Spaz looked over the edge of Jazz's chair. "Who was that?"



"Cosair. Apparently, the computer started working somehow and he wants to know if Devan is anywhere around. What are you doing down there, anyway?"



"Ugh. Apparently losing my savings. Say, how did we get back to Carrotus, after we had just decided to go to Tubelectric?"



"I have no idea. Maybe a rip in the space-time continuem or something."



"Must be. Shall we go back to Industrius now?"



"Well, I was going to wash the Jazz 1.24, but in the interests of your money, I suppose it would be safer to go now."



"You're a pal, bro."



After not washing the Jazz 1.24 manually but instead flying it through a meteor shower to get it clean (groan) they landed on Industrius again.



Back on Tubelectric, Kon-tar settled down for the flight home. The computer was flashing, but he would attend to that in a moment. Right now he wanted to enjoy the feeling every villain enjoyed, which was probably why they were always getting defeated. The oppurtunity to gloat had come upon him. Kon-tar wondered if you could catch this gloating experiance in bottles and sell it at outrageous prices, as it sure did feel good. After proving that impossible with the current laws of physics, he went over to the computer. "What is it, computer? I'm a busy whatever creature the author made me."



"That does not compute. Define "author"."



"Just tell me why you were flashing".



"Your clone has been destroyed."



"I have a clone?"



"No. You did, though."



"You're way too literal. Well, to Industrius."



"Complying with order.... done."



It pays to have a hyperspace attachment, thought Kon-tar, as he walked out onto Industrius. Now then, where was that general use spaceport for people who didn't have private ones? He needed to know if the Jackrabbits were here yet.



Kon-tar walked up to the Jazz 1.24. So they were here, were they? Hmmm... Kon-tar climbed the stairs, produced a small laser pistol, broke the lock, walked in and surveyed the ship. Very standard edition, though it was owned by such famous personages... The holo projector was worth something, and the computer, but other then that? No. A ship like this probably had a very simple engine, the type that was easy to tamper with. Kon-tar went around back, and sure enough, the engine was the easily customized type. He customized it just a little, as far as his knowledge if this sort of thing would allow, but enough that engine should die after the ship left the atmosphere of Industrius. Now then, back to work.



(After sitting in this chair for several minutes, I concluded I had run out of ideas again.)