Simon lifted the headphones off his head and stood up. "That's it," he said excitedly. "She's going after the portal stone. Marko, get out there and- Marko?"
Marko wasn't paying much attention. He was staring at the video feed of the long-range radarscope. All those ships... There was only one pirate who could muster that many fighters - Upchuck. He must really be mad at someone, and Marko could only think of one person.
"How the hell did he find out?" he said. "Nobody knows we're here!"
Simon looked at him. "Upchuck's the least of our worries at the moment. We've got to follow Elaine-"
Marko cut him off. "Upchuck's the least of our worries?!? Look at that fleet. There's not going to be a single rivet left in this place!"
"Who cares?" said Simon. "We're not in any trouble. We'll just use the secondary exit Elaine asked about. Upchuck won't be expecting anybody to leave that way, and if we cloak our ship they won't even see us. And if there's no other alternative, we can shoot the portal stones."
"And end up anywhere in the Universe."
Simon shrugged. "It had to happen sometime. Now, I've set the video to follow Elaine, and sent a feed into our ship. We'll follow her from there."
Guybrush was patiently waiting below the street when he heard a loud voice
on the PA. Down here, the words were somewhat indistinct. Guybrush caught
the words 'prepare' and 'drill'. Whatever the message, it sounded
important. The noise above him increased further, first with the sound of
lots of people talking to each other very loudly, then with the sound of
lots of people moving very quickly. It sounded like a stampede up there.
This noise gradually faded. When it was gone, there was almost total silence above. Guybrush listened hard, but there was nobody in the store. Or even in the street.
Well, whatever they'd all gone away for - maybe some kind of town meeting - it made Guybrush's job easier. He got out the screwdriver, and loosened a panel above. It clattered to the floor. Guybrush reached up and pulled himself into the store.
As he'd thought, everyone was gone. The store was empty, and so was the street outside. It looked like people had left in a hurry. Litter, half-eaten food and even a few backpacks dotted the street outside.
Guybrush shrugged, and started examining the ship parts.