Chapter Six

Bogart laughed again, he had worked for Wembly for the last decade and had seen this kind of drama play out many times before. Although Wembly would never admit it to being to being anything but a hard man, the truth of the matter was that he was a big softy and everyone who worked on the Wingnut started off as a stray. Bogart himself had started off that way. Both of his parents had been killed in the Galactic civil war.

Bogart had first met Wembly when he was 14. He was an undersized, malnourished street urchin, begging on the streets of the capital planet, Gantor. The captain, dressed in his favorite red jacket, had tossed the starving youngster a silver coin. Bogart had been shocked, he had never seen that much money in his life. He could eat a decent meal for a month with that kind of coin.

Bogart's good fortune had not gone unnoticed by the other starving street urchins. By the time Wembly wandered back their way several hours later, some of the elder kids had concocted a plan to relieve the man in the red coat, of the rest of his coin.

Bogart had intended to stay out of it. He wasn't about to rob a man that had just shown him that much kindness, but at the same time, turning against his street family meant certain death. Imagine his surprise when he found himself back to back with the wombat, facing off against ten of his friends.

It turned out to be a fair fight. Even though Bogart was half starved, a badger was still a badger and the strange wombat could hold his own. Once the last of the would be thieves had scattered, Wembly had started to walk away. He made it about a dozen steps before he noticed that Bogart wasn't following him.

Turing around he looked at Bogart, “Well come on kid, I've got a job for you and you can't go space fishing in those cloths.”

Bogart smiled at the memory, he'd tried to thank Wembly a number of times over the years for saving his life. The man wouldn't hear of it, all he would say was that he was in need of a strong deckhand and Bogart fit the bill. It was nonsense, there were always experienced spacemen hanging around the wharfs. They never made it aboard the Wingnut though, just strays and lost souls.

The new girl startled him out of his memories as she refilled his cup.

“Welcome aboard the Wingnut, young lady. Let me introduce you to the rest of the crew.”

When the crew returned to the deck after breakfast, Wella sat down on one of the long wooden benches and put her face in her hands. She could barely believe the events of the last twelve hours. When she had been caught she was sure things were going to be over for her. Even on the best of ships, the best she could have hoped for was the brig, and at worst she would have been thrown overboard and left to die in the empty expanse of space. Instead, the impossible had happened. She was given a job and a place to live. She was given the opportunity to start her life over. She couldn't believe her luck.

The night before, Wuffy had asked her what had brought her to the Wingnut. Well, between sobs, had managed to squeak out, “Dance Lords.”

“Oh, you poor dear,” Wuffy responded as she bundled her up and put her to sleep on a cot behind the kitchen.

When she woke up the next morning, Wuffy handed her plates of steaming food and told her to hand it out to the crew, and gave her a large plate of her own. Wella's heart had skipped a beat when the captain had walked in, but continued on with her meal as Wuffy sat down to talk to him. Several minutes later Wuffy came back and said, “Welcome to the Wingnut. You will be my assistant for as long as you choose to stay. And don't worry, you don't have to tell us anything until you are ready too.”

Touching the green orb that was hidden in her pocket she thought, 'It will be a long while before anyone hears all of it.'