Chapter 54 (Part B) end of Chapter



“What is it?” Thomson was almost afraid to ask.
“Distract it Thomson! I have to reload my gun!” Tintin said frantically rummaging through his satchel for more bullets.

Chang and Thompson were watching as Tintin and Thomson struggled to keep the giant spider at bay when suddenly the speaker came on the intercom again.
“I see you and your accomplices need more of a challenge!” the voice thundered.
Thomson looked just below him as the pincers were less than a foot away. Thomson fired his gun and hit it right in the center hearing a loud snap as the spider fell and screamed kicking its remaining legs in the air before slowly ceasing.
Tintin was putting the few bullets he had left in his gun only glancing up.

“Stop! We’ll give you whatever you want!” Benton pleaded swinging in his cage hanging from a chain.
Chang and Thompson looked up at the hole above to the main deck as a glass jar was thrown down shattering on the center of the floor. Right before their eyes another spider began growing in size.
“What kind of devilry is this!?” Thomson demanded grabbing on to Tintin almost causing him to drop his gun.
“Calm down Thomson! Good job stopping it!” Tintin praised.

“Right on brother but there’s another one of those growing spiders!” Benton shouted.
“It’s another one!” Thomson shouted.
Tintin looked up and saw another spider, “How on earth!?” Tintin thought. He soon figured out the answer to his own question. It wasn’t on earth they figured out how to enlarge beings.
“Could it be?” Tintin thought wondering if perhaps there were other samples of the meteor that crashed still out in circulating.

“The Peary!” Tintin blurted out connecting the dots.
“Watch out Fenton it’s another giant spider!” Benton shouted out.
BANG! BANG!
Tintin looked over to see Chang and Thompson with their hands full with the other spider. This spider looked bigger and perhaps poisonous as well.
“Y-You think i-it’s d-dead?” Thomson asked nervously looking down at the dead spider.

“I sure hope so! We just fired half of all of our ammo in it!” Tintin said feeling his heart racing again.
“Y-You think they can handle it?” Thomson asked Tintin waiting to see what was next.
“Get a grip, the others need you!” Tintin thought as he struggled with his inner fear of spiders.

“For Pete’s sake Tintin! Chang and Thompson won’t last more than a couple of minutes if we don’t do something really soon!” Thomson finally spoke up.
Tintin finished reloading his gun taking a deep breath. He looked on as Chang and Thompson were already firing upon what appeared to be another giant spider. The bullets seemed to only make a dent on its exoskeleton. It would pause momentarily and then it would continue toward them.

“Did you two bring more ammo?” Tintin asked Thomson.
“I’m afraid we forgot in all the confusion, but we have those other guns” Thomson frowned then smiled half-heartedly.
“Here, take my gun!” Tintin said handing his gun quickly digging back into his satchel.
“What about you?” Thomson asked curiously as Tintin finally pulled out another gun.
“What is that?!” Thomson looked a bit puzzled.
“What’s it look like? It’s a flare gun, an extremely bright flare gun made by the Professor” Tintin said scanning the ceiling.
“Looks like Chang has ran out of bullets, we’d better do something quickly!” Thomson pointed out frantically. The spider was getting too close to the stacks of crates they were sitting.

“Hold on to me Thomson! Stay in my bag boy, this could be bumpy” Tintin warned putting Snowy in his satchel. Thomson grabbed on to Tintin’s side as Tintin aimed for a metal beam not too far behind the spider. Tintin hit both release buttons on each side of his belt and this time two pronged cables shot out and wrapped around a beam.
“Hold on tight Thomson we’re going to jump” Tintin warned.
“Jump!?” Thomson asked nervously.

Without much more warning, Tintin jumped with Thomson hanging on to him off the stack of the crates swinging across the area. The spider was now at the bottom of the five stacks of crates where Chang and Thompson were taking refuge. Thompson was successful in shooting one of its eyes, but it seemed more determined to get to them. It began spitting out web at them missing hitting the wall behind them.

“That spider’s spitting poison at us!” Thompson warned.
“No, it’s webbing! Don’t let it hit you!” Chang warned as he through his now empty gun at the spider below as it harmlessly bounced off its pincers.
“This other gun is just about empty too!” Thompson panicked.
Chang took out his staff and was preparing to engage the spider should it try to climb their stack.
“I only got a couple shots left Chang! I think we may be finished!” Thompson went on.
“We’re not going out without a fight!” Chang said bravely watching the other eyes of the spider as it was preparing to come climbing up after both of them.
“Chang! Thompson! Cover your eyes!” Tintin shouted from behind the spider.
“What?!” Thompson looked.

“Just do as he says!” Chang warned.
Thomson fired Tintin’s gun behind hitting the two hind legs of the spider. It quickly spun around to face them.
“Now!” Tintin yelled as he fired his flare gun right at its center eye. Tintin and Thomson looked away as a flaming trail of bright red flame went blazing the thirty yards across from the spider making a direct hit. The room illuminated brightly for a few seconds and Benton covered his face with his jacket.

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Everyone in a private control room above watched the spectacle. Herr Wagner, Lento, Lady Ravena, Rastapopoulos, Allan, Dr. Mueller, and the Fakir watched Tintin’s party’s resourcefulness.
“What if the spider kills Tintin?” Lento asked.
“Then we will have to do without Tintin” Dr. Mueller laughed.
“His brother may not be able to solve the entire puzzle or have all the memories. All of you place a dangerous bet with what we need” Lady Ravena commented.
“I’m sure whatever Tintin knows, his brother will also have the knowledge” Dr. Mueller said confidently.

“I wouldn’t be so sure…” Lento nodded. A sudden bright light blinded them all catching them off guard.
“What in the devil is that!?” Rastapopoulos pouted rubbing his eyes.
“Looks like they had a flare gun!” Allan surmised trying to recover from the sudden brightness.
“I told you that Tintin is more resourceful than you think Herr Wagner!” Dr. Mueller reminded him.
“Some of them are missing…” Lady Ravena said softly.
“Pardon Frau?” Herr Wagner regarded her.
“Not all of Tintin’s friends are present” Lady Ravena repeated.

“Yea, I don’t see that blasted Captain Haddock around. He’s usually not too far wherever Tintin is” Allan scoffed.
“You’d think it was his lover or something…” Rastapopoulos laughed.
“Enough! Time to end this game and close in on our prey now that we have them in our web” Dr. Mueller redirected them.
“Fakir, order everyone to surround Tintin and his party” Herr Wagner ordered.
“As you wish” the Fakir nodded getting on the intercom.


XXXXXXXXXXX


The spider began screaming out rushing toward Tintin.
“Haven’t had enough yet huh?” Tintin said firing another blast before the spider could get more than a five yards closer. The hit knocked the spider on its back as it caught on fire, and began shrivel as its legs curved back towards its abdomen. Tintin, Thomson, and Snowy turned back to see the aftermath as the giant spider was being consumed in the flames.

“That is one powerful flare gun!” Thomson commented.
“I know… this ship has a horrible insect problem” Tintin agreed.
Chang and Thompson came running. Chang and Thompson had their staff and came poised at the burning spider as they passed it.
“Attention! Attention all personnel! Surround and Capture the intruders!” another voice over the intercom system announced.
“Now what?” Thompson said looking around hoping not to see another spider.
“I hope there are no more spiders!” Tintin began to sweat.
The bay doors opened and crewmen came rushing in.
“Lower your weapons and surrender or your brother is dead Tintin!” the voice announced.

“Don’t worry about me Fenton! Blast them away!” Benton shouted down to him.
“There’s at least thirty of them” Chang counted them as they entered with guns trained on them.
“I don’t want them to hurt my brother” Tintin told Chang digging through his bag pulling out the black comb.
“Tintin now isn’t the time to be combing your hair!” Chang seemed not to understand Tintin’s actions.
“Officer Riley! Officer Jenkins! If you can hear me! Get out now!” Tintin repeated a few times.
“How are we going to get out of this?!” Thompson pressed Tintin.
“Precisely! We can’t allow ourselves to get captured!” Thomson agreed.
Tintin fired another flare into the ceiling blinding everyone entering the room.
“Come on everyone run!” Tintin shouted.
“Bad move Tintin! Bad move!” another voice announced as a shot was fired hitting Benton’s suspended cage.

“Ahhh!” Benton jumped as the bullet hit the bars on one side.
Just as Tintin was about to lead his companions out of the room, a tall man in a general’s uniform wearing shades stood blocking their way. The crewmen around were still recovering from the bright flash.

“I’m afraid I cannot let you leave, shameful that you would abandon your brother” Herr Wagner almost glided across the floor as his crewmen surrounded them with guns trained.
“Who are you anyway?” Tintin demanded.
“You don’t remember do you? Of course you don’t remember…you don’t even remember your own name” Herr Wagner scoffed.
Thompson and Thomson had their backs to Tintin and Chang watching as the crewmen very robotically had their guns trained on them ready to shoot on command. Snowy remained growling with his ears flat at Tintin’s feet.
“It’s him Tintin” Chang whispered.
“It’s really rude to whisper in front of company Mr. Ying…or should I say Chang!” Herr Wagner laughed.
“What do you want with us?” Chang asked.
“Now I can’t be divulging all my secrets in such a place now can I?” Herr Wagner said casually. “You’re prowess is impressive, but unfortunately it won’t be enough to help you” he finished.

“Return my brother and let us off this ship!” Tintin demanded.
“Such manners! I want all of you to follow me” Herr Wagner prompted them. “No more hero game or this time I really will have your brother shot and wouldn’t that be a pity?” Herr Wagner said as the bay doors opened leading them down the hall. He opened a door and motioned for them to go in.
“Now please gentlemen, go in and have a seat…you don’t really have much choice” Herr Wagner smiled.

“You won’t get away with this you fiend!” Thompson said defiantly.
A loud explosion could be heard off in the distance startling everyone.
“It seems your way of escape no longer exists” Herr Wagner gave them a mock frown as they entered a room with a couple of tables and chairs having the door slammed behind them.

“I hope Officer Jenkins and Riley are ok” Tintin shook his head.
“I hope so too” Chang said assessing their situation.
Thomson immediately tried to open the door but it was locked. Thompson and Tintin immediately began inspecting the room when Chang noticed a gas coming in from a couple of holes in the wall.
“It’s gas!” Chang pointed out.

They quickly began trying to find a way out but the gas quickly spread through the room. Both Thompson and Thomson fell victim to the gas passing out on to the floor unconscious.
“It’s sleeping gas!” Tintin realized.
Chang and Tintin tried covering the holes but to no avail, and soon Tintin and Chang were both feeling groggy and were soon on the floor. Snowy barked and nipped his master trying to wake him up but soon Snowy too began to feel light headed and passed out on top of his master.

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