Speak Not Loud or Long

Finally, last tightening in place, the ship was done. Tourney defeated, money obtained, ship gotten. Things were starting to feel right. Red high fived Lor, who did not return the five at all. Tussling ensued. Lazarus stood quietly between the ship and Red and Lor who seemed to be fighting meekly. He knew very well the stick figures did it, but the why was what escaped him.

Nem seemed proud of the little ship, smile far larger than usual.

"I sell parts all the time, but I don't believe I've ever seen one complete with all the parts I've sold."

"Ain't bad, is it?" Gant grinned wide.

Nem giggled at Gant and spotted Chip a bit further away, glaring. Nem stuck his tongue out at the little mechanic. Chip scoffed and hid away behind his tool cabinet.

Before anyone noticed anything, Laz spoke up about something incoming. He seemed to be able to sense it, before anything was seen in the space around the Oasis.

"Huge ship coming through the spaceport soon," Laz spoke, eyes blackened over as usual. "Too fast to slow down."

Red froze. It sounded so like the one that had done it to him before. Too fast through the gate, killing many people. Lor noticed Red's tenseness and stopped being playful.

"Maybe we should uh... leave," Lor suggested.

"It's here now," Laz said.

A second later and a crash through the port onto the bay floor startled them all. No atmosphere got loosed, but the ship really wasn't stopping. It slid to its side, rolling on and on and on in the giant starport, revealing a long name enameled on its side.

Nem had never seen the colour drain from Gant's face so quickly. Gant twitched and froze, then started running toward their own ship. Nem realised he had come in that ship too and if Gant was going to escape, he was going with.

But when he closed in on Gant, Gant spun and held Nem by the arms tightly.

"I ain't escaping, I'm dealing with her. Now go somewhere safe."

"But--"

"Go!"

Gant pushed Nem away and slipped into their tiny ship. Nem's feelings were hurt, but he ran toward the others obediently.

"Oh Gant," a voice called in song on one of Gant's many open frequencies, "Here we are again."

Gant was silent as they started their ship and began moving.

"Where are you going, little insect? I brought you a present."

Gant paused, confused. He couldn't see her out of his own view screen, but something strange did appear.

In front of her ship, a dark object appeared in the air. It stretched down from a point, and grew thicker. From it, something moved into existence.

"A rift!!" Gant cried. They mashed on the board in front of them, panicking for some reason. "Red, Laz, she opened a rift! Get into the station."

They didn't wait to see if the others listened to them, as they knew the best way to get her to stop doing anything was to chase them. They flew out of the port and, as expected, she followed, leaving the creature that had just slipped out of the rift.

Totally unequipped to deal with the shadows, the rest headed inside the station. All except Laz. Laz stared with his glassy eyes, walking right toward the shadow thing. He removed his supertool and pulled out his favourite sword. Easy enough target. His years of enslaved warring would come in handy to protect them.

The other three made it into the station, and they fervently asked the crew to close it for the rift open in the port. The crew looked, saw it, and immediately did as they were told. Nem dashed to the massive view screen pointed out toward the place where Gant and the other ship were moving around, avoiding each other.

"I've never seen a ship's name painted on the outside," Red said idly, watching.

"He sure looked like he knew who it was," Lor chimed.

"What do you mean?" Nem asked.

"Didn't you see his face?" Lor asked.

"Yeah, it looked like he was about to pee himself out of fear."

Nem frowned, then watched his idiot cowboy violently ram the other ship, the Florabody. Nem gasped, and Lore cursed. Nem could see the tiny ship of Gant's had pressed through the hulls, green plant matter smearing across its name, and yellow liquid shooting out as atmosphere jettisoned.

"I can see something," Red said. "It looks like some energy weapon. Maybe fighting?"

Nem wondered who the hell this Florabody pilot was, and what they were doing to Gant. Gant was such a wimp sometimes.

Then he saw Gant. In space.

"Does Gant not have a suit?"

It was Nem's turn to pale and sweat a lot. The idiot was out in space, suitless. He could see they looked unconscious. The large port door opened, Laz walking in. He looked untouched. The crew near the door yelped at first, scared of the shadow.

"I took care of it," he spoke. "The rift is the problem now."

The crew nodded and closed the door, but Nem was dashing up.

"I need to get out," he said.

"Sorry, sir, but with the issues going on out there, we really can't op--"

Nem did not let her finish. He smashed her face in with his right hook, and as she crumpled to the ground her crewmate cried out and opened the port door instantly, out of fear. Nem smiled as he dashed into the port, grabbing the safety suit they had just put in the new ship. It would do, if Gant wasn't already dead. He dressed, and ran to the port barrier. He jumped... and flew out into space.

Nem hated space. He hated the idea of being in it. He lived on a space station, worked on one, and had never been out. Never had the desire. How funny he found it he was just dashing right into space now, no questions asked.

Nem flung himself toward the purple fool floating in space with nothing on. He was not familiar with the air jettison system but seemed to handle it fairly well. He watched as Gant got closer. Nem successfully grabbed them. He wasn't sure if Gant's ship had a med room, and he wasn't about to trust it, either. He took Gant back to the port, carefully. It was far more difficult toting two bodies on that system than just himself. As they slipped through the barrier into oxygenated air, Nem carefully lowered Gant to the ground, shouting for help.

Gant just laid like the dead body Nem had once slit the throat of. He knew the feeling of lifelessness.

He swooped Gant into his arms, suit still on and in the way. Nem tromped over to the crew, who directed him toward the med area, as quickly as he could in the cumbersome thing.

What a terrible place to die, he thought.

---

Nem sat over their unconscious body. The sick room was filled with a view screen facing the rotating planets and empty space around the station. But Nem wasn't looking at it. He felt like he was boring holes into Gant, and kept blinking away just to return his gaze a second later.

Gant had been alive when he brought them in. But it was clear they had been fighting with whomever commandeered the Florabody. Not just the ramming of the ship, which could be seen in their concussion, but of energy weapon burns through their clothes and very clearly what appeared to be a bruise in the shape of a shoe on Gant's neck.

Nem blinked slowly, feeling so tired. He was just fine sleeping here. His friend was in some poor shape... but he also knew they did it to themselves. Why engage the other pilot when they were clearly so reckless? He knew Gant made stupid decisions before but this... Things he would never know.

At that moment, like summoned by Nem's thoughts, Gant opened their eyes a small amount.

Nem's smile, small but visible, uttered to Gant.

"You're an idiot."

Gant opened their mouth, as if they had something to say. It wouldn't shock Nem to hear them chatter, as they so liked to do.

But instead, Gant's eyes rolled back and their lids fell. They were unconscious again.

Nem's smile faltered. His concern almost reared its head into worrywart mode. Gant was alive, and everything would be fine. He knew he had to stop listening to the mind worry chatter. So obnoxious, he thought. So he looked for a distraction.

He peered up out the massive view screen. It was big, especially for a sick room. But the stars were perfect. They trailed slowly as they moved, and a small star system with its gas giants floated away from the window toward the stars. The Oasis occasionally made this round toward a system that he found beautiful, but never enough to touch. If he ever had to go out into space again, he would just buy Gant a tomb marker. And he chuckled over Gant's still body at the thought.

Soon after that, Nem fell asleep in the room's only chair, just inches from Gant.