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.



He hollered popular children's games into the darkness like we were friends on a playground instead of enemies on a starship.


"... 99... 100!  Ready or not, here I come!"


I ducked down a side aisle & plunged deeper into the half-gloom of the bookstacks.  The part of me that had sworn off this section of the starship resisted, but the part of me that knew I had no choice forced me onward.  I picked a shelf of books and hid behind it.


Makemake caught up quickly and started searching bookstacks one by one.  I cursed myself for stopping to get online earlier, but I never would have guessed how quickly he was able to free himself of the loading docks.


"Duck, duck, duck, duck..." he said, tapping on the shelves as he passed them.


Soon, he came too close for me to move without him hearing.


"The Flybrary's bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down,
The Flybrary's bridge is falling down,
I
scare
babies."


I slid silently down the bookshelf into a crouch but knocked something loose.  It made the tiniest sound, like the chink of glass.


Instantly, Makemake was almost upon me.  He stopped just short of the other side; I could practically smell his sweat & energy.


"I think this game of hide and seek just e-"


A huge, dark figure plodded up to the Captain.  I didn't dare peek around the corner, but I know now it was the taller, wider pirate who helped tear the sliding doors off their hinges earlier.


"Leave him wherever he is, Captain - these shelves look endless.  We should concentrate on seizing control.  After all, there'll be plenty of time to shake people out of their hiding places when we break this ship down for scrap," he said.


There was just enough light to see something faint next to my hand.  I inched my fingers towards it, holding my breath to keep from making a sound.  I touched it; it was hard and cool.  It felt narrower at the top than at the bottom and I could feel something papery, too, like a label that had gotten wet and dried out again.


Suddenly, I realized - it was a bottle!  It was a beer bottle!  I made a fist around its neck and brought it up close to my face; I'd never been in a fight before but I'd seen plenty of bottles cracked over bad guys' foreheads in movies.  If Makemake wanted to kill me, I was determined at the very least to put my own crater in his nasty skull.


The Captain was silent for a moment, looking around in all directions.  He was clearly in conflict; he wanted to find and kill me but not if it meant losing all the booty, slaves & spare parts he stood to gain if he could take control of the ship.


"DO YOU HEAR THAT?" he shouted.  


He didn't know I was only a few feet away. 


"I'M GOING TO COME BACK HERE & GET YOU, BOY.  UNTIL THEN - TIME OUT."


Then he turned and left.