Guybrush picked himself up and pelted up the ladder. Boss Hog groaned around him, like a huge tin elephant suddenly awakened from sleep. Nuts screamed and bolts twisted as Guybrush ran down the hallway, full tilt toward the cabin. Something was burning, somewhere, and thin tendrils of smoke curled along the ceiling.
Guybrush threw open the cabin door.
Wally was at the controls, looking a bit puzzled. And there in the viewscreen, seemingly filling it from one side to the other, was a whole fleet of pirate vessels. They were roaring directly for Boss Hog, with a spiralling network of laser fire eager to beat them to the punch.
Guybrush didn't stand there rooted still with shock - space pirates prone to nervous or indecision didn't stay pirates for long. He lunged forward, and grappled with the steering yoke. Boss Hog twisted up and around, weaving a sinuous, entirely instinctive path through the curtain of laser bolts.
Now they were pointed away from the fleet, which was visible in the rear viewscreens. Guybrush opened the throttle.
"What are we running for?" said Wally, who looked annoyed at Guybrush's sudden seizure of the situation. "Let's fight them!"
Guybrush was scanning the viewscreens, dodging Boss Hog to avoid laser bolts, and didn't look up. "That's not a fight, that's suicide," he said. "What on earth did you think you were doing?"
"Well," said Wally, "I saw a blip on the radarscope, and thought I'd try and attack him. Then the blip sort of turned into a whole group of blips, and then the fleet showed up."
"Well, we might just get out of this alive," said Guybrush, still looking down at the viewscreens. "But that's the last time I leave you alone in the cabin. In fact, next stop I might just leave you behind."
Wally looked at him disbelievingly. Then he acted. He reactivated his steering yoke, and pulled them around in a full u-turn.
Guybrush nearly fell over. He looked up, to see Wally sending them straight into the heart of the pirate swarm. "Aargh!" screamed Guybrush. On the viewscreen, a thousand laser bolts flew directly at them. Guybrush ducked and rolled into the corner, awaiting the worst.
Wally, in a rapid jerk of his arm, brought Boss Hog to a standstill. Anything not physically tied down crumpled up in one corner of the cabin, the corner with Guybrush in it. Wally hit switches and brought the throttle. They reversed.
Guybrush poked his head out of the mess. On the viewscreen, he could see those same thousand laser bolts, spearing toward their ship. But they weren't getting any closer. Wally was outrunning them! Backwards!
Wally hit a few switches, then experimentally nudged Boss Hog left and right. On the viewscreen, Guybrush saw the mass of laser bolts similarly duck left and right. Lasers didn't have guidance systems - they should fly in a straight line. It almost looked like Wally was leading them. Did he have some kind of tractor beam on all that energy.
Wally flicked Boss Hog a full hundred and eighty degrees, the lasers following in a sharp curve. Guybrush nearly lost his neck. Now they were flying for the pirate swarm, a cloud of laser bolts at their tail.
They dived into the heart of the swarm, at speeds Guybrush didn't know his ship was capable of. Wally worked the steering yoke like a demon, pitching them left and right and up and down. And one by one the laser bolts pulled behind them found a target. One pirate ship exploded, as Wally circled tightly around it. More detonated as they circled back and back again. The return fire was weak and sporadic. The pirates couldn't get a lock on Wally. They probably couldn't even see him, until it was too late.
Guybrush, squashed up in the corner, couldn't help but be gobsmacked, even though sitting in this cabin was like being trapped on Satan's rollercoaster. Wally was taking on a whole pirate fleet, and winning! This would be something to tell the kids.
There were now just two ships left. Wally ran a collision course with them, then ducked at the last minute. The two laser bolts following him, however, ran smack into their targets. Pirate fleet down.
It was then that Guybrush saw the cruiser. Somewhat behind the pirate fleet, it was a sleek black craft about four times the size of Boss Hog. Seeing it Guybrush felt a sudden chill, although going on what had just happened Wally would be able to deal with a ship ten times as big.
Boss Hog stopped dead.
It was that sudden. One moment they were zooming along, all going well, then everything stopped. Wally hit some buttons, growing more frantic as they failed to budge. Guybrush got up and tried a few, but there was no response. He looked up again to the black craft. It was a lot closer.
In the complete stillness of the cabin, Guybrush became aware of a red glow. It was seeping in from under the cabin door. He remembered the fire.
The black ship opened up a comm link with Boss Hog. From the speakers, the pilot spoke. And the voice, the horribly familiar voice, seemed to cut all of Guybrush's nerves.
"Guybrush."