David Robbins - Houston Run

Lynx leaned toward Gremlin, “Let me spell it out for you, pal. What were we talkin’ about tonight before Hickok showed up?”

“The same old subject, yes,” Gremlin said. “What to do with our lives, no?”

“Exactly,” Lynx concurred. “What to do with our lives? How can we fit in at the Home? And what’s the answer?”

“Gremlin doesn’t know, yes,” Gremlin responded.

“Well, I know,” Lynx claimed. “And I’ve been tryin’ to convince you dorks for months.”

“It does seem like forever,” Ferret quipped.

Lynx glared at Ferret, then smiled at Gremlin. “Look. We’ve been through this a zillion times. We want to fit in at the Home. We want to do something worthwhile with our lives. Right?”

“Yes,” Gremlin replied.

“And the Doc bred us to be fighters, didn’t he?” Lynx questioned. “I mean, fightin’ is in our genes! Right?”

“Yes,” Gremlin agreed.

“So if we’re such naturally talented fighters, and if we like being at the Home and want to do something to help them out, then what better way than to become full-fledged Warriors! Right?” Lynx beamed.

“Wrong,” Ferret answered.

“No,” Gremlin said.

Lynx hissed. He placed his hands on his hips and stared at them defiantly. “What’s wrong with my idea?”

“Everything,” Ferret said. “Like you said, we’ve been through this already. Time and time again. Being a Warrior is a serious responsibility.

You can’t become one just because you crave a little action, because you want some excitement in your life.”

“That’s not the only reason I want to become a Warrior,” Lynx averred.

“Oh? What are your other reasons?” Ferret asked.

“I like the Family,” Lynx maintained. “I want to do my fair share, to repay them for everything they’ve done for us. Is that so bad?”

“No,” Ferret said. “Not if you’re sincere.”

“And you don’t think I am?” Lynx inquired.

“Let’s just say I have my doubts,” Ferret stated.

“Gremlin too, yes,” Gremlin added.

Lynx exhaled noisily. “You two take the cake, you know that? Here I am, your best buddy in all the world, and you won’t believe I can have an honest motive like everybody else. Fine! Be that way! I’ve spent months tryin’ to convince you, to show you being Warriors is just right for us!

We’d make great Warriors! We’d be happy, happier than we’ve been in ages! But no! You think I’m just being selfish.” He paused, swept them with his green eyes. “Well, I’m done! I’m through tryin’ to show you the error of your ways! I’m through tryin’ to talk some sense into a pair of vacuum heads! If you don’t want to be Warriors, terrific! But I do! And I’m gonna be one, with or without you! I’m not about to pass up a chance like this.”

“What chance, yes?” Gremlin queried.

Lynx waved his left arm at the canopy. ” This chance, bub! A golden opportunity to show the Family what we can do. Blade and Hickok are out there somewhere, prisoners. If we can save ’em, bail their butts out of this fix, we can write our own ticket. In order to become a Warrior, you have to be sponsored by a Warrior, right? So imagine how grateful Blade and Hickok will be after we save ’em. They’d do anything for us. Hickok already owes us for savin’ his wife. All we’d have to do is ask, and I’ll bet they’d gladly sponsor us for Warrior status. It’d be a breeze! But if you guys don’t want to help, that’s okay. I’ll do it myself.”

“Before you go running off half-cocked,” Ferret said, “you should know there are a few flaws in your logic.”

“Like what?” Lynx countered.

“Like you don’t know where we are,” Ferret said, beginning his enumeration. “You don’t know if Blade or Hickok are still alive. Even if you succeed in rescuing them, how will you return to the Home? On foot? You have no idea of what you’re going up against. And you have no guarantee Blade or Hickok will nominate you to become a Warrior.”

“Why quibble over a few trifling details?” Lynx retorted.

“Trifling?” Ferret said. “They qualify as insurmountable difficulties.”

“Only to a pessimist like you,” Lynx said. “Look, are you guys with me or not?”

Ferret sighed. “This won’t be easy.”

“What in life is easy?” Lynx rejoined.

“It’s insane,” Ferret commented.

“What other choice do we have?” Lynx demanded. “Do you just want to cut out on Blade and Hickok? Leave ’em in the lurch? We’re the only chance they’ve got.”

Ferret frowned, his hairy brow furrowed in thought. “No,” he said after a spell. “We can’t desert them. We must try and find them.”

Lynx grinned. “Then let’s go.”

“We should have a plan, yes?” Gremlin interjected.

“Who needs a plan?” Lynx responded. “Just stick with me.” He strolled from the cockpit.

Gremlin looked at Ferret. “We are in big trouble, yes?”

“You can stay here if you want,” Ferret suggested. “I’ll try and keep Lynx from getting himself killed.”

Gremlin shook his head. “Gremlin come too. One for all and all for one, yes? Isn’t that our motto, no?”

“Then let’s go,” Ferret said, turning to follow Lynx. “And let’s hope we don’t live to regret this.”

Lynx was waiting for them at the junction with the passage to the door.

“Come on, slowpokes!” he grumbled.

Gremlin and Ferret hastened to his side.

“We’ve gotta stick together,” Lynx said. He pointed at the closed door.

“We don’t know what we’ll find out there. Keep alert. And if we bump into those silver bozos, go for their nuts.”

“Their nuts?” Ferret repeated, puzzled.

“Yeah. Their nuts. Balls. Coconuts. Whatever you want to call them,” Lynx said.

“Why, pray tell, should we go for their testicles?” Ferret inquired.

“Two reasons,” Lynx replied. “One, they’re bigger than us. Way bigger.

But their nuts are at just the right height, unless you’d rather nibble on their tootsies or jump up and tweak their noses.”

“And what’s the second reason?” Ferret asked.

“Going for the head doesn’t seem to do much good,” Lynx staled.

“Hickok emptied one of his Colts into the head of one of those goons, and it hardly slowed the silver joker down.”

“Hickok always aims for heads, yes,” Gremlin mentioned.

“Yep. And Hickok ain’t one to miss,” Lynx observed. “Which goes to prove my point. Those silver guys ain’t human.”

“Perhaps they’re superhuman,” Ferret suggested.

“Then where’s their scent?” Lynx demanded.

“Their scent?” Ferret responded in surprise.

“Yeah, dummy! Their scent!” Lynx said. “Brother! For someone who’s got a nose as big as you do, you sure don’t use it much! The Doc designed us with a great pair of sniffers. We can track anything by scent alone. Gremlin can’t, ’cause he’s a little more human than us.”

“What about their scent, yes?” Gremlin queried.

“They don’t have any,” Lynx disclosed. “Not a trace. And humans always have a scent. So do animals.”

Ferret’s bewilderment at the revelation was evident in his face. “You’re right!” he said to Lynx. “I didn’t even notice!”

“See? I think all that easy livin’ with the Family has made you rusty,” Lynx stated. “You’ve heard that old sayin’. Use it or lose it.”

Ferret frowned, displeased by his performance. If his normally acute senses had atrophied at the Home, it was a cause for concern. Within the walled 30-acre compound, where all the dangerous wild animals had been exterminated, where danger seldom threatened, where menace was not part of the daily routine, his full faculties were not essential to his survival.