The Ill-mannered Door (humorous sci-fi)

31.2: Time to Run

We reached Derek's flat and he quickly spun the combination lock's dial a few times before turning it to the left and right until it popped open.

"It looks as if you remembered the combination," I said.

"Well, I didn't have you heckling me this time, eh?"

"Somehow, I don't think it would have mattered."

Derek looked me in the eye then and with a wink, he said, "Maybe not."

I shook my head as my mind ran over the events that had transpired heretofore. I didn't know what to think about Derek, and had no idea where this little adventure would lead, but I knew that I wanted to see it through.

Then, after opening the door and carrying his duffle bags inside, he said, "Wait out here. I won't be long," and promptly closed the door, leaving me alone in the street as the sun dipped lower in the sky.

It was then that I realized with a great sigh that the world as I knew it, or at least this world, might not blow up after all. But I couldn't say what would happen to the Earth if the queen was taking the bomb there.

I also realized that what I knew was very limited, and my horizons had just been expanded far more than I even realized.

Derek was true to his word that he wouldn't be long, and soon re-emerged into the street with his two duffle bags in tow once again. I saw no outward sign of what had been so important for him to retrieve, and he wasn't talking.

After locking the door again, we ran down to the docks where we found the Bounty bustling with men scurrying to and fro loading various crates, bags, and barrels into the hold.

We found the king standing on the deck, staring out to sea as if, by sheer will alone, he could see where the queen had gone.

"We about ready to sail, Barry?" Derek asked him, breaking him from his reverie.

"What?" the king said, turning toward us. "Oh, yes, nearly ready. They're just loading some final things."

"Good," Derek said, taking the strange silver cube that he took from Muriel and some sort of metal bracket from one of his duffles. "I'm going to mount this amidships. Have them cast off as soon as possible."

"Right," the king said, looking at Derek with a far off gaze. "Off you go then."

Once Derek had left, the king looked at me and quietly said, "What on Earth have we gotten ourselves into, Thomas?"

"I really don't know," I replied, watching Derek as he busied himself in the distance with extracting tools from one of his bags. "But I have a feeling that we may go far beyond that before this is all said and done."