Once called the Welcome Center, Amok and Mr. Stanton sat at a small table in the newly christened Dew Drop Inn. Newly christened was a mild term for Enderheim ripping down the old sign and putting up his own. The ugly tattered green and red sign was hundreds of years old and came from an original tavern by the same name from somewhere Enderheim said was named Black Oak.

        Zeplynn had been furious. The welcome center logo and overall design had been her brainchild. When she told Amok he all butrabthere. But, instead of stopping Enderheim from destroying her beautiful new sign, he helped Enderheim hang up the new sign. They'd stood there for many moments silently staring at it and then abruptly roaring with laughter, pounding each other on the back.        "I gotta say, sir," Stanton took a sip of some unhealthy-looking brown liquid, "I never honestly thought we'd ever do it."          "Neither did I, Mr. Stanton," Amok took a huge draught of his beer. He slammed the glass to the table and sighed lustily. "Neither did I."             

       "Some of the engineers are already packed up. They're just a waitin' fer the word ta go home." He took a tiny sip from his grand pappy's decanter. He shook his head wonderingly and said, "That new smith is really sumpthin' sir. Once he finished down below he took to fusing those plates like nuthin' I ever saw. In the end, the Dwarves were a havin' a hard time keepin' up. But seein' him cut plate," he shook his head anew. "Even the Sisters were amazed. The young ones sat down and watched with their mouths a hangin'," he laughed once. "They kept saying' it was impossible, but there he was."

       "Travia taught him how to do that," Amok frowned. "She's been spending a lot of her time with him; probably planning on keeping him. Some of the High Ones have personal smiths." he shrugged. "Most aren't all that good, getting by on reputation and crafting pretty, shiny things."

       "The way he works," Stanton looked down for a moment. "If I didn't know better, I'd say he was an Irishman from me very own village. He swung that big, heavy sledge of his for 3 days and nights and never, as far as I could tell, ever missed a beat."

       "Leeki was right," Amok half smiled. "We are all hobbyists compared to him. Your Storm Hammers are proof of that. I should have thought to bring him on board a lot sooner."

 
       "Well," Stanton shrugged slightly. "With all the other stuff we had to do plus repairs and modifications, it wouldna' made much difference, sir. We had to finish the internal systems before we could do anything with it. The young ones worked hard I gotta give 'em credit."

        "Yes, you do, Mr. Stanton,"  Amok smiled ruefully. "That's why we like you so much. You give credit where credit is due."

       They both sat for several moments of comfortable silence and Amok glanced around and asked, in a lower tone of voice, "Are they still hunting Enderheim?"

         "Oh aye, sir," Stanton sat forward and leaned in, looking over his own shoulder. "They almost had em' a coupla times, but that paint you had us put everywhere stops em' from trackin' him. He knows the best hidin' places down there tryin' to keep the engineers away from his still."

       Amok listened to Enderheim's recent activities with an expression somewhere between amusement and mild distaste; it was hard to tell.

       Amok raised an eyebrow and smiled lazily. "Do you know where he is?"

       Stanton leaned in and said in a low whisper, "He came to me last night when I was a sleepin'. It seems they decided for some of em to get some sleep while the others kept lookin'. He looked pretty bad. He said they blamed him for Leeki, sir."

       "They are right. He Is to blame for losing Leeki. But Enderheim didn't trust him," Amok looked away before taking a swallow of his beer. He belched and said, "It's too bad. We need that armored shell for the Everdrive. And a few other items too I would imagine." he chewed theinside of his lower lip worriedly.

       "What about the smith, sir?" Stanton sat back slightly and reached for his grandpappy's ancient decanter and then stopped himself. He didn't have much left.

       "It's not the materials, Mr. Stanton," Amok looked in his mug to see what was left. "It's the precision that it has to fit. If it moves, even a trillionth of an inch, it will skew the flow and come flying apart in a most catastrophic and spectacular ball of pure energy that would equal a billion supernovas going off at once. The very fabric of D-Space would ripple and tear, spilling radiation across thousands and thousands of galaxies. Only Leeki and his people have the equipment to construct it. Our destination would take us over 20 years by Snath. The LeekiEverdrive will get us there in a little less than 3 months."

       Both now sat in stony silence, furiously trying to think of something. Finally, Amok sighed. "Okay, it's driving me crazy. Where'sEnderheim? Maybe he can help us figure a way out of this mess."

       "He was so pitiful sir," Stanton looked down with a woeful expression. "I got dressed and left him in me quarters, sir. He fell asleep on my own bunk before I could get me shoes tied." he laughed shortly. "They'll never think to look for em' in there."

       "They will sense him, Mr. Stanton," Amok said in a mild tone. "I hope you didn't have anything sentimental you wanted to keep in your quarters. There will be little left when they catch him in there."

       I don't think so sir," Stanton turned his mug in little circles as he spoke. "We had a lot of that white paint left over. I took the liberty of redecorating me own quarters with it inside and oot. Not only that, but we painted everthin' we could with it before we put that battleship grey over it."

       Amok glanced sideways at his friend and smiled. "Good thinking Mr. Stanton. Waste not, want not." He waved airily and looked away, amusement in his grey eyes. I have a feeling that's going to be a lot more useful than we thought."

       Stanton, having heard that thoughtful tone of voice before raised an eyebrow. "Sir?"

       "Enderheim's twisted games with Leeki are coming in to bite us all in the ass," Amok's voice was heavy with experience. He shook his head. "That's why the Sisters and Zeplynn are looking to thrash him for what he did to Leeki." Amok waved a languid hand. "Although technically, he's covering Renata's ass. She's the one who made the potion to start with. But Endereim tied it to one outside our race. That's why they're hunting him with pointy sticks and pieces of jagged metal."

        "Oct!" Stanton dipped his fingers into his drink and threw a few drops on the floor in front of him to rid himself of any stray curses. "All this mummery... I'll take a good heavy spanner any day to fix me problems."

       "Agreed Mr. Stanton," Amok looked disgusted for a moment. He rubbed his jaw and scratched his chin. "Did you get the lab I asked for installed?"

       "Aye, sir," Stanton nodded. "Although I'm afraid yer on yer own with it," he shook his head. "I'm naught but a simple mechanical engineer, sir," he grinned. "I had to bring in some white coats to patch it all together."

       "It's for the Sisters," Amok replied, swallowing the last of his beer. He stood up. "I'm taking my ship to Wolf Zero and bringing it out of there, Mr. Stanton. Want to go?"

       Stanton jumped to his feet. "Oh aye sir!," he cried. "We need to get her out of there." he stopped. "What about Enderheim?"

       "Oh, he's fine," Amok shrugged waving dismissively. "He's just frolicking with them. He can sneak off this station any time he wants.He's just keeping the Sisters out of our hair while we wait for Leeki."

       "What? Why would he come back here?"

       "He has to, Mr. Stanton," Amok reached into his pocket and pulled out an ancient-looking pocket watch. "He's being squeezed from both ends. The High Ones will punish him for returning empty-handed and the Sisters will punish him for betraying them."

        A small group of miners who'd been depositing minerals on the station entered the bar, bellying up with raucous catcalls and loud hearty sighs.

       One of the miners got his beer and, instead of sitting at one of the larger tables, made a beeline straight for where Amok and Stanton sat.

       Without so much as a word, the tall, thin dark-haired man pulled out one of the chairs where they sat, turned it around so that the back was facing towards, and regarded them both with large, liquid brown eyes.

       His smooth face remained neutral as he spoke in a low deep voice. "Amok," he nodded as if he saw Amok every day.

       Amok's reply was equally nonchalant. "Ross," he nodded once. "I had a feeling he would send you. Did you bring it?"

       "Yeah," Ross took a slurp of his beer and stared at the glass for a moment. "This is pretty good." He watched the bubbles for a second and asked, in a low voice. "Do you have what Leeki wants?"

       "I do," Amok said curtly. "Is it going to fit? Or is it going to blow up the instant I put Power to it?"

       "It fits," Ross replied, putting his arms up on the back of the chair. "I built a collar for it to make sure. All you have to do is set it in place and put in the crystal. I already tested it."

       "Well, that makes me feel a whole lot better, Amok smiled. "And where is Leeki now?"

       "You know where," Ross shook his head. "I suggest you get this whatever this is moving. The High Ones will be here. They don't want you taking the Sisters of Fate to the Demon Universe. I can't say I blame them."

       Amok sat back a little folding his hands over his stomach and saying, "Believe it or not, I want the High Ones to have them. If they stay here much longer, someone is going to get hurt. Probably me. The Overlords they sent here to help us stole all our good weapons and tried to kill off Enderheim."

       "He didn't say anything about that," Ross shook his head. "He just told me to come here and do this." He looked at Stanton sitting there with his eyes going back and forth like two ping-pong balls following their conversation. He frowned slightly. "This is one of the humans?They look just like us."

       "They are us," Amok said grimly. "From a bygone era. Before the Sisters of Fate meddled with things they didn't truly understand. We went to a lot of trouble, to put it mildly, to get them here."

       "This is Mr. Stanton," Amok waved idly toward the stocky engineer. "He will take you to your prize."

       Amok turned to Stanton. On the blind side of Ross, he winked at Stanton knowingly. "Mr. Stanton. Would you please escort Ross to the new lab? Sally is there waiting for him."

       Ross stood, leaving most of his beer on the table. "It's good to see you after all this time," Ross said. "I've often wondered what you've been up to."

       Amok looked up at Ross, an enigmatic expression on his face. "And I've often wondered why you waste your time with that slug Leeki. He's jealous of everything and everyone. I can only stay around him for a few minutes at a time before wanting to wring his scrawny neck. In   all my travels I've never met anyone who liked him."

       "He's not very easy to get along with, that's for sure," Ross's laugh sounded forced. But, when I've learned enough, maybe I'll go off on my own," Ross shrugged.

       "I hope that time comes soon," Amok looked up at his old friend. "Your Overlord has pissed off some rather powerful people; Enderheim chief among them. Not to mention the Sisters of Fate have been gaming each other to see who gets to tear into him first for betraying them."

       "I think I'll go visit some friends till all this is over," Ross swept his arm around. "I don't think I want to be caught up in the middle of whatever this is."

       "Where's the shell for the Leeki Everdrive?" Amok raised an eyebrow.

       "I had my Snath deposit it on the hull," Ross looked over the top of Stanton's head.

       "What?" Amok sat forward suddenly. "How did it get through the shield grid?"

       "Leeki has a resonator for Snath." Ross smiled. "They can go just about anywhere now. Haven't you noticed how seldom you're called for Snath Retrieval? Leeki's resonator can ease through any shield barrier without disturbing it."

       "I have to go," Amok stood. "I have a lot to attend to."

       "I'm sure you do," Ross's smile was not pleasant. "Take it easy Amok. I'm not sure we'll ever see each other again. Leeki may not be much physically, but he's got some toys that can take anyone down. Even your ship. He made sure of that when you showed it to him."

        "We'll see," Amok's nod was grim.

 

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