Doorways to Everywhere (Tourist Trap Book 2)

Chapter 58

The door materialized in the middle of the courtyard and everybody filed out. The Starswan was covered with guards dressed in red body suits who appeared to be in the process of disassembling it. They looked like a swarm of ants gorging themselves on a sleek metal carcass. King Grover was standing on top of the ship overseeing the work. His jaw fell open when he saw the door appear.

"Witchcraft!" he shouted. "Sorcery! Magic most foul! Guards! Kill them!"

The guards dropped what they were doing and picked up laser ray guns, which they immediately began firing.

"There must be over a hundred of them!" Zannah shouted. "We're hopelessly outnumbered."

Shazmar let out an agitated ping.

"Get behind me," Max waved everyone over. "I'll hold the door we just came through open in front of us. Their shots will travel through the door and end up in that room you were imprisoned in. If I can get you guys close enough to get on the ship, do you think you can get it started?"

"Keep your fingers crossed they haven't taken it apart too much yet," Captain Torean said as he ducked behind Max.

Max led the way slowly forward using the open door as a shield while everyone else followed closely behind. "Those lasers are really going to make a mess out of this guy's spare bedroom," he said while shaking his head.

"I think I already took care of that," WBDG said. "He was probably going to need to burn it down anyway to cleanse it."

Max inched the group close to the loading ramp and they all raced aboard the ship. There were more guards on the inside, but they seemed reluctant to use their laser ray guns in the close quarters. Trey took out three of them quickly with his bare hands while Zannah disabled another one with a karate chop to the neck. Archduke Wilhelm the Goat kicked a guard in the stomach with his rear hoofs. Bumble-Boo spun around the room in a blur and knocked out four more. WBDG managed to wrestle a guard to the ground and held him pinned long enough for Shazmar to run up and kick him in the head.

Meanwhile Wayne the Robot linked with the ship and began to run a diagnostics examination.

"What's our status?" Captain Torean asked as he grappled with yet another guard.

"Most of the vital components to run the engine are all still in place," Wayne said. "We appear to be shipshape to fly short distances at least. It does seem they've removed the primary thrusters and the warp drive so we won't be able to go very far. It looks like they've also taken the ping-pong table."

"That's a crying shame," Zeke said as he dodged out of the way of a guard that was trying to swing his gun at Zeke's head like a club. Milosh tackled the guard from the side and pummeled him in the face. Bumble-Boo finished off the last of the guards with a blindingly fast leg sweep.

"All right, Shazmar get this baby warmed up and let's get ready to go," Captain Torean said. "It doesn't sound like we're going to be able to travel any great distance, so we need to make this count. What's the deal with that door you were talking about?"

"We just need to set it up in front of the ship and stretch it out big enough to fit this thing through," Max said. "You don't really need to fly. As long as you can push this thing a few feet forward through the door, it'll take you trillions of light years from here. I'm going to need a hand with this thing, though. Zeke, you want to help a brother out?"

"Yeah let's do this," Zeke said.

"You two midgets aren't going to get that door stretched tall enough," Zannah said. "I'll come with you. I'll pull up while you guys stretch the door to the side."

"I'll come as well," Trey said. "There are still a lot of guards out there and you'll need a great warrior such as myself to hold them off."

"Be careful, Trey," Sadie said as she blew him a kiss.

"Fear not, my sweet," Trey said as he mimed catching the kiss and placed his hand to his lips. "I shall return to you shortly."

"Be careful, Trey?" Zeke mumbled as he grabbed one side of the door and followed Max down the ramp back to the outside. "What about the rest of us? We're risking our lives here, too."

"Don't worry," Max said. "There's like a hundred guards out here. That guy's probably going to get himself killed."

"Yeah, but then we'll probably get killed, too," Zeke said as they made their way cautiously to the front of the ship. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Trey bash two guards' heads together and they dropped to the ground. Zannah was clearing a path through the guards in front of them.

"Stop the ones holding the door!" King Grover shouted at his guards. "They're attempting to cast some sort of magic spell."

The guards turned and focused their attention on Zeke, Max, and Zannah. "We could use a little help up here," Zannah shouted.

Trey had his hands full as he was surrounded by ten guards. "I'll get there as soon as I can," he shouted back.

"We need help now!" Zannah shouted as guards started closing in on them from all sides.

A guard grabbed Zeke by the arm and pulled him away from the door. Another guard shoved him to the ground and pointed his gun right in Zeke's face. "Prepare to meet your maker, magic boy."

Zeke closed his eyes and winced as he prepared for the laser blast that would end his life. He heard a high-pitched chirp and the guard holding the ground fell over as Bumble-Boo kicked him in the back.

"Good boy," Zeke said as he pulled himself back up to his feet.

Bumble-Boo picked up the fallen guard's gun and turned on the rest of the guards blasting his way through them. The sides of the Starswan lit up as Zeke heard the sound of the engines firing up.

"The little guy's cleared us a path to the front of the ship," Max said. "Come on, let's get this done."

They positioned the door right in front of the ship and began stretching it as wide as they could while Zannah stretched the door upwards. Bumble-Boo and Trey were doing their best to keep the rest of the guards contained.

"No! This can't be allowed to happen!" King Grover said from the top of the ship where he still stood. He grabbed one of the guard's guns out of his hands and pushed him off the ship. The guard landed on the ground with a thud a few feet from where Trey was finishing off the last of the guards that had pinned him in. King Grover began opening fire, as Max flung the door open.

The Starswan lurched forward and King Grover lost his balance, causing his shots to go astray. The spaceship passed slowly through the door, scraping the sides a little as it squeezed through. King Grover and several of his guards were dragged through the door along with it. Once the rear of the ship had cleared the doorway, Max waved everyone else through.

Zeke jumped through the door just as one of the guards remaining behind took aim and fired where he had been standing. There was a bright flash of light followed by an accelerating sensation and suddenly Zeke found himself standing in a big grassy field next to the Starswan.

The guards who had been pulled through instantly froze into solid ice statues. King Grover rolled off the top of the spaceship and crashed to the ground. He seemed unaffected by the change in temperature, but looked around in shock at the new scenery. "No, it can't be. After I went through so much effort to escape this place I can't be back here."

"But you are," Max said as Bumble-Boo pointed his gun at King Grover's head. "Welcome to Quartzwater City."