Adventures of the Space Pizza Delivery Guy

Chapter 8: The Salamander

“Buy time from what? What exactly is in this ship?” Ethan questioned further. Even though Chronna did not ask, the way she was looking at the Captain was as if he was a suspicious individual that was not trustworthy. 

The Captain was displeased. Nevertheless, he was not a bad person. 

He gulped hard before answering carefully, “The Salamander. It’s an alien species that ran amok inside the ship. I was on my way out of here when I heard the commotion. You see… I was actually supposed to step down as Captain today.” 

The Captain chuckled as it remarked further, “I guess life had other plans for me.”

Ethan was surprised yet, at the same time, amazed by the Captain’s bravery and sense of duty. 

He saw clearly how the Captain’s hands were trembling from fear, and he knew that the gadget only erased the scars and wounds so the Captain could still feel it, but the Captain stood still.

The Captain’s gaze was fixated on his comrades running away to the horizon as he was stuck at the ship. 

Ethan understood a certain emotion he couldn’t quite name. 

But for some reason, Ethan was smiling. He glanced at the Captain’s name. 

Ethan read it out loud from the shiny nameplate the Captain kept neatly, “Smith. You’re Captain Smith.”

The Captain Smith, nodded as he tapped Ethan’s shoulder. He then said seriously, “Kid, you have to leave. Take the girl with you. I intended to change the ship’s course to hit an asteroid belt. I’m taking the Salamander down with me.”

Instead of replying to the Captain, Ethan started to stretch his legs and arms. 

Captain Smith was confused when he saw Ethan like this. He asked, “Yo kid, what are you doing?”

“I’m Ethan, and she’s Chronna. We’re here for your pizza delivery. You ordered a clock pizza, is that right?” Ethan questioned while looking at the Captain with a smile. 

“Uh… yes? I was planning on celebrating my retirement earlier but then―” Captain Smith was baffled, he cut himself off, “Ah, look, whatever it is, just leave―”

Ethan then reached out his hand; he opened his palms and said before the Captain Smith could even continue what he was about to say, “Payment. I take credit, oh, and I charge an extra fee for the rush order. The journey was a hassle.”

“What…?” Captain Smith was dumbfounded. 

Chronna was smiling. She played along and said, “That’s right, sir, and we need to get paid too.”

“Uh… well,” Captain Smith was not sure what to do. He explained, “This… The Salamander ate all my gold, so…”

Ethan cut Captain Smith off once again, and he remarked, “Tsk tsk, then I guess we have no choice but to take it by force. Come on, we have all the time in the world.”

Chronna chuckled as she stretched out as well. She said with a grin, “Well, we’re already in trouble. We might as well get paid.”

Captain Smith then realized what the two of them were doing, and he laughed quite oddly. He then patted Ethan and Chronna quite strongly on the back as he remarked, “Ha! You kids are insane! I like you two!”

Ethan and Chronna coughed out from the pain. Ethan joked around, “Well, I’ve always wondered what would happen when I get sucked in by an asteroid belt or what a salamander alien looked like. I guess I’ll find out after all.”

Chronna grabbed a pen, looked at Captain Smith and she asked, “What is a salamander alien anyway?”

“Oh right, Chronna’s new to this job. Fancy her a little.”

“All right, a salamander is a semi-aquatic creature that brings terror to ships due to their ambush predators behavior. A Salamander is a tracker. it spies on a ship for days, concealing themselves as regular crew members, and they’d launch themselves to gulp anything they see.” Captain Smith explained. 

He added seriously, “Apart from the spiky and frilly gills they use to attack and insanely strong limbs, the salamander’s most dangerous feature is that they are able to regenerate quickly, making it almost impossible to kill them.”

“Geez, sounds like a real charmer,” Ethan remarked, “Well, do we know any… weaknesses about it?”

Captain Smith shook its head; then pulled out a book from under the squeaky wooden floor underneath him. Captain Smith fluttered through the dusty pages, when Chronna coughed and then showed the two of them an empty page.

“This is all that we know.” Captain Smith added, “No one lived to tell the tale about them. Only those who ran away were lucky enough to live.”

Chronna looked at the empty page. All that’s written there was the name salamander and its drawing. Its origin, speed, and weakness were all unknown. Chronna read out loud the note written below the page, “If encountered… run!”

Captain Smith nodded and replied, “That’s what we’re dealing with.”

“Ah… Chronna, I’m just wondering….” Ethan cleared his throat and then continued, “Does the Salamander drawn there have stubby limbs, a tall physique, bloated stomach and throat, a pair of big eyes, and I don’t know… an obnoxiously long flicking tongue?”

Chronna’s eyes were still fixated on the book, but she replied, “Oh, that’s right.” Then she averted her gaze to Ethan as she asked, “But how did you know all that?”

Before Ethan could even say anything, a long flicking tongue hit the wooden floor, strongly causing it to collapse. 

All eyes were drawn from its source, and the three were dumbfounded as they saw the Salamander standing in front of them.

Ethan grabbed Chronna’s hand and screamed, “Run!”

Ethan and Chronna kept running with Captain Smith right behind them, guiding them where to go. But Captain Smith couldn’t run as fast as them due to his injuries before, so they had to slow down.

Eventually, the Salamander caught up to them, and they reached a dead end due to the collapsed pillars blocking the way.

“Crap, now what?” Ethan muttered as he anticipated the Salamander’s attacks.