When they woke, they found themselves inside the cartographer’s. The stick bug, sans hat, was at the window, peeking out the curtains. “What happened?” Badger asked. Seeing Clancy coming awake, he turned his attention to her and saw the viscous bite wound on her arm. “You okay?”
“I think so. You?”
“Same.”
There was a knock on the door. “Out of sight,” the stick bug whispered, waving them toward a back room that was curtained off. They crawled back behind the curtain. Saw a small dog, that looked up to them hopefully and started to wag his tail. “Oh, my God,” Clancy said, scratching him behind the ears. “He’s so cute.”
“Shhhhs,” they heard stick bug say.
Bells chimed as the doors opened. “Officer?”
“Hey, Galligan,” they heard a woman say. “There was a disturbance out here, and I’m wondering if you saw anything?”
“I heard some noise and peeked out my window,” Galligan said. “By the time I looked, all I saw was those dead creatures. Ghastly,” he said. “Ghastly. Here in Oldest Town.”
“They’ve been sneaking in at night,” the officer said. “Make sure to keep your security system on.”
“Of course.”
“Will I see you at the potluck Friday?”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
The bells chimed again as the door closed. The curtain parted and Galligan saw them petting his dog. “Her name is Otto,” he said, and I am relieved to see you are good people.”
“How do you know?” Badger asked.
“Becasue Otto isn’t biting you. She’s very discerning.” He brought one of his arms to his chin. “We need to take care of those wounds before they get infected. Come, This way.”
“Okay. Wait– the map!” Clancy said.
Badger felt himself panic. “The map. We lost the map.”
Galligan pointed toward a table, and they both sighed. There was the map, a little crumpled but safe and sound.
They sat on a long, wooden table while Virgilus tended their wounds. “You’re a phasmalodian,” Clancy said.
“The first one you’ve seen in real life!” Galligan said, affecting the manner of a gawking tourist. “Hey, ma, it’s a stick bug man!” He chucked. “Yeah. Get that a lot.”
“Sorry, it’s just–”
“Nah. I get it.” He dabbed some liquid onto a cotton ball. “This will sting.” Clancy hissed as he dabbed the ball on her arm. “The first time I saw a Turtellian in real life I was the same way.”
“You saw a Turtellian?”
Galligan frowned and shook his head. “No. I just lied about it because I thought it would make a good story.”
“You like sarcasm,” Badger said. “We’re going to get along.”
Bandaged up, they went to the map. Galligan used a magnifying glass to examine the signature. “This was made by my father, GG II. I am GGIII.”
“Where is this?” Clancy said. “My WA can’t identify the planet.”
“That’s because it doesn’t exist.” Galligan held his hands above the map. “This is a paper planet,” he said. “A fake planet created by my father.”
“So, there’s no hyper drive,” Badger said, going right to disappointed, as someone raised in deprivation often will.
“Great,” Clancy agreed, thinking, why do I ever even get my hopes up?
“There may or may not be a hyperdrive,” Galligan said. “The paper planet’s purpose,” Galligan is to mask the real map hidden underneath.” He nodded as if assessing. “We’ll need to decrypt to find out what this is all about.”
Galligan whistled. “Smokey,” he called. “Come on.” A hatch opened in the wall and a spider like robot emerged, chittering. Otto barked and yapped happily. Smokey patted her on the head, then jumped up on the table and took a position over the map. A blue light emitted from beneath smokey, and the map altered, three levels of maps rising and shimmering above the paper map. There was also writing, and though it was not in the same script as the original, it was still unknown to the two of them.
“The legend is true,” Galligan whispered. “The Wreck of the Borealis.”
“What? That old story? What’s it mean?”
“The good news is there is a hyper drive and it’s here on this planet.”
“And what’s the bad news?”
“It’s in the middle of Gigantian. Also known as The Fatal Forest.”
“Gigantian?” Badger said, the feeling he was living in a dream or a movie growing stronger. “That is a deadly place.”
“You’ve been there?” Galligan said.
“Mindstrike 3,” Clancy said. “It’s a video game.”
“I played it,” Galligan said. “Yeah. It was good right?”
“Yeah, but the ending sucked.”
“Right? I mean, I know what they were going for, but, really? After all that?”
“I liked the ending,” Badger said, grinning. He and Clancy had been going round and round about it for a year, ever since they’d finished the game.
“He just pretends to like the end because he knows it annoys me,” Clancy said.
Badger didn’t respond. His eyes had been drawn to a marking on one of the maps. He looked at it closely now. Like so much of what his life had become, it was a mark he’d seen only in books, movies, video games. “Secretus,” he said.
Otto’s ears perked up. He barked, and it was not a happy bark, but one foretelling danger.
“That’s their emblem. The mark of the cult.”
Galligan sighed. “I had hoped you wouldn’t notice that.”
“Why not?” Clancy said, now fixated on the mark as well. It was featured in Adventure Girl, one of her favorite series.
“Because,” Galligan said, his voice growing dark. “Now I have to kill you.”
Badger’s hand went to his gun. “Wait. Wat. Wait.”
Clancy smirked. “Not cool,” she said.
“You said you appreciated sarcasm,” Galligan said, laughing, and it was more like a bark than a laugh. Otto joined in.
Badger forced a smile. “Maybe not about killing us.”
“You should have seen your face.” Galligan said. “Oh, wait, you can.” He looked up and said, “Kenneth. Show us a close up of Badger’s face just now.”
“Of course,” a male voice with a thick, crime city accent said. “Ya got it.” The image of Badger’s face frozen with concern floated above them.
Galligan and Clancy laughed. Badger just shook his head.
“Where’s this ship of yours?” Galligan said. “We can get close to the map coordinates if we leave soon.”
“We?”
“I’m coming with you,” Galligan said. “And I’m bringing my dog.” Otto barked. Smokey made a whining noise and used his front legs to lower his head into a bowing position. “Sorry, Smokes. I need you to stay here and protect my secret lair.” He patted Smokey on the head.
Badger and Clancy, Meanwhile, had had one of their silent conversations. “We aren’t sure it’s a good idea for you to come with us,” Badger said.
“I am sure it’s a good idea.”
“We appreciate your help and everything,” Clancy said, “but this is kind of our thing.”
Galligan put his hat on. “Wait until you see my ride.”