Chapter Twelve—Now Arriving

“Oh man, I am soooo bored. You guys suck.”

“You know what’s even worse?” Kyle asked as he packed his bag, “is that I didn’t get to enjoy this cruise. Instead I’ve been tracking down your sorry ass.”

“It’s your own fault, Squeaky for being one of my father’s lackeys.”

“John?” Kyle asked.

“Vvrah?” he said, taking the tooth brush out of this mouth. “Wrah ish ih?”

Kyle rolled his eyes. “I say we chain Hussy Hess here to something and let Lexa watch over her while we enjoy ourselves.”

John turned around, shaking his head and muttering something.

“What are you whining about?” Kelly asked as she watched Kyle from atop the bed. She was lying on her stomach, her bare feet up into the air. She kicked them about impantiently. “We’re about to arrive on Ela Luna Keys. This ship doesn’t even hold a candle to that place. Trust me.”

“Oh yeah?” Kyle asked.

“Yeah,” she said. “They got white sand beaches as far as the eye can see, the best entertainments and shows, and all the food is brought in on express carrier. The restaurants are like, amazing! And that’s if you’re even hungry. The clubs are even better. You need an interactive brain to even keep track of them all. There are literally thousands.”

While it sounded fun, Kyle couldn’t let this little troublemaker one up him by being the one to tell him how amazing the Keys were.

Not gonna happen!

“Oh yeah?” he said. “The Keys are nothing compared to Del Sol, kid. Trust me.”

“Pft!” Kelly laughed. “You’re like an old guy—except you’re not even old. Pathetic!”

Kyle signed as he turned his back and continued packing his bag.

“She’s right,” Lexa said from the intercom. “Ela Luna Keys has won the top world vacation resort in the United Systems Alliance for three years running, now.”

“Shut up, Lexa!” Kyle croaked. “You still have some explaining to do.”

John put his bag on the sofa and started neatly setting his things inside, unlike Kyle, who just shoved them in.

“Don’t forget to pack that Akurr suit,” he called, “and a few more good things.”

“You know it’s not stealing, right?” he said.

“What do you mean? It belongs to the Chylaxium.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Kelly asked with a frown.

But they ignored her.

“Yeah,” John said. “It’s not stealing. We paid for this flight. We have Prime-Class Tickets. They include any and all amenities, and that includes the designer clothes.”

“Oh,” Kyle said, somewhat downtrodden.

“You guys are fuckin’ weird.”

“Shut up, kid.”

“All right, Squeaky. But only because I want to convince you old guys that I’ll behave while we’re on Ela Luna Keys.”

John glanced over, but said nothing.

“Yeah right,” Kyle scoffed. “You? Behave?”

“I swear,” she said. “Like, I just want to have a good time. We can all have a good time.”

Kyle looked at her.

They couldn’t trust her, but he did want to have a nice vacation. So far the Chylaxium leg of this trip was a bust.

Finally he said, “What do you think, John?”

He raised an eyebrow. “I think we should get Kelly to her father.”

“Ugh!” she droned. “Come on!”

Kyle finished stuffing his bag and then tossed it out of the bedroom and into the living room. It landed with a loud thump and actually rolled.

Then he went to the console that John had taken off again. Let’s see here…

“What are you doing?” John asked. “Stay away from my equipment.”

“Hold on a minute,” Kyle said as he manipulated the console with John’s tools. It wasn’t that hard.

“Seriously,” he said, “what are you doing?”

“I’m ripping off Lexa.”

“You’re downloading her?”

“Yeah.”

“But why,” he asked. “You hate Lexa.”

“I don’t hate her,” he said. “But we can’t leave this gig without doing some damage to our overlords.”

“Huh?” Kelly asked.