Doorways to Everywhere (Tourist Trap Book 2)

Chapter 74

Sarah could see the desperation of the situation as soon as she gained a position above the fray. "If that laser fires, this is all going to be for nothing. Not only will Ingleblott be destroyed, but we're probably all going to be killed in the blast. Listen everybody, ignore whatever little skirmishes you're in and try to make your way to the laser. If we can blow it up, we might just stand a chance of saving Milosh's planet."

"Friend Max says that idea is suicide, and who put the broad in charge?" Milosh said. "Also says she will get us all killed."

"Tell your friend Max we're all going to die for sure if he doesn't do what I say," Sarah said. "And if we do survive, I'll kill him myself." She shook her head nervously. They were clearly outnumbered and there were swarms of enemy fighters protecting the laser. She wasn't really sure how this was going to work, but she had to try.

*

"Friend Sarah says attack the laser," Milosh said to Zeke.

"Just me?" Zeke asked. "Is she trying to get me killed? Whatever I did to make her angry must have been really bad."

"Is not just you," Milosh said. "Everybody has been ordered to focus their attention on the laser."

"Well, okay," Zeke said as he pulled hard on the controls. He barely managed to avoid a speeding black craft that went zooming past. He spotted Bobby and Cindy's ships and fell in line behind them.

"Friend Bobby says thanks for watching his back," Milosh said.

"Tell him no problem," Zeke said. He looked around from side to side trying to spot any approaching enemy ships when all of a sudden Cindy's ship exploded in a ball of flame right in front of him.

"Holy crap, where did that guy come from?" Zeke said as he spotted the ship that had fired on her. Bobby immediately broke formation and began flying straight at it. The ship fired again and Bobby's fighter was blown to smithereens.

"Bobby! No!" Zeke shouted as he tapped repeatedly on his fire laser button. The enemy ship blew up in a brilliant explosion, but it didn't bring Zeke any satisfaction. He could feel his eyes getting watery. "I can't believe they blew up Bobby and Cindy. They just got married. It's not fair."

"Friend Max says don't look now, but we're surrounded on all sides," Milosh said.

Zeke gazed around and saw numerous enemy fighters closing in from all directions. "Looks like this is our last stand, Milosh. Let's see how many of these jerks we can take down with us." He took a big breath and gunned the accelerator.

*

Dr. Octavius parked the spaceship behind his lab back on Earth. "I should be just a moment," he informed Milosh as he climbed out. "You can wait here."

The back door was ajar, but he didn't think too much of it as he entered the lab. He was always forgetting to close and lock that thing.

He switched on the light and was startled to see somebody sitting in his comfy work chair.

"Well, well, well," Dr. Wentworth said as he took a big puff from a Cuban cigar. "Look who finally decided to show up."

"I don't have time for this right now, Jonas," Dr. Octavius said. "I just need to grab some duct tape and I'll be on my way."

"Oh, you'll be grabbing some duct tape all right," Dr. Wentworth said with a chuckle. "First you're going to tape your mouth up. Then you're going to bind up your ankles and finally your wrists. If that last part gets a little awkward, I suppose I would be willing to help you with it. It might be fun."

"Why exactly would I do that?" Dr. Octavius asked.

"Because your puny little mind will be unable to resist the power of my mind control device. Eustace please demonstrate for this pathetic little man, will you?"

A young man who Dr. Octavius hadn't noticed before stepped out from behind the chair and pointed a strange object at him. The next thing he knew he had an overwhelming compulsion to bind himself with duct tape. He grabbed a roll out of a drawer and taped his mouth shut. He taped his ankles together and was just starting to get to work on his wrists when Dr. Wentworth raised up his hand.

"Before you do that, why don't we have a little fun? Eustace, make him punch himself in the face."

Eustace turned a knob on the device and Dr. Octavius began hitting himself until his nose became bloody.

"Get down on the floor and crawl over here," Dr. Wentworth cackled. "You may remove the tape from your mouth for the time being. It's going to need to be off so that you can clean my boots with your tongue. And yes, I made sure to walk through a field of fresh cow dung before I came over here. You might as well make yourself comfortable on the floor. We're going to be here a long, long time."

*

Sarah watched in dismay as more and more of her ships were blown up. Nobody was getting even remotely near the laser. For a moment it looked like WBDG might make it as his ship broke through a crowd of enemy fighters. He appeared to be in the clear, but then out of nowhere he was hit and his ship went up in a ball of flame. There weren't any more friendly ships anywhere nearby.

"Looks like I'm going to have to try to do this myself," she said as she gunned her ship straight towards the laser. It was starting to glow bright blue and the humming sound was becoming deafening. Enemy ships circled the laser like a thick swarm of ants. She continued forward blasting away with everything she had. She only realized she'd been hit when the smell of smoke in the cockpit started making her cough and then everything around her lit up in a blinding white flash.