Pitch Madness B-10: LONGSHOTS

Needing the reward to bail their uncle out of jail, two brothers “borrow” his ship to rescue the Governor’s kidnapped daughter. Instead, she saves them, and leads them on a quest to prevent intergalactic war.

His uncle’s salvage vessel, the Itzabella, drifted through space, inching closer to the hull of another ship less than a hundred meters away. Standing tip-toed, Chase pressed his face against the window in the Bella’s airlock to get a better view. Or, he would have pressed his face against it if it weren’t already covered by his spacesuit helmet. Instead, his visor smacked against the glass in the door with a clink.

Through the window, the NTSS (New Terran Spaceship) Trustworthy loomed ahead, suspended in the dark, cold void of space. He sighed in his helmet, breath making a bloom of fog appear on the clear visor.

“I wish he’d hurry up,” Chase said to the shorter spacesuit beside him, occupied by his nine year-old brother, Lock. “I don’t like being here. We’re going to get caught.”

Lock apparently wasn’t worried. “Let me see. It’s my turn. You’re gonna make me miss it!” He gave the older boy a push in the side.

Chase pushed back, making Lock take a step. “No, it isn’t, Cel-brain.  Remember last week? You traded your chance to watch the next docking maneuver for my dessert after Restday supper. And this is the next docking maneuver.”

Lock frowned in his helmet. “Oh, crell. I forgot.”

“Yeah, I’m sure you did,” Chase muttered, rolling his eyes.