“Twonger, you moron, we just want to talk, but the more you run, the less we want to do that!” one of the people chasing them yelled from behind. Cal, risking a glance back, saw several of Twonger’s own race chasing them. So he had managed to piss his own people? That didn’t surprise Cal in the slightest, though he did have a strong curiosity about just what exactly the man had done to warrant such an immediate chase through a space station.


    “Twonger what did you do, and how bad of an idea is it to just stop and talk to them? Because I don’t know how easy it’s going to be to hide here, let alone get back to the ship,” Cal called to his Cyclopean ally while trying to keep up with him and hating his smaller legs.


    “Just a pretty big unpaid debt… and maybe some stolen merchandise… Oh and possibly Onelder with the boss’s wife once, but I’m not really sure on that one. So what do you think, talking sound possible here?” Twonger answered, not slowing at all.


    “Maybe, but we can’t spend this whole trip running for our lives, even if that’s par for the course of our lives. We have things to get done,” Cal yelled back, annoyed with the whole situation. He had wanted to try some of the food, see the sights, talk to a few of the aliens, not run down corridors chased by the same species who had murdered him plenty already.


    “Alright, alright!” Twonger yelled, skidding to a stop, causing Cal to nearly crash face-first into the larger man’s back.


    “Are we surrendering?” Sean asked, looking at the men now walking toward them.


    “So, you said you just wanna talk, let’s talk. How do we get out of this with our skin mostly intact?” Twonger asked.


    “Where’s your brother?” one of them asked back.


    “Dead,” Twonger answered, anger starting to build his voice.


    “Who are your friends?” the same man asked, seemingly ignoring any of the anger.


    “New crew I’ve joined up with, from a pretty new planet to interstellar travel. Decided to show them the sights. Why?” Twonger explained, his eye narrowing as he hit the question. Cal didn’t like the direction this conversation was going at all.


    “Well, lucky for you and your new friends, Klorn just wants to talk, so let’s make this easy,” the man said.


    “Yeah, well Thorlen, we both know talking don’t always mean talking, so let’s cut the shit, can we? What does Klorn really want?” Twonger asked, taking a step toward the men as he asked.


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    “Do you actually think you’re threatening here, man? There are five of us, and you’ve got some backwater people no one has ever seen before, so you tell us to cut the shit? How about instead, I make this as clear as I can? Last chance, follow us, or I beat you senseless, and you get to talk to Klorn anyway,” Thorlen said aggressively, mimicking Twonger’s step forward.


    “Yeah, yeah, I get it. You’re tough guys. Let’s just go see the big guy. Probably better to do this there anyway,” Twonger said, shaking his head, suddenly relaxing. Was Twonger worried about meeting Klorn or was he planning to just kill him? Cal couldn’t tell, and worse, he had no idea what the implications were of Twonger going off uncocked on a random alien mob leader.


    “Good choice, now come on,” Thorlen replied, lifting his wrist to his face. “Got them now. Can you send a car?”


    “On route,” a voice replied seconds before something that looked like an oversized taxi appeared, flying around the corner and landed nearby.


    “Fancy, you’ve got the transport guild on the payroll now, eh?” Twonger asked as he walked toward the flying car.


    “Things have changed. Everyone hop in, please,” Thorlen said, surprisingly politely, gesturing towards Cal and the others. Following Twonger, Cal climbed aboard and took a seat.


    “So I know I owe Klorn a lot, but this all seems a bit extreme. Any chance you wanna tell me what’s really going on?” Twonger said, calmly reaching over and grabbing something that looked like popcorn from a container in the cabin and tossing a handful into his mouth.


    “As I said, things have changed,” Thorlen answered, taking a handful of the popcorn like food for himself, then offering the container around the cabin. Bill grabbed it without hesitation and dug in happily.


    “Come on, man, we used to be friends, didn’t we? What the hell is going on? Why is Klorn even here?” Twonger asked.


    “So, uh, look I know this is a conversation between you two, but anyone want to fill us in? If it helps, we don’t really like Twonger either. He’s pretty annoying at the best of times,” Cal said, hoping a joke might calm things down a bit and possibly get him some information.


    Thorlen sighed loudly before finally responding. “No one is gonna die, well, Twonger might if he acts like his usual self if that’s what you’re all worried about. As far as I know Klorn really does just want to talk to you. He’s been trying to find you for months. I sound like a broken record when I say this, but things really have changed, man.”


    “Yeah, let’s just say I find it hard to believe things have changed that much. Did the whole home system somehow get destroyed when I wasn’t looking?” Twonger asked jokingly


    “Not destroyed, no, but you aren’t that far off. How the hell don’t you know?” Thorlen asked.


    “Wait, what? What the hell are you talking about?” Twonger replied.


    “It’s gone. The whole region is just missing now. How the hell didn’t you hear about this? Damn, man. Now I feel like an ass having to be the first to tell you. Klorn has been trying to find every Cyclopean that wasn’t home when it vanished, and you are one of the bigger names on the list. You really thought this was just about the old debts, and you weren’t screwing with us… Damn,” Thorlen answered, sounding guilty as Twonger’s face dropped.