KLoC: Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen: This Log Doesn’t Get a Name

     I trudged on slowly, my feet feeling heavy from the trek earlier. Spork always seems to get energized when it’s mad. I suppose that’s its way of handling not killing me or anyone else that may be necessary for the mission. Either way it had been an unpleasant trip. The recon crew had consisted of me, Spork, Cloudy and our Qahrburboxis representative, Tentacles.

    Cloudy hadn’t been a lot of help. It spent so much of the trip trying to create as much distance between Spork and itself as possible that we had wasted the majority of our time with making sure we weren’t getting split up. That of course made Spork mad, which in turn made Cloudy even more timid. It had not been a good trip to say the least.

    Tentacles hadn’t been a problem. The Qahrburboxis seemed quite content to be following us around. Qahrburboxis tend to be that way though. The damp conditions were ideal for it, if nothing else. Either way, we had yet again failed to find any traces of anyone.

    Spork was in a bad mood, Cloudy was beyond reasonability and Tentacles was just there. I gazed at my downtrodden crew, wondering what words of encouragement I could offer them. Couldn’t think of any, so I turned forward and plodded along down the hall. My feet were muddy, but I didn’t have the energy to care, it had been a loooong search.

    I heard Hearts squeak in surprise from somewhere behind, then it began beating the broom against the floor. Cleaning was not its specialty. Tentacles stayed back to assist it.

    “If Kerfuffle made it, and spazball Cloudy,” Spork mused, “then at least some of the others should have as well.”

    Spork’s words made sense, but I still wasn’t convinced. We certainly hadn’t seen them anywhere.

    Kerfuffle saved me from having to think of a response though. The fluffy feline bounded out from the room they had been working in at the time we had left earlier. It seemed mighty cheerful which wasn’t too common when it ran into Spork.

    “I think we’ve almost got it!”

    Me and Spork exchanged a glance, no doubt wondering the same thing. Kerfuffle picked up on it and continued.

    “A stable communication link with Headquarters that is. Not bad for a couple of recent graduates, huh? If we were back on Qwuh-9 we’d be promoted for sure!”

    “Don’t get so cheery. It hasn’t worked yet.” Spork grumbled as it pushed past the smaller Qwuedeviv.

    Kerfuffle looked hurt. Its fluffy tail dragged the floor as it followed behind.

    “And don’t forget we wouldn’t be in this trouble to begin with if you had grabbed the right equipment.”

    Kerfuffle flinched, its head seeming to droop even lower. “Sorry. You’re not going to tell Sgt. Licorice, are you?”

    Spork shook its head, no doubt wondering why that would even matter to Kerfuffle. Most of us didn’t care what Licorice thought of things. It had attitude issues.

    “If I did, I don’t think Licorice would care.” Spork pointed out. “It doesn’t have the best opinion of you anyway.”

    I almost felt bad for Kerfuffle. Any of the meager hope it had originally come bouncing out with had been thrown on the ground and trampled. Now it just looked like a scolded kitten.

    Spork seemed to notice it had been harsher than was necessary.

    “All the same,” It added briskly, “Licorice’s opinion shouldn’t matter to you. At least you’re young and have potential. Licorice is just a rotten furball.”

    I thought furball was a pretty generous term for it, starting with the fact Licorice had no fur, maybe some light fuzz, but that was about it.

    Although it may have been an attempt at making Kerfuffle feel better, the words had hardly settled the poor cat. Licorice was Kerfuffle’s idol, talking it down had done nothing but make poor Kerfuffle sad. Spork looked confused by this, but offered nothing else, rather moving forward with a low growl to where Cheeseburger and Kerfuffle had been working.

    When we entered the room, Cheeseburger turned to greet us.

    “Kerfuffle says you guys are close.” I mewed, wondering if Spork was going to have some complaint about this as well.

    “Mhm.” Cheeseburger replied, its tentacles wriggling about and gathering up supplies as it spoke. “The damage wasn’t as extensive as it appeared to be, we’re making steady progress. By estimation I’d say tomorrow.”

    That was encouraging that they at least thought this thing would work. I really hoped it would as well. I paced around on quiet paws for a little bit, until I suddenly realized that I had not seen Cedric in awhile. My mind briefly flashed to Cloudy. I hoped the Qwuedeviv hadn’t gotten any bright ideas to…well, have a Human snack. Cloudy had been with us the majority of the time, so that gave me a little optimism. He was probably just out fixing someone’s computer.

    By this time Hearts had either finished cleaning or making a mess and had joined us, curiously standing a ways behind. Kerfuffle finally appeared behind it. It must have been walking incredibly slowly to have just made it back.

    We watched the two work for awhile, as if silently waiting to hear it was finished. The words never came though and the hours had drifted on until it was excruciatingly late. I headed out, along with the others. Spork split off towards the garage, while me and Hearts made our way to the living room.