Just a smile
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Part 17
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Vegeta stared at Mr Briefs, speechless. He had already prepared for the worst sight, burying his feelings deeper than ever to be able to endure it without roaring out his pain like a wild animal.
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Vain.
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His fingers dig deep into the soft material of the seat cover.
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This outrage would not go unpunished. No matter who. No matter how long it took. He would find her and make her pay for it.
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Suddenly he was there.
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The anger that not even the fight against his arch-rival could fully arouse.
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As if a gust of wind had blown a spark on a heap of parched leaves, it ate its way greedily with flames through the torpor of its soul.
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The anger that exchanged the burning black of his eyes for frosty jade green and turned the ebony of his hair into flaming gold.<br />
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“Vegeta, boy, is that really you?” Mr. Briefs rubbed his eyes. He saw the transformation into a Super Saiyan for the first time. "Have you caught an illness? You burn properly."
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And whether it burned, brighter and hotter than the embers in the heart of a star. Vegeta struggled to fight the urge to give free rein to his hatred of these murderers, these robbers, these looters.
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It would have torn the ship apart.
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Wait a minute ... looters?
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Vegeta became a simple Saiyan again and turned to the still completely stunned Mr. Briefs. "Did the deadly energy beam leave any strange residue?"
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Mr. Briefs pulled himself together, adjusted his glasses and swiveled his seat around. "We'll know in a moment," he muttered, his fingers darting over the keyboards almost as fast as his daughter's. "Hmm ... there is nothing ... not there either ... if I halve the coefficient and calibrate the matrix a little more ... yes, there is something!"He looked back to where Vegeta was watching his measurements with a tense expression on his face." How did you know that the beam left a microscopic deposit of gold wherever it cut through the steel? "
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"Well, yes," Vegeta nodded grimly. "My bells should have rung as soon as I heard about the cut-out parts. Your rats are mostly quite amateurs."
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"Who do you mean? And why rats?" Mr. Briefs was getting impatient. "If you know something for sure, tell me!"
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But Vegeta was already a few steps ahead mentally. "We should actually have saved their routes and also the coordinates of their last forays. If I'm lucky, I'll even find some of their nests listed ..."
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"What are you talking about, for God's sake?", Mr. Briefs yelled so loud that Vegeta could no longer ignore him and finally put into words what had occurred to him: "It could only have been the Antiss, because they always shoot at everything which only looks remotely like competition. "<br />
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"Competition? Did they also want to get something from the ruins of Old Namek?"
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As far as I know, the natural resources of their own planet have long been depleted and therefore they always get everything they need from deserted worlds like this one. They don't necessarily target raw materials, but rather finished products of whatever type The Antiss are cowardly looters of the worst kind. Freezer did business with them, if he had exterminated the population of a planet, the Antiss were allowed to plunder the ruins for a fee. Only then was everything razed to the ground and the world as a whole sold . "
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Herr Briefs's mustache stood on end. "But then what do you want with my little Bluma? You already have the parts of your ship, don't you?"
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"They were probably more after the spacesuit," Vegeta guessed. "But I've also heard that the rats of the Antiss," he cleared his throat, "are crazy about any organic material they can get their hands on, regardless of whether it is plants, animals or intelligent beings."<br />
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Herr Briefs choked out deadly pale. "Does that mean that these rats my Bulma ... that they ...", he couldn't bring himself to say the terrible thing.
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Instead of answering, Vegeta clenched his fists and slapped the back of his seat, breaking the metal frame beneath the soft cover.
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"No ...", Mr. Briefs trembled all over with horror and anger. "Can we even wake her up then?"
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"You have to ask God, but I think that when we get her spacesuit back, she will reappear in it. After all, this is where she died."
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Mr. Briefs nodded uncertainly. "That might work. But how do we find your spacesuit when these Antiss have it?"
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"They have their fixed routes. If I ransack the records of my old headquarters, I might find a clue." He pushed himself up. "We have no time to lose.I hope this sleek ship's tender is just as fast and has enough air for a trip to my old station. "
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"Can you enter the course yourself?"
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"I know the coordinates by heart, as well as those of the earth. As soon as you are back home, you look for the dragon balls and in the meantime I chase the space suit from Antiss. They will not get away with me, I swear!" gave in to his anger. He would scare these outrageous looters. Should they crawl in front of him in the dust, begging for mercy, then he would laugh wildly in their faces and crush their miserable existences. The blood rushed through his veins and cold fire glowed in his jade eyes. The gold of his hair alternated between rich yellow and pale ocher. For a few breaths he indulged in the tremendous power of a Super Saiyan. The shocked exclamation from Prof. Briefs brought him back down to earth.<br />
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"It's okay," he grinned at the old man after the change back, "I'm not going to blow up the ship."
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"That makes me a lot easier," replied Mr Briefs, slightly ironic, wiping the sweat from his forehead before getting up from his seat. "Let's take a look at the dinghy."
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.......................
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Meanwhile, far from the coordinates of "Bulma's Hope", in the belly of a spaceship whose size was only surpassed by its ugliness:
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"Be careful, Khass, the part is worth maybe five units," hissed a bear-sized, furry creature and gave the half-sized, gray lizard a warning look, which it returned fearlessly. "We can't help being squeamish Buufsch," his friend hissed venomously, "If we don't hurry up, someone else will discover it." The scaly fingers felt the lower edge of the helmet until they found the lock.Tug and push a little, it hummed softly and ... "It eats up!", Khass' dark brown scales got bright red speckles with excitement.
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He lifted off his helmet and turquoise hair oozed out from underneath.
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"Yeh ... a warm-blooded mammal," shuddered Khass. He pushed his hair aside and looked into the pale face with the closed eyes. "Humanoid too ... everything comes up right away."
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"If you don't like them, you can leave them to me," growled Buufsch and sharpened his sickle-like claws.
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"Weh! You hate to eat the last carrion straight away instead of stuffing it into the recycler. You will probably die because of it, but that won't eat my worries."
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"That was three cycles ago," Buufsch grumbled. "I just collect my units for emergencies. That's why I haven't fallen off my feet like others here."
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Khass narrowed his eyes at the fat figure of his partner."In return, my portions make me look a lot longer than you do," he replied, bending down to loosen the other parts of the suit. Step by step they peeled the hairless humaoid body out of the shell. "Sso, that would be all the parts", said Khass satisfied and put the second boot to the pile. "Sure five units, maybe more, hardly a scratch on it."
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"Who do we have there?" It sounded from behind.
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Khass scales turned dark with shock and Buufsch's hair stood on end. The two turned reluctantly in the direction from which the voice was coming.
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"Aha! You two again!" The speaker put his hands on his hips and tossed back the wild, red mane of hair. “You still think that just because I'm one of the few humanoids here, I'll let you ransack my sector without permission.” The two dark green eyes twinkled with amusement. "You can put up some resistance, I like to do some exercise before dinner ..."<br />
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"Ummmm ... no offense, Bantor," Khass tried to dampen the humanoid's anger. "It was just a mistake and we'll go right back ..."
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"Don't forget to leave everything behind that was here before," smiled Bantor and cracked his joints. "Otherwise ..."
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Given that Level A's most feared loner was apparently in good shape, Khass waved his buddy back. It wasn't enough to be twice as tall and as wide as Bantor, even with his measly three feet he had beaten Buufsch more than once as soft as a diaper. He had to be credited with not going as far as killing his opponents and stuffing them into the recycler like others did. Buufsch gritted his teeth, but he did not want to challenge his luck and retreated together with Khass.
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When Bantor could be sure that the two had really disappeared from his sector, he examined the harvest.Four units for the suit and if he added the reserves from the last cycle he could have the carcass converted into a really large serving. His gaze slid over the woman's pale face, framed by tangled hair. Yes, it was clearly a female humanoid and a very pretty one at that. What was she doing out there in space before she was sucked on board? Well, at least she had died peacefully, not many in here had that. Bantors took her by the waist and threw her over his shoulder to carry her