The Space Spoon novel Chapter 104

The door closes after the last man leaves the pub. Tejeda resumes his previous position and finishes his drink. By now, we are both soaking wet, but neither of us seems to care. My reason is the seven beers. I wonder what his is.

"Apparently, you're not leaving, and we've run out of time," he says as he turns to face me. His purple eyes sparkle. A chill goes down my spine. "These guys aren't going down without a fight. I might have to die to quench their hunger for vengeance. But the crystal I took is far more significant. It must be safeguarded."

Tejeda leans forward, his hand reaching over the bar for the knife the bartender uses for the lemons. He sits again in his chair, gripping the handle with both of his hands, the pointy tip toward his stomach. I have seen this stance before in movies when someone performs seppuku.

Filling his lungs with air, his chest expands, and he thrusts the knife right into his belly. I cover my mouth with a hand but not my eyes. I need to see what happens next.

He throws the knife on the wet floor and plunges his hands inside him, searching. A sudden urge to puke flows through me, but I keep it under control. I have a tough stomach when I tell myself this is a movie or a game with ultra 4k graphics.

"Here it is." He smirks, handing me a crystal the size of a penny. Blood drips from it as he shoves the shard into my hand and wraps my fist to hold on tight. "Good boy!" he exclaims as if I were his puppy. "You must not make a sound, or you will perish. Now, stay put."

Tejeda throws me behind the bar. Strobing agony races through my body after I land on my left hip and arm. A thunderous blow at the door covers my painful grunts. I think the door flew across the room, but I can't see anything.

I keep quiet and huddle on the floor with the tiny crystal in my hand. Footsteps approach, making squelching noises. A voice asks, "What do we have here?" Another laughs.

“I am all yours, fellows,” Tejeda says. “But I don’t have your crystal. Just so you know.”

Should I crawl along the bar and look around its corner? To see the newcomers. Fighting sounds and grunts come from the other side of the room. I stay put as advised.

"This mad Zondarian charged at my sword."

"You pierced him right through his guts. This makes things easier for us. Let me sheath my sword to help you."

The glass shelves on the wall shatter and the bottles fall next to me. I wrap my arms about my head, my hand still locked on the crystal.

When the rain of shards stops, I look up and see a crystal sword plunged into the wall above me. My left pinky finger itches. A glass fragment has cut a shallow line of about an inch long. It will heal, but now it hurts badly. I suck on it quietly to make it better.

Something slams onto the bar, making my back tremble with it. “I saw this Zondarian swallowing the Third Holy Crystal. Let’s find it.”

Hot liquid from above glides over my face. What is that? The water from the sprinklers is cold. I touch it and bring my fingers for an inspection. It’s red. I lick it and it tastes like my blood. My heart stops for a second as I realize what they are doing to Tejeda. The tearing sounds convince me. They are dissecting him on the bar. I huddle tighter, making myself as small as possible. I wait like that for a long time. The sprinklers stop. Are they out of water? Or is there a timer? I don’t know which.

“Maybe he didn’t lie. There is no crystal here.” The man seems pissed as hell. “We need to track back from the shuttle to here and see where he hid it.”

“I agree,” says the other one. “Just a second to get my sword.”

Fear of being discovered gives me enough strength to crawl on all fours up to the other end of the bar and hide around the corner. The man stomps loud enough to startle me, my heart thudding along with his rhythm. He comes into my line of sight, but his attention is focused only on his sword, which he yanks from the wall. The green skin, big eyes, and the shape of his face are more like those of a toad than a human.