Dimtree's Loot: Epilogue

They had been on Nepenthe for fourteen days.  For fourteen days, it had rained.  On the thirteenth day, some very bad things had happened, which they didn't like to talk about very much, unless they were blaming one another for them.  All through the next day, they had lain, broken and bleeding in the insufferable mud, occasionally trying to move, without much success, and cursing Neel, because he had escaped instead of being mortally wounded like the rest of them.  Eventually they had all agreed that Neel's survival meant that he must have betrayed them somehow, and deserved to die.  

Sometime around sunset Neel had shown up in a mud-spattered wartrukk, Doc Bonetinker and his throng of Gretchin assistants in tow.  Neel and Bonetinker had immediately set about fishing Rikk, Vivyun and Boss Mychul out of the soupy soil.  As the eternal grey rain pelted unceasingly down, Neel  sat and watched gloomily as Doc and his Gretchin servants had set about the laborious task of patching the boys back together.  Quite incapable of anything resembling gratitude, the boys shrieked their pain and hatred and lashed out with whatever functioning limbs they still possessed whenever they could.  Occasionally one of Doc's Gretchins had his skull crushed and flopped nervelessly into the muck, but Doc Bonetinker went on about about his work without seeming to notice...there always seemed to be more Gretchin.

 
 "Just look at me!  squawked Rikk.  I mean, really!  Look at me!  I had a broken spine, thanks to that bone-brained Ogryn, and what does Doc here do about it?  I'll tell you!  He puts me under, and when I wake up, I find he's given me a bloody Aqualung!"

"Well, he also gave you a metal backbone, moaned Neel indignantly.  You ought to be grateful.  I mean, you can walk now, eh?  You couldn't do after the Ogryn broke you in half."

"But I didn't ask for an aqualung, did I Neel?  Rikk bubbled wrathfully in reply.  No, I didn't, did I?  Hello!  Hello!  My name's Rikk!  I was  perfectly happy breathing oxygen, thank you, and now, Ach!  Suddenly, I've got an integral aqualung!  My head's in a bloody goldfish bowl!  How am I supposed to meet girls with my head in a goldfish bowl?"

Da New Rikk

"We're Orks, Rikk, we don't have girls."  snarled Vivyun, metallically.  He was sitting over by the Wartrukk, idly banging his new head against it and enjoying the rattle and clash of steel on steel.  Doc had scooped Vivyun's head out of the mud and tried to sew it back on, but something hadn't been quite right.  As soon as his head was back on, Vivyun had started speaking in a soft and kindly tone of voice, trying to encourage his maimed and suffering friends, assuring them that the worst was over and that things would soon be alright.  This had really frightened and upset everyone, and Doc soon stilled the panic by removing Viv's head again and replacing  it with a mechanical one.  This head immediately began to threaten and disparage all and sundry, in a raucous, clangy sort of voice, which made everyone breathe a sigh of relief. 

All the same, the tinny echo of Vivyun's new voice set Rikk's teeth on edge. "Well you don't know that for certain, do you Vivyun?  I mean there could be stacks and piles of girls on the next planet over, just waiting for us to stumble onto them, but it doesn't much matter to me now, does it?  His voice quavered and he seemed about to burst into tears.  "Not that you'd notice that I'm about to burst into tears...Because my head's in an aqualung!  he wailed.  I can't make out with girls in an aqualung!  I don't even know how I'm supposed to eat!"

"Aqualung never hurt anybody!  Growled DocBonetinker, stitching up a huge hole in Mique's larnyx.  S' an improvement!  I know a lotta boys'd kill fer an aqualung."

"Ugghl...Urk!"  said Mych.

 

Da New Mych

Something strange happened in Neel's head.  Sitting in the bed of the Wartrukk, chin cupped in one big, green paw, rain running out of his lanky gray hair into his mournful eyes, he began to murmur to himself...

"Aqualung...gurls...Feelin' like a dead duck, spittin' out pieces of our broken luck...
Sittin' in a dark trench...eyein' little girls with bad, bad breff...
Snot runnin down me nose...greasy fingers in frilly panties and lederhose...
Aqualung...yeh...aqualung..."

The mysterious song's cheerful imagery almost made him feel not suicidal, and he mumbled it happily to himself for awhile until...

 

Same Old Neel

...He looked up.  The others were all staring at him.  Somewhere, far away, as if in the halls o' Gork and Mork, he heard a sound like a studio audience laughing in concert.  After an appropriate pause, Rikk broke the silence.  



"Shut!!  Up!!  Neel!!"  Rikk shrieked, punctuating each word by stomping on the ground as hard as he could and throwing up muddy water on everyone.  
 "I have enough problems without having to hear your filthy, demented songs about greasy fingers and panty sniffing!!!!  I want to know what everyone else is going to do to solve MY problems right now!!"

"Ughhly...Bluggh...recchhh..."  said Mych.
Doc Bonetinker bit off the end of the sutcher in Mych's larnyx and stood back, stretching and wiping his bloody hands with a sigh.  "There ya go, Boss!  he said.  Should be good as new in a monf or two, but whatevver ya do, don't try to talk for a few weeks..."

"Now look, Boys!" croaked Mych, drawing himself up to his full height, though that was tricky, now that Doc had replaced almost the entire left side of his body with a medly of steel plates, gears, springs and guns.

"Look, Boys!  I know it's been tough!  Now, it's true dat dem pirates had a big  advantage over us in boys, in guns, in bosses, in just about evveryfing...and frankly, I blame Rikk for da fact dat it didn't turn out better..."

"ME??!!"  blurted Rikk in a watery sort of squawk, "Blame Neel!  He ran away and left us!"

"Very well, Mych graciously corrected himself, I blame Neel for da way fings turned out!"

"Me?  Neel protested mournfully,  Who went and got Doc and brought him here?  Who hauled you all out of da muck and helped patch you up?You'd all still be flopping around in the mud like fishes now if it weren't for me!"

"...and don't worry, he'll be tried and executed in due course, Mych declared, taking no notice.  But first...we must..."

 

Da New Vivyun

"'Ey, Doc, I wonder, Vivyun wondered, if you are somewhat confused on what exactly it is that constitutes an aqualung?  I was under da impression dat an aqualung is an apparatus which allows one to breathe while underwater."

"But dat's jus' what dis fing I made for Rikk does..."  said Doc, arms crossed, frowning, perhaps a little offended at his expertise being questioned.  See?  His head's in da bowl, and da bowl's fulla water, and E's breathin'!"

"Isn't anyone listening to me?"  said Mych.

"Not exactly, Doc, Vivyun countered.  "Dis device you implanted into Rikk doesn't just allow him to breathe underwater when he chooses to, it forces him to breathe underwater all da time!  See da difference?"

Doc rubbed his chin and frowned.  "Well, den dis is better, right?  I mean, now he's got no worries...on land or in da sea, he can breathe jus fine."

"But I don't like it!  Rikk bleated, stamping his foot and trying to cry.
 

"Shut up!"  roared Mychul.  A little blood beginning to trickle through the stitches in his throat.
"Dem humie pirates bushwhacked us, beat us up, thanks to Neel, and made off wit da loot.  But we'll fix 'em!  And I'll get the...I mean we'll get the loot, yet.  Now it's true all our boys died tragically in da fighting.  But it's a big galaxy out dere, right?  We can always recruit some more!  An den we'll track down dose pirate scum and give 'em what for!"

"And get da loot!" Viv chimed in helpfully.
"And get da loot!"  Mych concluded.

"But how long will it take to get a new gang togevver?  Neel murmured sceptically.  And shouldn't it be a bigger gang den before?  Dem humies wuz pretty tough."

"Shut up, Neel, Mych explained.  I figger it might take as much as...a year, but..."

"A year?!!  they all protested, but dat's a long time!"

"Well Rome wasn't burned overnight!"  Mych declared.

"What's a Rome?"  moaned Neel, hopelessly.

"Shut up, Neel.  Like I said, Dese fings sometimes take time!  No worries.  In a year or so we'll be back, and den....REVENGE!!!!"

"REVENGE!"  echoed Vivyun.
"REVENGE!"  gurgled Rikk.
"REVENGE!"  shouted Doc Bonetinker.  Doc wasn't part of their gang, but it was hard not to get excited when people were standing around shouting "Revenge!"
"Well, I'm a Buddhist, so I don't go in for revenge..." Neel mumbled.
"Shut up Neel, Rikk snapped.  "You're going to be executed anyway, so anything you say doesn't count!"
"Oh, well...what's new?"  shrugged Neel.

"REVENGE!!"

  
That was a loose end I just had to tie up.  I created a new label for whole Dimtree's loot narrative in case anybody wants ta read da whole fing.