"Um," Swaggart looked around. "Should we just be sitting here?"
       Enderheim had a large silver speakeasy flask, and he was sipping it. He tipped it up and took a bigger swallow. He handed the flask over his shoulder to Swaggart.

       "What do you suggest, Councilor?" Enderheim said, and then coughed suddenly. "Smooth," he gasped and coughed again.

       "How about getting the Hell on outta here?" Swaggart said, feeling a rising panic seize him anew. "That other guy said you could outrun them."

       "Well, we could outrun em'" Enderheim shrugged. "And then what?"

       Swaggart blinked for the barest second in confusion, then scowled, "We go find Amok. He tells them to leave. The End."

       "We can't," Enderheim shook his head. "Amok is in no shape to tell anyone anything. And if we leave them in the dust, the first thing they will do is go back to Earth and start tearing up the place till someone shows up to stop them or there's nothing left. Then, they will move to the next planet. And so on and so forth."

       Seeing Swaggart's astonishment, Enderheim suddenly scowled. "What? Amok told you not to shoot them. They didn't listen. What did you expect?"

       "Oh my God, no," Swaggart closed his eyes for a moment. "What can we do?"

       "The only thing I could do," Enderheim said grimly. "Go out there and start a fight to lure them away. You didn't want us dogfighting over your cities, did you?"

       Swaggart took a drink from the flask, his eyes popping suddenly. He started to choke.

       "Hey!" Enderheims eyes flashed. He grabbed the flask out of Swaggart's hand. "Don't spill that! It'll eat its way right through the hull. Amok will have our guts for guitar strings!" he started to laugh. He looked down. "It's about time," he mumbled, his fingers flying.

       The tiny craft moved off slowly through the blank, never ending grey of D-Space. After a moment, Enderheim pointed it towards their destination, gaining speed quickly.

       "Let's see where they're at," Enderheim said conversationally, turning on the com channel.

       "You don't know?" Swaggart asked hoarsely.

       "I'm not talking about their proximity, Enderheim grinned. "I'm talking about their heads."

       Swaggart's stomach was burning. "Oh!" he nearly retched. "Was that corn liquor? What did you cut it with? Varnish?"

       "Cut it?" Enderheim looked startled. "What do you mean cut it?"

       "Pour it on guys," a voice from the com said. "He has nowhere to run but straight ahead."

       "Too slow too slow," Enderheim teased, easing on more speed.

       "Dammit! He's starting to pull away!"

       "Calm down," Rokiki snarled. "Everyone link up. There's no way he can outrun us."

       After a moment, a voice cried, "We're gaining ... there! Look! He's still spilling."

       "No," another voice broke in. "He's overcharging his crystals to get more out of them. Looks like this Old Dogs tin can is just about tapped out."

       Several nasty laughs and jeers followed.

       Finally, Rokiki broke through, "What's it gonna be, Enderheim? You going to take it in the back running?"

       "Yeah, well," Enderheims said acidly, "It took 30 of ya. Tournament Champions, my wrinkled ass. The only reason you squirrels win anything is you cheat."

       "Can I offer you some cheese with that whine, Enderheim?" Rokiki asked slyly.

       "Naw," Enderheim said and laughed, "Your mom gave me something better last night, or so she thought." he continued to snicker softly to himself.

       Swaggart felt like smacking Enderheim from where he sat. Mom jokes? At a time like this?

       "You leave my mom out of this," Rokiki sounded genuinely angry now.

       "Okay," Enderheim said belligerently. "How about we talk about that lazy, worthless, snaggle toothed, smelly daughter of yours then, shall we?"

       " .. over the line ..."

       "... drop his carcass in the nearest corona, I say... "

       "I wasn't going to say anything about your Mom," Enderheim said in a bored tone. "But at this stage of the game, it doesn't really matter." he shrugged dramatically.

       The tiny ship now blasted along the rainbow-colored trail of a comet. Amongst the colors now was an oily-looking black fog.

       "You guys see that? That crystal is burning!"

       "Looks like your running out of road, Enderheim," Rokiki gloated. "Any last words of Old Dog Wisdom?"

       "Just this," Enderheim said coldly. "Your petitions to join the Dancers Along The Edge has been rejected. Not only that, but you will never be allowed near a Snath again."

       The com channel remained silent for a moment. A cacophony of jeers and laughter erupted, followed by a dozen shots hitting the ship squarely in the rear.

       "Bark bark bark, Old Dog," Rokiki sneered. "Any second now that crystals gonna pop, and so are you. Don't worry. We'll be sure to let it be known to your Healers that you took it right up the..."

       There was sudden silence from the com channel.

       "Took it right up the what?" Enderheim called. "I didn't get that last part. Guys?"

       "What do you think, Councilor?," Enderheim said conversationally. "Do you think he was going to say 'wazoo' or something vulgar? Councilor?" Enderheim twisted around in his seat to look back. He grinned suddenly. "Councilor? What are you doing down there? Come on up out of there. Geez oh, Pete's," he started laughing.

       Swaggart uncurled himself up out of the floor under the seat. He looked dazed. "Are we dead yet?"

       Enderheim snickered softly. His fingers danced, and the rainbow light and oily smoke went out. He eased back on the speed control. He put the ship into a slow, gentle turn and headed back the way they came.

       After a few seconds, they dropped out of D-Space. Enderheim engaged the cloak. It didn't spark or fizzle.

       Tiny dots appeared and grew into the shapes of Snath hanging limply in space.

       Swaggart's eyes were wide. "Are they dead? he asked in a muted whisper.

       "No," Enderheim sounded relieved. "They are out cold. All of them." he laughed nastily, "Hah! Treachery and deceit win over youth and skill every time! Drag me down the road, eh? Old Dog am I? What do they say about old dogs, Counselor?"

       "You can't teach an old dog new tricks," quoted Swaggart.

       "And what do old dogs have to say about that?" Enderheim grinned.

       Swaggart shook his head and allowed himself a small smile, "Old dogs already the know the tricks the Young dogs are calling new, as well as a whole bunch of nasty old tricks the young dogs haven't figured out yet."

       "Close enough," Enderheim smiled. "Now," he sighed heavily. "What do we do with them?" He glanced back at Swaggart. "What do you think, Counselor? Should I just put holes through them and fly away? Leave their frozen corpses drifting through this horrid place for eternity?"

       Swaggart shook his head. "No."

       "No?" Enderheims eyebrows shot up. "Why not? That's what they intended for us. Then they were gonna throw into the nearest star. You know that, don't you?"

       "Of course," Swaggart replied steadily. "That's why I was down on the floor, praying for all I was worth. But, if you kill them, what will they have learned?"

       Enderheim laughed shortly. "And they wonder why Amok and I like you people so much."

       The relief was pouring off Swaggart in near palpable waves. He took a deep breath. "At the risk of sounding repetitive," he said. "What happened? What is this place? Where are we?"

       "Welcome to Jelly Space," Enderheim announced with an extravagant wave. "A pressure point where several universal barriers meet. Think of it as the amount of raw gravitational force between several tectonic plates colliding. Multiply that force times the Universe, and here we are."

       "So this is what that other guy was talking about?" Swaggart looked around again. "This happened to you? It looks like normal space to me."

       "Well, we can't see gravity, now can we?" Enderheim backed the ship away. "But the Snath can. And it's how they go through space. Riding on gravity waves. But here is so much gravity that it blinds them. It's a little more complicated than that, but that's basically what it is.""

       "Where are we going?"

       "There's a way station," Enderheim replied. "It has a shield bubble and a special teleporter. Something we didn't have when we slammed into this place. No food for the Snath either. It was like you said. It looked like empty space."

       After a few minutes, a blue dot appeared in front of them that quickly grew into a white sphere surrounded by a blue fog. Enderheim brought the ship to a stop a few hundred meters above the surface.

       Enderheim glanced back. "I know I don't have to say this, but I am anyway. Don't touch anything until I get back."

       "Huh?" Swaggart had been looking at the white sphere. "Where are you going?"

       "Down there," Enderheim pointed and held up his hand. "5 minutes," he said and vanished.

       Total silence engulfed Swaggart. He sat there, trying to replay recent events in his mind. He glanced at his watch. Barely four hours had passed since he'd boarded. All the excitement and terror had caused the time to fly past like a few fleeting moments. With this revelation, he felt his whole body start to relax and sag. He put both of his hands over his eyes and sat there rocking back and forth.

       Flashes of looming walls and golden globes striking all around them threatened to overwhelm Swaggart senses. The margin by which they'd survived ate at his calm. He dropped his hands and clutched his middle, feeling a wave of terror sheet down his solar plexus.
Swaggart tried not to remember the flashes of conversation Enderheim spoke about dogfighting over the cities. But it was the cavalier, over the shoulder comment about 'tearing up the place' until there's nothing left, that terrified him the most.

       "I'm sorry you're so afraid, Councilor," Enderheim said from his seat. "It was never our intention." he paused. "This whole mess is my fault, you know," Enderheim was looking down. "If I had just cloaked and ran off, instead of teleporting onto that ship and showing my ass..."

       "Hindsight is 20/20," Swaggart shrugged. "If I had declared an emergency quarantine, then none of this would be happening either."

       "Ahh!" Enderheim grunted disgustedly, making a cutting gesture. He moved the ship away from the blue sphere and stabbed savagely at the speed control.

       Swaggart felt pushed back in the seat. "Ahh. Dumb question. Where are we going now?"

       "Back to confront those fools with their own stupidity, that's where," Enderheim looked angry.

       In almost no time, the little ship hovered in front of the Snath.

       All but the largest Snath was beginning to show signs of life.

       Enderheim pushed on the com. "Wakey Wakey," he whispered in a cold, cruel voice, "Eggs and bakey."
       A babble of voices, some sounding near panic, flooded the cockpit.

       Enderheim let it go on for almost a minute before pushing the com button. "One at a time."

       "What is this place, Enderheim?" Rokiki voice was filled with wrath.

       "You think you know everything," Enderheim said dryly. "You tell me."

       "There was a moment of silence, and another deep voice broke in, "This is experimental space. J-space, I think the brainy ones call it. A pocket of opposing universal forces so strong the gravity waves squeeze together so that a Snath can't see through it. It's like dropping a bag over a Snath's head. We were going too fast for the Snath to react and compensate. Now they can't see to get out."

       "Not bad," Enderheim nodded. "At least one of you isn't as stupid as you look."

       Swaggart smiled at the grunts and curses that followed Enderheims' statement.

       Enderheim let them rave for a few moments and called over them loudly, "What is the protocol for high-speed group traveling through untested space?"

       The chatter ceased. Another voice spoke, "Crescent formation, constant contact. If one drops from the network, all stop till he's found."

       "And once he or she is found?" Enderheim prompted.

       Another voice answered, "Block the space off, so no-one else goes in there and wait for Snath Retrieval."

       "Have any of you ever seen Snath Retrieval?" Enderheim asked patiently. "Who are they?"

       "Snath Retrieval formed long ago to rescue Snath in distress," said yet another voice, "They don't use Snath. My instructor told us you had to be crazy to be a member. Only a chosen few wear their rings."

       "Like this one?" Enderheim held up his hand. He was not smiling.

       "Number 3? Holy ..."

       "All right, all right," Rokiki interrupted. "Enough Civics lectures. Get us out of here, Enderheim."

       "Or what Rokiki?!" Enderheim spat viciously. "You don't tell me what to do." He sat back and smiled lazily. "Ask nicely, and I'll think about it."

       Rokiki stared for a moment at Enderheim, his eyes smoldering fires of hate. "Let us out of here," he said grudgingly and turned his face away. "Please."

       Enderheim bent his ear forward as if listening intently. "What was that?" he asked innocently, "I didn't quite catch that last part."

       The shouts and curses lasted longer this time. Enderheim sat and listened as if hearing the most beautiful music. Slowly, with doubt written all over his face, Enderheim said, "I don't know. Somehow, I'm just not feeling the love. What do you think, Councilor?"

       Swaggart smiled at the situation. "Agreed," he said laconically. "Not much love at all. In fact, I'm detecting traces of animosity, are you?"

       "Now that you mention it," Enderheim appeared to be listening anew, "There might be a sprinkling, nay, a spritzer of angst amongst all that high praise." They both laughed uproariously.

       Enderheim suddenly looked startled, "But oh!" he said, looking surprised. "All this excitement has made me forget my manners. I don't believe we've all been introduced. Boys say hello to the leader of the Humans, Lord Councilor David Swaggart. Lord Councilor, these are the people who have been trying to kill us. Say hello to the nice people, Lord Councilor."

       "Hello, assholes!" Swaggart shouted savagely into the now silent com channel.

       Enderheim chuckled. "Refresh my memory Councilor, if you would please. What is the penalty on your world for threatening a member of the Galactic Council?"

       "Death," Swaggart answered so quickly it almost cut Enderheim off.

       "Just for threatening you?" Enderheim raised an eyebrow. "I wonder what happens if they actually try? Drag you down the road till there's nothing left but a frayed rope?"

       "Yes," Swaggart grinned cruelly. "We use an old F-100 for the job."

       "And I think we all know our own penalties for threatening the leader of an alien race while shooting Nova Balls at them," Enderheim stated with a note of finality.

       "Aw, we didn't really mean that..."

       "Just having some fun with ya is all..."

       "... excited ... say stuff no one means ..."

       "...didn't take that serious, did you?"

       "Aw, c'mon now ..."

       "Okay, fine," Enderheim let out a long breath. "I've thought about it and ..." he made a sour face and shook his head slowly, "I don't think so. The Councilor is correct. You guys are a buncha assholes. I wouldn't give you the sweat off my balls right now, let alone a tow out of here. Good Luck, gentlemen," Enderheim began to back the ship away.

       The com channel went off again; this time, the voices were pleading and starting to sound desperate.

       "Is there, by chance, something we have that you want in exchange for a way out of here? the deep voice called.

       "Like those Shadow weapons, it took Amok and me 200 years to make? Each?" Enderheim stopped.

       "Yes," the deep voice said. "Like those." there was a pause. "Anything else?"     

        "Those instruments of torture you think make the Snath perform better," Enderheim snorted, "Destroy them. Now."

        After a few moments, Enderheim roared, "All of them! Now!"

       "If I do that, then when it wakes up ... " Rokiki said bleakly.

       "Ask me if I care," Enderheim smiled icily.

        Rokiki looked stricken, his face nearly white, he glanced around as if unsure what to do.

       "5 seconds," Enderheim grunted. "It's going to pop, whether you're in it or not is up to you." he grinned sadistically. "5... 4... Time's Up!"

        The ship's horns glowed briefly, and what looked like a ghostly smoke ring engulfed the giant Snath. Immediately, it extended its arms as wide as it could in all directions. It vibrated impossibly for perhaps a second then burst into a massive flock of baby Snath.

       Rokiki floated in space, writhing and shaking his fist at the ship. He was surrounded by a blue aura. A second later, he vanished.

       "Where did he go?" Swaggart's eyes were wide with wonder as he looked at the baby Snath. "They're beautiful," he whispered.

       "They're afraid," Enderheim's voice was choked with fury. "Beginning their existence like this ... unforgivable."

       "Anything else?" the deep voice asked as if a merchant.

       "No," Enderheim said, shaking his head. "I was going to make you all apologize, but we all know how much good that would do. No, I guess that squares things as far as I'm concerned."

       "Good!" someone barked. "Now, get us out of here!"

       "You are in no position to give me orders," Enderheim snarled. For a moment, he fought his temper and then said, with an icy calm. "I'm satisfied. But we have yet to hear from the good Lord Councilor. Lord Councilor?"

       "What?" Swaggart asked in a deadly tone.

       "These ... people," Enderheim waved a casual hand. "Were going to kill us and cover it up by throwing us into a star. I give them to you. Say the word, and I will kill them where they sit."

       "No," Swaggart sat back and looked away. "It is our custom that when an opponent is beaten, the fight is over."

       "What is to prevent them from coming back?" Enderheim asked. "Revenge is a big motivator, isn't that right, Rokiki?"

       "Their word," Swaggart said, looking up and sitting forward again. "If you all give your word to leave my people in peace, you can keep your lives."

       "Okay," Enderheim nodded. "To make this easier, is there anyone who does NOT give their word to leave the Humans alone?" he paused. "Mercy, it shall be then," he smiled hugely and waved flamboyantly. "There!" he declared happily. "We are all friends again."

       "Oh, yeah," a voice said, sarcasm dripping, "We're friends. Tow us out of here, friend."

       "There are only two ways out of here," Enderheim went on as if the other had not spoken. "There is a way station up ahead. It has a shield bubble and a teleporter. The teleporter is special. It will only work once, and the crystals have to be recharged. Anyone left behind will have days of crystal recharging, so I suggest you all pile on," he smiled. "Put Rokiki on the bottom."

       "The other way," Enderheim said slowly, "is to fly these Snath out. It took two other guys and me 3 weeks to fly clear of this space. Your choice." he made a little clicking noise with his teeth.

       "There is a third option," the deep voice said, "We can all join hands because we're friends, and you can pull us all out of here at once."

       "The third option is unavailable," Enderheim deadpanned. "Because I don't like you. We are not friends. Had the Lord Councilor here so ordered, I would have killed the pack of you. You owe the rest of your miserable little lives to a Human. Think about that when you wake up every day."

                                                                                                ..............................................