We left Roxie drugged and shooting through space with Dana the Damalian – after a hairy escape from the Black Hole Sons biker gang…
If you are just joining Roxie Vega’s adventures, this chapter continues the tale of teenage Roxie and how she became our gambling, space hauler.
Read the previous chapters here!
Chapter 1- A Teenage Roxie and Viper
Chapter 2 - A Drunk and a Cadillac Trunk
Chapter 3 - The Louisvile Low Docks
Chapter 4 - Doubling Down with a Damalian
Chapter 5 - Blast Off & Betrayal
And here we are at Chapter 6!
The Space Pod
by Angelique Fawns
When Roxie came to, she was strapped into a little capsule. At first, she thought she was in a coffin. It was tiny, dark, and she couldn’t move. Writhing and kicking her feet, her bounds became tighter, and she stubbed her toe on the roof of her prison as a low metallic clank accompanied each kick. Sheer panic shot through her veins, and she immediately began to hyperventilate. Her chest heaved against two straps laced across her ribs, and her pulse hammered in her ears. The walls pressed in from all sides, close enough to touch with her elbows if she could move them. Forget a coffin, this was like a shiny black egg.
She was a chick trapped in an impermeable shell.
A sharp rap, rap, rap on a window beside her head made her jolt. She spun her head to the right and saw Dana peering through the porthole. The alien gave her a very unnerving grin that showed all of her sharp little teeth, each one gleaming white against her pink gums.
“Hi, Roxie,” Dana’s muffled voice came through the thick glass. “I guess I gave you a little bit more sedative than I thought. But you needed it to relax.”
“Get me out of here!” Roxie tried to scream, but the straps were squashing her lungs. “What are you doing?” She managed to squeak.
“Hold on, hold on, calm down.” Dana’s paw pressed against the porthole glass. “You’re not tied in. You just have a seatbelt on.”
Roxie forced herself to stop struggling, and the pressure immediately eased. With shaking hands, she searched blindly for the seatbelt clasp. Her fingers fumbled over the smooth metal until finally she found the release. It clicked open with a snap, and she rubbed her chest. There’d be bruises there tomorrow.
“Okay, let me out.” She tried to move, to sit up, but could hardly wiggle in the confined space. The ceiling was maybe six inches from her nose, and her knees met a cold, smooth wall covered in unlit bulbs and little switches. “How do you open this thing?” She ran her hands along the walls, but didn’t want to start hitting buttons arbitrarily.
“Hold on a second.” Dana’s yellow eyes gleamed in the dim light filtering through the porthole. “I’m gonna give you a choice.”
“Oh, how kind of you. Like you gave me a choice when you drugged me?”
Dana ignored her barb. “Look. We’re very close to Oberon, and if I send you down in this space pod, you’ll land right at the Big Rig Oil and Casino. I’ve got Doran waiting for your arrival. He’ll escort you to your room, tell you your duties.”
“So why aren’t you coming with me?”
Dana picked up her tail and brushed some condensation off the spaceport glass with the furry tip. “I’ll make you a deal. You’re gonna pay for your space passage by working at the casino, and I’m going to go back and see if I can save Buzz for you.”
Roxie’s heart lurched. “Why would you do that?”
Dana shrugged. “I really need a new waitress who can actually be charming.” She frowned at Roxie, her nose wrinkling. “Not that you’ve shown me your manners yet. You’re pretty, but I’ll need you to be nice to the customers.”
Roxie snorted.
“Please tell me your father did teach you some manners.”
Now it was Roxie’s turn to ignore the barb. “Really? You’ll go back? How are you gonna take on the Black Hole Sons?”
Dana laughed. “I’ve got my ways, and some things are better if you don’t know. But I’ll go see if I can help Buzz. If he’s not dead already.”
“Maybe I can help you,” Roxie said, trying to push herself up again.
Dana shook her head, her ears flattening. “No. You’d just get in the way. Some of my techniques require no observers.”
A chill ran down Roxie’s spine at the way Dana said that last part.
“Is it a deal? This is your choice.”
“And what are my other choices?”
Dana held up a finger with a sharp red nail. “Option One. Get out of that space pod and forget all about Buzz. You still have to work for me to pay off your passenger fare.” She added a second finger. “I return to the Louisville Low Docks and kick some biker butt. And then you really owe me.”
Roxie swallowed hard and nodded. There wasn’t really a choice. “Please save my dad.”
“Put your seatbelt back on.”
“What are you, my mother?”
Dana’s eyes widened, and then she threw her head back and howled with laughter.
“Put your seatbelt on, or on landing you’ll be nothing but a splattered puddle, and I don’t want to have to clean up my space pod.”
“Okay, okay.” Roxie’s fingers fumbled with the belt clasp, clicking it back into place. This time, she was careful not to struggle and tightened the straps.
“It’ll take you about a couple of hours.” Dana’s face disappeared from the porthole window.
And then, in a gut-sickening, face-flattening jolt, Roxie was shoved away from the SLZ sports ship. The force slammed her back into the seat so hard her teeth clacked together. She was soaring through the infinite black void of space, spinning slowly, toward a brownish, hazy planet that must be Oberon.
Alone. Completely alone. Hurtling through the cosmos in a tin can no bigger than a closet, with nothing but the sound of her own ragged breathing and the faint hum of the pod’s life support systems to keep her company.
And who was this Doran?
The next Roxie Vega tale drops next Wednesday. What happens when she arrives on Oberon? (Hint: Things may get a little 🌶 🌶 .)
Meet ABACUS, Roxie’s future sidekick and droid-in-crime.
I wouldn't push Roxie too much if I was Dana. She's the kind who gets even : )