Mita Morgan once again stopped in at the Tourist Trap. She saw Osmo and Sheila sitting at a table with Albert, and she groaned inside as usual. Here she was again, all by herself on this planet in the middle of nowhere. And vacation wasn't even half over yet. Maybe she should just change her ticket and go back to Earth early. Why waste her time chasing Osmo? Maybe Jane was right- she should let go of her foolish dream. She wasn't a schoolgirl anymore... Say, where was Jane, anyway?
Albert noticed Mita, once more sitting alone. "Hey, Mita, get over here! Don't be such a snob, always sitting away from us!" he called.
"Huh? A snob-"
"Come on, join us," Albert called again.
Hesitantly, she got up and moved over to their table. "Uh, hi, everybody."
Osmo and Sheila greeted her, not very warmly, but not coldly, either.
Sheila said, "I should think old classmates like you and Osmo and Al should all sit together, especially here on a place where you know very few other people except yourselves."
"Oh, yeah, that's right," Mita half-heartedly nodded. “I guess we should sit with each other.”
Sheila said, "When I was in school, I sometimes went with some classmates for company to the mall, even though they were not really pals. I mean, they were pals, but I don't think we ever connected. Not like Osmo and Al. I guess I actually didn't have many in the way of friends."
Osmo told her the way it really was between him and Albert. "We don't connect either, Sheila. It's just that we were both the best looking guys in school, so we figured, if we hung out together, we couldn't help being the ultimate chick magnets!"
Sheila laughed at that one, and Albert clarified, "Actually, the truth is, I was the chick magnet, and Osmo merely wanted to hang out with me and get my rejects."
Now Osmo let out a roar. "Hahaha, you wish, Al! For every ten that ran to me, only one ran after you!"
"Um, Al, I don't see Jane," said Mita.
Osmo kidded, "She's invisible."
"Yeah, I know how that is," said Mita.
Albert explained how Jane wanted to help out at the clinic tonight. Albert had done a shift there as well yesterday, but he didn't have Jane's drive. He wanted a break.
"But it's vacation time," Mita pointed out. "You both should be taking a break."
"We know. But we saw a need, and so we went to help. Maybe if you have some free time and are bored, maybe you want to come help also some time at the clinic."
"Um, yeah, sure. It'd sure be a change of pace."
Osmo told Albert, "Well, I'll pass going to the clinic. Sheila sees that I don't get bored."
Sec. Ldr. Clyden and Gazelle entered the place. Sheila and Osmo nodded a polite greeting to Clyden as he passed by their table. He returned the polite greeting and found a booth far from them.
Sheila stifled a guffaw. "I think he's still mad at you for taking his parking spot."
“Or because of the robots,” suggested Osmo.
Albert nodded. "It looks like it's probably both bugging him. And now his parking space marked Reserved."
Over at their booth, Gazelle had news for Clyden. "Finally the Dart is cleared for the flight back home. The home base was worried they'd have to send a replacement rocket, and that they would have to abandon this one. They didn't like that. Money, you know, is very important to them. Capt. Shatner is glad. He says we can leave early tomorrow. I'll miss you, though, Tretl. I enjoyed that extra time we've had together."
"Me, too. It sure is a blessing that the Dart had that trouble that kept you stranded here with me for awhile."
Suddenly the door of the club swung open with such force that it hit the wall. In stumbled a rough looking character, obviously a bit drunk. Everybody looked at him as he made his way to the bar. "Hey, what are all you jerks looking at, anyway?"
The rest of the customers returned to their own affairs. One or two regulars mumbled, "Nothing, Struber, nothing..."
Osmo, though, couldn't help staring. "I don't believe it. I think that's the guy who's been watching me all day! Now is this a coincidence or what?"
"Eh, wha's that you say?" the newcomer angrily demanded. "Are you talking about me?!"
"Um, no, I must be mistaken," said Osmo tactfully. He wondered if he had imagined the whole thing about being tailed all day. He didn't want them to think he was paranoid.
"Oh, you say it behind my back, but you're not man enough to say it to my face. You must be a baby."
Mita got annoyed. "Hey, bub, just be quiet and drink some coffee or something to sober up."
The guy Struber laughed. "Now you need the girls to fight your battles."
The proprietor asked the belligerent man who sat down on a stool, "So, what will you have, or are you just here to pick a fight?"
Osmo told the others at the table, "Just ignore him. Apparently he can't handle his booze."
Sheila complained, "Why do jerks always have to spoil a good time?"
The jerk jumped from his stool, indignantly demanding, "Who are you calling a jerk- Oh, excuse me. I didn't realize it was the talking pig- Well, what can you expect from a pig- they don't know any better anyway, right?"
Osmo felt his blood pressure begin to rise. "Hold on a minute. Even though I know you are drunk, that doesn't excuse you-"
Albert shook his head. "Don't bother, Osmo. Remember your own advice- Ignore him."
"It's hard to ignore a fool," Mita opined.
"I- hic- I demand an apo- aploga- you better say you're sorry, you people!"
Annoyed, the manager snapped, "You guys better take it outside before I call the police!"
Over at Clyden's table, Gazelle, distracted from her drink, watched the drama and asked Clyden, "You're the Security Leader; are you going to do nothing?"
"Nope, I am already doing something. I'm sipping my brew."
"Tretl, you should stop that drunken rowdy! I know I don't like Osmo, and neither do I, but I dislike bullies even more."
"Why should I bother? Those kids can handle themselves. I don't think they need my help against one slob."
Gazelle kept watching, disappointed. "Oh, Tretl, I thought you were better than that! What would Gov. Bright say? You know he likes to keep law and order, and you, his main security man, sitting here indifferently! And his niece even is being harassed, too!" She shook her head, sad about the whole affair. "What happened to that hero you used to tell me about, when the crowds at the football game chanted 'Clyden! Clyden! He's our man- If he can't do it, nobody can!'"
"Hon, I'm off-duty. I can't run around and hold everybody's hand and nanny them. Sometimes people must work out things by themselves. Besides, that football stuff, that's kid's stuff. Adults don't have hero-complexes."
The noisome fellow stumbled over to Osmo's table and stood there, challenging, "Okay, if anybody here dares, stand up and take your medicine, since you won't say sorry!"
Sheila and Mita told the man to shut up and sit back down.
"Why don't you make me?"
Osmo impulsively got on his feet. "Maybe I will, you creep. Now get outta here, or step out side and get knocked out-"
Albert tried to calm his friend. "You don't want to beat up a slob who's plastered. He pretty much has no good judgment at this moment."
"When he sobers up, maybe he will remember to not drink so much next time, if he can't behave, Albert," Osmo answered.
By now the inebriated man stood by the back door. "Okay, big talker, let's go. Put your fist where your mouth is. No, wait, better yet, let me put my fist in your mouth! Ha ha ha. Come on, you coward!"
Osmo excused himself. "This will only take a moment."
Albert cringed inside, but he had to admit, the guy really was asking for it, and he himself actually wanted to knock off his block. He shrugged. "A man's got to do what a man's got to do."
"Give him one for me," Sheila begged.
The trouble-maker stepped aside at the doorway to let Osmo go first. Osmo did, but he turned and backed out the doorway, so that the other had n
o opportunity to give him a sucker-punch. The argumentative jerk followed and shut the door behind them, pleased that Osmo took the bait. "Okay, smart guy, let's see what you got."
"You bet," Osmo answered, stepping to the side, ready to teach Struber a lesson. But he noticed that the guy no longer seemed so drunk. He did still seem like a jerk and a trouble-maker, however. And something else- as Omso's eyes adjusted to the dark- the dim street lamp giving little light at the back of the club (luckily there at least was a bulb in one of the lamps)- he perceived many other forms gathering around him. He realized these were more thugs that were in with the jerk, a whole gang that awaited him outside the Tourist Trap- for some reason conspiring against him and meaning him ill will. It was some kind of a trap!
Well, Osmo had no time to ask questions to get to the bottom of this. Giving his most cocky attitude, Osmo offered, "Okay, you dopes. I see there's about five of you. If that's all ya got, you want me to wait while you get reinforcements and try to make it a bit more even for yourselves, or do you just want me to beat you all up here and now?"
The other thugs found this amusing and chuckled. One of them said, "We got us a funny little mouse. Let's see if he feels like laughing if he got no more teeth." And they circled Osmo, ready to close in on him.
The Fight