Pawn shop in space

There was a beat of silence, then Yil carried on the tale. "After dragging them from the fire I frantically scraped the gold from their bodies. But this only led to me suffering from the same problem. The molten gold quickly coated my knife and attempted to crawl from the knifes handle onto my fingers. I had to drop the tool onto the floor and pull another from my suit, which I also ended up dropping to the floor. At this point I was almost hysterical, down only to my favourite boot knifes to clear the caustic substance off them. I managed to clear a large enough section of their faces for breathing this time, having finally drawn enough gold off them. A futile achievement, the gold started to crawl back over their faces almost as soon as I had freed them. Mourning my booty daggers and other covered tools I started down at their immobile bodies and then down at my uncovered hands. I kneeled down and stretched my limbs towards Arkatosh, intending to take as much gold onto me as I could order to free her.

As I went to follow through with my misguided plan my pack jostled with the motion of me dropping to the floor. Realisation struck and I flung my pack off my shoulders. I ripped machine parts from their straps and placed them on Glosh and Arkatosh heads, the gold began eagerly coating the metal. I repeated the process until their faces and torsos were clear, gasping with relief when I saw the shallow compression and expansions of their chests.

Against all odds they were breathing. It took all but one glowing battery to free their skin and most of their clothes from the living metal. The made for function machine parts turning into shining treasures as they freed my companions. As I drew to gold of their bodies my fingers were occasionally submerged in the material, and each time the pain was intense, searing. Yet every time I transferred the gold onto some metal part from my fingers my skin underneath was unblemished. Pulling the gold off my friends skin I saw they had suffered in the same state.

Despite the intense burning, there was not a mark upon them. I shuddered thinking of what it must have been like to have been completely subsumed. Thinking about what might have happened if you stayed in that state, continuously...' Yil stopped himself and looked at Arkatosh with concern filling his eyes. He patted her tentacle hand softly.

"Well we didn't. We're lucky there was one of us guarding that gods forsaken room" Arkatosh laughed and Yil drew his hand back with an uneasy smile pulling his holes to the side. Jim didn't need any of his alien sales experience to see just how forced her laugh was. "So me and Glosh woke, and were beyond relived to find we had done so on the floor of the temple and not in a world beyond. Yil explained to us what he had done by gesturing at the scattered gold pieces around our bodies and he also commented how the gold hadn't resisted leaving them, seemingly preferring the cold metal of Glosh's hodgepot creations then the skin of any living creature. Now free from my scorching burdens I immediately voiced my discontent to continue. The way ahead was becoming dangerous and I was not sure if we were ready for it. I looked at Yil suggesting that I was fine to do one more chamber but anything more was too much risk. What was left unsaid was the growing worry inside me that this ‘diety’ might be more legit then we thought. Yil read my expression and hesitated a moment before voicing his opinion.

‘Well we’ve come a long way so far, I think we can push it another room at least. After that I think we should see how we feel. I do not believe we can be conquered so easily by leaving now, I am confident in how we will face the tasks head.’ Behind Yil’s confident words I saw the same fear. If this man truly had been capable of utilising more than just technology to become god over these people then this endeavour might be more hopeless than we could have predicted. I didn’t know anyone in my galaxy who could contented with magic, I didn’t even know if ‘magic’ was real. But there were rumours, rumours of people manipulating forces beyond mortal comprehension, of races born with feet in realms others couldn’t enter- couldn’t see.

Me and Yil had met a man who spoke of such things not a week before our journey, and we both saw it as an omen. We did not tell Glosh of it for he surely would have scattered, superstitious to the point of faith when it came to matters of gold and fortune. But it seemed like we might have to tell him soon- if only to convince him to leave, for Glosh would not stop an endeavour like this until precious credits passed through his scaly fingers no matter the danger. His attitude would swiftly change however, if this gold was ‘cursed’ so as to be ‘unlucky’. In that case Glosh would beg off, relying on his luck entirely too much to risk losing it; and although we could simply lie to Glosh and try spin a tale to get him to leave the cursed temple behind, this time such a curse may actually be real. For I had never seen gold move that way, nor any metal or material I could remember.

This meant that right then Glosh’s thoughts on our words were not exactly surprising ‘Leave? Are you joking? One little golden trap and you want to run away tails between your legs? Hells that trap was pouring liquid money and you’re already thinking of fleeing? I just lost a golem and a pack full of useful building pieces, I’ll be damned if I leave this idiots take on a small genitals compensator without making a net profit. Matter of fact if I’m not leaving here hauling back shiploads of artefacts then I’m not leaving. I’m even willing to trigger that trap again! I’m taking all this temple has to offer me and that’s a promise.’ Glosh stood up proudly, gesturing with his body his eagerness to continue.

In that moment I genuinely wondered if Glosh’s mind even had room for trauma, or to process what we’d just been through- or if 99 percent of his brain was just delegated to producing greed and the other 1 percent was left to functions like breathing and critical thinking. But putting Glosh’s obvious avarice aside I did have to consider if he had a point. Was I being a coward? Sure what I just been through was traumatising, but I survived. My body was unharmed and while I don’t think any treasure hunter expects to be buried alive in molten metal I’m sure a lot them were wary of being buried alive. Glosh was not wrong that this room spoke well of the wealth that lie within.

Steeling myself I agreed. We had come this far, I had to put this momentary fear aside and continue. For pride and profit! After all I couldn’t let Glosh be the valorous one between us. Therefore I led the way forward, taking the initiative while adrenaline still ran through my body, there would be time for existential dread and tortured flashbacks later. I came to the doorway I had just been dragged through and surveyed the empty room in shock. The gold was gone, the ceiling was closed and not a trace of the pack or golem remained. Glosh and Yil quickly joined me in disbelief. Tentatively Yil stepped into the room, the door was already destroyed so it the trap re triggered he could easily escape.

We waited for minutes nothing happened. Eventually Yil walked to the end of the room and pressed his hand against what was another doorway set into the stone. There was no response to his touch and so he walked back to us again before speaking.’Seems like the traps been triggered, nothing to do now but pull the level again.’ I wasn’t sure I agreed with him and was gearing up to debate our next room but he simply reached over and flipped the lever back up before moving to stand beside me. Truthfully I was thankful for his actions, however reckless they might have been. The long drawn out silences were getting to us all and I knew the tension between us would of only worsened if we fell into arguments.

The doors all began to rumble in sequence. The crumbled door in front of us pulled into the walls to either side of it-well the parts we hadn’t demolished did. The other doors all opened in the same way, receding into walls. The room remained empty and the only indication of our plight was broken stone and some improperly withdrawn doors.

Again Yil took the lead, waltzing into the center of the room. Hesitantly we followed. No molten rain trickled down onto us and it was clear the danger had passed, in this room at least. Now faced by a choice of three rooms before us we were left to decide the path forward.

’I vote left’ Glosh piped up.

’Well the forward passage worked for us so well last time I vote we go that way’ Yil’s snarky suggestion was not much help. His sarcastic response was really a bit unfounded considering he wasn’t the one that had to endure being buried in metal.”

Yil snorted beside her, sensing the mood lightening in the dinky pawn shop.

“I voted right, naturally. I agreed with Yil that forward was not a favourable choice right now and disagreed with Glosh out of principle.

’Right it is.’ Yil agreed, showing he shared my noble standards. Glosh moaned and bemoaned Glosh-naturedly.

’Why do you even bring me to this stupid temple.’ We ignored his moaning as we ventured into the right most chamber. ‘You guys suck balgraz. Suck balgraz all the time.’ Glosh followed behind us, having spared a moment to groan into the sky, venting his frustrations to the air. In his head I’m sure he was venting to some sort of all powerful being, but in reality none of them would want to listen to him.

He caught up to us as we paused in front of chamber, this one open to us. ‘Slow down you two, this is too fast for a cautious walking pace.’ Glosh caught up to us wheezing. His frail body heaving in air. It was honestly a wander his species survived, you’d think all the predators on their planet would of hunted them for both the ease of the act and the satisfaction it would of brought.

’Come on Glosh keep up.’ Yil said enthusiastically as he slapped him on the back causing him to almost topple over. ‘There’s treasure to be found.’ Tim struggled to smother a grin as he spoke to our smaller teammate, knowing we had moved just above the pace Glosh could keep and still move stealthily. We waited until he caught his breath, our joking far from malicious. We made sure everyone was ready to continue before we moved any closer to the chamber. Glosh nodded that he was ready to continue and went to grab a gold piece from Yil’s pack. Yil crouched a little so he could access the top of the strapped cargo if necessary. He pulled a decent sized chunk from the pack and examined it, assessing its usefulness. Not seeming too impressed with the now useless machinery he took a few steps forward and then chucked the metal in front of him. It tumbled into the darkness ahead until coming to rest against a pedestal. I knew it was a pedestal because as soon as the chunk bounced into the room torches blacked to life in braces on each side wall. There was an open doorway behind the the pedestal and the walls were the same bare stone from the room before. Another source of light shine down from above, a beam of what seemed like modern lighting highlighting the top of the pedestal in pale white light.

On the plinth’s stone top was intricate carvings similar to those we had seen above. Except these carvings mimicked the dancing solar eddies of the sun, dense solar energy curving around three shining objects that lay atop the pedestal, the same three figures we brought you today. The rooms design naturally drew your eyes towards the objects, the clever manipulation of light and bare surroundings highlighting what the temples designer deemed most important. It was clear we were supposed to admire the artefacts and perhaps show reverence towards them- we were probably not supposed to steal them.

After the lights in the room flared the atmosphere stilled again. We all stood staring at the tantalising idols laid out before us. ‘Do you think they’re trapped.’ Glosh voice came out as a loud whisper. The heaviness of the moment faded and it felt as if we could all speak again, although none of us were willing to go beyond a whisper.

Nobody said anything for a while, we all just stared at the objects in front of us, contemplating how possible it would be to nab them.

’I mean the last trap was pretty dramatic. There’s probably not anything big protecting these things right, I mean there not even that big.’

Yil replied ‘Well there’s defiantly a trap, whether it’s big or not isn’t the question the question is whether or not we trigger it. Although I’m not sure how you triggered the last one.’

‘I’m not so sure the last room was a trap.’ I added. Both Yil and Glosh turned their heads to look at me incredulously. ‘Well the gold didn’t cling to us too stubbornly and Yil was able to get it off us. The door closed really slowly too-not ideal if you’re trying to trap and kill people. Also why wouldn’t the whole room full up with gold. The gold never seemed to go higher than a couple of feet.’

’Then what was the point of a death room that had evil creaking gold in it if not to trap and kill people’ Glosh was not convinced.

’I’m not sure, tribute maybe? We cannot be completely sure on its design but it was surely an inefficient trap. After all this is a temple. Would it not be logical to assume there was a place where these locals were supposed to make offerings to their ‘god’. That might explain why the stuff we left there disappeared, maybe they thought that meant the offering had been accepted by their supposed creator’

’Right… well tribute room or not it was still dangerous. To be fair that might explain the lever though, would you want a concealed trap to be triggered by a lever set into the side of the wall for easy access. Surely the trigger would be something you couldn’t see like a trip wire’

’Or doing something you’re not supposed to do like stealing golden idols’ For once, Glosh’s contribution made a lot of sense.

’And if the room before was dangerous and it wasn’t even meant to be a trap, how much more dangerous will this one be if we trigger it?’ Yil continued his train of thought, coming to a rather macabre conclusion.

‘If there even is one, a trap that is.’ Glosh reply was nervous and it was clear he didn’t really believe his own words-none of us did.

We sat in a heavy silence for a while, knowing what was probably going to happen next.

’Theres not really point in building a temple of you aren’t gonna booby trap it is there?’

‘No Glosh, no there’s not.’ I replied with resignation.

’Well, let’s just hope we can get lucky. Glosh you got any scanners?’ Yil asked, once again pushing us onward.

‘Glosh gestured at his melted clothing and bare belt, not that will still work no.’

’You sure?’ Glosh took one of two small implements that had stayed attached to him and pointed it at the floor in front of him. A blue light flickered out and failed and his screen showed an incomplete string of characters that didn’t stretch past three digits.

‘Yeah.’ He replied without humor.

’I guess we’ll just have to do this the old fashioned way. My scanners no good for traps’

‘Yil, in what world exactly is this the old fashioned way. Matter of fact have you heard of or seen anyone ever do this before.’

Yil shushed me quite rudely.

’It just is. Everyone knows this right Glosh’

Glosh turned to face him and blinked at him blankly.

’Right well it is, just trust me’

Me, Glosh and Yil each stood in front of an idol on the pedestal. In one hand we held a gold chunk of ex-machine parts that was as close to the same shape as an idol as we could get. Our other hands were poised readily to snatch the idol so we could make the swap. Each person was intently focused on the idol in front of them.

’One’

Yil counted down, all of us ready to make the switch in three.

’Two’

Anticipation surged through each of us, strong as we had ever felt. Each muscle tensed, whole bodies taught and poised to act. Each of us leaning towards an idol, eager to spring.

‘Yich’ ‘Three’

Glosh swore and Yil signalled at the same time. My body moved of its own accord and my hand snatched the idol as my other hand swept the chunk onto the pedestal. My eyes however had twisted, focused on Glosh as he jumped up to reach the pedestal-except he couldn’t reach the pedestal, because he only had one arm.

Glosh twisted his whole body in the air and smacked the idol off the pedestal, dropping the flat bottom gold piece in its place before landing on the floor and falling to his knees next to the grincos like idol. I myself stumbled back, having made the switch. Yil stepped back too, having accomplished his task too.

’Good job Glosh.’

’What do you mean good job Glosh he has one globglrion arm!’ I screamed at Yil in a justified rage.

’Yeah I know.’ Yil replied in an irate tone that signified how stupid he thought I was for stating that.

‘No, not ‘Yeah I know’ Yil’ I mimicked in a similarly stupid tone. ‘How is Glosh supposed to switch the objects if he doesn’t have two gloken hands!’

‘Like he just did.’ Yil replied, offended by my triad.

Before I could choke Yil out for his stupidity”

Yil was smart enough to remain silent here, hiding his face behind a raised water flask.

”Glosh jumped up between us and lifted his idol into the air

‘who cared about Yil’s stupid plan, we’re rich’

Unbeknownst to us, while we’re having our arguments and Glosh was engaging in his regular antics the machinery I had replaced my idol with continued to rock. Perhaps it was because I was distracted by Glosh’s jump or because I had been too eager to make the switch-maybe it was that the bottom of the chunk was too rounded. Regardless of the cause the result was the same. As Glosh pumped his arm in the air in accomplishment a comically large saw blade wizzed out from the open doorway behind the looted pedestal and knocked over the gold he had put in the idols place before counting forward and chopping of his arm. Three saw blades in fact shot out, the other two catching both me and Yil in the side as we had turned to argue with each other over the near disaster. The blades cut through our jackets and into our body amour causing us to jump away in fright. The saw blades continued on to cut into our body armour and slice into our skin, our reflexive jumps back bleeding some of their momentum and stopping them cutting through organ or bone. My switch had failed, my scrap of machinery had toppled over. We were all screwed.

Glosh’s screams filled the chamber for a second before being drowned out by the sounds of the temple as the whole thing began to shake. Glosh’s arm detached to stop the bleeding and his idol fell to the floor. Yuk turned to run and kneed Glosh lightly as he do so in the shoulder. This broke him out of his scream and helped spin him around to face the exit. With no arms to stabilise himself he had no choice but to follow the motion and turn about. With wide eyes he made to turn about and search for his idol but I screamed at him to go.

’I’ve got it you idiot run!’ There was an indescribable sound behind us and my stalks and eyes both swivelled in order to view behind me and see what had caused it. An absolute flood of liquid gold had erupted out of the room behind the pedestal and it had already engulfed half the room.

’RUN’ I screamed again. One of my eyes had stayed fixed on the path ahead and my other eye joined it, knowing that behind me was death and the only thing looking at my impending doom would do is make me more likely to stumble as I ran from it.

Me Glosh and Yil pounded up the steps side by side. Glosh threw himself ahead and fell, rolling into a ball. Knowing this was the only way he was gonna keep up with us I chucked the grinco like statue to the side and hoped Yil would get it somehow and grasped the thick caninenite statue with all front feelers. I wound up my swing and smacked Glosh with as much force as I could muster. He rolled down the stairs a little into my swing like a yacket and it only helped to magnify the force I put behind it.Glosh launched up the stairs and out of sight , no doubt hitting the wall of the switch back over head. My tentacles stabilised me as I made the hit. My body slowing as it braced itself. The sounds of bubbling gold and hissing steam behind me grew uncomfortably loud and I felt heat wash over me. Visceral fear jolted me into motion and I surged up the stairs past Yil. My multiple tentacles made for easier footing and slowed me to slide upwards. Combine that with my powerful body and I was daily the fastest of the group, especially in an uneven surface.

My back feeler brushed against Yil as I flew past him. ‘Hurry up!’ I shouted, memories of metal crawling on me and burning me resurfacing. I would just have to trust that he was behind me. I quickly cleared the first stair case and came to the second one, hearing Glosh strained breathing before I saw him. ‘Roll!’ I shouted up to him and after throwing himself forward again he did so. He bounced up the stairs once and then landed with a second smaller bounce that sent him rolling backwards. He tumbled down seven or eight steps before I reached him and his momentum was large, I hit him but he didn’t travel too far. Thankfully he stayed tucked and I closed the distance. This time he only rolled back four or five before I smacked him mightily, causing the statues head to bend to the side and send him rocketing up the passageway.”

“Ha, I knew the statue shouldn’t be looking to the side like that!” Jim crowed triumphantly from the end of his seat, fully caught up in the story.

”Yeah well no refunds!” Yil responded from a similarly enraptured posture despite having been there to witness all this himself.

Arkotosh barrelled on animatedly, unperturbed by the interruption.

”So me and Glosh continued up the stairs with him rolling when necessary. Eventually Yil caught up to us, golden tide at his feet. We burst through the tribute chamber together and continued without a second glance. All the other doors were closed but had destroyed the door that led out the passageway we had gone down, me and Glosh having been unwilling to be trapped again. So we got to the crumbled Forrest we had originally smashed through and slipped through one by one. You leading and me shoving Glosh through having gone last. Glosh jumped forward and balled again allowing me to smash him one last time. I had stopped anyways so figured I might as well launch him. The tide of gold had faded behind us but the temple still shook showing us the hazards were far from over. Besides, after the room filled the gold would seep through the door much like we had and follow us, we weren’t in the clear yet. We ran up the switch backs again this time slower in order to accommodate Glosh’s pace.

‘If we ever do this again.’ Yil wheezed as we ran. ‘You are taking physical fitness classes.’

Finally we reached the top and any hopes we had of slowing down were shattered. Upon the wall the carvings that had so unsettled us had changed. All patterns of the mysterious floating man from before had grown bigger’ much much bigger. The enlarged man’s eyes glowed from behind his mask and countless figures of him stared at us from around the walls. The expressions behind his masks were just visible in his enlarged size. Most of them were twisted rictuses of rage but some of them were worrying demented grins. From his body rays of sunlight shone like before, but instead of nourishing the land and illuminating his people, each and every one of them dealt death. Civilians crawled on the ground and held hand up against his rays, each and every one of them being melted into their skeletons beneath. No two figures were the same and all of them were in various states of liquids. Their horrifyingly melted faces cried out in pain. If their skin and mouths weren’t crying out in terror then their differently exposed facial bone structures were.

Behind the largest images of the mad god a familiar temple stood, and now it wasn’t just a trick of the light of our bobbing eyes that made it appear shaking. All over the mural the images before that could have been mistaken for scenes of creation were now revealed to be scenes of heinous torture or death. Yet the deity upon the walls was not portrayed as delivering divine justice. Far from being a cold arbiter of righteousness he was instead sadiction given form. The true face of their ruler was no revealed, this man delighted in the slaughter of his ‘people’ and his eyes, his eyes wouldn’t stop watching us. Yil was already up the rope and I hooked one arm between Glosh’s legs before pushing him upwards as he jumped, he could forgive me for rubbing his glands later. I jumped up the rope right behind him. Swearing at him to move faster as he swore about how much he hated this place. Yil looked over the side and saw Glosh hanging on the rope by his mouth with legs wrapped around it being pushed upwards purely by my rising head. Whistling air from his holes in pure frustration Yil grabbed the rope and heaved, managing to get Glosh slightly closer to the surface. Yip bent down and reached his arm to trap another section of rope to try hoist just as I felt a hand grasp around my leg joint.

Abject terror gripped me. All the burning adrenaline in me left as if doused in cold water. My body froze. It felt as if my very temperature had dropped. The grip tightened, and I felt those glowing eyes pierce through me. He was there.

From up above Yil was bent over the gap that led into the temple, his pack hanging lose on his back as it slipped forward. From his hanging pack a piece of gold losened. It’s larger size and caused it to not fit as well against the strap, in fact the pack itself was a bit overstuffed now going from too full before to heavily encumbered when the extra weight of the golden pieces was accounted for. During the race up the stairs as burning gold followed, and the mad sprint up the switch backs as the temple had shaked, the gold had come loose. Now as the backpack hung off him precariously suspended in the air by its securing straps, that loose gold began to shake loose. What used to be components of machinery began to fall. At first one piece then two to three to five. Yil heaved, pulling the rope with a strength larger than the sum of his biological parts could produce, desperate to save his friend. The pieces fell, a final sixth piece jostled by the heave joining them.

The first two pieces hit the top of Glosh’s head, bouncing of him to the edge of the shaft and then down the floor without ricocheting. They did not pass close to me as they fell. One bounced of Glosh’s eye, he was just fat enough to shut it in time causing it to bruise his eyelid. It bounced away from the other falling in the opposite direction, much closer to me. The fourth and filth were affected by Yil’s struggle with the rope, they tumbled against the far wall from him, bouncing and colliding with each other until they fell dead behind me. I didn’t even see the path which they fell.

The sixth chunk however bounced out of Yil’s pack with charged momentum. It collided with the stone wall across from him sharply, small sparks dancing from its collision. It flew away from the wall where it bounced to another, its spinning path torrid and unpredictable. Then it bounced again a final time.

Around my leg the hand tightened. My skin compressed under it further and further. It started flexing its wrist turning the skin on my leg to the side easily, giving it a better handhold. I felt the soft bone of my leg be wrapped up by the hand. Suddenly the hand stopped twisting as it firmly held my dented skin beneath its thin fingers. The pressure on my leg was unbearable as if warped by a tourniquet. I finely felt the muscles of the palm and fingers tense, the motion even vibrating softly up my bone. I knew I was about to be dragged to my tomb. Then the gold brushed against my legs as if fell, its knobbled surface pushing of my skin before it fell into the abyss below me.

Suddenly I was free. Doused adrenaline came roaring back and my front feelers propelled forward my body. I fumbled with my arms as I came to the entryway to the temple overshooting the exit and falling into a sprawl on a set of steps below. I was back on my feet in an instant and fled down the steps incensed. I was too afraid to speak a word, too shaken to compel anyone to follow me. I didn't speak again until I was safely in orbit.”

“She had the canine idol wrapped in a back feeler. I don’t think she even knew it was there. Her grip on it was so tight she was cutting off her own circulation. And while I’m not sure the man was real she did pause for a second on that rope it seemed”

“You didn’t seem him Jim asked.”

“I almost blacked out from the exertion. All I know is Glosh stoned being boosted and I had to pull h-“

“He was real.” Arkotosh spoke quielty but threateningly. Although her posture was downcast and her words subdued, there were still menacing. Jim felt a shiver pass through him, this was the first time he had seen Arkotosh truly scare, although she attempted to hide her disquiet behind warding words.

The room went deathly quiet, Jim and Yil’s attempts at good humor smothered. Superstition hung in the air. Yil’s cough broke the standstill, and the palpable prickling of Jim’s skin halted.

“Well you’re here know, and you’re eating my pudding. We at least Yil is, with a disturbing lack of manners I might add’ Jim laughed uncomfortably and Yik quickly joined him despite being the subject of his joke. Arkotosh large maw pressed into a grim smile.

”That he is” she said.

“So, you got out and made it here the journey was a success.” Jim concluded, choosing not to dwell on the terrifying parts of the tale.

”Yeah well pretty much” Yil affirmed with chagrin.

“Where’s Glosh by the way, shouldn’t he be popping in to say hello?” Jim has assumed Glosh might have passed on during their journey but by all accounts he was fine- well as fine as a person with just two legs could be.

“That’s the pretty much part.” Yil replied with that weird stretching of his mouth holes that implied he was smiling. “Glosh arms grew back and he expressed many times how excited he was about our score.”

“Yes he was very excited.” Arkotosh added with a grunt, still not exactly a ray of sun shine although she had dipped a spoon in to try the pudding.

“So excited in fact.” Yil continued. “That we caught him reprogramming the escape ship with half the remaining fuel tank to get him and the loot to a nearby star bank.” Yil scoped another mouthhole of pudding before Arkotosh could finish it all. “Apparently there was some friends there he was really excited to show it too”

Jim shook his head in disbelief “So what did you do to him?”

“Gave him enough fuel to go back to that planet or spend a few years coasting towards another location in the star system” Yil replied without any guilt indicators if his pudding devouring was anything to go by.

As mutiny fates go, it was a pretty tame one. It wasn’t like they had just offed him instantly like a black beard flaming rowboat incident. It was more akin to a jack sparrow rum island send off.

“Glosh was always a little mercenary, a little too driven by the credits. We just didn’t know how bad till we voyaged with him. I don’t think his cursed luck will come in much handy after where we dumped him”

“You never know though” Yil said pointing his spoon at Jim to illustrate the point.

“No you don’t” Arkotosh agreed seriously as if Glosh’s luck was a powerful force within the universe. “This pudding is really good by the way.”

“Thanks it’s homemade.” Jim replied and it wasn’t technically a lie. After all the pudding did keep appearing in his home, and someone or something was certainly making it.

“Can you give me the recipe” Yil asked eagerly. His tone heartbreakingly enthusiastic.

”Afraid not” Jim replied tapping his nose in a gesture the aliens most certainly wouldn’t understand. “Chefs secret. But I can give you some pudding cups to go and the promise that if you ever need a place to sell your goods I’ll be here with more waiting. Fuel is heavily discounted for repeat customers and I buy all gooods from the mundane to the very exotic.” Jim’s winning smile shot out at the pair once again, attempting to entice them to come back and visit his store another time. “By the way, do you guys still have that tablet you used to get there?”

”Yeah you can have it if you want it” Yil replied. “We are not going back there.” Arkotosh nodded with vigor from beside him, more than happy to get the tablet out of their hands.

“What about those gold cover scraps?” Jim asked, sensing a possible deal in the water.

“Oh we’re gonna sell them to a researcher, gonna ask for about 60,000 creds. That metal is NOT normal” Yil answered again.

“You want to pay 60,000 creds for them?” Arkotosh asked as if the idea of me either having 60,000 creds or blowing them all on a few ruined machine parts was funny in some way.

“No you guys can keep them” Jim said, laughing off the offer while inwardly screaming at a 3D model of Jerry the alien he kept inside his mind. “Just make sure you charge bigger than 60 creds for it. Technology like that? 80 creds seems like a much fairer starting point” Well if he couldn’t buy it himself he could always make it harder for the next guy.

“Thanks will keep that in mind” Yil said as Arkotosh stood.

”Thank you for having us” Arkotosh said once standing.

Jim rose himself and looked at each alien in their strange eyes.

“It was my pleasure to have you” He didn’t know of that was something he naturally said or something programmed into all earth services but the sentiment was genuine all the same. Yik waved with one hand and reached to wave with the other while Arkotosh simply smiled with her teeth, showcasing her impressive gnashers. Jim mimicked her smile not caring how stupid it made him look and shook Yils hand. He picked up their pudding cups and trays and put them on his desk and they exchanged pleasantries and well wishes while he cleaned the store and they cleared out of it. He promised to hand Yil some snacks for the road and sure enough he popped his head in once they had fuelled up to recieve a baggy full of pudding cups ready to heat cartons of soup and bowls of mixed snaps and chowder Jim had made himself.

So it was that the two adventurous aliens left his store with smiles on their faces and Jim was left with feeling of hosting two good new friends. He safely photographed and stored the new artefacts in a back store safe. He put the tablet Yil had given him in exchange for the foods on display on his front desk in a little wooden stand he had found lying around. He changed the photo over the glass cabinet section from that stupid piece of grey flesh to the much more appetising golden statues he had just come be in possession of. Then satisfied after a productive day he sat in a omnichair in the back and drifted into sleep. A nap or a nights rest in space were essentially the same thing. For Jim the difference was whether or not a customer showed up before he got eight hours or not.

Just before drifting off he convicted himself to really sell the merchandise he had gracing his storefront. He ran a pawnshop after all, he was supposed to sell all the random grab he bought not just keep buying random crap till he went out of business. Because frankly, if he didn’t get some stuff moving soon, Jim was gonna be broker then the time his collage tuition came due on the same date the elden ring master edition came on sale-and if there was one place you didn’t wanna be broke in, it was on the space rock that sometimes rumbled in hunger and wouldn’t be stop until Jim fed enough credits down the desk hole to quiet it.