear to ear.
“Whatever you do, don’t drop that hair.” Biotech said happily.
Lucy looked at him curiously.
“What’s on your mind?” She asked.
“We’re going to have a hair raising adventure!” Biotech said dryly.