SURPRISE! IT'S PIRATES

May 31st 2011, 14:04 by E O Hatterpol | 548 AU FROM SUN

"AMBUSH, MWAHAHAHAHA!"

AIN'T AFRAID OF NO PIRATES

May 27th 2011, 11:55 by E O Hatterpol | 430 AU FROM SUN

IT TOOK forty minutes to reach the cave in the crater's side.  Ravisius and I had plenty of time to talk as we scrambled up the steep, red slope.

INTO MAKEMAKE'S CRATER

May 26th 2011, 12:01 by E O Hatterpol | 403 AU FROM SUN

"WAIT," I said, "I can answer my own question."

EARLIER, AS E O & RAVI DASH TOWARD THE BPOD...

May 24th 2011, 14:06 by E O Hatterpol | 352 AU FROM SUN

"QUEUE up, my lemmings, queue up!" said Captain Makemake cheerily.  "We're going to go underground for a spell - isn't that so exciting?"

A NEW CHARACTER

May 24th 2011, 12:44 by E O Hatterpol | 352 AU FROM SUN

DID YOU miss yesterday's new character teaser distributed exclusively through Twitter?  Here's a reprint for you to read.  Now get over to Twitter & follow me so you don't miss out again!

WHERE HAVE THEY TAKEN US?

May 20th 2011, 11:37 by E O Hatterpol | 262 AU FROM SUN

"They aren't all gone," I replied wearily.  "Some are dead."

DEAD BODIES ON THE BPOD

May 19th 2011, 14:13 by E O Hatterpol | 242 AU FROM SUN

I DON'T know how long it took us to reach the bow; it could have been eight hours or it could have been seventeen.  We had to be stealthy, sneaky - careful even - if we wanted to preserve the element of surprise.

OVER HERE, PIRATE!

May 18th 2011, 10:19 by E O Hatterpol | 223 AU FROM SUN

Thum-pink!  Thum-pink! The pirate's footsteps were coming closer; we could tell he had a peg leg.

BOOKS & BEER FOR SHIELD & SWORD

May 17th 2011, 12:13 by E O Hatterpol | 205 AU FROM SUN

"What was that?" I shouted, grabbing on to the bookstacks.  "We're moving!"

HARPOONED

May 16th 2011, 12:26 by E O Hatterpol | 188 AU FROM SUN

"HANG on just a tick," I replied.  "We just met & I don't know if I can even trust you yet.  How do I know you're one of the good guys?"

THE NIGHT I MET RAVISIUS TEXTOR

May 13th 2011, 15:20 by E O Hatterpol | 143 AU FROM SUN

I WHIPPED around – that noise! – and got the shock of my life: books. A face made of books!

SHOW YOURSELF!

May 12th 2011, 11:10 by E O Hatterpol | 130 AU FROM SUN

I LAID still for a long time, clutching the beer bottle with white knuckles & fighting the urge to take a full breath.  I had just narrowly avoided death.

WITH BATED BREATH

May 11th 2011, 11:02 by E O Hatterpol | 118 AU FROM SUN

CAPTAIN Makemake barreled down the corridors after me, projecting his murderous designs ahead of him with cackles, shouts & taunts.

METEOR KNEE!

May 10th 2011, 10:48 by E O Hatterpol | 107 AU FROM SUN

ONCE I made contact with my Earthbound Flybrarians, I dashed off into the darkness.  Behind me, I could hear the faint sound of metal doors buckling.

FLURRY OF COMMUNICATIONS

May 9th 2011, 11:26 by E O Hatterpol | 97 AU FROM SUN

CAPTAIN Makemake's painful howls chased me down the hallway, spurring me onward.  I was determined to find a different way to reach the BPOD safely.

ALL HANDS ON DECK

May 6th 2011, 11:10 by E O Hatterpol | 73 AU FROM SUN

I STRUGGLED against the stubborn sliding doors, widening the opening enough to reach an arm through.  That's when I saw his evil, pock-marked face.

A VILLAIN APPEARS

May 5th 2011, 15:41 by E O Hatterpol | 67 AU FROM SUN

NOBODY thought anything of that first "Thunk!" we heard.  Why would we?  We had just spent the past seventeen days pinging & clanking our way through the Kuiper Belt, after all.

But that second "Thunk!" was much louder & it didn't sound anything like an errant chunk of icy methane.

SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT COMING

May 4th 2011, 11:40 by E O Hatterpol | 62 AU FROM SUN

I AM angry & disgusted with myself.  I haven't been doing anything except celebrating these past three days when I should have been mourning.  I need to step back from my own unexpectedly heroic feats & realize we all played important parts in keeping the blue whale from extinction.

E O HATTERPOL & RAVISIUS TEXTOR IN "SAVE OUR SHIP!"

May 3rd 2011, 11:12 by E O Hatterpol | 58 AU FROM SUN

I'VE BEEN active on Facebook for two days & Twitter for maybe three, but it feels good to be back on the blog!  So much has happened to me over these past two weeks that I can barely hold it all in!


First, I'd like to thank all my Earthbound Flybrarians on Twitter; even though I had limited access to the Internet during this pirate saga, they helped me make the decisions that ultimately led to Victory in the Kuiper Belt Day (V-KB Day or VKB Day).  Who knows?  Maybe 2 May will become an intergalactic holiday.


It probably won't!  It turns out pirate attacks are commonplace.  After the pirates were rounded up by the killer whales & taken off for judgment, our captain held a blue whale-wide meeting to talk to us about what happened.


He said that Kuiper Belt shipping lanes have seen an increase in pirate activity over the last three or four years and that it's really becoming a problem.  There are plenty of places to hide & it's nearly impossible for the good guys to patrol efficiently.  So what happens?


Innocent public libraries get hijacked 5,112,573,820 miles away from any help or oxygen supply.  More on that tomorrow, of course.