Another Boring Saturday

by C. Henning Novak

It was supposed to be a boring Saturday.  Kevin was going to write his science report on carnivorous mutant monkeys, and his younger brother Velcro was studying for a history test.  

Their parents were attending a wedding on another planet.  Before they left, they told Velcro and Kevin to stay at home all day. 

Kevin tried to focus on his report.  He needed to get at least a B+ in order to pass the class, and he absolutely had to pass the class if he wanted to join the Intergalactic Navy when he graduated from high school in two years. 

It was now almost lunchtime, and Kevin had only written three sentences about the carnivorous mutant monkeys.  The report needed to be at least five pages long!  Kevin knew that if he could just take a teeny tiny break, he would be able to write five pages in no time.

"Hey, Velcro," Kevin said.   "Let's go get some burgers for lunch."

"We can't do that," Velcro protested.  "Mom and Dad told us to stay at home.  Besides, the closest hamburger stand is in the next solar system.  We don't have permission to leave the atmosphere."

 "Don't be such a baby," Kevin scoffed.  "Burger Hut is just five glicks away on the Jupiter Highway.  We'll be there in fifteen minutes."

Velcro was torn.  He loved hamburgers, but they were not supposed to leave the house, let alone the solar system.  On the other hand, it was just a fifteen minute flight.  Their parents would never know.  Finally, Velcro said, "Okay!"

Kevin jumped up and grabbed the keys to their mom's spaceship.  It was thirty feet long, ten feet wide and painted dark blue.  The brothers called it "the Blue Whale." 

The Blue Whale was parked in their house's underground garage.  Kevin used the remote clicker on the keychain to open the side entrance.  Velcro hesitated a moment, but Kevin was already in the driver's seat going through the preflight checklist. 

Velcro quickly boarded the Blue Whale.  His brother had already initiated the preflight sequence, and the ceiling of the underground garage was sliding open.  Before Velcro had a chance to buckle his seat belt, Kevin slammed on the accelerator.  The Blue Whale blasted out of the garage like a rocket. 

Velcro clutched the handles of his seat.  Why did he agree to do this?  He hated flying in outer space.  Ever since he was a small child, Velcro had been afraid of the space pirates.  His father insisted that the space pirates only caused trouble in the farthest parts of the galaxy where there were just a few colonies.  Velcro still had nightmares that he might be kidnapped and sold into slavery in another solar system.

After they had been flying for a few minutes, Velcro relaxed and started to enjoy the ride.  Kevin was showing off by doing loop-de-loops while flying at top speed.  Suddenly, the Blue Whale started to slow down, as if it was caught in another ship's tractor beam.  A gruff man's voice boomed over their communicator: "Come to a stop!  This is the Space Patrol!  Pull over to the side of the highway!"

Kevin groaned.  If he got a speeding ticket, he would not be admitted to the Intergalactic Navy.  His flying record had to be perfect. 

Velcro checked the ship's rearview video feed.  Something was not right.  The spaceship behind them looked too old and beat-up to belong to the Space Patrol.  Velcro looked closer.  They were not being pulled over for a speeding ticket.  They were being kidnapped by pirates! 

"Space pirates!"  Velcro shouted.  

Kevin reacted immediately.  He jammed his foot down on the accelerator and pulled out of the tractor beam.  The pirate's spaceship chased after them. 

Velcro watched the pirate spaceship on the radar screen.  "It's gaining on us!"  he shouted.  "Faster!"

But the Blue Whale was already flying as fast as it could.  If it went any faster, it would explode.  

Kevin made a sharp turn off the Jupiter Highway.  The pirate spaceship followed closely behind them. There were no other spaceships in sight.  No one was going to rescue them. 

Suddenly, Kevin changed directions again.  He was flying upside down directly towards the pirate spaceship! 

The pirate spaceship was fast, but it could not change directions as easily as the Blue Whale.  It slowed down and made a U-turn.  Velcro gulped.  The pirate spaceship would easily catch them now.  Except strangely, the pirate spaceship was not moving.  It was shaking and making loud metallic sounds, but it was not chasing them.  Then, the pirate spaceship started to move backwards - slowly at first, and then much faster.  It went back, back and then POOF!  The pirate spaceship vanished.

Kevin calmly flew the Blue Whale back to the Jupiter Highway.  "Black hole," he explained to his dumbstruck brother.  "It's a new one, and not yet on the space maps.  Those pirates will wake up on the other side of the universe.  Dad took me out here a couple of weeks ago so I could practice avoiding black holes."

Velcro was astonished.  Very few pilots could fly that close to a black hole and not get sucked in by the gravitational pull.  His brother really did need to join the Intergalactic Navy. 

"I'll tell you what," Velcro said.  "If you buy me a hamburger, I'll help you finish your science report when we get home."

Kevin smiled and said, "Deal."

***************

About the Author:  Courtney Henning Novak lives in Pasadena, California with her husband and their remote control helicopters.  This is her first publication.

About the Art: Pirate Flag by whirlybird of the United Kingdom.