The 168th Greatest Story in the Universe - A Tribute

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Part Eight

Turk followed Recma into the spherical travel control room. Recma had thrown the guy they had brought with them the other side of the room, where he sat looking a little dazed. For a moment Turk was concerned, wondering if Recma had managed to seriously hurt him.

The green giant turned towards Turk and nodded towards their recent acquaintance. ‘Are you going to look after him like you said you would?’ Turk nodded. There was no way he was going to argue with Recma over this.

Turk knew that he would be in trouble from Revo Recma if this guy caused any problems. But Turk knew what happened to stray travellers, like him. The Bleig wouldn’t take long to notice him.

The Blieg had a habit of making people who were alive, not alive, but without killing them. It was torture. And Turk had almost experienced that himself. The Callack organisation had saved him from that - more by accident than anything else, but Turk still had a great deal to thank them for. His line of work wasn’t without its high risks, but the hazard pay was very good. This was not much comfort for him though. This more than likely mean’t it was unlikely he would see his wife, Lucy, again.

‘Hello there,’ said Turk to the dazed man in the corner. ‘Are you alright?’

The man looked up. ‘Not really.’

‘Don’t worry. Recma can be a little heavy handed at times, but he doesn’t mean you any harm. You wouldn’t be talking to me now if he did.’

The guy rubbed the part of his head he’d knocked against the wall. ‘I’ll bear that in mind.’

‘Have you got a name there?’

‘Terry. Terry Horowitz,’ Terry thought for a moment, ‘It had always seemed odd to me.’

‘What? The name? Its seems a fairly normal name to me.’

‘No, not the name itself. The way I say it, and the way I write it. It’s like it should mean something else. But not me.’

Turk stared at him, wondering whether this Terry Horowitz had hit his head too hard. ‘Well, whatever. Is it alright if I call you Terry?’

Terry indicated that it was.

…for fifteen minutes this similarly enthralling conversation went on, while Revo Recma looked after the controls taking them to the heart of their organisation. Recma stayed clear of the two Humans. He had a great deal of respect for Turk, but was still unsure about the other one.

And as for Terry, he was feeling very depressed. He was out of his league. This was nothing new of course. He’d felt out of his league before when he’d entered that boxing match back in school with ‘Little’ Den Arnold. The little part of his title did not in any way shape or form represent the stature of Den Arnold. It was in fact an ironic nickname, as Den was anything but little. Comparing him to a brick closet was an understatement. On the other hand (at that time) Terry was built like a not very brick-like beanpole.

But Terry didn’t see himself quite like that. A bit like the sparrow that likes to think it’s a hawk, Terry’s mind had always considered himself a match for anyone. Unfortunately in this case, he was mistaken.

Den was very apologetic to Terry’s mother about the broken nose, the 6 fractured ribs and the concussion. But this did not deter Terry. Time after time, Terry would get up and fight back against all the odds. That was until now.

Terry had never felt so out of depth in his entire life. Every time Terry thought about where he was, he couldn’t get over the ridiculousness of his situation. He himself was as normal as was humanly possible, but here he was sitting in a room with 101 different flashing lights, a green humanoid “thing” and a 1950s reject.

‘Out!’ Recma commanded, indicating the door. Terry was not in any position to argue.

Outside the door Terry found himself in a cave like environment, which was intertwined with technology. Dotted around the rocky tunnels were an assortment of mercenaries, goods to trade with and doors which either led off further in to the cave or to more of the spheres like the one that they had just come from.

Recma and Turk urged Terry forward. ‘Come on, we need to see the boss, and see if she’s got a place for you.’

They wandered further into the cave, most of which resembled where they had just come from. Eventually the cave seemed to get higher, better defined and much more elegant. The cave seemed to come to a head in a very well crafted marble room. In the room was a long red carpet leading towards a main chair at the back. No one was sitting on it, but in front of it was a man in collar and tie.

Recma spoke to the man. ‘The boss wanted to see us.’

‘Alright, I’ll get her.’ The man eyed Terry suspiciously. ‘Who’s this?’

‘Someone we found that we thought could be of use to us,’ replied Recma.

‘Alright,’ said the man in the shirt and tie, and he went off to some back room.

Turk whispered to Terry. ‘This is one of the most respected, and fearless leaders you will ever see. She’s old, but holds great respect and power throughout the universe. I think it’s probably best if you leave the talking to us.’ Terry nodded.

A door to the right of the chair opened and out came a proud elderly woman in a grey robe, followed by the same man whom they were speaking to before. She sat down and began to speak. ‘Right! What I have brought you here for is…’ She seemed to stop as she turned to look at Terry Horowitz. A strange look came over her face. She put her hands to her face and then she appeared embarrassed.

‘My God! I’m not wearing any makeup!’ And she dashed out of the room.

Terry grinned, and turned towards Turk. ‘Are you sure about what you said?’

The other three men were still looking at the door their leader had just gone out of in complete and utter shock, and then turned towards Terry, and looked at him stern faced at first, and then quizzically. Terry stopped grinning.

The man in the tie spoke up. ‘She was looking at you.’

‘Yeah,’ Revo Recma agreed. ‘She was.’

Terry looked around at all three of them. This was obviously not the natural reaction for a woman who was known as their fearless leader, and they didn’t know what to do about it.

Turk just stared at Terry. ‘Who are you?’

Terry looked blankly, and had no idea what to say. ‘I’m Terry Horowitz.’

Turk shook his head. ‘But who is Terry Horowitz?’

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