Ted was still excitedly looking around the Black Bird when Jack and the others returned to the ship.
“Ted, we are back! Mission accomplished, we should head to the city and deliver the good news.”
The Black Bird’s Pilot left the command station to greet the group upon their return and stopped dead in his tracks upon seeing them. “What is a mouse doing on a squirrel?”
“I am not a mouse! I am Yallin the greatest warrior to ever live!”
“Alright alright, I got it. New mouse guy in the group. I shouldn’t even be surprised that we picked up another stranger. You seem to have a talent for attracting strange people, Jack.”
“What do you mean, I don’t pick up strange people. The poor guy was banished and now he is coming with us. It would be rude to leave him stranded, also look at the cut cat he is on!”
“Look, all I am saying is, you set out to return to Earth and now you have a vampire, a robot, and a mouse on a squirrel.”
“Well it isn’t all that bad, you got a new ship, and we made some new friends,” answered Jack.
“The ship is quite nice, perhaps you have a point. Well sit down then if we are gonna fly again.”
They entered the bridge and sat down in their spots looking out of the large windows onto a seemingly endless field of grass.
“Don’t forget your seat belts!” screamed Ted
Traveling in a space ship and not putting on a seat belt at launch, landing or during low altitude flights was much like putting a small rodent in a box, shaking said box vigorously and hoping the rodent would be fine and dandy once the shaking stopped. Suffice it to say the crew put on their seat belts.
The ship flew off through the fields of Yatok III, the first twenty minutes of their journey consisted of looking at the grass outside, long grass, short grass, slightly brown grass, very green grass, all things Glen could have described in detail. Jack and the others had to content themselves with a green blur outside the window. The ship swiftly arrived at the Lorak capital, and started its descent.
“We’ve landed, now I want to get a drink. Somebody else can deal with reporting to the higher ups.”
“We will go to the Lorak leader and speak to him of our talks with the Thunder Paws,” said Lyra putting a hand around Jack’s shoulder.
“I will stay here, I require to recharge my internal batteries. Try not to get into too much trouble while I am recharging.” said Glen who without further notice made his way to the charging station within the ship.
“Okay, so Jack and Lyra you go talk to the mouse leader and I will go get a drink,”
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“Who are you calling a mouse? And what will I, the great Yallin do?”
“You can come with me, show me where a man can find a good drink around here.”
They left the ship and went their separate ways for the time being. Lyra and Jack towards Lorak government building in the center of the city and Ted, Yillan and the cat Yak, went… somewhere.
The government house of the Loraks was a large building, four stories high and made mostly of wood and stone. The doors were wide open and two Loraks with grey fur were standing there ready to attend anyone visiting the building. They were rather large compared to many of the Loraks in the city, Jack presumed that the warriors were a little taller than the reset, which made the rather large Yillan not seem so ridiculous after all.
“Greetings, I am Lyra and this is Jack, we are here to bring a message to your leader. The Thunder Paws have agreed to peaceful relations.”
“Oh, can that be true, by the great Paw these are great news indeed. Do come in, come in! President Diyan will be with you shortly.” said one of the guards and led them into a nice cozy room, with two couches around a table. Lyra and Jack sat down each occupying the space of an entire Lorak couch. A couple of minutes passed and the door to the room opened wide revealing a small Lorak, his fur was golden and he wore a fancy little hat on his head, apart from that he carried a walking stick, he seemed rather old, although Jack made it a rule not to assume such things the old Lorak stood before them and with a raspy voice said. “I hear you bring great news,”
“Yes, president Diyan, on the order of the Imperatus Maximus we have achieved a momentary peace deal with the Thunder Paw leader,” said Lyra
“Oh, great news, great news, won’t you tell me what happened?” asked Diyan.
Meanwhile on the other side of the city…
“So what did you say this was called?” asked Ted
“Leaf juice, sir Ted, leaf juice!” said Yillan who had his own cup of leaf juice
“That is ridiculous, can’t you come up with another name?” answered Ted, while finishing his fifth glass.
Ted and Yillan were sitting in a street stall in the middle of the Lorak capital. It was not a particularly special stall but that didn’t seem to bother them, they had a view of the streets and the people going about their business and the Lorak selling to them seemed to have no problem with humans so that was a plus
"Well, what else do you want to call it?” asked the seller.
"I don’t know, but leaf juice is boring,” said Ted, “get me another glass,” another glass of leaf juice found its way into Ted’s stomach. “This stuff is great, why did I never think of visiting this place sooner,” Ted spoke to himself out loud while raising his glass up.
"I am glad you like it, it has been a while since anyone wanted to drink with me.”
"Don’t you worry my little mouse friend, if you ever need someone to drink more of this stuff with, you know who to call.”
And so they continued until they eventually decided to walk back to the ship, well rather than walking, you could say that they stumbled to the ship. Yillan was leaning against Ted while walking and Yak trotted happily behind them not having drunk anything.
"Well, you seem to be getting along,” They head from a familiar voice behind them. They turned their heads nearly in sync and they wobbled back and forth before realizing who was talking to them.
“Oh, Jack! You gotta try some of this leaaaf juiiice stuff some-time,” said Ted slurring each and every word.
“I think I am good, I am underage anyway,”
“C’ mon we are in space, who cares about Earth laws, just you, me and the little mouse out drinking.”
“What about me?” asked Lyra.
“Well, I thought Varyxians don’t like to drink.”
Lyra was about to try to object but Jack interrupted the conversation.
"We can talk more about drinking later, how about you lie down for a while.”
"You know what, that doesn’t sound like a bad idea.”
"“I think you have had enough of this leaf juice for a while.”
With Jack and Lyra’s help, they brought the two drunkards back to the ship and to a surprised Glen, who proceeded to describe every possible effect of the leaf juice. While Ted and Yillan dozed off.