The Wolfclan: Chapter 8

No sooner had Cretal walked outside of the laboratory, dragging the science officer behind on a stretcher, then he was surrounded by other aliens who wanted to know what had happened. Cretal always answered in the same way: "There is no time to explain, help me get this man to the hospital." Pretty soon, Cretal had five other aliens helping him carry the stretcher.

In a short time they reached the ship's hospital. The ship's doctor looked at the science officer and then exclaimed, "What happened to him?"

"He accidently mixed two chemicals together that weren't supposed to be mixed," answered Cretal. "The explosion knocked him into his acid shelf and several acid bottles spilled on him."

"Who are you?" asked the doctor.

"My name's Cretal," Cretal replied. "I'm a lieutenant."

"Indeed," the doctor said. "And who was in the laboratory when this happened?"

"Just me, the science officer, and Elim," answered Cretal.

"Okay then, everyone except Cretal and Elim leave," said the doctor.

"While everyone was leaving, Cretal spoke up. "Sir, Elim isn't here. He's back at the science lab."

"Indeed," said the doctor. "The I guess you'll have to do." The doctor called to his assistant. "Question him in the usual procedure." The doctor's assistant took Cretal to a small room adjoining the ship's hospital. The doctor, meanwhile, began to work on the science officer.

"Let's get started," said the assistant. "Who was present when this accident occured?"

"I've already answered this question," said Cretal. "Myself, Elim, and the science officer."

The assistant jotted Cretal's answer down in his note book. "Who are you?" asked the assistant.

"My name's Cretal, I'm a lieutenant, and I already answered this one too," replied Cretal.

"Just be patient," said the assistant as he wrote down the answer. "Who is Elim?"

"He's also a lieutenant," answered Cretal.

"Do you know what two chemicals the science officer mixed together to make such a big explosion?” asked the assistant.

“No, I don’t,” replied Cretal.

“Cretal,” said the assistant, “our science officer is one of the best all around scientists. I don’t think it would be like him to put two chemicals together that would cause an explosion.”

“Well he didn’t exactly mix them on purpose,” said Cretal. “He kinda, well you know, he sort of was carrying the two chemicals and he, um, dropped them and they fell to the ground and the beakers broke and the chemicals mixed with each other.”

The assistant looked suspiciously at Cretal, and then he wrote the answer down. “Thank you for answering these questions,” he said in a voice which made it clear he didn’t mean it. “I’ll be back in a moment.” The assistant went out of the room. Through the window, Cretal could see, but not hear, what the assistant was doing.

First the assistant went to the doctor, who was operating on the science officer, and tried to discuss the answers. The doctor brushed him away, obviously indicating that he was busy. The assistant then went to the intercom and the face of the first officer was displayed on the screen. The two exchanged some words and then the assistant headed back to the little room.

When the assistant returned, he sat down and looked at Cretal. “I understand that the science officer had a creature he was supposed to kill. Did he kill that creature?” asked the assistant.

“No sir, he did not,” Cretal replied. “But the explosion from the mixing of the chemicals smashed it to bits.”

“You’re quite sure he’s dead?” questioned the assistant.

“I’m positive,” said Cretal.

“Were either you are Elim hurt?” inquired the assistant.

“No sir,” answered Cretal.

“How do you account for the fact that the science officer was severely injured from this explosion, and the creature was killed, but neither you nor Elim were hurt?” the assistant asked.

“Both me and Elim were standing away from the explosion,” answered Cretal.

“Elim and I,” corrected the assistant as he wrote down the answer. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be back in a moment.”

Again the assistant went to the intercom where the first officer’s face was displayed. The two exchanged some words, and then the assistant headed back. “Please come with me,” he said to Cretal.

Cretal followed him out the door and down the halls. “Where are we going?” asked Cretal.

“We’re going to the science lab,” replied the assistant. “Once we get there, we will meet the first officer and inspect the room, find the remains of the creature, and then take Elim to be questioned.”

Cretal knew that if they inspected the room they would find that the creature was not dead, he and Elim would be put in prison, and the planet T-50323 would be destroyed. He had to do something. He thought about attacking the assistant now. In the time he would use to take care of the assistant, the first officer would get to the lab, and knowing the first officer, he would search the lab without waiting for the assistant. Of course Elim could take care of the first officer by himself, and it would be easier if the assistant was out of the way first. Elim decided now would be the best time to get rid of the assistant. Besides, there was no one in the hall, but there was always lots of guys by the science lab, and there were probably lots more after the terrible “accident.”

Cretal saw the storage room was up ahead. In the storage room were all sorts of stuff, including lots of rope (suitable for tying somebody up). Cretal waited until they were right next to the storage room, then, from the back, he grabbed the assistant around the neck and tried to move him in to the storage room. The assistant hit Cretal hard in the stomach with his elbow. Cretal stopped pushing the assistant toward the storage room, and moaned in pain. The assistant hit him with his elbow again. Cretal released his grip and the assistant ran two steps forward, then turned around. Cretal ran towards the assistant, but the assistant punched him in the face. Cretal staggered backwards, and before he knew what was happening, the assistant punched him in the stomach, and then the face, and then the face again. Cretal fell to the ground.

“I thought your story sounded suspicious,” said the assistant triumphantly. “So I brought along this.” The assistant pulled out a pair of handcuffs, and also a pair of leg cuffs. The leg cuffs were an invention by the aliens used to bind one’s ankles together. “I also anticipated some trouble getting you into them,” continued the assistant. “So I brought along this syringe, which hold medicine that will knock you out.” The assistant held the syringe in the air. “You have two choices my friend. Number one, surrender and let me put these cuffs on you, and I’ll make sure you are executed in the way you prefer. Number two, you can attempt to escape and force me to use this syringe on you. What’s your choice?”

“Does this answer your question?” asked Cretal as he grabbed the assistant’s leg and jerked it towards him, causing the assistant to fall. Cretal began to stand up, but the assistant was too quick for him. The assistant, with the syringe in his hand, lunged at Cretal. Cretal kicked the syringe out of the assistant’s hand. The syringe flew a ways down the hall. Both Cretal and the assistant ran for the syringe. Cretal dived to the floor and grabbed the syringe, then he smiled triumphantly. His smile came to an abrupt end when he heard a snapping sound and felt leg cuffs around his ankles. The assistant wasted no time. No sooner had he snapped on the leg cuffs then he jumped on Cretal’s back and grabbed the hand in which Cretal held the syringe. He twisted it back, being careful not to let Cretal inject the medicine in the syringe into him. Cretal let go of the syringe and the assistant let go of Cretal’s hand so he could pick the syringe up. As soon as the assistant let go of his hand, Cretal grabbed the assistant’s hand and flipped the assistant off of his back and onto the floor. Then Cretal began trying to stand up, but it was quite difficult with his ankles bound.

Cretal did manage to stand up however, by leaning against the wall and inching up. Cretal was also able to do this quite quickly, so he was up at the same time as the assistant. The assistant bowed his head and charged towards Cretal, hoping to thrust his horn into Cretal’s chest. Cretal jumped out of the way to avoid being killed, but he could not keep his balance after leaping aside. He fell backwards into the storage room.

Cretal had landed on his back. The assistant jumped on him and brought the syringe down swiftly. Indeed he would have injected Cretal, if Cretal had not been equally quick. Cretal grabbed the assistant’s wrist as the syringe was coming towards him. Then with his other hand Cretal punched the assistant’s face. Before the assistant could recover from that blow, Cretal hit his wrist with a karate like chop. The assistant dropped the syringe and Cretal picked it up. The assistant jumped off and stood up before Cretal could make use of the syringe. Then the assistant kicked the syringe out of Cretal’s hand. The syringe went flying behind some boxes but the assistant did not go after it. Instead he kicked Cretal again and again and again, and would have kicked him more yet had not Cretal caught the assistant off guard and swung his legs at the assistant’s feet, thus tripping him. The assistant fell and Cretal wasted no time in standing up, balancing himself against the boxes. The assistant also sprang to his feet.

Cretal looked at the assistant and realized that the odds did not favor him in the fight. He was hardly a match for the assistant with those leg cuffs on and the only way to get them off was to unlock them, but the assistant had the key. Cretal knew in order to win this fight he would have to make use of the objects in the room.

Cretal picked up one of the boxes he was leaning against, which was about five decimeters cubed, and hurled it at the assistant. The box simply bounced off of his opponent. The assistant bowed his head and charged forward hoping to ram his horn into Cretal. Now Cretal had been leaning against a row of boxes, each one about the same size. When he had thrown one at the assistant, it created a cavity in the row. The cavity was located right about his head. Cretal put his hands in the cavity and pulled the rest of his body up, just barely escaping the assistant’s horn. The assistant crashed into the boxes, making the whole row fall, including Cretal.

Cretal landed on the ground quite painfully, but no serious injuries. He looked up at the assistant, who had a box stuck on his horn. The assistant pulled the box off of his horn, and several of the boxes’ contents fell on him. The box held and alien fruits, which was very soft and squishy and splattered all over the assistant as soon as it touched him. Cretal got an idea. “I could throw this fruit at the assistant,” he thought.

Cretal stood up as quickly as he could without falling over, and hopped toward a bunch of boxes by the wall which held more alien fruit. The assistant saw what he was doing, and ran over to stop him. Cretal turned around to face the assistant and punched him in the face. The assistant staggered backward and Cretal punched him again in the stomach. Then Cretal punched the assistant once more in the face and sent him to the ground. Cretal hopped over to the boxes and tried to open them, but he could not. Cretal knew he would have to use some thing to get them open. Then Cretal saw what he was looking for, a crow bar. Cretal grabbed the crow bar and started to crack open the box. Then, all of a sudden, something clicked in Cretal. He realized he could use the crowbar as a weapon instead of using it to open the boxes.

Cretal was so intent in his work that he had not noticed the assistant, who had got up and retrieved the syringe. The assistant quietly moved to the right position and threw the syringe at Cretal. The needle buried itself in Cretal’s shoulder, but the medicine was not injected. The assistant ran up to inject the medicine. Cretal waited until the assistant was right behind him, then swung around and hit the assistant’s head with the crow bar. The assistant fell to the ground and lay motionless. Cretal did not know how injured the assistant was, but he figured he was hurt too bad to leave tied up in the storage room as he had originally planned. Instead he would have to leave him in the hallway. It wouldn’t be long before someone spotted him there and took him to the ship’s hospital. Cretal dragged the assistant into the hallway. He pulled the syringe out of his shoulder, and, because the thought it might be useful later on, put it in his pocket. He took the keys from the assistant’s pockets and unlocked his leg cuffs. Then, armed with the syringe and the crow bar, he ran down the hallway toward the science lab.