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Casinos in Space, a full-length novel serialized for Casino Detroit Magazine.
Copyright © 2000 - 2008 By Howard Berenbon
Chapter 10
Captured
Morb and Muck reached the cave entrance in an hour’s march through dense woods after fleeing the site of the devastation they left on the boardwalk. Though exhausted from the night’s activities, they would not rest until they planned their next attack. His small group of fighters entered their hideout and prepared for tomorrow.
“Well done, men,” Morb said smiling. “We were undetected. Excellent.”
Then he radioed his second group of men encamped in the woods just off the boardwalk. “Flatbad, are you in preparation for tomorrow?”
For a moment there was no response, then Flatbad’s voice pierced Morb’s communication device, “Yes, sir, Morb,” his voiced echoed, sounding small and distant.
“Rest, now,” Morb commanded. “We will stop these invaders.”
“Yes, Morb,” Flatbad replied. Then he turned to his men and said, “To victory.”
Morb smiled widely when he heard the response.
Paul and Slim were lost, now resting at a riverbank, miles from where they escaped the chaos on the boardwalk. They could hear the sounds of a waterfall, now crashing and splashing into a river running through the middle of the dense forest, miles away from Tamboli. They were sitting at the riverbank watching the wall of water falling from the mountaintop and crashing into the river below.
“We have to find the ship,” Paul said with panic in his voice. “I want to go home.” He was very disturbed at being trapped on a planet with a crazy old man. All he really wanted was to get back to his wife and friends, but he didn’t know how. And to makes things worse, he was hiding from aliens.
“Home, good buddy?” Slim replied. “No way now, Jose. We need to get back to betting. We’ve got some money to make and some good eating to partake.” The Vegan sun, now rising in the east, reflected a rippling deep orange disk as the river swiftly moved along.
“I need to go home,” Paul sighed, realizing his complaints were useless. He was stuck in a nightmare on a dangerous planet, billions of miles from home.
Slim paused before answering. “My boy, you need some healing and then you’ll come around. So, if you’re ready, let’s find our way up and out of here and get back to the boardwalk of success.”
“How the hell are we going to find our way out?”
“That a way,” Slim said pointing up to a narrow path near the waterfall. “Hop on your high horse and let’s go.”
“Okay, okay. Paul reluctantly complied.
As Paul and Slim slowly climbed up the path, rushing water masked the sounds of Morb and his men moving though the woods. When they reached with in a few hundred yards of the top, they were started to see a small band of green-skinned men moving above.
“What are they?” Paul whispered, nervously, as they hid in a bush along the path.
“Well, Slim said. “They look like jolly green men. Ho, ho, ho.”
The green-skinned fighters were chanting as they marched.
“If they’re heading for the boardwalk, we have to get back and warn them, “ Paul said.
“I’m for that, partner,” Slim said. “We’ll save some lives and bet the farm.”
Paul carefully crept out from behind the bush, wiped himself off and said, “Looks like the coast is clear, Slim. Come on, let’s try to follow them.”
“Ten four, kid,” he said. “Let’s go."
They made it to the intersection and followed the footprints sunk into the muddy trail. The path weaved down hill, passing through swampy wet bogs filled with strange plant life and alien sounds. Just a few hundred feet into their walk, they saw two olive green legs with big brown boots sticking out of a huge plant the size of a Chevy van. Acid at the bottom of the plant’s pitcher-shaped leaves was digesting the head and torso of one of the alien fighters.
Paul and Slim quickened their pace on the path as they left the dead alien behind them.
After about an hour of climbing up and hills and passing swamps and ponds they approached a clearing overlooking the Salty Sea. They could hear the sound of waves breaking into the rocky shore and bubbling onto the black beach. The Vegan sun, now rising in the east, reflected its orange disk over the falls.
They cautiously traversed the distance from the end of the path through the clearing looking for a way down. There they found footsteps leading down a path that would take them to the sea.
After an hour of walking, about halfway down, Paul had to stop and rest. “I can’t go on,” Paul said. “Let’s sit here on this log.” In the distance, they could see the Vegan Sun rising in the east, its orange disk reflecting from the ocean below.
“Do you have anything to eat?” Paul asked. He was tired, hot and now hungry.
“Sorry, buddy. Maybe we can find some juicy raspberries around here. And I’m sure I can find you some scrumptious mushrooms to chomp on until we get back to the boardwalk.”
Paul contemplated the dangers of eating in the wild and said, “No, thanks, anyway. I can wait. Besides, if you go looking, you can get caught by one of those man eating leaves.”
After several minutes resting, they continued on the path. But after just a few minutes into their walk, Paul heard a commanding voice from behind he couldn’t understand.
“Do not move, invaders!” Morb said, but Paul and Slim continued on the trail.
Morb then leaped and ahead of the two men and waved his weapon at their startled faces. And before Paul could react, Morb struck him in the head with his green fist, and he fell to the ground unconscious.
Slim was frozen in place for the moment watching Paul fall. Then Morb turned and crashed his green fist into empty space as his target disappeared.
Totally confused for a moment, Morb directed his attention to Paul still unconscious on the ground. “Take him away,” he commanded, and two soldiers lifted Paul and carried him down a path to the right moving away from the Boardwalk. They walked some five miles through dense jungle until they reached a clearing, and another path leading to a hidden valley below. As they traveled the path downward, about halfway to the valley floor they could see a huge dark green stone that looked like it was suspended in midair.
“We are here,” Morb said pointing. “The Emerald Fist in all its glory.” Now, they could see that the dark-green stone was resting on a sandstone archway. They carried Paul through the archway and down a short path and into cave. An emerald green lake could be seen in the distance. Paul was still unconscious when the aliens placed him on the cave floor, now with a guard at the entrance.###
To be continued .....
