"Like a shuttle with five kids, no adults, three of which don't even belong this far out in space, and one of which is a runaway from his homeworld?" speculated Niklas.
"Something like that." grinned Jahv.
"What's this space station like?" asked Davy.
Jahv pondered the question, trying to put it in terms his friends would understand. "Think of Deep Space Nine from Star Trek crossed with the Mos Eisley spaceport from Star Wars, but not quite as nice as either one."
"Terrific." said Keith sullenly. "Just when I tell these two to get their minds of off Star Trek and Star Wars, our own resident alien has to go make comparisons."
"The trick now is getting there." said Jahv. "We're honestly lucky to be as close as we are to it. Without hyperwarp, it'll take the better part of an hour. Let's hope we didn't suffer any more damage."
The voyage continued in relative silence. Keith had returned to his seat and brought his legs up and rested his head against his knees. He didn't say anything. Davy and Niklas, seated next to each other, just tried to keep calm and held each other's hands. Morik had strapped himself in and had put the educator headband back on, wondering if there was anything in it about space flight.
Roughly an hour later, during which time everyone calmed down as much as possible — it helped just to realize they were at least moving towards possible help and not just sitting dead in space — the space station called Garboris was on the sensor screen, and finally appeared in the windows. It actually looked vaguely like Deep Space Nine, in that it was circular, with pylons jutting out, and a central section. But it was bulkier in appearance, and the pylons were more numerous and more haphazard. The place also looked ill-kept, with dirt and rust in apparent evidence. Either that, or this place had been cobbled together from materials that had already been rusted or dirty in the first place, or just naturally dingy regardless of their condition.
Jahv had a concerned look on his face. "Yeesh, it looks worse than it did five years ago when I was last here. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, but we're out of options. I can't fix the stabilizer without being docked. I won't be able to access the necessary sections of the shuttle."
"Wonders of the universe, huh, guys?" remarked Keith.
"I've never seen anything like that in Earth orbit, have you, Keith?" replied Davy.
"Wouldn't want to." stated Keith.
"It's interesting, but I sort of agree with Keith. It looks a little nasty. Maybe some of us should just stay on the ship?" suggested Niklas.
"Not a good idea." said Jahv. "We need parts. We need to replace the coil. And I don't think splitting up is a good idea. The interior of that space station is like a maze. It was built over a long period of time, by several races, none of whom paid much attention to what their predecessors did." He worked the controls and opened a commlink. "Space Station Garboris, this is Shuttle designate Alpha-Jahv, requesting permission to dock."
Static blasted through the speaker, but then a rough, gravelly voice spoke, "Shuttle Alpha-Jahv, state your reason for docking."
"Repairs." replied Jahv. "Hyperwarp stabilizer is out. We shouldn't be long."
"Access granted." came the voice again. "Follow your beacon to docking pylon Zhrek-three."
"Understood. Receiving beacon. Thank you. Alpha-Jahv out." Jahv turned off the commlink. "Zhrek-three. Wish I could remember this station better and where that puts us compared to where we need to go. I think I know a shortcut. Have to see when we get in."
"I'm surprised they didn't ask why a kid was flying this thing." remarked Davy.
Jahv snickered. "You think tone of voice means anything out here? They were probably glad I'm not a Pavarot. Not only do they have deep baritone voices from the day they're born, but their entire language sounds like opera."
"Deep baritone from birth?!" exclaimed Keith. "That must make feeding time at hospital nurseries a load of laughs."
Jahv maneuvered the shuttle to the indicated pylon, and docked. A hiss of air indicated the the airlock was operational. "Enabling security field." said Jahv, more to himself to remember proper procedures. "Powering down. Okay, we're set."
"What will the security field do?" asked Morik.
"Anybody tries to break into the shuttle, it'll hit 'em with a stun field." replied Jahv. "Okay, guys, let's go. But brace yourselves. Like I said, this isn't a very nice place."
The group moved through the airlock and into the space station. It smelled like a gym locker. Keith wrinkled his nose, and Niklas looked nearly ready to gag. Davy scowled. Their illusions of the wonders of space were taking a bit of a beating just now. Morik looked nervous to be in such enclosed spaces as this. Jahv was amazed at how badly the place had indeed deteriorated. His and his parents had stopped here, as he had said, about five years ago, for emergency repairs. It had been a nasty place then. Now it looked downright vicious.
The walls were grimy, and so were most of the rather unpleasant-looking aliens they passed as the boys wandered through the corridors which led to a central section where Jahv knew the station's directory was. It was sort of a hub from which many corridors branched. They were all following Jahv's lead, and sticking close.
"This place is disgusting." whispered Davy.
"Yeah, I know, guys." said Jahv. "I didn't think it would be this bad, but we're kind of stuck. We've got to get the parts we need."
"Let's do it quickly, okay?" suggested Niklas, who, like Davy, had come to the realization that looking out the window of a nice clean shuttle at all the wondrous stars and phenomenae of space flying past was a far cry from dropping in on some remote outpost. Even Keith seemed cowed, thinking to himself, "I wanted a reality check, but not something this bad. I'm glad Martin's not here."
They soon came to the Core, as it was called. Several stories in height, there were wide corridors on every level, leading to all manner of shops and kiosks. An incredible array of alien life, very little of it pleasant-looking, milled around, conducting assorted business.
"I hope Karak is still here." said Jahv. "He's the parts dealer my parents dealt with years ago. Honest enough — for this place. He'll be on the second level if I recall." Jahv consulted the directory. "Thank the Creator. He's still here."
The group ascended a nearby stairwell that took them to the next level. "By the way," said Niklas, "I'm understanding a lot of the words I'm hearing around me. How is that possible?"
"There's a translation field in effect throughout the station." said Jahv. "Probably one of the few things anybody bothers to maintain properly, because the commerce of the station is so dependent on it. You think most of these spacers speak more than their own language?"
"Good point." said Niklas, surprised that some of what he was seeing was even capable of speech.
They came to an entrance to an obvious bar which spread across the width of the entire corridor. "Do we have to go through there?" said Niklas, suddenly fearful.
"I'm afraid so." said Jahv, wincing himself. As with the rest of the station, this place looked worse than ever.
"Are we even allowed in a place like that?" exclaimed Davy. "That's a bar, for heaven's sake!"
"Terrific." muttered Keith. "Only thing worse than these ugly aliens has gotta be these ugly aliens — drunk."
"Age isn't a factor." said Jahv. "There is a detour, but.
"But what?" said Niklas. "It's gotta be better than this!"
"It would take three hours, and I don't think any of us want to put on the breathing gear necessary to get through the Methane Zone." stated Jahv. "It doesn't do much to cut the smell."
"Bar." said Keith.
"Yep, bar." added Davy.
"I suppose so." said Niklas.
"Whatever." concluded Morik.
The group approached, but Jahv suddenly put his arms out and halted everyone. His eyes were the most sensitive of anyone's in the group, and he'd just seen trouble. "Now what?" exclaimed Keith.
"There's two Soluans in there." said Jahv grimly. "Right along the main walkthrough."
"Soluans?" asked Davy, then he realized. "You mean those aliens who — " He looked at Morik and stopped himself.
"Precisely." said Jahv. "And they are not going to be pleased to see Morik."
"What are Soluans?" asked Morik.
Jahv frowned. It was time to tell a story he would have prefered to avoid. "Morik, do you remember why your parents left your home planet?"
Morik scowled. He tried to call up memories from those very young years. "I — no. All I seem to recall is — lizard-men."
"You do know what those lizard-men did, don't you?" asked Jahv, very gently.
Morik nodded. "Destroyed the planet. I remember that." Then realization kicked in. "The lizard-men are here!?" His face changed to utter fury. "I'll —!" Davy and Keith restrained him.
Jahv spoke calmly but quickly. "It's not likely they're the SAME lizard-men, and you can't win a fight against them. They'll kill you on sight, even if it meant being arrested themselves. This place is not without some security. They hate you as much as you hate them because your people destroyed all of the ships that were sent to your world. We have to get you past them unnoticed."
"How do these Soluans feel about Botarans?" asked Keith.
"They're not too crazy about us, either, because they know they can't beat our technology." remarked Jahv.
"But they've probably never seen anyone from Earth, right?" added Keith.
"No, I'm sure of that." replied Jahv. "What are you getting at?"
"You want a distraction, you'll get one. Can I see your backpack?"
Jahv handed Keith the backpack. Keith started fishing around and came out with a can of bathroom deodorizer. "How did that get in there?" asked Jahv.
"I saw the plumbing facilities on board the shuttle before we took off." said Keith.
"Next question — when did you get so brave?" inquired Davy.
Keith sighed. "Look, I'm a bundle of nervous energy right now, and if I don't do something to blow off some steam, I'm gonna pop. I figure if nothing else, those guys are probably half-drunk and we can outrun 'em if we have to."
"'We'?" asked Davy suspiciously.
"I want back-up. You in?"
Davy groaned. "I suppose, if only to see what you've got in mind."
Keith turned to Jahv. "All right, you'll have your distraction in a minute. Get through the bar and we'll meet you on the other side."
"I hope you know what you're doing." said Niklas.
"Yeah, me too." replied Keith, as he and Davy walked off.
The Soluans were huge beings, easily over seven feet tall. Their bodies were powerful but their limbs were rather slender. Their heads looked vaguely like several species of dinosaur Keith could think of offhand. Both were scaly green, but one of them, who also had a badge on his metallic tunic that the other did not have, had some orange around his face. Keith assumed it was probably because he was just older. He looked more scaly, too. The two reptilian men were talking about something, but Keith couldn't quite tell what. The translation field was working in here, but it was crowded and noisy.
Keith took a deep breath and stepped right up to the table, Davy in tow. "Good afternoon, gentle — uh — men."
"Grife, now what." rumbled one of the Soluans. "Getting so you can't get quietly drunk anywhere in the cosmos anymore."
"And what manner of pathetic mammals are these?" said the other. "You ever see anything like these things before?"
"Not sober, I haven't." replied the first. "Maybe we're more drunk than we think."
Keith kept going, bringing out the spray can. "Gentlemen, I have a wonderful offer for you today. For just a — a small amount of whatever you use for money, you can own this wonderful new freshening product."
"'Freshening product'?" repeated the elder Soluan.
"Absolutely!" proclaimed Keith, trying to keep his knees from knocking. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Jahv and Niklas flanking Morik and making their way through the bar as quickly as they could without being too obvious about it. It was slow going given the crowd of patrons milling — and in some cases staggering — and in at least one case oozing — around. "Kills germs in the air!" Keith shot some of the spray into the air, and the Soluans waved the spray away from them. "Kills bad breath, too!" continued Keith. "Open up, llama-lips." Keith reached for the younger Soluan's face and pried his jaw open and shot some spray in. The Soluan stared choking. "Makes a great flavor additive, too!" Keith shot some of the spray into the older Soluan's drink, and the force of the spray splashed some of the purplish liquid out of the glass.
"Enough!" roared the elder Soluan. The younger one was still coughing. "Begone!"
Keith backed off, and Davy was clearly ready to run. "Well, I can see you're just not interested, but I tried. Bye!"
Keith and Davy skittered for the exit on the far side of the bar, where the others waited. "I don't believe what you did back there." wheezed Davy. "Grabbing that thing's mouth!?"
"Got on a roll and couldn't stop myself. And brother, he needed the spray, trust me."
"Well, after that stunt, I hope they're gone by the time we get back, because if they're not, Niklas and I are going to have to conceal three of you, and I'm not sure we can." said Jahv. "I didn't pack the cloaking field that I used that day in the mall."
"What now?" asked Niklas.
"Now, we find Karak." said Jahv. He led the group further down the corridor and through several turns. Finally they arrived at their destination. "Thank the Creator!" sighed Jahv. "Karak is still in business."
Jahv led the group to a medium-sized storefront with alien lettering above the entryway. But there was no denying the purpose of the store. Holographic images of spaceship parts were on display in the windows. Niklas theorized that this was probably some sort of universal symbology that practically anyone would understand. The translation field could take care of spoken words, perhaps, but not images.
A chime went off as soon as the youngsters entered. A deep, accented voice boomed from the back. "Yah, yah, I be coming!"
"Sometimes the translation field is — somewhat less than perfect." remarked Jahv, noticing the curious expressions on the other boys' faces. Even Morik stuck a finger in one ear as if to make sure it was working properly.
A huge specimen of alien life emerged from a back room. He was more or less humanoid, well over six feet tall, with light blue skin bordering on pale turquoise, thick black hair and a beard, bald on top with a ridge of skin or bone running from the bridge of his nose well over his forehead, disappearing into his hairline. And either his species was naturally predisposed towards a huge gut, or this being had not missed very many meals in his life, all of which had been considerable. He was dressed in a worn brown shirt, and equally worn grey coveralls with a variety of stains on them from assorted mechanical fluids. Davy, Niklas, and Keith backed off a few steps. Morik looked slightly nervous. Only Jahv seemed unfazed. "Whataya kids want?" said Karak, roughly but not unkindly. "The simulator arcade is on the next level!"
"We know that. We need a part for our shuttle." explained Jahv.
"YOUR shuttle?" Karak's reddish eyes went wide. "You five kids is on your own? Hokay, I'm impressed. Whataya need?"